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Thread: After 7 games

  1. #1

    After 7 games

    Team trends:
    FG % has been quite admirable. Nobody has been an outright liability, meaning that everyone has shown that they can make + contributions, and/or that K is using his players well. Paulus started off almost frigidly, although he has picked it up lately. Nelson has been quite erratic with his FG shooting. King and Singler have shot very well so far; Scheyer started off on fire but has cooled lately.
    3pt shooting - Was lauded as a team strength prior to the season and has perhaps exceeded expectations so far with as many as 9 players capable of stroking it from deep (Z and LT don't do 3s, McClure won't shoot many but he'll hurt a couple of teams with surprise 3s). 3pt shooting has been very strong and relatively consistent from a team perspective. Both Scheyer and King have eaten opponents alive so far from deep, with Singler heating up fast and Paulus starting to regain the stroke from deep that he displayed at the end of last year. Henderson has been a very pleasant surprise from deep so far.
    FT shooting - As a team Duke has shot FTs at a slightly less than desirable rate. Singler and Scheyer are both shooting their FTs very well, while Paulus is starting to regain his FT stroke, which was excellent last year. Nelson and Thomas both started off very well but have slipped back in the last games. Henderson has seen a modest improvement from last year so far. King, surprisingly, has hardly shot better from the stripe than from deep.
    Rebounding - was supposed to be a huge weakness for this team, however, they have only been badly outrebounded once (UI) and UW, who is enormously taller, only outrebounded us by 2. Strong pressure defense on the guards and team quickness has helped negate our height disadvantage by a) allowing us to get to balls faster and b) forcing other teams to go smaller to try to negate our quickness advantage while we have guards who rebound excellently.
    Ballhandling - Paulus has been solid this year withe rock, showing that his foot really was more of a problem last year than any of us really knew at the time. Add to that the contributions of a real #2 PG in Smith and Duke is able to handle the ball much more smoothly. Scheyer has also shown that he is a reliable option handling the ball. Nelson's 7 assists against UW were delightful, and hopefully he can carry that over to other games b/c he has shown great ability at getting into the teeth of the D, and if he can start kicking it out instead of bullrushing the hoop at all times he will only become harder to guard and more effective.
    D - has been better than advertised in my opinion, handling a variety of different styles with ease. Shutting down teams that are taller (UI and UW) as well as being able to stifle teams with strong guard play (Marq and EKU); Duke has also stuck it to teams who want to play slow (Princ.) and teams who want to play fast (EKU). Duke has basically dictated the tempo of pretty much every game this year. This team's chemistry seems to be the glue that has allowed them to be so versatile.
    Paulus - started off slow, but his output against UW is hopefully a sign of things to come. Don't sleep on Paulus, he can hurt teams that disregard him. His FTs have been worrisome so far but he has been picking that up too lately. It appears that the foot has actually, really, no I mean seriously, healed this year.
    Nelson- has been an erratic scorer/shooter but the rest of his game has been ultra-solid. He has definitely infused this team with his leadership and grit.
    Henderson - has shown the brilliance that only emerged occasionally last year. He hasn't had any poor games this year, with several solid outings and a couple of great ones.
    LT - had not disappeared from any games this year until UW and he definitely has shown more consistency and more offensive ability. Foul problems have limited his time on the court and productivity somewhat.
    Singler - has lived up to the hype so far. Great FTs and good rebounding, as well as a positive trend in his 3pt shooting; +++clutchness
    Zoubek's play was a strong + revelation for him, producing something + in each of 1st 5 games, although he has retrogressed a bit in the last 2 games, could've been fatigue though, kens, 5 games/9days flew (almost) half-way round the world….
    Scheyer has produced something + in every game and has been stellar 3x although his offense has been quiet several times too; ++ rpg and +a/to for a shooting guard
    Smith - is a competent #2 PG now and his competence should improve as he plays more; his O has shown flashes of good things to come; needs to cut down on TOs
    King - has range and can score big points in a hurry although he can disappear as well; it appears that he has taken the D to heart and is really focused on being a good defender.
    Pocius - has shown that he is still basically the same hard-luck player he was last year, ie, flashes of creative and energetic O but a liability on D. Another ankle injury has taken games away from him already.
    McClure, well the positive is that he's playing again after (another) surgery; his steadiness and presence should only improve the depth and team chemistry
    Overall Postives:
    Duke has shown a go-to-scorer-by-committee approach, but has also shown that it can have very good balance. Scheyer, Henderson, Singler (2x) and King (2x) have gone for 20+ pts so far as well as each of them having at least one 15+ pt game. Also Paulus, Smith, Nelson (2x) have gone for 15+ pts. Everyone except Z (and McClure who has yet to attempt a shot) has gone for 10+ at least once.
    Rebounding has been a semi-surprise in the positive column. We've played two opponents so far that had deeper frontcourts and they out-rebounded us though we shot an excellent % from the floor to compensate. The rebounding from our non-PG guards has been exceptional with Nelson, Henderson and Scheyer all pulling down boards with regularity. Singler has the only double-double so far; King can rebound well when he gets PT; Z's 1st 5 games were all + for him mostly due to rebounding; LT has not rebounded as well as (I, at least) expected.
    I guess the best positive so far is that this team has shown that it can fulfill its potential. Last year after the first few games, there were lingering suspicions that something wasn't quite right (we struggled to hang 80 pts on Holy Cross???) and subsequently, that team left its potential unfulfilled. We still got lots to play but this team has shown that it can and does play well AND that K has depth and will use it.
    I believe it was Jumbo who related that coaches sometimes break the season into 4 distinct quarters and we'll be in the 2nd quarter until the ACC season starts. Grade for the 1st Quarter = A+ (+ comes from winning a tourney), incomplete grade for 2nd Quarter (2 games) = A. Team's GPA = 4.3!!! An A+ for 2nd Quarter will be given if we go undefeated AND show improvement on some of our softer spots…..

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Close to the Gothic Playground!
    Singler is IRON MAN. I saw the replays on his 'fall' and his head hit the floor, he's bleeding, he gets up, he goes to the dressing room where he's stitched, and then he returns! IRON MAN.

    dth.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Atlanta, GA (Buckhead)
    Quote Originally Posted by dukestheheat View Post
    Singler is IRON MAN. I saw the replays on his 'fall' and his head hit the floor, he's bleeding, he gets up, he goes to the dressing room where he's stitched, and then he returns! IRON MAN.

    dth.
    The argument COULD be made that Singler is Superman. Made of steel, is Super, and he wears an "S" on his chest for "Singler."

    Just a thought.

    -EarlJam

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2007

    They need to move the geeks with cameras back.

    As hard as we play someone is going to get hurt by landing on a camera when getting fouled taking it to the basket or diving for a loose ball, imo.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Close to the Gothic Playground!
    Earl,

    we could just call him SinglerMan.

    dth.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Atlanta, GA (Buckhead)
    Quote Originally Posted by dukestheheat View Post
    Earl,

    we could just call him SinglerMan.

    dth.
    I love it. Blue cape and all. We'd have the dynamic duo of SinglerMan and his trusty sidekick, SpeedoMan!

    I can see the Cameron Crazie's chant now: Point to SpeedoMan, "SPEEDO MAN!" Point to Singler, "SINGLER MAN!" Repeat.


    -EarlJam

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Wherever the wind blows and the leaves dance.

    Stats

    Here are some stats that jump out at me.

    The Good
    • Nelson leads the team with 6.4 RPG at 6-4, what a warrior.
    • King has an A/TO ration of 1.8/1, which is a pleasant suprise.
    • King is shooting 51% from 3.
    • 5 Blue Devils are averaging double figures in points (Singler 14, Henderson 13, Nelson 12, King 11, and Scheyer 10).
    • Zoubek and Thomas are combing for 33 MPG, 10 PPG, and 7 RPG.
    • Paulus is averaging 2 SPG.
    • Scheyer is shooting 90% and Singler 87% FTs.


    The Bad
    • Zoubek and Thomas together are outrebounding Nelson by only 0.2 RPG, Duke needs better rebounding from those two.
    • The A/TO ratios for Singler (1/2.3) and Thomas (1/4.5) are higher than they should be.
    • Nelson is shooting 25% from 3, he is a better shooter than that.
    • Thomas is only getting 0.3 BPG, with his length and athletiscm that is pretty low and indicative that he is playing tentatively.

  8. #8
    Formating, paragraphs, and punctuation are your friends. Do not forget your friends this holiday season.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Durham
    Quote Originally Posted by whereinthehellami View Post
    Here are some stats that jump out at me.

    The Good
    • Nelson leads the team with 6.4 RPG at 6-4, what a warrior.
    • King has an A/TO ration of 1.8/1, which is a pleasant suprise.
    • King is shooting 51% from 3.
    • 5 Blue Devils are averaging double figures in points (Singler 14, Henderson 13, Nelson 12, King 11, and Scheyer 10).
    • Zoubek and Thomas are combing for 33 MPG, 10 PPG, and 7 RPG.
    • Paulus is averaging 2 SPG.
    • Scheyer is shooting 90% and Singler 87% FTs.


    The Bad
    • Zoubek and Thomas together are outrebounding Nelson by only 0.2 RPG, Duke needs better rebounding from those two.
    • The A/TO ratios for Singler (1/2.3) and Thomas (1/4.5) are higher than they should be.
    • Nelson is shooting 25% from 3, he is a better shooter than that.
    • Thomas is only getting 0.3 BPG, with his length and athletiscm that is pretty low and indicative that he is playing tentatively.

    I agree that Nelson's percentage from 3 needs to rise, but this isn't as bad as it looks. I think it was Seth Davis from CNNsi.com who said that one thing he likes about Demarcus this year is that he's focusing on his strengths (getting to the rim) and shooting less 3s. So while he may only be 25%, he's not taking as many shots. He's currently taking 2.3 attempts per game vs. about 3.7 attempts per game last year. He didn't even shoot a 3 against Illinois. As the season goes on, his % should rise, but at least he's focusing on his strengths more often. All of this aside, Demarcus is having a phenomenal year; still MVP of the team IMO..

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by Genedoc View Post
    Formating, paragraphs, and punctuation are your friends. Do not forget your friends this holiday season.
    I agree Genedoc, but help a brother out, this was whereinthehellami's second post. You can't expect someone that doesn't even know where they are at to post well after only two tries! I took about 2 minutes, see below. Funny thing is I haven't even read it yet

    Team trends:
    • FG % has been quite admirable. Nobody has been an outright liability, meaning that everyone has shown that they can make + contributions, and/or that K is using his players well. Paulus started off almost frigidly, although he has picked it up lately. Nelson has been quite erratic with his FG shooting. King and Singler have shot very well so far; Scheyer started off on fire but has cooled lately.
    • 3pt shooting - Was lauded as a team strength prior to the season and has perhaps exceeded expectations so far with as many as 9 players capable of stroking it from deep (Z and LT don't do 3s, McClure won't shoot many but he'll hurt a couple of teams with surprise 3s). 3pt shooting has been very strong and relatively consistent from a team perspective. Both Scheyer and King have eaten opponents alive so far from deep, with Singler heating up fast and Paulus starting to regain the stroke from deep that he displayed at the end of last year. Henderson has been a very pleasant surprise from deep so far.
    • FT shooting - As a team Duke has shot FTs at a slightly less than desirable rate. Singler and Scheyer are both shooting their FTs very well, while Paulus is starting to regain his FT stroke, which was excellent last year. Nelson and Thomas both started off very well but have slipped back in the last games. Henderson has seen a modest improvement from last year so far. King, surprisingly, has hardly shot better from the stripe than from deep.
    • Rebounding - was supposed to be a huge weakness for this team, however, they have only been badly outrebounded once (UI) and UW, who is enormously taller, only outrebounded us by 2. Strong pressure defense on the guards and team quickness has helped negate our height disadvantage by a) allowing us to get to balls faster and b) forcing other teams to go smaller to try to negate our quickness advantage while we have guards who rebound excellently.
    • Ballhandling - Paulus has been solid this year withe rock, showing that his foot really was more of a problem last year than any of us really knew at the time. Add to that the contributions of a real #2 PG in Smith and Duke is able to handle the ball much more smoothly. Scheyer has also shown that he is a reliable option handling the ball. Nelson's 7 assists against UW were delightful, and hopefully he can carry that over to other games b/c he has shown great ability at getting into the teeth of the D, and if he can start kicking it out instead of bullrushing the hoop at all times he will only become harder to guard and more effective.
    • D - has been better than advertised in my opinion, handling a variety of different styles with ease. Shutting down teams that are taller (UI and UW) as well as being able to stifle teams with strong guard play (Marq and EKU); Duke has also stuck it to teams who want to play slow (Princ.) and teams who want to play fast (EKU). Duke has basically dictated the tempo of pretty much every game this year. This team's chemistry seems to be the glue that has allowed them to be so versatile.
    • Paulus - started off slow, but his output against UW is hopefully a sign of things to come. Don't sleep on Paulus, he can hurt teams that disregard him. His FTs have been worrisome so far but he has been picking that up too lately. It appears that the foot has actually, really, no I mean seriously, healed this year.
    • Nelson- has been an erratic scorer/shooter but the rest of his game has been ultra-solid. He has definitely infused this team with his leadership and grit.
    • Henderson - has shown the brilliance that only emerged occasionally last year. He hasn't had any poor games this year, with several solid outings and a couple of great ones.
    • LT - had not disappeared from any games this year until UW and he definitely has shown more consistency and more offensive ability. Foul problems have limited his time on the court and productivity somewhat.
    • Singler - has lived up to the hype so far. Great FTs and good rebounding, as well as a positive trend in his 3pt shooting; +++clutchness
    • Zoubek's play was a strong + revelation for him, producing something + in each of 1st 5 games, although he has retrogressed a bit in the last 2 games, could've been fatigue though, kens, 5 games/9days flew (almost) half-way round the world….
    • Scheyer has produced something + in every game and has been stellar 3x although his offense has been quiet several times too; ++ rpg and +a/to for a shooting guard
    • Smith - is a competent #2 PG now and his competence should improve as he plays more; his O has shown flashes of good things to come; needs to cut down on TOs
    • King - has range and can score big points in a hurry although he can disappear as well; it appears that he has taken the D to heart and is really focused on being a good defender.
    • Pocius - has shown that he is still basically the same hard-luck player he was last year, ie, flashes of creative and energetic O but a liability on D. Another ankle injury has taken games away from him already.
    • McClure, well the positive is that he's playing again after (another) surgery; his steadiness and presence should only improve the depth and team chemistry
    Overall Postives:
    • Duke has shown a go-to-scorer-by-committee approach, but has also shown that it can have very good balance. Scheyer, Henderson, Singler (2x) and King (2x) have gone for 20+ pts so far as well as each of them having at least one 15+ pt game. Also Paulus, Smith, Nelson (2x) have gone for 15+ pts. Everyone except Z (and McClure who has yet to attempt a shot) has gone for 10+ at least once.
    • Rebounding has been a semi-surprise in the positive column. We've played two opponents so far that had deeper frontcourts and they out-rebounded us though we shot an excellent % from the floor to compensate. The rebounding from our non-PG guards has been exceptional with Nelson, Henderson and Scheyer all pulling down boards with regularity. Singler has the only double-double so far; King can rebound well when he gets PT; Z's 1st 5 games were all + for him mostly due to rebounding; LT has not rebounded as well as (I, at least) expected.
    • I guess the best positive so far is that this team has shown that it can fulfill its potential. Last year after the first few games, there were lingering suspicions that something wasn't quite right (we struggled to hang 80 pts on Holy Cross???) and subsequently, that team left its potential unfulfilled. We still got lots to play but this team has shown that it can and does play well AND that K has depth and will use it.
    • I believe it was Jumbo who related that coaches sometimes break the season into 4 distinct quarters and we'll be in the 2nd quarter until the ACC season starts. Grade for the 1st Quarter = A+ (+ comes from winning a tourney), incomplete grade for 2nd Quarter (2 games) = A. Team's GPA = 4.3!!! An A+ for 2nd Quarter will be given if we go undefeated AND show improvement on some of our softer spots…..

  11. #11
    Hey, that was a great post once the formatting was added. Thanks for sharing your observations, DukieInBrazil.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
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    Undisclosed
    Quote Originally Posted by cato View Post
    Hey, that was a great post once the formatting was added. Thanks for sharing your observations, DukieInBrazil.
    Given his username, you're lucky it wasn't in Spanish! ;>)


    (Good points, DiB).

  13. #13
    I just hope Kyle doesn't hit that freshman wall about the time the conference games kick in. The wall isn't as high or thick as it was a decade ago because the kids are much more into conditioning in high school, no to mention they seem to play basketball year round. But it is still there.

  14. #14

    And to make it clear...

    Quote Originally Posted by dukestheheat View Post
    Singler is IRON MAN. I saw the replays on his 'fall' and his head hit the floor, he's bleeding, he gets up, he goes to the dressing room where he's stitched, and then he returns! IRON MAN.

    dth.
    He did NOT go to the locker room, all the work was done on the bench approx. 20 feet from where the "fall" happened.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    ← Bay / Valley ↓
    Quote Originally Posted by OldPhiKap View Post
    Given his username, you're lucky it wasn't in Spanish! ;>)


    (Good points, DiB).
    Actually that would be Portuguese

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
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    Durham
    Quote Originally Posted by sandinmyshoes View Post
    I just hope Kyle doesn't hit that freshman wall about the time the conference games kick in. The wall isn't as high or thick as it was a decade ago because the kids are much more into conditioning in high school, no to mention they seem to play basketball year round. But it is still there.
    I was thinking about the exact same thing during the Wisconsin game. I feared Singler might hit a wall the same way Scheyer did.

    The reason I don't this will happen is due to one thing: better depth. Singler averages about 26 minutes a game; Scheyer averaged 34 mpg last year. Simply put, the same load isn't being asked of Singler because we're deeper with better players.

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
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    The wall is mental

    Quote Originally Posted by sandinmyshoes View Post
    I just hope Kyle doesn't hit that freshman wall about the time the conference games kick in. The wall isn't as high or thick as it was a decade ago because the kids are much more into conditioning in high school, no to mention they seem to play basketball year round. But it is still there.
    I think the wall will be a mental one. Playing at such a high level, with the attention to detail that Coach K demands has gotta be tough the first time thru. If Kyle can hurdle that wall when it comes than he truly will be Singlerman.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Quote Originally Posted by Classof06 View Post
    I was thinking about the exact same thing during the Wisconsin game. I feared Singler might hit a wall the same way Scheyer did.

    The reason I don't this will happen is due to one thing: better depth. Singler averages about 26 minutes a game; Scheyer averaged 34 mpg last year. Simply put, the same load isn't being asked of Singler because we're deeper with better players.
    Perhaps, but is the freshman wall based on minutes played or just dealing with a much longer season? I'm not sure 240 fewer minutes of game action will offset the effects of an extra four weeks of practice and games.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
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    Quote Originally Posted by whereinthehellami View Post
    • Nelson leads the team with 6.4 RPG at 6-4, what a warrior.
    Actually it's even more impressive when you consider that there is NO WAY that Nelson is 6'4". Has anyone else noticed this? I'd say he's about 6'2", maybe 6'3". Look at him standing next to his teammates sometime. He is only slightly taller than Greg, who is 6'1". Look at him stand next to Gerald Henderson, or back in the day, J.J. Redick, who are both 6'4", and Nelson is definitely not as tall as them. I've often wondered why he is listed at that height. Especially since, like I said before, his ability to rebound and guard bigger players is only more impressive considering his height.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by zingit View Post
    Actually it's even more impressive when you consider that there is NO WAY that Nelson is 6'4". Has anyone else noticed this? I'd say he's about 6'2", maybe 6'3". Look at him standing next to his teammates sometime. He is only slightly taller than Greg, who is 6'1". Look at him stand next to Gerald Henderson, or back in the day, J.J. Redick, who are both 6'4", and Nelson is definitely not as tall as them. I've often wondered why he is listed at that height. Especially since, like I said before, his ability to rebound and guard bigger players is only more impressive considering his height.
    This is all very true. I'd say he's probably not much more than 6'2", but with long arms and maybe that Elton Brand "no neck" thing going on. Sure can get up off the ground.

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