MBB: Duke 86, Iowa St. 65 Post-Game Thread

[JBDuke]

Please put your post game thoughts here...

[roywhite]

Great game for Jon Scheyer. What a nice homecoming.

Really nice job by Lance, in particular, on defense.

Good to see Mason getting more minutes, looking more comfortable, and beginning to produce.

[FireOgilvie]

Good win. Scheyer was fantastic. Not much from the bench tonight (on offense).

[gwwilburn]

Because everything else will be said about the performances of Scheyer, Singler, Smith, and especially Scheyer again, I am just going to applaud our big men, especially Lance, for the job they did defensively on Brackens. Held 'em to 12, some of that in garbage time! First Booker, now Brackens! Nice job, guys,

[Kfanarmy]

...is going to be incredible with another season under his belt...you can just see his potential.

[superdave]

Solid D tonight, especially on Brackins. We threw a handful of different defensive schemes at them which was nice to see.

Our big guys hung tough inside even though we didnt hit too many of those looks. But I thought the interior presence did help open things up for Nolan and Jon to drive the hole.

Would like to see Andre get back on track soon! Mason seems to be getting his legs a bit.

Congrats to Jon in front of the hometown folks.

[Welcome2DaSlopes]

Good win. Scheyer was fantastic. Not much from the bench tonight.

You can't do much when not playing.

[Newton_14]

Good win. Scheyer was fantastic. Not much from the bench tonight.

I thought Mason played well coming off the bench. Another step forward in his progression.

[Jumbo]

A few quick things:
-What can you say about Jon at this point? Great to see him attack the basket. Assists were lower through no fault of his own (often made the pass that led to the pass). Shot the ball beautifully. Committed two turnovers that were also hardly his fault -- caught a pass out of bounds that was poorly thrown and had to force in an inbound pass to avoid a 5-second call. (Will be interesting to see if he actually only had 2 TOs.) What a great homecoming this must have been for him and his family.

-Big props to Lance Thomas, on both ends of the court.

-Duke did a lot of the stuff we've talked about -- the bigs got touches, they just didn't finish. (And hey, Zoubs didn't bring the ball down low -- he just got swatted up high.) We posted Kyle. Even when the bigs didn't shoot, their touches led to easier buckets for the perimeter guys.

-Finally, I don't want to hear anything about Dawkins and Kelly right now. Kelly is our fifth big. He's not a wing. Period. And as for Dawkins, we will need him and K knows it. He's been through quite an ordeal and, quite frankly, none of us can understand what's going on. Clearly, he needs to work on his defense, and I have full faith that K is doing everything he can to prepare Dawkins to be a major contributor by the end of the season. In the meantime, these heavy minutes for the perimeter players will have no effect on them late in the year, provided they are getting sufficent rest in practice. I promise.

Good win. On to Georgia Tech!

[Jumbo]

...is going to be incredible with another season under his belt...you can just see his potential.

I still think he can be a big factor this season. Bilas is right -- he needs to learn to play through contact. And man, he sure misses a lot of dunks!

[wilko]

Very nice to Mason be assertive.
He fought and worked hard. Made some sillyplays at times.. but kept on trucking. Portends good things.

Does Steve Nash run a camp? If he does I'd bet Jon was there.
Mucho credit to Lance for knocking down some jumpers and playing great D.

[Dukeface88]

Because everything else will be said about the performances of Scheyer, Singler, Smith, and especially Scheyer again, I am just going to applaud our big men, especially Lance, for the job they did defensively on Brackens. Held 'em to 12, some of that in garbage time! First Booker, now Brackens! Nice job, guys,

Indeed. Duke does not fear big men inside. Also nice to see him LT with 9 points; he's getting to be a more credible offensive threat.

[Duvall]

Because everything else will be said about the performances of Scheyer, Singler, Smith, and especially Scheyer again, I am just going to applaud our big men, especially Lance, for the job they did defensively on Brackens. Held 'em to 12, some of that in garbage time! First Booker, now Brackens! Nice job, guys,

12 points on 10 shots, counting the garbage time buckets. Not bad at all.

[roywhite]

Does Steve Nash run a camp? If he does I'd bet Jon was there.Mucho credit to Lance for knocking down some jumpers and playing great D.

You know...that's not a bad observation/comparison. Jon seems like he is a couple moves ahead of the other players on the floor in terms of anticipation and positioning. Makes great moves "on the floor" as Jay Bilas says. Nash-like, indeed.

[Kfanarmy]

...
Mucho credit to Lance for knocking down some jumpers and playing great D. I loved that first shot he took, they left him wide open daring him to shoot and he drained it...gotta love that play, it really told ISU that they would have to guard everyone.

[jv001]

I still think he can be a big factor this season. Bilas is right -- he needs to learn to play through contact. And man, he sure misses a lot of dunks!

Agree in that he does miss a lot of dunks. I wonder if it would be better for him to make the catch with two hands and slam it through the basket. Looks like he's trying to make a high light film. Go Duke!

[Lord Ash]

You know...that's not a bad observation/comparison. Jon seems like he is a couple moves ahead of the other players on the floor in terms of anticipation and positioning. Makes great moves "on the floor" as Jay Bilas says. Nash-like, indeed.

He is excellent at moving one step at a time, and adjusting with each step as the defender does... it allows him to keep defenders on his hip or side as he goes.

Did anyone else notice that Iowa State player scream at his teammate after that missed Jon Scheyer layup in the second... and then the Iowa State coach sort of guided them to their seats on the bench, sat and talked with them, and then had them do a little fist bump of "we make up?" You don't really see that at Duke...

[FireOgilvie]

The bench was 2-15 with 7 points (all Mason). Mason was 2-9. It's not that the bench didn't contribute in other ways, but I would really like to see more scoring outside of the Big 3.

The Big 3 outscored ISU 66-65.

[Mcluhan]

You know...that's not a bad observation/comparison. Jon seems like he is a couple moves ahead of the other players on the floor in terms of anticipation and positioning. Makes great moves "on the floor" as Jay Bilas says. Nash-like, indeed.

Close-- Scheyer went to Deron Williams' camp last June, and imho is much more like Deron than Nash.

[roywhite]

Andre Dawkins is on total over-load now, just fried. Think of the huge adjustment that any freshman has to this level of basketball; that alone can be overwhelming. Throw in the accelerated high school graduation, the lack of the summer acclimation time in Durham, and then the tragic death of his sister. So he's in a slump now, but he'll pull out of it.

Hang in there, Andre; we've already seen some of the things you can do, and I know you'll continue to develop. Lean on your coaches and teammates, and work hard.

[airowe]

Does Steve Nash run a camp? If he does I'd bet Jon was there.


You know...that's not a bad observation/comparison. Jon seems like he is a couple moves ahead of the other players on the floor in terms of anticipation and positioning. Makes great moves "on the floor" as Jay Bilas says. Nash-like, indeed.

I know Jon went to a camp this summer (Deron Williams maybe?) He certainly can see two moves ahead. It really seems like the game has slowed down for him a lot this year. It's a beautiful thing to watch Jon play basketball. Very few wasted movements, always with his head up but still in attack mode, not afraid to initiate contact. He's like a ninja out there...

[devildownunder]

A few quick things:
In the meantime, these heavy minutes for the perimeter players will have no effect on them late in the year, provided they are getting sufficent rest in practice. I promise.

Good win. On to Georgia Tech!

*chuckles* I gotta hand it to ya, you do keep at it.

[airowe]

Andre Dawkins is on total over-load now, just fried. Think of the huge adjustment that any freshman has to this level of basketball; that alone can be overwhelming. Throw in the accelerated high school graduation, the lack of the summer acclimation time in Durham, and then the tragic death of his sister. So he's in a slump now, but he'll pull out of it.

Hang in there, Andre; we've already seen some of the things you can do, and I know you'll continue to develop. Lean on your coaches and teammates, and work hard.

Not to mention he's probably been taking his exams that he missed the last week or so...

[superdave]

Andre Dawkins is on total over-load now, just fried. Think of the huge adjustment that any freshman has to this level of basketball; that alone can be overwhelming. Throw in the accelerated high school graduation, the lack of the summer acclimation time in Durham, and then the tragic death of his sister. So he's in a slump now, but he'll pull out of it.

Hang in there, Andre; we've already seen some of the things you can do, and I know you'll continue to develop. Lean on your coaches and teammates, and work hard.

I would love to see Andre get some open looks and go 4-5 from 3-land soon. That would help him on many levels. Stay tough, Andre!

[roywhite]

Close-- Scheyer went to Deron Williams' camp last June, and imho is much more like Deron than Nash.

Well, quibbling about which star NBA guard Jon resembles these days is certainly a good sign...
but Deron Williams is way stronger and physically more explosive (and clever at the same time).

Jon the Duke star is fine for now.

[Newton_14]

Because everything else will be said about the performances of Scheyer, Singler, Smith, and especially Scheyer again, I am just going to applaud our big men, especially Lance, for the job they did defensively on Brackens. Held 'em to 12, some of that in garbage time! First Booker, now Brackens! Nice job, guys,

Totally agree with that. Our big fellas, especially Lance played great D tonight. I noticed too that Miles seemed to be focusing on position defense tonight verses trying to block every shot. He may have even over rotated to not looking to block shots enough but several times he played solid position defense and prevented scores. Nice to see. He too is getting better and better as the season moves along.

This Duke team is still very much a work in progress and I feel they can get quite a bit better. LT and Mason provided some scoring help tonight which was good to see. If they can keep that up and we can look to get Miles some touches to get him scoring some as well we will really be hard to defend.

I am not too worried about Andre right now. He did get minutes in both halves but its obvious to me he is still struggling with the tragedy he just went through. He will bounce back in time.

The S Boys had another great game and Scheyer was indeed on fire! A very nice win against a pretty good team.

My only complaints were the refs (that one guy seemed to call everything on us) and the ridiculous decision by ESPN to force us to watch the Kansas game. That was quite stupid. Not only did they change to the Kansas game on ESPN2 but also on ESPN News and one of the Alternate channels, but did not interrupt the game on ESPNU??? Just a horrible brain dead decision in the age of technology we live in. They had multiple options that would have allowed our channel to stay on the Duke/ISU game. Why they chose the option they did is beyond me..

Go Duke!!

[wisteria]

My favorite moments today, beside the Scheyer show of course, were the first field goal by Lance and the wide-open three by Mason. Those were almost comical moments. Both were just left completely open, hesitated for a split of a second, and drained it. LOL.

Hope Andre can work his way back to the rotation. As awesome as our "S-kickers" are, (I vote this nickname~~~), we need more production out of the other players.

[OldSchool]

Scott van Pelt on Sportscenter just now saying Jon is playing at an "All-American" level

[moonpie23]

Hang in there, Andre; we've already seen some of the things you can do, and I know you'll continue to develop. Lean on your coaches and teammates, and work hard.

makes me just wanna throw my arm around him and give him some noogies and tell him "come on man, we need you back!"


or something...:)

[diveonthefloor]

Not to mention he's probably been taking his exams that he missed the last week or so...

Very intelligent point....

I am not sure when/if Andre has taken exams but I would assume he has to complete them before next week when semester starts. Unfortunately for Andre, he won't have the luxury of a reduced basketball practice schedule during his exams like he would've had if it hadn't been for the tragedy happening when it did.

[BlueintheFace]

Duke's offense is consistently reliable, but rarely special.

Duke's offense is inconsistently spectacular, but is very good more often than not.

That is where our team is right now and that is not a bad place to be.

(echoooooo)

Jon Scheyer is simply amazing, Mason is getting better and better. I just have no real complaints except that I would like Singler to break out of his slump, but how crazy is it that we are beating good teams by 20 with him playing poorly.

[roywhite]

Scott van Pelt on Sportscenter just now saying Jon is playing at an "All-American" level

...and a Steve Nash reference, also.

You know, I watched the game and didn't realize what great defense Jon was playing in addition to his great offense. The guy he was guarding (Staiger) was one of their top 3-point shooters, but he ended up 0-1 from the floor. Couldn't even get a decent shot.

Jon is getting it done on the defensive end as well.

[airowe]

This team still has soooo much room for improvement and we are absolutely killing teams. I'm very excited for where we can be in the Spring.

[dukemsu]

Great to see so many Duke fans in attendance. Terrific ovation for Jon when he left the game. A few thoughts from seeing the team in person for the first time this year:

1. It's impossible to overstate just how much control Scheyer has over the entire operation on offense. I can't find a comparison to a former Duke player (he's different from Hurley, or Tommy, or Wojo, or Duhon), but he appears so confident and so in control of everything that it's remarkable.

2. Lance was everywhere.

3. Very good on-ball defense.

4. Singler seems to be a bit lost offensively, but the effort was outstanding.

5. K was coaching the hell out of the team. Right up to the end.

A great night, and the team was very impressive in person. Hope to get a couple more chances to see them again this season.

dukemsu

[-bdbd]

This was a win for the Defense. Scheyer did well, Nolan applied great pressure at the Point, and especially, once again, Lance Thomas shutting down probably the best player who could have kept ISU in the the game (and a future lottery pick) -- Brackens.

The usually consistent, solid Offense. This team is playing so well right now. Isn't that about the time we expect a surprise loss??? Let's hope these guys can keep it going, especially with some tough road games coming up.

:D

[OldSchool]

I'm becoming increasingly confident about our post play. Lance is playing lock-down defense and even showing us some more stuff on the offensive side. Z is playing a little bit smarter. Miles is getting a better feel for the game and cutting down on the silly fouls. Mason just needs to find that right chemistry connection with his teammates, as in the timing on the lob dunks and not cutting to the basket when the passer thinks he is staying on the perimeter, and he is going to start making a big contribution. And Singler, supposedly a perimeter player this year, seems to find himself under the basket a lot relentlessly taking it to the rim or pulling down rebounds.

What a difference from prior years.

[roywhite]

http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=22724&SPID=1845&DB_OEM_ID=4200&ATCLID=204865794

Some notes from the official boxscore:

Lance played 30 minutes! He scored 9 points on 4-5 shooting and played great defense.

Kyle is still not shooting a good percentage.

Nolan had 5 turnovers, but he is shooting and scoring really well---7-10 FG 2-2 3-PtFG 4-5 FT

The team shot 19-21 from the line.

[DevilHorns]

Wow what a great game for a homecoming! Great game by Jon. As many others have said though, even more impressive defense.

Man I wish Mason could've hit that one-hand alley-oop, surely would've been a top-10 sportscenter highlight.

[Dukeface88]

Man I wish Mason could've hit that one-hand alley-oop, surely would've been a top-10 sportscenter highlight.

I always get the feeling that he's trying too hard for those highlight reels though. I'd prefer it if he went for the smarter, if less spectacular, play. Hopefully that will come with experience and the understanding that the more he can become a consistent contributor, the more chances he'll get for the crazy dunks.

[dball]

Nolan was great tonight as well. It seemed to me he hit a lot of shots to stop IA runs and looked really comfortable shooting the three or driving toward the hoop. Just seemed as if he hit a lot of timely shots.

[DevilHorns]

I always get the feeling that he's trying too hard for those highlight reels though. I'd prefer it if he went for the smarter, if less spectacular, play. Hopefully that will come with experience and the understanding that the more he can become a consistent contributor, the more chances he'll get for the crazy dunks.

To be fair, nobody on our team could've stretched that far to make even an attempt at that one-hand alley-oop outside of Mason. You can't blame him for where the ball is thrown. I'm sure he would've taken the safe two hand slamma jamma if he could've reached it with both paws.

[Stray Gator]

...

1. It's impossible to overstate just how much control Scheyer has over the entire operation on offense. I can't find a comparison to a former Duke player (he's different from Hurley, or Tommy, or Wojo, or Duhon), but he appears so confident and so in control of everything that it's remarkable. ...

dukemsu

While Jon is a unique talent, the best comparison among past Duke players--I can't claim credit for it, but I like it--is Jim Spanarkel.

[Dukeface88]

To be fair, nobody on our team could've stretched that far to make even an attempt at that one-hand alley-oop outside of Mason. You can't blame him for where the ball is thrown. I'm sure he would've taken the safe two hand slamma jamma if he could've reached it with both paws.

It's entirely possible my perception is caused by him nearly making plays that would be complete busts otherwise, or that I'm comparing his judgement to that of the juniors and seniors, which is a pretty high bar to set.

Of course, I'm also looking foreward to when he makes those plays for our "alarmingly unathletic" team :D

[Kedsy]

Random thoughts:

-- People who say Kyle is playing poorly can't possibly be watching. His shooting percentage is below par, but his stat line tonight was 15 pts, 8 rebs, 4 assts, a block and 2 steals. That's pretty darn good.

-- Nolan is at least as effective on the offensive end as G was last year. Maybe moreso, considering the ball doesn't stop at Nolan nearly as much as it did with G. They don't guard the same players, but I also think Nolan's defense is probably better than G's.

-- I have been pooh-poohing those who've been complaining about Andre not getting time, and I assume he'll right the ship in the near future and start getting minutes again. But for the past couple games it hasn't looked like he's really in the rotation.

-- I love Mason's hops and athleticism and his potential, but he got beat a bunch of times on defense today. To me, despite the decent offensive performance, he looked like a freshman in tonight's game.

-- First Booker and then Brackins; it appears those who were worried that Duke wouldn't be able handle quality big men should feel appeased by now. And if Lance was the primary defender on both of them, he should be made King of something.

-- I really like the fact that Duke is winning and winning big against pretty good teams while looking like they could play so much better than they are. There's so much room for improvement, yet they've been handling everybody handily (except Wisconsin, of course).

[Duvall]

While Jon is a unique talent, the best comparison among past Duke players--I can't claim credit for it, but I like it--is Jim Spanarkel.

Good call.

http://image.cdnl3.xosnetwork.com/pics22/400/FW/FWOWSOXKRBGCPFH.20090217204442.jpg

[airowe]

Good call.

http://image.cdnl3.xosnetwork.com/pics22/400/FW/FWOWSOXKRBGCPFH.20090217204442.jpg

Wow. He's even got the face...

[BlueintheFace]

Random thoughts:

-- People who say Kyle is playing poorly can't possibly be watching. His shooting percentage is below par, but his stat line tonight was 15 pts, 8 rebs, 4 assts, a block and 2 steals. That's pretty darn good.

(1) I think it is more like- poorly compared to what he brought last year and what was expected this year

(2) It's really about his shot selection and his ability to hit open threes that have people discouraged. You have to admit, he is slumping offensively. I personally believe he is an ideal four and is not being utilized correctly as a wing with his skill set, but that is another issue that has been discussed in some depth (as a 4, he can take big guys off the dribble from the perimeter and should be making moves out there to take advantage, but as a three we should invert the offense and look to post him as much as possible against the smaller wings).

[Mcluhan]

http://image.cdnl3.xosnetwork.com/pics22/400/FW/FWOWSOXKRBGCPFH.20090217204442.jpg

Nice defense, Deac.

[Greg_Newton]

Steve Nash is a great comparison for Scheyer in terms of court sense and how he moves with the ball in relation to the defense. I love how good he's getting at the double-back-to-intercept-the-inbounds-pass after he scores move - he was absolutely correct when he did that tonight and was yelling that the inbounder stepped on the line, it shoulda been a TO.

I think this was a big game for Mason, even if it wasn't a coming out party per se. He finally got his huge dunk, he hit some shots, made some solid plays, and generally looked like he felt part of the flow a little more. Kedsy is right that he got beat several times on D though - he gave up several layups that I thought he was going to block.

I was quite pleased with a lot of things tonight. Jon, Nolan and Lance played superbly, K left the Plumlees in for probably longer than they deserved given the number of mistakes they were making, we continued to try and look to the post (we're slowly getting better at looking there earlier in the set), posted up Kyle, etc... it seems like K and this board are seeing a lot of the same things game-to-game.

It's really up to the big guys now to step up their game on O, because they're getting opportunities now. The tools are there... they just need to step up and start making plays. Z has quite a nice jump hook that I wish we'd see more. Mason and Miles need to a) take notes on how Scheyer reacts to defenders, and b) learn to aggressively lead with the ball and their elbows, rather than just jumping into the defender and double-clutching around the hoop.

One last thing on the Plums - they really, really, need to stop watching the ball so obsessively when playing on-ball defense. If you watch them, they don't really react to the defender's movements most of the time, they just zone in on the ball like "I want it!" This is what lends them to so many reaching fouls and body fouls - they're too close and leaning too far forward. Just get low, fellas, move with your man, and be ready to spring up! Move quick, and move smart.

I'm quite happy with how they're coming along though, all things considered. I really like watching this team.

[snowdenscold]

I personally believe he is an ideal four and is not being utilized correctly as a wing with his skill set, but that is another issue that has been discussed in some depth (as a 4, he can take big guys off the dribble from the perimeter and should be making moves out there to take advantage, but as a three we should invert the offense and look to post him as much as possible against the smaller wings).

Am I making stuff up, or weren't people last year saying that his natural position was a 3 and that he was out of place at the 4, but we were making do w/ what we had...

[Duvall]

Am I making stuff up, or weren't people last year saying that his natural position was a 3 and that he was out of place at the 4, but we were making do w/ what we had...

People were saying that. They were wrong.

[illinoisdukie]

Was at the game and couldn't believe how many Duke fans there were. Loved it when ISU fans started chanting airball at Kyle. They must not of known where the scoreboard was to read it.

[Hermy-own]

Good Game. For those who have been calling for Kyle to get the ball in the post, he got it tonight. I think it's great that we are taking advantage of his natural size and ability around the basket. Whether Kyle is a natural 3 or 4 is fairly irrelevant - the lineup we have been playing is the lineup that works best for our team.

I was very impressed by Mason tonight - he made some good offensive moves, and also made some good solid defensive plays. I know there were a few breakdowns in the Duke defense at points (big men helping with drivers but no one rotating down onto the open ISU big man) but I think he is learning and improving. By the end of the season he will be miles ahead of where he is now.

Lastly, this game was statistically more dominated by the big 3 than our Clemson game, but the eye test tells you that it wasn't. The other players' points were more than easy putbacks and layups given to them by the big 3. Mason initiated plays often and Lance took the initiative and hit a couple nice jumpers. So this game shows more potential for an offense where opponents must respect all of our players, not just 3. Great game, especially on the offense.

[RelativeWays]

Another game where Duke outlasts the opponent depsite a solid effort from ISU in the first half. As cliche as it is, these wins are building character and confidence. I like how the Plumlees and Kelly are getting in the mix, even if they are scoring a lot yet. Right now, I'm only concerned that Dawk is in a slump and seems to have some confidence issues at the moment. He's just a frosh thats been through a lot this season, this is part of the learning process for him.

[Saratoga2]

ISU wasn't a patsy, however, our team play made them look ordinary. What more can be said about Scheyer. Great leadership on offense, scoring from the perimeter and driving. Perfect from the line. Excellent distribution, very smart solid defense. Terrific game for Scheyer.

Smith is cute scoring the ball and played excellent defense. The only concern were his turnovers, which really were unforced in most cases and were his fault.

Mason looked more the player out there tonight and could well become a really important offensive presence as the season moves on and Miles played well.

Thomas has been criticized in the past but now his play should be lauded. Excellent defense and clearly he can chip in on the offensive side.

Zoubek did what he is good at but another game without points. He didn't make the old mistake of bringing the ball down but he also does not have really effective post moves. He is still valuable out there, but does not provide offense against the bigger teams.

I thought Singler worked his butt off out there. The play that typified his high level of effort was under the basket when he was blocked 3 times but kept working and getting the ball back. The final block resulted in him going to the foul line. Good effort by him.

[oldnavy]

Really nice game. I loved it when LT didn't even hesitate on taking those two 14 footers. Also, Mason was dared to shoot a three and he knocked one down. I love the fact that at least they are shooting them, and it is a huge bonus that they made them!

Did anyone else get frustrated with the announcers last night. They went on and on about Brackins and his draft potential, meanwhile Scheyer is having an AA worthy game in his home town, and he barely got a mention... maybe I am just sensitive, but that got me to yelling at the TV.

Also, another bogus call on Zoubek. He took another charge but got called for the blocking foul. I think he just needs to stay upright with his hands up and try to block the shot, especially if he is going to get called for the foul no matter what. Kid cant catch a break IMO.

LT is becoming a true defensive stopper! WOW! he is playing great ball right now on the defensive end. Seems to be building his confidence and carrying over to the offensive end.

Mason is starting to come around. Kid is going to be nasty come tourney time.

Great game, now we have to go beat GT in HOTLANTA. Tough road game, but this team can do it! Go Devils!

[CrazyCat]

Was at the game and couldn't believe how many Duke fans there were. Loved it when ISU fans started chanting airball at Kyle. They must not of known where the scoreboard was to read it.

I thought the same thing. It was awesome to see so many Duke fans at the UC. Great game and ya, I thought it was funny that ISU was chanting some of the Cameron Crazy chants at us. What idiots

[Indoor66]

Very intelligent point....

I am not sure when/if Andre has taken exams but I would assume he has to complete them before next week when semester starts. Unfortunately for Andre, he won't have the luxury of a reduced basketball practice schedule during his exams like he would've had if it hadn't been for the tragedy happening when it did.

I would imagine that K and the staff have adjusted the requirements/time involvement for Andre during his exam period. Andre has suffered an enormous dose of growing up in the past few months. In August he was a HS player; in January he is taking freshman college exams after attending the funeral for his sister - and throw in a Christmas just after the death. Quite a load for an eighteen year old young man. Maybe we should give him and those around him (coach and team) a break on th criticism about things we lack knowledge about.

[moonpie23]

I loved the fact that the 3 mason made was his SECOND attempt. he had an open shot, took it and missed. then they dared him to try it again and he knocked it down. had to do wonders for his confidence.

[CDu]

Am I making stuff up, or weren't people last year saying that his natural position was a 3 and that he was out of place at the 4, but we were making do w/ what we had...

There was a divided opinion on this last year and this summer. Some said that Singler's natural position was the 3 because of his shooting and ballhandling. Others said that he may be an NBA 3, but he's a college 4 - a guy who can play inside and out, and thrives off of taking advantage of bigger defenders who aren't comfortable defending the perimeter.

It appears (at least to this point) that the second group is right. Kyle's offensive game (to this point) hasn't been as impressive as in previous years (only 1.22 points per shot - lowest of his career), and that's probably due to the fact that he's still learning how to attack against smaller, quicker players who are more comfortable defending the perimeter.

The good news is that the rest of his game hasn't suffered. The other good news is that, while he's struggled a bit with his scoring efficiency, he hasn't struggled THAT much. So hopefully as the season progresses he'll figure it out.

[arnie]

Wow. He's even got the face...

I've also used that comparison - and assumed Jon would have the same limited time in the NBA as Spanarkel. But now, I've realized that Jon is a better shooter than Spanarkel ever was with similar defensive and ball handling abilities. I think he will have a decent NBA career.

[NSDukeFan]

... we continued to try and look to the post (we're slowly getting better at looking there earlier in the set), posted up Kyle, etc... it seems like K and this board are seeing a lot of the same things game-to-game.

I also was very pleased with the way we were consistently looking in the post. In the first half I remember the ball going into Brian a couple times, Kyle, Lance, Mason. Great stuff that keeps our offense diverse even if we don't score directly from the post.


Did anyone else get frustrated with the announcers last night. They went on and on about Brackins and his draft potential, meanwhile Scheyer is having an AA worthy game in his home town, and he barely got a mention... maybe I am just sensitive, but that got me to yelling at the TV.

I actually quite enjoyed the announcing, usually enjoy listening to Jay and thought he made a number of comments on how good a player Jon is.

There was a divided opinion on this last year and this summer. Some said that Singler's natural position was the 3 because of his shooting and ballhandling. Others said that he may be an NBA 3, but he's a college 4 - a guy who can play inside and out, and thrives off of taking advantage of bigger defenders who aren't comfortable defending the perimeter.

It appears (at least to this point) that the second group is right. Kyle's offensive game (to this point) hasn't been as impressive as in previous years (only 1.22 points per shot - lowest of his career), and that's probably due to the fact that he's still learning how to attack against smaller, quicker players who are more comfortable defending the perimeter.

The good news is that the rest of his game hasn't suffered. The other good news is that, while he's struggled a bit with his scoring efficiency, he hasn't struggled THAT much. So hopefully as the season progresses he'll figure it out.

Kyle may at this point be a better college 4 than 3 since he has played inside for the past two years. I am expecting by the end of the year for Kyle to be as good a college 3 as he has been as 4. I also think it is much better for Kyle in the long run to be playing the 3 and I believe coach K has indicated they have a goal of Kyle being in the NBA next year as a 3, so he needs to continue to improve at this position. This is also where the team can best use him, though I hope we can continue to use him on the low block to take advantage of his skills down there.

I thought it was an encouraging game from Mason, but agree that he was a little slow defensively a couple times and does seem to avoid contact by looking to throw the ball over the shoulder when he has contact as opposed to going up strong with it.
All in all, great performance and a fun team to watch.

[Troublemaker]

Am I making stuff up, or weren't people last year saying that his natural position was a 3 and that he was out of place at the 4, but we were making do w/ what we had...

There was no consensus on this and there still isn't.

Personally I love that Duke is playing Kyle at the 3. His offense certainly has struggled a bit, but it's still easily a net positive for Duke because LT's defense at the 4 this year and Kyle's defense at the 4 the previous two years are worlds apart in quality. LT has been outstanding defensively for Duke, great at both help defense and manning up on his interior assignments. When Coach K talks about how this year's team has the experience to understand how to play Duke defense, I believe LT is first and foremost in his mind and I also believe that LT should be considered for national DPOY.

In contrast, when Kyle played the 4/5 the previous two years, I thought he played very small defensively, meaning guards that got into the lane or post players that received entry passes were too comfortable scoring over him. LT is forcing the missed shots, forcing the turnovers, drawing the charges, and generally being the defensive terror on the interior that Kyle couldn't be the past two seasons.

I much prefer Kyle as a wing defender, and when Duke starts to use him more in the post on offense, his offensive value will match or exceed that of the previous two seasons. One of the stories of the game last night, imo, was the extensive use of LT and Mason together as the bigs. That's probably Duke's best lineup for spacing the floor without giving up interior defense, as both LT and Mason seem to have the "green light" to shoot from the perimeter, suggesting that they have demonstrated the ability to hit those shots in practice (and certainly, LT has been hitting them pretty well in games, too). Those two, LT and Mason, will be the big pairing that most easily gets Kyle the ball in the post with room to work. Ryan Kelly could help space the floor as well, so I hope he continues to develop defensively to the point where he can be used in competitive games.

[millerecu]

I was most disappointed with Jay Bilas last night repeatedly saying there are no "great" teams this year.....just "good" teams. What am I missing that he says that? I hate to say it but he always seems to favor CAROWINA, at least the last 2-4 years. Is it because they stink this year that no one else can be great? I kid I kid......but only kind of.

Also, I am not certain Mason had that many lapses on D last night. It seemed to me he was trying to over correct for the refs calling everything inside on Duke last night.

[CDu]

I also was very pleased with the way we were consistently looking in the post. In the first half I remember the ball going into Brian a couple times, Kyle, Lance, Mason. Great stuff that keeps our offense diverse even if we don't score directly from the post.

I actually quite enjoyed the announcing, usually enjoy listening to Jay and thought he made a number of comments on how good a player Jon is.

Agreed, though it would be nice if he'd pushed the issue a bit further and made some early Player of the Year suggestions for him. Given Scheyer's performance along with the team's success, it should be a given that he's in the discussion for 1st Team All-American right now. Though there's obviously a long way to go.


Kyle may at this point be a better college 4 than 3 since he has played inside for the past two years. I am expecting by the end of the year for Kyle to be as good a college 3 as he has been as 4. I also think it is much better for Kyle in the long run to be playing the 3 and I believe coach K has indicated they have a goal of Kyle being in the NBA next year as a 3, so he needs to continue to improve at this position. This is also where the team can best use him, though I hope we can continue to use him on the low block to take advantage of his skills down there.

I think this is/was a big part of the divide on the "Singler as a college 3" debate. He's definitely going to play the 3 in the NBA. But NBA 3's are typically perimeter-oriented, athletic college 4's - not college 3's. So in that regard, I think Singler's natural position is at the 4 in college.

But that being said, it certainly won't hurt Singler's future to develop against future NBA 2's (which is what most college 3's are). We know he can compete against bigger players, so seeing him learn to play against quicker players exclusively on the perimeter won't hurt. The biggest difference is that now he's not being forced to defend in the paint (the last two years he's been stuck defending mostly as a 5), which is beneficial.


I thought it was an encouraging game from Mason, but agree that he was a little slow defensively a couple times and does seem to avoid contact by looking to throw the ball over the shoulder when he has contact as opposed to going up strong with it.
All in all, great performance and a fun team to watch.

Agreed. Plumlee has shown several nice moments (great court vision, some developing post moves, great athleticism, and now a 3), but hasn't quite put it together yet. He's still learning how to play college defense, and the offensive game is very much a work in progress in particular the adjustment to the physical play in the paint. The potential is there though, for sure.

[CDu]

I was most disappointed with Jay Bilas last night repeatedly saying there are no "great" teams this year.....just "good" teams. What am I missing that he says that? I hate to say it but he always seems to favor CAROWINA, at least the last 2-4 years. Is it because they stink this year that no one else can be great? I kid I kid......but only kind of.

Also, I am not certain Mason had that many lapses on D last night. It seemed to me he was trying to over correct for the refs calling everything inside on Duke last night.

I tend to agree with Bilas on that one (to this point). I think that the best teams this year have a lot more flaws than previous years. We've certainly been impressive to this point, but it's been against teams with plenty of flaws. And our team has plenty of flaws (lack of guard depth, inconsistent frontcourt play).

But we're improving. The last few games have been very impressive for our frontcourt. We've handled two different types of dominant big men and taken both out of the game. The next test will be against a team that has two dominant big men (Ga Tech).

If we continue to role through good teams, I think we'll be looked at as great relative to this year, but maybe still not great relative to previous years.

[should_be_working]

Anyone else get extremely irritated at ESPN for cutting out for the Kansas game? And then going to a commercial break when I knew that Duke was playing at that time (and wasn't in a timeout). I get very verbal with ESPN when stuff like this happens. I expect it to happen at the start of the game when the game before it is still going on, and no one has yet to figure out that 9:00 pm games should actually start at 9:15, but to cut out in the middle of the game was a new one for me. I felt like I was watching the NCAA tournament and they cut in to my duke game to show me a "nail biter" going on elsewhere, which always infuriates me.

[NW Indiana Dukie]

I was also at the game last night and what a homecoming for Jon and Coach K.
A couple of observations from my standpoint:
Scheyer--great game! He had the pressure of all his family and friends in the
stands and he produced.
Singler--Was all over the place--played a hard, solid game.
Nolan--had a few bad turnovers but had a quietly effective offensive game!
Lance--Awesome!! Looked for his offense and locked down Brackins. You
could see Brackins was completely frustrated.
Mason--Is going to be a stud! I am really excited about his future. He is a
little to over aggressive on D--reaching in to much which either caused a foul
or him getting beat. He appears to be more comfortable on the floor and by
the end of the season I think he is going to be hugh for us.

I also agree about the amount of DUKE fans in the crowd. It was great to see--I just wish they came to Chicago more aften.

[airowe]

I much prefer Kyle as a wing defender, and when Duke starts to use him more in the post on offense, his offensive value will match or exceed that of the previous two seasons. One of the stories of the game last night, imo, was the extensive use of LT and Mason together as the bigs. That's probably Duke's best lineup for spacing the floor without giving up interior defense, as both LT and Mason seem to have the "green light" to shoot from the perimeter, suggesting that they have demonstrated the ability to hit those shots in practice (and certainly, LT has been hitting them pretty well in games, too). Those two, LT and Mason, will be the big pairing that most easily gets Kyle the ball in the post with room to work. Ryan Kelly could help space the floor as well, so I hope he continues to develop defensively to the point where he can be used in competitive games.

This is a great point. It won't be as easy to invert the offense to Kyle if our big's defenders don't honor their midrange/outside jumpers. If these two guys (really the only two with shots from far enough out to make a difference) can keep their defenders honest, it will make Kyle that much more dangerous posting up a smaller defender on the blocks.

[Kedsy]

I've also used that comparison - and assumed Jon would have the same limited time in the NBA as Spanarkel. But now, I've realized that Jon is a better shooter than Spanarkel ever was with similar defensive and ball handling abilities. I think he will have a decent NBA career.

Spanarkel was in the League for 5 years and was his team's leading scorer his second year. To me, that's a decent career.

[snowdenscold]

Anyone else get extremely irritated at ESPN for cutting out for the Kansas game? And then going to a commercial break when I knew that Duke was playing at that time (and wasn't in a timeout). I get very verbal with ESPN when stuff like this happens. I expect it to happen at the start of the game when the game before it is still going on, and no one has yet to figure out that 9:00 pm games should actually start at 9:15, but to cut out in the middle of the game was a new one for me. I felt like I was watching the NCAA tournament and they cut in to my duke game to show me a "nail biter" going on elsewhere, which always infuriates me.

Ehhh, I guess it didn't bother me because it sort of made sense. Duke wasn't blowing Iowa State out, but seemed to have a decent hold on the game, while meanwhile the #1 country was losing in the final minutes to an unranked team. I actually ended up getting pretty into the latter.

Yes, it would have been nice to see all the Duke game, but I definitely wasn't "very verbal".

[CDu]

Anyone else get extremely irritated at ESPN for cutting out for the Kansas game? And then going to a commercial break when I knew that Duke was playing at that time (and wasn't in a timeout). I get very verbal with ESPN when stuff like this happens. I expect it to happen at the start of the game when the game before it is still going on, and no one has yet to figure out that 9:00 pm games should actually start at 9:15, but to cut out in the middle of the game was a new one for me. I felt like I was watching the NCAA tournament and they cut in to my duke game to show me a "nail biter" going on elsewhere, which always infuriates me.

Irritated? Sure. But that's because I'm a Duke fan and don't care all that much about a single regular season game between Kansas and Cornell. So I wasn't irritated with ESPN so much as I was irritated that the Kansas game was so close. Similarly, I wasn't so much irritated with Fox earlier in the week as I was irritated with Wake for going to double-OT.

Switching over to the end of that game was the logical thing to do. The Kansas game was a nailbiter at the end between the #1 team in the country and a good team from a lower-tier conference. Conversely, our game was a ~10-point game early in the second half. Outside of Duke/ISU fans, the end of the Kansas game was much more interesting.

The cutting to commercial was frustrating, but had to be done. Advertisers pay big money for those commercial breaks, and ESPN had missed the 16-minute timeout of our game by giving the bonus coverage. So they had to do it. Again - they correctly felt that the nation would be more interested in two minutes of the end of a potential big upset than two minutes in the middle of a not-so-close game.

It stinks for us, but it was the appropriate approach by ESPN.

[grossbus]

i was impressed that we consistently scored out of the delay game.

and while i appreciate how much Z has improved and how hard he works, i wish he could elevate enough to throw it down when in front of the rim. i fear the "swatted up high" jumbo describes will happen frequently in league play.

[should_be_working]

I suppose it made sense for ESPN to do that - its all about the ratings, but I can't help over-reacting when its my team playing in what wasn't a blow-out yet. I tend to yell at the TV when I can't see my team play - whether it makes sense or not...

[roywhite]

Anyone else get extremely irritated at ESPN for cutting out for the Kansas game? And then going to a commercial break when I knew that Duke was playing at that time (and wasn't in a timeout). I get very verbal with ESPN when stuff like this happens. I expect it to happen at the start of the game when the game before it is still going on, and no one has yet to figure out that 9:00 pm games should actually start at 9:15, but to cut out in the middle of the game was a new one for me. I felt like I was watching the NCAA tournament and they cut in to my duke game to show me a "nail biter" going on elsewhere, which always infuriates me.

Don't want to turn this into an ESPN-bashing thread, but they carried the end of the Kansas--Cornell game on the ESPN News channel as well as pre-empting a portion of our broadcast. Since they have that sort of availability on backup channels, didn't see a need to switch away from our game.

Back to our game, at least one of the refs seemed a little whistle-happy and some of the calls on Zoubs and the Plumlees seemed unnecessary. I'm kind of resigned to Zoubs getting calls against him (unfortunately, and not always fairly), but the ability to play good defense without fouling is absolutely key for both Mason and Miles.

[SCMatt33]

I actually had no problem with the ESPN move. I thought that the Kansas game was very exciting. I had it on ESPN360 in the background of the Duke game before, so I just had to switch them. My only complaint is that the ESPN360 feed was about a minute behind real time, so the score in the corner of the Kansas game always showed me what was about to happen in the Duke game.

[airowe]

Don't want to turn this into an ESPN-bashing thread, but they carried the end of the Kansas--Cornell game on the ESPN News channel as well as pre-empting a portion of our broadcast. Since they have that sort of availability on backup channels, didn't see a need to switch away from our game.

Back to our game, at least one of the refs seemed a little whistle-happy and some of the calls on Zoubs and the Plumlees seemed unnecessary. I'm kind of resigned to Zoubs getting calls against him (unfortunately, and not always fairly), but the ability to play good defense without fouling is absolutely key for both Mason and Miles.

That call against Miles when he touched the ball with both hands to tie the guy up stands out the most to me. I had to watch it four or five times and still didn't see a foul.

I do wish Z would stop trying to draw charges on driving guards though. The refs gave him more leeway against LBSU when he was contesting shots in the lane than they do trying to fall back on contact with a guy who weighs 100 lbs less than him.

[diesel]

I got a lot out of the comments on this board on the ISU game, and I think the basketball staff can also learn from the comments. I hope there is someone at the end of the bench (Nate James?) who is detailed off to glean what is being said on DBR boards.

Having patted ourselves collectively on the back, what about the game? An outstanding feature of our game to me is our free throw percentage, making 19 out of 21 last night. Has there ever been a Blue Devil team that matched our FT performance this year?

While I had to vote for Jon as MOTM, I wish we had an associate MOTM award. I thought Lance Thomas was the AMOTM both for his offense and defense. Oh the joy to see the opponents concede the 20 foot jumper to him as the lesser evil and to see him knock it down! And he made his lone FT. I used to cringe last year when Lance went to the line: no longer. When coach K said he had an NBA future I was mentally questioning the judgment; again, no longer.

I was also impressed by the performance of one of the youngest non-SKickers: Mason. I thought he showed his potential last night. Again, what joy to see him knock down a long 3 when the opponents appeared to be content to let him shoot as a lesser evil!

And yes, by the way, I do like the term Skickers for the big 3!

While I’m at it, allow me to say that the player I think is the most improved from last year is Nolan. It is a great and consistent pleasure for me to see him play.

What is there to complain about? The damn TV coverage! Is there anyway to see a repeat of the start of the second half when our defense tightened up?

On this general topic, last year it appeared a suit from Verizon was a contributor to DBR. If he is still around, could he lean on Verizon FIOS to include FS South in the FS lineup in the DC area? Why can we get FS West and not North Carolina?

[airowe]

What is there to complain about? The damn TV coverage! Is there anyway to see a repeat of the start of the second half when our defense tightened up?


www.espn360.com should be playing the game in it's entirety. I was watching there while ESPN switched to the KU game.

[mkirsh]

This team has really grown throughout the first 1/3 of the season, and last night's game highlighted 4 key things that I think this team does better than last year's squad:

1) Ability to get into the lane - at the beginning of the season we worried about the loss of G and not having anyone other than Nolan with the ability to break down the defense. Well, in the past several games, and especially last night, Scheyer has demonstrated that his is very capable of getting to wherever he wants on the court, and also making the right play when he gets there. Combined with Nolan's ability to get to the rim and Singler being capable off the bounce, we have 3 guys who can attack the paint, vs 1-2 last year.

2) Moving the basketball - is this the best passing Duke team of the past 10 years? Everyone seems to make the right extra pass (well, except for Dawkins, but I think he's told to shoot whenever he gets it), and the result is our shot selection is pretty good overall. At the beginning of the year I thought Nolan and maybe Kyle were forcing things a bit, but in recent games the ball movement and chemistry has been great (especially Jon and Nolan). Nolan has been very efficient as of late. Very fun to watch, and you get the sense that these guys really like playing together.

3) Scoring threats from all 5 positions - I love the fact that Lance has been taking (with confidence) the 15-18 foot J all season, especially at the start of the game last night. Also Mason shooting a 3 even though he bricked one a few possessions earlier is great. This team makes the D guard five positions, allowing the SKickers more room to operate, vs last year when everyone doubled off our bigs to stop G, Kyle, and Jon.

4) Post play - it was good to see Zoubs, both Plumlees, and Singler catch the ball on the block last night - even if it only happens a few times a game it give a dimension to the offense that we've been missing for a while.

All 4 are great developments this year, and also areas where we are still growing. The ceiling for this team is really high.

[dairedevil]

Have seen a couple of comments about the free throw % in last night's game, and for the year. While 90.5 is outstanding, it doesn't fall in the top 10 (12) games. There have been 3 perfect games, and the 10th ranked games were all 94.1, the most recent vs. Clemson in 2008.

It looks like the team season average is about 77.3 from the stat sheet at goduke. Highest team season was in 77-78 at 79.1, so far this year is one of the best.

(records are from the 2009-2010 Basketball yearbook)

[bird]

Last night Mason was getting pretty serious burn (19 minutes), more than Miles (15), including a lot of consecutive minutes, and remained in even after making mistakes. I read the situation as a pretty clear refutation to the theory that K does not give "developmental" playing time to players. Mason is being challenged to rise.

I read the opposite on Andre's playing time. He has a ton on his plate, and my read is that K may be relieving the pressure by limiting his time and the short-term expectations.

[ncexnyc]

Relentless. That's the word to describe our team's play last night.
ISU was game and in the first half they blocked numerous shots, only to have our kids keep coming back for more and eventually putting the ball through the hoop.

A was very pleased that Jon had a great game in front of family and friends. Can we finally stop this nonsense about calling him just a guard and admit that he is in fact a point guard and an excellent one at that.

Nolan had some very nice numbers, except for those 5 TO's.

Kyle did a bit of everything and was very aggressive on the boards.

Lance had another excellent game. He's playing like you want your seniors to play.

Mason showed flashes of why so many people were high on him.

Miles and Brian were solid. While they didn't post big numbers they clogged things up for the opposition

Dre and Kelly obviously have somethings that need to be worked out during practice, but we all know the ability is there and by the end of the season they should be solid contributors.

Saturday should be a war. I'm sure Tech will be skyhigh for this game.

[pfrduke]

ISU was game and in the first half they blocked numerous shots, only to have our kids keep coming back for more and eventually putting the ball through the hoop.

Also, did anyone else notice that ISU had 8 blocks in the first half and none in the second? We adjusted nicely on offense at halftime to evade their shotblockers and draw contact close to the rim.

[Kedsy]

Also, did anyone else notice that ISU had 8 blocks in the first half and none in the second? We adjusted nicely on offense at halftime to evade their shotblockers and draw contact close to the rim.

They had 7 blocks in the first 10 and a half minutes. I'm not sure if we adjusted as much as their legs got tired.

[kmspeaks]

Over in the phase thread Jumbo suggested having people watch the game concentrating on specific aspects. One of these was interior screens. Some posters felt that our thinner and more agile big men could get open better off screens for each other rather than trying to establish position on the block themselves. I saw these posts right before the game so I figured I'd unofficially volunteer.

I missed the beginning of the second half because I couldn't get 360 working on my computer and at times camera angles made it difficult but from what I did see there was virtually no screens being set by a big, for a big. This is assuming the Kyle counts as a guard. There were screens set for him where he caught the ball at the elbow. One in particular which led to a Mason dunk. Other than that the two big men in the game would usually set screens near the block for the Jon or Nolan to run off of and then attempt to turn and establish position.

That being said this is not a criticism of the team's performance at all. I thought the guys played great and it was a good win. This was just a part of the game that some were interested in which I took the opportunity to concentrate on. Go Duke!

[CDu]

They had 7 blocks in the first 10 and a half minutes. I'm not sure if we adjusted as much as their legs got tired.

I think it's probably a bit of both. The adjustment on our end was that our bigs stopped taking shots around the rim in the second half. We had only four shot attempts by our post guys in the second half: two attempted alley-oops (one successful), one putback off a rebound, and another layup off a Singler assist. The offense came almost entirely from the "big three" in the second half. Not a huge surprise there, of course.

[roywhite]

I think it's probably a bit of both. The adjustment on our end was that our bigs stopped taking shots around the rim in the second half. We had only four shot attempts by our post guys in the second half: two attempted alley-oops (one successful), one putback off a rebound, and another layup off a Singler assist. The offense came almost entirely from the "big three" in the second half. Not a huge surprise there, of course.

Coach K commented on how efficient our second half offense was. If someone has the "points per possession" number for the second half (and additional detail about how that compares to first half and that measure generally), the info would be appreciated. Or other measures of efficiency. thanks.

[gumbomoop]

Relentless. That's the word to describe our team's play last night.

Many good posts on the I St game. I'd like to focus on this point for just a bit, as, IMO, "relentlessness" is maybe the key emotional [?] quality that good players/teams exhibit. [Think Moses Malone, Christian Laettner, Tyler Hans....]

I think I remember the first 1/2 of last season, there were many comments about how fierce Duke's defense was. That's sure the way I remember it.

But this year's team seems even more "relentlessly" efficient, if not quite as "fierce.' It's a calmer, more confident relentlessness, or so it seems to me.

If so, what's happening to inspire the confidence the guys sure look like they have that most of the time, plays are gonna go their way?

Well: (1) Interior defense backing up good on-ball, but not "fierce," perimeter defending. MPs and Z block shots and intimidate. (2) JS and NS are playing amazingly in-tune with each other, and with KS, too, so, so smoothly, in fact, that even though KS's shooting is slightly down, none of them seems worried, so KS hasn't lost confidence in himself, and his teammates still trust him totally. And they are right to do so. (3) This smoothness is evident mostly in superior passing, itself most evident in making the extra pass to open 3s for The Three. (4) Z pretty regularly contributes, and LT the last few games is "fierce." I have criticized LT's chaotic energy, but, wow, he's got energy to burn in disrupting opponents.

In all, the team's rhythm and relentlessness on both O and D is really impressive. They're in a good intuitive zone all 'round, and though there must surely be a bump or two down the road in the ACC, I'm gonna be surprised whenever they lose.

[CDu]

Coach K commented on how efficient our second half offense was. If someone has the "points per possession" number for the second half (and additional detail about how that compares to first half and that measure generally), the info would be appreciated. Or other measures of efficiency. thanks.

Based on a rough review of the ESPN play-by-play, it appears we had 33 possessions. So we scored 45 points on 33 possessions, or 1.36 points per possession. By comparison, in the first half, we scored 41 points on 36 possessions, or 1.14 points per possession.

We got a TON of offensive rebounds in the first half (thanks to all those blocks), which helped our points per possession a bit. I suspect our FG% was substantially better in the second half.

[jjasper0729]

Anyone else get extremely irritated at ESPN for cutting out for the Kansas game? And then going to a commercial break when I knew that Duke was playing at that time (and wasn't in a timeout). I get very verbal with ESPN when stuff like this happens. I expect it to happen at the start of the game when the game before it is still going on, and no one has yet to figure out that 9:00 pm games should actually start at 9:15, but to cut out in the middle of the game was a new one for me. I felt like I was watching the NCAA tournament and they cut in to my duke game to show me a "nail biter" going on elsewhere, which always infuriates me.

a more eloquent response (http://www.dukies.com/viewarticle.asp?ID=1207) than the one I had while it was happening.

[Udaman]

Biggest concern? By far, for me, it's the lack of playing our bench.

We basically blew this team out, and yet Scheyer, Smith and Singler all played 35 minutes or more (with Scheyer and Smith at 38 minutes). I'm sorry - but that is nuts. I hate to say it's stupid...but it's a dumb, dumb move from Coach K.

I'm a broken record when it comes to this, and honestly, I think it is K's achilles heel - he tends to stop playing people come January. Now, maybe Dawkins is struggling with personal things...and if so, that would explain this. But if not, then Coach K is keeping a player who has shown he can contribute on the bench and playing his regulars...when the last 8 years have shown us that our teams run out of gas come March using this approach.

Hopefully this in an aberration....but I'm worried.

All that said, I really love this team.

[devilboomer]

Biggest concern? By far, for me, it's the lack of playing our bench.

We basically blew this team out, and yet Scheyer, Smith and Singler all played 35 minutes or more (with Scheyer and Smith at 38 minutes). I'm sorry - but that is nuts. I hate to say it's stupid...but it's a dumb, dumb move from Coach K.

I'm a broken record when it comes to this, and honestly, I think it is K's achilles heel - he tends to stop playing people come January. Now, maybe Dawkins is struggling with personal things...and if so, that would explain this. But if not, then Coach K is keeping a player who has shown he can contribute on the bench and playing his regulars...when the last 8 years have shown us that our teams run out of gas come March using this approach.

Hopefully this in an aberration....but I'm worried.

All that said, I really love this team.


The whole reason we were even in in Chicago was for Scheyer.

He had 500 family members and friends in the audience.

Of course he played 38 minutes.

[BD80]

The whole reason we were even in in Chicago was for Scheyer.

He had 500 family members and friends in the audience.

That's nothin'

ol' roy had 50 people staying at his beach house when they played Charleston.

[Kedsy]

Biggest concern? By far, for me, it's the lack of playing our bench.

We basically blew this team out, and yet Scheyer, Smith and Singler all played 35 minutes or more (with Scheyer and Smith at 38 minutes). I'm sorry - but that is nuts. I hate to say it's stupid...but it's a dumb, dumb move from Coach K.

I'm a broken record when it comes to this, and honestly, I think it is K's achilles heel - he tends to stop playing people come January. Now, maybe Dawkins is struggling with personal things...and if so, that would explain this. But if not, then Coach K is keeping a player who has shown he can contribute on the bench and playing his regulars...when the last 8 years have shown us that our teams run out of gas come March using this approach.

Hopefully this in an aberration....but I'm worried.



***heavy sigh***

[Duvall]

***heavy sigh***

Well, look at it this way. If we panic now, we can get a head start on the backbiting and recriminations for later in the year. Everyone wins.

[sagegrouse]

Biggest concern? By far, for me, it's the lack of playing our bench.

We basically blew this team out, and yet Scheyer, Smith and Singler all played 35 minutes or more (with Scheyer and Smith at 38 minutes). I'm sorry - but that is nuts. I hate to say it's stupid...but it's a dumb, dumb move from Coach K.

I'm a broken record when it comes to this, and honestly, I think it is K's achilles heel - he tends to stop playing people come January. Now, maybe Dawkins is struggling with personal things...and if so, that would explain this. But if not, then Coach K is keeping a player who has shown he can contribute on the bench and playing his regulars...when the last 8 years have shown us that our teams run out of gas come March using this approach.

Hopefully this in an aberration....but I'm worried.

All that said, I really love this team.

I hear you. In fact, we all hear you, although believe your concern is too many minutes for certain starters, not just minutes for the bench.

The front court had 5 players log 80 minutes: 30(LT), 19, 15, 12, and 4 (Kelly). That looks like a healthy rotation by any measure.

I believe your problem is with the backcourt (three positions in this analysis): 38, 38, 35, and 6 (Andre). I believe you are arguing that Dawkins should get more minutes. As many, many others have pointed out, there could be a lot of things going on with Andre. I would counsel patience here. If Andre averages 15-20, the other guys will get more time off.

I suppose you may also have a problem with Kelly getting so few minutes. It is not clear to me that RK at 6-10 is a good substitute for Kyle as opposed to another backup for the front court. Next year, our big men will consist of MP1, MP2, Kelly, and, I suppose, Josh Hairston. We will need him inside, and if he turns out to be like Danny Ferry, so much the better.

sagegrouse

[Papa John]

I suppose it made sense for ESPN to do that - its all about the ratings, but I can't help over-reacting when its my team playing in what wasn't a blow-out yet. I tend to yell at the TV when I can't see my team play - whether it makes sense or not...

Agreed... But you almost saw the #1 Kansas Jayhawks go down at home to an Ivy League school! That would have been truly historic, and it was completely appropriate for ESPN to switch away to capture that potential upset of epic proportions...

[Welcome2DaSlopes]

Lance Thomas and Jasmine Thomas look like they can be family. can anyone confirm?

[CDu]

Lance Thomas and Jasmine Thomas look like they can be family. can anyone confirm?

There's no mention of relation in their Duke bios and they're from different states. Maybe distant relatives, though I'd say doubtful.

[Indoor66]

Lance Thomas and Jasmine Thomas look like they can be family. can anyone confirm?

Just names. Maybe RThomas is part of the clan????? :confused::D

[davekay1971]

I hear you. In fact, we all hear you, although believe your concern is too many minutes for certain starters, not just minutes for the bench.

The front court had 5 players log 80 minutes: 30(LT), 19, 15, 12, and 4 (Kelly). That looks like a healthy rotation by any measure.

I believe your problem is with the backcourt (three positions in this analysis): 38, 38, 35, and 6 (Andre). I believe you are arguing that Dawkins should get more minutes. As many, many others have pointed out, there could be a lot of things going on with Andre. I would counsel patience here. If Andre averages 15-20, the other guys will get more time off.

I suppose you may also have a problem with Kelly getting so few minutes. It is not clear to me that RK at 6-10 is a good substitute for Kyle as opposed to another backup for the front court.

sagegrouse

Can we take this post and just put it at the top as a sticky? Perfect. Absolutely perfect.