I've watched Kelly for 4 years and I'd describe him as "steady", "solid". He's a quality college player that won't make too many mistakes. As a defender I'd say he is average, but he is experienced and smart, which covers up his athletic weaknesses well. He struggles against big, strong guys, and gets beaten off the dribble by smaller players. Nutshell...he often plays like a "tweener" even at 6'11.
He's gonna have trouble defending PJ, McAdoo or Bullock...whoever he matches up with.
I doubt he's gonna suddenly become a post threat in this one, although I like his inside offensive moves at the basket better than Mason's. His real threat is as a catch and shoot, face up shooter and putback rebounder if he's not blocked out.
Offensively, Kelly can be taken out of games by quicker defenders that put a body on him and beat him to spots on the floor. Kelly plays tough, but not strong. I happen to think PJ is the perfect defender for him. PJ is strong and tough, too quick for Kelly. PJ needs to stay home on him and remember to deny the catch and shoot. Force Kelly to shoot a contested shot over him or put it on the floor.
BTW, I won't be able to post after the game until tomorrow, so don't come after me and think I have run and hid if Duke wins
Last edited by Wheat/"/"/"; 03-09-2013 at 01:58 PM.
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Was no one watching the chapel??
Now we're going to have to buy new song books to replace the desecrated ones and we'll have to pay to have the chapel fumigated. *sigh*
Come on, Wheat. Methinks you damn him with faint praise.
Steady and solid doesn't describe the guy who had 36 against Miami. Or shoots better than 50% from 3-pt for the season. Or was playing like Kelly was prior to his injury. He's a very good college player, very valuable on both ends, and a major weapon.
In that guy's defense, he's right that unranked teams don't beat top five teams very often in this rivalry. As I posted earlier, in Coach K's time we have had 14 Duke/UNC games when one team was top five and the other unranked. The top five team won 13 out of 14 (the one being a 1990 UNC win over #5 Duke in Chapel Hill). So, it can happen but the odds are stacked against it.
I can tell you haven't watched much of Ryan Kelly this season. For example, he held Deshaun Thomas well below his averages in both points and rebounds, and Thomas is a much better player than either Bullock or Hairston, and probably McAdoo too. Ryan is not a "tweener" in college. He's a plus defender at this level, against both big, strong guys and smaller, quicker ones.
He's a high quality shooter, for sure. His shot has to be respected and I think I've made that clear. I'll also add one great shooting night does not make him an all american.
He is a good player, and can be very good on a given day, but there are a lot of good players around.
Wheat may underestimate RK but I guarantee Ol Roy and the rest of the ninnies are sweating a little harder knowing that RK is on the court tonight. Or maybe Wheat is just baiting you guys...
I don't think Wheat's far off in his description. I do, however, think Ryan is a better defender this year than in the past (and has played "stronger" this year than in the past) but can understand if an outsider hasn't really noticed the improvement.
Forget about what games ended up being close...how many of those matchups had the top 5 team as the UNDERDOG according to Vegas? Carolina is currently favored by 2 points. They have been playing really well as of late and we better be ready for a barn burner or else we'll get run out of the gym. This game will NOT be easy. Need to play well and play hard to earn the win in Chapel Hill tonight. Go to Hell Carolina!!! Let's do this!
You're missing the point about Ryan entirely. He is a good individual defender. But he makes our TEAM defense MUCH better. And you guys didn't see that the first time around.
You've also painted him as an avg offensive player who can have good night nights but can be defended. Almost anyone can be defended if you focus enough on them. But again it's what Ryan does to improve our overall TEAM offensive effort.
Like I said, I guarantee Roy et al are worried as hell about Duke with RK on the floor. You can guard against "athletic" but you can't guard against "smart" and that's the unseen element with RK.
There are few things on this board funnier than Wheat's total contempt for any Duke player taller than 6'8".