Mercer - Tennessee

[Furniture]

Defense and the name "DUKE" isn't written on their jerseys in big, blue letters.

People get up to play us, play the game of their lives, expend all of their energy doing so, and then look awful the next game. It's like clockwork.

That's true but it should also give Duke an advantage by being used to playing in hostile atmospheres and tough games.

[eddiehaskell]

That's true but it should also give Duke an advantage by being used to playing in hostile atmospheres and tough games.

I agree, but Duke's two best players (Hood/Parker) have never played in a game THAT big.

[Matches]

I agree, but Duke's two best players (Hood/Parker) have never played in a game THAT big.

Neither had anyone on Mercer's team.

[Saratoga2]

Tennessee won by 20 against a team we couldn't handle, even though two of our guards had exceptional games. We have/had, whichever is now correct, a future NBA star and a t least one other NBA player and yet we under-performed. Suggests something wrong with our strategy and also perhaps a lack of development of some of our secondary players. The problems were evident during the season and while some improvements were made, we fell back to bad habits in our final game.

We had a long statement in another string of what the players need to do next year to get better and that was a well thought out message. I do think the kids tried very hard to succeed so it wasn't a lack of effort on their part. What is also needed is something generated by the coaching staff to improve our approach to the new reality of the NCAAs with foul interpretations. Virginia seems to have found IT. Maybe our coaching staff can find IT as well. Line changes and heavy substitution worked for us for a while. It is not necessarily the answer but neither is what we did in our last game, so I hope the coaching staff really opens up to new possibilities.

[77devil]

The headline to this story provides a good guess

Tennessee uses its size and strength to manhandle Mercer

http://college-basketball.si.com/201...s-to-sweet-16/

TN would have been a match up problem for Duke with their wide bodies on the front line. I must confess that I picked TN in a pick six pool. While I was almost certain TN would beat UMass for 11 points, and I took the -4.5 in Vegas, I believed beating Duke was a very real possibility, hence the pick.

[Karl Beem]

Tennessee won by 20 against a team we couldn't handle, even though two of our guards had exceptional games. We have/had, whichever is now correct, a future NBA star and a t least one other NBA player and yet we under-performed. Suggests something wrong with our strategy and also perhaps a lack of development of some of our secondary players. The problems were evident during the season and while some improvements were made, we fell back to bad habits in our final game.

We had a long statement in another string of what the players need to do next year to get better and that was a well thought out message. I do think the kids tried very hard to succeed so it wasn't a lack of effort on their part. What is also needed is something generated by the coaching staff to improve our approach to the new reality of the NCAAs with foul interpretations. Virginia seems to have found IT. Maybe our coaching staff can find IT as well. Line changes and heavy substitution worked for us for a while. It is not necessarily the answer but neither is what we did in our last game, so I hope the coaching staff really opens up to new possibilities.

Having both Rodney and Jabari shooting blanks the same game was highly unlikely. OTOH the team seemed uncoachable. A number of times K said that they wouldn't do as they were told. I freaked out when under 3 minutes, score tied, after a time out, 14 secs on the shot clock, Jabari took a step-back 3. I knew we were done when it missed. I've seen stats that indicated that the Duke team of the last 10 minutes of games wouldn't make the tourney. The first 30 minutes, they were top 5.

[rsvman]

Neither had anyone on Mercer's team.

Yes, but they had nothing to lose.



To me, it's a big difference. My father, who is retired from being a professor at Brigham Young, called me up on Saturday to ask me how Duke was doing (he already knew). I told him that Duke did just about as well as BYU did (they lost in the first round to Oregon). I thought this would equalize things, but it really didn't. Sure, both BYU and Duke lost in the first round, but other than that there are few similarities.

BYU was a mediocre team with mostly middling talent, and they lost one of their two best players to a broken bone or a torn ACL right before the NCAA tournament began. Nobody expected anything of them. They were expected to lose. Had they won, it would've been awesome, but nobody was disappointed with their loss.

Duke is in the exact opposite position. They recruit great players and the team has had great success. They are thought of as a blue-blood program, and expectations are always high. They are expected to win. Had they won, it would've been business as usual, but everybody was disappointed with their loss.

[mgtr]

I agree, but Duke's two best players (Hood/Parker) have never played in a game THAT big.

And, sadly, they didn't play in this one, either. I like both players a lot, but maybe they just weren't ready to be Prime Time Players.

[MCFinARL]

Having both Rodney and Jabari shooting blanks the same game was highly unlikely. OTOH the team seemed uncoachable. A number of times K said that they wouldn't do as they were told. I freaked out when under 3 minutes, score tied, after a time out, 14 secs on the shot clock, Jabari took a step-back 3. I knew we were done when it missed. I've seen stats that indicated that the Duke team of the last 10 minutes of games wouldn't make the tourney. The first 30 minutes, they were top 5.

Really? Can you document this? K has certainly described the team as young, and perhaps even said they were struggling with some things, but your statement suggests he said they were insubordinate or refusing to cooperate with coaching. I doubt this is true, and I doubt even more that K would say it.

[Karl Beem]

Really? Can you document this? K has certainly described the team as young, and perhaps even said they were struggling with some things, but your statement suggests he said they were insubordinate or refusing to cooperate with coaching. I doubt this is true, and I doubt even more that K would say it.

That's what I remember.