Agreed. Although I would note that this is a cultural trend generally, not just on this board. Our level of discourse on most matters has degraded significantly over recent times, and tolerance for dissenting opinions has frayed. Everyone can pick their own reason for it; I say it is the Balkinization of news and opinions that inhibit civil cross-view debate.
Anyone who disagrees with me, of course, is a wanker.
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
Sounds like a more talented team that follows the game plan to build up a lead and has trouble adjusting to the other team's reaction during the flow of the game.
We have great players, but everyone in the ACC has top level D1 players and coaches who will make adjustments. It becomes frustrating to watch at times, but this is who we are. We are learning to make adjustments on the fly. I just hope we get to where we need to be by the end of the season.
To me the pattern looked similar but there were significant differences in our personnel. We got the lead with a superior offense and a stingy defense. Grayson led the show and we were missing MBIII. Gary was quiet at first but came on stronly as the half wore on.
I thought we slowed appreciably when Trevon came in during the first half. In the second half we got into the forced passes to the post and sort of a haphazard offense with a lot less ball movement and drives into the crowded basket area all too often. Bad offense led to easy scores by GT. I didn't feel we ever righted the ship but with a big lead, we were able to use FT shooting to keep a safe lead.
My takeaway is that Grayson and Trevon together, haven't learned how to run the team effectively. Both are talented but together they don't enhance the other's game. I would bet the coaches also see that and are trying to get the guys to work better together. We need Trevon to win, so I feel it is critical to get them to optimize their playing relationship.
I agree on Grayson and Trevon playing together. The duo worked well together in the Michigan State game, with Grayson giving Duval credit for his good game. Marvin being out for most of the game kept the lane cleared out for both to drive and kick. Michigan State has a good defense, so, it didn't happen against the Lexington YMCA team. You are also correct about forcing passes into the post. We have turned the ball over too many times trying to throw the ball into a well covered big guy. GoDuke!
Yah, that was my point. Despite the fact that both Lance and Z played well, really all season, on this board they were skewered on a regular basis.
Tech's 15-2 run was fueled by two missed Duke layups, a missed five-footer, two missed jumpers by Gary, and two turnovers by our one of our big men attempting to pass to the other. Hard to pin any of those mishaps on Grayson and Trevon not being able to run the team effectively.
Making waves?????? Sheesh. I was trying to calm the waves...I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.ing was someone else's word, not mine, my contention was that there wasn't much of that happening. And you say I was making waves???
7.4 fouls per 40 is a really bad number...like among the worst in the country bad. And given he cleaned that up in the second half of the season, it must have been even worse for the first half. I can't find game stats quickly, so I didn't do the calculation.
Part of playing well is staying on the floor, and Z didn't do that until the last 15 or so games of his career. No argument that his minutes on the floor were productive, though...there just weren't enough of them.
1200. DDMF.
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
There have been a lot of comments like this recently referencing negative fan reactions to various past years, and here is the problem I see with it.
In a given year, some posters will criticize player x, some will criticize player y, some will criticize player z, some will criticize 2 of the 3, some all 3, and some the whole team.
The problem with these "what people were saying then" posts is that in hindsight all of these criticisms get grouped together so it seems like the criticism of any one given player is magnified more than it actually was (any discussion criticizing any one player is now recalled as part of the general criticism of all those players). I think comparing someone criticizing (or, to use less inflammatory language, pointing out real flaws in) a player now with that amalgamation of player criticism from years gone by lacks context, accuracy, and usefulness. A possible exception if it was similar criticism by the same poster, but even then I'm not sure I see it.
Invoking criticism of Jon Scheyer by one person (or many people) to respond to a completely separate person's criticism of Trevon Duval just doesn't hold water to me and I'm not sure why others feel the need to do it constantly in these discussions.