MBB: Duke-BC ACCT QF pre-game/in-game thread

[jv001]

Man can we shoot any worse than this? We look lost out there. Thank God for Kyle. Nolan looks like he's out of game shape. Missed wide open layup. Come on guys..Go Duke!

[karmacoma]

Turnovers, futility from 3, missed front-ends of 1-and-1's. And still only down 5. Let's go Duke!

[quickgtp]

This is ridiculous. Time to look forward to the NCAA tourney.

Ok so now that I feel better...we need to turn the switch on soon, or this game is over.

[dukebballcamper90-91]

since the missed layup by nolan, we have really been.. in charles barkley's voice...turble

[InSpades]

I absolutely hate when a coach takes a player out of the game for extended time after getting 2 early fouls. I'm not really sure what it accomplishes (aside from helping the other team win the game). It happened in the Wake-Maryland game, they took out Johnson early in the 1st half and he had 0 impact for the 1st half of the game. The same thing is happening with Gerald. The problem with foul trouble is that you may end up playing w/out the player. So to solve that you... voluntarily sit him? It just makes no sense. Obviously you rest them if they are tired, but you can't just sit them on the bench. It only hurts your team. Gah!

[_Gary]

Good gosh that was depressing. I fully expected Duke to come out and beat the you know what out of this team. I just cannot believe what I am seeing. If they don't win this game, and again tomorrow, I think it bodes very bad things to come next weekend. Honest. I just can't believe they are playing this poorly. Am I the only one shocked? Am I the only one suddenly very worried after feeling so, so good about this team leading up to this tournament?

[Sixthman]

Mentally weak down the stretch. My guess is these guys get the full treatment at half-time. How they play in the second half will say as much about what kind of men they are -- or will be -- as anything else.

[Virginian]

Well, Singler came to play. Everyone else is just stinking up the place. That means that whenever Kyle gets the ball he draws three defenders. Could be a long second half. G better get his act back together.

[MarkD83]

(caps are intentional i am trying to shout all the way to atlanta)

wake up and start playing ball!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[roywhite]

Things just went to pot the last 10 minutes of the half.

Missed shots, turnovers, fast breaks by BC, giving up 2nd and 3rd shots...ugh...

Let's see what we can do in the second half.

[dukeballer2294]

I knew this was going to happen the whole first half the announcers are going omg BC has 2 pts through 9 min at the same time im thinking ya but we only have 11

[DukieInKansas]

Does anyone have a radio link? I can't stand the ESPN announcers any more.

[Wildling]

No sense of urgency, and going through the motions like it's a walk through before the actual game.

This is not what I expected going into this game.

[jv001]

Well... if Duke can hold off BC for now... G can get some "rest"

looks like defense is holding up?

Looks like we're using this game as a scrimmage and we don't really care if we win or not (getting ready for the NCAA's). Seems like that's the case by Coach K's demeanor on the bench. Not very excited. I,ve heard many say this team takes on the demeanor of their coach (Wake game). Well if that's the case he better get into the game. Go Duke!

[ChrisP]

I absolutely hate when a coach takes a player out of the game for extended time after getting 2 early fouls. I'm not really sure what it accomplishes (aside from helping the other team win the game). It happened in the Wake-Maryland game, they took out Johnson early in the 1st half and he had 0 impact for the 1st half of the game. The same thing is happening with Gerald. The problem with foul trouble is that you may end up playing w/out the player. So to solve that you... voluntarily sit him? It just makes no sense. Obviously you rest them if they are tired, but you can't just sit them on the bench. It only hurts your team. Gah!

Umm...we built a pretty nice lead and were in control of the game with G on the bench so I am gonna have to disagree with you there. You win games in the 2nd half, not the first, so I'll defer to the coach on this one.

Obviously, it would have been nice to have had Gerald available (and maybe we would have built a bigger lead with him in there) but even so, I thought we played pretty well for about the first 12-14 minutes and just missed some wide-open shots. Scheyer had two 3's that were like halfway down and popped out. We should have had at least a 12-15 point lead fairly early in the game and then our "O" just went in the tank BIG TIME. The mental lapses are what worry me at this point.

[CAT Blue Devil]

Does anyone have a radio link? I can't stand the ESPN announcers any more.

I am just waiting for Patrick to flash back to calling the Maryland game. Someone needs to check his glasses.

[Bob Green]

Does anyone have a radio link? I can't stand the ESPN announcers any more.

www.wsfl.com

[Coballs]

I was really fired up for this game all day...now, not so much. Our games against BC seem to follow a similar pattern. Duke jumps out to a double digit lead, then BC always comes back. This is not a team that we should be losing to twice in a season. Let's hope the team wakes up and realizes this too.

[Bob Green]

It is time for Coach K to make some halftime adjustments. And we need some shots to fall. Oh well, lots of basketball left to play before this game is over.

[Greg_Newton]

We should have been up 19-9 with a ton of momentum and instead they come back and make it 17-11 and then whittle it all the way to 19-17 in their favor.
Gary

You know, as savvy as we play 95% of the time, I've noticed we often fail to capitalize on a ton of opportunities at important moments in games. Little things... point-blank shots that roll out, missed free throws, defensive rebounds where that we immediately turn over due to a mix-up or foot on the line, a foul on a box-out when we've already gotten the rebound on the other side of the basket, etc, etc, etc... A lot of these are just bad breaks, but it's so frustrating to watch the team play so well most of the time and then give up a few of cheap plays that completely deflate our momentum and allows the other team to get their feet back under them and get back in the game (and take the lead, in this case). I'm not just referring to Nolan's missed layup, there were probably 4-5 little moments like that in the first half that just drove me crazy.

I think it's the type of thing G was referring to when he said something like "We need to learn how to step on our opponents throats when they're down", and put games away. Hopefully we can play smart, tough, mistake-free ball in the 2nd half and pull this out.