Jumbo
01-10-2009, 06:13 PM
This game was as strange in the stats as it was on the court. Nolan Smith had one assist and seven turnovers, yet led the team in plus/minus. Brian Zoubek played his worst game in ages, yet was +13. Gerald Henderson was the star of the afternoon, yet Duke went on an 8-0 run without him on the floor at one point.
All of those points illustrate the difficulties in interpreting too much from single-game plus/minus numbers. Smith actually played great during Duke's big run, and his plus/minus success has as much to do with Paulus' failings. Zoubek, once again, hardly played with anyone other than the starters, and benefitted from being on the floor for the big start to the second half. And so forth.
The clear trends, though, is the bench -- especially Paulus. They all have to play better. The complaints about depth/minutes are silly and relatively pointless. But it's especially hard to tolerate them when the bench continues to perform poorly. It's also instructive to note that Elliot Williams essentially replaced Paulus in the rotation for a while, and the fact that he didn't get into the VT game doesn't seem to have changed his performance one way or another. So, as I've said, depth is really about how many guys you can play.
Finally, I must note that the late-game FT shooting unit -- Paulus-Smith-Scheyer-Henderson-Singler -- finally gave up its first points of the season. Prior to this game, that unit had outscored opponents 19-0. Anyway, on to the numbers ...
Individuals
Nolan Smith 58-44 (+14)
Brian Zoubek 24-11 (+13)
Kyle Singler 57-45 (+12)
Jon Scheyer 64-58 (+6)
Gerald Henderson 52-46 (+6)
Elliot Williams 6-6 (0)
Dave McClure 29-31 (-2)
Lance Thomas 33-37 (-4)
Greg Paulus 7-12 (-5)
Per 40 Minutes
Nolan Smith +19.3
Brian Zoubek +37.1
Kyle Singler +14.1
Gerald Henderson +7.1
Jon Scheyer +6.3
Elliot Williams 0
Dave McClure -5.3
Lance Thomas -7.0
Greg Paulus -33.3
Lineups
Smith-Scheyer-Henderson-Singler-Zoubek (x3) 19-9 (+10)
Smith-Scheyer-McClure-Singler-Thomas 8-0 (+8)
Smith-Scheyer-Henderson-Singler-Thomas (x6) 16-14 (+2)
Smith-Scheyer-Williams-McClure-Zoubek 2-0 (+2)
Paulus-Henderson-McClure-Singler-Thomas 2-0 (+2)
Scheyer-Williams-Henderson-McClure-Zoubek 3-2 (+1)
Paulus-Smith-Scheyer-Henderson-Singler (x3) 1-0, 1-0, 0-2 = 2-2 (0)
Smith-Scheyer-Henderson-McClure-Singler (x4) 7-8 (-1)
Smith-Scheyer-Williams-McClure-Thomas 1-2 (-1)
Scheyer-Williams-Henderson-Singler-Thomas (x2) 0-2, 0-0 = 0-2 (-2)
Smith-Scheyer-Henderson-McClure-Thomas (x2) 3-9 (-6)
Paulus-Scheyer-McClure-Singler-Thomas (x2) 3-10 (-7)
All of those points illustrate the difficulties in interpreting too much from single-game plus/minus numbers. Smith actually played great during Duke's big run, and his plus/minus success has as much to do with Paulus' failings. Zoubek, once again, hardly played with anyone other than the starters, and benefitted from being on the floor for the big start to the second half. And so forth.
The clear trends, though, is the bench -- especially Paulus. They all have to play better. The complaints about depth/minutes are silly and relatively pointless. But it's especially hard to tolerate them when the bench continues to perform poorly. It's also instructive to note that Elliot Williams essentially replaced Paulus in the rotation for a while, and the fact that he didn't get into the VT game doesn't seem to have changed his performance one way or another. So, as I've said, depth is really about how many guys you can play.
Finally, I must note that the late-game FT shooting unit -- Paulus-Smith-Scheyer-Henderson-Singler -- finally gave up its first points of the season. Prior to this game, that unit had outscored opponents 19-0. Anyway, on to the numbers ...
Individuals
Nolan Smith 58-44 (+14)
Brian Zoubek 24-11 (+13)
Kyle Singler 57-45 (+12)
Jon Scheyer 64-58 (+6)
Gerald Henderson 52-46 (+6)
Elliot Williams 6-6 (0)
Dave McClure 29-31 (-2)
Lance Thomas 33-37 (-4)
Greg Paulus 7-12 (-5)
Per 40 Minutes
Nolan Smith +19.3
Brian Zoubek +37.1
Kyle Singler +14.1
Gerald Henderson +7.1
Jon Scheyer +6.3
Elliot Williams 0
Dave McClure -5.3
Lance Thomas -7.0
Greg Paulus -33.3
Lineups
Smith-Scheyer-Henderson-Singler-Zoubek (x3) 19-9 (+10)
Smith-Scheyer-McClure-Singler-Thomas 8-0 (+8)
Smith-Scheyer-Henderson-Singler-Thomas (x6) 16-14 (+2)
Smith-Scheyer-Williams-McClure-Zoubek 2-0 (+2)
Paulus-Henderson-McClure-Singler-Thomas 2-0 (+2)
Scheyer-Williams-Henderson-McClure-Zoubek 3-2 (+1)
Paulus-Smith-Scheyer-Henderson-Singler (x3) 1-0, 1-0, 0-2 = 2-2 (0)
Smith-Scheyer-Henderson-McClure-Singler (x4) 7-8 (-1)
Smith-Scheyer-Williams-McClure-Thomas 1-2 (-1)
Scheyer-Williams-Henderson-Singler-Thomas (x2) 0-2, 0-0 = 0-2 (-2)
Smith-Scheyer-Henderson-McClure-Thomas (x2) 3-9 (-6)
Paulus-Scheyer-McClure-Singler-Thomas (x2) 3-10 (-7)