Duke MBB vs. Miami Post-Game Thread

[vango]

Couple of minutes into the game he walks by Singler, raises his arm and gives him an elbow then starts scratching his ear like it was an accident. They showed it a couple of times afterwards as a deomonstration of how "chippy" it was on the floor.

I've gotta give Singler some credit - his face is starting to look like that goalie from the 70's (Bruins maybe?) who used to put stitch marks on his mask everytime a shot on goal hit him in the mask - it was to signify where he would have gotten stitches before the beginning of the "goalie mask" (I think it was LaPlants idea after one too many broken noses - on came a welders mask). Guy IS, as suggested here - like IRON. But the guy is cool as a cucumber too. Amazing for a freshman - Greivis gave him something in the MD game and he could have taken it either way - this one was a shot at him and he just shrugged it off....

[vango]

I think our own Greg Paulus would make some "agitator" teams. He seems to be using all of Wojo's old tricks to get into the heads of opposing players. I particularly enjoyed his so-called "kick" that led to a big bucket against State. Wojo used his feet better than anybody I've ever seen. But I'm sure Wojo wouldn't teach Greg that stuff, would he?

Oh - I've said that for some time. You're right. Some call it gamesmanship. The biggest thing he does is when he walks in front of people making them stop or he walks in front of them and then when they're on his heels he stops and they have to stop and walk around him. He does that all of the time and I think it is why he gets an occasional elbow jab or shoulder into his as opposing players walk by...

[DukieInBrasil]

Once again DeMarcus demonstrated his versatility, stuffing the stat sheet while also leading the team in scoring. He seems to have evened out his offensive output lately; previously he would score 20+ and then the next game he would score 7 or so. He is still scoring 20+ every other game but his "off" games are substantially higher, and subsequently his average continues to climb. Also, once again DN started off ice cold from the FT line but nailed 4 strait to get right back to serviceably tepid. His D was terrific and he picked up his game in the 2nd half to get Duke's motor going.
Paulus has also picked up his offense of late and was complemented well by Nolan; the two combined to drill 7 3s. However, neither of our PGs dished out many assists, which is strange for a game where we shot 40% from 3 against (primarily) zone D. In fact, as mentioned in another thread, we had good balance in assisting scores with Scheyer and Nelson combining for 7/0 a/to.
LT has returned from his hiatus in Ineffective Land to turn in yet another solid game. Lance won't be confused with a dangerous scorer anytime soon, but if he can stay active on the O-boards and toss in a few points, then he will be a valuable asset to the team.
Scheyer continues to be relatively quiet, though efficient, on O while vying for Nelson's mantle as a stat-stuffer.
The only real negative to the game was The Gerald's bewilderingly terrible performance on O, tho' he did grab several boards. He seemed unable to figure out the Miami zone and tossed up lots of bricks and turned the ball over frequently while being unable to assist other scores. For whatever reason, he just wasn't seeing the floor well. His ineffective FT shooting is getting to be problematic for a guy whose game is so well designed for getting to the line.

[devildeac]

It's debatable whether it has really done even that all that well. The conference championship game hasn't exactly worked out all that great.

I'm not happy about the way the conference has gone. Not only have Miami and Virginia Tech brought the Big East overly physical style of play to the league, but the coaches at FSU, Clemson, and Georgia Tech have gone that route too. I guess if you can't compete on skill, you just recruit big strong guys who play rough to make up for it.

Minor quibbles. You left out BC with their 'chippy' play (remember Dudley's bumps and shoves with JJ?) I think they had one other overly physical player a year or two ago whose name I fortunately can't recall. I was at the Clemson game at CIS this year and have no real complaints about their style of play. Yea, they are beefy but I don't think they were dirty. I think Hewitt was that way before the football(cough, cough) schools entered the ACC. I remember several years ago some really hard fouls on our guys in CIS that got K livid early, earned him a T and he coached the 2nd half with a turtle neck and no sport coat/suit.