[washingtonismoney]

No Stanford push.  Did Dawkins, et al. know already that they were out of the hunt?

Of course.

IMAGINARY PARKER-DAWKINS CONVERSATION:

DAWKINS: "Hey, Jabari, come to Stanford!"

PARKER: "Uh...Didn't you lose a game this season because your best player fouled a guy taking a half-court desperation heave? Haven't you never made it to the tournament, despite coaching a school that had previously gone several years in a row? Haven't you never finished above 7th in a weak Pac-12? How many players have you sent to the NBA?"

DAWKINS: "You're be a featured player!"

PARKER: "What is it you do on offense? It looks vaguely like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ATphsb7MrQ Except simultaneously more predictable (for the defense) and less predictable because more meaningless. And what the heck* is up with your rotations? Featured player for you apparently means a bit over 30 minutes. Will I have to sit if there's another scorer on the floor?"

DAWKINS: "The academics!"

PARKER: "They're....pretty good at Duke. Hey, speaking of -- why is it you took all the players to see Coach K a couple of days ago? Isn't this an admission you have few original ideas of your own? Shouldn't I go straight to the source?"

DAWKINS: "This was a longshot, wasn't it?"

PARKER: "Sorry brah."

The academics/athletics pitch works -- as Harbaugh/Shaw have demonstrated -- when you give them some hope of athletic success. Hope is not necessarily zero with Dawkins, but it's asymptotic to it.

[washingtonismoney]

No Stanford push.  Did Dawkins, et al. know already that they were out of the hunt?

Of course.

IMAGINARY PARKER-DAWKINS CONVERSATION:

DAWKINS: "Hey, Jabari, come to Stanford!"

PARKER: "Uh...Didn't you lose a game this season because your best player fouled a guy taking a half-court desperation heave? Haven't you never made it to the tournament, despite coaching a school that had previously gone several years in a row? Haven't you never finished above 7th in a weak Pac-12? How many players have you sent to the NBA?"

DAWKINS: "You're be a featured player!"

PARKER: "What is it you do on offense? It looks vaguely like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ATphsb7MrQ Except simultaneously more predictable (for the defense) and less predictable because more meaningless. And what the heck* is up with your rotations? Featured player for you apparently means a bit over 30 minutes. Will I have to sit if there's another scorer on the floor?"

DAWKINS: "The academics!"

PARKER: "They're....pretty good at Duke. Hey, speaking of -- why is it you took all the players to see Coach K a couple of days ago? Isn't this an admission you have few original ideas of your own? Shouldn't I go straight to the source?"

DAWKINS: "This was a longshot, wasn't it?"

PARKER: "Sorry brah."

The academics/athletics pitch works -- as Harbaugh/Shaw have demonstrated -- when you give them some hope of athletic success. Hope is not necessarily zero with Dawkins, but it's asymptotic to it.