Duke MBB vs. MD postgame thread

[77devil]

Post your thoughts here.

[Ben63]

Great game tonight. We have improved on FT% but if we have shown we cant win w/o the 3ball. When we got cold from beyond UMD made a run and got very close. Scheyer hit the 3 and we were in control again. A cold shooting night scares me especially against a good team.

Overall a good, but not great, performance tonight.

[wilson]

Great first half on both ends of the court, mediocre second half...some good moments in the last 8 minutes or so, but was that a nonslaught I saw? And I agree that we need to hit threes to win. A cold shooting night will do this team in in the tournament.
That said, this might be my favorite Duke team ever. I've been watching for 20+ years now, and I can't remember another one that absolutely plays its butts off all the time like this one does. It's really a thrill to watch.

[DevilDad]

Just got off the phone with my son. A couple of great signs he said they had: "Fear the Classroom" (ref. to Maryland`s poor grad. rate), "If you can read this Gary Williams did not recruit you".

[The1Bluedevil]

Maryland has the #1 fg defense in the league so they deserve some credit.

[wilson]

Maryland has the #1 fg defense in the league so they deserve some credit.

Yes. Defense by both teams, especially in the first half, was outstanding tonight.

[dukelifer]

Duke had a cold spell but closed it out like a professional team. Singler again looked like Battier at the end of 2001- making threes- getting tough rebounds- and keeping everyone calm. Paulus is really playing well. Yes he is shooting the ball with confidence- but he looks so much quicker with the ball. He is handling and passing so much better these days. Henderson is having problems with the wrist. K said in the pregame interview that he will likely have a sore wrist the rest of the season and it may not be 100%. He will need to pick his spots and likely Singler and Scheyer will need to do more. Scheyer also played well down the stretch. As for Maryland- they played hard and Vasquez showed a lot tonight- but Gist was kept under control for most of the game. A great win by Duke. Duke has a lot of road games coming up. So they will need to continue to be mentally tough. But this was a big win against a pretty hot team.

[buzz]

Props to Lance for making a game-changing block at 57-55. His offense was weaker tonight than in recent games, but the momentum shifted significantly after that play. Singler made his sweet baseline drive right after that - ownage!

[mapei]

We get so much UMCP hype here in the DC area - it is great to get a win - indeed, two in a row and three of four - against Maryland. Maybe people will start cooling it about how Gary has our number which, admittedly, he did for a while.

I love the quickness of our team, getting rebounds against those big guys and making deflections and steals. It's true that we live/die by the 3, but that just adds to the excitement and I do believe it's working!

Vasquez is impressive, as is Osby. Relatively quiet game from Gist.

MOTMs: Greg, Kyle
key additional contributors: Jon, Lance
glue: Dave
invisible at key points: Gerald, DeMarcus
relatively insignificant tonight: Nolan, Taylor, Brian

Hey, that's 10 players! I thought K didn't use his bench?

[dkbaseball]

I'm getting a little weary of the conventional wisdom in talking head land that Duke must inevitably have a night when the threes aren't falling, and thus can't be seen as a favorite for the NC. Have they not noticed that Duke has six guys who are good to excellent three-point shooters (and I'm not including Gerald, who can knock them down occasionally)? On any given night there are going to be at least a couple of them knocking 'em down, and this Duke team seems to be pretty good at making in-game adjustments to find the hot hand. I can't remember any college team that ever had this much shooting depth.

That said, I'm a bit uncomfortable seeing bench minutes decline, even though the top six are competing superbly. If you do need to put a Smith or a King in for an offensive spark (assuming the top six are cold on three-pointers), you want those guys coming in fully confident in themselves.

[wilson]

I'm getting a little weary of the conventional wisdom in talking head land that Duke must inevitably have a night when the threes aren't falling, and thus can't be seen as a favorite for the NC. Have they not noticed that Duke has six guys who are good to excellent three-point shooters (and I'm not including Gerald, who can knock them down occasionally)? On any given night there are going to be at least a couple of them knocking 'em down, and this Duke team seems to be pretty good at making in-game adjustments to find the hot hand. I can't remember any college team that ever had this much shooting depth.

That said, I'm a bit uncomfortable seeing bench minutes decline, even though the top six are competing superbly. If you do need to put a Smith or a King in for an offensive spark (assuming the top six are cold on three-pointers), you want those guys coming in fully confident in themselves.

Very good points. You're exactly right about the shooting depth, and I'll admit that I forget about that from time to time. As for bench depth, I agree that it's a bit disconcerting, but I thought Scheyer had quite a good game tonight...I don't think "coming in cold" is really a problem for him these days. Good minutes from Zoubs and McClure too.

[weezie]

We get so much UMCP hype here in the DC area - it is great to get a win - indeed, two in a row and three of four - against Maryland.

There will be much gnashing of teeth from Jimbo Vance on channel four tonight!

[gofurman]

We get so much UMCP hype here in the DC area - it is great to get a win - indeed, two in a row and three of four - against Maryland. Maybe people will start cooling it about how Gary has our number which, admittedly, he did for a while.

I love the quickness of our team, getting rebounds against those big guys and making deflections and steals. It's true that we live/die by the 3, but that just adds to the excitement and I do believe it's working!

Vasquez is impressive, as is Osby. Relatively quiet game from Gist.

MOTMs: Greg, Kyle
key additional contributors: Jon, Lance
glue: Dave
invisible at key points: Gerald, DeMarcusrelatively insignificant tonight: Nolan, Taylor, Brian

Hey, that's 10 players! I thought K didn't use his bench?

- It seemed to me Maryland was playing to stop the GH and DM drive and allowing the three since it was the GH and DM drives that killed them in the first game. Anyone agree or was this just coincidence that our two most athletic wings had 'down' nights? Thoughts ?

[wilson]

- It seemed to me Maryland was playing to stop the GH and DM drive and allowing the three since it was the GH and DM drives that killed them in the first game. Anyone agree or was this just coincidence that our two most athletic wings had 'down' nights? Thoughts ?

You're right; Gerald and DeMarcus were not at the top of their game tonight. Just another example of a) this team's offensive balance, and b) its defensive prowess, imo.

[yancem]

You're right; Gerald and DeMarcus were not at the top of their game tonight. Just another example of a) this team's offensive balance, and b) its defensive prowess, imo.

I think part of the problem for G and DMarc was that the refs were allowing a lot of contact. Ehen they drove the lane, they had trouble holding onto the ball, yet very few fouls were being called. That's not to say I think the refs did a bad job, they were fairly consistent on both ends of the floor, so i have no complaints. I just think that G and DMarc didn't make the best adjustments.

[wilson]

I think part of the problem for G and DMarc was that the refs were allowing a lot of contact. Ehen they drove the lane, they had trouble holding onto the ball, yet very few fouls were being called. That's not to say I think the refs did a bad job, they were fairly consistent on both ends of the floor, so i have no complaints. I just think that G and DMarc didn't make the best adjustments.

Plus, neither shot well...the combo of not sinking 'em and not drawing fouls made for comparatively underproductive nights for both.

[12_2bretired]

- It seemed to me Maryland was playing to stop the GH and DM drive and allowing the three since it was the GH and DM drives that killed them in the first game. Anyone agree or was this just coincidence that our two most athletic wings had 'down' nights? Thoughts ?

It seems that Henderson was really struggling with the wrist tonight and couldnt get anything going.

As far as Nelson goes, every time he drove the lane Maryland shifted help and really closed in on him. This led to all the spinning in the lane that he tried all night.

I think it was a combination of off nights and good defense by the Terps.

[365Duke]

on T.V that when we went to the "spread offense" (that we use to call the "stall", I like spread better ) everyone stood up to cheer. It is extremely effective, and I love seeing K direct like he is leading a symphony orchestra.

My, how far we have come. It's like a knockout punch you know is coming, but ya can't do nothin' about it!

[alteran]

on T.V that when we went to the "spread offense" (that we use to call the "stall", I like spread better ) everyone stood up to cheer. It is extremely effective, and I love seeing K direct like he is leading a symphony orchestra.

My, how far we have come. It's like a knockout punch you know is coming, but ya can't do nothin' about it!

The stall game is an absolute pleasure to watch this year. Typically, I think of our stall game as an offense in which we try to break even or only lose a point or two every minute. I understand the necessity but it makes me want to run to the fridge and torpedo a couple brews to numb the pain.

Now, it seems to be something which we can use to extend the lead. Our players seem to keep their offensive mindset, rather than "losing the flow."

I love how when the defense hands us an opportunity to score a layup we take it rather than stall another 5 to 10 seconds. Two points is as good as stalling another half minute.

I assume the difference is we have a team full of guys who are legitimate threats to slash to the basket-- Nelson, Henderson, Smith, Singler, and Scheyer.

[Carlos]

The stall game is an absolute pleasure to watch this year.

...snip...

I assume the difference is we have a team full of guys who are legitimate threats to slash to the basket-- Nelson, Henderson, Smith, Singler, and Scheyer.

Partially - but the other big difference here is that when Duke goes into the delay game they're often doing it with the small lineup of Paulus, Scheyer, Henderson, Nelson, and Singler. If the other team is playing their traditional lineup of two bigs on the floor then you're always going to have a mismatch somewhere with a big trying to check one of Duke's quicker players.

Last night Gary took the gamble and tried to have Gist guard Scheyer when Duke went into the spread/delay/stall/whateverthehellyouwanttocallit. Duke did - and has consistently done - a great job of identifying the mismatch and then abusing the defense. Some nights it's been Nelson, others it's been Henderson, and almost always Duke has an advantage with Singler.

The other difference isn't that Duke just has a group of slashers, but that they also have a team of shooters. If you take Singler out of the lineup and replace him with McRoberts the delicate balance of Duke's delay game crumbles. Teams didn't have to respect McRoberts away from the basket so they could pack the lane with their big. So, using last night as an example, when Scheyer got a high pick from Singler, Osby hesitated on the hedge because Singler was 6-9 from threes and he didn't want to leave him. If that's McRoberts then there's no fear of him hitting the outside shot and you just pack the lane and play for the drive.