It seems extremely unlikely, but a couple of things....Lol, the world record is 3:43....so Ben is a 6'9" 230lb basketball player...not a track star....only 36 seconds off of a world record mile?
![]()
My hope is Blackwell has a relatively underwhelming year, and we pick him up in the portal next cycle.Who knows if the pieces will work out or not but dude Dukes roster is legitimately insane.
We absolutely need some insiders to settle this for usIt seems extremely unlikely, but a couple of things....
When running a mile that fast, 36 seconds is a LOT of time. It's kind of like a pitcher's fastball increasing. If a guy goes from 85 MPH to 94MPH, that's the difference between playing with Schaumburg Boomers and Chicago Cubs. A guy who increases his heat from 96/97MPH to 99/100MPH is the difference between a potentially really good closer to and unhittable one. Heck, the difference in a gold medal and 5th place in the 100 meters is what....0.7 seconds? When you get to an elite level in speed events, a little is a lot.
The other thing would be that if he does indeed have an elite level of endurance, the difference in the stride of someone 6'9" and a guy 5'10" is what....three feet? It's tugging 230 around vs 170 that makes it seem relatively unreasonable.
6-6 guard headed to Illinois is climbing the rankings, eh?
Might be the "Wagler effect."
I mean, that "only 36 seconds" took the entire human race about 117 years to shave off from when 4:19 was the WR in 1882 to when the current WR was set in 1999.
As stated by others, 4:19 is very good, but there are high schoolers who can run that, so it's hardly impossible.
Debating Ben's mile time means we have officially hit the off-season doldrums.
No insider. But heard Ben went on a strict cottage cheese diet (no toppings) weeks prior to the big run.We absolutely need some insiders to settle this for us
This. I really struggle to see who their 1A scorer is. McCoy is a phenomenal defender, but his scout is more D than O.The team I can't figure out why their getting all the love is Michigan. They lost three 1st rounders from a frontcourt (including the conference POY) that was everything to them....and they get slotted in the top 5? Talk about question marks in being able to put the pieces back together.
My kingdom for QK to sprout up to 6'9"(+) by the time he gets here.movin' on up:
by no means is he done yet. Top 50 kid
How much of it is neck length? That doesn't help the stride at all. Makes you top heavy and slows you down. Important to remember.It seems extremely unlikely, but a couple of things....
When running a mile that fast, 36 seconds is a LOT of time. It's kind of like a pitcher's fastball increasing. If a guy goes from 85 MPH to 94MPH, that's the difference between playing with Schaumburg Boomers and Chicago Cubs. A guy who increases his heat from 96/97MPH to 99/100MPH is the difference between a potentially really good closer to and unhittable one. Heck, the difference in a gold medal and 5th place in the 100 meters is what....0.7 seconds? When you get to an elite level in speed events, a little is a lot.
The other thing would be that if he does indeed have an elite level of endurance, the difference in the stride of someone 6'9" and a guy 5'10" is what....three feet? It's tugging 230 around vs 170 that makes it seem relatively unreasonable.
My kingdom for QK to sprout up to 6'9"(+) by the time he gets here.
Holy S*** if that were to happen!!!
![]()
PLEASE don't spoil my dream!he's been at 6' 6" for at least a year now, so I think that's highly unlikely
I once finished a Welcome Back Kotter marathon. That counts for something… right?I'll wade into the Ben mile time. At 45 years old I was running 5:30s in training for a marathon. And I wasn't in athlete level shape. So I don't know what Ben ran, but 5:19 is not it. I'm sure it a good way under that time.
This is what gets me though. You achieve this kind of performance through dedicated distance running training which is VERY different than basketball training.I'll wade into the Ben mile time. At 45 years old I was running 5:30s in training for a marathon. And I wasn't in athlete level shape. So I don't know what Ben ran, but 5:19 is not it. I'm sure it a good way under that time.
And it would be fun to watch Scheyer squirm at a lesser school who can't afford Duke quality playersScheyer's like the perfect example of a coach who I'd love, love, love to see get fired at a blueblood... since there's a 0.1% chance they'll be as successful with the next guy lol.
naw he had his chanceMy hope is Blackwell has a relatively underwhelming year, and we pick him up in the portal next cycle.
PLEASE don't spoil my dream!
I suppose at 6'6" I'll have to settle for a Roger Powell-like comparison.
DJ Richardson set the team record in the Self days as a freshman and I don’t think he broke 5:00.Basketball is a high intensity endurance sport. At this level they have to be able to sprint for several minutes if the game goes a long time between whistles. It doesn't seem surprising at all that a high level basketball athlete would make a damn good mile runner.
Fair enough. Ben made some bigtime plays this past season, particularly on D.I just felt like Zens showed more lateral quickness and had faster bounce off the floor if that makes any sense.I think Bens athleticism is very underated. He showed it at times with surpising tip dunks and ability to move for a man his size. Ben was strong and is quite an athlete. Now those traits may not be super explosive but still. His endurace, stamina was awesome and he is pretty fast. He set a team record in the mile at 4 min 18 seconds i recall and if you can do that you are certainly showing some at nlwtic traits in doing so.
You’re about 10 years off on your timeline (Groce was the DJ’s coach)DJ Richardson set the team record in the Self days as a freshman and I don’t think he broke 5:00.
There’s a lot of room between damn good mile runner and 4:19 at 230 lbs.