MBB: Duke 79, Michigan 69 Post-Game Thread

[Duvall]

Getting a little tired of Josh.

Really liked seeing the quality minutes from Matt; he looks good out there. Andre needs to play more too.

Marshall made multiple good plays!

Yeah, watching Hairston turn McGary into an ex-NBA prospect when he was in was just awful.

[jcastranio]

Solid all-around game. Better movement on offense. Better communication on defense.

I take it back - what I said last week. Josh may not shoot unless it's a layup. Not allowed.

Sheed should have a good game next time out.

We did take some ill-advised threes at the wrong time. Didn't hurt us, though.

Michigan fouled us 8 times in the last 1:45. We still had 2 more fouls than they did. It was 19-9 for the game prior to that. Don't give me the old we were not aggressive enough on offense. Watch the Jabari "highlight" package they played at the end of the game. He was fouled on every single play. Rodney was fouled on every drive to the middle. No calls for either. What was going on?

Weird sequence: Michigan misses a shot. Michigan player fouls Hairston, then shoves Cook into the crowd. Michigan ends up with two free throws and the ball. I know Quinn should not have thrown the ball at the player, but over-punishment, much? In addition, the long delay gave Michigan a chance to get back in it. They were on the ropes and they began to crawl back in it after that delay.

The "ball touched Marshall out of bounds" play. After the ball hit Marshall's leg - he was still inbounds - it hit the Michigan player's foot. Duke ball. The call was correct.

Andre!

Is this what Jabari can expect? Just foul him and we won't actually call it because he is so good?

Pleased with the effort. Now - On to the Orange Bowl.

[gurufrisbee]

I'm really feeling like the starting five should be Cook, Parker, Hood, Dawkins, and Plumlee with Sheed, Jones, and Jefferson as the first off the bench.

That said, this was a good win. That was like 80% of the team that was a couple points from being the national champion last year. They are for real.

[GGLC]

Yeah, watching Hairston turn McGary into an ex-NBA prospect when he was in was just awful.

Yeeeeeah, that wasn't what was happening.

[Goduke2010]

Lots of folks here are hard to please. Great defense, huge minutes by Andre, Quinn's best game, nice moments from Marshall, great defense by Tyler and Matt, Jabari and Rodney with some big moments. Good rebounding overall. Only two downers were Rasheed not getting in the game and Dickie V, as noted by others, at his very worst. And if you want to find something to complain about there's Josh's shot. Otherwise, heck of a game.

I think the "disconnect" is that I thought we were a top 5 team this year. I don't think we are - or can be - and my expectations haven't yet been reconciled with this reality. I feel the biggest issue is simply outside our control; the rule changes, which have eviscerated our long-standing approach to D (hand checks, funnel to guys taking charges), and we don't have the personnel to adapt (lack of quality depth, poor rebounding potential, inability to alter/block shots).

I agree that our D has looked much better as of late. I desperately hope that my pessimism is unwarranted...

[flyingdutchdevil]

Yeah, watching Hairston turn McGary into an ex-NBA prospect when he was in was just awful.

Agreed with GGLC. That isn't what happened. McGary was a team effort (unlike Staukis, where Thornton deserves most of the credit), and he had a decent 2nd half.

[Duvall]

Agreed with GGLC. That isn't what happened. McGary was a team effort (unlike Staukis, where Thornton deserves most of the credit), and he had a decent 2nd half.

Technically true, in that McGary played extremely well during the phase of the second half in which Duke chose not to court the whistles that would have inevitably accompanied any attempt by Duke to block out.

[throatybeard]

9) This may have been one of Dickie V's worst games. And that's saying something.

The 1983 ACCT Final where State beat UVA was on ESPNC yesterday, and what's shocking to me about these early and even mid-80s ESPN telecasts is that Vitale, while he had already cooked up some of his cliches (Noun phrase-city!), actually sounded like a rational human being who could do color in a game without a bunch of screaming. It's like listening to a cassette tape of James Carville, whispering about why Bill Clinton is a good guy.

[Freethrw33]

Spacing of the floor is SO much better with Dawkins on the court, as his being out there helped open-up both driving lanes and a 3 by Cook.

I see little positives to playing Josh at all unless other players are in foul trouble. Josh plays hard (had a few nice block-outs), but given his size and skills, he should not be a rotation player on an elite level team, and I'm still hopeful Duke will become a truly elite level team.

I see little upside / growth potential from Tyler (nice defense tonight) and Josh, but a significant chance for improvement if we use those minutes on almost any others.

GREAT to see Marshall play, solid game by Cook especially in the 2nd half, and glad for the victory!

[AZLA]

Technically true, in that McGary played extremely well during the phase of the second half in which Duke chose not to court the whistles that would have inevitably accompanied any attempt by Duke to block out.

At one point McGary had 11 rebounds (I'm sure he finished higher), but yah, he'll be solid professional. In fact, I always thought he'd make a great Blue Devil.

[davekay1971]

I think the "disconnect" is that I thought we were a top 5 team this year. I don't think we are - or can be - and my expectations haven't yet been reconciled with this reality. I desperately hope that my pessimism is unwarranted...

This is a team trying to sort out some important things in the early season:

1) Replacing 3 senior starters with a freshman and a transfer who didn't play last season
2) Sorting out the low post after losing a senior All-American
3) Learning to play defense with a dramatic change in emphasis of rules
4) Rebounding

Given those changes, it's unreasonable to expect the team to be clicking on a top 5 level right out of the gate. This team has lots of growing to do, and playing like crap against Vermont, or letting late leads slip away against top competition, is part of the learning and growing process.

In the last 3 games, we've seen a significant emphasis on defense, and the improvement, compared with the Vermont game, which was our defensive low point, is dramatic.

Our rebounding has also improved, if not dramatically, then significantly.

You noted you don't think we can be a top 5 team, but I think that's overly pessimistic. Heck, we led two top 5 teams late into the second half, even though we couldn't close. Given continued growth in the season, could we close against those top 5 teams that we led 33 minutes into the game? Maybe, maybe not, but I don't think you can honestly say we "can't" get there.

But it's easier to be pessimistic. After all, if Duke fails to develop into a top-5 team, you can say I told you so. If Duke makes the final four, you can be pleasantly surprised. Always remember, in the Coach K era, Duke fails to win a natty almost 90% of the time, and fails to make the Final Four about 2/3 of the time. Being pessimistic is a usually a winning bet.

PS: We led a top 25 team, basically from start to finish, by a comfortable margin, and had a nearly 20 point lead before the end game stall ball/foul fest allowed a meaningless drop in the lead. We're doomed.

[Chicken Little]

I think Marshall's most important contribution was just going in and reminding everyone that it's cool to play defense and rebound. He played with heart, he played with passion, and he got everyone fired up on defense and hustle...which has been missing this year. I thought Cook would be that guy, but like everyone else, it seems like he isn't ready to go out on the limb and show everyone else how to care.

This team isn't close to developed, and we're spoiled as Duke fans by having teams that are mostly ready out of the box. I still believe this team can be completely unstoppable if they get it figured out, but they're still learning. Parker shows us at least once a game where he decides to score, and I haven't seen a team stop him yet. We can work with that, especially since he shows an aptitude for passing.

Listening to the Coach K portion of the press conference on goduke while I type this. Paraphrased:

"What was the deal with Sulaimon tonight?"
"He needs to play better than the other guys who did play tonight. He gave us a great contribution from the bench. I'm glad you asked about him. Is there anyone else you wanted to ask about? No? Ok."

Yikes.

Good direction the team is going. I feel like they did close this game out tonight. It's a good building block to move forward from even if it wasn't 40 minutes of poetry.

[snowdenscold]

From the in-game thread:

Not a complaint, but an observation...when was the last time that Duke has only taken 6 free throws with 2 minutes left in the game? Whatever happened to "Duke makes more free throws than the other team attempts?"

Be careful what you wish for... because, wow, that last 2 minutes of game time seemed to take forever. Did you notice the shots they had of some Crazies in the stands pretending to check their watches and yawning?

[Goduke2010]

Listening to the Coach K portion of the press conference on goduke while I type this. Paraphrased:

"What was the deal with Sulaimon tonight?"
"He needs to play better than the other guys who did play tonight. He gave us a great contribution from the bench. I'm glad you asked about him. Is there anyone else you wanted to ask about? No? Ok." Yikes.

Charlotte paper said Sheed came into preseason out of shape. First time I've heard that, and would be surprising to me given how hard he appears to work...

More than anything he seems to be really struggling with his shooting. Hard to play SG if you can't make buckets efficiently.

[BD80]

...Quinn was sensational passing and scoring. If he improves his assist to turnover ratio he will complement Hood and Parker on offense nicely. ...

9 to 2 bears improving?

... Listening to the Coach K portion of the press conference on goduke while I type this. Paraphrased:

"What was the deal with Sulaimon tonight?"
"He needs to play better than the other guys who did play tonight. He gave us a great contribution from the bench. I'm glad you asked about him. Is there anyone else you wanted to ask about? No? Ok."

Yikes. ...

I was hoping he was under the weather. Some tough love being dispensed in derm.

Jones made good on his opportunities. Dre showed he is great O and no D.

Overall great game; still plenty of room for improvement. Tonight restored my faith and hope. Seeing Marshall lifted my spirits the most, we may have a real post defender by tourney time. Maybe not 30 min worth, but 12-15 min worth. That could get us where we want to go.

[PSurprise]

9 to 2 bears improving?



I was hoping he was under the weather. Some tough love being dispensed in derm.

Jones made good on his opportunities. Dre showed he is great O and no D.

Overall great game; still plenty of room for improvement. Tonight restored my faith and hope. Seeing Marshall lifted my spirits the most, we may have a real post defender by tourney time. Maybe not 30 min worth, but 12-15 min worth. That could get us where we want to go.

I think MP3's (hopefully) increased role will be critical for Jabari's role come tournament time...I think Jabari will need some breaks through the rest of the season. While I'm not sure I believe in it, there seems to be evidence of the freshman "wall" come Februaryish. It would be nice to get some solid contributions (especially on the rebounding and defensive end) from Marshall to help spell Jabari some throughout the season. I would be very pleased with 12-15 minutes. Maybe he can slowly take some of Josh's minutes if he can play like he did tonight.

[Sir Stealth]

I thought Cook would be that guy, but like everyone else, it seems like he isn't ready to go out on the limb and show everyone else how to care.

This is so completely off base, for the whole season but after this game in particular, that I am just about completely speechless. I honestly don't know what games you could possibly be watching. This has been Quinn's team, and he always leads the team emotionally on the court. It's weird to be so negative after our best win anyway, but this comment in particular is just not based on anything you could have seen.

Very solid win tonight with a lot of positives that have the arrow pointed up. They are figuring it out.

[CBecker]

No way it wasn't going to be anything other than the doghouse for Sheed given how badly he has played of late, sadly. One of my favourite players, I hope he can turn it around. He seems to be struggling to find his role offensively on this current team. He had his streaky moments from the perimeter last year, but it's the way he is looking absolutely horrible and out of control finishing in the paint this season that is concerning to me. He actually is no way near as athletic as people think, at least as far as leaping ability is concerned and he really struggles to finish over length, but he does have good speed. If he added some hesitation moves or changes of pace, could help him get better shots (obviously easy to say sitting from afar!), as he's just playing way too fast right now. Given how Jones played defensively, I dunno if he'll even get back on the court for a while.

Delighted to see Plumlee get some minutes, and make some really nice plays in them, wish he got a few more minutes, but it's better than nothing

Was a decent win and they defended very well for the most part, although Michigan looked a little dysfunctional and ordinary at times, but that could've been because of the defense.

And yeh, I thought that comment about Cook was a little weird, particularly after his best allround game of the season. He's always been a highly emotional player that obviously cares!!

[Des Esseintes]

The 1983 ACCT Final where State beat UVA was on ESPNC yesterday, and what's shocking to me about these early and even mid-80s ESPN telecasts is that Vitale, while he had already cooked up some of his cliches (Noun phrase-city!), actually sounded like a rational human being who could do color in a game without a bunch of screaming. It's like listening to a cassette tape of James Carville, whispering about why Bill Clinton is a good guy.

He's shouted himself so hoarse at this point that much of the game he just faded into the crowd noise for me. Toward the end, he answered a Shulman question with a kind of strangled noise, and I fantasized that he had just died. But then he wheezed back to life.

[FireOgilvie]

Hairston had 1 rebound and 4 fouls in 21 minutes, which is terrible, but he made a couple really nice plays on defense. I'm actually quite happy that he shot those wide open jumpers; he just needs to take his time. He makes those shots in warm-ups and practice. I'm guessing he was told to shoot when he was open, as there was no hesitation. That hasn't been the case this season - the 3 shot attempts tonight was a season high. If you look at his stats from previous years, he had almost twice as many FG attempts per minute.

Plumlee had 3 rebounds, 2 points, and a blocked shot in 6 minutes. I really think he's by far our best option at center (if he is healthy enough to play). His height and athleticism impact the game in so many ways. He did exactly what I said would happen when he blocked that shot - just stood there while the opposing guard freaked out that he suddenly had to shoot it over a 7 footer.

Great game by Cook.

I really hope Sulaimon uses this as positive motivation.