MBB: Duke vs Wake Forest Pre-Game and In-Game Thread

[Bob Green]

The game tips-off tomorrow at 7:02 pm. Here are links to the game notes and full game notes at GoDuke.com:

http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.db...DB_OEM_ID=4200

https://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf8/8...DB_OEM_ID=4200

Vegas odds have opened with Duke a 22.5 points favorite and the over/under set at 146:

http://www.vegasinsider.com/college-...-vegas/?s=2166

We should be looking for a final score in the neighborhood of 85-62.

[-jk]

Well, the uva final score missed Vegas by a good bit. But I'm always hopeful. Not quite "Ozzietomistic," but hopeful. (I was permanently scarred in the early 70's. Gone in 17 seconds and all that.)

-jk

[flyingdutchdevil]

How bad (or good) is Wake this year? They must be better than the Wake of last year, but that's like saying that McCants had a better NBA career than Sean May...

[Bob Green]

How bad (or good) is Wake this year?

According to the ACC Sports Journal, Wake is the worst team in the ACC:

http://www.accsports.com/articles/20...ngs-jan-16.php

[Saratoga2]

We should be well favored against Wake, especially at home. Rather than watch for the score, or how much we win by, etc. I would be looking for how we continue with the improvement areas. In my view, these are:

1. Getting started with intensity. We certainly are having a lot of games where we don't seem to come alive for the first 5 or 10 minutes into the game. To me, Mason is a slow starter and seems to catch fire later on in the game. To beat the better teams, we will need to learn to come out with intensity.
2. Will Quinn continue his solid PG play. If Quinn starts, it might help us get off a little better, since he is unlikely to have the turnovers early on. He can also set up some plays inside to get our bigs going.
3. Will Austin get his offensive game going more smoothly. Clearly he is in the adjustment process, finding what works and what doesn't at the ACC level. With so much skill and desire, I expect him to break out of his scoring slowdown. My view is that he has to ask himself "what is the best way for the team to score" rather than "how do I score" to make that kind of improvement. Less turnovers, more team offensive efficiency.
4. Will Mason continue his free throw shooting improvement that he showed against Clemson. While no one can expect lights out 100 % shooting, I would be satisfied if he could hit 2/3s of his FTs.
5. Finally, will Andre continue to return from his disappearing act and provide offensive points going forward? He can be such a weapon, we really need him to get double figures on a regular basis.

[COYS]

We should be well favored against Wake, especially at home. Rather than watch for the score, or how much we win by, etc. I would be looking for how we continue with the improvement areas. In my view, these are:

1. Getting started with intensity. We certainly are having a lot of games where we don't seem to come alive for the first 5 or 10 minutes into the game. To me, Mason is a slow starter and seems to catch fire later on in the game. To beat the better teams, we will need to learn to come out with intensity.
2. Will Quinn continue his solid PG play. If Quinn starts, it might help us get off a little better, since he is unlikely to have the turnovers early on. He can also set up some plays inside to get our bigs going.
3. Will Austin get his offensive game going more smoothly. Clearly he is in the adjustment process, finding what works and what doesn't at the ACC level. With so much skill and desire, I expect him to break out of his scoring slowdown. My view is that he has to ask himself "what is the best way for the team to score" rather than "how do I score" to make that kind of improvement. Less turnovers, more team offensive efficiency.
4. Will Mason continue his free throw shooting improvement that he showed against Clemson. While no one can expect lights out 100 % shooting, I would be satisfied if he could hit 2/3s of his FTs.
5. Finally, will Andre continue to return from his disappearing act and provide offensive points going forward? He can be such a weapon, we really need him to get double figures on a regular basis.

Great points. I would also add the perimeter rotation to things to keep an eye on. As Tommy's excellent stats have indicated as well as K's own desire to return more frequently to the Seth, Andre, Austin backcourt, our defense seems to be at it's best with those three on the court. Many believe, as do I, that for this season the degree of success of these three on the court together is a major component in determining how far the team can go. If Andre can continue his strong play, it makes it easier to keep this lineup on the floor. It also makes our size disadvantage on the perimeter less of an issue. Quinn and Tyler have a lot to offer. Certainly a fast paced attack led by Quinn is appealing as is the defensive intensity Tyler brings. However, there are many things to love about the lineup that started the season and I hope that those three can continue their strong play.

[gumbomoop]

Thought I'd return to this post from the Clemson thread, as it seems a good question that didn't get much of an answer in the couple of days after that game.

From those who watched [the Clemson game], do you get the impression that this team is continuing to progress and "find themselves" as the season progresses? Honestly, I'm looking for that "identity progress" thing as much as I am for big wins at this point of the season...

Now might be a good time to think about the team's identity, as we get 2 games in 48 hours. Maybe this won't be a full test, as Wake and FSU are both home games, but still, by Sat eve the Devils will have played 5 conference games.

I suppose, early on, the Maui tourney performance led us to think that this would be a reasonably fluid, tough team that would be exciting to watch. This Maui tourney seemed special, with an absolutely rousing atmosphere for the final. Ryan was Maui MVP, Mason played superbly against Robinson in the final, Andre, Seth, and Austin had good moments, and of course Tyler capped it off. As I say, exciting, even joyful performances.

Since then, mostly good, a little bad, but a lot more inconsistency - for almost all players and the team generally - than the Maui games might seem to have predicted. Mason has perhaps been our most consistent player, not dominant exactly, but dependable. Has any of Seth, Austin, Ryan, Andre put together 3 good games to start conference play? OTOH, in the first 3 ACC games, at least 3 of our 8-rotation have had good games.

Still, the puzzling issue of "identity progress." Perhaps Duke has not progressed as much as the joyfulness of Maui promised. And maybe identity is tough to pin down, if almost every player is somewhat inconsistent - really good, then not so much, then another guy steps up, then another, but not the same 3 guys every game. Or maybe the team's identity isn't tied to some threesome-consistency, but to team depth, Mason's emergence, Quinn's arrival, Miles's strong rebounding and hustle-injection, and the still-consistent-enough 4-tandem-3-bombers. I'd claim, too, that this is a shot-blocking team. Part of our hidden identity.

On his TV show last Sat, K stated: "The 2 keys for our team this year are the evolution of our junior class, and their setting the standard for the big freshman class." Not sure whether this evolution is yet definable. I guess the identity is still a "work in progress." Maybe we'll be able to see it by Sat eve. Or not, even if we win both games.

[Kedsy]

Mason has perhaps been our most consistent player, not dominant exactly, but dependable. Has any of Seth, Austin, Ryan, Andre put together 3 good games to start conference play? OTOH, in the first 3 ACC games, at least 3 of our 8-rotation have had good games.

There's a difference between good games and great games. I think Seth has had three pretty good games. I think Ryan, Andre, Miles, and Quinn have all had at least two good games out of three. I think Tyler has done exactly what he was supposed to do (play pesky defense). So really, the inconsistency in conference play has all been Austin, and as a freshman with a ton of expectations on him, we should expect some inconsistency.

As far as the elusive "identity," I believe the only identity we're lacking is a defensive identity. Once the team begins to gel on defense and consistently bring defensive intensity, this sort of conversation won't be needed anymore.

[mapei]

Wow, no one has posted about this game since 1pm today???

We're having a shaky start but a 3-point lead as of now . . .

[mapei]

Dawkins!

(might as well talk to myself in here)

[dairedevil]

A few early TOs, but they seem to be playing with some intensity - not like they can just sit back, relax, and put a W in the column.

[mapei]

Kelly is playing really well tonight.

[riverside6]

For those interested, live tempo-based stats for the game here, we recently upgraded our server so any slowness with the site that you may have experienced should now be resolved.

http://www.scacchoops.com/ViewHDGame...Schedule=10522

[Ggallagher]

Man I like it when Andre smiles like that - keep knockin' em down.

[Gthoma2a]

Man of the match... Andre!

[MCFinARL]

Man I like it when Andre smiles like that - keep knockin' em down.

Me too--he is on fire!

[MCFinARL]

Mason's hook doesn't seem to be working tonight.

[RoyalBlue08]

There is nothing prettier in basketball today than Dre when he gets hot. So smooth!

[77devil]

There is nothing prettier in basketball today than Dre when he gets hot. So smooth!

Channeling J.J.

[Gthoma2a]

When Andre is on, it isn't even fair. I love it! We need to run plays for him more often.