MBB: Arizona 72, Duke 66 Post-Game Thread

[JBDuke]

Put your post-game thoughts here.

[dukebballcamper90-91]

refs got us

[uh_no]

refs got us

guess they forced us into some of those bad turnovers and botched defensive switches?

or was it the rebounds they forced us to miss...or maybe they duped jabari into missing shots

In my opinion the three biggest issues

1) the inability to produce good shots consistently on one end, leading to turnovers and missed shots...jabari, as good as he is, was a bit of a black hole...with his amount of shots, to have 1 assist is absurd...the whole team was guilty of not passing effectively all game...so much dribbling and driving...so we got killed when we ran into their big guys...getting them lots of blocks, lots of turnovers, and us lots of missed shots.

2) the failure of the defense to execute switches appropriately, often resulting from or resulting in a lack of stopping the ball handler at the perimeter...it was layup/dunk city during their big run in the second half

3) failure to rebound (size difference?)

[Gthoma2a]

refs got us

If only it were that simple. They played better than us. We aren't a team yet. K said it, and truer words have not been spoken. We are a group of individuals, at the moment. I'd like to see us go to the bench more. We could discover there's some talent there or, at least, send a message to the starters.

If I had a forum with them, I would point out that the best play of the game was an assist.

[luburch]

Football school with a basketball problem.

[NYBri]

In the lead with 7 minutes left in this game and the Kansas game. Time to go to finishing school.

[Dukeface88]

refs got us

I disagree. I think this game was 100% a result of guys trying to do everything by themselves, and playing as part of the team. Especially on offense. You can't play 1 on 5 and expect to win, and that's what we did all night. I mean, even Tyler was trying to drive into like 3 defenders by himself. That should not happen on any possession, ever.

[JetpackJesus]

refs got us

While the refs were terrible in the second half, so was Duke. They didn't deserve to win, but it's certainly frustrating because they still could have won.

I will say that Arizona is going to have a great defense this year if fouling continues to be legal for them.

[NashvilleDevil]

It's November. They will be playing much better in march.

[FerryFor50]

I liked the strategy of driving, but that only works when you can draw fouls. Zona played good defense, but got away with a TON of contact on drives that I am still wondering how they got away with. Duke shot 18 FTs despite driving regularly. Zona shot 26 FTs.

We went from whistle fest against KU to "letting them play" against Zona. Good times.

[18258]

Lol, Dont Blame it On The Refs, Soon As they Figure Out How To Play D And Rebound They'll Be good

[BD80]

At least this SHOULD end the pleas for us to play zone.

[Wheat/"/"/"]

Arizona is a legit final four team. Nice balance and smart guard play. No shame losing a tight one to them early in the season.

I thought Parker got tired those last ten minutes and was a step off every play. He had a lot more energy that first half. He's going to have to learn to pace himself better and somebody else is going to have to step it up. Hood is showing me he can score, but I'm waiting on seeing him help Parker lead.

[kAzE]

Duke football: 9-2

Duke basketball: 6-2

Boy, never thought that would happen!

Still, I believe in this team. We have a number of guys who are playing poorly right now, and these guys haven't yet become anything resembling a cohesive unit. We played selfishly on both sides of the ball tonight. I won't make any judgments either way until we see that happen. Now, if we are still playing like this in January, then it may be time to panic.

[Dukehky]

Firstly, our shooting was terrible the entire game. We couldn't hit anything. Which leads to the question, why didn't Dre get any run at all. Also, I thought Marshall played well in his limited minutes, but we keep the rotation with Amile and Josh? If we're not going to have a scoring threat at the 5, lets have somebody who can at least be tall.

The officiating was horrendous. Our players got hammered every time they drove the lane, no calls. Jabari Parker needs to call the cops because he got raped every single time he touched the ball. They fouled the crap out of him every time down the court. Defensively I didn't think we were bad except for a 7 minute stretch where the game got away, and we were really bad then (hey improvement right!).

Rasheed... man, I'm all for letting a kid play through his slump, but after his first three he did nothing good except get burned on rotations and make bad drives the hoop. Matt played well in the last game, why did he get 2 minutes? All of that talk about K going deep this year is BS, he just said that to make people like us shut up. He's going to do his same 7 man rotation only this time, we have 3 people who can score the ball right now.

Not a good start to the season. McGary very well could have 25/15 if we don't change something up.

I'm furious.

I want to start to start Parker, Hood, Jones, Semi, and Marshall in the next game, just see what the hell happens. We can't play Thornton and Hairston against other teams starting fives. That puts us at 3 on 5 on offense which leads to Parker getting triple teamed like he did tonight. I just do not understand K sometimes. Something tells me I'm just not meant to.

[IBleedBlue]

I disagree. I think this game was 100% a result of guys trying to do everything by themselves, and playing as part of the team. Especially on offense. You can't play 1 on 5 and expect to win, and that's what we did all night.

Couple of things to note:
1. Arizona double teamed parker everytime he touched the ball in the second half. And his outlet passes were non-existent. May be he was trying to do too much.
2. Sulaimon kept slashing in to the paint over and over again and got blocked everytime. Slashing was good but he needs to try and pass to a shooter outside.
3. We need a low post scorer to turn into a legitimate FF team
Arizona is a good team at this point.
We need to find balanced scoring from this team. Hood and Parker won't be able to carry us over top teams like Kansas and Arizona.

Something that I couldn't comprehend: Why didn't we go to our shooters at all in this game? Andre barely got any burn and so did Matt Jones.

[uh_no]

I liked the strategy of driving, but that only works when you can draw fouls. Zona played good defense, but got away with a TON of contact on drives that I am still wondering how they got away with. Duke shot 18 FTs despite driving regularly. Zona shot 26 FTs.

We went from whistle fest against KU to "letting them play" against Zona. Good times.

much of the difference was garbage time

[arnie]

It's November. They will be playing much better in march.

Yes, but so will everyone else. Without size coupled only with good (not great) guard play we aren't going to be world beaters. Top 3 or so in ACC and winning 25 games still a reasonable goal.

[dukelifer]

Duke played well for much of the game. Unfortunately, Zona's size was too much. Duke played better D the last two games, but they are still not very cohesive on Offense. They have not been a team very long and are struggling with better teams. Lots of little things did them in tonight. They needed an A game and only got a B game. Duke will get better but folks need to reset expectations. They are a work in progress and will need to figure it out.

[beach rev]

Let's see. We've lost two games to two teams in the top six in the nation. We've done this starting a freshman and a redshirt-transfer sophomore. Of course, someone will say 'Beach Rev, did you watch the ECU and Vermont games?', to which I will reply 'Indeed, I did.' And in those games, I saw a team that is still learning to play with one another; a team with a very high ceiling...even without a true post player in the rotation. I hate to lose just as much as the rest of you, but it is way too early to acquiesce to our lesser selves and give up on this team. Next play.