MBB: Duke 97, Princeton 60 Post Game Thread

[cptnflash]

Not too shabby.
Loved the tribute, and the "safety school" chant

Agree about the tribute, but the safety school chant seems misplaced here. If Princeton is a safety school, what is the first choice? I thought the crazies were off base on that one.

[OldPhiKap]

Good first game, and some film for the coaches to use as well. We played a pretty disciplined team, and adjusted to put it away handily.

Kyle, Nolan -- stone cold killers. They look ready to go, and I love Nolan's leadership.

REALLY impressed with Seth's leadership and talking, and he clearly knew how to run the second unit at the end. He showed that he is a first unit talent and will get minutes.

Dre, nice adjustment to make shots.

Inside, I see the potential for Ryan really pushing MPx2. Which is a very good thing.

Kyrie, very understated yet great stat line. Wait until he really kicks it into gear.


So, a bit ragged but understandable. We have a great schedule coming up to test us in a number of ways. I'm really excited to see how it all gels along the way this year.

[OldPhiKap]

Agree about the tribute, but the safety school chant seems misplaced here. If Princeton is a safety school, what is the first choice? I thought the crazies were off base on that one.

Um, Duke ?!?

[Oriole Way]

Agree about the tribute, but the safety school chant seems misplaced here. If Princeton is a safety school, what is the first choice? I thought the crazies were off base on that one.

That's the reason for the chant, it's just trash talking. Everyone knows that Princeton is one of the top 3-5 schools in the country, Crazies were just talking up their own school and putting down the opponent.

It's no different than chanting at an opponent's stud player and telling him he's no good.

[OldPhiKap]

That's the reason for the chant, it's just trash talking. Everyone knows that Princeton is one of the top 3-5 schools in the country, Crazies were just talking up their own school and putting down the opponent.

It's no different than chanting at an opponent's stud player and telling him he's no good.

"Shaq can't slam! Shaq can't slam!"

-- 1990 +/-

[Oriole Way]

By the way, my favorite play of the game might have been Tyler Thorton's steal and layup in the second half. He really read the ball well and covered a ton of ground to make the steal.

I just love Thornton as player and a kid who loves Duke and his team. I really think he can be a starting PG on a championship-caliber team by the time he's a senior, I just hope he sticks around through the parade of NBA-quality guards that will be coming through Durham during his first few seasons.

[MB in MD]

Ok...people. time to grasp some fundamental, rudimentary basketball concepts-the pressure man-to-man combined with high volume of 3's=a drop in rebounding numbers.

Our defense was not solid or good-it was superb.

This was the most gratifying thing to me. Our traditional overplaying man-to-man has always put us at risk for the back door. And today we played perhaps the best system in the universe to exploit the back door, and yet got victimized only rarely. We followed our guys when that was the right thing to do, and, most of the time switched well when it wasn't. If today is an indication, we are ahead of where I'd hoped we'd be on defense.

My only (tiny) negative was that there was a stretch in the first half where we became a jumpshooting team against their zone. We may be a much-better-than-average jumpshooting team, but we are a much, much, better-than-average team when we attack. 97 points on last years #1 points-against team is a great showing.

[dchen09]

Agree about the tribute, but the safety school chant seems misplaced here. If Princeton is a safety school, what is the first choice? I thought the crazies were off base on that one.

lol, relax. It's just a basketball game. It's just to annoy them.

[Dukeface88]

Re Boards: I think this had a lot to do with Kyle being held out due to foul trouble, coupled with the 3-guard sets we were playing against Princeton's zone. It's something to watch going forward, but I don't think there's anything to be concerned about now.

Re Princeton's zone: LOL. I guess that's the last time anyone tries that.

Re the post: The Plumlees still have some work to do on the defensive end, but they're learning. (ETA: Also, keep in mind that backdoor cuts killed us last year; that's an area we've probably improved on already). Their stats would have been much more impressive if we had converted the oops in the first half. I think we'll probably see some flashes early (something like Wake last year) with consistency coming later. I was encouraged by what we saw from Kelly and Hairston (well, except for Kelly's last shot that kept us under the century). Kelly was fighting for rebounds (and winning) and Hairston has some nice hustle plays. Having depth off the bench will make the fouls more bearable.

Re Kyrie: Hey, UNC. This is what a number 1 freshman should look like. Enjoy.

Re everyone else: Nolan and Kyle have picked up right where they left off. Dre looks like he has much improved his handle and off ball movement, but still needs to work on his passing. Seth had some early game jitters, and but brought it in the second half. Thornton's rep as a defensive stopper looks legit.

ETA2: We seem to have answered the "Who takes free throws?" question with "Whoever's on the court".

[ajgoodfella7]

What an awesome sight to see this team pushing the tempo like the good old days.

The only thing I think that can keep this team from being #1 at the end when it counts is the development of our post defense. It is early and it will take some time, but hopefully we can play a little stronger down low, with and without the ball.

Kyrie, Kyle and Nolan were all superb. Particularly impressive were Irving's and Nolan's on the ball defense.

Also I was really happy to see Andre get so much time off the bench and it looks like he has become a much better defensive player.

I was also happy that Seth got a chance to turn it on after the slow offensive start.

Whatever happens from here on out, it should be a fun year.

[cptnflash]

MP shaved the beard. We're doomed.

Compared to Miles, Ryan Kelly had more points, more boards, fewer fouls, and fewer turnovers, all in less minutes. Maybe it's time for Ryan to grow the beard!

According to SCACCHoops.com, the only aspect of the game in which we were beaten was rebounding percentage, on both ends of the floor. I remain very concerned about the Plumlees.

[uh_no]

Agree about the tribute, but the safety school chant seems misplaced here. If Princeton is a safety school, what is the first choice? I thought the crazies were off base on that one.

duke....and he missed the freethrow...which was all that mattered

[ChillinDuke]

Excellent first game. Very impressive.

We started a little slow/rusty and really adjusted well toward the end of the first half. The second half was all us.

A few things that jumped out at me:

I get the drop in rebounding numbers that people have been pointing out/expecting. But I didn't like the way we rebounded. Particularly, the Plumlees had more than a few plays where they didn't grab the ball strong. I almost liked Ryan's rebounding better than the Plumbros. He just looked stronger going up. Anyone else notice this?

Nolan looked noticeably improved to me. He slashed quite well today and more often than I remember him doing last year. Also finished well near the rim.

Kyrie looked fantastic in his first game.

I liked the look we gave when we ran the offense through a big (Mason or Ryan) at the top of the key. Mason made some nice passes, and Ryan is a threat to shoot from there. Mason did force the issue once or twice, but I thought it was more often than not an effective option and a different look to the offense. Were we doing this to break the zone, though? Or does anyone think this may be in our offensive arsenal throughout the year?

MP1 did not look as improved as I was hoping. Game #1 though, so not looking into this too much.

We also did an excellent job breaking up their back door passes. Historically, I feel like this is something that we have struggled mightily with (at least in the last 3-5 years). I want to say it was Georgetown a few years back that was killing us on back doors. Really liked that we were able to shut many of them down...often even resulting in fast breaks.

Overall, such a great first game against an opponent that is far from irrelevant. So excited the season is here. And can't wait for Tuesday night.

GO DUKE!!!

Edit - Looks like MB in MD beat me to the back door idea.

[roywhite]

Compared to Miles, Ryan Kelly had more points, more boards, fewer fouls, and fewer turnovers, all in less minutes. Maybe it's time for Ryan to grow the beard!

According to SCACCHoops.com, the only aspect of the game in which we were beaten was rebounding percentage, on both ends of the floor. I remain very concerned about the Plumlees.

We'll see; it was the first game.

There were some very impressive performances, which apparently you've chosen to ignore.

[taiw93]

Perhaps the most encouraging thing about this year's team is Kyrie's ability to create easy buckets (like his dish to Nolan late in the first half). We will have plenty of games where we rebound poorly or shoot poorly (though it IS hard to imagine all of our weapons having bad games at once), but the ability to break down a defense for layups never takes a day off.

[Reddevil]

We have been spoiled rotten at the charity stripe with Jon, and JJ. This is a luxury that few teams have ever had. Now, who gets the call in crunch time? Thoughts?

[tylervinyard]

I was impressed with Kyrie's defense. I think he could, given K's coaching, develop into an amazing, amazing pest. He just seems to have an enormous hunger to go along with all of his athletic gifts.

Every time Kyle shot the ball, I thought it was going in. If he hadn't picked up those 4 fouls, he could have scored 30 easily. However, I think it was a blessing in disguise. His foul trouble allowed others to get more game minutes.

Nolan looked as good tonight as he did during the summer in the Pro-AM. He seems to have more hops than his first three years, and his handle has improved so much.

I continue to be impressed with Mason's passing skills. Happy to see Seth get comfortable as the game went along, and Andre looks like a different person than last year or even over the summer. He just seemed bored when I watched him in the Pro-AM. I really like his floater in addition to his sweet jumper. I think Ryan may take away Mile's starting spot eventually. I don't see anyone but Miles losing their starting spot this year, though. Ryan just seems to "get it" more than Miles, although he's obviously much less gifted athletically. Hairston needs to add some weight, especially in his legs. He just seems to be knocked off balance too easily, but I do like his potential. Tyler is going to be great defensively if he ever gets minutes.

I'm not too worried about our rebounding, except maybe that game with Michigan St., who I can see just pounding us on the boards. I'm more worried about the defensive footwork of the Plumlees. I absolutely love that we forced 27 turnovers and scored 97 points on a team like Princeton who historically controls the pace of the game and typically makes smart passes. We didn't get back-doored as much as I thought we would, which I'm very happy about.

All in all a very promising debut!

[uh_no]

We have been spoiled rotten at the charity stripe with Jon, and JJ. This is a luxury that few teams have ever had. Now, who gets the call in crunch time? Thoughts?

seth....he looked pretty at the line

[camion]

We have been spoiled rotten at the charity stripe with Jon, and JJ. This is a luxury that few teams have ever had. Now, who gets the call in crunch time? Thoughts?

We were 11of 12 tonight and even more heartening is that Kyrie, the guy who will probably be handling the ball at the end, was 6 for 6. I'm fine with any of Kyle, Nolan, Seth, Andre or Kyrie stepping to the line. I might add Ryan Kelly to that list too. We'll see.

And as for my impressions of the game, the first half went about as I expected though we were able to rattle Princeton more than I has anticipated. The second half was... Wow, just Wow. We ran them off of the court.

[BD80]

Mad props to all of those posters who said months ago that Kyle would be playing a lot at the "4." Thank you, thank you. It took all of 5 minutes before it happened, and we played 3 guards most (?) of the game.

Our perimeter players are so good, we will see 3 guards quite a bit with Kyle sliding down low. But I think you will see less and less of it as the post guys get better.

Mason will get the most post minutes for a while - he will be getting all the attention and he will tantalize - having great stretches and horrible stretches. Mason will grow steadier and steadier and be one of our key weapons. I feel a bit bad for Miles because his role has changed each season, and he seems so lost at times. I predict he will have some key games down the stretch and his minutes will grow. Ryan could go either way - I hope he breaks out, but every time think he understands the defense better than any of the other post players - he gets burned on a back door cut.

All three big guys need some serious work on hand strength - way too many rebounds bounce off their hands or are stripped out.

Boy is this going to be a fun team to watch this year!