Duke MBB at Wake Forest post-game thread

[glutton]

some of the reffing was was pretty poor. both of those force-out-of-bounds turnovers looked suspect to me.

that being said, we still played badly and deserved to lose. I'm just not sure we deserved to have our entire starting lineup foul out...

[Oriole Way]

The refs didn't matter that much, we had little chance to win based on how we played all night. The fact we dug ourselves into a huge hole with 4+ minutes left led to the typical flurry of fouls which are called when the losing team is scrambling to make a comeback. Lots of Wake/Duke games at Joel have been called tightly.

Missing free throws like crazy, getting outrebounded and outhustled, and WAY too many turnovers are what killed us tonight.

A few things alarm me, in order of concern:

1. Henderson's wrist seems to be a serious problem. He's just not the same player since he injured it. I'd like to see him sit out a few games to try and let it heal; if that won't do it, our team is much less dynamic and I don't think we can make a deep run in March.

2. The free throws. This will start and end with DeMarcus. He just takes so many free throws that he can single-handedly determine how well Duke shoots from the line as a team. You can't teach an old dog new tricks, but he's a senior and he's elevated every other aspect of his game this year. It's not a coincidence that both of our losses featured piss poor free throw shooting.

3. For being such a smart player, Kyle Singler makes some of the dumbest fouls you'll ever see. Fouls 50 and 60 feet away from the basket he's defending. Fouling guys in transition he's not even guarding. It has to stop so he can stay on the floor, and it's not a hard thing to do.

There's a few other pressing concerns, but nothing that can't be remedied. Loved how Nolan Smith played tonight. Scheyer's last few games have been depressing, he needs to step up.

[dukelifer]

Tonight was one of those nights- but a bigger concern is Henderson. If that wrist is getting worse or not getting better- it does not bode very well for Duke down the stretch. Scheyer will have better nights for sure- but Duke will not win when he is O-fer. The only bright spot was the play of Smith. He showed when given minutes- he can shine. The Wake frosh are really good.

Now watch all the experts chime in about how Duke is weaker than their record etc. ESPN already has noted that Wake beats Duke "convincingly"

[OldSchool]

The starters looked exhausted after 30 minutes.

Demarcus tried to put the team on his back when Wake started pulling away, but he just seemed too worn out. He would work tremendously hard to drive to the basket and then miss the layin.

Officiating was inconsistent. After the call on McFarland, the three-man team seemed unable to get a consistent approach to foul-calling which worked to our disadvantage.

Nolan looked great down the stretch.

[robed deity]

Well-it was just one of those nights. Nothing really went Duke's way against a balanced team playing well on their home court. Between fouls, mental errors and failure to finish at the rim, Duke just couldn't get into a groove. It happens-not the end of the world. We'll come back stronger. The funny thing is, I was still optimistic about them coming back even with a minute or so left. And that's with 3 players already having fouled out. Certainly couldn't say that last year.

And hopefully, G's wrist will feel better soon. We really could have used his midrange game tonite.

[CatfiveCane]

Most post by CatfiveCane are just flat wrong.

sorry, but you are flat wrong. Scheyer and Paulus are defensive liabilities. Teague ran circles around Paulus today. Scheyer is barely any better. yet at least Paulus is the PG and can nail open 3-point shots. Scheyer is streaky from the outside... at best.

Sorry, but to say Scheyer stopped Wayne Ellington is down right laughable. That's like when Michael Jordan had a bad game... and saying the guy who defended him shut him down. Of course Wayne Ellington isn't that good, but you get the point. Plus, Scheyer did not guard Ellington alone. Henderson did the bulk.

[godukerocks]

In case you didn't notice, NOBODY knocked down a shot in the critical time of the 2nd half. All credit goes to Wake's D.

That's true. But Nolan Smith stepped up a little bit towards the end; a good sign of things to come.

[Classof06]

I said it before the game (hope I didn't jinx us ) but we were due for a sub-par outing. With the exception of a few halves, this team has played superb basketball for 2 straight months now, since the Pitt game. People forget Duke is still a young team, but young or not, they were due for one of those nights.

I honestly don't think Duke played lazy tonight. We made some mistakes obviously but I felt the effort was there, I really did. Again, sometimes it just isn't your night.

I will say this though, I would love another chance at Wake. Those kids were talking a bit too much for my liking and while it didn't cost us the game, those refs were terrible. If you're going to give Zoubek a T for doing nothing, they had to give Teague a T for standing over Singler acting like he was about to punch him. I don't care what anyone says, Wake got some home cookin' from the refs tonight. It's not the reason we lost but they definitely got some favors.

I'll be at the Miami game Wednesday night. After tonight, I'm even more eager to be there. Can't wait.

[wiscodevil]

The statement bolded above is just flat wrong. See what he did to Wayne Ellington in the UNC game.

agreed. he actually plays great defense and rebounds well for his size. offensively, tonight he added nothing.

paulus and henderson brought very little as well.

[DU82]

We didn't play our best game, but WTF the sorry a** referees. The three or four no-calls when we drove the baseline and were forced out of bounds; the rebound that was deflected twice by a Wake Forest player before eventually being called a backcourt violation on Scheyer; ...

That call was correct. Scheyer was the last one to touch it in the front court, and he knocked it into the backcourt when trying to control it. No Deacon touched it in between.

[beach rev]

A serious question - why in the name of God would anyone care about what Tim Brando had to say? Please, please stop whining, or at least find something worth whining about.

Perhaps because Brando, Elmore, et al are paid extremely well to at least posit objective, decently-reasoned thoughts about both teams in a balanced manner. Lofty, I know - but true, nevertheless.

[VaDukie]

We just got beat soundly. No other way to put it. Congrats to Wake.

[DoubleDuke Dad]

39: Field Goal Percentage (Duke's worst of the season)
31: Fouls Committed (including one technical)
21: Turnovers
12: Missed Free Throws
4.5: Minutes without a FG in the second half... five different Blue Devils missed a 3 pointer in this stretch.

That, folks, is recipe for disaster.

Let's not forget the contribution from Nolan Smith today. While most of the Deacon's defense was focused on the 3, Smith showed up to keep the score close in the second half.

What can you say. It is clear that this defeat was a team effort.

[pugtugdoz]

I know we didn't play well tonight, but it's hard to compete when everybody is in foul trouble. During there 17-2 run, we couldn't get a call and one of their guards would miss a shot (looked like good D) and the ref would call a foul. Tough to play basketball with some of those random calls. Z's technical was bad, and so was the intentional foul by McFadden. It seemed like we couldn't get into a rhythm. It seemed like everybody was in foul trouble, and the announcers made no comment about it. That seemed to be pretty important. What's with the announcers being so Anti Duke? I enjoyed (sarcasm) the announcer making the comment that everybody says Duke gets every call, and that must be what Coach K is saying to the official. It’s funny to listen to the announcers get in some cheap shots at Duke.

[Ben63]

This proves what happens when certain things don't happen for us. Those certain things are:

1) Hit the 3ball with consistancy.
2) Make Free Throws
3) Stay out of foul trouble

Duke wins when these 3 things happen and sometimes when only 2 of the 3 happen. This game also proves the importance of Kyle Singler not only staying out of foul trouble, but shooting the 3 with effectivness.

[loran16]

I apologize for the heat of my comments in the chat today.

Naturally i was tense.

Where to begin. Personally i care less about commentating than i do about camera angles...the behind the basket cam during FTs is miserable.

On the Game:

Demarc-Solid offensive effort in the first 25 minutes and then disappeared. Grade: B-

Singler: Once again solid offensive effort (especially early in the 2nd half). Still, he has a couple issues....like dumb fouls in the backcourt for no reason. Which really, REALLY , cost us this game. B-

Paulus: After a couple great games, he had issues tonight. Which is fine, the reason we're better this year is smith can normally back him up. C.

Thomas: Not as bad as classic lance, but not the inspired play of late either. Still showed some flashes and had some bad calls on him. C.

Henderson: I agree with previous comments here...bench henderson for smith or scheyer until he's fully healed. The starters' minutes cannot make the healing go faster, and he's playing like crap. C-

Scheyer: .....WHERED YOU GO MAN! Scheyer's been the target of a redonkulous hatred recently since pitt by thebiglead, and it really annoyed me. But this is the type of performance which wont help much. F. Nothing redeeming about your play today man.

Smith: Man of hte match for duke. A++++. Shouldve played more minutes to be honest, but that's fine. Kept us in it late.

Mcclure: Bipolar today. Some great defense, + some terrible defense, + a couple fo shot attempts (misses). Nothing much to see here. C.

King: Played for like 2 minutes, got the ball inside and blocked easily. didnt play long enough for a grade, but wouldnt be too much help...he's too slow.

Zoubek: Didnt block well when in, and got blocked by a smaller guy. F. You advantage Zoo is your height...when you waste it like that, i mean cmon.

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Hopefully feldspar is right and we rebound from this...such an awful loss.

[godukerocks]

Perhaps because Brando, Elmore, et al are paid extremely well to at least posit objective, decently-reasoned thoughts about both teams in a balanced manner. Lofty, I know - but true, nevertheless.

How can you not just love Len Elmore's commentary?

He's a terp too!

[mgtr]

As long as Henderson is injured, and unable/unwilling to provide offense, we have a big problem. Since Thomas provides little offense, we have three to rely on -- and if one is off, as Paulus was tonight, our points have to come from two starters plus subs. Now McClure and Zoubek give us virtually no points, so we have Smith (who was great tonight), Scheyer (about as good as Paulus tonight on the offensive end), and King (in Coach K's doghouse, apparently).
My point is, with Henderson injured, we have a big, big problem, and our season may go downhill quickly. Now Wake played great tonight, and played us real smart. But, on a normal night, we would have overcome what they were doing. You have to expect to be "homered" by the refs every so often, but a great team has enough arrows in its quivers to overcome that. Tonight, we were short a couple of arrows.

[The1Bluedevil]

Wake will be scary good in 08-09

[jimmymax]

Nolan was certainly a bright spot. G's wrist has me concerned. What's up with that?