MBB: Duke 76, Georgetown 67 Post-Game Thread

[Bob Green]

Place your game thoughts here. A very solid win.

[JDev]

Great win. So many quality performances: G's electric first half and solid all-around game, Singler's unquestioned toughness, Scheyer played well, Paulus's intensity, even Plumlee gave some very good minutes. Outstanding performance.

[godukerocks]

Paulus and Henderson had great games. A big turning point I think was the Monroe tech for his fourth foul.

[geraldsneighbor]

Henderson and Singler are grown men. Paulus and Smith played great. Very small line-up that defended challenged and frustrated G'town too much. Jon is so underrated on defense. He does way more then shoot the ball.

[kaufmjo]

Excellent composure down the stretch in face of a Gtown run. Gman is a huge asset for us to have again and has that ability to take over a game. Liked Paulus' fire, albeit with some of the historical errors in years past. Singler is just awesome to watch - he's getting some support this year that will help with his physical and mental stamina down the stretch. Great game by the good guys - now switching to watch the Wake/Clemson game

[DukieInBrasil]

yes, Bob, a very solid win. Great game from G, again. A great game from Kyle as well, though only on the boards, his offense was quite a bit off. Greg stepped up and gave us a really nice boost there in the 2nd half. Nolan had a solid if un-spectacular game. Although Miles gave us a nice jolt in the 1st half, i have to say that our post production in this game, aside from Kyle, was, um, on the verge of pathetic. The initial Box shows that we out-rebounded GTown, that in and of itself is impressive.
Great showing in a very important game!!!

[norduck]

Place your game thoughts here. A very solid win.

Glad for Plumlee !!

[cascadedevil]

I love this team. Different players are stepping up every game. I cannot remember a season where the man of the match could easily be one of 8 different players. More and more, they are dominating on defense and just taking what the other team gives them on offense. Fantastic coaching job by K. The small line up played great.

[rsvman]

Sweet win against a very tough opponent, the kind a team might face in the Sweet Sixteen or even the Elite Eight.

Hustle was outstanding, especially on the boards. Superb coaching (as always).

[Ian]

Aside from the obvious that has already been covered.

Glad to see Plumlee get minutes and produce in those minutes.

Of course it was mainly due to the uninspired showing by LT and Z. That's really disappointing.

[Coballs]

Great W. Nice that Monroe's first (and likely only) trip to CIS should be a memorable one...for all the wrong reasons. Basically, his immaturity cost his team a chance at winning this game.
Nice to see Plum get some run and contribute. It's too bad that we're not seeing more from Zoubs and LT at this point. Hopefully they'll come around. It looks like McClure has taken a bunch of LT's minutes.
Doubt that it's going to happen, but one could make a case that Paulus has earned his place back in the starting lineup.

[CarterTheGreat]

I love the small lineup with basically 5 guards on the floor. And, like others, I wonder what Monroe said to get t'd up??

[Jumbo]

Great win, great toughness, great maturity. And we saw some cool developments from Coach K, including:

-McClure starting over Zoubek, couple with limited playing time for Zoubs and LT. This could have been done for either of two reasons -- the strategy of defending Georgetown's Princeton-style offense or to send a message to Brian and Lance -- but whatever the motivation, it served both purposes. We defended very well against the Hoyas' attack, and hopefully this motivates Brian and Lance to step up their games. Lance has struggled for quite a few games in a row, in fact, but that hasn't been noticed in all the other discussions going on. Time to turn it on.

-Mass substitutions at the first TV timeout. We saw this last year in the ACC Tourney, when K basically did a Blue/White swap. This time, only Singler stayed in as Paulus, Pocius, Williams and Zoubs replaced the other starters. Nice way to give everyone a taste early.

-Plumlee stepped up. This is cool for two reasons. 1) K wasn't afraid to go to him when other guys were struggling. 2) Plumlee was ready and responded with excellent D, an inside presence, and even one ugly, yet effective, jumper. That's depth, folks. When the team needed Miles, he was ready. Even if he doesn't get in the next game, we know he's capable of contributing should hte need arise later in the year.

-More of the small lineup. We've only really seen it at the end of games for FT shooting, but against Georgetown's offense (and the Hoyas' own relative lack of size), K was able to use the Paulus-Smith-Scheyer-Henderson-Singler group more often. Those guys performed well. It again showed that we can adapt/adjust our style/lineup based on the opponent.

I love the way this team is developing. It was great to see Greg playing with confidence again. It was great to see Jon impacting the game in every other way even though his jumper is still off. It was great to see Kyle play like a man on the boards. It was great to see Gerald heat up -- now he needs to learn how to score within the flow, instead of just going iso, stalling the offense, and occasionally tossing up bad shots.

I'm really happy about this. You all should be, too. Enjoy days like this -- it's a long time between April and November.

[DukieInBrasil]

Great W. Nice that Monroe's first (and likely only) trip to CIS should be a memorable one...for all the wrong reasons. Basically, his immaturity cost his team a chance at winning this game.
Nice to see Plum get some run and contribute. It's too bad that we're not seeing more from Zoubs and LT at this point. Hopefully they'll come around. It looks like McClure has taken a bunch of LT's minutes.
Doubt that it's going to happen, but one could make a case that Paulus has earned his place back in the starting lineup.

Paulus did not make a case for being back int he starting line-up. He made a case for being a valuable man off the bench. He hit some nice shots and played with aplomb.
I was very surprised at the lack of PT for both Z and LT, they both seem to be retrogressing after very inspiring play in the OOC.
Our small line-up seemed to frustrate G´Town´s size and we took advantage on the boards too, outrebounding them by about 3.

[Kedsy]

Doubt that it's going to happen, but one could make a case that Paulus has earned his place back in the starting lineup.

Oh, come on. He played a great game and I hope he continues doing it off the bench like that, but Nolan played well too and his defense is still significantly better. And that's what's most important for this team.

[MB in MD]

Some very nice things out of this game:

containing a very potent offensive team (did you see all those GT buckets down the stretch against really good defense?!);

adapting to the game situation with an unconventional lineup that got us some good matchups

continued development of G as a go to guy

Singler as a beast even though his shot was way off

lots of poise, managing G'town's runs

...and a real contribution from Greg

But those guys are good; I'd hate to face them again in the tourney because they'd have all the intangibles, having played without Monroe for half the game

-

and a quick hello to the board; I've been a reader for years but never bothered to register

. It's always fun and as so many people note, the quality of what's here compared to a lot of other stuff out there is very refreshing

[jipops]

We had absolutely no answer for Greg Monroe, that kid is a true talent. Fortunately he put himself in foul trouble and Gtown suffered. Great 1st half by G and another workman like performance from Singler who just dominated the glass.

Anybody catch the beautiful play generated by Scheyer where he drove the baseline with his left, dished to Singler who finished with his left? May have looked like a simple play but I had to replay it again on DVR just to re-watch such a nice illustration of beautiful basketball. That play took great skill from two players. Terrific D from Smith as well.

[jpfrizzle]

Go DUKE ! ! ! ! I was on the edge of seat every minute of the game!

Earlier I jumped the gun and thought Monroe was benched, very disappointed in that. Kinda had the impression, being benched was gonna be his 'welcoming celebration'. Oh well.

Everybody played a great game!

Who's Next!?!

[Ders24]

I''m pretty sure - although not positive - that Monroe didn't say anything. I think it was actually a fan behind him. Awesome win, very enjoyable to be at, I won't be talking for a few days.

[DownEastDevil]

Singler is a man - Even though he was a little off on his shot he never quits on a play. He does all the little things that makes sure the team stays in the game.