I'm still on board

[VaDukie]

I like Ryan Kelly taking open shots even if they aren't going down because we trust our players.

I like Mason Plumlee's fire saying "..." when he fouls out on a series of bad calls because our guys have heart.

I like Seth Curry developing into a reliable scorer because when we have bad games our guys bounce back stronger.

I like Nolan Smith being the best player in the country because our guys have talent.

I like Kyle Singler because he's a winner. Period.

And I really like the guy we have on the sidelines because there's no one better.

Greensboro. Charlotte. Newark/San/Antonio/Anaheim/NewOrleans. Houston.

Who's with me?

[hudlow]

Always.

[cbnaylor]

Its got to start with defense. Period.

[Son of Mojo]

Always on board--no wavering here.

[VaDukie]

Its got to start with defense. Period.

I'm with you there.

[Dr. Tina]

I'm always on board, too! We definitely need to improve, though.

[Fuqua's Finest]

Will always be on board, but can't support the Ryan Kelly line. When you're 6'11 and go 0-3 to start the game behind 3-pt range, you have to switch it up. Go to the inside, fight for some rebounds, take some fouls from the other bigs.

I honestly just wish K would go with the 3-guard lineup more often, but thats why he makes the big bucks and I just watch from the couch every game day.

Without Dre being an integral part of our offense (10-12 points a game), we have no shot of making it past the Sweet 16. Having Dre ride the pine for 32 minutes a game takes away from our perimeter advantage. Heck, its obvious we're going to shoot 20+ 3's a game from now on. We might as well get our best 3-pt shooters shooting them. More Dre bombs and less Kelly bricks.

[MCFinARL]

Will always be on board, but can't support the Ryan Kelly line. When you're 6'11 and go 0-3 to start the game behind 3-pt range, you have to switch it up. Go to the inside, fight for some rebounds, take some fouls from the other bigs.

I honestly just wish K would go with the 3-guard lineup more often, but thats why he makes the big bucks and I just watch from the couch every game day.

Without Dre being an integral part of our offense (10-12 points a game), we have no shot of making it past the Sweet 16. Having Dre ride the pine for 32 minutes a game takes away from our perimeter advantage. Heck, its obvious we're going to shoot 20+ 3's a game from now on. We might as well get our best 3-pt shooters shooting them. More Dre bombs and less Kelly bricks.

Agree with this. It's fine to say we trust our players, but we should trust them to figure it out when they are no longer hitting their shot and try something else. In defense of Kelly, the team kept sending him the ball for that shot, so I guess that's a message he should take it--so why are they still running that play over and over when it isn't working, and hasn't been, really, for a couple of weeks? And why, at least once, couldn't Dre have been over there to take the shot? I know sometimes people have questions about Andre's defense, which seems to come and go--but I thought last night he was defending as well as most of the Duke players (just about everybody had their share of errors).

[Kedsy]

I like Ryan Kelly taking open shots even if they aren't going down because we trust our players.

I like Mason Plumlee's fire saying "..." when he fouls out on a series of bad calls because our guys have heart.

I like Seth Curry developing into a reliable scorer because when we have bad games our guys bounce back stronger.

I like Nolan Smith being the best player in the country because our guys have talent.

I like Kyle Singler because he's a winner. Period.

And I really like the guy we have on the sidelines because there's no one better.

Greensboro. Charlotte. Newark/San/Antonio/Anaheim/NewOrleans. Houston.

Who's with me?

I am with you. I agree with cbnaylor that defense comes first.

[Devilsfan]

I like "most" of your points.

[CarmenWallaceWade]

I will never not be on board.

[Oriole Way]

Its got to start with defense. Period.

I'm on board. This team still has the pieces to win a championship.

I agree the defense needs to improve significantly. However, I believe it is even more important for the team to fix its offense, which has become stagnant.

If you watched Coach K's presser last night, he said that he believed our inability to hit open shots directly led to our poor defense last night. Duke in particular is a team which feeds off of hitting open shots, not just because it puts points on the board, but because it's easier to set up our defense after a made field goal. This is true for most teams, but especially for Duke, which is susceptible to being punished by any team which is capable of running in transition after defensive rebounds on their end.

Furthermore, I think it will be easier to fix our offensive problems, especially considering a better offense will directly lead to a better defense simultaneously. This is not a defensively talented team from a physical standpoint. Our lateral quickness at 3 out of the 5 starting positions is mediocre, even though Singler is both a great man and help defender. Curry often gets into foul trouble because of how he plays defensively as well. Tuning down our man defense so that it doesn't stress overplays, switching, and hedging will also go a long way to fixing our defensive woes.

[HDB]

Will always be on board, but can't support the Ryan Kelly line. When you're 6'11 and go 0-3 to start the game behind 3-pt range, you have to switch it up. Go to the inside, fight for some rebounds, take some fouls from the other bigs.

I honestly just wish K would go with the 3-guard lineup more often, but thats why he makes the big bucks and I just watch from the couch every game day.

Without Dre being an integral part of our offense (10-12 points a game), we have no shot of making it past the Sweet 16. Having Dre ride the pine for 32 minutes a game takes away from our perimeter advantage. Heck, its obvious we're going to shoot 20+ 3's a game from now on. We might as well get our best 3-pt shooters shooting them. More Dre bombs and less Kelly bricks.

I think inserting Andre into the lineup would be good for our offense. In particular, I'd like what it would do for Kyle. Instead of having a guy like Barnes checking him against UNC, it would have been Henson. Kyle is a tough check for a big guy used to playing close to the basket. However, I suspect we won't see this lineup as it would compromise our D too much.

[cameroncrazy3104]

I like Ryan Kelly taking open shots even if they aren't going down because we trust our players.

I like Mason Plumlee's fire saying "..." when he fouls out on a series of bad calls because our guys have heart.

I like Seth Curry developing into a reliable scorer because when we have bad games our guys bounce back stronger.

I like Nolan Smith being the best player in the country because our guys have talent.

I like Kyle Singler because he's a winner. Period.

And I really like the guy we have on the sidelines because there's no one better.

Greensboro. Charlotte. Newark/San/Antonio/Anaheim/NewOrleans. Houston.

Who's with me?

That just pumped me up...lets go get it baby! the drive for 5!

[dbd4ever]

I think inserting Andre into the lineup would be good for our offense. In particular, I'd like what it would do for Kyle. Instead of having a guy like Barnes checking him against UNC, it would have been Henson. Kyle is a tough check for a big guy used to playing close to the basket. However, I suspect we won't see this lineup as it would compromise our D too much.

Always in and ready to support this team through whatever. I like this idea and Andre looked good against Barnes in limited action. I say let's try it. He needs a confidence boost and we need his offensive firepower. Period. Go Duke.

[Class of '94]

I'm on board. This team still has the pieces to win a championship.

I agree the defense needs to improve significantly. However, I believe it is even more important for the team to fix its offense, which has become stagnant.

If you watched Coach K's presser last night, he said that he believed our inability to hit open shots directly led to our poor defense last night. Duke in particular is a team which feeds off of hitting open shots, not just because it puts points on the board, but because it's easier to set up our defense after a made field goal. This is true for most teams, but especially for Duke, which is susceptible to being punished by any team which is capable of running in transition after defensive rebounds on their end.

Furthermore, I think it will be easier to fix our offensive problems, especially considering a better offense will directly lead to a better defense simultaneously. This is not a defensively talented team from a physical standpoint. Our lateral quickness at 3 out of the 5 starting positions is mediocre, even though Singler is both a great man and help defender. Curry often gets into foul trouble because of how he plays defensively as well. Tuning down our man defense so that it doesn't stress overplays, switching, and hedging will also go a long way to fixing our defensive woes.

I'm aboard and all in as well; and I agree with your analysis cbnaylor. I think the team needs to continue to focus on defense and rebounding along with more offensive balance.

[MChambers]

I like Ryan Kelly taking open shots even if they aren't going down because we trust our players.

I like Mason Plumlee's fire saying "..." when he fouls out on a series of bad calls because our guys have heart.

I like Seth Curry developing into a reliable scorer because when we have bad games our guys bounce back stronger.

I like Nolan Smith being the best player in the country because our guys have talent.

I like Kyle Singler because he's a winner. Period.

And I really like the guy we have on the sidelines because there's no one better.

Greensboro. Charlotte. Newark/San/Antonio/Anaheim/NewOrleans. Houston.

Who's with me?

Agree with all of your points. Jeeze, we lost a player (to injury, not transfer like some other schools) who many think will be a top three pick in the draft if he decides, and we're still in the fight for a number one seed? We are very fortunate.

[richardjackson199]

I like Ryan Kelly taking open shots even if they aren't going down because we trust our players.

I like Mason Plumlee's fire saying "..." when he fouls out on a series of bad calls because our guys have heart.

I like Seth Curry developing into a reliable scorer because when we have bad games our guys bounce back stronger.

I like Nolan Smith being the best player in the country because our guys have talent.

I like Kyle Singler because he's a winner. Period.

And I really like the guy we have on the sidelines because there's no one better.

Greensboro. Charlotte. Newark/San/Antonio/Anaheim/NewOrleans. Houston.

Who's with me?

I love your post. However, I am not on board. Without KI, this team cannot repeat as national champions and probably cannot make it to Houston. This team has been trying to figure out its identity since Irving went down. If they were going to find it, they would have done so by now. Their identity is a very good team, but not an elite team. They are the second best team in one of the weaker BCS conferences. Duke has been overrated in the rankings since Irving went down because half our games have been in Cameron (a tremendous home court advantage) and because we've been playing weak ACC competition. We have no more games in Cameron, and NCAA tourney competition will be much tougher than acc games. Without KI, I believe Kansas will win the NC. I'll be rooting for Duke, but when we lose I'll be cheering for Pitt. I predict Ohio St. & UNC will not make the Final 4. Kansas and Pitt will. The other 2 teams will be random from the field. I believe there is zero chance KI returns next year. However, I'm starting to think there is a reasonable chance he returns this year. If Duke would make an announcement that he is definitely done for the year, that would really help the team move forward with the players we have. Not making the announcement is very distracting psychologically. Coach K is a psychological genius. So given no announcement yet, there must be a reasonable chance KI returns this year. If he comes back, Duke can repeat as national champions, and you bet I'm on board. I think we'll win every game with KI (a game against Kansas would be a tossup). Other predictions:
NPOY - Jimmer Fredette
National Coach of the Year - Steve Lavin
ACC Player of the Year - Nolan Smith
ACC Defensive Player of the Year - John Henson
ACC Rookie of the Year - Harrison Barnes
ACC Coach of the Year - Roy Williams
I would love to be proven wrong on all the above predictions. I love our players and coaches. I would not trade them for anybody. Watching this Duke team always makes me very proud to be a Dukie, and that included last night against UNC. Go Duke!

[cbarry]

I love Duke, but I have to agree 100% with richardjackson199. We built the team around Kyrie, and looked pretty darned good before his injury. His loss is simply too much for us to overcome. Here's my analogy:

Duke WITH Kyrie is like a Ferrari-- looks beautiful, drives like a dream. The complete package.

Losing Kyrie is like having engine failure. The engine was then replaced with a Toyota engine. The Ferrari still looks the same on the outside, and the Toyota engine is decent enough for driving around town and to work. But when the car needs top performance on the autobahn, the Toyota engine really can't keep up with the other sports cars.

[Duke4life92]

I love your post. However, I am not on board

A true duke fan should always be on board and support your team,don't like the way there playing,fine,but always be on board and support the Devils.JMO,,I'll always be behind Duke and i'd hope all true devil fans will be too...Lets be better than the heel fans are to there team when there down on them.