Kelly's 1st half and Curry's 2nd half?
Voted for Curry as he really got on a roll late and that slacker Kelly finally missed a shot.
Who was Man of the Match in Duke's 84-68 win over BC?
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.”
Kelly's 1st half and Curry's 2nd half?
Voted for Curry as he really got on a roll late and that slacker Kelly finally missed a shot.
One of the toughest MOTM decisions in a long time.
First, you have Nolan Smith, who led our Duke team not only in points (28 on 10-20 shooting) and assists (8 with only 1 turnover!) but also in terms of dictating pace and tone of offense. He was a leader in this game.
Then you have a Duke career high 20-point game for Seth Curry, who hit some amazing shots (5-7 from three point land) and had a good all around game with 2 offensive rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals.
Of course there was Ryan Kelly, who other than Nolan was the only offensive weapon in the first half (overall 14 points on 6-9 shooting). More than that though was his dominant post defense; he was credited with 4 blocks but altered many more. In a game where BC was getting a lot of cuts, Ryan's post defense was key. He also corralled 4 rebounds.
Then there's Mason who is emerging as a rebounding machine with 12 rebounds, 3 offensive. If he only shot a better free throw percentage he would have ended up with a double double.
It's a really tough call among these four and among Nolan, Seth and Ryan especially.
Last edited by ice-9; 01-27-2011 at 10:15 PM.
Nolan...I love Curry shooting the ball that way but Nolan was the man.
Lots of good choices but I voted for Nolan. He had his game swagger going and the ball was in his hands whenever the offense needed a play.
When you talk about Nolan Smith you talk about a guy who is leading the ACC in both scoring and assists. You're talking about a guy who gets to the rim better than anyone in the nation. He can go right, he can go left, he can finish on the break, he can hit the mid range jumper or the 3 ball. Here's a guy who is the emotional leader of the defending NCAA champs. Here's a guy who I think sped up Boston College all night long so they could not play their pace. When you talk about Nolan Smith, you're talking about a player who knows he's the best player on the court night in and night out. He knows that and he plays that way.
Super "I'll stop now" Dave
My vote was for Nolan but, my heart was with Kyle. He's giving the team everything he's got in any way he can. If he hadn't come back this year, we wouldn't even have Nolan. Singler is iron.
Love, Ima
Curry. Really not sure why all the Nolan love. He performed good, but was very sloppy at times, often driving and then forcing bad shots rather than passing. 10-20 is not a great line guys.
Curry on the other hand, was dominant. Just great game.
Honorable mention to RK, for still being awesome, even if he missed a shot or two.
<devildeac> anyone playing drinking games by now?
7:49:36<Wander> drink every qb run?
7:49:38<loran16> umm, drink every time asack rushes?
7:49:38<wolfybeard> @devildeac: drink when Asack runs a keeper
7:49:39 PM<CB&B> any time zack runs, drink
Carolina Delenda Est
Gimme the man with 20 pts on only 9 shots
Why stop? I thought Seth was an absolute dagger; that Kyle had the quietest 14 points anyone has ever scored; that Kelly was a rock when we needed him and Mason was a rebounder and an inside presence all night (pretty outlet pass, too) - but the MOTM controlled the tempo, had 8 assists against just one TO and scored 28 himself.
Honestly, I wanted to vote for Seth with his great hustle on defense and his personal high score, but I just couldn't deny the excellence that was Nolan Smith tonight. He toyed with this game.
I couldn't agree more with the praise for Nolan tonight. I think some fans take him for granted, but he may be the best player in the country so far. Very key contributions tonight for the ever-improving Ryan and the streaky-but-hot-tonight Seth. But Nolan is the leader who makes it go, the leading scorer, the leading assist guy, and he had some great defensive plays as well.
Mason is a liability on offense but is becoming exceptional on defense. He and a number of others got burned tonight by moving over to help while exposing their man, but his rebounding and blocking ability are becoming exceptional.
Quel est si drole de la paix, de l'amour, et de la comprehension?
I was so impressed with Seth Curry tonight. Did not force anything. He was on fire and deadly. He hustled and dove on the floor and gave a great pass to Kelly for the dunk. In transition his three is deadly. Is Dawkins in the doghouse because of his defense? Or does Coach K just go with the hot hand and the other just sits. This would have been a game you would think we could go small and dribble and kick.
Great game by Kelly, Smith and Curry tonight.
Singler has got to figure out how to finish at the rim. I loved his dunk tonight in transition. Mason and Miles need to put up 500 free throws every day and figure it out. This could come back and haunt us in the tourney.
So a little negative. Love the hustle and sense of urgency tonight. Go Duke!!
The Terrapin Assassin
<devildeac> anyone playing drinking games by now?
7:49:36<Wander> drink every qb run?
7:49:38<loran16> umm, drink every time asack rushes?
7:49:38<wolfybeard> @devildeac: drink when Asack runs a keeper
7:49:39 PM<CB&B> any time zack runs, drink
Carolina Delenda Est
What about when you also put up 8 assists with 1 T.O.? If you're only looking at shooting percentage then yes, vote for Seth. If you're looking at defense, rebounding, and overall contribution in addition to shooting/scoring there is certainly a case to be made for both guys (and Kelly?) but I think its still Nolan by a fair margin and it most certainly was a great performance from him.
I think the 1 turnover is misleading. As I was saying, it seemed to me that Nolan was at least a few times (without watching the game or not, I can't put forth an exact number, but i'd guess 5 or more times), Nolan would drive into the lane, jack up a bad shot and result in a one and done possession. Those don't count as turnovers. But they're awfully similar (except they don't lead to fast break points, which is why turnovers are worse than missed unrebounded shots).
Seth was dominant played great D, heck even had 2 offensive boards. He was the better man today.
Nolan needs to dial down the amount of shots he takes...if he did, he'd have a similar amount of points while the team would score more. Not that he's not pretty good performing as he did today...but he wasn't the best player.
<devildeac> anyone playing drinking games by now?
7:49:36<Wander> drink every qb run?
7:49:38<loran16> umm, drink every time asack rushes?
7:49:38<wolfybeard> @devildeac: drink when Asack runs a keeper
7:49:39 PM<CB&B> any time zack runs, drink
Carolina Delenda Est
Nolan, for all-around game and for doing it for 40. But mad props for Seth and Ryan, who both made big steps forward tonight.
Well, 50% fg would put you in the top 30 in the NBA right now (and #7 amongst all NBA guards).
Not to take away from Curry's awesome game, but -- coming in to this game, if Curry were the one averaging 20.1 pts per game and Nolan averaging 7.6, would you still think Curry was MOTM?
<devildeac> anyone playing drinking games by now?
7:49:36<Wander> drink every qb run?
7:49:38<loran16> umm, drink every time asack rushes?
7:49:38<wolfybeard> @devildeac: drink when Asack runs a keeper
7:49:39 PM<CB&B> any time zack runs, drink
Carolina Delenda Est