MBB: Duke 81, Drury 65 (Exhibition) Post-game Thread

[NYBri]

Sheed is needed in the rotation. Good to see Semi and Alex on the floor, tho.

Next one counts.

[jipops]

13 points and 16 boards for Amile, but possibly more impressive is 4 assists and zero turnovers.

And 8 of the 16 were offensive. Granted this was a small team, but these were largely traffic boards.

[Cameron]

So, things are not looking good for Andre. Six points is one thing. Six minutes is another. Haven't heard anything about sickness or injury being a factor, which makes his combined 15 minutes in two exhibition games somewhat concerning to me. Though, with Matt Jones' arrival this year, it is something that I feared heading into the season. They are the two best shooters on the roster, with one major difference being that Matt also brings another dimension defensively.

Makes me sad, but maybe things will pick up for the kid. He is one of my all-time favorites.

[Newton_14]

Went to the game today and fortunately had really good seats, so great view. Crowd was very sparse including the student section which was about 60% full or so until about 4 minutes from tip when the ushers moved about 50 people from the endzone corner nearest the Duke bench, and brought them around to help fill up Section 17. Upper Bowl was maybe 70% full and that is being generous. On to the game.

I was having Lehigh nightmares for a long time there. I texted Kedsy with about 4 minutes left in the half to tell him that we were pretty much horrible in all phases of the game. Agree with the person upstream who stated the chemistry is not there yet. It clearly is not. Now to be crystal clear, I am not talking about guys not liking each other, or being selfish or anything of that nature. It is 100% about learning to play together on both sides of the ball, and establishing both an offensive and defensive identify.

I will start with the bad, and finish with the good, since that is how the game played out. We were really bad as a team the entire first half. Drury is a well disciplined, well coached team, and it is easy to see how they won their National Championship last year. Their ball movement and screening was ridiculously good the entire first half, and we simply could not defend them well. K tried every combination of players possible without Rasheed and none were good. Drury got pretty much any shot they wanted inside or out, and killed us on the offensive boards when they missed. Our interior defense was pretty bad, and guys were getting lost amidst all the ball movement and screening time and time again. The team defense on the whole there was just bad, and communication was poor. The perimeter defense and full court pressing was not bad, but they just weren't forcing a lot of turnovers, or disrupting Drury very much. Pressing full court and sticking with your man step for step looks pretty an all, but if you aren't turning them over or being disruptive, then all you are really doing is wasting a lot of energy which in turn hurts your offense.

On offense, we were kind of passing it around a lot, not attacking very much, and settling for jumpers or awkward shots around the glass. Hood was the lone guy who was effective in that first half on offense, along with Murphy, but Murphy only got one 4 minute run in the first half and then sat, I assume because K did not like his defense. I would have stuck with Murphy since no one else was playing great D either, but that's just me. End result of all that was 38-34 Drury at the half. We had been down 6, then cut it to 2, but Drury scored on a putback at the buzzer to take it back to 4. K was livid. They came out so late from halftime they only had 1 minute to warm up.

That sums up the bad.

In the second half, the defense was much better, as was the offense and it started with Rodney Hood. In the first couple of minutes he ripped a rebound out of a kid's hand, got pissed at the kid, giving him a dirty look and a couple of words. He then hit a 3 on the other end and turned an saluted his teammates as Drury called time out. Anyone questioning Hood's fire and passion, stop now. He has it. I think those two plays went a long way in energizing his teammates and getting them out of the funk. Great Captain work there. From there the offense started flowing better and Hood started imposing his will. He is flatout unstoppable in the paint, with a deadly "rise and shoot over the D from 4 to 6 to 8 feet. Get prepared to see one move with two positive outcomes as we start the season. Hood catching it out top, making a move, driving to the middle of the paint. Option 1: He shoots and makes the short jumper at a very high percentage. Option 2: He rises to shoot but the defense collapses on him and he dumps the pass to Amile or Jabari right under the basket for an easy dunk or layup. Very effective. I looked up at the clock with about 14 minutes left and Hood had 19 points and 9 boards already. He is a great playmaker who can create his own shot or dump to a teammate really really well. Amile also had a huge second half on the boards and scoring in a variety of ways in the paint. Jabari had his first off game but picked it up in the 2nd half and finished strong. Those 3, plus Quinn, look to be our top 4 scorers, with others chipping in. Have not seen the box score but believe Quinn had 11 and Matt had 9. Tyler played well, as did Josh. Andre did not play enough to get into any sort of rythym which was disappointing, but I am afraid I am going to be disappointed there all year. Things look totally different now than they did at the open practice.

With that, unless something changes or injuries happen, the Top 8 are Guards/Wings (Quinn, Rasheed, Tyler, Matt) and Forwards (Hood, Jabari, Amile, Josh). Murphy is next as of right now, then Andre, then Semi. Those 3 are getting spot minutes in both halves. MP3 is currently low man on the totem pole. Semi actually got quite a few minutes in the first half today as K was not pleased with the play of Amile or Jabari, but then played much less in the 2nd half. For those not in the Top 8, it appears to be team defense that is keeping them on the pine, as none of them looked what I would describe as bad on offense. Murphy as I said earlier, actually gave us a little spark in the first half on offense, but never came back in during the first half after that first 4 minute run early. Murphy got most if not all of his minutes at the 4 spot today, Andre played the 3 in the first half and the 2 in the second half.

We are not a great team as of right now and K said as much in the post game. Folks are going to need to be patient as K gels them into an effective team, and like I said last week, this is clearly a team that will play its better basketball later in the season vs last year where the guys played great coming out of the gate. Just way too many new faces playing together for the first time. Might mean we drop 3 or 4 games early on, but become a much stronger team late when they figure it out and come together. The talent is there, but there is much work to do, especially on defense.

[duke4ever19]

We are not a great team as of right now and K said as much in the post game. Folks are going to need to be patient as K gels them into an effective team, and like I said last week, this is clearly a team that will play its better basketball later in the season vs last year where the guys played great coming out of the gate.

I agree. We usually have a rather noticeable advantage early in the season due to the remarkable job Coach K does in getting individual players to play as a team. There will be more growing pains with this years exciting edition of the Duke men's basketball team.

[throatybeard]

Bob Barker went to that school. How about that?

[Dukeblue91]

Went to the game today and fortunately had really good seats, so great view. Crowd was very sparse including the student section which was about 60% full or so until about 4 minutes from tip when the ushers moved about 50 people from the endzone corner nearest the Duke bench, and brought them around to help fill up Section 17. Upper Bowl was maybe 70% full and that is being generous.

/Snip

Newton_14

Thank you for the nice summary of the game, you did a great job giving the lows and highlights of the game.
I had to work today and could not catch it.
I have to say that Amile is fast becoming one of my favorite players of all time,
he impressed me last year quite a bit and looks to have really build upon his skills over the summer.

[devildeac]

Bob Barker went to that school. How about that?

Musta been the right price.

[Dukehky]

I agree that our peak this year is going to be substantially further down the road. I feel like we peaked really early in the year the past few years, injuries were a significant part of that though. (I may just be thinking about 2012 for the most part with that early peak comment).

I see so much potential on this team and with such, I have high expectations for the whole year, but have realized that as a fan base we need to be patient and allow K to do his work to put a team on the floor that is peaking in March for a trip to the final four.

I've been quick to put Rasheed on the bench to start the games. I wanted Dawkins to start and play great, and that is, right now, unrealistic. I'm back on the Rasheed bandwagon. I still think that he could be used most effectively as the primary option coming off the bench and Matt has shown early that his defense is good enough to be an effective starter. Rasheed finishing games and playing starters' minutes. But whatever works, go for it. I started in high school over a Jamaal Crawford type guy who was WWWWWAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY better than me and just carried the second unit while the starters rested, so I've seen that scenario work out and am probably a little biased because of it.

I was proud of they way this team fought in the second half, and to be honest I almost started a post-game thread half way through the second half titled "Duke vs. Drury Postame Thread: Thank you Rodney Hood for not allowing us to lose to Drury." I'm glad Rodney chose Duke. Lot of passion and took over to essentially single-handedly put Duke ahead.

Regardless, I got to watch Duke play basketball, it was a good day.

[MCFinARL]

So, things are not looking good for Andre. Six points is one thing. Six minutes is another. Haven't heard anything about sickness or injury being a factor, which makes his combined 15 minutes in two exhibition games somewhat concerning to me. Though, with Matt Jones' arrival this year, it is something that I feared heading into the season. They are the two best shooters on the roster, with one major difference being that Matt also brings another dimension defensively.

Makes me sad, but maybe things will pick up for the kid. He is one of my all-time favorites.

I feel the same way about Andre and am holding out one, admittedly faint, hope. The article linked from the main page a couple of days ago about K and leadership discussed a closed scrimmage attended by people attending a Duke leadership seminar and mentioned that Andre was not participating in the scrimmage because he was not practicing that day. It's not clear exactly when that was, but it is possible that Andre is recovering from an illness or minor injury that has set him back a bit, perhaps one that took hold between the blue-white scrimmage, where he appeared to have the coaches' confidence and a big role, and the first preseason game.

On the other hand, it's also possible that something in the first preseason game or things that have been happening in practice have changed Andre's position in the pecking order since the blue-white scrimmage. To keep myself from being too disappointed I am trying to remind myself that Andre can accomplish much by being a leader on the bench and in practice, by helping to train the younger players, and by seeing his Duke experience through to the finish with grace, regardless of playing time, so I am focusing my hopes on that outcome and trying to think about minutes as gravy.

[Cameron]

Went to the game today and fortunately had really good seats, so great view. Crowd was very sparse including the student section which was about 60% full or so until about 4 minutes from tip when the ushers moved about 50 people from the endzone corner nearest the Duke bench, and brought them around to help fill up Section 17. Upper Bowl was maybe 70% full and that is being generous. On to the game.

I was having Lehigh nightmares for a long time there. I texted Kedsy with about 4 minutes left in the half to tell him that we were pretty much horrible in all phases of the game. Agree with the person upstream who stated the chemistry is not there yet. It clearly is not. Now to be crystal clear, I am not talking about guys not liking each other, or being selfish or anything of that nature. It is 100% about learning to play together on both sides of the ball, and establishing both an offensive and defensive identify.

I will start with the bad, and finish with the good, since that is how the game played out. We were really bad as a team the entire first half. Drury is a well disciplined, well coached team, and it is easy to see how they won their National Championship last year. Their ball movement and screening was ridiculously good the entire first half, and we simply could not defend them well. K tried every combination of players possible without Rasheed and none were good. Drury got pretty much any shot they wanted inside or out, and killed us on the offensive boards when they missed. Our interior defense was pretty bad, and guys were getting lost amidst all the ball movement and screening time and time again. The team defense on the whole there was just bad, and communication was poor. The perimeter defense and full court pressing was not bad, but they just weren't forcing a lot of turnovers, or disrupting Drury very much. Pressing full court and sticking with your man step for step looks pretty an all, but if you aren't turning them over or being disruptive, then all you are really doing is wasting a lot of energy which in turn hurts your offense.

On offense, we were kind of passing it around a lot, not attacking very much, and settling for jumpers or awkward shots around the glass. Hood was the lone guy who was effective in that first half on offense, along with Murphy, but Murphy only got one 4 minute run in the first half and then sat, I assume because K did not like his defense. I would have stuck with Murphy since no one else was playing great D either, but that's just me. End result of all that was 38-34 Drury at the half. We had been down 6, then cut it to 2, but Drury scored on a putback at the buzzer to take it back to 4. K was livid. They came out so late from halftime they only had 1 minute to warm up.

That sums up the bad.

In the second half, the defense was much better, as was the offense and it started with Rodney Hood. In the first couple of minutes he ripped a rebound out of a kid's hand, got pissed at the kid, giving him a dirty look and a couple of words. He then hit a 3 on the other end and turned an saluted his teammates as Drury called time out. Anyone questioning Hood's fire and passion, stop now. He has it. I think those two plays went a long way in energizing his teammates and getting them out of the funk. Great Captain work there. From there the offense started flowing better and Hood started imposing his will. He is flatout unstoppable in the paint, with a deadly "rise and shoot over the D from 4 to 6 to 8 feet. Get prepared to see one move with two positive outcomes as we start the season. Hood catching it out top, making a move, driving to the middle of the paint. Option 1: He shoots and makes the short jumper at a very high percentage. Option 2: He rises to shoot but the defense collapses on him and he dumps the pass to Amile or Jabari right under the basket for an easy dunk or layup. Very effective. I looked up at the clock with about 14 minutes left and Hood had 19 points and 9 boards already. He is a great playmaker who can create his own shot or dump to a teammate really really well. Amile also had a huge second half on the boards and scoring in a variety of ways in the paint. Jabari had his first off game but picked it up in the 2nd half and finished strong. Those 3, plus Quinn, look to be our top 4 scorers, with others chipping in. Have not seen the box score but believe Quinn had 11 and Matt had 9. Tyler played well, as did Josh. Andre did not play enough to get into any sort of rythym which was disappointing, but I am afraid I am going to be disappointed there all year. Things look totally different now than they did at the open practice.

With that, unless something changes or injuries happen, the Top 8 are Guards/Wings (Quinn, Rasheed, Tyler, Matt) and Forwards (Hood, Jabari, Amile, Josh). Murphy is next as of right now, then Andre, then Semi. Those 3 are getting spot minutes in both halves. MP3 is currently low man on the totem pole. Semi actually got quite a few minutes in the first half today as K was not pleased with the play of Amile or Jabari, but then played much less in the 2nd half. For those not in the Top 8, it appears to be team defense that is keeping them on the pine, as none of them looked what I would describe as bad on offense. Murphy as I said earlier, actually gave us a little spark in the first half on offense, but never came back in during the first half after that first 4 minute run early. Murphy got most if not all of his minutes at the 4 spot today, Andre played the 3 in the first half and the 2 in the second half.

We are not a great team as of right now and K said as much in the post game. Folks are going to need to be patient as K gels them into an effective team, and like I said last week, this is clearly a team that will play its better basketball later in the season vs last year where the guys played great coming out of the gate. Just way too many new faces playing together for the first time. Might mean we drop 3 or 4 games early on, but become a much stronger team late when they figure it out and come together. The talent is there, but there is much work to do, especially on defense.

Great recap, Newton. Didn't get to watch today, so thanks.

What are your thoughts on Andre? Is that it for him, he's pretty much going to be relegated to very minimal spot minutes, unless something drastic happens or a lineup shift is needed? Even in 2010-11, with Kyrie Irving, Nolan Smith and Seth Curry ahead of him, Andre found a valuable niche on that squad, putting up 8 points a game and playing almost 22 minutes nightly. I mean, he played six minutes in what amounts to a scrimmage today. I'm totally confused. He's behind Murphy? Is there something else at play, or is Andre just not going to be much of a factor this season?

Sadly, I sort of wish he had transferred. Even with his limitations, there are big-time schools where Andre could easily be a double-figure guy and lead the country in three-point field goals. But I guess as long as he's happy. It does appear as if this is where he wanted to be. He's still here.

[Cameron]

I feel the same way about Andre and am holding out one, admittedly faint, hope. The article linked from the main page a couple of days ago about K and leadership discussed a closed scrimmage attended by people attending a Duke leadership seminar and mentioned that Andre was not participating in the scrimmage because he was not practicing that day. It's not clear exactly when that was, but it is possible that Andre is recovering from an illness or minor injury that has set him back a bit, perhaps one that took hold between the blue-white scrimmage, where he appeared to have the coaches' confidence and a big role, and the first preseason game.

On the other hand, it's also possible that something in the first preseason game or things that have been happening in practice have changed Andre's position in the pecking order since the blue-white scrimmage. To keep myself from being too disappointed I am trying to remind myself that Andre can accomplish much by being a leader on the bench and in practice, by helping to train the younger players, and by seeing his Duke experience through to the finish with grace, regardless of playing time, so I am focusing my hopes on that outcome and trying to think about minutes as gravy.

Thanks for the information about the closed practice. That gives me some optimism, as well.

And I agree, Andre is a great kid and his experience, especially as a national champion, can only be a good thing for others on the team to be around. Keep your head up, Dre.

[Troublemaker]

Free throw shooting has shot to the top of my list as the #1 concern for this team right now. I still believe Duke will be a good FT-shooting team (71+%) when it's all said and done but, man, that's 4 out of 4 public performances now where they've shown poorly in that area. Going into the season, I just kind of took it for granted that this team would be a good shooting team (both 3-pters and FTs), so the free throw accuracy bothers me more than playing a bad half or even rebounding struggles. And we haven't exactly lit it up from three-point land either. I didn't believe Duke was going to be very good at rebounding this season, but at least in theory Duke was going to overcome that and still be a top 4 team by excelling at shooting, ball-handling, forcing turnovers, having a deep bench, quickness, etc. We need to be good at the things we're supposed to be good at to compensate for the very few things where we might be disadvantaged. If even one of those good things changes columns to become a bad thing, wow, that's going to be tough. I don't think this Duke team can become a great team without being good at shooting FTs. That's a competitive advantage that we need to have.

In the second half, the defense was much better, as was the offense and it started with Rodney Hood. In the first couple of minutes he ripped a rebound out of a kid's hand, got pissed at the kid, giving him a dirty look and a couple of words. He then hit a 3 on the other end and turned an saluted his teammates as Drury called time out. Anyone questioning Hood's fire and passion, stop now. He has it. I think those two plays went a long way in energizing his teammates and getting them out of the funk. Great Captain work there.

Indeed. I think Coach K hopes and we the fans hope that Rodney will be able to take charge like that several times this season when the team faces adversity from the opposing team. But before he can do it several times, he had to do it the first time, so that was great to see. I wouldn't be surprised if when Rodney goes to bed tonight, he'll think about the beginning of the 2nd half and experience a feeling of deep satisfaction. A neat little personal moment for him that'll get lost in the ether as the regular season starts now.

[Newton_14]

Great recap, Newton. Didn't get to watch today, so thanks.

What are your thoughts on Andre? Is that it for him, he's pretty much going to be relegated to very minimal spot minutes, unless something drastic happens or a lineup shift is needed? Even in 2010-11, with Kyrie Irving, Nolan Smith and Seth Curry ahead of him, Andre found a valuable niche on that squad, putting up 8 points a game and playing almost 22 minutes nightly. I mean, he played six minutes in what amounts to a scrimmage today. I'm totally confused. He's behind Murphy? Is there something else at play, or is Andre just not going to be much of a factor this season?

Sadly, I sort of wish he had transferred. Even with his limitations, there are big-time schools where Andre could easily be a double-figure guy and lead the country in three-point field goals. But I guess as long as he's happy. It does appear as if this is where he wanted to be. He's still here.

I am super disappointed in the situation actually. He looked so darn good in the open practice that day and really at CTC as well. I was excited and thought he would be solidly in the rotation, playing a key role. I attended both exhibitions so have seen them 4 times in person now, and the situation appears to have drastically changed with Andre. Like you and others, I really want him to have a great final year and be an integral part of the team. It's too early to call it at this point but I have zero confidence in my initial call on Andre at this point, after the two exhibition games.

In my opinion, there are a combination of factors at play here. First, Rasheed, and Tyler are going to be in the rotation. They just are and deservedly so. Say what you want about Tyler Thornton, but the kid is an impact player without being a stat stuffer. Those kids are rare, but valuable. Second, Rodney Hood is damn good. Jabari is the best talent on the team, but as of right now, Rodney is the best college basketball player on the team. He is going to play heavy minutes at the 3, and a small amount of minutes at the 4. Lastly, Matt Jones has come out of the gate strong. He is a superb ball handler, has shown a really good ability to attack the basket off the dribble and either score, draw the foul or both, and he is pretty solid right now as a perimeter defender. I personally don't see Jones as a great shooter, as he has this little push/hitch thingie in his motion, but like Tyler, he has shown a knack in the two games to hit timely 3's.

All of those factors combined, leave precious few minutes for Andre to get on the floor. Can it change? Sure. We have seen Andre perform at a very high level before, (think 903 vs Mich St for example), so he has it in him. He does not look rusty to me at all so I am not considering that to be a factor here. K said Rasheed did not play today due to subpar Health that kept him out of practice the last couple of days so maybe there is a flu bug or something and Andre has been hampered by that. Not sure

To his credit, Andre has shown an outstanding attitude on the sidelines. Stays enthusiatic, pulls hard for his teammates, stays engaged, etc. No pouting, no head hanging. The one positive is that K has put him in early in both games. If that continues, and Andre can come out hot in a game, and force K's hand to give him more burn in the first half, then maybe he gains confidence and swagger. I would like to see Andre have a game where he gets 25 minutes or so, such that he does not feel like he has to play mistake free on both ends to stay on the floor. It is very hard to play when you feel like one mistake on either end of the floor is going to get you yanked. I have played under those circumstances in high school and it is tough. It changes your entire mindset and approach. I think even the best of players would struggle in those conditions.

Let's see where this situation is at 5 games in. Something to watch.

[duke4ever19]

Sadly, I sort of wish he had transferred. Even with his limitations, there are big-time schools where Andre could easily be a double-figure guy and lead the country in three-point field goals. But I guess as long as he's happy. It does appear as if this is where he wanted to be. He's still here.

I suspect him being on the Championship squad his freshman year kept him from considering a transfer (Of course, Olek Czyz decided to transfer a mere 3 months before Duke won it all). I would not want to leave my team after being part of something that special. Like you said though, he does seem happy here, and I will forever admire him for coming to Duke a year early in order to help the team out.

[BlueDevilBrowns]

To keep myself from being too disappointed I am trying to remind myself that Andre can accomplish much by being a leader on the bench and in practice, by helping to train the younger players, and by seeing his Duke experience through to the finish with grace, regardless of playing time, so I am focusing my hopes on that outcome and trying to think about minutes as gravy.

This is correct. I could be wrong, but I get the feeling some on this board have unrealistic expectations for Andre. More specifically, it's THEIR expectations and goals, perhaps not HIS.

No matter what, Andre will always be a Champion and will be a Duke graduate, something the majority of people only dream about. He's a winner in the greatest sense if he never plays a single minute of Duke basketball again.

Let Dawkins run his own race in his own way. The very fact that K allowed him the space he needed and then allowed him to come back should be evidence enough of the value Coach feels he brings.

So let's not throw a pity party for Andre, because, quite frankly, he may be throwing one for us.

[Cameron]

I am super disappointed in the situation actually. He looked so darn good in the open practice that day and really at CTC as well. I was excited and thought he would be solidly in the rotation, playing a key role. I attended both exhibitions so have seen them 4 times in person now, and the situation appears to have drastically changed with Andre. Like you and others, I really want him to have a great final year and be an integral part of the team. It's too early to call it at this point but I have zero confidence in my initial call on Andre at this point, after the two exhibition games.

In my opinion, there are a combination of factors at play here. First, Rasheed, and Tyler are going to be in the rotation. They just are and deservedly so. Say what you want about Tyler Thornton, but the kid is an impact player without being a stat stuffer. Those kids are rare, but valuable. Second, Rodney Hood is damn good. Jabari is the best talent on the team, but as of right now, Rodney is the best college basketball player on the team. He is going to play heavy minutes at the 3, and a small amount of minutes at the 4. Lastly, Matt Jones has come out of the gate strong. He is a superb ball handler, has shown a really good ability to attack the basket off the dribble and either score, draw the foul or both, and he is pretty solid right now as a perimeter defender. I personally don't see Jones as a great shooter, as he has this little push/hitch thingie in his motion, but like Tyler, he has shown a knack in the two games to hit timely 3's.

All of those factors combined, leave precious few minutes for Andre to get on the floor. Can it change? Sure. We have seen Andre perform at a very high level before, (think 903 vs Mich St for example), so he has it in him. He does not look rusty to me at all so I am not considering that to be a factor here. K said Rasheed did not play today due to subpar Health that kept him out of practice the last couple of days so maybe there is a flu bug or something and Andre has been hampered by that. Not sure

To his credit, Andre has shown an outstanding attitude on the sidelines. Stays enthusiatic, pulls hard for his teammates, stays engaged, etc. No pouting, no head hanging. The one positive is that K has put him in early in both games. If that continues, and Andre can come out hot in a game, and force K's hand to give him more burn in the first half, then maybe he gains confidence and swagger. I would like to see Andre have a game where he gets 25 minutes or so, such that he does not feel like he has to play mistake free on both ends to stay on the floor. It is very hard to play when you feel like one mistake on either end of the floor is going to get you yanked. I have played under those circumstances in high school and it is tough. It changes your entire mindset and approach. I think even the best of players would struggle in those conditions.

Let's see where this situation is at 5 games in. Something to watch.

Again, thanks for sharing your thoughts, Newton. Great stuff, per usual. It is great to read that, despite minimal court time and tough sledding from the field in the exhibitions, Andre seems to be taking everything in stride and keeping his head up. That's partly what has always drawn me to the kid and made him one of my favorites. That beaming smile and undeniable love for the game is contagious. He's got a lot of Chris Collins in him.

I suspect him being on the Championship squad his freshman year kept him from considering a transfer (Of course, Olek Czyz decided to transfer a mere 3 months before Duke won it all). I would not want to leave my team after being part of something that special. Like you said though, he does seem happy here, and I will forever admire him for coming to Duke a year early in order to help the team out.

Excellent point. I'm certainly glad he is still here.

[kAzE]

I am super disappointed in the situation actually. He looked so darn good in the open practice that day and really at CTC as well. I was excited and thought he would be solidly in the rotation, playing a key role. I attended both exhibitions so have seen them 4 times in person now, and the situation appears to have drastically changed with Andre. Like you and others, I really want him to have a great final year and be an integral part of the team. It's too early to call it at this point but I have zero confidence in my initial call on Andre at this point, after the two exhibition games.

In my opinion, there are a combination of factors at play here. First, Rasheed, and Tyler are going to be in the rotation. They just are and deservedly so. Say what you want about Tyler Thornton, but the kid is an impact player without being a stat stuffer. Those kids are rare, but valuable. Second, Rodney Hood is damn good. Jabari is the best talent on the team, but as of right now, Rodney is the best college basketball player on the team. He is going to play heavy minutes at the 3, and a small amount of minutes at the 4. Lastly, Matt Jones has come out of the gate strong. He is a superb ball handler, has shown a really good ability to attack the basket off the dribble and either score, draw the foul or both, and he is pretty solid right now as a perimeter defender. I personally don't see Jones as a great shooter, as he has this little push/hitch thingie in his motion, but like Tyler, he has shown a knack in the two games to hit timely 3's.

All of those factors combined, leave precious few minutes for Andre to get on the floor. Can it change? Sure. We have seen Andre perform at a very high level before, (think 903 vs Mich St for example), so he has it in him. He does not look rusty to me at all so I am not considering that to be a factor here. K said Rasheed did not play today due to subpar Health that kept him out of practice the last couple of days so maybe there is a flu bug or something and Andre has been hampered by that. Not sure

To his credit, Andre has shown an outstanding attitude on the sidelines. Stays enthusiatic, pulls hard for his teammates, stays engaged, etc. No pouting, no head hanging. The one positive is that K has put him in early in both games. If that continues, and Andre can come out hot in a game, and force K's hand to give him more burn in the first half, then maybe he gains confidence and swagger. I would like to see Andre have a game where he gets 25 minutes or so, such that he does not feel like he has to play mistake free on both ends to stay on the floor. It is very hard to play when you feel like one mistake on either end of the floor is going to get you yanked. I have played under those circumstances in high school and it is tough. It changes your entire mindset and approach. I think even the best of players would struggle in those conditions.

Let's see where this situation is at 5 games in. Something to watch.

I just can't believe that even with Rasheed out due to illness, Andre couldn't get more than 6 minutes in an exhibition game. True, we played a very good team that in all likelihood could probably beat many D-1 schools, but still . . . you'd like to try to get a few more minutes for your guys at the end of the bench to at least see what they can do when given the opportunity. Given that the guards who did play (Tyler, Quinn, and Matt) are considered to be good defenders, there can only be one explanation for Andre's lack of playing time. It is very disappointing, since many of us have fond memories of Andre, and he is the only remaining player from the 2010 championship team, but my guess that he won't get off the bench until he shows real progress on D.

On the other hand, the fact that Matt is this far ahead in the rotation as a freshman bodes extremely well for his future on this team. I don't think anyone expected him to be such a big contributor as a first year player. Give him credit. It wasn't Andre's position to lose, I think Matt just beat him out.

[Dr. Rosenrosen]

I don't get why everyone is so quick to conclude after two exhibition games that Dre's prospects are so minimal for the season. In addition to potentially not being 100%, isn't it also possible that Dre is being slowly worked back into real game time? I mean, he hasn't played organized hoop with refs in front of a crowd for well over a year. Mechanically he may not be rusty from all his workouts and practice but he likely has a way to go with the mental part of the game. Might take a little more time. Give him and the staff a chance before throwing in the towel... sheesh!

[Dukeblue91]

I don't get why everyone is so quick to conclude after two exhibition games that Dre's prospects are so minimal for the season. In addition to potentially not being 100%, isn't it also possible that Dre is being slowly worked back into real game time? I mean, he hasn't played organized hoop with refs in front of a crowd for well over a year. Mechanically he may not be rusty from all his workouts and practice but he likely has a way to go with the mental part of the game. Might take a little more time. Give him and the staff a chance before throwing in the towel... sheesh!

I fully agree with you.
This is way to early to conclude anything.