Man of the Match vs. Presbyterian

[Jumbo]

Who was the MOTM vs. Presbyterian?

[RainingThrees]

Singler easy.

[mgtr]

Ditto on Singler.

[Madrasdukie]

Kyle is an easy choice and rightly so. But, I'm going with Scheyer for his steadying influence both on offense and defense esp. in the first half.

[Jumbo]

I think Scheyer was the Man of the first half, not only scoring but distributing, defending and settling things down. Kyle actually missd a number of chippies. But I voted for Kyle because he was far more productive in the second half.
Honorable Mention: Lance Thomas.

[RainingThrees]

Nolan also had an excellent game.

[BlueintheFace]

Nolan also had an excellent game.

what? I mean, he shot well, but I certainly wouldn't say he had an excellent game. I think he played about as bad as a point guard can in the first ten minutes or so, but was encouraged by the way he calmed down after that...

[RainingThrees]

sorry not excellent but he had a good game once he calmed down.

[Jumbo]

what? I mean, he shot well, but I certainly wouldn't say he had an excellent game. I think he played about as bad as a point guard can in the first ten minutes or so, but was encouraged by the way he calmed down after that...

I think it's a bit heavy-handed to say he played "about as bad as a point guard can in the first ten minutes or so." It's not like he was throwing the ball all over the place and letting his man blow by him. In fact, he didn't have the ball all that much. As I expected, Scheyer handled a lot of the playmaking duties when they were in together.

I did notice that Paulus was better at advancing the ball on the break with a quick hit up the wing, which I mentioned in my Phase I post. Smith would rather pound the ball into the floor. Of course, K's philosophy seems to be to allow the guy grabbing the rebound (Singler, Scheyer and Henderson especially) to just rip it and run, dribbling up the court and allowing everyone else to rush ahead. It's not my preferred method of running a break, but that's what this team will do, mostly.

[BlueintheFace]

meh... probably jumbo. overstatement shmoverstatement... it wouldn't be an early season game if we didn't all declare our incredible fear that all of the players were hugely disappointing and will continue to be so despite the fact that it was a 30 point route...

Nolan didn't seem to be directing the offense at all, had some ball control (turnover) issues, and did actually let his man blow right by him twice, but it all picked up from there

[mgtr]

It is a sad commentary that Hendo has zero votes. Now, he deserved zero votes, but it is sad that he got so few. Probably a lot of you out there were talking about him jumping to the NBA after this year. Well, he may do that, but he is going to have to amp up his game if that is his goal. We all expected a lot more than we saw.
This is a young man with incredible talent and ability, but, as somebody else posted, he seemed to be coasting tonight. Coach K won't put up with that too long, I am sure.

[billybreen]

Swingler, baby.

[rsvman]

Singler was probably best, but props to Scheyer, McClure, and Thomas.

In the first half, Nolan Smith didn't look very good at all to me. Throughout the night, the offense seemed better when Paulus was playing point. But McClure is a guy who has a real habit of knowing where to be on the court.

I thought Plumlee looked promising at the very beginning, and then he got benched for a long, long time. Not sure why he stayed out so long. Then when he came back, he looked young and mistake prone. But he has a lot of potential. I hope he is not benched for long periods of time very frequently.

[phaedrus]

Plumlee had 2 fouls early in the first half.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

I went for Singler, but I almost voted for Czyz - he got his first two official buckets as a Blue Devil!

Lance had a very positive game on both ends of the court. Paulus was better than Smith tonight. And Pocius took another charge! Henderson would just as soon forget this game, although I'm sure the coaches won't let him. Zoubek got called for a couple of very ticky-tac questionable fouls, but he did hack the other three. Plumlee played like a freshman, and so did Williams (I wonder if he'll have to run some stairs for the 360 dunk near the end of the game?). Scheyer saved us in the first half.

[wisteria]

Almost went for Scheyer, who carried us early in the game when no one else seemed to be awake. But Singler was just too good. And maybe it's just me, I got really nervous when he seemed to be playing long minutes and began to dive/drop onto the floor all over. Man... we need him healthy and fresh for the whole season.

[Jumbo]

It is a sad commentary that Hendo has zero votes. Now, he deserved zero votes, but it is sad that he got so few. Probably a lot of you out there were talking about him jumping to the NBA after this year. Well, he may do that, but he is going to have to amp up his game if that is his goal. We all expected a lot more than we saw.
This is a young man with incredible talent and ability, but, as somebody else posted, he seemed to be coasting tonight. Coach K won't put up with that too long, I am sure.

He had an off night in the first game of the season against Presbyterian. Something tells me this won't define his NBA future, let alone the rest of the season.

[ACCBBallFan]

Duke has a freshmen Miles Plumlee properly sized to play against any competition and a virtual post player Lance Zoubek or Brian Thomas who are mutually exclusive, one who plays well enough against fast small forwards and poorly against bulky guys, and the other who plays well enough against bulky slow guys and poorly against quick smaller post players. So as a team Duke has two guys for either type of opponent.

I tried to factor in all the stats except fouls both raw score and on a per 40 minute basis. I then ranked them in two buckets - played at least 10 minutes and played less than 10 minutes:

Played at least 10 minutes

55 Singler (26) - double double
51 Scheyer (26) - kept Duke in game in first half, nothing in second half
46 Smith (21) - more an SG than a PG but effective at both ends
38 Thomas (18) - played well, also best big tonight by default
34 Henderson (22) - never got into the flow
26 Paulus (22) - 4 steals
17 McClure (15) - best of the rest, his usual steady workmanlike
17 Plumlee (13) - one nice block but played like nervous frosh
13 Williams (17) - can see potential on both ends, but still lost

Played < 10 Min

28 Czyz (5) - crowd favorite in blowouts, very lost out there though
13 Zoubek (7) - fouled out, 3 turnovers, will fare better vs. big slow guys
-1 Pocius (8) - has learned to take a charge (2) which this method does not measure, but 2 turnovers

With such a small sample size, going scoreless hurt both MPs - Plumlee and Pocius who was also hurt with 0 boards.

Looks like GA Southern's best 3 players are 6'8" 228 Pearson, 6' 2" 180 Powers, 6' 7" 220 Perry and 6'4" 200 Allen. So could be another long night for Zoubek but Plumlee should be over his first game jitters and play better.

26 Pearson 6'8" 228
20 Powers 6'2" 180
18 Perry 6'7" 220
16 Allen 6'4" 200
11 Henson 6'2" 175
11 Johnson 6' 0" 180
10 Marshall 6'5" 178
04 Ward 6'6" 210

[Bob Green]

Looks like GA Southern's best 3 players are 6'8" 228 Pearson, 6' 2" 180 Powers, 6' 7" 220 Perry and 6'4" 200 Allen.

I'm no math major but that is four players. :) Seriously, we need to shutdown Pearson and let the game come to us.

[Dr. Rosenrosen]

Scheyer baby! He was rock solid in the first half (when the game was decided) and kept things in order while most of the rest of the team struggled those first 10 or so minutes. THAT is leadership. I loved it!!!

[socaldukie]

I'll take Kyle barely over Scheyer...

[bird]

I'm voting Scheyer EVERY game. Its just plain fun watching him play basketball.