MBB: Duke 79, Miami 76 Post-Game Thread

[jipops]

It must be acknowledged that this team fought through obvious fatigue in the 2nd half to actually bare down on defense and produce stops. Larkin and Scott were not getting into the lane on drives with the frequency of the 1st half. Mason stepped it up big time on the defensive end, give the kid a ton of credit there.

I am truly impressed at how this team performed against one of the best teams in the country and with such a quick turnaround.

Fatigue was most definitely a factor in the sloppy ending. But we did build the cushion.

Thank you Kelly!

[Troublemaker]

If you're referring to the Kirk Gibson game winning homer in game 1 of the World Series, I think that quote is attributable to Jack Buck who did the national radio broadcast.

Correct. Although Scully had a memorable call of that home run as well: "In a year that has been so improbable... the impossible has happened!"

[arnie]

It must be acknowledged that this team fought through obvious fatigue in the 2nd half to actually bare down on defense and produce stops. Larkin and Scott were not getting into the lane on drives with the frequency of the 1st half. Mason stepped it up big time on the defensive end, give the kid a ton of credit there.

I am truly impressed at how this team performed against one of the best teams in the country and with such a quick turnaround.

Fatigue was most definitely a factor in the sloppy ending. But we did build the cushion.

Thank you Kelly!

And I love the confidence by Sheed at end. He knew he could take the bigger kid. Ryan was OK I guess.

[Billy Dat]

What a treat to watch that game. Great college game punctuated by one of the outstanding performances in Duke history.

I was impressed by Miami's effort. They could've just counted on winning one of their two easy remaining games to wrap the title, but they are tough, true competitors.

Larkin and Scott are just really poor matchups for Cook and Curry. Especially the Scott/Curry matchup. Scott drives him at will and then locks him up on the other end. Seth is the better player overall because he plays better against other teams, but head-to-head, he loses.

Overall, hard not to be ecstatic about what came out of this game. We now know with a fairly good deal of certainty that re-integrating Ryan won't be a huge deal, and he's not going to have too much rust to knock off. That was a huge question going into the game, and it was answered quite emphatically by the White Raven.

I think these thoughts are right on the money. There were a lot of negatives to pick at if that's the prism you want to look through, I thought it was one of those magical nights, with a historic performance at its center, that washes away the miscues. Bottom line, aside from Ryan, Cook and Sheed made huge plays down the stretch when we needed them. Larkin was insane, and Kadji was too for a while.

A big play, in retrospect, was that drive early in the second half when Ryan buried his shoulder, threw it up, grabbed the rebound, and got fouled. That was Ryan basically saying that he was going to carry us no matter what - and boy did he - he also led us in rebounding.

It's going to be a fun run the rest of the way.

[Chard]

Ryan Kelly go boom!

Great game between two of the best teams out there.

[sporthenry]

And I love the confidence by Sheed at end. He knew he could take the bigger kid.

The best part about Sheed was the way the teammates reacted to the steal and lay up. They've obviously seen similar things to what we saw and I'm sure he has been getting talked to by the coaches. You could tell they knew what that would do for his confidence and the fact that our kids realize that is kudos for them.

And I know in the new game we are used to freshman coming in and dominating but if Sheed and Cook are 4 year players, the next few years are going to be fun to watch.

[NashvilleDevil]

I also hope Digger Phelps continues to say Duke has no chance of winning games.

[jwillfan]

Jaw-dropping performance by Ryan. As K said, hard to put into words. I feel kinda sorry for Amile and Alex though - unless either of them steps up big time or we're in a blowout, they are riding the pine.

[FerryFor50]

Jaw-dropping performance by Ryan. As K said, hard to put into words. I feel kinda sorry for Amile and Alex though - unless either of them steps up big time or we're in a blowout, they are riding the pine.

Or if Tyler and Hairston get into foul trouble, which is a very real possibility.

[sporthenry]

A big play, in retrospect, was that drive early in the second half when Ryan buried his shoulder, threw it up, grabbed the rebound, and got fouled. That was Ryan basically saying that he was going to carry us no matter what - and boy did he - he also led us in rebounding.

That was probably the biggest play of the game. We were down 3 on a mini 5-0 run by Miami. Their offense looked to be getting into gear and our offense was sputtering a bit with 2 missed 3's by Sheed. While the score didn't show it, it seemed like the game was getting away from us. Kelly takes a bad shot, but proceeds to get the rebound and put 2 points on the board. That cued a nice 7-0 run which included another 3 by Kelly and Mason with a post up and a block and Duke never trailed again.

[roywhite]

Duke 79 -- Miami 76


Big edge for Miami on the boards, 40 to 27
Duke was 11-23 from 3-pt, with Ryan obviously, and Quinn Cook hit 3 big ones
Amile and Murphy did not play
Rasheed had very little to show on the stat sheet, but then made some huge plays late

Oh, and by the way, Ryan Kelly played 32 minutes and had 36 points.

[sporthenry]

Jaw-dropping performance by Ryan. As K said, hard to put into words. I feel kinda sorry for Amile and Alex though - unless either of them steps up big time or we're in a blowout, they are riding the pine.

Amile had chances and while he had some bright spots, he also wasn't great. Alex is a more interesting case but I trust K in his judgment.

Remember Mason and Dre as a freshman, or Cook last year or even Nolan. They played a bit more than Amile and Alex but this is also a top 5 team. If they continue to work, they should be huge going forward.

[dukelifer]

Jaw-dropping performance by Ryan. As K said, hard to put into words. I feel kinda sorry for Amile and Alex though - unless either of them steps up big time or we're in a blowout, they are riding the pine.

Sorry? They played a lot this year because Kelly was out. Now that he is back they will be used less. That is how it goes. They were given a great opportunity to contribute. I am sure we will see them in the ACC tourney when there are multiple games in a row?

[vick]

Amile had chances and while he had some bright spots, he also wasn't great. Alex is a more interesting case but I trust K in his judgment.

Remember Mason and Dre as a freshman, or Cook last year or even Nolan. They played a bit more than Amile and Alex but this is also a top 5 team. If they continue to work, they should be huge going forward.

I'd look at Ryan as a freshman, who played 227 minutes for the season, barely more than Alex (186 to date) and much less than Amile (378).

[dukelifer]

It must be acknowledged that this team fought through obvious fatigue in the 2nd half to actually bare down on defense and produce stops. Larkin and Scott were not getting into the lane on drives with the frequency of the 1st half. Mason stepped it up big time on the defensive end, give the kid a ton of credit there.

I am truly impressed at how this team performed against one of the best teams in the country and with such a quick turnaround.

Fatigue was most definitely a factor in the sloppy ending. But we did build the cushion.

Thank you Kelly!

This is how you gut out a win. Duke has the pieces to handle the end of games but tonight too many mistakes made it closer than it needed to be. Miami is very good- have a number of Pros and can really shut down Curry. Duke does not match up well with them but can outshoot them . We may get a third game.

[Greg_Newton]

Speechless. Best game I've seen in Cameron in a few years, and the best performance I've ever seen there, all things considered.

One of those games/performances that you just know is going to go down as one of the great ones, even as it's happening.

[InSpades]

For those who are terrible at lip reading (because I got it and I'm certainly not very good)... after Ryan hit his 1st 3 they showed a close-up (in a replay) of him running back for defense as he yelled to the bench "I still got it... I still got it...". Yes Ryan, you still have it.

[miramar]

I'm really looking forward to the Duke Blue Planet "Plays of the Game" video. It's bound to be an amazing Ryan Kelly tribute.
Go DUKE!

It's already up on goduke.com and it's practically a Ryan Kelly highlight video. Great stuff, not to mention that it's always great to hear Bob Harris's voice again.

[BlueandWhite]

Jaw-dropping performance by Ryan. As K said, hard to put into words. I feel kinda sorry for Amile and Alex though - unless either of them steps up big time or we're in a blowout, they are riding the pine..

Really, there aren't that many significant minutes left for Amile or Alex now that Ryan's back. Why feel sorry for them b/c of less PT now? It's a team game. Both played significantly more this year than if Ryan hadn't hurt his foot...and helped Duke a lot.

They and the rest of their teammates are no doubt happy to see that Ryan can play a few more games in a Duke uniform, and help get the entire team to a higher level -- hopefully Duke will have 11 more games to play this year!

[6th Man]

I have watched Duke since the early 80's. That was definitely one of the greatest individual games in Duke history or at least since I have been watching. Congratulations Ryan Kelly!