MOTM: Duke vs. St Johns (Jan 30, 2011)

[JBDuke]

Who was Man of the Match in Duke's 93-78 loss to St. Johns?

[CLW]

Tough call between Nolan and Kyle. I also though that Kelly played fairly well. In the end went with Nolan.

[LSanders]

Maybe we should add ... My Local Bartender

[Kfanarmy]

Gonna go with Casey. One of the few players that wasn't a liability in the 1st half when the game was lost.

[cakerace]

If I've ever needed a "paradigm of opTOEmism," today is the day...

[buddy]

How can there be a MOTM after such a thorough loss? If ANYONE had stood out in the first half, when it really counted, the result might have been different.

[duke74]

Who was Man of the Match in Duke's 93-78 loss to St. Johns?

Dwight Hardy or Justin Brownlee. NO ONE from Duke deserves it, despite the effort late in the game. Sorry.

[RoyalBlue08]

I thought during the first ten minutes of the game, the only guy that looked to me like he was giving 100% effort on the defensive end was Andre, so he gets my vote.

[Hancock 4 Duke]

Did anyone else notice that on the front page MOTM, Josh Hairston has NEGATIVE 1% Of the votes? Didn't think he did that bad..

[wilson]

I guess Kyle was the best player, but I'm abstaining this time. Nobody in blue (I mean black...UGH) earned this title today.

[Cameron]

If I were into the stuff, I'd nominate smack. As I am not (currently), however, my choice has to be Nolan Smith. He scored 27 points in the second half and is the primary reason we lost by 15 rather than 40. I guess that counts as a Man of the Match.

[CDu]

I went with Smith, but even that's a tough one. He was awesome in the second half (which is why he got my vote), but he was nonexistent in the first half when we lost the game. Unfortunately, nobody else was up to the challenge of filling his shoes.

[tele]

I voted for Tyler. He showed a lot of moxie and little, if any, back-down against a chippy st johns team. I don't know what his technical was for, they never showed it or said on the tv coverage, but it was a double T. If Kyrie wasn't likely coming back I think we'd be seeing more of the lineup with Tyler at the point and Singler at 4.

[loran16]

I'm confused about people voting for Kyle. No one was hitting 3s. But Nolan was the only one scoring for whole parts of the game, scored the most, and well, Kyle missed at least 3 open 3s in the first half and more in the 2nd.

20 points on 17 shots is not really efficient, and shouldn't get you MotM unless EVERYONE ELSE was dreadful. Nolan of course had 32 points on 19 shots. Ummm yeah. And Nolan heck had more BOARDS than Kyle. Seriously, there's NO justification for voting for Kyle today.

I can see voting for Tyler or Kelly for other various reasons. But there was nothing Kyle did that wasn't beaten by another player (In this case, Nolan).

I can see abstaining (This was a terrible game, how can there be a MotM). But Kyle, seriously? He's had games where he deserves it. This isn't one of them.

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(Incidentally, for those hating on my comments last week, see how I'm arguing for Nolan here? :-P)

[ncexnyc]

I know we're pretty bummed out about the loss, but Nolan still deserves credit for a very good game.

[davekay1971]

How can there be a MOTM after such a thorough loss? If ANYONE had stood out in the first half, when it really counted, the result might have been different.

The game was played for 40 minutes, and when many Duke fans had packed it in and called it quits, our players were still giving it their all and trying to scrape out a win. That's why I voted for Singler, because he kept bringing it with his usual intensity, and his tough 2nd half plays deserve our respect. Props to our non-PG-but-somehow-ACC-assist-leading-playmaking Nolan Smith, who was right there with Kyle busting his butt even when the outcome was no longer in doubt.

[jipops]

I'm going with Cameron's logic. Nolan kept this game from becoming a historical embarrassment, though I guess Kyle deserves credit for that as well.

[bluepenguin]

Nolan kept this game from becoming a historical embarrassment.

I think that game was a huge embarrassment. And just because Kyle and Nolan played better in the second half, imo doesn't justify a MOTM vote. It's MOTM not MOTH(half). I don't think anyone deserved a MOTM vote.

[PADukeMom]

You need to have "other" in there. My vote goes to Kyrie's toe doctor.

[Neals384]

I know Nolan had a great 2nd half, but when your leading scorere is MIA in the half when the game is decided, how can he be your MOTM? I voted for Kelly.