MBB: Duke 71, Sparty 61 Post-Game Thread

[mr. synellinden]

Was that the 2010 team on defense?

That was almost word-for-word what I was going to post. Had quite the 2010 feel - I felt a strange calm when I saw the shot of Coach K sitting on his chair in Indy like he did in 2010.

Defense wins championships and we just played our two best defensive games of the year in a row.

[NashvilleDevil]

Boy, that Coach K guy is a really good coach. Its good to see the D come together again with Kelly getting back into the groove.

His presence on defense has elevated this team to another level. On one of his shots tonight it looked like he was guiding it instead of just shooting it. Here's to him finding his shot Sunday and for Quinn to come out fired up to lead this team to Atlanta.

[kmspeaks]

That's the defense that was top 10 in Pomeroy before Kelly went out. How long did the 1 field goal stint end up being 13, 14+ minutes? Just a fantastic team effort on that end, especially in the second half.

I LOVE TYLER THORNTON! The flagrant foul aside he was all over the place wreaking havoc defensively and knocked down his one 3 point attempt. I'm sure the sportscenter highlights will focus on Curry's great shooting but Tyler was flat out awesome tonight.

[mcdukie]

K's defensive scheme was outstanding. As good as a Coach as Izzo is he really didn't have an answer.

[BlueandWhite]

Great game, Blue Devils -- great overall team performance & outstanding defense.

Charles Barkley re: Duke's defense and our prospects vs Louisville "That won't help them on Sunday..."

And regarding tonight's game & MSU's inability to score in the 2nd half, disagreeing with the other CBS commentators -- "That was more about bad offense..."

Well guess what, Sir Charles...you're wrong! It WAS more about Duke's defense.

Let's go Devils -- beat Louisville!!

[matt1]

Like I said earlier, it was important to have three play well. We had that from Plumlee, Curry, and Suliamon. Kelly was also fine.

[turnandburn55]

Bad offense by MSU? Maybe to an extent, but we had a hand on every ball, a body on every would-be shooter-- it's not like they were missing uncontested layups or taking 18-footers early in the shot clock.

[Les Grossman]

On one of his shots tonight it looked like [Kelly] was guiding it instead of just shooting it. Here's to him finding his shot Sunday

When he hits two in a row, he will go for 25 or so. I'm predicting that happens sunday.

[dukelifer]

This team has met my expectations for the season and then some. I'd expect more if they were in another region, but unfortunately they got Louisville. That doesn't mean they can't win, because the defense tonight was exceptional, but as long as they're competitive on Sunday I'll be happy.

For us to win on Sunday, though, we really need Quinn to be in a good place. In the game thread, I was a bit snarky about him, but apparently the coaches felt the same way about his play. Need this defense, need Quinn to be there to help handle Louisville's guards.

What a game tonight by this team. Apart from a few blatant lapses (fouling 3 point shooters), all the rotations were good and players stayed in front of their assignments and didn't give them easy looks. Loved it.

Last time Cook had 0 he came back with 27. Here is hoping history repeats itself

[Les Grossman]

Last time Cook had 0 he came back with 27. Here is hoping history repeats itself

Yes, that's another pretty good prediction for Easter sunday.

[CDu]

Awesome, awesome defense. For 37 minutes we were just relentless on defense. We got tentative down the stretch after we built the big lead, but overall it was just a really impressive showing.

Also, great shooting performance from the line. 24-26 for the team was absolutely HUGE!

Thank goodness Curry brought his "A" game tonight, because for about 30 minutes of this game it didn't seem like the rest of the guys wanted to score. We finally got a few bunnies to build the lead, though, and were able to get it done.

Louisville will be a much different animal: better on both ends of the floor than MSU. Thankfully, they also aren't a terrific shooting team. Hopefully we can protect the ball, keep them out of transition, and make it to the Final Four!

[jv001]

Last time Cook had 0 he came back with 27. Here is hoping history repeats itself

I just want Quinn to play good defense, get into the lane and handle the ball like the point guard he is. Don't be droop dog with that head down. GoDuke!

[gocanes0506]

Last time Cook had 0 he came back with 27. Here is hoping history repeats itself

With the amount of guards Duke has on its bench, I expect a recovery by Cook. All of them can give them tips and lessons learned on how to improve. I believe he will be very hyped for the potential matchup he will have. He seems to turn it up when he faces a superior PG. Lets hope so.

[mgtr]

Hairston's best game by far. No silly 15 foot shotputs, no silly fouls, and a timely charge taken. Go Josh.

[Duke 81 LA]

Last time Cook had 0 he came back with 27. Here is hoping history repeats itself

Curry was the obvious MVP, but Thornton stepped on Cook's off night and MORE than held his own. Kudos to Tiny Thor!!M

[wsb3]

Game time set yet for Sunday?

[striker219]

Great game, Blue Devils -- great overall team performance & outstanding defense.

Charles Barkley re: Duke's defense and our prospects vs Louisville "That won't help them on Sunday..."

And regarding tonight's game & MSU's inability to score in the 2nd half, disagreeing with the other CBS commentators -- "That was more about bad offense..."

Well guess what, Sir Charles...you're wrong! It WAS more about Duke's defense.

Let's go Devils -- beat Louisville!!

No, he's probably right. It'll be just like 2010 when we were destroyed by West Virginia in this very building, just like everyone said was going to happen. I'm going to go ahead and preemptively start crying now.

[Chicken Little]

Oh, man, Charles Barkley just harshed my mellow

I don't know if there's a person in the universe whose opinion in this arena matters less than a man who admitted to losing more than $10 Million gambling.

[mr. synellinden]

Game time set yet for Sunday?

Yes, the late game - 5:05 start I believe.

[SCMatt33]

I'm not above admitting when I'm wrong. I was very critical of Duke's defense after the Maryland game and said that our style was not sustainable with two guys hurt and only playing 7 for the most part. Here was my suggestion from that thread:

I'm not suggesting that they suddenly play a UVA defense because that would be too drastic of a change, but they need to keep it inside the NBA line and force teams to take long possessions and help coax the team through 40 minutes. I know the three's didn't fall tonight, but other than the first round, Maryland is likely the worst team that we will play from here on out and the conditioning won't improve significantly in the next few weeks. Coach K is the best because he builds around what he has. He knows this team the best out of anyone and I'm sure that his ideas are better than mine, but pushing 7 guys to play 100% for 40 minutes won't end with Duke in Atlanta.

Obviously, Duke has not gotten rid of the pressure and has kept the base defense the same, but Coach K built a few big tweaks around his (and his opponents) personnel that have worked brilliantly. Against Creighton, Duke had Ryan Kelly and Amile Jefferson guard Doug McDermott straight up. At times, Duke will double out of a pick and roll and rely on the remaining big to help on the roll. Both of those guys stuck with McDermott no matter what. He dared anyone else on that team to beat us and they couldn't. It also allowed Jefferson to get in the game at all, because Amile has really struggled with picking up the plays and rotations on the defense this year and has basically been benched since Kelly came back because of it.

Tonight, it was the soft double on the bigs. We didn't always try to go with the full double so that we didn't give up passes on the back end. Instead, we guarded straight up on Payne's and Nix's strong side, and had help waiting on the weak side. We then had the guard sag down on the opposite big, but not fully commit to fronting him so that we could still recover to a three point shooter. The game was tightly called, so they still got to the line on drives, but this post defense really helped frustrate their bigs on the first shot, and it kept our guys in great rebounding position. No official box score yet, so this number will probably be adjusted slightly, but ESPN has 8 offense boards for MSU (a couple off of blocked shots, too) and 26 defensive boards for Duke, for only 23.5% offensive rebounding. That was huge in not giving up easy buckets.

I'm fully impressed with how this team has played in the tournament no matter what happens Sunday. Duke-Louisville could easily been a title game match-up.