MBB: FSU 66, Duke 61 Post Game Thread

[terrih]

Coach K nailed it in the post-game presser.
He said that we showed up to play, not to fight.
FSU showed up to fight.

Agree- i thought this summed it up very well. And I agree with the person who said he was pretty calm- he was. He seemed to know this was coming almost... That said, the team can work to get better- that is what it is about. LGD!

[tbyers11]

There are exactly 2 players on this team who have played major starting roles before this season in Nolan and Kyle. Everyone else is still adjusting to their increased roles in the increased intensity of the ACC. Everyone is adjusting to their roles on a team without Kyrie against "good" teams. There is a lot of room for improvement, particularly in the post. Hopefully it occurs and Duke improves over the next months. I still think we go 13-3, 12-4 at worst in the ACC.

Kyrie was great and he made us the odds-on-favorite for the championship. Losing him hurts big time. No team in the country this year losing a 1st or 2nd team AA, particularly a point guard, isn't going to be lessened. I think we are still definitely one of the top 5 teams in the country and have a damn good shot at the Final 4 depending on matchups.

As for tonight, FSU came out physical and knocked us back. Their length and athleticism makes them IMO the best defensive team in the country and a bad matchup for us. We didn't block out well and weren't strong with the ball on offense. We relied on the 3 too much and didn't drive to draw fouls. This was FSU's season tonight. After losing to Auburn last week, there was pretty much no way they make the NCAA without winning this game and they played like it. Kitchen hit some TOUGH shots late and got lucky as hell on that 3 that hit the back rim and fell in. Hats off to the Noles for bringing it tonight.

Duke has been fairly sloppy the last few games with turnovers, fundamentals and loose balls and it finally led to a loss tonight. The margin for error with this team is much smaller without Kyrie and we have to improve on those things. Sometimes, no matter how hard you are thinking and practicing, it takes a loss to refocus the intensity and drive. Hopefully this game serves the purpose and teaches the team what kind of intensity and focus you have to bring every night even in a weakened ACC.

[gofurman]

Anyone know why Miles got no time tonight?

THat put it at a 6 man rotation... roughly

[BigZ]

A road loss to a good team isn't the end of the world, but this is 2006 without Kyrie. It's scary how similar they are.

1. Redick = Smith
2. Williams = Singler
3. McRoberts = Mason (Both -edited- McDonald's AA)
4. Nelson = Dawkins (both 1 dimensional in what they do offensively)
5. Paulus = Curry (both good shooters, good hoops IQ, can't sniff a drive)

Again not the end of the world, but could see a Sweet 16 exit against a team just like this and just like LSU.

This team has more all around talent but that team had two big men better than anything we have inside now.

[azzefkram]

I don't understand the negativism toward the Brothers Plumlee. Mason was 1 for 3 with 14 boards. If you want an inside game, pass the ball to the guy when he's on the block and give him room to work. A resounding majority of the time the Brothers Plumlee receive the ball at the 3-point line or in traffic.

[1 24 90]

Overall, an awful performance. The team seemed a little rattled/unsure.

I am concerned about NC State next Wednesday but for now I plan on reminsicing about the 25 wins that preceded tonight and hoping that my flight on Saturday to Durham goes as scheduled and I can enjoy the first win in a new winning streak.

Go Duke!

[94duke]

FSU played hard for 40 minutes and were very aggressive rebounding. I haven't seen the numbers, but it seemed we were soundly out rebounded. They also got a lot of offense from Kitchen and Singleton. The defense on them wasn't horrible, they just hit tough shots.

Mason did the best job in the rebounding department for us, but there was essentially no offense from him. Even a chippie from 6 inches was beyond him tonight. Lacking any inside scoring from our bigs was known to be a weakness, and it continued to show up tonight.

I thought the turnovers by our team really hurt. Dawkins, Singler, Curry and Nolan all had their share. The FSU defense really bothered us. Guys tried to dribble through a defender and their quick hands turned us over numerous times. My guess is we had something like 20 TO's

We shot a lot of threes and were way off for a much of the game. Both Nolan and Kyle tried to shoulder most of the burden, and for the team to be successful they have to. They got 39 between them and that was not bad, but sometimes they need to think of involving others rather than forcing the ball. The decision making needs to be better. Curry and Dawkins each had 8, but we got only three points inside from our bigs.


Our end of game execution was poor. Curry got the ball with a chance to even the game but he tried to dribble through two defenders rather than passing to an open Nolan. Singler took a very long 3 and Nolan rushed a shot. I though we had a chance, but the poor execution at the end was not getting it done.

Seeing Scheyer in the stands was nice. We needed someone like him to make good decisions. Kyrie would have helped a lot, but alas he may not come back this year.

We out-rebounded them 38 - 35.
We got 71% of available def rebounds to their 64%.
We got 36% of available off rebounds to their 29%.

http://www.scacchoops.com/ViewHDGame...e=7008&bView=0

[jv001]

I thought this thread was about my St. Louis Cardinals pitching rotation. I don't know why Miles did not get much pt. It could be because we were being out rebounded badly at the beginning of the game. By the way, that zone defense didn't last long. Go Duke!

[dukeballboy88]

miles and mason combined for 3 points tonight.

[Greg_Newton]

We're going to need to figure out how to score more than 16 points off of two-pointers. Whenever you miss twenty-four threes and make only eight twos, your offense is getting a little stagnant and one-dimensional.

[TheRob8801]

Anyone know why Miles got no time tonight?

THat put it at a 6 man rotation... roughly

Because that's what K does in games like this.

Why does this still get questioned?

[Billy Dat]

Looking at the ESPN box score, a few things jump out...

-We may have played 8 guys, but he basically went with Nolan, Kyle, Andre, Mason, Seth the whole game. Kelly played 15 mins, but the rest were 30+. Miles only played 6 mins, I guess K didn't like his early play.

-Mason pulled down 14 boards, but only took 3 shots. He missed a few chippies. While I agree that the guards have to try and help him get going, he needs to get himself going more - try and get some putbacks, etc.

-The rebounding story was pretty even, but I am sure others agree that it seemed like FSU corralled all the really big ones. We picked up a lot based on their poor first half shooting.

[Finnerator]

Dawkins was a huge liability on both ends of the floor...there were atleast two times that he literally had the ball taken away from him without any resistance. He caused our defense to break down too many times to count which led to wide open shots...I was disappointed with many things tonight but he really STUCK OUT in a bad way....his body language and decision making was horrendous. and more importantly this was a conference game for men....instead of rising to the occasion...he looked scared....as did curry. lastly,because FSU didn't fear them driving at all, they cherry picked off of them to help on Nolan and Kyle when they drove the basketball into the post...Mason had a good game on the boards but was doing alot of rebounding against several FSU players that were crashing the boards tonight

[jipops]

That said, this was just an off game. We are still a very good team, though clearly not the best team in the country. IMO, that honor belongs to either Kansas or Ohio State.

I don't agree that this was just an off game. Don't minimize what FSU accomplished here. They are one of the top defensive teams in the nation along with Maryland. It isn't coincidence that our recent offensive struggles have coincided with playing those two teams.

They shredded us because they were quicker and far more powerful around the basket. Singleton and Kitchen were matchup problems for us.

[BlueintheFace]

I don't understand the negativism toward the Brothers Plumlee. Mason was 1 for 3 with 14 boards. If you want an inside game, pass the ball to the guy when he's on the block and give him room to work. A resounding majority of the time the Brothers Plumlee receive the ball at the 3-point line or in traffic.

I think a lot of it has to do with the little things he doesn't do or does wrong (tries to block shots he shouldn't rather than boxing out, slow on defensive rotations, almost never boxes out and just tries to outjump everybody, etc...)

Low IQ mistakes tend to upset people a lot more than other mistakes. It also becomes even more frustrating because of the flashes of brilliance exhibited.

[Utley]

I'd like to the team for an amazing 25 game streak - it was a helluva ride!

The beauty of a basketball season is that it reveals who/what you are at that point in time. Like all things in life, Duke's season will depend on how they learn and respond (along with the progress of a certain toe you may be aware of).

I have a lot of faith that we'll get the best this group has to offer - and that we'll really like the outcome.

[jv001]

We out-rebounded them 38 - 35.
We got 71% of available def rebounds to their 64%.
We got 36% of available off rebounds to their 29%.

http://www.scacchoops.com/ViewHDGame...e=7008&bView=0

I have not seen the boxscore but I would say that Mason and Kyle had the majority of our boards. Go Duke!

[Richard Berg]

Wondering why Miles didn't get back in the game after the start -- or did he, and I just missed him?

Me too. As their big men manhandled us and Mason kept making mental errors (loose ball fouls, getting torched defensively), I kept yelling at Dickie V to shutup about [misc anecdote] and tell me what the heck happened to MP1. Miles seemed a much better choice for his physical strength and relative lack of freshman mistakes. Came here specifically to find out...but sounds like DBR doesn't know either. Must've ruffled some feathers in practice.

PS: I don't think he started. IIRC it was Kyle-Nolan-Dre-Seth-Kelly.

[1 24 90]

Dawkins was a huge liability on both ends of the floor...there were atleast two times that he literally had the ball taken away from him without any resistance. He caused our defense to break down too many times to count which led to wide open shots...I was disappointed with many things tonight but he really STUCK OUT in a bad way....his body language and decision making was horrendous. and more importantly this was a conference game for men....instead of rising to the occasion...he looked scared....as did curry. lastly,because FSU didn't fear them driving at all, they cherry picked off of them to help on Nolan and Kyle when they drove the basketball into the post...Mason had a good game on the boards but was doing alot of rebounding against several FSU players that were crashing the boards tonight

I agree. I think the youth and inexperience of Curry & Dawkins showed tonight. Luckily, there is plenty of time for them to grow into their roles.

[wtm001]

Yahoo Sports updated the shooting percentage to 31%, I apologize.