MBB: Duke 70, Stanford 59 Post-Game Thread

[jipops]

This was a really good defensive effort all around. And huge props to Jah for not being bogged down on little offensive output in the 1st half. He played great D in the 2nd. This team was noticeably tired in the 2nd as evidenced by the ft shooting yet still never let up on D against a very good offensive team. You have to feel good about this one.

[Kfanarmy]

Great game, good D. Guys were a bit fatigued, justifiably so. I think that had a significant impact on shooting all the way around. even more so for Stanford.

[Olympic Fan]

Solid defensive effort. I think the defensive numbers so far -- defensive FG%, TOs forced and especially opponents' 3-pt pct. -- are excellent.

Love the balance.

Watching the Stanford game reminded me of what it means to have a big guy in the lane -- even when he doesn't block shots (and Jahlil doesn't block a lot), he bothers tons of shots. Everybody we've played has missed a bunch in the lane. I would like to compare opponents shooting percentage on shots in the paint between last year and this year. I'll bet it's significantly lower.

I heard that Stanford led for 11 seconds ... I guess that means we've trailed for something like 23 seconds so far this season -- never in the second half. In fact, we've been in double figures in the second half for all but a few minutes against Michigan State and about a minute against Stanford.

It got me thinking about the stat that the College Football Committee is so in love with -- game control. It's the reason that Jeff Long said that Alabama and Oregon with one loss are ranked ahead of unbeaten FSU. He cited that stat.

I think if you used that stat in basketball, then Duke would have to rank ahead of Kentucky. After all, they trailed Buffalo for most of the first 30 minutes of their game and struggled late to break away from Bucknell.

I'm not exactly sure how game control is calculated -- I don't think anybody does -- but I would think that Duke, which has been in control almost all the way in its five wins, would rank well ahead of Kentucky in that area.

Now, don't get me wrong. I am NOT arguing that Duke should rank ahead of Kentucky, merely using the early basketball results to suggest what a bogus measure that "game control" is (as another illustration, Duke football was ranked 12 places higher than FSU in the committee's game control rankings than FSU heading into this weekend).

[kAzE]

Okafor might actually not be getting enough credit for what he's doing defensively. It's been 5 games now, and he hasn't really been foul trouble once. (Knock on wood) It's one thing to limit opponents FG% in the paint, but doing that AND keeping off of the free throw line ... That's how you win games. The combo of okafor down and Winslow on the wings makes this team very tough to score on. We're also doing such a good job guarding the 3 ball, it's just so hard to make a run on us.

[Duke3517]

Okafor might actually not be getting enough credit for what he's doing defensively. It's been 5 games now, and he hasn't really been foul trouble once. (Knock on wood) It's one thing to limit opponents FG% in the paint, but doing that AND keeping off of the free throw line ... That's how you win games. The combo of okafor down and Winslow on the wings makes this team very tough to score on. We're also doing such a good job guarding the 3 ball, it's just so hard to make a run on us.

I thought Okafor was fantastic last night. Sure it didn't show on fg percentage and points but he was a tremendous presence inside with rebounds and what kaze said Opponent fg percentage in the paint. The difference between the two teams last night is while Stanford played really hard, Duke just has too much talent collectively.

[Saratoga2]

The change from last year is primarily due to the buy in on defense. This team is solid and deep even though the bench played limited minutes last night. Our foul shooting is an area that could use improvement. Whether that is due to people being tired or just that they need to work on shooting is debatable. Shooting from the field might have been due to tired legs but also was probably impacted by the size and athleticism of Stanford.

Going forward, I hope that the total bench will get more time to work into the games when opponents are not as difficult. It could help should we experience injuries or foul trouble during the season.

Love Quinn's leadership this year. He is not hanging his head this year but instead showing the young guys how to approach the game.

[BD80]

I think this teams fortunes will rise and fall with Quinn. He appears to me to be our emotional leader, and as long as his energy is up, the team's energy is high. I expect to see a floor slap from him at some crucial point during the season. Quinn has responded well to coaching, he seems much less prone to sulking, and his shot selection is improving. That said, I'm pretty sure the coaches will discuss with him whether a turn-around three attempt from the top of the key is what we were looking for in that specific situation.

Was there a period during the last few minutes when we were letting the air out of the ball that Coach K had Tyus on the bench and let Quinn dribble the shot clock down? Interesting choice.

I think Johnny D did us a great favor by playing a variety of defenses, for which his team had been well-coached. Maybe, now that the game is over, Coach K can spend some time with his former pupil and pick up some tips on coaching D. Particularly that free-throw defense - Johnny's Cardinal held us under 60% !!!!!

[Furniture]

The previous Duke teams to last years that I have followed had been really good at getting the opposing team in foul trouble. It looks like this year they are doing the same. That's got to be good! Is that an asset of a good defense or another type of asset?

[porkpa]

Justise Winslow is arguably the best freshman in the country not named Okafor.

[mgtr]

I have been critical of Matt this season, but last night he showed why he should be the the first player off the bench. Nice game.

[Furniture]

I have been critical of Matt this season, but last night he showed why he should be the the first player off the bench. Nice game.

The line up with Matt in looked really nice. I think they pulled away from Stanford after a little run from them.

[Devilwin]

Stanford is huge. Quinn was consistently guarding someone 3 to 5 inches taller than he is. And Stanford couldn't take advantage of the height difference, which I think bodes well for Duke's defensive future.

I didn't expect this year's Duke team to be a grind 'em out sort of team, but that's what we've been for the past three games.

Jahlil seemed a bit intimidated to challenge Stanford's big guys in that zone, and then all of a sudden when our lead dropped to 8, he just seemed to say, the heck with it, and got aggressive, fouled Nastic out, and iced the game.

Justise never seems to be intimidated, he took it right into them, time and time again.

Great post, and I agree with you. This team is growing and finding itself, but I am pleased so far. Work on free throw shooting, and I want to see G Allen play more.
Okafor needs to be a bit more aggressive.

[sagegrouse]

"OK guards -- you listen to me. This here's my man. His name is Jahlil Okafor. If you don't get him the ball, you're going to be sitting on the bench right next to me."

Ten shots? That's not good enough -- Jah needs 20 per game.

Kindly, Sage
'Substitute A-A center "Len Chappell" for JO and "Billy Packer" for "guards"'

[77devil]

I think this teams fortunes will rise and fall with Quinn. He appears to me to be our emotional leader, and as long as his energy is up, the team's energy is high. I expect to see a floor slap from him at some crucial point during the season. Quinn has responded well to coaching, he seems much less prone to sulking, and his shot selection is improving. That said, I'm pretty sure the coaches will discuss with him whether a turn-around three attempt from the top of the key is what we were looking for in that specific situation.

Was there a period during the last few minutes when we were letting the air out of the ball that Coach K had Tyus on the bench and let Quinn dribble the shot clock down? Interesting choice.

I agree re: Quinn being key to Duke's success but was not surprised he had the ball down the stretch. As Flying Dutch Devil demonstrated in another thread, Quinn takes care of the ball and will likely finish his career with the best assist to turnover ratio in Duke history.

I wonder if Tyus was a little under the weather or just fatigued from back to back games. He only played 25 minutes and was on the bench down the stretch while Quinn played all but the last minute.

There are plenty of posters that have been overly critical of Quinn in the past IMO. More than a few were certain before the season started that he would come off the bench behind Matt Jones. That was never going to happen. It's clear now that Quinn is the glue of this team and not only will he log the most minutes, but he will run the team during crunch time.

[Brockt10]

It's nice to have a defense where a 10 point lead feels like a lock. As previously mentioned, free throws are killing us and keeping us from really blowing games out. In every game against decent competition we have the same tendency to work a lead to 15 points, miss some free throws, get a little sloppy, and let them bring the lead back to 6 or 8 points. Last night we seemed to be scratching the 20 point lead (death margin) but Jah and Winslow would go 1 for 2 from the line or miss the front end of a 1 and 1 and Stanford would make a shot for a nice 3 or 4 point swing. We need to learn to keep up the intensity throughout the whole game. This team is still young and will hopefully develop this killer instinct.

[Ggallagher]

The announcers last night threw out an interesting stat after the game. No one on this Duke team has scored twenty points in a game this year. I looked at last year's stats, and in the first eighteen games, sixteen of them had at least one twenty point scorer. And they already had four losses.
It says a lot about how well they're sharing the ball without any twenty point scoring - and we're still rated the #1 offensive team by Kenpom.

[roywhite]

It's nice to have a defense where a 10 point lead feels like a lock. As previously mentioned, free throws are killing us and keeping us from really blowing games out. In every game against decent competition we have the same tendency to work a lead to 15 points, miss some free throws, get a little sloppy, and let them bring the lead back to 6 or 8 points. Last night we seemed to be scratching the 20 point lead (death margin) but Jah and Winslow would go 1 for 2 from the line or miss the front end of a 1 and 1 and Stanford would make a shot for a nice 3 or 4 point swing. We need to learn to keep up the intensity throughout the whole game. This team is still young and will hopefully develop this killer instinct.

The good news is that this team shows an ability to get to the free throw line.

It's not unusual to see some free throw shooting problems early in the season, particularly when the team is playing against good competition or a number of games in a short period of time, both of which were the case this weekend. The players get fatigued and don't have the normal mechanics at the line; it's hard to simulate in practice, so it's new territory for some, esp. the younger guys. They'll get more used to shooting free throws in game situations and generally hit a higher percentage. That said, Winslow and Jefferson are two guys who can get to the line, but just may not be good free throw shooters; Amile, we know about from his struggles last year, Justise not so sure.

Yes, the offense can get considerably better and hitting free throws is important; what is likely making Coach K smile today is reflecting on how far along the defense is.

[dukelifer]

The line up with Matt in looked really nice. I think they pulled away from Stanford after a little run from them.

Once Matt gets his confidence - he will be hard to keep off the floor - his length is disruptive and he is crafty around the hoop. He was key to the win. Winslow is really good. He has an NBA game and will likely be an all-star some day.

[Brockt10]

The good news is that this team shows an ability to get to the free throw line.

It's not unusual to see some free throw shooting problems early in the season, particularly when the team is playing against good competition or a number of games in a short period of time, both of which were the case this weekend. The players get fatigued and don't have the normal mechanics at the line; it's hard to simulate in practice, so it's new territory for some, esp. the younger guys. They'll get more used to shooting free throws in game situations and generally hit a higher percentage. That said, Winslow and Jefferson are two guys who can get to the line, but just may not be good free throw shooters; Amile, we know about from his struggles last year, Justise not so sure.

Yes, the offense can get considerably better and hitting free throws is important; what is likely making Coach K smile today is reflecting on how far along the defense is.

Completely agree. This is the best defense we have had since the Zoubek enlightenment and we all know what happened that season. How nice would it be is Amile could hit a 12 footer? Teams are daring him to take the shot.

[Billy Dat]

I didn't expect this year's Duke team to be a grind 'em out sort of team, but that's what we've been for the past three games.

This is a great observation, despite all the glitzy talent, they are kind of blue collar and workmanlike. If the shots aren't falling, they'll get stops, offensive boards and get to the line and manufacture points.