MBB: Duke 79, Michigan 69 Post-Game Thread

[jv001]

Quinn had his best game of the year. He got everyone involved on offense and played steady defense. I'm looking for this game to get him jump started into becoming the elite point guard he can be. Jabari had a very good all around game with good passes out of the double teams and played tough defense. Rodney had a very good first half and played well. Matt Jones continues to impress me with his all around play. Andre with 8 points in 10 minutes and Marshall with 2 points, 3 rebounds and 1 block in 6 minutes. Very effective for both players. Cook, Tyler and Matt had 9 rebounds total with 3 offensive boards. Lot's of good things to take away from this game. Now some practice time and then Next Play. GoDuke!

[wsb3]

We missed a lot of 3's we usually convert. A few of those in the first half and we are up big. And if we did hit those 3's at a percentage more our norm I think the discussion here would be way more positive. Thanks to hitting some later in the game we finished 8-23, and we needed the 2 by Dre and Cook hit some to get to that percentage.

Did the ref really T K up when K was walking away with his back turned? I coached city league kids for 20 years & even those refs did not T you up when your back was turned.

How about post game interview with Coach K when asked about Rasheed? Little sarcastic to the reporter.

Cook when he plays like this takes us to another level. Like everyone else here I just want to see it on a more consistent basis. I do believe in him and particularly his potential.

Dre, you could not have scripted that better. We are in trouble. Momentum all their way and he doubles our lead in less then a minute.

OK I will join the negativity. I do think when a kid like Marshall comes in and plays the way he did he should get a little more time. Just not at the end when it is free throw time.

[pfrduke]

I think if this game ended at the 38:00 mark, people would be singing a slightly different tune. Yes, those last two minutes count, and yes, it's disappointing that Michigan scored 19 points in those 2 minutes (scoring in each of its 8 possessions), but neither those two minutes nor the final score are very reflective of the level of control we had over the game throughout. We never trailed. We led by double digits for nearly 20 minutes worth of total game time, including all of the last 8:00. Michigan had 5 possessions all game where they had the ball with a chance to take the lead or tie (i.e., trailing by 3 or fewer), the last of which came with just under 9 minutes to go in the first half. There was a grand total of one second half possession where Michigan held the ball in a two-score situation (i.e., trailing by 6 or fewer), and that came with 16 1/2 minutes to play. And through the first 38 minutes of the game, we held Michigan to 50 points on 60 possessions, which is exceptional defense against a pretty darn good opponent. Plus we executed extremely well on offense during closing time - from the 9:00 mark until the 2:00 mark, we extended our lead from 6 to 18, scoring 22 points in 11 possessions and scoring on 9 of those 11 possessions. In exactly the situation that we struggled against Arizona and Kansas (and even Alabama, to a certain extent) we performed nearly flawlessly against Michigan.

[Kedsy]

Regarding the overall impact of this game, I'm of two minds. It was a solid win against a 2nd round caliber opponent, so I agree that I don't understand all the negativity around here. We pretty much controlled the game for 40 minutes.

On the other hand, I'm not sure our overall performance was too much better than against Arizona. It was almost the same game. We had a 10 point lead at halftime instead of 3 points mostly because (a) we were playing at home and (b) Arizona is waaaay better than Michigan.

In the middle of the 2nd half, at almost exactly the same point in the game, Michigan made a mini-run like Arizona did, but because our lead was 11 instead of 3 at that point, the run only got them close instead of putting them ahead. At that point things diverged a little because in the Arizona game, down 4, we got a little desperate and went into the zone, prompting another Arizona mini-run which put the game out of reach, and in the Michigan game, up 6, Andre came in and went on a personal Duke mini-run that put the game out of reach the other way. But overall, I thought both our defense and our offense were about the same in the two games.

To me, the biggest difference is how the fan base reacted to the two games. In other words, I'm not trying to downplay our effort last night; I'm just saying the Arizona game wasn't as bad as a lot of people seem to think it was.

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.

I don't know. Rasheed was by far our best defensive player last season. One good game doesn't mean Matt has passed him on the defensive end. And you talk about Rasheed's failures on offense, but Matt was 0 for 4 from the field against Michigan. I assume this was a message game for Rasheed and he'll be back on the court soon.

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.

Marshall did play well in his limited minutes, but let's not get too excited. He had exactly one defensive rebound in the game. I'm hoping that by the end of the season we can count on him for 5 to 10 solid minutes per game. Anything more than that seems like a reach, though if he does indeed break through to being a 15 minute man, I'll be very pleased.

In the meantime, after grabbing only 2 rebounds combined in our first two games, Amile has been a top-notch rebounder since then. His counting numbers are masked by his relative lack of playing time, but even including the first two games he now ranks 15th in the ACC in defensive rebounding percentage and 16th in the ACC in offensive rebounding percentage. And I haven't calculated the numbers, but if you go from the third game on, I assume he'd be in the middle of the top 10.

[dcar1985]

Regarding the overall impact of this game, I'm of two minds. It was a solid win against a 2nd round caliber opponent, so I agree that I don't understand all the negativity around here. We pretty much controlled the game for 40 minutes.

On the other hand, I'm not sure our overall performance was too much better than against Arizona. It was almost the same game. We had a 10 point lead at halftime instead of 3 points mostly because (a) we were playing at home and (b) Arizona is waaaay better than Michigan.

In the middle of the 2nd half, at almost exactly the same point in the game, Michigan made a mini-run like Arizona did, but because our lead was 11 instead of 3 at that point, the run only got them close instead of putting them ahead. At that point things diverged a little because in the Arizona game, down 4, we got a little desperate and went into the zone, prompting another Arizona mini-run which put the game out of reach, and in the Michigan game, up 6, Andre came in and went on a personal Duke mini-run that put the game out of reach the other way. But overall, I thought both our defense and our offense were about the same in the two games.

To me, the biggest difference is how the fan base reacted to the two games. In other words, I'm not trying to downplay our effort last night; I'm just saying the Arizona game wasn't as bad as a lot of people seem to think it was.



I don't know. Rasheed was by far our best defensive player last season. One good game doesn't mean Matt has passed him on the defensive end. And you talk about Rasheed's failures on offense, but Matt was 0 for 4 from the field against Michigan. I assume this was a message game for Rasheed and he'll be back on the court soon.



Marshall did play well in his limited minutes, but let's not get too excited. He had exactly one defensive rebound in the game. I'm hoping that by the end of the season we can count on him for 5 to 10 solid minutes per game. Anything more than that seems like a reach, though if he does indeed break through to being a 15 minute man, I'll be very pleased.

In the meantime, after grabbing only 2 rebounds combined in our first two games, Amile has been a top-notch rebounder since then. His counting numbers are masked by his relative lack of playing time, but even including the first two games he now ranks 15th in the ACC in defensive rebounding percentage and 16th in the ACC in offensive rebounding percentage. And I haven't calculated the numbers, but if you go from the third game on, I assume he'd be in the middle of the top 10.

I'd argue that Matt in his minutes even going back to the exhbitions has looked like our best perimeter defender this year, not just in this one game even though him and Tyler really put clamps on Stauskas.

[jv001]

Regarding the overall impact of this game, I'm of two minds. It was a solid win against a 2nd round caliber opponent, so I agree that I don't understand all the negativity around here. We pretty much controlled the game for 40 minutes.

On the other hand, I'm not sure our overall performance was too much better than against Arizona. It was almost the same game. We had a 10 point lead at halftime instead of 3 points mostly because (a) we were playing at home and (b) Arizona is waaaay better than Michigan.

In the middle of the 2nd half, at almost exactly the same point in the game, Michigan made a mini-run like Arizona did, but because our lead was 11 instead of 3 at that point, the run only got them close instead of putting them ahead. At that point things diverged a little because in the Arizona game, down 4, we got a little desperate and went into the zone, prompting another Arizona mini-run which put the game out of reach, and in the Michigan game, up 6, Andre came in and went on a personal Duke mini-run that put the game out of reach the other way. But overall, I thought both our defense and our offense were about the same in the two games.

To me, the biggest difference is how the fan base reacted to the two games. In other words, I'm not trying to downplay our effort last night; I'm just saying the Arizona game wasn't as bad as a lot of people seem to think it was.



I don't know. Rasheed was by far our best defensive player last season. One good game doesn't mean Matt has passed him on the defensive end. And you talk about Rasheed's failures on offense, but Matt was 0 for 4 from the field against Michigan. I assume this was a message game for Rasheed and he'll be back on the court soon.



Marshall did play well in his limited minutes, but let's not get too excited. He had exactly one defensive rebound in the game. I'm hoping that by the end of the season we can count on him for 5 to 10 solid minutes per game. Anything more than that seems like a reach, though if he does indeed break through to being a 15 minute man, I'll be very pleased.

In the meantime, after grabbing only 2 rebounds combined in our first two games, Amile has been a top-notch rebounder since then. His counting numbers are masked by his relative lack of playing time, but even including the first two games he now ranks 15th in the ACC in defensive rebounding percentage and 16th in the ACC in offensive rebounding percentage. And I haven't calculated the numbers, but if you go from the third game on, I assume he'd be in the middle of the top 10.

I agree on all you points for this game. I think Coach K is trying to get Rasheed's attention and I hope it works. We really need him hitting on all cylinders. Amile just goes about his business with little fan fare. He had a good game. As for Marshall, I hope he plays well in practice and earns somewhere between 10-15 minutes. In my opinion I think there will be times during the year we'll need him against very big front lines. Plus he can take some pressure off Jabari having to play a big center. GoDuke!

[UrinalCake]

Very pleased with the win, I felt like this was the Duke team I expected to see all along - applying good defensive pressure, preventing entry passes, getting good contributions from the bench. We beat a quality team fairly solidly without shooting the three ball very well, which a lot of people assumed we couldnt do. Coming into this game, a lot of our own fans thought we were going to lose and McGary was going to score 40 on us, so I don't understand all the negativity and disappointment. Yes it would have been nice to blow them out, but the upward trajectory of the team right now is very promising.

Quinn sounded much more poised and mature in his post-game interview than in years past. Said he embraces the job of getting the ball to his teammates to score, and called Jabari the best player in the country. Plus I'm glad he's stopped doing that nose thing.

I do have a slight concern about the last two minutes - I understand that we were just trying not to foul, but our end of game play has been a weakness and the reason for our two losses. We need to learn how to defend in the last 3-4 minutes for games when we don't have a big lead. I really feel like the game is officiated differently at the end of the game, and would like to have used this game to "practice" our end of game defense.

With that said, I am thrilled that we hit our free throws down the stretch as that will give us confidence moving forward.

[CDu]

My thoughts:

1. I agree with those who say Michigan is not a great team (probably a 4/5 seed come tourney time). But I also agree with those who are very pleased with this win. We controlled the game, leading by 10+ for much of the game and extending that lead to 18 late before the foul game ensued. Sure, it wasn't an elite opponent, but we won that game handily. And it's our most impressive win of the season to date, with the team playing fairly well on both ends of the floor for perhaps the first time since Davidson. So for that we should be pleased.

2. I mentioned in the in-game thread that the Dawkins fans, the Plumlee fans, and the Jefferson fans should all be pleased with this game. All three had very nice moments, and their play should at least get them in the conversation for more playing time moving forward. I thought Jones acquitted himself nicely as well, playing tenacious defense on Stauskas when he was in the game.

2a. This was the best I've ever seen Plumlee play in a Duke uniform. He was energetic as always, but his energy didn't seem to be useless, spastic energy as it has in the past. He hustled down an offensive rebound (technically the ball went off him out of bounds and the refs blew the call, but the hustle is what mattered). He snatched an in-traffic, out-of-zone defensive rebound. He blocked a shot. He altered a couple of other missed shots. He caught and finished smoothly on his one recorded FGA. He snatched up another offensive rebound and drew a foul under the rim (next step: make a free throw). More than anything though, he didn't look lost on the floor. There was one sequence where he and Jefferson got confused on a switch, which led to a 3pt attempt. Not sure who is to blame there, but thankfully it didn't cost us. And aside from that miscue, things looked generally positive for Mr. Plumlee. Hopefully he builds on that performance, and hopefully that performance gives Coach K the confidence in him to continue giving him looks. A functional Plumlee changes the dynamic of the team in many ways.

2b. Dawkins was terrific. He filled, exactly, the role for which I think he's best suited: instant offense off the bench. He came in and canned two HUGE 3s, and his presence on the floor allowed Cook a wide open 3 as well (which Cook hit). He even tossed in a driving floater. And he added a deflection on a post pass that resulted in a turnover. There were still some miscues (got beaten a couple of times back-door), but he is a huge weapon in spurts. If he can take on the "Microwave" role, that would be fabulous.

2c. Jefferson did a terrific job on the boards, and he got back to his game offensively (standing on the baseline waiting for the dump-off pass to finish an angled layup). I could see a 2.5-headed monster moving forward with Jefferson playing 20-ish minutes and Plumlee/Hairston playing another 25-ish minutes to complement Parker at the PF/C spot. If he and Plumlee can play like they did last night on a consistent basis, I think our frontcourt concerns might be sufficiently mitigated.

3. Quinn Cook was the best player on the floor last night. He just had the game on a string. One sloppy turnover and another turnover trying to do too much, but otherwise he was flawless running the show. He does need to do better to keep his cool out there (that was a DUMB technical from a veteran PG). But he showed what he's capable of doing last night. More of that, please.

4. I loved the way Parker played last night. He recognized the double team and passed out of it. When he got isolated one-on-one in the post, he attacked decisively and (generally) effectively. I really like the ability to use him as a post scorer or a perimeter threat. He's just such a tremendous talent. Probably the most talented, NBA-ready freshman we've ever had at Duke. Not necessarily the best player we've had at Duke, but the most-ready freshman.

5. Nice to see Hood put up another solid performance against a BCS school. The 3s weren't falling, but he was otherwise pretty effective. We need him to be a presence on both ends, and last night he was (several nice defensive rebounds).

6. Interesting that Sulaimon got no PT. Also interesting that the team looked fine without him on the floor. Hopefully he's able to shake things off. I think our ceiling is higher if he's playing, but it appears that our floor is higher if he's not (at least at the moment - hopefully that changes).

[flyingdutchdevil]

My thoughts:

1. I agree with those who say Michigan is not a great team (probably a 4/5 seed come tourney time). But I also agree with those who are very pleased with this win. We controlled the game, leading by 10+ for much of the game and extending that lead to 18 late before the foul game ensued. Sure, it wasn't an elite opponent, but we won that game handily. And it's our most impressive win of the season to date, with the team playing fairly well on both ends of the floor for perhaps the first time since Davidson. So for that we should be pleased.

2. I mentioned in the in-game thread that the Dawkins fans, the Plumlee fans, and the Jefferson fans should all be pleased with this game. All three had very nice moments, and their play should at least get them in the conversation for more playing time moving forward. I thought Jones acquitted himself nicely as well, playing tenacious defense on Stauskas when he was in the game.

2a. This was the best I've ever seen Plumlee play in a Duke uniform. He was energetic as always, but his energy didn't seem to be useless, spastic energy as it has in the past. He hustled down an offensive rebound (technically the ball went off him out of bounds and the refs blew the call, but the hustle is what mattered). He snatched an in-traffic, out-of-zone defensive rebound. He blocked a shot. He altered a couple of other missed shots. He caught and finished smoothly on his one recorded FGA. He snatched up another offensive rebound and drew a foul under the rim (next step: make a free throw). More than anything though, he didn't look lost on the floor. There was one sequence where he and Jefferson got confused on a switch, which led to a 3pt attempt. Not sure who is to blame there, but thankfully it didn't cost us. And aside from that miscue, things looked generally positive for Mr. Plumlee. Hopefully he builds on that performance, and hopefully that performance gives Coach K the confidence in him to continue giving him looks. A functional Plumlee changes the dynamic of the team in many ways.

2b. Dawkins was terrific. He filled, exactly, the role for which I think he's best suited: instant offense off the bench. He came in and canned two HUGE 3s, and his presence on the floor allowed Cook a wide open 3 as well (which Cook hit). He even tossed in a driving floater. And he added a deflection on a post pass that resulted in a turnover. There were still some miscues (got beaten a couple of times back-door), but he is a huge weapon in spurts. If he can take on the "Microwave" role, that would be fabulous.

2c. Jefferson did a terrific job on the boards, and he got back to his game offensively (standing on the baseline waiting for the dump-off pass to finish an angled layup). I could see a 2.5-headed monster moving forward with Jefferson playing 20-ish minutes and Plumlee/Hairston playing another 25-ish minutes to complement Parker at the PF/C spot. If he and Plumlee can play like they did last night on a consistent basis, I think our frontcourt concerns might be sufficiently mitigated.

3. Quinn Cook was the best player on the floor last night. He just had the game on a string. One sloppy turnover and another turnover trying to do too much, but otherwise he was flawless running the show. He does need to do better to keep his cool out there (that was a DUMB technical from a veteran PG). But he showed what he's capable of doing last night. More of that, please.

4. I loved the way Parker played last night. He recognized the double team and passed out of it. When he got isolated one-on-one in the post, he attacked decisively and (generally) effectively. I really like the ability to use him as a post scorer or a perimeter threat. He's just such a tremendous talent. Probably the most talented, NBA-ready freshman we've ever had at Duke. Not necessarily the best player we've had at Duke, but the most-ready freshman.

5. Nice to see Hood put up another solid performance against a BCS school. The 3s weren't falling, but he was otherwise pretty effective. We need him to be a presence on both ends, and last night he was (several nice defensive rebounds).

6. Interesting that Sulaimon got no PT. Also interesting that the team looked fine without him on the floor. Hopefully he's able to shake things off. I think our ceiling is higher if he's playing, but it appears that our floor is higher if he's not (at least at the moment - hopefully that changes).

CDu - as usual, I agree with all of your points.

Your take on Sulaimon is incredibly interesting. Sulaimon was our best perimeter defender last year and the most effective player at penetrating. He looks completely lost out there, now that there are 2 other players who are even better at taking the ball off the dribble. Sulaimon holds a ton of value for this team, and today was clearly a message for him. Right now, he is more talented than anyone on the team not named Hood or Parker. He just needs to realize that potential and be patient. Hopefully, that happens sooner rather than later.

I'm high on Sulaimon. He needs to find his form, and hopefully this game will light that metaphorical fire under his behind.

[freshmanjs]

My thoughts:

1. I agree with those who say Michigan is not a great team (probably a 4/5 seed come tourney time). But I also agree with those who are very pleased with this win. We controlled the game, leading by 10+ for much of the game and extending that lead to 18 late before the foul game ensued. Sure, it wasn't an elite opponent, but we won that game handily. And it's our most impressive win of the season to date, with the team playing fairly well on both ends of the floor for perhaps the first time since Davidson. So for that we should be pleased.

Michigan was a 4 seed last year. I think it will be very difficult for them to replicate that. I'd expect more like a 7-8.

[DukeAlumBS]

We had a forum about this man and what is going on with him etc. I made a comment that I think he will not start. Dawkins will over him. I sense his decline in practice and in early games. There is too much talent there. And as I said on that forum. We can pick up the slack with others, until he gets his groove. I like Dawkins to get more, and others. Coach K will put it together.
Go Duke
Jimmy

[superdave]

This game was encouraging because we actually executed our defensive game plan for 38 solid minutes. The plan was to take Stauskas out of the game. He played 34 minutes, scored 4 points, took only 2 shots, missed them both, and ended a pretty solid 20 point per game scoring streak. I see that he sat out the prior game vs. Coppin State, so I wonder how much was luck on our part.

Two other areas of improvement on the defensive end were our backside rotations and our defensive rebounding. I thought we made a solid effort of boxing out and our big guys conscientiously slid over into the lane to prevent easy buckets. It paid off. We controlled the boards through the second half and did not give up the easy buckets that have plagued us all season. That is a step forward and we should not let the final two minutes of garbage ball taint that.

Next, the 6 minutes that Marshall Plumlee played were great. We need a big bruiser who brings energy to the floor. His role is inevitably going to be limited on such a talented, athletic team, but sometimes you just need toughness and 7 feet to use as a tactical weapon. If we can get a 2 minute stretch out of him each half, all season long, just like last night, I'll be happy.

Matt Jones benefited from Sulaimon's lesson. He was 0-4 from the field and played ok defense. I do not think he is at this point, or will be this season, a better option for heavy minutes than Rasheed. He cannot lock down a ball handler quite like Rasheed and he cannot drive the ball on offense like Rasheed. Those are two premium skills that Rasheed has, he simply needs to play better. If Jones is competing for PT, I think it will be with Andre and Tyler, not Rasheed. We'll see how this plays out.

Dawkins, like Marshall, is a great weapon. When he is on, Coach K should get him shots and use him to space the floor for Rodney, Quinn and Jabari to get better shots. A defense will be wary of him any time he is on the court, but his D is not good enough for a larger role.

We till need to stop the ball better. If our guards can keep their guy in front of them just a little better, some of the other issues will recede. I think part of that comes with Rasheed playing like we know he is capable of playing. If his D matches what he did last season, he will get his minutes back and our defense will jump a level. Quinn plays on-ball defense really well sometimes, but seems to lack focus. If he can improve some with his lateral quickness, that will help a lot. I do wonder if this is who he is now, post-knee injury. I hope not, and I do believe he has some defensive room to grow as a point guard, but I doubt he will be consistently great.

If our guys are starting to gel together, and everyone is settling into roles, then last night may have been the first time we see that become well-defined. Marshall and Andre can adjust to limited roles, Amile and Josh know they have to play good team D and box out. We'll see how the rotation plays out with Rasheed/Andre/Matt/Tyler. Maybe that will come into better focus the next few weeks.

[alteran]

I have to wonder how kempom has unc rated ahead of Duke? I can't put too much emphasis on the ratings at this time of year. Duke will get better but I don't know about the heels. GoDuke!

Is it Pomeroy which takes about half the season before it has enough data to be meaningful? Or is that Sagarin?

[79-77]

CDu - as usual, I agree with all of your points.

Your take on Sulaimon is incredibly interesting. Sulaimon was our best perimeter defender last year and the most effective player at penetrating. He looks completely lost out there, now that there are 2 other players who are even better at taking the ball off the dribble. Sulaimon holds a ton of value for this team, and today was clearly a message for him. Right now, he is more talented than anyone on the team not named Hood or Parker. He just needs to realize that potential and be patient. Hopefully, that happens sooner rather than later.

I'm high on Sulaimon. He needs to find his form, and hopefully this game will light that metaphorical fire under his behind.

Keeping him nailed to the bench sure seemed like a message.

I've been trying to remember the last time a key Duke player got benched for an entire game like that -- not coming up with anything.

I expect he'll get it together.

This game was encouraging because we actually executed our defensive game plan for 38 solid minutes. The plan was to take Stauskas out of the game. He played 34 minutes, scored 4 points, took only 2 shots, missed them both, and ended a pretty solid 20 point per game scoring streak. I see that he sat out the prior game vs. Coppin State, so I wonder how much was luck on our part.

Two other areas of improvement on the defensive end were our backside rotations and our defensive rebounding. I thought we made a solid effort of boxing out and our big guys conscientiously slid over into the lane to prevent easy buckets. It paid off. We controlled the boards through the second half and did not give up the easy buckets that have plagued us all season. That is a step forward and we should not let the final two minutes of garbage ball taint that.

Next, the 6 minutes that Marshall Plumlee played were great. We need a big bruiser who brings energy to the floor. His role is inevitably going to be limited on such a talented, athletic team, but sometimes you just need toughness and 7 feet to use as a tactical weapon. If we can get a 2 minute stretch out of him each half, all season long, just like last night, I'll be happy.

Matt Jones benefited from Sulaimon's lesson. He was 0-4 from the field and played ok defense. I do not think he is at this point, or will be this season, a better option for heavy minutes than Rasheed. He cannot lock down a ball handler quite like Rasheed and he cannot drive the ball on offense like Rasheed. Those are two premium skills that Rasheed has, he simply needs to play better. If Jones is competing for PT, I think it will be with Andre and Tyler, not Rasheed. We'll see how this plays out.

Dawkins, like Marshall, is a great weapon. When he is on, Coach K should get him shots and use him to space the floor for Rodney, Quinn and Jabari to get better shots. A defense will be wary of him any time he is on the court, but his D is not good enough for a larger role.

We till need to stop the ball better. If our guards can keep their guy in front of them just a little better, some of the other issues will recede. I think part of that comes with Rasheed playing like we know he is capable of playing. If his D matches what he did last season, he will get his minutes back and our defense will jump a level. Quinn plays on-ball defense really well sometimes, but seems to lack focus. If he can improve some with his lateral quickness, that will help a lot. I do wonder if this is who he is now, post-knee injury. I hope not, and I do believe he has some defensive room to grow as a point guard, but I doubt he will be consistently great.

If our guys are starting to gel together, and everyone is settling into roles, then last night may have been the first time we see that become well-defined. Marshall and Andre can adjust to limited roles, Amile and Josh know they have to play good team D and box out. We'll see how the rotation plays out with Rasheed/Andre/Matt/Tyler. Maybe that will come into better focus the next few weeks.

Great post. I agree especially with the bolded parts.

One quibble: not sure I agree with your praise of Sulaimon's defense. I think he's got that potential but I wouldn't say he's an elite defender at this point.

[MChambers]

Is it Pomeroy which takes about half the season before it has enough data to be meaningful? Or is that Sagarin?

But perhaps not half a season. Check back in mid-January.

[Goduke2010]

I think if this game ended at the 38:00 mark, people would be singing a slightly different tune. Yes, those last two minutes count, and yes, it's disappointing that Michigan scored 19 points in those 2 minutes (scoring in each of its 8 possessions), but neither those two minutes nor the final score are very reflective of the level of control we had over the game throughout. In exactly the situation that we struggled against Arizona and Kansas (and even Alabama, to a certain extent) we performed nearly flawlessly against Michigan.

Agree about the impact on perspective of those last 2 minutes. Which is why the team should have competed for the full 40 minutes. I'd be embarrassed to give up all those uncontested layups and 3-pointers, especially if team defense has been justly excoriated by the media, fans, and coaches.

[peterjswift]

Quinn's current assist/turnover ratio is 3.56, which if he sustains over the course of the season will be a Duke all-time record (by a lot).

I'm not arguing the stat, but sustaining that into conference play is unlikely. I feel like almost every year we have a point guard or someone who has an amazing assist:turnover ratio early in the season. I would be very pleased if this was sustained, but I think there is almost an annual suggestion that someone could do that. Jon Scheyer was approaching 10:1 before conference play (though, to be fair, he ended at almost 3:1 which is pretty great). Here's hoping I'm wrong, and the ratio increases in conference play!

[Channing]

I love when we run our offense as well as we did for parts of the game last night. Those interior basket cuts and easy layups are a thing of beauty. When Cood and Hood are penetrating and looking to dish the game looks easy. Its when we take some quick threes or a guy goes 1 on 3 that we get a little out of sorts (Except Jabari - the 1 on 3 seems to be one of his signature plays).

Cook has really progressed to being an excellent player. He still has lapses (a couple quick and untimely threes last night) but in the first and second halves he drove the offense beautifully ... looking to be a distributor in the first half and more of a scorer in the second.

Also, I thought we attacked the zone really well. We got some really good looks against their 1-3-1.

[GGLC]

The refs didn't blow the Plumlee call. After it hit Marshall's foot, it went off of the Michigan player's foot before going out of bounds. The announcers are idiots.

[azzefkram]

Marshall did play well in his limited minutes, but let's not get too excited. He had exactly one defensive rebound in the game. I'm hoping that by the end of the season we can count on him for 5 to 10 solid minutes per game. Anything more than that seems like a reach, though if he does indeed break through to being a 15 minute man, I'll be very pleased.

Really?!?