Haters paint Duke basketball coaches as cheaters to explain their superior recruiting, but the truth lies in the staff’s promise that the Blue Devil family will remain closer-knit than all others.
Go ahead, haters, check the math: from the 1986 season to the present, the Duke basketball program leads all others in national championships (five; UNC ranks second with four), final fours (12; UNC ranks second with 11), and weeks at No. 1 in the AP Poll (124; Kansas ranks second with 59).
The gold standard. The envy of all others whether they admit or not.
One would think haters would grasp why five-star recruits continue flocking — particularly across the second half of this decade — to what is the greatest modern college basketball program.
See, former players frequently flock back to Durham to visit their ever-growing and ever-strengthening Duke basketball family.
Future prospects see that.
They also see that, since 1998, the only assistants on the bench next to head coach Mike Krzyzewski — the current wisest and winningest father figure across all major college sports — have been his former players.
However, instead of logically accepting the fact Krzyzewski & Sons employs far wiser and better overall men than competitors, five-star haters continue coming out in waves accusing the Duke staff — without a lick of evidence — of somehow either secretly handing money bags to top targets or setting up their families with either new digs or lucrative, bogus jobs.
The line of jealous anti-Dukies grew longer early Thursday evening after Blue Devils everywhere received an early July 4th fireworks celebration in the form of a goosebump-inducing tweet from the newest family member, five-star 2020 small forward Jalen Johnson:
https://twitter.com/Jalen_J23/status/1146905810439671808
ALSO READ: Jalen Johnson commits, echoes Blue Devils from yesteryear
Adding insult to haters’ butt-hurt injuries, after snagging four of the nation’s past six No. 1 recruiting hauls — and finishing in the top four the other two years — Duke appears headed for yet another top class as the only school at the moment with any 2020 gifts ranking among the top 20.
Plus, the Blue Devils now have two such gifts: Johnson, who ranks No. 4 on the 247Sports Composite, and point guard Jeremy Roach, who ranks No. 18 and verbally committed back in early May.
ALSO READ: Predicting future Blue Devils from 2020 class
More than a year ago, the 6-foot-8, 215-pound Johnson — who just weeks ago called Kentucky his “dream school as a kid” and had a final four that also included Arizona and home-state Wisconsin — began frequently hinting at #TheBrotherhood being Duke’s most effective sales tactic.
No surprise Johnson typed above his announcement video what is now a reviled hashtag in the eyes of haters — especially those from Lexington and Chapel Hill, cities which are quickly losing their appeal in the eyes of recruits when compared to Durham.
And Johnson is far from the only Duke pledge in recent years to have referenced during either a commitment speech or commitment video the symbol of the Blue Devils’ increasingly elite family tree: The Brotherhood logo.
Roach, who also alluded to The Brotherhood as a top deciding factor on several occasions after his commitment, used an image of the logo to unveil his college choice in his tweeted announcement video:
My decision... pic.twitter.com/SPjkPnVqP9
— iam_jr20 (@Jeremyroach10) May 8, 2019
Whether through speech or text, the list goes on of Blue Devils who have recently included the words “The Brotherhood” as part of their announcements’ final sentence:
- Vernon Carey Jr.: “I’ll be attending The Brotherhood.”
- Wendell Moore: “I’m joining The Brotherhood.”
- Cassius Stanley: “I’ll be joining The Brotherhood. Go Duke!”
- Zion Williamson: “I will be joining The Brotherhood of Duke University.”
Based on follow-up comments from pledges this decade, the Blue Devil coaches’ secret sauce appears to be their outsmarting their peers by touting their unbreakable family bonds — referring to both the biological and Brotherhood variety — far more often than simply bragging about the program’s wealth of accomplishments (those should speak for themselves).
One after another, Blue Devils speak of #TheBrotherhood — before, during, and after their time in Durham — and their increased level of joy and comfort from continuously forming lifelong relationships with the coaches as well as the former and current players.
It’s a tough pill for haters to swallow, but talk of family unity comprises the staff’s primary bag of tricks.
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It’s Coach K’s money pitch.
And expect the 72-year-old’s continued giving of bags full of family promises to recruits to soon lead to commitments from likely at least three more 2020 five-stars (primary candidates include point forward Cade Cunningham, small forward Scottie Barnes, shooting guard B.J. Boston, and center Walker Kessler).
ALSO READ: Four reasons Duke still has a shot to land Cade Cunningham
But no apologies are necessary, haters, for your misinformed and sign-of-jealous-desperation opinions on why Duke continues to prevail over all others in terms of basketball, recruiting, and life.
After all, your asinine, pond-scum, dumpster-diving theories concerning the success of the Blue Devils are what us Duke basketball fans have come to expect — plus, they never fail to gift us a hearty belly laugh.
Stay tuned to Ball Durham for more Duke basketball recruiting updates, analyses, opinions, and predictions.