MOTM: Duke vs. UCLA (Dec 19, 2013)

[JBDuke]

Who was Man of the Match in Duke's 80-63 win over UCLA tonight?

[Native]

Voted for Sheed, since it was so refreshing to see him play well after his struggles earlier this season.

Who is Jabari Park? Jabari's long-lost Korean cousin?

[Duvall]

Let's not overthink this.

[JBDuke]

Voted for Sheed, since it was so refreshing to see him play well after his struggles earlier this season.

Who is Jabari Park? Jabari's long-lost Korean cousin?

My keyboard's been acting up lately. I need to pay closer attention. Sorry about that! It's fixed.

[Potato Head]

Let's not overthink this.

I agree. 7 steals? Gotta be Cook! :-)

[duke4ever19]

Happy for 'Sheed tonight. Good stuff from Hood as well. Cook has really done some nice things on the court.

Jabari is my MOTM.

[Dukeblue91]

I have to go with Jabari but Cook was a close second and had a great game tonight.
Very happy for Sheed too, maybe this will give him the boost of confidence he needed to be his self again.

[flyingdutchdevil]

Had to go with Cook. Is there a sexier move than Cook's spin move to the rim? 80 percent of the time, it works all the time.

[CLW]

Jefferson gave this team a real spark with several energy plays and guarded Anderson really well. Anderson did most of his damage against Parker.

[jv001]

I voted for Parker but was impressed by several Blue Devils tonight. Cook played a very good game on both offense and defense. He really hustled tonight. Amile was great and he did a pretty good job on Anderson. Rasheed played more like last years Rasheed. GoDuke!

[azzefkram]

I went with Amile but could have voted Sheed, Jabari or Quinn as well.

[Dukehky]

I was gonna go Todd. Really liked his energy on the bench, but SOMEBODY doesn't want me to vote that way!!!

I picked Rasheed. Thought his first 3 was huge in the momentum of the game. Picked him mostly because I was just thrilled to see him out there. Emotional pick, but Jabari was the best player tonight, as in most every night. UCLA did a really good job of not letting him get the ball in the post, which is a place where he can be lethal both on the scoreboard and in the foul column for the other team, but he found many other ways to contribute. This is the first game I can think of where he didn't have one of those baby hooks down on the block.

[greybeard]

Cook might be the best point guard in college basketball, some improvident plays notwithstanding. He plays like he knows it, which is not to say he is cocky or arrogant, just that he knows that there are so many choices and he so often choices and executes on exceptional ones, as well as the obvious.

That said I go with Jefferson. Let's just say that I've seen what lots of you have been talking about and he is the guy who nobody can afford to think about and be so, so sorry about it in the morning. Made a number of really nice plays you don't expect can be made. Props to him, props to Duke for its amazing second half of old style, free flowing basketball to watch, and props to those of you who've been touting this kid. Makes Duke better.

[CBecker]

Would love to say Sheed, since he's a fav of mine, and it's cool to see him back on the court, but I liked Amile's game tonight. Rebounding the ball, was a target in the middle of the zone and helped set up some cleaner outside looks for the guards, and defensively he blocked some shots and also guarded Anderson at times which was pretty interesting to see. He gets my vote!

[Newton_14]

Cook might be the best point guard in college basketball, some improvident plays notwithstanding. He plays like he knows it, which is not to say he is cocky or arrogant, just that he knows that there are so many choices and he so often choices and executes on exceptional ones, as well as the obvious.

That said I go with Jefferson. Let's just say that I've seen what lots of you have been talking about and he is the guy who nobody can afford to think about and be so, so sorry about it in the morning. Made a number of really nice plays you don't expect can be made. Props to him, props to Duke for its amazing second half of old style, free flowing basketball to watch, and props to those of you who've been touting this kid. Makes Duke better.

Here's the thing, (and this is probably one of the quibbles my friend FlyingDutchDevil has with me, cause I am hard on Quinn) Quinn COULD be one of the best PG's in college hoops, if he would focus and eliminate the bad mistakes. He is so close in my opinion, and has been all season. Being that he is a PG, I have no issue with a turnover here and there trying to hit an open man with a risky pass (unless it is a hotdog type pass). Great PG's take risks, and the better ones are successful on those risky passes more often than not. I will never complain about that. Like tonight he tried a high risk bounce pass on the move in the first half, trying to hit either Jabari or Amile. Quinn was in transition nearing to top of the key and tried a bounce pass through traffic. It got kicked actually but the ref did not see it that way so UCLA had it going the other way. No biggie. The airball from the right block on an ill-advised drive? That was bad. Posing after hitting the 3 from the corner in the first half? Really bad. One it;s stupid, and two you are in the deep corner and have a long way to go to get back to defensive position, so stop posing and get your rear back on defense as they are killing us in transition at that time.

Quinn played a wonderful game, he really did. It was a big part of the win. 8 steals, a lot of assists, great overall defense, great overall floor game. The bad? The two plays above, and he got stripped twice due to being careless. Those are the plays I want to see him eliminate, so he can be truly great. Like I said he is so close. The head hanging after a bad play is all but gone, so that's another positive. He is a wonderful driver, attacking the basket when he is under control and attacks with precision. Almost unstoppable even being so small. Those kind of plays take Duke to another level. He is really good at the spin move too so getting stripped that one time spinning was not bad other than it came at a bad time. Spin away young fella!

I just want to see him reach his potential because I think he can be dominant at his position.

As for MOTM, I went with Jabari for his overall game and impact. The kid is just a stud. Hood had another silent assassin type game even with the zone taking away his bread and butter of attacking the paint.
Honorable Mention to Quinn, Amile, and for emotional pick- Rasheed.

Josh Hairston also very quietly had an outstanding game as a role player. The catch and finish at the rim in the first half was a thing of beauty.

Well done Blue Devils!

[HCheek37]

On a night where many deserved it, I voted for Amile. His effort and toughness in the post and ability to knock down some shots was huge tonight. It was quite symbolic to see him wrestle rebounds away from Tony Parker and block a shot or two of his. Amile proved he can battle in the post and I'm not sure about you but I enjoy waiting just longer than for however long it took Tony Parker to announce a school, he will be waiting longer than that to make a FG against us.

[JNort]

Cook in a runaway for me. Amile played great but didn't have the bigger impact like Quinn. Sheed hopefully can gain some confidence off this performance but I thought he played badly on offense more than he did good. Jabari I can't vote for because his defense is so lackluster.

[Edouble]

Had to go with Cook. Is there a sexier move than Cook's spin move to the rim? 80 percent of the time, it works all the time.

I can't do these advanced percentages.

[stickdog]

Cook stole this prize.

Cook just set Duke's all-time record for steals in a game. The previous record was Battier with 7 against Davidson in 1997.

[porkpa]

Methinks you folks are beginning to take Jabari for granted. All of the guys mentioned above contributed a great deal. But its Jabari who this teams revolves around. Maybe the best all around player at Duke since Grant Hill. The best thing about him is that the best is still to come.