Man of the Match vs. Montana

[Jumbo]

Who was the Man of the Match vs. Montana?

[mehmattski]

It was quite the team effort today, with the minutes spread out. Nolan Smith stood out for me though, spreading his points between the three point line (2 for 3) and drives into the paint, including some sweet floaters. He also had a great look to Plumlee down low in the second half, though it was his only assist.

Honorable mention goes to the team defense, which was smothering. Between Williams' pesky play on their point guard to Scheyer and Singler's steals, it was a vintage Duke Day on D.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Nolan, for his overall game and specifically for his offensive 12 point explosion over 3 or 4 minutes late in the first half.

[wisteria]

Gotta go with "Nolan's rolling". After his explosion in the first half, the game was done.

[JDev]

Nolan was the man today. He is becoming a hard guy to guard. That three hae hit at the end of the shot clock was sick. I would love to see more assists from him, in traditional point guard fashion. i know with Duke's offense and players it is not a necessity, but I would still love to see that number go up.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Nice all around game from GH from the get go, but I can see Nolan will be earning my vote very soon. All in all, another complete performance from the whole team.

[Edouble]

I guess I'll go with G: 14 pts and 7 rebounds in 23 minutes.

[Bob Green]

I had to go with Henderson. Bob Harris was singing his praises during the radio broadcast. Henderson grabbed rebounds, kept balls alive, scored, defended, pretty much did everything. Nolan Smith earns a big honorable mention.

[Madrasdukie]

Gerald for me.

[wisteria]

Who voted for Czyz? :D He had some good hustle and crashed the board.

[mgtr]

I guess it must be Smith's turn. He was the man in the first half. Scheyer should be second for his defense.

[ACCBBallFan]

I went with G also.

Rating Name
57 Henderson, G
52 Singler, K
50 Scheyer, J
48 Smith, N
40 Zoubek, B
38 Duke Totals
30 Willaims, E
29 Plumlee, M
26 Thomas, L
17 Pocius, M
11 Czyz, O
10 McClure, D
01 Johnson, S

for the year so far, G is in a virtual tie with Nolan behind Kyle and Jon, and Elliott has started to climb.

I look for Miles Plumlee to be the next one to catch on as coach K patiently brings him along. Miles just need to cut down on his turnovers and fouls and play less nervously and he will be fine.

Rating NAME
279 Kyle Singler
248 Jon Scheyer
209 Nolan Smith
206 Gerald Henderson
176 Team Totals
148 Lance Thomas
134 Greg Paulus
114 Brian Zoubek
101 David McClure
100 Elliot Williams
059 Martynas Pocius
044 Miles Plumlee
037 Olek Czyz
005 Steve Johnson

[Cell-R]

Close contest between Smith and Henderson for me, but Smith wins out.

I really like the confidence that Smith showed on the ball today. Hopefully now that he had a great shooting day, he will gain some confidence that will carry over to future games. Just think how good he will be in a year or two. Heck, even by March! :)

[juise]

I went with Nolan as well, but there was no clear cut favorite. I'm surprised nobody is mentioning Kyle. It seemed like he was all over the place in the first half. I guess it speaks to the high level of play we've some to expect from him.

[CameronCrazy'11]

Zoubek's 8 points and 7 rebounds in 18 minutes merit a special mention as well. I don't want to jinx him, but it seems like he's finally found his step.

[RainingThrees]

Nolans fading three was the deciding factor for me. Olek did well in his short minutes getting 4 rebounds.

[M B Walker]

I'm surprised there weren't more votes for Scheyer. In addition to scoring in double digits on 4 for 6 shooting, he held the guy he was guarding to zero points. Especially impressive given that the guy was Montana's leading scorer (16+ points/game, shooting 65% -- yes, 65%).

All in all, a pretty good game.

[pamtar]

Going with Dr. Tina's sentiment, Nolan's performance tonight was her excuse to her boss as to why GP isn't starting.

[ncexnyc]

Nolan got my vote. His offensive outburst in the 1st half sealed the deal and had the crowd going crazy.

[devildeac]

Yea, I know it's MOTM but I really liked that Briance Zoumas young man we had this afternoon. 11 points and 15 boards with a steal, 2 blocks and only 1 TO in 34 minutes. Not only that, he played the top of our press AND changed the direction of several shots in the paint.

[Acymetric]

In addition to his 14 points, G pulled in 7 boards. Had to go with him, though Nolan had a great offensive burst early on. Thought everyone played well overall.

[bigj4194]

I eventually went with G here. It was a tough call for me. Nolan was very close to getting my vote, but G's all around play took it for me. Nolan is developing wonderfully (as is E-Mail) but I do not think that this should be unexpected. Nolan will be a fantastic player. Gerald for someone who hasn't played that brilliantly, with the exception of the MSG games, played fantastically tonight

[SilkyJ]

People often say "good game by a lot of people" or "a lot of people deserve MOTM this game" and so I don't like saying that, but I was very impressed by how we just seemed to be clicking on all cylinders and getting contributions from everyone including Marty, Miles, and Elliot.

I voted for nolan, but Zoubek has to be the most impressive player to me so far. He is finally providing steady play inside. Nothing fancy, nothing forced, just getting boards, getting good position for easy buckets, and holding his ground inside and thereby blocking or altering shots.

Unfortunately, I feel like we really don't know much about our team in terms of where we stand b/c we have only faced solid competition, but no top 25 teams or teams of that caliber. We'll learn a little more next week I guess!

[Kfanarmy]

Odd how hard Duke works on Defense that so few people think about it when POG is under consideration. I know you have to score to win, but one person blanking the other team's best scorer sure doesn't hurt.

[mgtr]

Odd how hard Duke works on Defense that so few people think about it when POG is under consideration. I know you have to score to win, but one person blanking the other team's best scorer sure doesn't hurt.

I agree - I have been harping on Scheyer for some time. Not flashy, but smart and solid, and a wonderful defender. I picked him as second to Nolan as MOTM. Now, that sort of shorts Singler and G, but we expect great games from them (at least I do).