MBB: Duke 99, Wake Forest 94 Post-Game Thread

[BandAlum83]

It worked out about the way a few of us had envisioned. A very close an competitive game with Wake a very good and physical team. I thought Wake got the benefit of the foul calls and got a lot of points in that way. They do go inside more than Duke and we often score from the perimeter. I thought the early call on Tatum to take away his driving basket and saddle him with a foul caused later trouble for us as we are a better team with him in the game.

Coach K again used his bigs in the first half but went totally away from them in the second. It worked, so who am I to complain. I thought that we ceded mismatches inside in the second half to try to keep them down on the 3 point line. That appeared to be the rationale for going small.

Looking at the box score, we had 6 double figure scorers in this one with Kennard having another great game. Tatum would have matched him but had to sit. Grayson did better than I expected coming off a sore ankle, but Frank provided good minutes throughout. Amile played very well.

Come Monday, Duke will emerge in the top 10 and deservedly so.

With Louisville winning, unless baylor drops from #4 to outside the top ten, or UNC loses, who do you think will drop out of the top 10 for us to get in?

We most assuredly will get to 11 with Wisconsin losing.

[davekay1971]

Most NCAA games after the first round are close. Duke's ability to win at the end of games with outstanding free throw shooting bodes very well.

I loved that Amile knocked down both of his. He's not a great FT shooter, but he's a senior, and with the chance to either seal the win or give Wake a wide open window, he sealed the game.

[TKG]

Attachment 7196

Lots of points in there

By my count, Wake made 9 baskets outside of the paint today. They scored over 90 points and only 9 buckets came from "beyond" the lane and two of the 9 were within 10-feet of the basket.

[BandAlum83]

By my count, Wake made 9 baskets outside of the paint today. They scored over 90 points and only 9 buckets came from "beyond" the lane.

They also missed a bunch from 3 (5/17). So our stop the 3 defense seemed to work and help us to victory.

[davekay1971]

With Louisville winning, unless baylor drops from #4 to outside the top ten, or UNC loses, who do you think will drop out of the top 10 for us to get in?

We most assuredly will get to 11 with Wisconsin losing.

Oregon and WVU currently in very close games. And of course we should all hope for UNC to lose, every game, against every opponent, no matter the situation. It's all irrelevant right now, of course...lots of basketball between now and selection Sunday, but Duke is clearly playing their way into a 3 seed at this point. If our guys keep winning, they could easily play into a 2, or even a 1, seed.

[CameronDuke]

With Louisville winning, unless baylor drops from #4 to outside the top ten, or UNC loses, who do you think will drop out of the top 10 for us to get in?

We most assuredly will get to 11 with Wisconsin losing.

West Virginia lost to Kansas too. Duke will jump Wisconsin and Kansas.

[Bob Green]

By my count, Wake made 9 baskets outside of the paint today. They scored over 90 points and only 9 buckets came from "beyond" the lane.

Which means Duke took away Wake's 3 PT shooting. At the start of the broadcast, the commentators named 3 PT shooting as key for Wake to win. Wake was 5-15 from the bonusphere.

[devilnfla]

Glad to see the Freshman Tatum hit the front end of a one and one because Allen and Jones sure couldn't. That in itself almost cost us the game.

[-jk]

Phew! (And I still miss flowy hoops!)

-jk

[curtis325]

We played solid D on both those missed lay ups forcing Crawford to take hard shots. All lay ups are not created equally.

Did Tatum get a piece of that last one? Maybe a fingernail?

[CDu]

Which means Duke took away Wake's 3 PT shooting. At the start of the broadcast, the commentators named 3 PT shooting as key for Wake to win. Wake was 5-15 from the bonusphere.

I wouldn't characterize anything about our defense as taking things away. Wake got good looks and missed. It was a pretty abysmal performance for us defensively. Thankfully we were great on offense to overcome it.

For perspective, Wake scored on almost 2/3 of their possessions. That is awful.

[weezie]

Sparky Jackson!

[kmspeaks]

This week in Duke basketball:
Win a low possession, defensive struggle - check
Win a high scoring affair in which defense is a dirty word - check

Obviously things that need work, but the core eight is learning how to win in different situations.

I admit that I have not seen many if any Duke games this year, ( I was at MSG for the Kansas game ) , as I was in the hospital and then recuperating.

I do read th papers and see the scores so I have to ask this question .

I notice that we have never blown out any teams this year. We were close to losing twice to Wake , barely beat Clemson at home and lost to NC State, we didn't even blow out Elon at home. . Other teams in the conference have had blow out games . I noticed that Wake blew away NC State and Clemson also had a blow out game.

What is it with our team? I know a win is a win and we have been winning recently. Even today I see that we were tied at half time. Is it our defense ? When our offense plays well our defense doesn't seem to and vice versa.

I am not trying to be a ," Debbie Downer ", because we are winning but these efforts do not bode well for a good run in the NCAA tournament in my opinion .

We beat Georgia Tech 110-57, that one should count as a blowout right?

[kAzE]

Nice team effort in this win (6 guys in double figures), but holy cow we really made a ton of mistakes defensively. We also had no answer for Collins 1 on 1 down low. Amile did by far the best of our bigs on him, but he had his way with anyone who tried to guard him. I dunno why we didn't try to make an adjustment when they kept getting our guards to switch onto him, but we've gotta communicate better in the future to avoid those kinds of mismatches against elite interior scorers. No question Collins was the reason Harry and Marques played a combined 3 seconds in the 2nd half.

That missed box out on the free throw by Harry that lead to a Wake offensive rebound and 3 really kind of hammered home for me why Harry and Marques aren't playing more. Both of them are demonstrably uber-talented, but they aren't quite as locked into those minute details that can win or lose a game down the stretch, and neither of them have learned how to play defense without fouling yet.

[CameronDuke]

I am so proud of this team. Wake played Duke TOUGH twice this year. At 15-5, 3-4, Duke was down but not out. 22-5, 10-4 feels pretty damn good. Cannot wait to see the boys attack the Syracuse zone at the Carrier Dome Wednesday. Not pretty but Duke is finding ways to win. They all count the same in the Win column. Let's Go Duke!

[subzero02]

I admit that I have not seen many if any Duke games this year, ( I was at MSG for the Kansas game ) , as I was in the hospital and then recuperating.

I do read th papers and see the scores so I have to ask this question .

I notice that we have never blown out any teams this year. We were close to losing twice to Wake , barely beat Clemson at home and lost to NC State, we didn't even blow out Elon at home. . Other teams in the conference have had blow out games . I noticed that Wake blew away NC State and Clemson also had a blow out game.

What is it with our team? I know a win is a win and we have been winning recently. Even today I see that we were tied at half time. Is it our defense ? When our offense plays well our defense doesn't seem to and vice versa.

I am not trying to be a ," Debbie Downer ", because we are winning but these efforts do not bode well for a good run in the NCAA tournament in my opinion .

I don't know what your definition of a blowout is but at least some of these winning scores should qualify.


William & Mary Tribe 88-67
App.State Mountaineers 93-58
Maine Black Bears 94-55
UNLV Runnin' Rebels 94-45
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 110-57

[Indoor66]

For all his points, Tatum had a poor game. His defense was pathetic. Out of position as often as in.

[CameronBlue]

Quick thoughts:

* Entertaining game. Yes Duke missed some defensive rotations and had trouble matching up with Collins inside but Wake played very well, guarded or not. They exploited matchups on the interior against smaller defenders. Don't know what K's plans are for Bolden and Giles but let's hope that they reach a point in their development where K feels comfortable playing them in the 2nd half because Duke's failures on defense were due, in part (but only in part) to mismatches on the interior.

* Wake fans must be ecstatic about the product Manning is putting on the floor. Despite all the tough losses Wake continues to compete. Watch out ACC.

* Loved what we saw from Bolden today. Don't blame him a bit for losing a man on the interior when he double-teamed out beyond the 3 point line. Presumably he was hedging on the double-team by design but it's an issue that needs attention.

[grossbus]

Most NCAA games after the first round are close. Duke's ability to win at the end of games with outstanding free throw shooting bodes very well.

we missed the front ends of two one and ones. tightened things up.

[superdave]

I loved that Amile knocked down both of his. He's not a great FT shooter, but he's a senior, and with the chance to either seal the win or give Wake a wide open window, he sealed the game.

Did both Matt and Grayson miss the front end of one and ones late? (Had to stream the game, which was spotty)

Amile was onions! Matt and Grayson need to hit those. That's just not acceptable for old dudes.