MBB: Duke 85, UNC 84 Post-Game Thread

[Wander]

Pre-game predictions came true this time. The game was all about shooting, (good for Duke, bad for UNC) and lack of focus to execute the fundamentals again by UNC gave Duke the opportunities to take the game, which, to their credit, they did with clutch shooting.
That was a bitter loss for the Heels because they controlled the game, without ever really playing well, or at least to their potential. They know deep down, heck you guys know deep down, they should have won the game. And if they had shot at least decent, (plenty of open looks) it could have been a statement win.

UNC shot pretty well. And they made a higher free throw percentage than they normally do, and a higher free throw percentage than Duke made. UNC sure as hell did their part to help Duke win, but not shooting "at least decently" isn't one of them.

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Dickie V's game of the week started at 10 on ESPNU. One guess what it is.

It is scheduled again at 10 a.m. tomorrow morning.

[DukieInKansas]

Dickie V's game of the week started at 10 on ESPNU. One guess what it is.

It is scheduled again at 10 a.m. tomorrow morning.

Thank you. I've set the DVR so I get it in one listing instead of the current 2 on my DVR.

[davekay1971]

Flipped it over to this game a few minutes ago. Knowing what's coming, the sound of the Tarheel faithful screaming with delight as they make their run at the end of the first half is music to my ears.

Sadly for them, our run at the end of the 2nd half is coming...

Addendum: Zeller really did have a spectacular game against us, right up until the end. Typical for the Carolina fans, on Thursday they had completely forgotten the incredible game he had for 39 minutes and were backing Roy's bus over him again and again and again.

[Wheat/"/"/"]

UNC shot pretty well. And they made a higher free throw percentage than they normally do, and a higher free throw percentage than Duke made. UNC sure as hell did their part to help Duke win, but not shooting "at least decently" isn't one of them.

UNC was 1 for 6 from outside. By my standards that is hardly decent.
"...and they made a higher free throw percentage than they normally do" ?????
So I guess even though it's still weak, I should be happy it was not pitiful?

[Gthoma2a]

UNC was 1 for 6 from outside. By my standards that is hardly decent.
"...and they made a higher free throw percentage than they normally do" ?????
So I guess even though it's still weak, I should be happy it was not pitiful?

Perhaps you should consider that you are only 34.7% from 3 on the season. Your last game, you shot 18.8% from 3. This wasn't such an anomaly (and it fits in with the game against us). This was your team doing what they do. You may expect more, but they are a sub-par team from distance. Besides, you love to feed to post too much to get shooters in rhythm for a higher percentage. It isn't a bad thing in the long run, but it means you can't expect the 3 to bail you out like your post implies it should have.

We rely on the 3 a lot more. The post game is consistent for you and it is your biggest strength. That is the difference between us. At some point, we will have fed the outside enough to get some of our shooters in rhythm. That is why we were able to get on the run we did late. For the same reason, you are a team that is more likely to go to the tried and true post game that makes you so formidable. This was a game where our sharpshooters did their job better than your inside attack did. Your team is like a solid prizefighter who likes to box, but lacks punching power. Our team is a solid prizefighter with one punch knockout power that can turn a game around a lot quicker than you.

[UrinalCake]

So I rewatched the game yesterday, and through the tainted lens of knowing what happens the game felt much closer to me. As others have pointed out, we led for most of the first half. In the second half UNC pushed out to a 10-point lead pretty quickly but from that point on it was back and forth. A lot of people have talked like all Duke did was shoot three pointers, but that wasn't the case. We did attack inside some and drew fouls on UNC's big men, which played a huge role given their lack of depth. Also, we missed a few open shots ourselves and if we had hit our free throws the lead would have been much smaller. While UNC's misses from the line in the last two minutes are more noticeable, we had a few empty trips earlier that could have negated them. We ended up shooting about 40% from three, which is right around our season average. We did not shoot "lights out" or have some statistical aberration. Finally, Mason actually had a pretty good game. Others have said that he "disappeared" for this game but that wasn't what I saw. It was really hard to get him the ball, even when our guards tried to they just couldn't, but on the few occasions that he did get it he usually made something good happen. He also had that steal in the middle of our run and set the screen that led to Austin's game winner.

[Kfanarmy]

For every time I heard a hole fan say "I think things are gonna come together soon" or "oh just wait" blah blah blah....

They are like broken records, can't live in the present unless it's with a win. They keep their heads in the future and in denial lol.

That's ok though because Duke owns unc...end of story.


"In K I trust"

I think Duke fans can be a bit more gracious...

especially given how many times Duke fans have said "I think things are gonna come together soon." In fact, given the number of Duke fans saying it isn't going to happen
for Duke this year, I for one respect the hope in the other point of view!

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Thank you. I've set the DVR so I get it in one listing instead of the current 2 on my DVR.

They ran the rerun for a full 2 hours so you may need to add a half hour to your program. The listing is only from 10 a.m. to 11:30. Not sure if they will start it a half hour early or run it until noon. Their own espn tv listings on espn.com weren't even close to being right tonight so who knows.

[-bdbd]

I hadn't heard this until today but...
In the "this can't be true, can it?" category from this past week....


Following Austin Rivers' incredible buzzer-beater shot Wed. night, sending the NC faithful into overwrought "shock," on Thursday morning NC mascot Ramses was found dead of natural causes in Carborro.



Really.


http://www.heraldsun.com/view/...NC-mascot--dies




According to TDD, PETA's Chapel Hill chapter plans to protest at Rivers' next game.

[Indoor66]

I hadn't heard this until today but...
In the "this can't be true, can it?" category from this past week....


Following Austin Rivers' incredible buzzer-beater shot Wed. night, sending the NC faithful into overwrought "shock," on Thursday morning NC mascot Ramses was found dead of natural causes in Carborro.



Really.


http://www.heraldsun.com/view/...NC-mascot--dies




According to TDD, PETA's Chapel Hill chapter plans to protest at Rivers' next game.

RIP Hogan's Goat.

[roywhite]

UNC shot pretty well. And they made a higher free throw percentage than they normally do, and a higher free throw percentage than Duke made. UNC sure as hell did their part to help Duke win, but not shooting "at least decently" isn't one of them.

UNC shoots a high percentage inside due to their size, talent, and the passing of Marshall.

From outside, it can be a different story; they were 1-6 from 3-pt vs Duke, and then 1-10 from 3-pt vs Virginia.
IMO, their poor shooting from outside and/or their poor defense against the 3-pt shot will turn out to be their fatal flaw.
The 3-pointer is such an important part of college basketball now, and UNC is not good at either shooting or defending the 3.

[NSDukeFan]

UNC shoots a high percentage inside due to their size, talent, and the passing of Marshall.

From outside, it can be a different story; they were 1-6 from 3-pt vs Duke, and then 1-10 from 3-pt vs Virginia.
IMO, their poor shooting from outside and/or their poor defense against the 3-pt shot will turn out to be their fatal flaw.
The 3-pointer is such an important part of college basketball now, and UNC is not good at either shooting or defending the 3.

They should probably do away with the 3-point line then. It would make things a bit easier for UNC.

[UrinalCake]

IMO, their poor shooting from outside and/or their poor defense against the 3-pt shot will turn out to be their fatal flaw.

Over at IC there's a lot of doom and gloom over their struggles from behind the arc. There are discussions on why Roy can't recruit or develop shooters, and why Duke gets every single SG recruit out of high school. Once you filter past the garbage, the legitimate discussions suggest that Coach K's system offers more freedom for his guards, allows them to shoot more threes, runs set plays to generate three point shots, and is therefore a more appealing system for showcasing a player to the NBA.

It's pretty uncanny how well you could replace "shooting guard" with "back-to-the-basket big man" and find the same discussions over here.

[slower]

They should probably do away with the 3-point line then. It would make things a bit easier for UNC.

That has become one of their main themes - that winning with 3-point shooting isn't "real basketball."

[Wander]

UNC was 1 for 6 from outside. By my standards that is hardly decent.
"...and they made a higher free throw percentage than they normally do" ?????
So I guess even though it's still weak, I should be happy it was not pitiful?

Shooting 70% isn't bad.

Saying UNC shot poorly from three is like saying the walk-on who comes in for the last 30 seconds and goes 2-2 on the free throw line is a perfect free throw shooter. Technically true, but doesn't really summarize what went on very accurately. Choosing to shoot only six threes in and of itself is the weakness. And there's more to shooting than just than threes, and UNC made free throws and jump shots at a better than decent rate. The idea that UNC lost because they missed lots of open shots isn't correct. Hell, during the epic collapse part of the game, UNC didn't attempt a field goal.

[millerecu]

Apparently this is what he had to say after the loss on Wednesday...

"Thursday night, when I called him late, I said 'Are you thinking about getting the knives out and slashing your wrists?' He said 'Maybe.' And I said if you're going to do that, call me and I'll come over and do it with you. … I told him my son would want to know first so he could change the will to make sure he got control of everything. He liked that statement, too."
-- North Carolina's Roy Williams' attempt to add a little humor to the situation, after Austin Rivers nailed a game-winning 3-pointer over Tyler Zeller on Wednesday.

Really Roy? Dude needs a filter...joking about suicide...what a class act.



http://espn.go.com/ncb/notebook/_/pa...ch1210/week-10

[BluDvlsN1]

Apparently this is what he had to say after the loss on Wednesday...

"Thursday night, when I called him late, I said 'Are you thinking about getting the knives out and slashing your wrists?' He said 'Maybe.' And I said if you're going to do that, call me and I'll come over and do it with you. … I told him my son would want to know first so he could change the will to make sure he got control of everything. He liked that statement, too."
-- North Carolina's Roy Williams' attempt to add a little humor to the situation, after Austin Rivers nailed a game-winning 3-pointer over Tyler Zeller on Wednesday.

Really Roy? Dude needs a filter...joking about suicide...what a class act.



http://espn.go.com/ncb/notebook/_/pa...ch1210/week-10

Not Trying to play MOD here!

You probably missed it, but this was opened and discussed in a thread yesterday and determined it ran it's course and closed!

Just an FYI, in case you were not aware!'

[millerecu]

Not Trying to play MOD here!

You probably missed it, but this was opened and discussed in a thread yesterday and determined it ran it's course and closed!

Just an FYI, in case you were not aware!'

Sorry...I was not aware until I saw it on ESPN.com this morning.

[COYS]

UNC shoots a high percentage inside due to their size, talent, and the passing of Marshall.

From outside, it can be a different story; they were 1-6 from 3-pt vs Duke, and then 1-10 from 3-pt vs Virginia.
IMO, their poor shooting from outside and/or their poor defense against the 3-pt shot will turn out to be their fatal flaw.
The 3-pointer is such an important part of college basketball now, and UNC is not good at either shooting or defending the 3.

UNC championship team in 2009 had good inside scoring. However, the three point shooting of Green, Lawson, and Ellington really turned them into an offensive juggernaut. All three averaged better than 40% that season with Lawson leading the way at a scorching 47%. The previous two seasons, no one in that trio even reached 40% except Ellington who was at exactly 40% in the 07-08 season. UNC fans can try and diminish Duke's approach on offense by decrying the "unreliability" of three point shots vs. the "sure thing" of on the block buckets, but good shooting from outside is an important part of a healthy offense. In fact, Duke has had a better offensive rating than UNC for virtually the entire season. Why? Because the three point shot is a serious component of the offense. It is not as big a part of the offense as the media would have you believe with the live by the three, die by the three mantra you hear bandied about. However, the fact remains that a three pointer is worth three points. Open three point shots taken by shooters of Seth, Andre, and Ryan's caliber are second only to layups in value. Contested two point shots, even close to the rim, are unlikely to be as valuable over the course of a whole game. As long as Duke takes threes off of good ball movement and doesn't force bad shots from distance early in the shot clock, I will ALWAYS be more than happy shooting plenty from long range.