Silver Lining???

[dbcooper]

Silver Lining??? Okay, yes the UNC loss hurt all of us and still does me.
Now moving forward...I feel pretty good looking back on the game and seeing some of the stats , meaning- after seeing Miles and Mason outscore Zeller and Henson makes me feel great!!
Why? Because I know we have a great outside perimeter game and seeing the Plumlees pump out those numbers and effort makes me feel good going in the the tounaments! Another option we all knew we had but I think the Brothers Plumlee (hopefully) gained bigtime confidence going down the stretch!!
GO DUKE!!

[Edouble]

Miles woke up in the 2nd half of the season. Mace woke up in the 2nd half of the UNC game. When they're both "on" at once, it causes a lot of wear and tear on opposing team's frontcourts and gives us a great chance to finish games strong. Go Duke!

[Devilsfan]

As long as we don't start the game playing unc transition basketball.

[DukeGirl4ever]

I'm trying to remain positive after that game, so I agree that I was REALLY glad to see Mason get on track in the 2nd half. The other thing that I saw is that they were finding Mason in places where it was easy to score, so he was able to see the ball go through the hoop and get some confidence. I thought we got away from that in the last couple of games (i.e. finding him in transition).

Miles was just phenomenal. If the two Plums play like that, and we avoid an approximate 25% shooting half, I like our chances.

If we have "all the pistons firing" we are a really good team. We just can't have disappearing acts from 2-3 players each night.

I'm glad we got the March loss out of the way now.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

I'm trying to remain positive after that game, so I agree that I was REALLY glad to see Mason get on track in the 2nd half. The other thing that I saw is that they were finding Mason in places where it was easy to score, so he was able to see the ball go through the hoop and get some confidence. I thought we got away from that in the last couple of games (i.e. finding him in transition).

Miles was just phenomenal. If the two Plums play like that, and we avoid an approximate 25% shooting half, I like our chances.

If we have "all the pistons firing" we are a really good team. We just can't have disappearing acts from 2-3 players each night.

I'm glad we got the March loss out of the way now.

Yup. I said something like this in the MOTM thread last night.

Miles, because he showed up at the beginning of the game and mostly throughout. Mason showed up in the second half. If there is one positive in tonight's debacle, it's that Mason has rediscovered how to make his hook shot and score around the basket. That could be very valuable for our team in the next 4 weeks.

Congrats and thanks to Miles for coming to Duke and giving us your all!

[DukeGirl4ever]

Ozzie,
I've always loved your opTOEmism...in life, I'm naturally a pessimist! However, Duke basketball is my one true passion in life, and I will ALWAYS try to find a way to support them and look on the bright side.

This is a team, that a few weeks ago, no one was even talking about for this upcoming tournament. But then up to yesterday, you had many people talking about them being a number 1 seed again. Coach K never ceases to amaze me.

[moonpie23]

i am taking solace in knowing that after winning like they did last night, the Tar Heels are HATING losing like they did in their house even MORE than they did before ....i mean, that was just a serious choke job...

[lotusland]

It would be too much to ask to go 3-0 against the heels this year. I'm glad that Duke will have a little chip on their shoulder if we get a rubber match in the ACCT championship. Given Roy's non chalant attitude about the ACCT and their lack of depth, I like our chances in a possible round 3. We have a lot of work to do to get there but I would rather see Duke hang a banner for Miles' last ACCT than winning a regular season title on senior night if given the choice.

[dukeballboy88]

I dont think it was unc last night, I think it was more of Duke missing shots. UNC was UNC, no different than last time they played. They score their usual 80+ points and played lazy man to man d as always. Duke just couldnt throw it in the pacific standing on a boat. I mean, I dont think UNC came out of the 2nd half and said dont guard Duke any more, no the difference was the shots started falling. I give unc credit for bringing the heat on the offensive end they were very efficient but the reason we got down was because of what we didnt do not because of unc's great d.

Looking back at the game, it pains me to say Ryan wasnt contested the entire night and couldnt hit a shot. He missed more wide open shots than anyone. And im kind of mad Dawkins didnt get more burn. He maybe couldve found the stroke and got us closer in the first half. I get tired of hearing that he dont play because of his defense because nobody Duke is that great a defensive player.

I hope unc and Duke can break the tie in Atlanta because I think Duke will spank them on a neutral court.

[OldPhiKap]

The silver lining is that we probably don't play a team with three or four future NBA players in the NCAA until we get to the Final Four. Then, it's anyone's game.

UNC is an extremely talented team. Probably the best individual talent in the conference. Tip your hat, move on, beat them in the rematch.

The other silver lining is that we play with more intensity on the road than at home. Not sure why. But every game is a hostile arena from here on out.

[uh_no]

ON the bright side, we're almost assuredly in the Atlanta region now (most likely with kansas...unless UNC passes kansas...in which case with UNC)...to get pushed out of it one of the following would need to happen:

1)we end up as a 1 seed, but ranked behind Kansas...then we got to pheonix
2)both UNC and Duke end up as 2 seeds and UNC is higher than us on the S curve(would involve both losing before the finals, likely, and UNC would probably be ahead of us)...then we go to St louis with UK

[HDB]

ON the bright side, we're almost assuredly in the Atlanta region now (most likely with kansas...unless UNC passes kansas...in which case with UNC)...to get pushed out of it one of the following would need to happen:

1)we end up as a 1 seed, but ranked behind Kansas...then we got to pheonix
2)both UNC and Duke end up as 2 seeds and UNC is higher than us on the S curve(would involve both losing before the finals, likely, and UNC would probably be ahead of us)...then we go to St louis with UK

I didn't think it was possible for 2 teams from the same conference to end up as #1 and #2 seeds in the same region. Is it really possible that we could end up with UNC in Atlanta?

[uh_no]

I didn't think it was possible for 2 teams from the same conference to end up as #1 and #2 seeds in the same region. Is it really possible that we could end up with UNC in Atlanta?

That may be true. Its never clear what's an official rule and whats accepted practice when seeding.

If so, if UNC is the #3 overall, we go to st louis.

[gep]

As I've posted elsewhere... is it better being a #1 seed out West, or a #2 seed "close to home". A #1 seed is definitely an achievement, but I rather take the #2 seed close to home, get to the Final Four, and take our chances there, instead of "out West".

[Kedsy]

As I've posted elsewhere... is it better being a #1 seed out West, or a #2 seed "close to home". A #1 seed is definitely an achievement, but I rather take the #2 seed close to home, get to the Final Four, and take our chances there, instead of "out West".

I posted the numbers last year, but historically, #1 seeds perform much, much better than #2 seeds. Twice as many #1s have made the Final Four as #2s and four times as many #1s have become champion than #2s. Part of that is because #1 seeds are better teams than #2 seeds, but twice as good? Four times as good? I conclude that the lion's share of the disparity is due to the easier road that #1s have compared to #2s. Thus, despite last year's downfall as a #1 out west, I strongly believe being a #1 seed out west is significantly more advantageous than a #2 seed close to home.

[tommy]

I posted the numbers last year, but historically, #1 seeds perform much, much better than #2 seeds. Twice as many #1s have made the Final Four as #2s and four times as many #1s have become champion than #2s. Part of that is because #1 seeds are better teams than #2 seeds, but twice as good? Four times as good? I conclude that the lion's share of the disparity is due to the easier road that #1s have compared to #2s. Thus, despite last year's downfall as a #1 out west, I strongly believe being a #1 seed out west is significantly more advantageous than a #2 seed close to home.

This is even more true now that the placement of the #2 seeds is done with an emphasis on geography rather than on a straight S-curve. In the past, when the S-curve was adhered to more closely, whether you were #4 or #5 overall, meaning either the fourth #1 or the top #2 seed, didn't matter, because you'd have the same 4 vs. 5 matchup set up regardless.

But now, even as the fourth #1 seed, you could easily end up with a regional final against the fourth #2 -- meaning the #8 overall team, because of geography. In fact, as I posted in the "top seeding" thread, this could happen this year, as a fourth overall #1, such as Duke or UNC could get shipped west, which sounds bad, but only to have the perceived advantage of a regional matchup with an overall #8 such as Missouri.

[kingboozer]

We left 9 points on the free throw line and 45 points on the 3 point line. UNC was ready for our outside game and completely took it away from us the whole time. We can't leave that many points on the floor during the tournament and expect to make a deep run. Like several of us have said before, Miles had a great game and he should be proud of his last performance in Cameron. We just can't rely on the Plumlee's to win games, we have to have better perimeter shooting than that display. We can and have done it this season and hopefully this game was the shot in the arm the team needed to make a deep run.

[sagegrouse]

I posted the numbers last year, but historically, #1 seeds perform much, much better than #2 seeds. Twice as many #1s have made the Final Four as #2s and four times as many #1s have become champion than #2s. Part of that is because #1 seeds are better teams than #2 seeds, but twice as good? Four times as good? I conclude that the lion's share of the disparity is due to the easier road that #1s have compared to #2s. Thus, despite last year's downfall as a #1 out west, I strongly believe being a #1 seed out west is significantly more advantageous than a #2 seed close to home.

When discussing #1 seeds, we are dealing with the extreme tail of the distribution of the 300+ Division I teams. The best #1 and #2 overall seeds, therefore, can be very, very good. One would expect the #1 overall seed (#1/1) to be substantially better than the best #2 seed (#2/1) -- a greater quality differential than, say, the difference between the best #2 and the best #3 (#3/1). Under this logic, the underlying quality of the seeded team may be more important than the marginally easier matchups over the course of the NCAAs.

Thus, while you would surely rather be a #1 seed than a #2 seed, it may be mostly because you would want to be the better basketball team with the better record.

sagegrouse

[CameronBornAndBred]

My silver lining is that our game is at 7 instead of noon. That means I can watch after dinner with a beer in my hands, while the heels' fans have to decide if they are going to take the day off or a long lunch or listen on the radio or miss it entirely. Nyaah nyaah.

[Matches]

My silver lining is that our game is at 7 instead of noon. That means I can watch after dinner with a beer in my hands, while the heels' fans have to decide if they are going to take the day off or a long lunch or listen on the radio or miss it entirely. Nyaah nyaah.

Yeah, this is definitely a perk. 7 pm is the time at which all college bball games should start. Perfect time to settle in after a nice meal, beer in hand, and us old farts don't have to stay up late to watch the ending.