MBB: Duke 82, Louisville 56 Post-Game Thread

[Saratoga2]

Not a lot to add, but we were able to get a lot of players into the game and they all seemed to hold their own or better. Great to be able to have the bench involved to the degree that it was, and good for team spirit. It seemed so easy out there last night that perhaps the starters got bored and a little complacent at times, which might account for the TO's. The Spaulding kid from Louisville is a great young player but didn't have a lot of support from the rest. We just completely out physicaled them inside.

Against Syracuse, we will have to be even better, with less TO's, as they will give us a real battle.

[vick]

In 2015, we went from #57 to #12 in six games (fortunately coinciding with the NCAA tournament). I assume he does have a recency bias, but either way it's safe to say if you play well you can move very quickly up (or presumably down) his rankings.

There’s also the fact that the distribution of ratings isn’t uniform, i.e., the difference between 1 and 10 is always much more than between 151 and 160. So even a straight average of what is the #108 team (Oklahoma, at 102.8) and the #3 team (Texas Tech, at 90.0) would put you at 96.4, which would rank #20.

Bottom line, if you start from a mediocre place and start playing defense at a top-10 level, you’re going to shoot up the rankings regardless of any recency effect.

[WVDUKEFAN]

I don't know where to start. I saw so many positive things last night -Grayson, Marques, Trevon, Jav - they all played really well. If I had to pick one thing I most enjoyed it was the defense. I really thought we hustled and got after it last night.

Congratulations to the team and Coach K on a solid win.

[Dukebasketball2020]

Great game last night probally the 2nd or 3rd best game we have played all year there is still room for improvement this game could have been even worse if we cleaned up the sloppy plays in the first half. There was a stretch of 5 minutes in the first half where we took some bad shots and mad some stupid turnovers. Duval needs to not shoot from the outside it's like giving them other team a freebie every time he shoots what he needs to continue to do is drive and dish or drive and go to the rim hard and get fouls. I like the direction of where this team is going to be honest I feel better about the team we have now without bagley then when we did have him.

[Ballboy1998]

Oddly enough, Duke has found a way to adapt the 2-3 zone they are playing to really embody Coach K’s defensive principles that we all almost universally identify with man-to-man: (1) deny perimeter passing lanes, (2) deny 3s and layups and force the opponent to settle for long/midrange 2s.

The guards at the top of the 2-3 are stretching up enough to really deny perimeter passing lanes and force turnovers; the wings on the back line are swinging up and outside the 3pt line to deny the 3pt shot so aggressively it often looks more like a 3-2 zone; the interior players are denying at the rim and are much more willing to concede the midrange jumper.

Where in recent years the man-to-man’s emphasis on denying passing lanes and 3s has led to easy layups on pick-n-rolls, backdoor cuts, and failed rotations, leaving the bigs planted in the middle allows more open midrange but limits easy layups. Really enjoying watching the team continue to develop on both ends of the floor!

[CDu]

There’s also the fact that the distribution of ratings isn’t uniform, i.e., the difference between 1 and 10 is always much more than between 151 and 160. So even a straight average of what is the #108 team (Oklahoma, at 102.8) and the #3 team (Texas Tech, at 90.0) would put you at 96.4, which would rank #20.

Bottom line, if you start from a mediocre place and start playing defense at a top-10 level, you’re going to shoot up the rankings regardless of any recency effect.

Yep, and to illustrate your point further, we are currently 27th with an AdjD of 97.4. The #41 team is at 98.0. So there are 14 other teams within 0.6 points of Duke’s rating. But there are just 2 teams that Duke is within 0.6 points of catching.

The rankings are deceiving. Despite being #27, we are closer to being the #84 defense than we are to being the #8 defense.

[stedge]

best part about the game last eve was that the kids looked like they were having fun playing a game.

[flyingdutchdevil]

best part about the game last eve was that the kids looked like they were having fun playing a game.

Especially Grayson. He was all smiles.

[ChillinDuke]

And Coach K finally started to play lineup combinations with some rhyme and reason. I now have a much better sense for what each player can bring to the table, something I didn't have a very short time ago (probably less than 10 games). Justin Robinson was never the answer - as much as I like and root for the kid. I'm sure there was some underlying motivational tactic involved there. But the concept of him being the first guy off the bench for a couple game stretch looks almost indefensible in hindsight.

- Chillin

[budwom]

very enjoyable game and enjoyable trends. One that I've wondered about though is that while White and Bolden (and of course DeLaurier) are seeing more time, O'Connell is
seeing less. I thought a zone defense might be up his alley...with Allen shooting as well as he has, perhaps K doesn't see the need...whatever K is doing, it's working.
Battle of the Zones on Saturday!

[jv001]

https://mobile.twitter.com/DukeMBB/s...811456/video/1

It doesn’t matter what people say about Trevon his teammates and his coaches obviously love the kid.
That means a lot to me...

Call me a softy or whatever, I love to see Duke players that love each other. And you can tell it by how they react after something good happens. I especially like it when Grayson is making a clear attempt to pick Trevon up or congratulate him after a good play. Yes, I agree Trevon's teammates and coaches obviously love the kid. GoDuke!

[SkyBrickey]

Agree with all the great things about the win last night.

I've been a basketball junkie for a long time but I can't fully get my head wrapped around this zone defense. It looks like a 3-2 a lot of the time but seems to morph into a 4-1 or 3-1-1 based on match-ups to keep Carter under the basket. Maybe it is the Tark amoeba zone?

The two soft spots seem to be the high post and the corner 3 as the ball rotates back around, but none of the past 4 opponents have been able to make us pay with those shots. Will be interesting if other coaches are able to better scheme against it but right now it is working phenomenally.

Edit: Just read the post above describing how it's a 2-3 with the offside bottom defender extending up to make it look like a 3-2 - makes sense. That puts a lot of pressure on Carter (Bolden) to deny the post, account for the high post entry, and guard against a backside lob of some kind. Carter's great length and mobility in the middle is really the key to allowing everyone to pressure up and out against the perimeter guys.

[NYBri]

Oddly enough, Duke has found a way to adapt the 2-3 zone they are playing to really embody Coach K’s defensive principles that we all almost universally identify with man-to-man: (1) deny perimeter passing lanes, (2) deny 3s and layups and force the opponent to settle for long/midrange 2s.

The guards at the top of the 2-3 are stretching up enough to really deny perimeter passing lanes and force turnovers; the wings on the back line are swinging up and outside the 3pt line to deny the 3pt shot so aggressively it often looks more like a 3-2 zone; the interior players are denying at the rim and are much more willing to concede the midrange jumper.

Where in recent years the man-to-man’s emphasis on denying passing lanes and 3s has led to easy layups on pick-n-rolls, backdoor cuts, and failed rotations, leaving the bigs planted in the middle allows more open midrange but limits easy layups. Really enjoying watching the team continue to develop on both ends of the floor!

^^^ This.

Took a while for K to learn how to use these great parts. Seems he has figured something out.

Grayson’s game has improved. One factor, I believe, is that his path to the rim isn’t so clogged because teams aren’t sagging on Bags and Carter. Since Bags has been out, not as much congestion.

Saturday’s zone-a-thon should be interesting.

Last night brought back some fun in watching a Duke TEAM.

[Troublemaker]

very enjoyable game and enjoyable trends. One that I've wondered about though is that while White and Bolden (and of course DeLaurier) are seeing more time, O'Connell is
seeing less. I thought a zone defense might be up his alley...with Allen shooting as well as he has, perhaps K doesn't see the need...whatever K is doing, it's working.
Battle of the Zones on Saturday!

Allen, Duval, and Trent can cover the 80 minutes at guard on top of the zone.

Carter, DeLaurier, Trent, Bolden, and White (and Bagley when he's back) can cover the 120 minutes along the backline of the zone. And indeed, O'Connell is too thin to play along the backline, anyway.

And, in general, zone coaches don't play a large rotation. Their starters can rest in the zone and avoid foul trouble in the zone. One of the few coaches who's had a shorter rotation than Coach K over the years has been Boeheim.

Coach K + zone is very dangerous for bench minutes. I honestly could see him playing a 40 x 5 game (zero bench minutes) in a Final Four game down the line. A 35 x 5 game is almost a given at some point.

[Tripping William]

Against Syracuse, we will have to be even better, with less TO's, as they will give us a real battle.

I see what you did there . . . . .

[jv001]

very enjoyable game and enjoyable trends. One that I've wondered about though is that while White and Bolden (and of course DeLaurier) are seeing more time, O'Connell is
seeing less. I thought a zone defense might be up his alley...with Allen shooting as well as he has, perhaps K doesn't see the need...whatever K is doing, it's working.
Battle of the Zones on Saturday!

Last night I watched Jack White closely and was surprised at how quick he is for his size. He also seems to be real quick off his feet. This is why he's such a good rebounder and is effective in the zone defense. I can see why he's getting minutes off the bench. Good move Coach K. GoDuke!

[MChambers]

Grayson’s game has improved. One factor, I believe, is that his path to the rim isn’t so clogged because teams aren’t sagging on Bags and Carter. Since Bags has been out, not as much congestion.

Except that Bagley has been replaced mostly by Bolden and Delaurier, neither of whom spread the floor.

[uh_no]

Justin Robinson was never the answer - as much as I like and root for the kid. I'm sure there was some underlying motivational tactic involved there. But the concept of him being the first guy off the bench for a couple game stretch looks almost indefensible in hindsight.

with bolden and delaurier hurt, what else were we going to do? I'm not sure there were any good options. As much as I love jack, I'm not sure him playing significant minutes at the 4 in those situations would have been any more or less effective.

During that stretch, the only other lineup which really gave us quality was the o'connell lineup minus duval.

[weezie]

Passing looked a whole lot better last night, too. Maybe K will "encourage" Trevon to try and pass to the bigs above their feet going forward. Carter's ankle looks stiff when he cools down and Bolden still favoring the knee on lateral movement when he goes that way at all. He's landing on one leg most of the time. Still was nice to see him happy.
As to Grayson, I'm getting emotional about saying goodbye. What a true gamer.

[elvis14]

Last night I watched Jack White closely and was surprised at how quick he is for his size. He also seems to be real quick off his feet. This is why he's such a good rebounder and is effective in the zone defense. I can see why he's getting minutes off the bench. Good move Coach K. GoDuke!

After Jack that that first great game, I was thinking he should get more minutes but was afraid I was being infatuated with that one game. So I started watching him instead of the ball and I have really liked what I've seen. He plays hard. Because he only plays a few minutes, he can go hard the whole time he's in the game. He's quick and takes defense seriously. He is strong and a quick jumper which helps make him good rebounder. Of course it would be great to get more from him on offense but he does seem to take the shots he should take. He lets the game come to him on that end of the floor which is fine because we have so much scoring we don't need much from Jack (or Javin).

So many kids on this team that I really like, BTW. Wish we could keep a few of them around longer.