MBB: Duke 86, Iowa St. 65 Post-Game Thread

[dairedevil]

Have seen a couple of comments about the free throw % in last night's game, and for the year. While 90.5 is outstanding, it doesn't fall in the top 10 (12) games. There have been 3 perfect games, and the 10th ranked games were all 94.1, the most recent vs. Clemson in 2008.

It looks like the team season average is about 77.3 from the stat sheet at goduke. Highest team season was in 77-78 at 79.1, so far this year is one of the best.

(records are from the 2009-2010 Basketball yearbook)

[bird]

Last night Mason was getting pretty serious burn (19 minutes), more than Miles (15), including a lot of consecutive minutes, and remained in even after making mistakes. I read the situation as a pretty clear refutation to the theory that K does not give "developmental" playing time to players. Mason is being challenged to rise.

I read the opposite on Andre's playing time. He has a ton on his plate, and my read is that K may be relieving the pressure by limiting his time and the short-term expectations.

[ncexnyc]

Relentless. That's the word to describe our team's play last night.
ISU was game and in the first half they blocked numerous shots, only to have our kids keep coming back for more and eventually putting the ball through the hoop.

A was very pleased that Jon had a great game in front of family and friends. Can we finally stop this nonsense about calling him just a guard and admit that he is in fact a point guard and an excellent one at that.

Nolan had some very nice numbers, except for those 5 TO's.

Kyle did a bit of everything and was very aggressive on the boards.

Lance had another excellent game. He's playing like you want your seniors to play.

Mason showed flashes of why so many people were high on him.

Miles and Brian were solid. While they didn't post big numbers they clogged things up for the opposition

Dre and Kelly obviously have somethings that need to be worked out during practice, but we all know the ability is there and by the end of the season they should be solid contributors.

Saturday should be a war. I'm sure Tech will be skyhigh for this game.

[pfrduke]

ISU was game and in the first half they blocked numerous shots, only to have our kids keep coming back for more and eventually putting the ball through the hoop.

Also, did anyone else notice that ISU had 8 blocks in the first half and none in the second? We adjusted nicely on offense at halftime to evade their shotblockers and draw contact close to the rim.

[Kedsy]

Also, did anyone else notice that ISU had 8 blocks in the first half and none in the second? We adjusted nicely on offense at halftime to evade their shotblockers and draw contact close to the rim.

They had 7 blocks in the first 10 and a half minutes. I'm not sure if we adjusted as much as their legs got tired.

[kmspeaks]

Over in the phase thread Jumbo suggested having people watch the game concentrating on specific aspects. One of these was interior screens. Some posters felt that our thinner and more agile big men could get open better off screens for each other rather than trying to establish position on the block themselves. I saw these posts right before the game so I figured I'd unofficially volunteer.

I missed the beginning of the second half because I couldn't get 360 working on my computer and at times camera angles made it difficult but from what I did see there was virtually no screens being set by a big, for a big. This is assuming the Kyle counts as a guard. There were screens set for him where he caught the ball at the elbow. One in particular which led to a Mason dunk. Other than that the two big men in the game would usually set screens near the block for the Jon or Nolan to run off of and then attempt to turn and establish position.

That being said this is not a criticism of the team's performance at all. I thought the guys played great and it was a good win. This was just a part of the game that some were interested in which I took the opportunity to concentrate on. Go Duke!

[CDu]

They had 7 blocks in the first 10 and a half minutes. I'm not sure if we adjusted as much as their legs got tired.

I think it's probably a bit of both. The adjustment on our end was that our bigs stopped taking shots around the rim in the second half. We had only four shot attempts by our post guys in the second half: two attempted alley-oops (one successful), one putback off a rebound, and another layup off a Singler assist. The offense came almost entirely from the "big three" in the second half. Not a huge surprise there, of course.

[roywhite]

I think it's probably a bit of both. The adjustment on our end was that our bigs stopped taking shots around the rim in the second half. We had only four shot attempts by our post guys in the second half: two attempted alley-oops (one successful), one putback off a rebound, and another layup off a Singler assist. The offense came almost entirely from the "big three" in the second half. Not a huge surprise there, of course.

Coach K commented on how efficient our second half offense was. If someone has the "points per possession" number for the second half (and additional detail about how that compares to first half and that measure generally), the info would be appreciated. Or other measures of efficiency. thanks.

[gumbomoop]

Relentless. That's the word to describe our team's play last night.

Many good posts on the I St game. I'd like to focus on this point for just a bit, as, IMO, "relentlessness" is maybe the key emotional [?] quality that good players/teams exhibit. [Think Moses Malone, Christian Laettner, Tyler Hans...]

I think I remember the first 1/2 of last season, there were many comments about how fierce Duke's defense was. That's sure the way I remember it.

But this year's team seems even more "relentlessly" efficient, if not quite as "fierce.' It's a calmer, more confident relentlessness, or so it seems to me.

If so, what's happening to inspire the confidence the guys sure look like they have that most of the time, plays are gonna go their way?

Well: (1) Interior defense backing up good on-ball, but not "fierce," perimeter defending. MPs and Z block shots and intimidate. (2) JS and NS are playing amazingly in-tune with each other, and with KS, too, so, so smoothly, in fact, that even though KS's shooting is slightly down, none of them seems worried, so KS hasn't lost confidence in himself, and his teammates still trust him totally. And they are right to do so. (3) This smoothness is evident mostly in superior passing, itself most evident in making the extra pass to open 3s for The Three. (4) Z pretty regularly contributes, and LT the last few games is "fierce." I have criticized LT's chaotic energy, but, wow, he's got energy to burn in disrupting opponents.

In all, the team's rhythm and relentlessness on both O and D is really impressive. They're in a good intuitive zone all 'round, and though there must surely be a bump or two down the road in the ACC, I'm gonna be surprised whenever they lose.

[CDu]

Coach K commented on how efficient our second half offense was. If someone has the "points per possession" number for the second half (and additional detail about how that compares to first half and that measure generally), the info would be appreciated. Or other measures of efficiency. thanks.

Based on a rough review of the ESPN play-by-play, it appears we had 33 possessions. So we scored 45 points on 33 possessions, or 1.36 points per possession. By comparison, in the first half, we scored 41 points on 36 possessions, or 1.14 points per possession.

We got a TON of offensive rebounds in the first half (thanks to all those blocks), which helped our points per possession a bit. I suspect our FG% was substantially better in the second half.

[jjasper0729]

Anyone else get extremely irritated at ESPN for cutting out for the Kansas game? And then going to a commercial break when I knew that Duke was playing at that time (and wasn't in a timeout). I get very verbal with ESPN when stuff like this happens. I expect it to happen at the start of the game when the game before it is still going on, and no one has yet to figure out that 9:00 pm games should actually start at 9:15, but to cut out in the middle of the game was a new one for me. I felt like I was watching the NCAA tournament and they cut in to my duke game to show me a "nail biter" going on elsewhere, which always infuriates me.

a more eloquent response than the one I had while it was happening.

[Udaman]

Biggest concern? By far, for me, it's the lack of playing our bench.

We basically blew this team out, and yet Scheyer, Smith and Singler all played 35 minutes or more (with Scheyer and Smith at 38 minutes). I'm sorry - but that is nuts. I hate to say it's stupid...but it's a dumb, dumb move from Coach K.

I'm a broken record when it comes to this, and honestly, I think it is K's achilles heel - he tends to stop playing people come January. Now, maybe Dawkins is struggling with personal things...and if so, that would explain this. But if not, then Coach K is keeping a player who has shown he can contribute on the bench and playing his regulars...when the last 8 years have shown us that our teams run out of gas come March using this approach.

Hopefully this in an aberration...but I'm worried.

All that said, I really love this team.

[devilboomer]

Biggest concern? By far, for me, it's the lack of playing our bench.

We basically blew this team out, and yet Scheyer, Smith and Singler all played 35 minutes or more (with Scheyer and Smith at 38 minutes). I'm sorry - but that is nuts. I hate to say it's stupid...but it's a dumb, dumb move from Coach K.

I'm a broken record when it comes to this, and honestly, I think it is K's achilles heel - he tends to stop playing people come January. Now, maybe Dawkins is struggling with personal things...and if so, that would explain this. But if not, then Coach K is keeping a player who has shown he can contribute on the bench and playing his regulars...when the last 8 years have shown us that our teams run out of gas come March using this approach.

Hopefully this in an aberration...but I'm worried.

All that said, I really love this team.

The whole reason we were even in in Chicago was for Scheyer.

He had 500 family members and friends in the audience.

Of course he played 38 minutes.

[BD80]

The whole reason we were even in in Chicago was for Scheyer.

He had 500 family members and friends in the audience.

That's nothin'

ol' roy had 50 people staying at his beach house when they played Charleston.

[Kedsy]

Biggest concern? By far, for me, it's the lack of playing our bench.

We basically blew this team out, and yet Scheyer, Smith and Singler all played 35 minutes or more (with Scheyer and Smith at 38 minutes). I'm sorry - but that is nuts. I hate to say it's stupid...but it's a dumb, dumb move from Coach K.

I'm a broken record when it comes to this, and honestly, I think it is K's achilles heel - he tends to stop playing people come January. Now, maybe Dawkins is struggling with personal things...and if so, that would explain this. But if not, then Coach K is keeping a player who has shown he can contribute on the bench and playing his regulars...when the last 8 years have shown us that our teams run out of gas come March using this approach.

Hopefully this in an aberration...but I'm worried.

***heavy sigh***

[Duvall]

***heavy sigh***

Well, look at it this way. If we panic now, we can get a head start on the backbiting and recriminations for later in the year. Everyone wins.

[sagegrouse]

Biggest concern? By far, for me, it's the lack of playing our bench.

We basically blew this team out, and yet Scheyer, Smith and Singler all played 35 minutes or more (with Scheyer and Smith at 38 minutes). I'm sorry - but that is nuts. I hate to say it's stupid...but it's a dumb, dumb move from Coach K.

I'm a broken record when it comes to this, and honestly, I think it is K's achilles heel - he tends to stop playing people come January. Now, maybe Dawkins is struggling with personal things...and if so, that would explain this. But if not, then Coach K is keeping a player who has shown he can contribute on the bench and playing his regulars...when the last 8 years have shown us that our teams run out of gas come March using this approach.

Hopefully this in an aberration...but I'm worried.

All that said, I really love this team.

I hear you. In fact, we all hear you, although believe your concern is too many minutes for certain starters, not just minutes for the bench.

The front court had 5 players log 80 minutes: 30(LT), 19, 15, 12, and 4 (Kelly). That looks like a healthy rotation by any measure.

I believe your problem is with the backcourt (three positions in this analysis): 38, 38, 35, and 6 (Andre). I believe you are arguing that Dawkins should get more minutes. As many, many others have pointed out, there could be a lot of things going on with Andre. I would counsel patience here. If Andre averages 15-20, the other guys will get more time off.

I suppose you may also have a problem with Kelly getting so few minutes. It is not clear to me that RK at 6-10 is a good substitute for Kyle as opposed to another backup for the front court. Next year, our big men will consist of MP1, MP2, Kelly, and, I suppose, Josh Hairston. We will need him inside, and if he turns out to be like Danny Ferry, so much the better.

sagegrouse

[Papa John]

I suppose it made sense for ESPN to do that - its all about the ratings, but I can't help over-reacting when its my team playing in what wasn't a blow-out yet. I tend to yell at the TV when I can't see my team play - whether it makes sense or not...

Agreed... But you almost saw the #1 Kansas Jayhawks go down at home to an Ivy League school! That would have been truly historic, and it was completely appropriate for ESPN to switch away to capture that potential upset of epic proportions...

[Welcome2DaSlopes]

Lance Thomas and Jasmine Thomas look like they can be family. can anyone confirm?

[CDu]

Lance Thomas and Jasmine Thomas look like they can be family. can anyone confirm?

There's no mention of relation in their Duke bios and they're from different states. Maybe distant relatives, though I'd say doubtful.