I would hesitate to lump the Plumlees together too much in any analysis of them as IMO Mason has been one of the best and most consistent players on the team this year. I wouldn't make too many conclusions based on one game. I have been impressed with Mason's offensive game this year as well, as he has been taking the ball strong to the basket and has looked very confident, as if he feels he should dominate. He also has the spin move he has used effectively this year as well as the pump fake reverse dunk. I think he has enough moves to be effective.
He has left 2-3 ppg on the table by not being able to make free throws and we are all hoping that improves, but I doubt that it is a lack of practice that is the major issue.
I agree that this team could use Mason or Miles to step up their offensive games to win at the highest levels, and expect one or both of them will provide very good offense in most of the team's games this year.
“Those two kids, they’re champions,” Krzyzewski said of his senior leaders. “They’re trying to teach the other kids how to become that, and it’s a long road to become that.”
I couldn't agree more with this post. I'm not sure why everyone is focusing on the negatives. Frankly, I was kind of prepared for a loss against Michigan.
This team is showing a lot of character, and loads of potential. So far, their toughness has been very impressive. I can't wait to watch the next few games. This season is going to be exciting!
If only he could share some of his basketball IQ with our other bigs. Ryan is truly a Duke student that happens to be a VERY good, fundamentally sound basketball player. I bet K is pleased he jumped into the recruiting of Ryan. Those "intangibles" are an amazing thing. Go Devils!
Last edited by Devilsfan; 11-23-2011 at 09:32 AM.
It would be great to see either Mason or Miles be able to seal down low and score, but I don't know if they have that ability. At least not with a big on their back. It's been a while since we've had that type player. What we do have are two guys(Mason & Miles) that can jump very high and are pretty strong. I think Coach K is using both guys according to their abilities. So far I'm pleased with their play. Well not the foul shooting but ok with the other parts of their games. The missing ingredient to have Final Four season may be the lack of a very talented wing(6'7"+). One that can defend the opposing team's wing players and can create offense. At the present time, I guess it's up to Andre to play that role. Offensively he'll be ok, but defending I'm not so sure. GoDuke!
Great defensive first half. Not as good defense in the second half. Couple that with some ridiculous shooting, and you get a 53 point half.
Burke and Hardaway are really good players. Hardaway struggled mightily to get going against our defense (scoreless at the half), but he certainly played the part in the second half. Burke was terrific throughout. Novak hit a few late 3s and Morgan was the recipient of several of Burke's assists for easy buckets. Nobody else on Michigan did anything of note offensively for them. It was a matter of containing Burke and Hardaway. For one half, we did a really good job at it. For the other half, we didn't. And Michigan capitalized.
As for us, we shot the lights out. I don't think we can count on 50+% 3pt shooting every night. But we passed more and mostly took open shots. Continuing that will generally bode well for us. But I'm not all that concerned about our scoring. It's the defense that will be the key.
The good:
- Unbelievable perimeter shooting. We got open looks and we hit them early and often. Kelly and Curry were especially efficient from the field.
- First half defense. Michigan isn't exacty a highly-efficient offense, but we made them look atrocious in the first half. We completely eliminated their best player. Burke did well, but nobody else was a huge factor.
- Austin's decisionmaking (at times). He made a few very nice passes off the dribble and was willing to make exploratory drives rather than all-out drives. Much more nuanced effort on his part.
- The long-distance alley-oop from Cook to Mason was very fun.
- Thornton made two big end-of-shotclock driving plays. One was an off-balance layup that happened to find its way over/around a defender and in. The other was a nice dish to Mason for a dunk. Both negated great defensive efforts from Michigan when Michigan was trying to cut a lead.
- Mason's passing out of the post. I felt he made a couple of good decisions finding the open man out of the post.
The not-so-good:
- Still need to improve on defending dribble penetration. That was the key to Michigan's second half success.
- Miles had a rough night out there. He just didn't seem comfortable, and it showed (3 fouls, 3 turnovers in 13 minutes). The team played substantially better when we had Mason and Kelly out there. Hopefully he shakes this one off.
- Dawkins' decisionmaking late. He took some ill-advised early shots when we were in stall-ball mode that led to easy fast break points on the other end. He's such a good shooter and gets so few touches that it's hard to chastise. But we need to do a better job of understanding time and situation late.
- Thornton's fouls. The guy is an absolute spark out there. Good things seem to happen with him on the floor. But he commits way too many fouls. His foul rate is such that he couldn't really play more than 20mpg. So a bench role is really all he can provide at this point. Thankfully, he's doing that well.
- Rivers' shot selection (at times). He still hasn't met a shot he doesn't like. It's a blessing and a curse. He hit some VERY long threes in big situations. But I don't feel like those were good decisions. Thankfully they went in anyway. And he still took some very awkward driving shots. As I said in the "good" section, he's getting better. Still a work in progress. And it's nice when a work in progress can average ~1.5 pps and give you 20, 4, and 3.
- Mason's charges. I think 3 of Mason's 4 fouls were charges, and they all came when he dribbled from too far out and tried to go all the way to the rim. Given that he's a bit methodical in his moves, he has to recognize that the drive from 15+ feet away isn't going to be there very often. Everyone's due an off-night, but that's one clear area for him to polish up.
Mason had a rough game because he hasn't figured out how to beat a zone defense. And in truth, most bigs will. His charges were just him not knowing how quickly the zone defense rotation happens.
Great observations. Perimeter defense was not so good in the 2nd half. As you said dribble penetration hurt us and was the main reason we gave up so many 2nd half points. But in all fairness to Austin, Hardaway hit some tough shots in the 2nd half. Just have to tip my hat to him.
Andre did take a few ill advised shots late in the game when we were trying to milk the clock. Maybe not the best shot selection. But sometimes, Andre doesn't get the ball when he should. He has that shooters mentality and thinks he's going to make ever shot.
Tyler is fouling at an alarming rate in few minutes, but I think this comes from not being able to keep the quick guards in front of him. He makes up for this with tough/rough defense. Therefore he's gong to be whistled for more fouls.
Austin's shot selection. I know he hit a big 3 at the end of the game, but it wasn't in the flow of the offense. Those shots are ok when they go in, but I don't think it was what Coach K wanted in that situation. Austin will be a great player by years end.
We are an improving team that will only get better. GoDuke!
Yes. This was one of my takeaways from the game as well. There's still a long way to go, but I feel that we are definitely already seeing some hints of progress out of Austin. I'm hoping that by late December, no one will even be talking about Austin's decision-making anymore.
I can't help but wonder if Thornton's foul rate is actually encouraged by the coaching staff. Coach K knows that he is only looking for about 20 mpg out of Thornton anyway, so his personal foul count might not be much of a concern. I'm not saying they tell Tyler to specifically go out and foul someone, but it wouldn't surprise me if their position was "Get out there, disrupt their offense by any means necessary, and don't sweat the fouls." Of course, team fouls is another story, but I'm sure the staff knows when to use Tyler and when not to.
Given how often we've heard the emphasis on keeping the other team out of the bonus, I doubt that this is the case. I'd guess that more likely the team sees an overall benefit to Thornton's play in spite of the fouls. I suspect they'd like him to foul less, but are willing to take the chance to get some benefit. I'm sure it's a concern, but they're playing the tradeoffs and hoping he can get better at it.
Um, that's already happening. I think that's why multiple people are questioning whether you're actually watching the games or only just repeating what (some) talking heads are saying. There were multiple plays last night where Mason was double-teamed and passed the ball to the perimeter for a 3. It's already starting to happen.
Mason is already a threat inside. Is he a threat like Zeller and Henson? No, and Michigan did a better job containing him and cutting off the low post entry last night, especially with the 1-3-1 zone. But make no mistake, teams are already starting to focus in on him, which is leaving our perimeter more wide open for shots. So your "concerns" about Duke's outside shooting starting to suffer, to me, is a bit unfounded. If teams focus on the perimeter, Mason and Ryan Kelly are going to be able to go 1-on-1 against their defenders. If teams hone in on Mason and Kelly, our backcourt will be wide open to attack the 3-point line. It's only going to keep getting better.
This.
It's evident from his play and from the way the staff reacted last night to him fouling out that he's the bulldog. He has five fouls to use and if he ends up using them all, so be it, since we're so deep in the backcourt. Tyler did an excellent job on Hardaway during stretches of the first half and parts of the second. He has fouls to give up, and I won't be surprised to see him get three or four a game on a regular basis. He's the disrupter.
Loved how Duke looked. We had a relatively clean ball-handling game and out-executed Michigan for open shots, both of which I didn't really expect to happen. The team stepped up big time and played our best first half of the season. Even when the Wolverines were red-hot and creeping back into the game in the second half, I never felt the outcome was in doubt due to Duke having so many guys shooting well and the level of execution. I just felt like we couldn't be stopped in this game and that's a nice feeling to have as a fan.
As for the side discussion about Duke's post play. This team is getting more post points than any Duke team since Shelden. And Landlord help me, but I think I would take this frontcourt over any during his era, too. I love the height, athleticism, and IQ of this year's starters. Bottom line, I'm very satisfied with the post play and think it will get even better as the season progresses.
I concur with this observation, but I don't necessarily think it's an Austin issue so much as I believe Seth looks for Andre more. I had this impression last year as well. My eyes told me Seth had a lot more assists to Andre last season than Nolan did. More even than Kyrie, when Kyrie was out there.
I happen to think Mason has this ability. The travel calls and the offensive fouls mostly come when he tries to score from the top of the key. To me, he's been looking very solid around the basket, catching in good position, pivoting toward the hoop and laying it in. Obviously, this is easier against shorter players, but his footwork is so much better than it has been in the past, I believe he can score this way against the bigger bigs, too.
Past couple games I've been very happy with Andre's D. (I've also been much happier with his movement on O, but that's a different conversation.) I'm hoping within a month or two we'll all sit back and wonder how some people could possibly have ever advocated reducing his role.
Precisely. Further up the road, this will be a serious matter, especially come NCAA time. Teams like St. Johns (see blowout last year with similar team) with quick, strong 6-6 6-7 wing players who pass and move well without the ball are going to give this team fits. Teams like thatThe missing ingredient to have Final Four season may be the lack of a very talented wing(6'7"+). One that can defend the opposing team's wing players and can create offense. At the present time, I guess it's up to Andre to play that role.
can get it going, get their wings in the lane and start pouring in the shots, and we can't stop 'em; our bigs are too slow, and our smalls are
too short. This is where Josh really needs to try to step up; we need him at wing defensive stopper like Lance was a couple of years ago
(who, IMHO, won us some games with his truly great defense on some very tough players, by the way). Unfortunately, Josh doesn't have
Lance's lateral quickness and lightness on his feet, as far as I can tell. We'll see what he can do.
Which is why I wish Mason would start sealing his man lower, down on the block. He tends to get the ball about three to four feet from the block, either up high toward the free throw line or extended out the baseline. That causes him to want to turn around and make a drive to the basket rather than using a drop-step type move or his running hook shot, which have proven relatively successful.