This team is very perplexing

[77devil]

Never in my 40 plus years of watching Duke BB can I remember a team with such high expectations fall so short. It is clear in hindsight that we expected too much. Yes this team was the youngest in the Coach K era, maybe ever, but that is not sufficient to explain the extent of underachievement. I have no doubt that in life they are great young men and a credit to the university. But there is a lack of fire, passion, or the will to win on the court that has been the hallmark of Coach K teams.

Hopefully the disappointment of this season will motivate everyone to work hard over the summer on individual weakenesses. Hopefully there is someone in the incoming class who can light the fire.

Coach K and the staff have a lot to think about.

[BlueDevilBaby]

I don't know that there were such high expectations for Duke with such a young team this year. Of course, they are Duke, and we always expect excellece. If Josh stays another year, I expect a much difference result next year with the incoming class.

[77devil]

I don't know that there were such high expectations for Duke with such a young team this year. Of course, they are Duke, and we always expect excellece. If Josh stays another year, I expect a much difference result next year with the incoming class.

Preseason #2 in the ACC, #11/12 in the national polls, #2-4 rated recruting class and as you say-the Duke factor. That is high expectations by the national BB community, let alone Duke nation.

The point though is the performance gap, even if expectations were more modest.

[SharkD]

I think, if, all the players on this team (including Pocius, Zoubek and Thomas) stick around, the next two years will be markedly better.

I think the youth and inexperience of this team was a significant factor in the conference record and ACC Tourney performance. I think there's lots of raw talent, but it needs significant polishing and I think the players need to acclimate to the college game and the ACC. (Both of which, I think, was happening at the end of the season, despite the last three losses.)

Sure, it feels like the sky is falling, but that's only because we, as Duke fans, have been spoiled by 10-straight seasons of being regular season and/or conference tourney champs. Duke still had a 20+ win season, despite the second-hardest schedule in the country, the hardest schedule in the conference and the youngest team in the last quarter century.

I think despite "not living up to expectations" -- which are might high when DUKE is written on the uniform -- there is a lot of positive notes to build on. Sure, there's a lot of room for improvement, but there's a foundation to build on over the summer -- something that wasn't there this year, aside from Greg, Josh and DeMarcus, who lived in the shadows of JJ and Shelden and suffered a series of injuries over the course of the last year. (Marty and Dave had so little playing time, that I practically considered them freshmen, this year.)

[dyedwab]

Earlier this season, I recall an announcer arguing that this team had trouble "being Duke". He went onto explain that this team struggled with the expectations, the intensity of opponents, and the scrutiny that come with the name on the front of the jersey.

Coach K had historically done a masterful job of getting teams to accept that level of microscopic attention and play with it. It strikes me that on some level, this needed it to be more than acceptance - it needed to turn it into a cause, a chip on its shoulder. Since we didn't have accomplished upper classmen, we needed to create an intensity (probably the wrong word) for this team that it doesn't have. Michael Jordan always used perceived slights, real or imagined (mostly the latter) to propel his game to higher levels. This team needs some of that, IMHO.

There is the famous story of Coach K after getting blown out by UVA early in his career. Responding to someone who said "here's to forgetting tonight," Coach K responded, "Here's to NEVER forgetting tonight." Our players who come back next year will hopefully have that attitude.

[A-Tex Devil]

I don't know that there were such high expectations for Duke with such a young team this year. Of course, they are Duke, and we always expect excellece. If Josh stays another year, I expect a much difference result next year with the incoming class.

If Josh stays, I hope we focus on him less on offense. We have alot of scoring talent on this offense but Josh isn't it. I think he can be a vital part of a VERY productive offense, but it won't be scoring.

We need someone to be THE MAN next year. We have a lot of guys that can do it -- Greg, DeMarcus, John, Josh, Gerald, perhaps Kyle Singler. But honestly, I hope DeMarcus and Josh take a backseat on the offensive end to guys that have seemed to WANT their shot this year -- Gerald, Greg and occasionally John.

Of course, if Josh would show up like in OT tonight, he might be the 20/10 guy he was hyped to be. Frustrating.

[throatybeard]

I still feel like I haven't learned anything about the team after 32 games.

[imagepro]

GP will become our leader and light the fire, in my opinion. BUt a good post and well stated. Lets hope they are all here TO "work over the summer".

[JStuart]

I still feel like I haven't learned anything about the team after 32 games.

I, too am perplexed, Throaty; I certainly expected them to come out fired up against State after the UNC game. They seemed more subdued than I would have imagined. Next play, but there seems to be a component missing.
JStuart

[gannon4429]

Agreed. It has been refreshing to see us go deeper into the bench and get some type of production, but it seems as thought we've lacked that one guy that could just throw the team on his back and seal a victory. We also seemed to lack "closing" ability in a few games this year and lost "comfortable" leads with under five minutes left. Killer instinct is crucial, especially in league play.

[Gozza]

I, too am perplexed, Throaty; I certainly expected them to come out fired up against State after the UNC game. They seemed more subdued than I would have imagined. Next play, but there seems to be a component missing.
JStuart

I don't think it's that perplexing. Our starting guards can't prevent penetration, nor penetrate against the quicker guards in the league. We don't have anyone who has consistently shown the ability to create his own shot (DeMarcus can get to the rim but has trouble finishing when he gets there). We don't have a post game (this is the most maddening, b/c McRoberts has the ability to be an effective post presence; there's just too much floating on the perimeter, and too much passing when Josh has already attained good position). They're basically a jump shooting team on offense, and play a man-to-man D despite giving up quickness to most of their ACC opponents.

Despite all that (or maybe b/c of it), I actually think K's done a great job getting this team as far as he has. It's amazing he was able to coax what he did out of Paulus after it seemed likely his season was going to disintegrate in January and his confidence was ebbing. Greg turned it around, and despite his athletic limitations, developed a fearlessness on offense that turned him into a clutch scorer for the team. And I would say that was the key element for this team, b/c he was truly the leader for the Devils once league play started.

I hate to be pessimistic, but I don't see this rapidly improving next year, b/c we still won't have the athleticism to lock down opposing guards in the man-to-man D and force steals. That has been the hallmark of Duke's defensive pressure, and Paulus and Scheyer won't be able to do it unless their physical development is swift. Maybe they could attend Demarcus' boot camp from last summer.

[CMS2478]

I agree, that it is not a knock on any of our guys....just stating facts.

[Matches]

Here's my take - we are not an explosive offensive team. We struggle to score points in bunches. Our strength for most of the season has been stellar defense, and we have tried to win games in the 60's.

But we turn the ball over way too much to do that. If you're playing games in the 80's-90's, 17-18 turnovers per game won't kill you. But if you're trying to play a slower pace, you HAVE to limit turnovers. As the game gets slower, every possession gets more precious, and you simply can't afford to waste 18-20 of them.

That said, for all our struggles I have greatly enjoyed watching this team. They seem like a great bunch of kids who (at least until the last few games) have genuinely enjoyed playing together. I think there's a ton of potential there, and that this season's struggles are a speedbump on the way to something greater.

[evrdukie]

I'm sorry to disagree, but there's not enough potential with this group of players to expect next year to be significantly better. It's a discouraging situation.

[bhd28]

I'm sorry to disagree, but there's not enough potential with this group of players to expect next year to be significantly better. It's a discouraging situation.

So what is your prediction for the record next year in wins and losses? Same? One more win?

[captmojo]

Not so much that the Devils were not up to expectations as other teams were better than originally thought. Nationals yet to go, hopes should rise due to coaching staff experience if nothing else.

[willywoody]

I'm sorry to disagree, but there's not enough potential with this group of players to expect next year to be significantly better. It's a discouraging situation.

ya never know. everyone could stay, stay healthy and develop over the summer. an incoming freshman, or one of the current players might be the next great duke player to see his name hang in the rafters.

or

we may suffer losses to the nba or transfer and freshmen may take a couple of years to develop.

ya just never know.

[dukie8]

So what is your prediction for the record next year in wins and losses? Same? One more win?

what kind of a question is that without having seen the schedule? the difference between uconn's ocs and gonzaga's ocs could result in a swing of 10 games either way. i may be wrong, but i think what the previous poster was saying was that the 3 glaring weaknesses of this team -- weak pg play both on the offensive and defensive ends, weak inside presence on the offensive end and lack of a scorer -- likely will not be fixed next year. hopefully gh can address the scorer problem. we learned this year that no matter how much hype freshmen having coming in to temper your expectations. i don't see anything changing at pg.

[Demosthenes]

what kind of a question is that without having seen the schedule?

How did he keep him from looking at the schedule? I think you severly overestimate his power.

[evrdukie]

I'm basically saying that I don't see anything that's likely to take care of the many deficiencies of this year's team. I would guess a won/loss record next year not much different from this year. I'm hoping, of course, but I don't have a very good feeling about it. I don't see a marquee player on the team. Missing athleticism and quickness isn't going to change. No very effective post presence. A team that's going to depend on throwing up predictable three pointers. No amount of good coaching can cancel those impediments. Honestly, I'm a little puzzled concerning how we ended up in this situation. The recruiting forecasts seemed to me to predict a good deal better. The only bright spot I see is Greg Paulus' improved play at point guard. For a while the point guard situation seemed like a developing castrophe. Plus the feeling I have that Paulus really wants to win. He's a competitor and I feel good about that. I really would like to see him succeed. I'm hoping Henderson surprises me and steps up. We'll just have to see, I guess. McRoberts is hard to figure. Once or twice a game he does something so beautiful it makes your jaw drop, then for the rest of the time he's just not much of a presence. I don't understand it.