MBB: Duke 76 UVA 60 Post-Game Thread

[JBDuke]

Put your post-game thoughts here.

[rotogod00]

Favored by 21. Outscored 'em by 22 in the 2nd half. Must've been a nice halftime speech.

[stillcrazie]

exhale.

[superdave]

This was a real gut check for Duke. They figured out a way to generate energy and step up. I hope fans realize it was a gut check for us too - the first half on the in-game thread was pathetic. People need to have some faith in these players and this coach. There is no better team in the country, but you wouldnt know it from the message boards.

[RoyalBlue08]

Somebody needs to pull a prank on Nolan before the start of every game. He's such a great kid...but when he gets mad he is the best player in the nation.

[CLW]

Dr. Jeckle/Mr. Hyde type performance as the 1st and 2nd halfs were night and day due largely to the effort/intensity on the defensive end.

However the issues we had before mainly lack of a back to the basket scorer still persist.


I'm really curious as to why Miles appears to be in K's doghouse. Although he hasn't played great, IMHO he's played just as well as Mason and Kelly.

EDIT: we also had more turnovers than assists i think for the 3rd game in a row.

[jv001]

I think I deserve some props on the MOTM. Turned the sound off the tv so as not to curse under my breath at Len Elmore. He's the one announcer I almost hate. After silencing lennie babbie, we played much better. Must have been the bad vibes I was giving off. Go Duke!

[superdave]

We added some new offensive wrinkles today. Nolan posted up 3-4 times and we ran the ball through him to either make a move or pass. Kyle played a lot more at the 4, most likely due to VA being under-sized with Mike Scott injured. We picked up full-court a few times which seemed like a move to generate energy and mess up their rhythm. Also, we looked to find our bigs flashing to the rim.

[CameronDuke]

I am impressed with Tony Bennett's effort at UVA. Their kids play good defense and are a few injuries away from being in the upper realm of the ACC. Give him another year or two with his type of recruits believing in his system and they could be contenders.

Nolan Smith obviously continued his great play. His various scoring abilities carried us. He hit jumpers, had a nasty dunk, got to the line, and at one time displayed some of the best post moves of anyone on our team. He is the MOTM today. I was impressed with Mason's rebounding, but there was one play where he showed glimpses of being Zoubek like. He tipped a ball out on a rebound that he couldn't quite get to at the 8:10 mark that gave us another shot to score. Dawkins hit a 3 right after that and the game was basically sealed. If he does that more often, we will be better.

I also liked that Kelly got some easy buckets inside, we need more of that. Our 3 point shooting is still abysmal, but hopefully they will start falling. Dawkins heated up a bit in the second half, but we missed lots of uncontested 3s. UVA played good defense, but our horrid shooting included several wide open shots. We ratcheted up the D in the second half on the run around the 10:00 mark which ultimately proved the difference.

On to NCSU Wednesday and another hostile environment. I love ACC basketball!

Go Duke

[ice-9]

Tale of two halves. We attacked and moved the ball better in the second half. Shots started dropping, especially for Dawkins. Our on-the-ball defense also improved a lot, which led to better overall defense. One thing I liked is our guards doing a better job finding our bigs rolling to the basket.

The only thing I would've liked to see is Singler asserting himself more offensively. He should be taking more than 9 shots a game, especially considering the number of minutes he plays.

[ncexnyc]

This was a real gut check for Duke. They figured out a way to generate energy and step up. I hope fans realize it was a gut check for us too - the first half on the in-game thread was pathetic. People need to have some faith in these players and this coach. There is no better team in the country, but you wouldnt know it from the message boards.

It's one thing to say "there is no better team in the country" and that very well may be true. However you also have to play like you're the best and that certainly wasn't the case in the first half.

[Lord Ash]

I have to say, I am generally very happy with Seth's ability and willingness to drive. He is very able to penetrate, and seems good at both going all the way to try to score as well as holding up and trying the midrange floater or jumper. He is awful good at it, I think, even if his shots haven't fallen a ton recently.

[sandinmyshoes]

Let's not kid ourselves. Virginia started to run out of gas about midway through the second half. We were playing better, to be sure, but it wasn't all about us today.

Still, we won by double digits. I think this being the best team in college basketball is a goal and not where we are right now. To be one of five or six teams most likely to make that leap is a good spot to be in, but there's still work to do.

[HateCarolina]

I commented earlier that I think he is taking good shots, but the ball seems just not to fall for him. Hopefully that will change b/c I do agree that he had some nice drives today which could be really good for setting up Kelly and the Plumlees for easy shots with a quick dish or a kick out for an open three (assuming we start to hit them a little more consistently).

[DukieInBrasil]

I really don't understand why Miles isn't playing more than 4 minutes in an ACC game. He grabbed 2 boards and didn't commit any gaffes more garish than some of Mason's. Is Miles hurt?

[marinbobbyduhon]

Tale of two halves. We attacked and moved the ball better in the second half. Shots started dropping, especially for Dawkins. Our on-the-ball defense also improved a lot, which led to better overall defense. One thing I liked is our guards doing a better job finding our bigs rolling to the basket.

The only thing I would've liked to see is Singler asserting himself more offensively. He should be taking more than 9 shots a game, especially when considering the number of minutes he plays.

I was thinking the very same thing about Kyle's lack of shots. What is causing this?
I don't think that it's good when an AA is not looking for his shots. I will say in the first half he was open a few times for some easy baskets, and for whatever reason, Nolan didn't seem to be looking for him. That is a concern, as our offense is not flowing very easily right now. It could just be excellent defense by our opposition, though. I hope this doesn't become a trend, as we definitely need Kyle's offense as well as defense and leadership, to be successful come tourney time, IMO.

[NovaScotian]

I'm really curious as to why Miles appears to be in K's doghouse. Although he hasn't played great, IMHO he's played just as well as Mason and Kelly.

i too am curious about why miles is getting so little playing time, though i wouldn't say he's playing as well as his brother or even ryan, mostly because mason is rebounding like a modern day cherokee parks out there and r kelly is providing some great ignition with his passing. miles must not be earning his playing time by not going balls out in practice.

[HateCarolina]

I am not too worried about Kyle's FG attempts. He only had 9 against UVA, but 16 against FSU.

[Saratoga2]

With the exception of Nolan we seemed to come out flat. Little or no contribution from anyone not named Nolan Smith. Our defense was also lost and out bigs had trouble making chippies, except for Kelly to be fair about that. That continued into the second half. No lineup changes seemed to spark any offense until something ignited Duke after the coach K timeout at roughly 4 minutes into the second half.

It looked like our defensive intensity picked up and we had a lineup with Nolan, Kyle, Seth, Andre and Mason in. The primary sub after that was Kelly. With the defensive intensity all of a sudden other players started to hit shots. Dawkins took shots and hit them consistently, Curry also contributed with Nolan staying hot and Kyle contributing 7. Mason was a rebounding machine today, maybe due to his size and athleticism advantages.

I aam at a loss to understand why there was such a difference in Duke play in the halfs. Anyone offer thoughts?

I have been thinking that we win when Kyle and Nolan put up around 40, Andre and Seth around 15 and the bigs around 15. We should be able to hold teams under 70 on most nights. Tonight we I had Nolan with 29 or 30 and Kyle with 13. So they hit 42 or 43 combined. Andre had 14 and Seth 7 for 21 combined and Kelly with 8 and Mason with 5 for 13 combined. That seems to be a good distribution for us but most of our scoring came in the second half.

By the way, I found the segment of broadcast in Mandarin superior than when Dickie V does his commentary. Not that Patrick and Elmore are that great either.

[Reilly]

My counting may be off, but I think it's now 49-11 since here's to never forgetting tonight.