Great first half from Miles. Great second half from Zoubs. Great game from Smith offensively. Great all-around effort from Singler. Great team effort in the second half after a sluggish start defensively. Great win.
I really do think that there was a effort to not shoot as many three's I definitely saw guy pass up three's to make the extra pass, drive, or even shot fake and take a mid range jumper. Not that they were told NOT to shoot three's, just explore other options.
I don't think that the press was necessary an excuse, but I do think that as a result, the young guys sometimes might have been concentrating on it too much and not thinking about the half court D, resulting in mental errors. It's not acceptable, but its a learning experience against a team that we could afford to make mistakes against.
Great first half from Miles. Great second half from Zoubs. Great game from Smith offensively. Great all-around effort from Singler. Great team effort in the second half after a sluggish start defensively. Great win.
It's great to have height isn't it? Duke out rebounded BC 40 to 25, and Duke had 18 offensive rebounds, that's a lot. Espn stats show both Duke and BC only making 1 three point shot each, which is more than a little strange. Is that correct? Makes the rebounds all the more valuable in getting the win.
Zoubek had 11 boards in 16 minutes, that's getting it done for a big. (Singler had 10 rebounds in 31 minutes)
This is a fun team to watch play, but I can't remember another Duke win where they only made 1 three.
I enjoyed Kyle showing all the things he does for this team - rebounding, jumping passing lanes, finishing on the break. It's not just about scoring.
Miles was fantastic at times.
Sorry. I enjoy the wins, especially the ACC wins. It's part of the journey and we need to applaud the kids when they do well, not qualify our enthusiasm and look for the clouds.
In a positive note that didn't show up on the scoreboard, I thought Andre Dawkins moved well and looked a lot more comfortable on the floor than he has in quite a while. He's starting to pick up the defense. His shots didn't go down, but he took them when available and nearly hit a few.
It looks like almost everyone in the ACC will struggle on the road this year. I did not think Duke would, but I'm beginning to think maybe we will. Jay Bilas may have been correct in that there are no great teams but a lot of good ones this year. Go Duke!
We did what we were supposed to do in the second half and won by 20. Aside from a tough night for Mason, it's hard for me to find complaints tonight. It's a 40-minute game, and we abused them in the second half. BC isn't a great team for sure, but in the ACC anyone can keep it within 3 for a half.
Miles Development=
I was appalled by their play in the 1st half but almost equally as impressed with the 2nd half. Tremendous defensive adjustments. I don't know if they just played with more bounce and enthusiasm, but whatever it was, it was fun to watch! Singler had a great game, not shooting (he's still struggling), but everything else he looked really good. Nolan Smith played a full 40 minutes (figuratively) and he really impressed me. Not much to be disappointed by, at least going by their 2nd half performance.
One note, I like how Bobby Knight mentioned that this was a game to get Andre Dawkins more playing time. I don't know how much PT he got, but it had to be over 10 minutes. At the 8-9 minute mark, I was thinking it was a great time to get Andre in and let him finish the game. He didn't play great, but the more PT he gets and the more shots he has the opportunity to shoot, he'll get it back.
Good job Duke, go get em on Saturday!
Plus, BC has had a lot of injuries this year with several key players missing games. Tonight they had everyone available with some of the guys working their way back from those injuries. They have good players and when totally healthy, they will compete with most teams.
That said, our defense in the 1st half was really bad across the board. Great adjustments at the half combined with our guys playing good D in the 2nd half overwhelmed BC. I thought it was a really good win.
Props to Miles for continuing to get better and having a really good game tonight, and to Nolan for bouncing back with a career high in points. Mason had a tough night but still made some good plays and all the mistakes he made were freshman type mistakes that can easily be corrected.
Zoubs played well in the 2nd half and Jon was steady even without starring on offense. And even that "terrible" player named Singler had a good game Imagine that.
Props to the ref for the worst technical foul call I have seen in some time and the way he glared at Kyle in giving the tech was, to use one of Jumbo's words "infantile" in my opinion. Ridiculous..
Worst half of defensive basketball of the season followed by one of the top 5 for the season. Shows the value of defense to this team (obvious). Agree with those who have said that the token full court pressure was more detrimental to our defense than helpful.
Loved the aggressiveness of Miles for the vast majority of the game. There was one play he caught in the middle of the lane and went down instead of just turning and going up with it, but other than that, he looked great. Zoub made a few quick moves down low too, which was nice to see. He's best when he gets it on the glass and just keeps following it until he gets it in the hole.
Kyle had almost his exact numbers he has averaged for the year and last game he's being called a bum, this one he is played well? I think expectations have been too high and understanding of the other things he brings to our team is too low. I hope his offense starts to click again because he is so fun to watch when he has confidence, but I hope we all can recognize how great the other things he does are. I also think he gets fouled a lot of drives and those are not called. Call it the "Duke treatment."
Nolan was just great most of the game. Loved his controlled attack. Worst game of the year for Scheyer and still the last guy I want to come off the court.
Glad we won with poor shooting. We'll have a tougher time winning against a better team shooting like that, but I think we will shake this off and find a groove shooting the ball again soon.
Oh, and that technical foul call should have been a warning. It is always a warning the first time. Unreal that he called a tech. Unless he had already warned him.
Does Trevor Booker have to celebrate every single basket with a chest pounding and staring at the crowd? Is it a team rule? Unreal. He'd be on the bench for us, no matter how nasty he is.
Dawkins played 17 minutes:
https://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf4/6...DB_OEM_ID=4200
Bob Green
I just want to say that everyone is getting on Mason for a weak night, but I disagree. The general perceptions is that the Plumlees let the defense breakdown a number of times in the 1st half. In addition, Mason did not have a great offensive night. That's all true, but I love seeing a game where Mason's contribution was more than the stat sheet indicated, as opposed to the usual cupcake games where he does less than the box score shows. In this game he made some great passes in transition, initiated our offense from the perimeter a number of times, and a number of almost scores. I don't really care whether those drives become points during this game, the important thing is that he has confidence and is making the right decisions - and for the most part, he is. Brilliant job with his passing, and a much improved defensive showing in the 2nd half.