Duke MBB vs. Belmont Post-Game Thread

[graybead]

There is nothing you can say to convince me the official made the right call on that play. I know the officials swallow the whistle at the end of the game but that was a very bad call/no call/jumpball.

I better not hear that comment anymore. I know a lot of you have been saying the officials were not that bad. Well, I rewound this game on my DVR more times than I can count. I kept thinking I saw something wrong.

I played the over-the-back at the end in slow motion and it was absolutely ridiculous. I had to call my dad to see if they did away with the over the back call and I didn't hear about it. If there was EVER over the back - that was it. Absolutely pathetic. Officials have been horrendous already and it's Day 1.

I'm not sure who this Duke loss would have been more embarrasing for - Duke fans, Demarcus Nelson and his last game at Duke, or the people wearing the black and white stripes.

All that said is not to take away from Belmont. They played an amazing game.

[beach rev]

EarlJam has it right - survive and advance. I wouldn't be surprised if we win on Saturday by 10. It's all about matching up.

[ChiDevil]

Ok, so many if not most of us are kinda "embarrassed" at winning this game. I can understand that sentiment. But there is a thing called "survive and advance" and I personally feel that's what should be emphasized at this point. If we go on a run and reach the Final Four, no one will be talking about being embarrassed any more than UCLA in '95.

Survive and Advance . . . and learn something about knowing how to win when it counts and in the clutch. Let's chalk it off to a team that hasn't had much NCAA tournament success learning what it feels like. Winning in the tourney is different than winning in regular season. Maybe they'll catch the bug and keep on going

Enough on the calls already . . . If I were Belmont, I'd be saying that Henderson charged on his awesome drive at the end (NO, I don't think he did) Surviving calls is just part of the game.

GO DUKE!!!!

[wiscodevil]

when a team does the same thing over and over and over, you have to adjust. we didn't. not sure why, but we didn't.

that said, i think duke played with some real guts and heart. they just couldn't stop belmont from hitting the big shot for whatever reason.

i like this team a lot more when they pass the ball around instead of the dribble drive for the shot.

[houstondukie]

i think we have five key guys on offense,

paulus, singler, nelson, henderson, scheyer.

back when we were #2 in the country, four of these guys did well on offense in each game. not always the same four, but four.

starting with the wake loss, it seems as if we have trouble getting good games on offense out of more than two. some times one will have a good half and a bad half and another, the opposite.

i contend that we aren't going to win unless we get to four or three for the whole game.

i am not confident that will happen saturday.

I don't think offense is our problem. We are at our best when we create baskets off our defense. Tonight and in our losses we flat out stunk on defense.

[cspan37421]

This just in:

All Duke players will be sporting a brace on their shooting hand for Saturday's game.

[rsvman]

I'm just glad DangerMouse didn't have to end his stellar career with that game.

The "held ball" call was atrocious.

Somehow I knew DM would miss the front end of that one-and-one, and that upsets me.

Belmont had absolutely NO ANSWER for the amazing Gerald Henderson.

I sure hope Coach K has as much Purell as Gatorade behind the bench. The last thing we need is for everybody on the team to catch whatever virus he has.

NEXT PLAY!

[dukestheheat]

when a team does the same thing over and over and over, you have to adjust. we didn't. not sure why, but we didn't.

that said, i think duke played with some real guts and heart. they just couldn't stop belmont from hitting the big shot for whatever reason.

i like this team a lot more when they pass the ball around instead of the dribble drive for the shot.

(I'm not doubting what you're saying, I'm just trying to find out what you saw, how it was playing out, and what you'd have done to fix it!).

Thanks,

dth.

[moonpie23]

this game will either shake them out of their doldrums, or bury them on saturday...

[devildownunder]

I think this is the issue.

A team like Belmont certainly looks like the quicker team when its guards are allowed to use their hands any way they want on defense.

Sheesh...

Of course, Duke never tried to see if they'd get the same benefit the other way.

All right, the terping is beginning to grate on me. Belmont's guards didn't just look quicker than ours tonight. Let's give credit where it's due. Belmont is an excellent team and we are dayumm lucky not to have to watch them play on Saturday.

[gofurman]

Hope all the ACC does great:

Go UNC, Duke, Clemson, Miami (yeah, I know that is different than most on this board

On tonights game why Belmont probably was legit:

- Did anyone in the ACC do as good a job on back-door cuts as Belmont? Really? EVERYONE knows the Devils overplay passing lanes and yet I haven't seen anyone in the ACC do the back-door as crisp as tonight's Bruins... crazy

- Did anyone in the ACC hold DeMarcus Nelson to TWO points? I haven't seen that kind of defense on him all year. He is a nard-nosed tough gaurd and they shut him down.

-- Whether or not DeMarcus Nelson deserved ACC Defensive player of the year -> he is at least one of the top 5 D players in the league and their guard (name?) kept blowing by him like he was standing still. I don't remember anyone getting by Nelson that easily in the ACC. Lawson is probably closest but that Bruin gaurd was crazy fast

-- Crazy thing is, Duke shut down Belmont's top two scorers and yet they had others step up. 15 seeds almost always need great games from their best players (Hare and ?).

[ForeverBlowingBubbles]

There were some bad calls in the game, but none as bad as when Paulus's foot was clearly out of bounds when he tried to save it - should have been Belmonts ball. If it had gone to Belmont - we probably would have lost.

Sorry if no one wanted to read that - just a glass half empty kinda game for me.

[devildownunder]

This just in:

All Duke players will be sporting a brace on their shooting hand for Saturday's game.

Thanks cspan, I needed a laugh and you just provided it.

[Son of Jarhead]

Thank You, Gerald Henderson!!!!

G did a little stat sheet stuffing tonight (21 pts, 8 rbs, 5 steals, 3 assists...) & its a good thing, too... he willed us to victory.

We did not play as we would have liked, but you gotta give Belmont credit as they probably had more to do with our bad play than we did.

Survive & advance.

GO DUKE!!!!

[wiscodevil]

(I'm not doubting what you're saying, I'm just trying to find out what you saw, how it was playing out, and what you'd have done to fix it!).

Thanks,

dth.

i think, in general K has his guys play harder on every possession than anyone in the country. which is a good thing. he believes a suffocating, overplaying, man-to-man is the "right way to play". you can't really argue with the results. i just think he can be too stubborn and not make in-game changes. so many of their baskets were a result of our overplaying the passing lanes. against some teams i think you're better off to play to their weaknesses not your strengths.

just my opinion.

[Ann Arbor Devil]

As an alum of U-M and Duke, I almost lived through arguably the 2 most embarrassing losses in college football/b-ball history this year...first App St and now Belmont. These guys lost to Kennesaw St for the love of God!

But maybe now we will play as if the weight of the world is not on our shoulders.

Very disappointed in the lack of in-game adjustments by K and staff. Continuing to rely on jacking up 3s was not what we needed when guys like Singler and Markie should have been able to score in the paint.

[Chard]

OK, what does that mean? This is the ncaa tournament. You think we'll get a cupcake next?

It means that Duke won't see another team that can put five three point shooters on the floor. It means that Duke won't see a team that has started 10 players this season. If you see one in Duke's bracket let me know.

[Saratoga2]

Survive and Advance . . . and learn something about knowing how to win when it counts and in the clutch. Let's chalk it off to a team that hasn't had much NCAA tournament success learning what it feels like. Winning in the tourney is different than winning in regular season. Maybe they'll catch the bug and keep on going

Enough on the calls already . . . If I were Belmont, I'd be saying that Henderson charged on his awesome drive at the end (NO, I don't think he did) Surviving calls is just part of the game.

GO DUKE!!!!

Forget whining about calls. Come on guys, we had players in the game that didn't contribute much on offense or defense. It is tough to win under those circumstances. The same was true against UNC and Clemson. It is not a matter of coming out and playing harder, it is playing smarter that the team needs to accomplish.

Nelson has had a couple of stinker games now in the last few and Thomas seems to be regressing after looking very good in a couple of games late in the season. Are they sick or not using their heads. Our starters really don't get a good start game after game, leaving us in the position of having the reserves to come in and right the ship. Should the starting 5 be changed?

The players that have looked best at the end of the season are Scheyer, Henderson, Paulus, Singler to some degree and Zoubek with Smith and McClure. Clearly there needs to be contributions from all the players if we are to advance. I wish I knew the answer, but staying with a guy that is having a stinker of a game may not be the best strategy.

[CarrotTD]

i think, in general K has his guys play harder on every possession than anyone in the country. which is a good thing. he believes a suffocating, overplaying, man-to-man is the "right way to play". you can't really argue with the results. i just think he can be too stubborn and not make in-game changes. so many of their baskets were a result of our overplaying the passing lanes. against some teams i think you're better off to play to their weaknesses not your strengths.

just my opinion.

Completely agree on all counts. I think if Duke had played straight up defense the entire game we would have saw a comfortable victory.

I've been saying this for a while - there is such a thing as a mid-game adjustment. I know that K likes to go with his system and what's been working, but when it's not working I think you need to at least try something else.

[BigDuke6]

There were some bad calls in the game, but none as bad as when Paulus's foot was clearly out of bounds when he tried to save it - should have been Belmonts ball. If it had gone to Belmont - we probably would have lost.

Sorry if no one wanted to read that - just a glass half empty kinda game for me.

Sure we can go tit for tat. The ball that Scheyer somehow threw out of bounds was the wrong call too. However, at the end of the game the blown over the back call was a result of poor officiating. The one official that blew his whistle on that play got it wrong but at least he blew his whistle. I think officiating in general is inconsistent at the end of the game and they make such a conscious effort as to not decide the outcome they often fail.

Just my opinion.