Bottom Line....No Low Post Offense

[dukelion]

You can point to a lot of things I guess but the simple fact is that we lack a true low post prescense.

McRoberts had 9 points and Thomas, McClure, and Zoubek combined for 2 points from the 4 spot.

Taking into account our whole season it is those types of stats the are most glaring.

I honestly didn't think Pat Patterson was needed on this team but man was I wrong.

Singler and King will also play form the 4 spot from time to time so maybe the future is brighter than I think it right now.

Oh yeah....what was Hansbrough doing in the game with 17 seconds left and up 14?

[CDu]

The bottom line today was not offense of any sort. The bottom line is we gave up over 80 points! The defense was insufficient. UNC shot 50% for the game (mostly layups and shots inside of 10 feet). We didn't shoot well, but if you're giving up 80+ points, you really should lose.

[SavannahDevil]

The half-court defense isn't even that bad. I have never seen a Duke team get beaten down the court so regularly and with such ease. That is what bugs me to death. Granted, our turnover problems don't help, but even after made baskets and low-post rebounds we're getting beat down the court.

[Dukefan4Life]

Ive been saying this all year long that we should have josh in the post more often, heck id even like to see z post up! we have the size just dont seem to be using it to our advantage!

[billy]

I can't count high enough to total all the missed free throws, blocked shots (after several ball fakes), & blocked dunks we've had the last two games. For whatever reason (maybe all those blocks!) we seem to be taking it up soft, and paying the price

[CDu]

The half-court defense isn't even that bad. I have never seen a Duke team get beaten down the court so regularly and with such ease. That is what bugs me to death. Granted, our turnover problems don't help, but even after made baskets and low-post rebounds we're getting beat down the court.

That's why we lost the last two games. In fairness, the two teams that beat us both push the tempo about as well as anybody in the country.

[DukieUGA]

i noticed the same thing, taking it up soft and getting stuffed. But it's a problem that LT and McClure have had for a while.

[ohioguy2]

[QUOTE=dukelion;2215]You can point to a lot of things I guess but the simple fact is that we lack a true low post prescense.
/QUOTE]

This is very true--not the entire problem, but a big part of it. The turnovers contribute to the points given up, our half court defense was for the most part not horrible.

[FewFAC]

Teams with fresher players tend to get up and down the court faster, but not adjusting to run outs off of blocks and rebounds is a coaching error, almost as though the coaching staff did not believe it was happening.

Even if the team was crashing the boards hard, somebody should have been getting back in transition defense, and when one person was not enough because two players flashed out on transition, then it is up to the coaches to get players back defensively.

On a positive note, more possessions decreases the value of turnovers.