MBB: FSU 62, Duke 59 ACCT Post Game Thread

[hurleyfor3]

We got beat. On to the NCAAs.

[FerryFor50]

Not much to say after this one. It went about the way I thought it would. Physical, bruising game going down to the wire.

Offense looked bad again. Defense looked better. #2 seed not the worst thing to happen, but Duke needs to straighten out the offensive woes.

[Fuqua's Finest]

I'll keep it simple,

This team is not very good right now. I'm not sure I can think of a recent Duke team that reminds me of this one, but we're really struggling on offense. We never pass the ball on the roll. Granted the Plumlee's fumble the ball at times, but we will not make it far in the tourney with Ty Thornton being an integral part of our offense. I could go on and ramble, but its obvious. If we're not hitting the 3 at a 40% clip, we have nothing offensively. I think what bothers me the most is we won't even try to feed it to the post. Miles had a little streak in the 2nd half, but nope, we will not keep feeding him.

I am hopeful that K will motivate these guys to play better coming up, but schematically, there's nothing much we can change after 33 games. I'm not even mad. I am more shocked at how we seem to be getting worse as the season continues. Anyone got any ideas how we can get better really fast, or is our ceiling simply the Sweet 16?

[tendev]

I'll keep it simple,

This team is not very good right now. I'm not sure I can think of a recent Duke team that reminds me of this one, but we're really struggling on offense. We never pass the ball on the roll. Granted the Plumlee's fumble the ball at times, but we will not make it far in the tourney with Ty Thornton being an integral part of our offense. I could go on and ramble, but its obvious. If we're not hitting the 3 at a 40% clip, we have nothing offensively. I think what bothers me the most is we won't even try to feed it to the post. Miles had a little streak in the 2nd half, but nope, we will not keep feeding him.

I am hopeful that K will motivate these guys to play better coming up, but schematically, there's nothing much we can change after 33 games. I'm not even mad. I am more shocked at how we seem to be getting worse as the season continues. Anyone got any ideas how we can get better really fast, or is our ceiling simply the Sweet 16?

I could not agree more about feeding the post. I scream it every offensive possession.

[freshmanjs]

I'll keep it simple,

This team is not very good right now. I'm not sure I can think of a recent Duke team that reminds me of this one, but we're really struggling on offense. We never pass the ball on the roll. Granted the Plumlee's fumble the ball at times, but we will not make it far in the tourney with Ty Thornton being an integral part of our offense. I could go on and ramble, but its obvious. If we're not hitting the 3 at a 40% clip, we have nothing offensively. I think what bothers me the most is we won't even try to feed it to the post. Miles had a little streak in the 2nd half, but nope, we will not keep feeding him.

I am hopeful that K will motivate these guys to play better coming up, but schematically, there's nothing much we can change after 33 games. I'm not even mad. I am more shocked at how we seem to be getting worse as the season continues. Anyone got any ideas how we can get better really fast, or is our ceiling simply the Sweet 16?

What was VCU's "ceiling" last year? The whole notion is ridiculous. I would completely disagree with the idea that Duke would have zero chance to win a sweet 16 game if they get that far.

[RockyMtDevil]

I'll keep it simple,

This team is not very good right now. I'm not sure I can think of a recent Duke team that reminds me of this one, but we're really struggling on offense. We never pass the ball on the roll. Granted the Plumlee's fumble the ball at times, but we will not make it far in the tourney with Ty Thornton being an integral part of our offense. I could go on and ramble, but its obvious. If we're not hitting the 3 at a 40% clip, we have nothing offensively. I think what bothers me the most is we won't even try to feed it to the post. Miles had a little streak in the 2nd half, but nope, we will not keep feeding him.

I am hopeful that K will motivate these guys to play better coming up, but schematically, there's nothing much we can change after 33 games. I'm not even mad. I am more shocked at how we seem to be getting worse as the season continues. Anyone got any ideas how we can get better really fast, or is our ceiling simply the Sweet 16?

Agree, I don't know if there is anything we can do schematically, sans getting Kelly back in the lineup. I would be more than pleased if we reached the Sweet 16, how can anyone who has watched this team in the last 3 games say we are a lock to even sniff the second weekend. We will play a 6-7 seed in the second round, probably a Uconn/Cinci type team who can come out and guard. Scoring 60 points won't beat anybody, period.

[MartyClark]

I wasn't surprised that we lost but, still, it was a discouraging loss. Our offense is really exposed against an athletic team like FSU. I'm particularly discouraged by Andre's invisible man act.

I'd like to see the Noles crush the Heels tomorrow. Go Noles.

[MCFinARL]

It is amazing that we looked so much better at the very start of this season, and outside of Austin and Miles (and Josh, to be fair) our players have apparently regressed here at the end of the year or not played at all.

Very frustrating.

Well, one reason Duke looked so much better at the start of the season is that they had the benefit of the China trip and were playing against teams without that extra early preparation. And even in years without a summer trip, it's not unusual to see Duke look better prepared than opponents at the beginning of the season. Duke's philosophy seems to be to work hard from the very beginning and to take every game seriously from the beginning. Sometimes the result of that is that, by comparison, Duke seems less good at the end of the year when playing against teams that peak later. In the case of this particular team, the situation may be exacerbated a bit by the fact that they have struggled to really jell as an effective unit, for whatever reasons.

I wasn't surprised that we lost but, still, it was a discouraging loss. Our offense is really exposed against an athletic team like FSU. I'm particularly discouraged by Andre's invisible man act.

I'd like to see the Noles crush the Heels tomorrow. Go Noles.

To be fair to Andre here, he was well covered almost all of the time he was on the floor today. One of the problems with Ryan Kelly being out is that it makes it easier for defenses to cover the other shooters, and we had to play good defensive teams yesterday and today. (Today, in fact, I think it would be fair to say we played an excellent defensive team.)

[MartyClark]

To be fair to Andre here, he was well covered almost all of the time he was on the floor today. One of the problems with Ryan Kelly being out is that it makes it easier for defenses to cover the other shooters, and we had to play good defensive teams yesterday and today. (Today, in fact, I think it would be fair to say we played an excellent defensive team.)[/QUOTE]

Your're right, Andre was well covered. I expect more out of him though. Remember how well covered J.J. was most games? Remember how hard he ran and fought to get open? I don't see any of that from Andre. There are lots of guys, playing for lesser programs, who can hit an open three. Getting open when you are well guarded by a good opponent is a different deal. Andre lately has seemed unwilling or unable to accomplish this.

[sporthenry]

Your're right, Andre was well covered. I expect more out of him though. Remember how well covered J.J. was most games? Remember how hard he ran and fought to get open? I don't see any of that from Andre. There are lots of guys, playing for lesser programs, who can hit an open three. Getting open when you are well guarded by a good opponent is a different deal. Andre lately has seemed unwilling or unable to accomplish this.

JJ also had the offensive sets run through him whereas I don't see Dre getting down screened from both sides with options to go out to either as JJ had. JJ did work very hard on conditioning and reading the game so not to say Dre is innocent but we don't run our offense through him for better or worse. One thing that frustrated me with him is that his handle isn't terrible. Yes, it doesn't appear he worked on it that much but I forget what game it was but Len Elmore was saying how well Dre could shoot off the dribble (which many disagreed and rightly so) but he did have several mid-range shots off the dribble a la Snaer today. Imagine if he just goes two dribbles to the baseline or the elbow after someone closes out on him he should get a wide open shot.

[75Crazie]

I think you all need to cut Quinn a bit of slack here. Point guard has to be THE single most difficult position for a freshman to step into. Kyries and Jasons come along very seldom, and we were blessed to have two of them within 10 years. Even Hurley struggled mightily his first year, when he got the job pretty much by default. And remember that Quinn was injured before the year started and didn't get the benefit of a full season of maturing. I see a lot to like in him and think we will be singing his praises before he leaves Duke.

[ChicagoCrazy84]

I think you all need to cut Quinn a bit of slack here. Point guard has to be THE single most difficult position for a freshman to step into. Kyries and Jasons come along very seldom, and we were blessed to have two of them within 10 years. Even Hurley struggled mightily his first year, when he got the job pretty much by default. And remember that Quinn was injured before the year started and didn't get the benefit of a full season of maturing. I see a lot to like in him and think we will be singing his praises before he leaves Duke.

Will Avery was pretty good too

[hq2]

Vitale: I'd love to upend a milk pail onto his head and bang on it with a wrench.

My sentiments exactly. Vitale's always been bad, but in recent years he's become a total babbling idiot.
They always assign him to Duke games because he loves the Cameron Crazies; but I don't think they
love him back any more. Time to find an online radio feed of Duke games when he's on. The sooner
he retires, the better.

On other topics; what's happened to Mason lately? He isn't finishing well at the rim, isn't using his
jump hook, and is turning the ball over a lot. Looks like he did at about the beginning of last year.
Certainly not encouraging for the NCAAs.

[dukedoc]

Not a surprise, but worth acknowledging. Coach K congratulates FSU in person VIDEO

[AsiaMinor]

Not a surprise, but worth acknowledging. Coach K congratulates FSU in person VIDEO

If only the posters on these boards had half the class of Coach K.
JMJ people, Duke is one of the best teams in the nation.
Stop picking these teenagers to bits and pieces after every game.
Enjoy the sport, enjoy the try, be proud.
I sure am.
And if your ego demands that you puff and blow from your
easy chair - because I firmly doubt any of you could execute
the plays on the floor - then do it tempered with some degree of humility.
God did not decree that Duke win every game every year.

[hldurham]

Its good now I can relax tommorrow,UNC would have beat us again anyway. Hope we dont meet the Heels in The Tourney.

[weezie]

Hope we dont meet the Heels in The Tourney.

I kinda hope we do. Because it will mean we're in the championship game!

Although I might have to breathe into a paper bag to survive it.

[uh_no]

I kinda hope we do. Because it will mean we're in the championship game!

Although I might have to breathe into a paper bag to survive it.

not necessarily. But it would likely not be until the final four, for sure

[hq2]

2008: 28 wins, early season tourney crown, ACC semis exit, AP high rank of 2, NCAA: round of 32 exit

Looks about right. The way this team's playing now, an early exit wouldn't be a surprise. Since this team's NCAA distance
depends on matchups and 3 point shooting, it's clearly a crap shoot; but the way we're playing now, looks like we will
crap out sooner rather than later.

[Atlanta Duke]

Maybe he is making the best of the limitations of this year's team, but this quote after today's loss would appear to indicate K (described in the linked article by Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Mark Bradley as "at worst the second-best coach in the history of the sport") feels better about the team than he did after the St. Johns win

“This was not an X-and-O game; this was an effort game. If you lose, you want the kind of effort I had from my team. This was a winning effort.”

http://blogs.ajc.com/mark-bradley-bl...k_bradley_blog

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