MBB: Duke vs Florida Gulf Coast Pre-Game/In-Game Thread

[Furniture]

I'm loving this team. Nice and warmed up now!!!!

[trinity79]

someone on Duke's coaching staff or Seth or somebody, please explain to young Sulaimon that when you get the ball out in the corner you don't HAVE to shoot the 3. You can also get your man up in the air and drive the baseline. That means you'll probably either get the dunk or get fouled (sometimes even both). Either of those possibilities offers a higher percentage shot than the 3 does. It's just math. I mean, he certainly has the athletic wherewithal to take it to the rack if he gets there before the opposing big men do.

[Furniture]

someone on Duke's coaching staff or Seth or somebody, please explain to young Sulaimon that when you get the ball out in the corner you don't HAVE to shoot the 3. You can also get your man up in the air and drive the baseline. That means you'll probably either get the dunk or get fouled (sometimes even both). Either of those possibilities offers a higher percentage shot than the 3 does. It's just math. I mean, he certainly has the athletic wherewithal to take it to the rack if he gets there before the opposing big men do.

I'm sure he will start doing that very soon

[COYS]

someone on Duke's coaching staff or Seth or somebody, please explain to young Sulaimon that when you get the ball out in the corner you don't HAVE to shoot the 3. You can also get your man up in the air and drive the baseline. That means you'll probably either get the dunk or get fouled (sometimes even both). Either of those possibilities offers a higher percentage shot than the 3 does. It's just math. I mean, he certainly has the athletic wherewithal to take it to the rack if he gets there before the opposing big men do.

That's true, but it's hard to complain with Rasheed's play, so far. He's been composed, he's played excellent defense, he's been getting to the line, and now his threes are falling. Hard to complain with 13 points on 8 field goal attempts plus strong defense.

[sporthenry]

someone on Duke's coaching staff or Seth or somebody, please explain to young Sulaimon that when you get the ball out in the corner you don't HAVE to shoot the 3. You can also get your man up in the air and drive the baseline. That means you'll probably either get the dunk or get fouled (sometimes even both). Either of those possibilities offers a higher percentage shot than the 3 does. It's just math. I mean, he certainly has the athletic wherewithal to take it to the rack if he gets there before the opposing big men do.

He is a work in progress but 50% from 3 and 13 points on 8 shots is impressive for a freshmen. Certainly more efficient than AR was. When do we star the Sulaimon Draft Vigil? When do the Crazies start chanting "1 more year."

[Cameron]

Rasheed Sulaimon is a straight trigger man. Kid is just a cool customer on the court.

Love the energy Quinn is bringing as well. He's really improved his shot. It looks nice.

[chaosmage]

Is doing the halftime report??? Wow!!

[JBDuke]

Is doing the halftime report??? Wow!!

I thought it was Sam the Eagle. My bad.

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=sam+t...,r:3,s:0,i:109

[moonpie23]

sam is telling me, "i KNOW him!"...lol...


rasheed is fearless...

[superdave]

Is doing the halftime report??? Wow!!

Ha ha. Matt Doherty is completely white-haired now.

I miss him coaching Unc...

[Duvall]

Doherty interviewing Roy? Awkward.

[Big Pappa]

52-30 at the half. Quinn (among others) looks great with 8 points, 6 assists, and 3 boards so far. Alex remained in his warm-ups throughout the half. I'm really hoping he gets some minutes in the 2nd half...

[Dukeblue91]

Any news on Alex?
I did not even see him on the bench of the few times the camera went to it.
I hope he is okay.

[COYS]

Excellent first half after a slightly shaky start. As usual, offense is not a problem for Duke. Who knew Rasheed would be such an offensive force? He's a legitimate threat on offense plus his defense has been awesome. Mason's scoring and hitting his free throws, Quinn is diming (6 assists, even if the 3 turnovers are not ideal), and Ryan got going on the boards. Ryan, Seth and Josh had some trouble guarding the three point line, early. That led to a pretty big barrage of threes. But K seems to have shored that up a bit with a few extra minutes from Amile plus a revitalized Ryan after he sat for a while. Seth has struggled defensively and has seemed just a step out of synch, but we all know how quickly he can turn things around. In the meantime, it's just nice to know that Mason can continue his strong play so far and that Rasheed is the real deal.

Only bad thing is no minutes for Alex, but we'll see how things go. It's hard to argue against Amile, as he's played well in virtually every game since he put on a Duke uni, not counting his "incomplete" against UK. I'm still not convinced that Alex is completely out of the rotation, as it is very rare to hear coach K talk a guy up like he did Alex (not that he talked him like he did Kyrie, or anything, but still) only to have him fall out of the rotation, entirely. Perhaps he's got a bit of a Miles Plumlee issue going on where he's practicing well but thinking too much once he gets into a game.

[Saratoga2]

Anyone have thoughts on the slow start. Are we not prepared for a street fight. Certainly, the team got it together and the guys got it going on both offense and defense. Nice to see Amile getting some time and it is clear that he can do a lot with his length.

Ryan started very slow but he seems to have taken his game inside.

[Dukeblue91]

52-30 at the half. Quinn (among others) looks great with 8 points, 6 assists, and 3 boards so far. Alex remained in his warm-ups throughout the half. I'm really hoping he gets some minutes in the 2nd half...

Oh you actually saw him?
I have been trying to but the camera moves way to fast when they go by the bench.

[superdave]

23-0 run to close out the half. Quinn Cook's pressure on the ball turned a slow start into a big lead.

No Alex Murphy so far.

[Big Pappa]

Any news on Alex?
I did not even see him on the bench of the few times the camera went to it.
I hope he is okay.

On the bench, but in his warm-ups.

Only bad thing is no minutes for Alex, but we'll see how things go. It's hard to argue against Amile, as he's played well in virtually every game since he put on a Duke uni, not counting his "incomplete" against UK. I'm still not convinced that Alex is completely out of the rotation, as it is very rare to hear coach K talk a guy up like he did Alex (not that he talked him like he did Kyrie, or anything, but still) only to have him fall out of the rotation, entirely. Perhaps he's got a bit of a Miles Plumlee issue going on where he's practicing well but thinking too much once he gets into a game.

I would agree about the MP1 sentiment, but he has gotten 2 out of a possible 100 minutes of game action thus far. I don't think K (or anyone) can know if he is doing too much of anything once he gets in a game because he's barely been in.

[chaosmage]

I disagree with us having a slow start, as it seemed that it was more of them hitting everything they threw up rather than us playing badly. Our athleticism caught up with them and we just overpowered them, in addition to our 3-balls finally starting to fall.

I truly believe, regarding Alex, that if we keep this lead up, then we will see him in the game. If he is in the doghouse, we won't see him no matter how much of a lead we get.

[Cameron]

If you watched Rasheed in high school or in the all-star games and saw the way he scored as easily any of the other superstars in those games -- maybe not as much, but as effortlessly -- you knew this kid was going to be a talent on the offensive end. He's great. And to top it off, he plays even harder defensively. He's the next big thing in Durham. Next year he is going to be a monster.