MBB: Duke 79, BC 59 Post-Game Thread [Archive]

OldSchool

01-13-2010, 09:11 PM

One of my favorite plays of the second half:

At about the 5:40 mark, Mason has the ball and is being guarded on the perimeter.

Mason puts the ball on the floor and drives by his man, and Miles' defender rotates over to stop Mason.

Mason passes to Miles, who is open under the basket, but fumbles the pass.

Mason is showing us flashes here and there as to what he is capable on the offensive end.

Also, I liked the 3-ball Mason shot, he showed good form, it just didn't go down.

Welcome2DaSlopes

01-13-2010, 09:12 PM

Zoub looked like he was having fun out there. Had a ton of energy.

BlueintheFace

01-13-2010, 09:13 PM

It very obviously took the Plumlees a half to catch on to the unique Skinner flex, but half court adjustments were effective.

Jumbo

01-13-2010, 09:14 PM

SCMatt33

01-13-2010, 09:15 PM

moonpie23

01-13-2010, 09:15 PM

much better in the 2nd half....much more enthusiasm.....

BlueintheFace

01-13-2010, 09:17 PM

Singler with the double-double. He stinks.

JaMarcus Russell

01-13-2010, 09:17 PM

This might have been the best all-around game for Duke this year. Miles and Mason are very good on the offensive end, but they got lost on defense in the first half. That's the only reason why Duke didn't dominate in the first half. They definitely made the right adjustments in the second half.

Thomas has seen his minutes go down with Mason's emergence, but he played great today, tracking some loose balls and grabbing tough rebounds. Nolan's body control is awesome. If only he had the vision, he could be a legit first rounder this year. Now, he can come back and work on that last aspect of his game next year. Singler made some nice passes today and wasn't trigger happy. He also got some good rebounds against a physical BC team.

Saratoga2

01-13-2010, 09:18 PM

In the first half, it looked like a hangover from GT. The interior defense in particular didn't rotate over and no help appeared. It seemed particularly true with the Plumlees. Coach K must have pointed that out at the half, since the team came out energized and the interior defense looked muck better.

Nolan Smith had an excellent second half. I liked him running the floor, getting to the basket and using the shot fake to get open. Singler also played better than any recent game with energetic and smart defense and hustle to get baskets on the run. His shot is still not falling very well, but they didn't need the 3 tonight. I thought Zoubek really played hard and smart throughout and had one of his best games this season. He asserted himself around the basket and got putbacks.

Both Plumlees give us an athletic scoring mentality around the basket and it has to be wearing on other teams to have to go up against so many really big post guys.

They tried to get Dawkins going offensively, but his shot is just a little off. In and outer tonight. They will fall in the near future

arnie

01-13-2010, 09:19 PM

much better in the 2nd half....much more enthusiasm.....

And Singler looked much better, seems to pull in every rebound he gets his hands on.

Oriole Way

01-13-2010, 09:19 PM

Nolan Smith with a great game, which is encouraging to see. Our outlook is much better if Nolan continues his progression into a dynamic high-scoring combo guard, especially if he continues to drive into the lane effectively. He will eventually start getting to the line more frequently and creating opportunities for teammates off of passes since defenders will be collapsing to help out on his drives.

Brian Zoubek played a great game... he looked as confident as I can remember him, and he did a better job of keeping the ball high and not bringing it down (which is something Coach Knight always emphasizes during telecasts in regards to big men). The 16 minutes he got tonight is about what I would like to see him get from here on out.

Kyle Singler put up a double-double and he didn't seem to be forcing shots like he was at Georgia Tech. Still, he still seems to be a little bit off compared to last season. I really wonder if he has been dealing with an injury; I seem to remember one of the December OOC home games (Gardner Webb or Long Beach State I believe) where he was listed as questionable to play prior to game time, I think it was a sprain of some sort. Perhaps he is still dealing with it, or perhaps it's just playing on the perimeter this year, but hopefully Kyle returns to form soon.

Jumbo

01-13-2010, 09:20 PM

I LOVE Coach K's game plan for tonight. First is the stat of the night, 20.7% 3PA/FGA. This has been a team that every has said that they don't need to rely on the 3, but they had been choosing to rely on the 3. It was easy to tell that the team was told not to shoot as many 3's, and the team responded. They did a great job driving and getting the ball to the bigs.

There were some blown assignments on the defensive end, but that's ok because they were trying to press. It was great to see Duke try some new things, because I feel that in recent years, we have found something that works, and stuck with it to the bitter end, usually to our demise in March. It was great to see Coach K take an opportunity against a not very good BC team and experiment, just to see what cards we have in the deck on both ends.

Finally, props to the bigs, especially Z and Miles. Great effort all around.

Wow, I don't agree on either front. I don't think K "told them not to shoot as many 3s," because when guys were open, they launched without hesitation. But BC's defense presented different options, and we took advantage of them. Note that Duke was able to get out in transition far more often.

And the token pressure Duke showed on D was no excuse for the poor help against the Flex on D. Again, Duke wasn't trying something new there; the bigs were just really slow reacting from helpside in the first half. I was glad to see they were able to make corrections in the second half.

dukestheheat

01-13-2010, 09:31 PM

Enter: The Assertive Mr. Nolan Smith!

Witness: Happiness within The Duke Nation.

dth.

bird

01-13-2010, 09:41 PM

Lots of good things to appreciate, including Nolan's scoring, Lance's D, a vintage Duke run to start the second half, solid scoring by Miles and solid rebounding/D from Zoubek. But maybe the biggest thing was that Duke found a way to win going away despite Scheyer not playing anywhere close to his usual level (his two worst games have come with Knight announcing -- Wisconsin and this one; odd) and the team struggling from deep again. And you'd think Mason Plumlee would have been one to step up, but that wasn't the case. Shows that this team does, in fact, have a variety of ways to win.

Scheyer's ESPN boxscore is 12 points, four assists, one turnover, on 4-12 shooting, 1-6 from three point land. Not bad for a "worst" game - though I had him with two turnovers and also felt he was playing one of his worst games.

The beginning of the second half was a classic Duke moment.

I agree with Knight. If we can get all three of the Ss performing at a high level at the same time, we will be a load for anybody. We saw a top-flight Nolan, an average Singler, and a below average Scheyer, and won fairly easily.

MB in MD

01-13-2010, 09:42 PM

I was extremely impressed, bordering on the amazed, at how well we adjusted our defensive rotations at halftime. Great job by the coaches. But in a way the most gratifying thing about today was a big win on a day that we shot so poorly. After Saturday I was starting to worry that in spite of the big changes inside and on defense we were still going to be a live-by-the-3-die-by-the-3 team. After today I'm more confident that we can find other ways to win.

Greg_Newton

01-13-2010, 09:42 PM

Eh... we only outrebounded them by 2, 18-16. Oh wait - that was our offensive rebounds to their defensive rebounds!

We outrebounded them 40-25, pretty impressive.

Strong dislike on the press/extended pressure on D. Not sure how much we benefited from that, and it resulted in a ton of breakdowns.

Kyle continues to be very good when he catches the ball within 15 feet of the basket, and not very good otherwise.

Z actually has a pretty darn good back-to-the-basket game when he decides to use it. I actually didn't think Miles played as well as his stats indicated... he still walks every time he gathers himself under the basket, he was very his first two baskets weren't TOs. Mason will put up some points once he in other ways than dunking - he needs to learn what Z learned this year about staying high and going up quick and straight.

At least we're not down 40-18 to Clemson right now...:D

RelativeWays

01-13-2010, 09:43 PM

We played so bad in the 1st half, especially on D, 2nd half was nearly flawless. It needs to be said that even though he scored around 15, Kyle was one of the main cogs that drove the offense and they would not have gotten as many transition points without him.

SCMatt33

01-13-2010, 09:43 PM

Wow, I don't agree on either front. I don't think K "told them not to shoot as many 3s," because when guys were open, they launched without hesitation. But BC's defense presented different options, and we took advantage of them. Note that Duke was able to get out in transition far more often.

And the token pressure Duke showed on D was no excuse for the poor help against the Flex on D. Again, Duke wasn't trying something new there; the bigs were just really slow reacting from helpside in the first half. I was glad to see they were able to make corrections in the second half.

I really do think that there was a effort to not shoot as many three's I definitely saw guy pass up three's to make the extra pass, drive, or even shot fake and take a mid range jumper. Not that they were told NOT to shoot three's, just explore other options.

I don't think that the press was necessary an excuse, but I do think that as a result, the young guys sometimes might have been concentrating on it too much and not thinking about the half court D, resulting in mental errors. It's not acceptable, but its a learning experience against a team that we could afford to make mistakes against.

CDu

01-13-2010, 09:45 PM

tele

01-13-2010, 09:46 PM

It's great to have height isn't it? Duke out rebounded BC 40 to 25, and Duke had 18 offensive rebounds, that's a lot. Espn stats show both Duke and BC only making 1 three point shot each, which is more than a little strange. Is that correct? Makes the rebounds all the more valuable in getting the win.

Zoubek had 11 boards in 16 minutes, that's getting it done for a big. (Singler had 10 rebounds in 31 minutes)

This is a fun team to watch play, but I can't remember another Duke win where they only made 1 three.

dukestheheat

01-13-2010, 09:47 PM

Singler with the double-double. He stinks.

We should bench him. Better yet. Fire him. I'm going to write a story about it.

dth. :rolleyes:

BlueintheFace

01-13-2010, 09:49 PM

We should bench him. Better yet. Fire him. I'm going to write a story about it.

dth. :rolleyes:

Give me 1200 words on taking away his scholarship by Friday and we'll run it

xoxo
Duke Chronicle Sports Editor

superdave

01-13-2010, 09:52 PM

I enjoyed Kyle showing all the things he does for this team - rebounding, jumping passing lanes, finishing on the break. It's not just about scoring.

Miles was fantastic at times.

FerryFor50

01-13-2010, 09:53 PM

I enjoyed Kyle showing all the things he does for this team - rebounding, jumping passing lanes, finishing on the break. It's not just about scoring.

Miles was fantastic at times.

What's better is that he figured out it's not just about scoring. He had been forcing some bad shots the past few games.

NYC Duke Fan

01-13-2010, 09:53 PM

Great first half from Miles. Great second half from Zoubs. Great game from Smith offensively. Great all-around effort from Singler. Great team effort in the second half after a sluggish start defensively. Great win.

Yes, an ACC Win is an ACC win, but let's not too carried away with this one. BC lost to both Harvard and Maine at Chestnut Hill, Northern Iowa in St. Thomas and in its last game lost by 16 at Clemson, and we were only up by 3 at half time AT CAMERON. .

Duvall

01-13-2010, 10:07 PM

Yes, an ACC Win is an ACC win, but let's not too carried away with this one. BC lost to both Harvard and Maine at Chestnut Hill, Northern Iowa in St. Thomas and in its last game lost by 16 at Clemson...

That last one doesn't look too bad right now.

And even then, so what? Duke won the second half easily. Sagarin predicted a 20-point win, Pomeroy a 22-point win. More than good enough.

roywhite

01-13-2010, 10:08 PM

Yes, an ACC Win is an ACC win, but let's not too carried away with this one. BC lost to both Harvard and Maine at Chestnut Hill, Northern Iowa in St. Thomas and in its last game lost by 16 at Clemson, and we were only up by 3 at half time AT CAMERON. .

Sorry. I enjoy the wins, especially the ACC wins. It's part of the journey and we need to applaud the kids when they do well, not qualify our enthusiasm and look for the clouds.

In a positive note that didn't show up on the scoreboard, I thought Andre Dawkins moved well and looked a lot more comfortable on the floor than he has in quite a while. He's starting to pick up the defense. His shots didn't go down, but he took them when available and nearly hit a few.

jv001

01-13-2010, 10:10 PM

It looks like almost everyone in the ACC will struggle on the road this year. I did not think Duke would, but I'm beginning to think maybe we will. Jay Bilas may have been correct in that there are no great teams but a lot of good ones this year. Go Duke!

CDu

01-13-2010, 10:13 PM

Yes, an ACC Win is an ACC win, but let's not too carried away with this one. BC lost to both Harvard and Maine at Chestnut Hill, Northern Iowa in St. Thomas and in its last game lost by 16 at Clemson, and we were only up by 3 at half time AT CAMERON. .

We did what we were supposed to do in the second half and won by 20. Aside from a tough night for Mason, it's hard for me to find complaints tonight. It's a 40-minute game, and we abused them in the second half. BC isn't a great team for sure, but in the ACC anyone can keep it within 3 for a half.

BlueintheFace

01-13-2010, 10:32 PM

Miles Development= :):):)

ChicagoCrazy84

01-13-2010, 10:37 PM

I was appalled by their play in the 1st half but almost equally as impressed with the 2nd half. Tremendous defensive adjustments. I don't know if they just played with more bounce and enthusiasm, but whatever it was, it was fun to watch! Singler had a great game, not shooting (he's still struggling), but everything else he looked really good. Nolan Smith played a full 40 minutes (figuratively) and he really impressed me. Not much to be disappointed by, at least going by their 2nd half performance.

One note, I like how Bobby Knight mentioned that this was a game to get Andre Dawkins more playing time. I don't know how much PT he got, but it had to be over 10 minutes. At the 8-9 minute mark, I was thinking it was a great time to get Andre in and let him finish the game. He didn't play great, but the more PT he gets and the more shots he has the opportunity to shoot, he'll get it back.

Good job Duke, go get em on Saturday!

Newton_14

01-13-2010, 10:53 PM

We did what we were supposed to do in the second half and won by 20. Aside from a tough night for Mason, it's hard for me to find complaints tonight. It's a 40-minute game, and we abused them in the second half. BC isn't a great team for sure, but in the ACC anyone can keep it within 3 for a half.

Plus, BC has had a lot of injuries this year with several key players missing games. Tonight they had everyone available with some of the guys working their way back from those injuries. They have good players and when totally healthy, they will compete with most teams.

That said, our defense in the 1st half was really bad across the board. Great adjustments at the half combined with our guys playing good D in the 2nd half overwhelmed BC. I thought it was a really good win.

Props to Miles for continuing to get better and having a really good game tonight, and to Nolan for bouncing back with a career high in points. Mason had a tough night but still made some good plays and all the mistakes he made were freshman type mistakes that can easily be corrected.

Zoubs played well in the 2nd half and Jon was steady even without starring on offense. And even that "terrible" player named Singler had a good game:rolleyes: Imagine that.

Props to the ref for the worst technical foul call I have seen in some time and the way he glared at Kyle in giving the tech was, to use one of Jumbo's words "infantile" in my opinion. Ridiculous..

chrisheery

01-13-2010, 10:53 PM

Worst half of defensive basketball of the season followed by one of the top 5 for the season. Shows the value of defense to this team (obvious). Agree with those who have said that the token full court pressure was more detrimental to our defense than helpful.

Loved the aggressiveness of Miles for the vast majority of the game. There was one play he caught in the middle of the lane and went down instead of just turning and going up with it, but other than that, he looked great. Zoub made a few quick moves down low too, which was nice to see. He's best when he gets it on the glass and just keeps following it until he gets it in the hole.

Kyle had almost his exact numbers he has averaged for the year and last game he's being called a bum, this one he is played well? I think expectations have been too high and understanding of the other things he brings to our team is too low. I hope his offense starts to click again because he is so fun to watch when he has confidence, but I hope we all can recognize how great the other things he does are. I also think he gets fouled a lot of drives and those are not called. Call it the "Duke treatment."

Nolan was just great most of the game. Loved his controlled attack. Worst game of the year for Scheyer and still the last guy I want to come off the court.

Glad we won with poor shooting. We'll have a tougher time winning against a better team shooting like that, but I think we will shake this off and find a groove shooting the ball again soon.

Oh, and that technical foul call should have been a warning. It is always a warning the first time. Unreal that he called a tech. Unless he had already warned him.

Does Trevor Booker have to celebrate every single basket with a chest pounding and staring at the crowd? Is it a team rule? Unreal. He'd be on the bench for us, no matter how nasty he is.

Bob Green

01-13-2010, 10:54 PM

One note, I like how Bobby Knight mentioned that this was a game to get Andre Dawkins more playing time. I don't know how much PT he got, but it had to be over 10 minutes.

Dawkins played 17 minutes:

https://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf4/665185.pdf?ATCLID=204868931&SPSID=22724&SPID=1845&DB_OEM_ID=4200

tbyers11

01-13-2010, 11:18 PM

Props to the ref for the worst technical foul call I have seen in some time and the way he glared at Kyle in giving the tech was, to use one of Jumbo's words "infantile" in my opinion. Ridiculous..

Before BC inbounded the ball after shooting the technical FTs, Kyle was guarding the inbounder again and the ref told him not to reach over the line this time. Kyle smiled at the ref and I swear he said "OK, but I didn't reach over the line last time either." :D

Hermy-own

01-13-2010, 11:19 PM

I just want to say that everyone is getting on Mason for a weak night, but I disagree. The general perceptions is that the Plumlees let the defense breakdown a number of times in the 1st half. In addition, Mason did not have a great offensive night. That's all true, but I love seeing a game where Mason's contribution was more than the stat sheet indicated, as opposed to the usual cupcake games where he does less than the box score shows. In this game he made some great passes in transition, initiated our offense from the perimeter a number of times, and a number of almost scores. I don't really care whether those drives become points during this game, the important thing is that he has confidence and is making the right decisions - and for the most part, he is. Brilliant job with his passing, and a much improved defensive showing in the 2nd half.

roywhite

01-13-2010, 11:20 PM

Dawkins played 17 minutes:

https://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf4/665185.pdf?ATCLID=204868931&SPSID=22724&SPID=1845&DB_OEM_ID=4200

8 players with at least 16 minutes playing time.

The Minutes Police will be happy. Or are they ever happy?:)

jesus_hurley

01-13-2010, 11:50 PM

8 players with at least 16 minutes playing time.

The Minutes Police will be happy. Or are they ever happy?:)

Casey Peters can't develop if he doesn't play....

:D

Kedsy

01-13-2010, 11:50 PM

Wow, the improvement in the defense from one half to the next was truly extraordinary. In the first half I thought we were a very poor defensive team. In the second half, for the most part, our defense was suffocating.

I thought Miles was great on offense, although in the first half his defense was a little spotty. The stats from just_a_lemma were right on for Z, who once again played very well against a short team, despite the fact that conventional wisdom says he can't succeed against small, quick teams.

I'm glad Andre's minutes were up today. He looked to me like he was rushing his shot, not quite setting his feet or squaring his body before he let it fly. I think when he stops rushing he'll get back to hitting again. His form still looks pretty good.

Kyle Singler put up a double-double and he didn't seem to be forcing shots like he was at Georgia Tech. Still, he still seems to be a little bit off compared to last season. I really wonder if he has been dealing with an injury; I seem to remember one of the December OOC home games (Gardner Webb or Long Beach State I believe) where he was listed as questionable to play prior to game time, I think it was a sprain of some sort. Perhaps he is still dealing with it, or perhaps it's just playing on the perimeter this year, but hopefully Kyle returns to form soon.

This is a really good point that I had forgotten. It was announced he sprained an ankle in practice and was questionable for one of the early December games (I think it was Gardner Webb), but he ended up playing. A sprained ankle lingers for awhile, and though a player might come back I think they often don't feel right for weeks, so maybe the "Kyle problem" is as easy to explain as that.

chrisheery

01-13-2010, 11:52 PM

I agree about Mason. I thought he did a lot of things that make him a threat. He made some mistakes too, but that is too be expected. As time goes on, he is going to be a star.

I also think we need to find a better way to get Dre involved when he is in the game. I'd like to see him come off a screen ready to shoot every now and then. You know, have a play set up for him.

Ryan made a few questionable decisions when he played early in the game, but I still think he brings a ton to the table and I can't wait to see him develop. We are going to need him to fill out and be ready to play inside some next year. I think he will be a perfect juxtaposition to Miles and Mason when he is in the game (as will Hairston) with his ability to hit mid range jumpers and pass beautifully from the high post.

I really love the way this team is being built this year and they way you can see them growing into roles for next year as well. I hope we can keep all of these guys (who don't graduate or go pro, that's fine), because I think they could be really special together next year. I think this team has a great chance to be quite special as well if they continue to improve.

Neals384

01-13-2010, 11:52 PM

8 players with at least 16 minutes playing time.

The Minutes Police will be happy. Or are they ever happy?:)

A couple times, Andre was part of a three guard lineup with Kyle on the bench. Be interesting to see the +/- on that lineup, but my impression was they were pretty good.

I was enjoying Knight's commentary until I realized that almost every one of his comments is something we've discussed on this board. Has Bobby been lurking here?

Neal

Kedsy

01-13-2010, 11:55 PM

I hope we can keep all of these guys (who don't graduate or go pro, that's fine), because I think they could be really special together next year.

What do you mean by this? Are you suggesting we may have more transfers? Is that speculation on your part or have you heard something?

chrisheery

01-14-2010, 12:03 AM

What do you mean by this? Are you suggesting we may have more transfers? Is that speculation on your part or have you heard something?

Woah, no, I have not heard anything like that. I just mean we have a ton of talented kids and have some more coming in and I want to see how great they can all be together. I have NO REASON TO THINK ANYONE WILL TRANSFER AT ALL!

Kedsy

01-14-2010, 12:16 AM

Woah, no, I have not heard anything like that. I just mean we have a ton of talented kids and have some more coming in and I want to see how great they can all be together. I have NO REASON TO THINK ANYONE WILL TRANSFER AT ALL!

Well, that's good news. The way you said, "I hope we can keep all these guys," it made me nervous.

-bdbd

01-14-2010, 01:13 AM

Wow, the improvement in the defense from one half to the next was truly extraordinary. In the first half I thought we were a very poor defensive team. In the second half, for the most part, our defense was suffocating.
.....This is a really good point that I had forgotten. It was announced he sprained an ankle in practice and was questionable for one of the early December games (I think it was Gardner Webb), but he ended up playing. A sprained ankle lingers for awhile, and though a player might come back I think they often don't feel right for weeks, so maybe the "Kyle problem" is as easy to explain as that.

I have always felt that K is at his best when strategy needs adjusting. He is extremely good and perceptive, usually, in that regard. Clearly he directed some changes at the half, and things got quickly better soon thereafter.

Also, I was very pleased to see Kyle seem to get on-track again. The ankle/injury issue could be part, but I also think the move to the perimeter has been a surprisingly unnatural adjustment for him. It is a whole new approach to his game which maybe isn't quite natural/instinctual for him yet. He is a special player, and Chronicle editorials aside, he'll get it together well before March, and play a big role in our team's success then. No doubt here.

:D

Spam Filter

01-14-2010, 02:08 AM

A couple times, Andre was part of a three guard lineup with Kyle on the bench. Be interesting to see the +/- on that lineup, but my impression was they were pretty good.

I was enjoying Knight's commentary until I realized that almost every one of his comments is something we've discussed on this board. Has Bobby been lurking here?

Neal

I felt exactly the opposite, every time Andre played the 3 BC would ran a play to post somebody much bigger than him and score.

Greg_Newton

01-14-2010, 03:17 AM

I always look forward and enjoy DBR's postgame write-ups, but I couldn't help but notice this one had a few more, er, funny spots than usual. For example, the sentence: "Boston College is never relied on the three-point shot the way Duke has an in this game."

Huhhh?:)

flyingdutchdevil

01-14-2010, 06:10 AM

And the most under-appreciated Duke player in the Duke community is.... Nolan Smith! I was absolutely bedazzled by both his offense and defense (he had that one missed dunk and that one foul at the end of the first half, but outside of that, amazing!) He finishes with 24 points on 9-14 shooting, 4 assists, 3 steals, and only 2 turnovers for a guy who drove to the rim consistently. Those are absolutely incredible stats. Singler had a pretty good game and the gratitude sent his way on this thread is through the roof. Smith had the best offensive game of his career and all people really say is, "Nolan was great tonight"

He was spectacular today! With Scheyer having an "off night" and Singler having an average / slightly above average game, Nolan led us. His drives to the rim, perfect body control, assists, and team chemistry helped us more than any other player. Also, his defense is vastly underrated.

Scheyer may be the most underrated player in the country, but the most underrated player within the Duke community is Smith.

Sorry for the rant, but this guy deserves so much more credit than he receives.

Exiled_Devil

01-14-2010, 06:45 AM

Things I learned last night:

The press showed why Lance is still a starter. He positioned well and recovered after the press better than any other big. His defense is under appreciated.

While we moaned about Kyle between GT and BC, Nolan's performance at GT was poor and we have been better when he has been better. He is as pivotal as Kyle, but overlooked because of the lack of pre-season hype.

Bobby Knight is a fan of the shot fake.

Plumlee to Plumlee is now my most anticipated play of any game.

Matches

01-14-2010, 09:00 AM

I only saw bits and pieces of the game but was very impressed with Zoubek's play. He was a monster on the boards and was looking for his shot on offense. He has rounded into a nice complimentary player.

elvis14

01-14-2010, 01:27 PM

I really enjoyed the game. Nolan was great and Kyle and Jon were good (seems like Jon didn't play that well because he's been so great lately). I really liked the way we came out in the second half. Someone mentioned K being great at adjustments, this was a game where he was great (GT, not so much as we chucked up 28 3's). I really hope that the number of 3's being shot (or not shot) was intentional and not just a matter of taking what the defense was giving. I'd like to see us attack more, pick up fouls etc.

Mostly though, I'm just happy, what a great night of basketball. First Duke beats BC then Clemson (where I went to grad school) crushes UNC CH. Nice.

Kyle had almost his exact numbers he has averaged for the year and last game he's being called a bum, this one he is played well?

Does Trevor Booker have to celebrate every single basket with a chest pounding and staring at the crowd? Is it a team rule? Unreal. He'd be on the bench for us, no matter how nasty he is.

In the GT game, Kyle shot 2 for 13. Last night he was 5 of 9. So the total points may have been similar but how he got them were very different. Kyle can be great but of late he hasn't been. When he gets it going again the team will be able to take things to the next level. I'm looking forward to it.

As for Booker, as long as he's beating the he11 out of UNC CH, he can glare at their bench, pound his chest, celebrate, etc. all he wants. 9F

Anyone else love the way Mason looks to attack when he has the ball in his hands? He's the anti-Lance in that regard.

Kedsy

01-14-2010, 02:07 PM

I really hope that the number of 3's being shot (or not shot) was intentional and not just a matter of taking what the defense was giving. I'd like to see us attack more, pick up fouls etc.

Personally, I hope they were taking what the defense is giving. If the inside is there, go for it. If a defense is tightly packed in the lane and giving up wide open jumpers, why not take them? The key is to find the easy points.

Having said all that, if you take what the defense is giving, shouldn't that be considered intentional?

ncexnyc

01-14-2010, 02:34 PM

I guess it's true, people only come out after a loss. Here we have a solid win at home against BC and we have only 3 pages of posts.

Big shout out to Nolan for being aggressive, but also being under control.

Great effort by Miles, he really power the ball up when he was at the rim.

But my biggest atta boy goes out to Lance Thomas. Yes, his stats aren't that impressive, but BC's leading scorer, Trapani had only 8 points IIRC and only 2 of those came against.

snowdenscold

01-14-2010, 02:47 PM

I guess it's true, people only come out after a loss. Here we have a solid win at home against BC and we have only 3 pages of posts.

Oh, I'm convinced it's absolutely true.

I managed to see the entire game except the first four minutes of the 2nd half last night... what are the odds?? (that's rhetorical)

BlueintheFace

01-14-2010, 02:52 PM

Another reason why there are so few posts is because BC is kind of unique. Duke only sees the Skinner Flex against BC and at no other time. It is hard to extrapolate much from the BC games other than intensity, communication, toughness, and maybe shooting stroke. They are just a unique opponent, like Arizona State.

Still, I'd love to see a breakdown poster by poster of contributions to post-game threads. Like, a stat for how many losses they post after vs how many wins, and additionally, what % of their posts after either a win or loss take on a negative tone.

94duke

01-14-2010, 03:10 PM

Can someone explain how BC's Flex is different than Maryland's Flex?

camion

01-14-2010, 03:38 PM

Can someone explain how BC's Flex is different than Maryland's Flex?

The players actually listen to Skinner. :D

davekay1971

01-14-2010, 05:44 PM

I'm most excited by the further development of our inside game.

The last few years, we simply don't beat an ACC team by 20 shooting 1/12 from beyond the arc.

Miles and Zoubs continued to show improvement. Zoubs was a monster in the second half, dominating the rebounds when he was in, playing solid post defense, and making several nice put-backs (including that great sequence where he got his own miss twice and made the bucket).

Mason...he's going to be so good.

LT has become very consistent - bringing great defense every game, doing a nice job on the boards. Whatever offense he gives is a nice bonus.

(As an aside, a radio in the background has Britney Spears "If You Seek Amy" on. My IQ is dropping by the second. Why is that talentless hack still on the radio?)

hq2

01-14-2010, 05:57 PM

Our inside game is getting better. Our defense was bad in the first half, but we made adjustments, which shows we can do it as needed. Nice reverse layup by MP1. Another thing I liked, which they should do more of, is a drive and dish by Singler. Since the other teams tend to come out on him when he drives, positioning the Plumlees down low for the alley oop or a layup when he goes in the lane should work effectively.

-jk

01-14-2010, 07:18 PM

OK, a bit late posting here (I got home from the game 1:30ish, and had a busy day; sorry). I saw BC really challenging our 3 - a lot of times we faked, moved in a few feet, and fired for a long two. They just didn't want us shooting 3's.

Zoubs had a very good game, but I have to take two rebounds away from his line - he rebounded two of his own misses! But he gets what he can, and can't, do. Maybe he's been studying Shane...

Kyle decided to show his stuff. I do enjoy watching him learn a whole new skill set; we don't often get to see it happen real-time. Alaa was a similar revelation in his senior year. Odd tech, though. I can't recall the last time I saw that one.

Lance did well on Trapani. Nearly came to blows once or twice. (Trapani lead with his elbow several times early in the second half, but Lance didn't rise to it.)

Nolan was fabulous. They had no one who was anywhere near as fast. Nice.

I'm suspicious that K (and Dean, too) comes into games with two completely different game plans - one for each half. The other team adjusts at halftime to our first half strategy, and completely misses the boat.

Lastly, I had the pleasure of sitting next to a couple of former BC football players. We got to trash talk a bit, but - alas - they left with about 8 minutes to go.

-jk

chrisheery

01-14-2010, 08:06 PM

Can someone explain how BC's Flex is different than Maryland's Flex?

Its run much closer to the lane with repeated "entry passes" to get closer and closer to the hoop. Maryland runs a similar series of cuts, but they use the width of the court. They also just let Vasquez do whatever he wants.

gumbomoop

01-14-2010, 10:46 PM

I guess it's true, people only come out after a loss. Here we have a solid win at home against BC and we have only 3 pages of posts.

It's an interesting point. I'm guessing it might be explained as follows:

1. Duke's win was "routine," in the sense that we've come to expect Duke's first-half flaws to be routinely addressed by K at half.
2. It was further "routine" in that it wasn't, relatively speaking, a "flashy" win, punctuated by flashy performances. Save NS's underappreciated excellence last eve, our guys individually and collectively played a relentlessly solid 2d half, so the game was in hand with 10 minutes to go, not tense, therefore not requiring post-game relief, celebration, and/or calming-down-through-posting.
3. What was required, however, was schadenfreude-through-posting re UNC's embarrassing performance at Littlejohn. To quote UNC-grad Will Blythe's wonderful, insightful book, "To Hate Like This Is to Be Happy Forever." Surely had the UNC game been tonight, there'd have been more posts on this [Duke-B C]thread last eve and today. But not necessarily more than at some point after a UNC debacle, for their pain, in a bad loss, affords us more guilty pleasure than our joy in an expected Devil triumph.
4. In short, Duke's win was much less "remarkable," than UNC's loss; so there were fewer remarks on it.

Duke4life92

01-15-2010, 12:07 AM

Props to the ref for the worst technical foul call I have seen in some time and the way he glared at Kyle in giving the tech was, to use one of Jumbo's words "infantile" in my opinion. Ridiculous..

Amen,could'nt believe that was called when i saw it live from section 10 but was confirmed how bad a call that was when i got home to watch it again on dvr---un frkn real.......I think that particular official seemed to have an agenda against duke for some reason(jmo),did you see him glare at nolan (turned and watched him intently) all the way across half court when nolan was called for that foul as he thought he had guessed right but was called for the reach in by the ref.Ref looked like he was just wanting to "T" up Nolan as he sprinted across half court amazed at the call.Otherwise i enjoyed the game,just could do without seeing that particular ref at anymore games.

Kedsy

01-15-2010, 12:28 AM

Zoubs had a very good game, but I have to take two rebounds away from his line - he rebounded two of his own misses!

Hey, Moses Malone made a Hall of Fame career out of that play.

94duke

01-15-2010, 08:54 AM

brumby041

01-15-2010, 11:51 AM

I'm a little late to the comment party. but:

Props to the poster in another thread (too lazy to figure out who it was) that suggested getting Kyle starting by having him run a curl off a few screens to get an easy basket. IIRC, that is exactly the way KS got his first basket- and it certainly seemed to get him going...

Nice to see him have a better offensive game.