Can I vote for Coach Ks halftime speech?
Who was Man of the Match in Duke's 76-60 win over UVA in Cameron?
JBDuke
Andre Dawkins: “People ask me if I can still shoot, and I ask them if they can still breathe. That’s kind of the same thing.”
Can I vote for Coach Ks halftime speech?
Ndotsmitty.
i know Nolan was huge but I thought we desperately needed someone besides our big two to come to life. Andre was just huge during our run, and not just the 3's. I loved his pass up court to Nolan on the big dunk. The defense as a whole just really locked down.
I voted for Andre as he completely turned around his play from the last few games and the first half in this game. Without his turn around, we would have been in big trouble. As for the player of the game, that was Nolan Smith. Man among boys. Way to go Nolan. Go Duke!
Nolan was huge today. He willed Duke to victory with 29 points, seven rebounds and six assists and receives my vote for MOTM. I agree Andre Dawkins stepped up big in the second half so he receives honorable mention from me. Ryan Kelly also played strong. Mason Plumlee logged 16 rebounds. Once (if) he figures out how to score in the low post, he will be a beast. Hopefully, the light bulb illuminates sometime before March.
Bob Green
When Andre plays with confidence he is a very important part of the team. He gets his points efficiently and does other things that shows he has a solid court awareness. Thee runner he made where he was fouled followed by the steal and pass to Nolan for the dunk were good exaamples of how well he can play.
The two 3-pointers in a row Andre hit in transition were huge. I really like it when the ball is passed to Andre on the wing and he can let the 3-ball fly before the opponents defense is back and set. In that situation, he is an assassin.
Bob Green
Mason might have got some serious consideration... except he missed an essentially uncontested Dunk. That was just embarrassing. Gotta say the rebounding was nice though, however much UVA was weak underneath the basket.
Last years team took off when Zoubek stopped shooting. I think Mason's role should be the same. 16 rebounds is huge so he is an asset.
The fact is that the offense falls apart when the ball goes through him or Miles. Free throw shooting is also very poor. The Plumlees will hopefully figure out how to be effective, but I don't think more shots and attempting to put offensive rebounds back up at this point in their careers is the answer.
I'm glad Mason can rebound, cause offensively he's a turnover waiting to happen every time he touches the ball. Or so it seemed today.
Nolan was the MAN. He put the team on his back and carried them. By far the best player on the floor. But the gap between him/Kyle and everyone else is immense. Not that others can't come alive at times, but we can't count on it.
Quel est si drole de la paix, de l'amour, et de la comprehension?
I'm sorry, but I just don't understand how anyone could say anyone other than Nolan was the MOM today. He basically carried us the whole game, if not with his own offense, with his assists. He had half our points for the majority of the game until we pulled away late.
In my opinion, he was the man of the match last game, and every game since Kyrie went down. If (God forbid) Nolan were to miss a game for any reason, everyone would see how important he is. Points and stats aside, he does things for our offense that will never be seen on the stat sheet and we would be in a world of hurt with out him.
Mason is nowhere near the rebounder that Zoubek was last year. Everyone get that idea out of your head right now. Everyone was really good about recognizing that Scheyer and Irving were different styles of point guards, but for some reason that lesson hasn't been applied to Zoubek and Mason.
It's not enough for the Plumlees and Kelly to just provide position defense, screen, and rebound. Because they're nowhere near as good at it as LT and Z were last year. They need to find a way to be better on offense and help defense than they are now.
Over the last 10 games of the season, Brian Zoubek averaged 8.2 rebounds per game including 4.0 offensive rebounds per game. These 10 games are when Zoubek was playing the best basketball of his career and really contributing to Duke winning the ACC and National Championships. For the season, Zoubek averaged 7.7 rpg including 3.6 offensive rebounds per game.
Through 17 games this season, Mason Plumlee is averaging 8.5 rebounds per game including 2.4 offensive rebounds per game. In four ACC games, Mason Plumlee is averaging 11.5 rebounds per game including 3.3 offensive rebounds per game.
Statistically, Mason Plumlee is a better overall rebounder than Zoubek but is slightly less effective on the offensive boards. Where Zoubek excelled, and where Mason Plumlee needs to improve, is converting offensive rebounds into second chance points. Zoubek kicked those rebounds out to wide open 3-point shooters who nailed shots on a consistent basis.
Therefore, there is lots of room for improvement in Mason's rebounding efforts but to say he is "nowhere near the rebounder that Zoubek was last year" is false.
Bob Green
Nolan was the best player on the court today.
Andre made the crucial push when it counted.
I voted for Andre but there's no doubt that Nolan was the LEADER of the team.
Can we give two game balls?
You're shortchanging Zoubek here, but maybe you were using the incomplete ESPN stats page, which ends with the ACC tournament game against Miami for some reason. Anyway, Zoubek actually averaged 9.5 rpg over the last ten games, and 10.1 over last sixteen games (starting with the Maryland game).
Your overall point is still valid though; Mason isn't far off that pace (with 8.4 rpg), and he exceeds it in ACC play (with 11.5 rpg). Although Duke is playing at a slightly faster pace this year, those numbers speak for themselves.