MOTM: Duke vs. Ohio St. (Nov 28, 2012)

[mapei]

Mason. He seems like a different person so far this year. He's always been good, but not really great. Until now. Amazing. It's like all the talent has finally matured.

We probably lose by 20 without Mason, but man, Rasheed and Quinn were great when it counted.

[Saratoga2]

He had such an impressive game, that I had to vote for him, but was very impressed by Rasheed and by Quinn who did some great things out there tonight as well.

[tbyers11]

Another point to make about Quinn Cook's game was his overall line.

12 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds, 3 turnovers, 2 steals.

The rebounds he got were big because it provided help for the bigs. Always nice to see a guard get his nose in there and get some rebounds.

All while playing the full 40 minutes against arguably the best defensive PG in the country. I might have to change my vote

[MarkD83]

It might be time to allow for multiple votes for MOTM.

[kingboozer]

Mason hands down!

[Edouble]

My man payed all 40 minutes and during the second half I honestly thought he might end up with a triple double. Great intensity. Ridiculously impressive stat line when all was said and done, considering he was going against Craft. Love to see Quinn diving for lose balls and bringing some fire to the team. Nothing wrong with voting for Mason in this one though.

[magjayran]

There's not really a wrong answer in this one. We all know that it was a true team effort tonight. Without Ryan's defense and big threes, we don't win. Without Sheed's second half scoring outburst, we don't win. Without Quinn's fearlessness and overall steady play even with serious adversity staring him in the face, we don't win. Really, I don't think we win without our Pit Bull Tyler doing what he does either.

But Mason's consistent beastly play for an entire 40 minutes was the most impressive on an individual level to me. So I voted for him. Go Duke.

[Edouble]

There's not really a wrong answer in this one. We all know that it was a true team effort tonight. Without Ryan's defense and big threes, we don't win. Without Sheed's second half scoring outburst, we don't win. Without Quinn's fearlessness and overall steady play even with serious adversity staring him in the face, we don't win. Really, I don't think we win without our Pit Bull Tyler doing what he does either.

But Mason's consistent beastly play for an entire 40 minutes was the most impressive on an individual level to me. So I voted for him. Go Duke.

You're right, many players were worthy, but only Quinn played all 40 minutes.

[JNort]

It was close between Rasheed and Quinn for me but I think Bilas(I think it was him) said it best. Mason has been a rock all year and in this game but Rasheed has made the difference in the 2nd half. 17 points in the second was the biggest factor in winning tonight.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Rasheed, Quinn and Ryan all had good games but Mason was the man tonight. Any time an alley oop reminds me of Grant Hill in the 1991 title game against Kansas you automatically get MOM

This dunk was definitely Grant Hill-esk! MP2 gets my vote on this dunk alone. The fact that he scored 21 points, including clutch free throws with the game on the line, and pulled down 17 rebounds, is gravy!

[tbyers11]

You're right, many players were worthy, but only Quinn played all 40 minutes.

Mason played 39 minutes, 59.8 seconds. I don't think he game out until he missed his last FT. That's close enough in my book

[bjornolf]

Sulaimon got the team going in the 2nd half. Without his points early, we lose ... maybe by a lot.

sagegrouse

Of course, without Mason in the first half, are we even within striking distance to start the 2nd half?

[ncexnyc]

I know Mason had the sick stat line, but Quinn was the heart and soul of the team last night and once he got fired up at the end of the first half that carried over to the rest of the team.

[Dukeblue91]

This is one of the tougher times to vote for a single player.
Yes Mason was awesome and held us together and in striking distance in the first half.
But Quinn, Ryan and Rasheed too, without them no way we would have won.
It is hard to just pick one but since I have to I'm going for Rasheed because he gave us the biggest spark to start the 2nd half and he became a real Man tonight.
I had chilles when I saw the look in his yes and you could see the sheer will and determination of not going to lose the game because of his play.
For that matter Quinn had that same look in his eyes too.

Mason is a senior and it is somewhat expected for him to have a great game but Rasheed is a freshmen and for him to step up this big is a huge leap.
So for this game MOTM goes to Rasheed for me.

[COYS]

I agree with others that it is hard to pick out just one Blue Devil, but I had to go with Quinn. Quinn made excellent decisions in transition the entire game. In fact, a big chunk of our offense and Mason's scoring in the first half and early part of the second came off of Quinn's ability to get out in transition and make the right pass. Those easy buckets kept the game respectable in the first half and then got us right back in the thick of things in the second. Even though the offense struggled in the first half, Quinn consistently found ways to get the ball to Mason and to make sure that everyone else did the same thing. We had a long drought without any field goals (over ten minutes, I believe), but Mason also drew a ton of fouls during that time and got to the line to get his points. I don't think that would have happened as frequently without Quinn. While Quinn didn't shoot well from the field, he still had some big buckets and was unlucky, in my opinion, not to get a few foul calls. Even when he missed, a few of his drives drew as many as three defenders, leaving Mason open for put backs, including the put back dunk that set the Duke record for career dunks. In the half court, Quinn managed the game with only three turnovers against the best perimeter defender in the country. Even more importantly, Quinn had fewer turnovers in the second half when he started to attack more and make more things happen. He could have been cowed by the ball pressure OSU applied in the first half. Instead, he kicked it into gear and showed he can lead this offense against anyone.

Finally, Quinn's defense was very good. It was not perfect, but he worked really hard to continuously fight through screens the entire game. I went back and rewatched part of the game and, I gotta say, the Buckeyes set some serious picks and had no problem leaning and sticking out their legs to get as much contact as possible, even though I don't think they were whistled for an illegal screen even once. It was brutal and it destroyed us last year in Columbus. However, Quinn didn't let the physical picks or the lack of help from the zebras prevent him from continuing to fight through those screens all day long.

QUinn has come a long, long, long way since last year. Better yet, he still has plenty of room for improvement. If Quinn continues to improve, the sky is the limit for this team.

[mattmcbreen]

Without Mason, we don't win that game. He kept us in it the entire first half with his free throw shooting. At one point he had 10 of our 19 points. His getting to the line frequently was key, as the majority of the first half we had a lineup out there that wasn't really built to score. I think some credit also has to go to Ryan, however. He held Thomas to 16 points (he was averaging 24 ppg coming into the game), and hit two clutch threes on back to back trips to tie and take the lead.
BUT, I really think you have to give a good deal of the votes to the Crazies. Cameron was as loud as I've ever seen it, especially for a non UNC game. The student section kept the energy in the building up even when we were about to go down double digits, and they really helped keep the momentum on our side. It never felt like we were down big thanks to them. They forced Matta to call timeouts to end our runs. It was a truly electric atmosphere, and the Crazies proved once again that they are the best student section in college basketball, on a national stage.

[gumbomoop]

I refuse to vote for Sulaimon because I don't want to boost his draft stock further.

Glad someone mentioned this. Although maybe we should make this topic off limits. If Sheed sticks around for another year or two, he will make Duke very good.

I'm for making such talk off limits for Dick Vitale. I have always "blamed" Al Maguire [bless him] for William Avery's early departure. In an early-round NCAAT game Avery's soph year, Al declared Avery "the greatest thing since 7-Up." I always figured that sort of talk put ideas into Avery's head.

Fast forward to 2013, and hear Dickie V pronouncing Rasheed the "Diaper Dandy of the Year." Isn't each year's actual-best Diaper Dandy likely to be NBA-bound? Shut up, Dick.

Similarly, maybe best to lie low on how good Quinn is. The EK sandbagging-theme should be: "Heck no, he's nowhere near top-50 PGs. The top-50-PG-gurus are absolutely right. Ignore his play against all those top-5 teams; he got lucky. Harrow would have eaten his lunch. Siva had to share the ball with Russdiculous. Craft got overconfident after the first half, and, because he's super-organized, spent the second half worrying about final exams. Really, Quinn needs to stick around another year or two." Got to counterbalance the unfortunately eminent Dickie V's imminent rant: "Now that he's healthy, Quinn Cook has become an absolute magician, the best pure point guard in the game today, bar none, baby." Shut up, Dick.

If Dickie V. pontificates too much, we'll lose our entire starting lineup. Granted, if our starting lineup, abetted by crucial role-play-minutes from our bench, wins the NC, shoot, it'd be ok if we lose 5, rather than just 3, guys. But only if they win the NC.

We'd have to pretty much start over next season, and it might be tough to win back-to-back in this scenario. But Jabari Parker might like to play PG.

[Dukeblue91]

I'm for making such talk off limits for Dick Vitale. I have always "blamed" Al Maguire [bless him] for William Avery's early departure. In an early-round NCAAT game Avery's soph year, Al declared Avery "the greatest thing since 7-Up." I always figured that sort of talk put ideas into Avery's head.

Fast forward to 2013, and hear Dickie V pronouncing Rasheed the "Diaper Dandy of the Year." Isn't each year's actual-best Diaper Dandy likely to be NBA-bound? Shut up, Dick.

Similarly, maybe best to lie low on how good Quinn is. The EK sandbagging-theme should be: "Heck no, he's nowhere near top-50 PGs. The top-50-PG-gurus are absolutely right. Ignore his play against all those top-5 teams; he got lucky. Harrow would have eaten his lunch. Siva had to share the ball with Russdiculous. Craft got overconfident after the first half, and, because he's super-organized, spent the second half worrying about final exams. Really, Quinn needs to stick around another year or two." Got to counterbalance the unfortunately eminent Dickie V's imminent rant: "Now that he's healthy, Quinn Cook has become an absolute magician, the best pure point guard in the game today, bar none, baby." Shut up, Dick.

If Dickie V. pontificates too much, we'll lose our entire starting lineup. Granted, if our starting lineup, abetted by crucial role-play-minutes from our bench, wins the NC, shoot, it'd be ok if we lose 5, rather than just 3, guys. But only if they win the NC.

We'd have to pretty much start over next season, and it might be tough to win back-to-back in this scenario. But Jabari Parker might like to play PG.

Great post.
I agree too that if we win the NC Sheed and Quinn will be going early but it be worth it to deal with if it comes to that.

[BluDvlsN1]

There is much to enjoy about this team, really fun to see the development.
The balance in scoring and other play, so far, I'm sure will cause for many discussions in the future for MOTM.

This time I believe Mason earned it for more than a few reasons, not the least of which is is amazing stat line.

But consider this, He came back and didn"t have too.
He is a senior leader, leading by example.
He made himself relevant on the free throw line.
He developed more effective post moves.
He has channeled his youthful exuberance into a seasoned veteran performer.
But most of all. a subset of the previous line, he is keeping himself in the game by not committing the unnecessary foul.

IMO
They all will have their day, but today my vote goes to Mason, for staying, growing and making himself very relevant.

[magjayran]

You're right, many players were worthy, but only Quinn played all 40 minutes.

Mason came off the floor with .2 seconds left on the clock after intentionally air balling a free throw so that he could get the ovation that he deserved.