Duke MBB vs. Belmont Post-Game Thread

[Gooch]

Another note: K sounds so resigned. it may have something to do with the sickness, but man, I hope he got that fire. get angry or something. This is like the K after the wake loss.

My wife (also T '94) noticed this about Coach K, too. "He seems so quiet on the sidelines...maybe he's just letting them work it out?". Not two minutes later they went to a shot of the Duke huddle and clear as day K yells "Will you play some F******* defense!". Lots of fire in his eyes (and voice undoubtedly).

Hopefully everyone takes their Airborne today...

[vango]

Belmont was like looking in the mirror. Belmont matched us up perfectly but I did think it would be a 10 game.

Better matchups ahead. But, we looked sick, tired, or both. Sometimes a game like this is your one test and if you pass it you go on to do great things...

These teams won a championship after a close game (though none of these teams struggled with "Belmont").

99= UCONN 67 / Gonz 62 (who is Gonzaga?)
02= MD 90 / UCONN 82
03= SYR 79 / Auburn 78
04= UCONN 79 / Duke 78 (hate to bring it up but...)
05= UNC 67 / 'Nova 66
06= UF 57 / G-town 53
07= UF 65 / Butler 57

[banneheim]

Did anyone catch Coach K's comments about Belmont's mentality of everyone feels like a starter? Do you think he is going to go more to the bench for minutes in the next game. If people are sick, they won't be able to play 30-35 minutes, so is he planting the seeds for more people to contribute off the bench? And Gerald was awesome, can he pull of a Camelo Anthony or Danny Manning, I'm not sure he is quite there.

[Indoor66]

I too wonder about the flu, especially as regards DeMarcus. That said, he has not had an even acceptable performance for the last 10 days or so... seems to me the flu wouldn't last that long.

We need to want to win... and I'm hoping that we can want to win and can do so on Saturday.

About the flu. I am coming off a bout with the flu. It started on March 3 and I went out of the house for the first time on March 12. I was still feeling it on March 18. I am a heck of a lot older than the team, but it can be quite debilitating. Several acquaintances have also had a two week experience.

[Chard]

You're right. we won't see another team that is precisely like Belmont.

That's all I was saying. Where are you getting the rest of this?

But my point is, do you really think that, in itself, is a boon to us. Whatever types of teams we face from here on, the one thing you can be certain of is that they will be quality opponents. And, IMO, Belmont gave us fits because they were good and we failed to make adjustments, not because they were just so perfectly suited to play us that we were set up to fail. In fact, with belmont's dependence on the 3 and lack of inside scoring, in theory, they should have been an easier matchup for us than other types of teams.

The tourny is all about match ups. Duke didn't match up well with Belmont. It was like watching a better version of the best NCSU team from the Sendek days. I said nothing of the quality of team that Duke will face, only that Duke would not see a team like that again in this tournament. I agree that the quality of teams will not decrease. However, will Duke face a team with so many experienced Juniors and a Senior? Also, one would think that Belmont's style of play would match up well with Duke but it didn't did it?

So I don't understand how not facing another team constructed exactly like them is all that great for our chances.

Do you want to put Duke through last night again?

[gofurman]

a response from a UNC fan I respect:
Belmont is a decent team, but I thought it was more of a difficult match up for Duke.
- IE, It is more about matchups than talent and that was the worst of matchups for Duke.
*Duke wants a team that passes around the perimeter so they can pick off the passes and run transition…Belmont had two quick guards who are small and could just get the ball and drive without perimeter passing which is EXACTLY what Duke doesn't want to see (think Duke's worst loss - Wake Forest with Ish Smith and Jeff Teague). Duke would far rather play two taller moderate speed guards…

*the Belmont - Wake comparison is good other than general talent level...two quick guards seems to be the downfall

[Chard]

We won, enjoy it!

Is anyone else like me and on a complete high right now (from the win, nothing else) or is everyone stressing out? This was better than a 30-point rout in some ways.

At the buzzer I did the Nestea plunge on my couch and said thank you to the B ball gods. I was in a great mood after that. We have to give Belmont credit. They are that good.

[88egr]

I was lucky enough to get to go last night. Anyone else?

I was pretty dissapointed in the Duke section crowd - it didn't look or sound like very many folks were really cheering too hard our very loudly. I know that Verizon center is huge, compared to Cameron, but geez, people, if you got your tickets through the Duke allotment, and are sitting in the Duke section, get up and CHEER! Except for a couple of women seated behind us, I didn't get the sense that anyone in our section really cared about the outcome. They just lucked into some tickets.

If you guys at home didn't see it, Taylor King got up off the bench 3 times in the second half and tried to encourage the crowd to get into the game (the Duke section was right behind the Duke bench). Folks - take a hint!!!

All you who show up tomorrow better be ready to cheer and stop looking at your damn blackberry!

[dukie8]

i think that the most upsetting aspect of the game was that, contrary what a lot of the people want to believe on here, belmont did NOT play extraordinarily well. they shot 44% from the field and 35% from 3-point range so this wasn't a team in a once-in-a-lifetime zone hitting shot after shot. those are pretty predestrian numbers. i think that it was more a function of how indifferent we were. other than G, did anyone look like they were really hungry and didn't want to lose?

we had 9 assists for the entire game! it is beyond me how we could have so few assists when playing a team that was so inferior from an athletic standpoint. that's what you get when your halfcourt offense regresses into just chucking up 3s and not even trying to attack the basket. if you didn't know who the teams were, you would have thought that duke was the 15 seed based on how passive they were on offense and how they resorted to just heaving 3s on most possessions (and only making 29% of them).

[KenTankerous]

This is why they call it MADNESS, baby!

We didn't get the game here in Louisville, KY until the last few minutes and I was watching on ESPN by then so I didn't actually see any of it. I think the last ten and a half pages pretty much covers all angles of the particulars, anyway.

I think everyone is reading too much into the #15 seed versus #2. This is the Big Dance, everyone brings their best and everyone wants to knock out the big boys. The media love upsets and the nation feeds off it, especially if the team getting overthrown wears dark blue. Just look at the post game stories about the UK/Marquette game. I mean, Kentucky was, at best, a questionable at large bid so why is a first round exit so surprising?

Duke won. Bottom line. Quit grieving until you have something to grieve about.

[BlueDevilBaby]

Well said. Although it seemed there were more Duke fans there by far, we were awfully quiet. I yelled as much as I could. But I was up in the rafters. Like I said in another thread, there will be a huge contingent of WVA fans on Sat. Duke fans need to bring their A-game.

[Fish80]

I've read quickly through all of this thread and didn't see this mentioned. No one on the Duke team, coaches or players, made any excuses. Clearly the sickness was a factor.

I am so impressed with the way they continue to conduct themselves and represent our University. Win or lose, I'm proud to be a Duke fan!

[Smitty1911]

Agree. We need to step it up. The 15-2 matchups are no fun for the 2 seeds - 7 fan bases root against us, and the opponent has nothing to lose. I think most of us were in shell-shocked silence last night. Tomorrow will be my last time seeing the team in person this season, so I plan to leave the arena with little to no voice. Let's let the team know how much fun they have been to watch this year; they clearly need a boost.

[Udaman]

There were killing us with backdoor cuts. We were overplaying on defense, and they were doing the Princeton drill over and over. We were very lucky they missed a lot of wide open layups. Then, they would pass in and kick out for open three's (especially in the 2nd half).

Why then, given that we were fighting the flu bug, didn't we switch to a zone? Take the slashing away. Give our guys a little rest. Make them hit three's. At least for a change of pace to try and throw them off.

[rsvman]

I was wondering why no zone, too, for awhile during the game. I remember how well it worked in the Virginia game, and Virginia has a pretty quick guard, just like Belmont does.

It occurred to me this morning that perhaps the difference between Virginia and Belmont is that Belmont has 5 guys who can make the three, whereas Virginia really only has Singletary and Diane. I would think Belmont would tear apart a zone pretty quickly.

Probably an in-between type of defense, like a more traditional sagging man-to-man, would have been a better option.

[mapei]

I was lucky enough to get to go last night. Anyone else?

I was pretty dissapointed in the Duke section crowd - it didn't look or sound like very many folks were really cheering too hard our very loudly. I know that Verizon center is huge, compared to Cameron, but geez, people, if you got your tickets through the Duke allotment, and are sitting in the Duke section, get up and CHEER! Except for a couple of women seated behind us, I didn't get the sense that anyone in our section really cared about the outcome. They just lucked into some tickets.

That was my impression, too. I don't know if you were there for the afternoon session, but the Georgia fans were awesome - there were more of them than there were Duke fans, and they were engaged in organized loud cheers the whole game. Even the Xavier and Purdue fans were better than the Duke fans. And West Virginia, I don't like their fans, but they bring it - and they will pack the arena, too.

There were VERY FEW Duke fans in section 211 where I was, but I was just about the only one cheering. I had to put my hands over my ears most of the game because the people cheering against us were so loud.

[Classof06]

Like Coach Knight said, I think Belmont would have given a lot of teams a run for their money last night. To whoever said that Belmont didn't play well, I disagree.

The only objective in this tournament is to survive and advance. Next play.

[Duvall]

I was lucky enough to get to go last night. Anyone else?

I was pretty dissapointed in the Duke section crowd - it didn't look or sound like very many folks were really cheering too hard our very loudly. I know that Verizon center is huge, compared to Cameron, but geez, people, if you got your tickets through the Duke allotment, and are sitting in the Duke section, get up and CHEER! Except for a couple of women seated behind us, I didn't get the sense that anyone in our section really cared about the outcome. They just lucked into some tickets.

Every Duke crowd is like that - it's not just D.C. Not sure why, but that's just the way it is.

[JasonEvans]

There were killing us with backdoor cuts. We were overplaying on defense, and they were doing the Princeton drill over and over. We were very lucky they missed a lot of wide open layups. Then, they would pass in and kick out for open three's (especially in the 2nd half).

Why then, given that we were fighting the flu bug, didn't we switch to a zone? Take the slashing away. Give our guys a little rest. Make them hit three's. At least for a change of pace to try and throw them off.

Well, considering Belmont is known as a stud 3-point-shooting team, I think we shied away from zone for that reason.

That said, it might have been worth throwing one at them for a posession or two if only to see how they reacted and maybe get them off their rhythm. It also would allow us to play Zoubek a bit more as he succeeds best on D when we are in a zone.

--Jason "for long stretch, a zone would have been a disaster though, I think" Evans

[ChiDevil]

most ridiculous comment of the night, watch it again, nobody even remotely attempted to draw a charge. I know I took your parenthetical quote at the end off, but using this statement to say that people were incorrect in criticizing the refs is absurd. If I'm missing something, and Belmont fans are actually complaining about the refs, please let me know, but I seriously doubt this is the case.

Totally missed my point. I don't know if anyone at Belmont is complaining about the calls. I'm frankly disappointed to see how much of that we're doing.

Duke was outplayed, and I'm glad they found a way to win. I'm just hoping they can get healthy and take the narrow Belmont win as motivation for Saturday.