MBB: Duke 60 - Clemson 47 Post Game Thread

[BlueintheFace]

Have at it.

Best win of the season if you ask me

[CAT Blue Devil]

Solid, solid, solid.

[Greg_Newton]

New rule: Sagegrouse starts all pre/in-game threads, and with a :D emoticon!

[KyDevilinIL]

Guess we're capable of winning a national championship again. ;)

Agreed – best win of the year, hands down.

[superdave]

With 10 minutes left, we had a gut check. I liked what I saw.

With 6 minutes to play and duke in control, I thought to myself...this cant end fast enough! Clemson is dangerous.

Amazing game by LT on Booker and scoring tonight.

[BlueintheFace]

We held them to 47 points. That is borderline shocking.

[dairedevil]

Not the prettiest game, especially the first half. I'm proud of the way they came back in the second, broke the press, got shots to fall, and played great defense. This sure feels a lot better than Wednesday night!

[Jumbo]

New rule: Sagegrouse starts all pre/in-game threads, and with a :D emoticon!

Seconded.

[Coballs]

Huge W. Great defensive performance. Nolan Smith continues to deliver. I'm pleasantly surprised. That is all.....

[cbnaylor]

I don't know what K said at halftime, but he had these boy's fired up in the second half on offense. When Duke wants to win, they win. I have a good feeling about this squad through good and bad.

[CameronDuke]

YEAH BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was one of the biggest games of Coach K's career if you ask me, don't ask me why, I just felt if we lost, I wouldn't be able to sleep and neither would he. Nolan Smith is one of the best guards in the nation this year hands down. Lance, who I was critical of after his game against NCSU, played BIG tonight. Kudos Mr. Thomas. Now we know we can win on the road!

12-4 in the ACC, here we come! I feel better about this team but we HAVE to stay hungry against FSU on Wednesday and defend our house.

Congrats on the HUGE road win guys! Let's Go Duke!

[pfrduke]

Seconded.

Thirded.

Also, best defense Duke has played against a top-25 ACC opponent in quite a while. This season, apparently, Clemson is a good matchup for us.

[arnie]

Huge W. Great defensive performance. Nolan Smith continues to deliver. I'm pleasantly surprised. That is all.....

And Lance showed some moves around the basket, plus the way K designed the outlet with Lance under pressure worked great.

[superdave]

I think we only had one second have turnover. Nice in-game adjustments (and preparation) by Coach K.

[BlueintheFace]

Talk about having your team prepared. K had a game plan for that press and the players executed it perfectly for most of the game. Those who went off script were pulled. I went in thinking we needed to ATTACK the press to score, but K's plan of beating the press to slow the game down turned out pretty darn well.

[jimrowe0]

With the Kstate and Tennessee loss...we will still be in the top Ten with that win.

[Verga3]

Solid D in second half made things start to happen. Interested to hear Coach K's post-game comments. Good team game. Big, tough win. The ACC is brutal this year.

[roywhite]

Did you know we hadn't won a true road game all year prior to tonight? Did the announcers mention that? :rolleyes:

Really nice defensive effort; just an excellent second half overall with good ballhandling and solid shooting. Great win.

[devildownunder]

Not the prettiest game, especially the first half. I'm proud of the way they came back in the second, broke the press, got shots to fall, and played great defense. This sure feels a lot better than Wednesday night!

Actually, to me it was beautiful. That's exactly the way this team has to play to beat really good teams and, really, anyone on the road. Defensive intensity and attention to detail. Maybe sometimes when you do that, it will take a bit longer for the offensive rhythm to come (as was the case tonight) but this team HAS to focus on D first to win big. We can't just come out and try to run and gun with people and expect to go very far.

[cbnaylor]

Talk about having your team prepared. K had a game plan for that press and the players executed it perfectly for most of the game. Those who went off script were pulled. I went in thinking we needed to ATTACK the press to score, but K's plan of beating the press to slow the game down turned out pretty darn well.

True, and this was nice to see compare to the GT and NC State games. When these two teams pressed Duke, they rushed their shots and never got into the groove. This game, they beat the press and slowed down once in half court.

[lpd1982]

I don't know what K said at halftime, but he had these boy's fired up in the second half on offense. When Duke wants to win, they win. I have a good feeling about this squad through good and bad.

This year Coach has a habit of letting the players fire each other up after business is taken care of. Lance 'the preacher' has been known to fire up a crowd-perhaps he took the helm

[Travi_K]

The Word is that Oliver Purnell is in the locker room telling his team to just keep going hard because Duke is about to wear out.

[Saratoga2]

No doubt about the defensive effort tonight. Thomas in particular deserves a ton of credit for playing Booker very well. Switches were excellent and there was little on the perimeter for Clemson.

The offense went through Smith in the second half and he responded with scoring in a variety of ways. Thomas added double figure points. We got enough to win on another night when Scheyer was cold and Singler had an average offensive night.

Neither Plumlee did much offensively and Zoubek seems to get rattled when shooting. It's hard to believe someone his size and with his experience can't put in a ball from a few feet away

I thought the keys tonight were to turn the ball over less thanClemson, keep the rebounding equal, play tenacious defense and have a better shooting efficiency than they did. I will have to check the box score, but if anything our defense was better for the entire 40 minutes than I can remember in any game this year.

[cbnaylor]

I wonder if Clemson is still down with OPP? :)

[devildownunder]

Did you know we hadn't won a true road game all year prior to tonight? Did the announcers mention that? :rolleyes:



Yeah, that's the other good thing about this win. If we had lost another road game it would've been a storyline feeding on itself, making future road games that much tougher mentally.

I don't have a problem w/the announcers mentioning it. Duke is a top-10 team that, prior to tonight, hadn't come out of anybody's home gym with a "W". That's a legit storyline and it's up to Duke to shut people up about it. Fortunately, the guys did what they had to do so now they can't talk about it anymore.

[mgtr]

Talk about a tale two halves! I would love to have a recording of what K said at half-time -- it certainly had a positive effect. I think this was a great game of coaching by K. He is masterful, obviously.

[dalmatians98]

Holy cow! Big, big win. Props to Kyle Singler who I think is playing through some pain. I think we'll leave the Duke banner out all night.

[JaMarcus Russell]

Obviously Michigan State should jump us in the ESPN poll, but numbers 8,9,and 10 all lost today. I can't see Kansas State jumping us because of the loss today. What do you guys thinks? I bet that West Virginia, Georgetown, and Purdue fall into 8,9, and 10.

[devildownunder]

The Word is that Oliver Purnell is in the locker room telling his team to just keep going hard because Duke is about to wear out.

yeah, was surprised when "EA" :rolleyes: kept reporting that's what he was telling his guys. That's a losing mentality, IMO. You're telling your guys to rely on the other team to falther, instead of saying "go out there and take it from them".

[Oriole Way]

That second half was pretty much flawless. Smith, Scheyer, and Singler all played well and the game wasn't close after halftime as a result.

Lance played great tonight. He was much more assertive when he was open and in position to score, and he had several key rebounds. I still want him coming off the bench, but he was a big reason for the win tonight.

This game proved that Nolan Smith is the key to Duke's season going forward. If he becomes the focal point of the offense, I think Duke will be able to take a big step forward, win the ACC regular season, and advance further in the tournament than otherwise.

This was a huge game for Duke, so I am willing to overlook the tight rotation tonight. I have no idea why Andre Dawkins got a DNP tonight, so I will just wait to hear something official in terms of an injury, lack of confidence/struggles with the death of his sister, or poor practicing. But Mason, Miles, Andre, and Ryan really need to become (more integral) contributors in order for the team to reach its potential.

This was a convincing win, and it was much needed. It was good to see the team get some revenge for one of the worst losses of the K era from last season. But there is still work to be done. Clemson is an extremely flawed team; I will look forward to see how Duke deals with teams who can shoot from the perimeter and have more than one dominant scoring threat, especially on the road. But for now, that second half was an awesome 20 minutes, and it's something for the team to hang their hat on and hopefully build upon.

[jv001]

About Duke getting tired. It looked like Clemson was the tired team in the end. Have to agree that Coach K had a tremendous game plan in breaking the press. One reason for such a low scoring game. In this kind of game Clemson cannot score enough points to beat us. Go Duke!

[superdave]

Obviously Michigan State should jump us in the ESPN poll, but numbers 8,9,and 10 all lost today. I can't see Kansas State jumping us because of the loss today. What do you guys thinks? I bet that West Virginia, Georgetown, and Purdue fall into 8,9, and 10.

As long as we make the Final Four, I dont care where they rank us!

[devildownunder]

Obviously Michigan State should jump us in the ESPN poll, but numbers 8,9,and 10 all lost today. I can't see Kansas State jumping us because of the loss today. What do you guys thinks? I bet that West Virginia, Georgetown, and Purdue fall into 8,9, and 10.

Please don't take this as a slam but I think I'm glad this isn't college football, so we don't have to worry about where we are in the rankings.

Just my perspective.

[Wildling]

Actually, to me it was beautiful. That's exactly the way this team has to play to beat really good teams and, really, anyone on the road. Defensive intensity and attention to detail. Maybe sometimes when you do that, it will take a bit longer for the offensive rhythm to come (as was the case tonight) but this team HAS to focus on D first to win big. We can't just come out and try to run and gun with people and expect to go very far.

I'll second this statement. Duke's defense tonight was a thing of beauty. I like high scoring up and down basketball, but I also like defensive battles and great defense just as much.

Tonight's defense was brilliant! I can't say one negative thing at all about Dukes effort tonight.

Very,very impressive win.

[BlueintheFace]

Talk about a tale two halves! I would love to have a recording of what K said at half-time -- it certainly had a positive effect. I think this was a great game of coaching by K. He is masterful, obviously.

Offensively maybe, not defensively

[Billy Dat]

-The defense was really superb. Clemson had no confidence in their perimeter game and we really gave them nothing inside. Booker, as befits a great player playing at home, really got to throw his weight around which allowed him to put together the game he had - but we limited him at the key junctures.

-Lance played a great game, he was the only big that could effectively handle the press, his D was awesome, and he stayed aggressive on offense - wish he could have flushed that exclamation pointat the end, but he got the two anyway.

-Nolan IS really a remarkable offensive weapon when he gets it going. He's honing a really deadly collection of runners and leaners in the lane. I feel like K showed him some olympic gold medal footage of Juan Carlos Navarro. He carried us during a key stretch and has a habit of making the big shot when the other team is on a run.

-The rest of the frontline by committee had their moments. I feel like MP1/Zoubek were a wash, Mason wasn't as effective (too many turnovers).

-We missed a huge number of chippies, and several Scheyer 3s were half down and came out.

-This ACC season is really fun so far. The parity is insane, each of our games has felt hugely important and it feels like every one will have that heigtened intensity this year.

-It definitely felt like a home court officiating job. T

-Singler/Scheyer deserve huge praise, too. They both were tremendous and essential to the victory.

-Love how Purnell, according to Ms Andrews, kept telling his troops we were getting tired - didn't play out that way.

Great W.

[bird]

This reminded me of tournament games in its disjointed, slow, defensive-oriented style of play. Mental toughness really came to the fore in a pressure situation. Nolan is emerging as our most consistent player, and Lance made a big step back after the NC State near-debacle for him. Clemson didn't shoot very well - 37 percent according to ESPN - partially due to Duke defense, partially due too Clemson missing very makeable shots.

On negative side, Scheyer is now officially in a shooting slump, and the Plums scored 2 points total, as youth steps back as the competition intensifies. Kyle had 5 turns.

[wilko]

The Word is that Oliver Purnell is in the locker room telling his team to just keep going hard because Duke is about to wear out.

He forgot a word... "Duke is about to wear THEM out".
Nice, nice win. A+ on effort. MUCH better than at State.

Smith is just so fluid.. He had an amazing game.

Is it just me or were there alot of tic-i-tack whistles...

The evil, sadistic SOB in me wants Zoubs to swing an elbow that makes someone require bridge work; and then have him inform the official "Thats what a foul could look like EVERY time.. Back off"

but thats not reality... but still, the guy never catches a break..

Lance was the difference maker in this game. He allowed other guys to do their thing.

[chrisheery]

I wish Lance could always finish and be a threat like he was tonight. He's a dynamic player when he does that. The second half was just beautiful. Only a few errors the entire half. I thought Miles also played great defense in the second half. His awareness and switches were veteran-like. Loved that Ryan Kelly played some minutes that mattered. Not many, but that was cool. I hope we can continue getting better, and by that I mean finding a way to be efficient at all points of the game, because this team could be a final four team with just a little more fluidity and motion on offense keeping the defense honest to backdoor cuts and reverse/skip passes.

[superdave]

The evil, sadistic SOB in me wants Zoubs to swing an elbow that makes someone require bridge work; and then have him inform the official "Thats what a foul could look like EVERY time.. Back off"

but thats not reality... but still, the guy never catches a break..


Agreed. I keep waiting for Z to get a foul called when he's on the bench. The refs must get a bonus for whistling him.

[lpd1982]

WOW! Coack K just screamed in the locker room. He said this was OLD FASHIONED DUKE BASKETBALL! He is smiling from ear to ear it's said. He sound giddy! And he says, enough of the road game talk.

[chrisheery]

WOW! Coack K just screamed in the locker room. He said this was OLD FASHIONED DUKE BASKETBALL! He is smiling from ear to ear it's said. He sound giddy! And he says, enough of the road game talk.

Awesome, how do you know that?

[sagegrouse]

New rule: Sagegrouse starts all pre/in-game threads, and with a :D emoticon!

You're on.

Great win! Anyone else believe that for the first 30 minutes it was 5 on 8? Holy cow! We couldn't get a call.

sagegrouse

[strawbs]

this game was huge and imo sets the tone for the rest of the season. It hopefully puts it in the teams head that they can win any game they play on the road.
I know people are going to say this is an extremely premature statement but looking at the schedule i see no reason why we can't win out for at least the rest of the regular season (if everyone stays healthy).
FSU will be tough because they always play duke tough, but it is a home game. Georgetown will be a test, but i have a good feeling about that game as it always seems duke plays great in those cbs sat/sun afternoon games. Tech will be another tough game, but again it's at home and i'm guessing the guys will want to avenge their lose from earlier in the year. The game at Maryland could be tough especially if Maryland is still playing well but the rest of the games i see duke winning easily.
Actually the game that worries me the most on the schedule is the game at BC. I could see it being a let down game for duke sandwiched in between the gtech and first unc game.
Now i realize it is pretty unlikely that duke would go undefeated until the conference tourney, and they probably won't. But i think the game tonight could really be a spark for this team, and start a great run to the postseason.

[jv001]

Lance was the difference maker in this game. He allowed other guys to do their thing.

Lance played with intensity just like he always does. The difference was he played under control. In helping beat the press, in good solid defense without any silly fouls, holding onto the ball much better and as usual knocking down some big freethrows. Go Lance and Go Duke!

[Jumbo]

WOW! Coack K just screamed in the locker room. He said this was OLD FASHIONED DUKE BASKETBALL! He is smiling from ear to ear it's said. He sound giddy! And he says, enough of the road game talk.

Where are you getting this?

[roywhite]

Coach K on the postgame with Bob Harris....about as happy as I've heard him recently. Very, very pleased with the effort and preparation. Props to Lance for his inbounding...Wojo works with them on the inbounding...thing of beauty watching us break the press...won a very, very big game.

[sagegrouse]

...Zoubek seems to get rattled when shooting. It's hard to believe someone his size and with his experience can't put in a ball from a few feet away



I believe it was inches, not feet.

sagegrouse

[tbyers11]

And Lance showed some moves around the basket, plus the way K designed the outlet with Lance under pressure worked great.

I really liked the press break that we ran tonight. After cursing Lance a couple of times for not inbounding the ball to Jon on the side, I realized that unless the player between the lane and the sideline (usually Jon or Nolan) was really open he wasn't supposed to get the ball and that Lance was supposed to inbound the ball to player running up from halfcourt more in the middle of the floor. This makes the that first pass back to the inbounder a little easier and takes away the trap in the corner.

We did a great job protecting the ball in the second half and started with this well thought out and well executed strategy on the inbounds.

[Jumbo]

You're on.

Great win! Anyone else believe that for the first 30 minutes it was 5 on 8? Holy cow! We couldn't get a call.

sagegrouse

Well, then get to it! I believe we play Florida State on Wednesday ... ;)

[BlueintheFace]

Yah, coach ecstatic. Truly happy.

[lpd1982]

Awesome, how do you know that?

Just listening to Go Duke. No inside info, just thought somebody else might want to help me get my 10 dollars worth. Coack K literally screamed. (I do know though that Lance pointed to the outfield earlier today and said that he had Booker taken care of)

[RelativeWays]

Tough ugly win. Duke played like they wanted it in the 2nd half. K was probably smiling because his team exerted a great effort to seal the deal.

[Jumbo]

this game was huge and imo sets the tone for the rest of the season. It hopefully puts it in the teams head that they can win any game they play on the road.
I know people are going to say this is an extremely premature statement but looking at the schedule i see no reason why we can't win out for at least the rest of the regular season (if everyone stays healthy).
FSU will be tough because they always play duke tough, but it is a home game. Georgetown will be a test, but i have a good feeling about that game as it always seems duke plays great in those cbs sat/sun afternoon games. Tech will be another tough game, but again it's at home and i'm guessing the guys will want to avenge their lose from earlier in the year. The game at Maryland could be tough especially if Maryland is still playing well but the rest of the games i see duke winning easily.
Actually the game that worries me the most on the schedule is the game at BC. I could see it being a let down game for duke sandwiched in between the gtech and first unc game.
Now i realize it is pretty unlikely that duke would go undefeated until the conference tourney, and they probably won't. But i think the game tonight could really be a spark for this team, and start a great run to the postseason.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. One game at a time. A number of those games will be extremely difficult, and if this team can lose at NC State, it can lose any other game on the schedule, too. Let's just hope they can build on this and keep getting better.

[BlueintheFace]

K talkin about Lance's game tonight like it's a newborn child. God, he is so happy.

[Waynne]

The second half was beautiful basketball. Brilliant job by the coaches. Now we know what the team can do, and if it can keep playing that well consistently it will be a very good team.

[sagegrouse]

Agreed. I keep waiting for Z to get a foul called when he's on the bench. The refs must get a bonus for whistling him.

I agree. Why should Daniel Ewing be the only Duke player to get a foul before the game starts?

sagegrouse

[NashvilleDevil]

Duke played incredible in the 2nd half. I don't remember how much time was left in the 2nd half and what the score was but to me Duke really picked up the intensity after Booker's block and then trash talking to Singler.

I think the only think Lance did wrong in the 2nd half was missing the wide open dunk that would have put a nice stamp on the evening. Oh well he got the board and the put back.

[roywhite]

Where are you getting this?

Yep. Coach was jubilant in the postgame radio interview.

http://www.espntriangle.com/

It's over now, but you can get 620 the Buzz live feed from this link.

[strawbs]

People need to start talking more about nolan for first team acc or even acc poy. He has improved a lot from last year, and is playing at a high level consistently. Hopefully Singler can get it going the rest of the way, and we can have the big 3 be recognized on the acc conference teams

[diveonthefloor]

K talkin about Lance's game tonight like it's a newborn child. God, he is so happy.

Lance must be a leading candidate for defensive player of the year.

We haven't had once since Shelden....would be great for Lance to get it this year.....and if he plays well enough to deserve it, we may be advancing pretty deep in the tournament

[lpd1982]

Maybe I am overly optimistic, but after tonight I am taking Coach K's line about the State game ("they looked like a team that played at noon on Saturday and we looked like a team that played in a war late Sunday night") very seriously. I know Nolan twittered that they were all getting treatment on Monday. They were tired and battered when they played State and they sure didnt look like the squad of tonight. Let's hope that it was an outlier.

[Atldukie79]

A couple of observations:

After coaching high school kids in rec leagues for 14 years, I want to get a tape of this game to illustrate the masterful job of beating a press!!

Lance in particular was phenomenal!

First, did you notice how hard he worked running the baseline to get an easy inbound pass! He was sprinting side to side.

Second, he rarely dribbled....well schooled to stop upon receiving the pass.

Third and most important...ball fakes.... he made numerous, strong fake passes to disrupt the defense.

And finally, he nearly always made the right pass. Great decision making. And all this from a guy who gets criticized for his ball handling skills.

And oh, BTW, the 3 S's were outstanding beating the press also.

[Klemnop]

Nicely done. Methodical and precise.

Klem

[roywhite]

Nicely done. Methodical and precise.

Klem

Very nice of you to say, Klem.

Clemson is plenty tough, and Booker is one of the best players in the country. I think the Tigers will go as far as their guard play will take them.

[Jumbo]

Nicely done. Methodical and precise.

Klem

Thanks from all of us, buddy. Good luck the rest of the way!

[southgater]

I too was inpressed at how well we handled the press, especially in the second half. It was a bit of a shock to me to see Jon spending most of the press breaking time well downcourt rather than being a primary ball handler - duties that instead were mostly handled by Smith, Singler, and Thomas. However, it certainly seemed to work! I second what someone else said earlier at what a good job Thomas did, especially for someone not known for great open court ball-handling.

[jipops]

This was a completely different team defensively than the one that showed up in the RBC. To hold Clemson to 18 made field goals (10 by Booker) on their home floor is phenomenal. And it wasn't just a great effort on D for one half. Both halves were of equal effort and effectiveness.

[91devil]

Sweet win, handled the FC press with great precision in the second half.

So, how long until the media starts talking about Duke being the only team in the ACC (ex-North Carolina) with only one true, um, road win on the season?

[dukebluelemur]

Our early approach on the press was really poor, I thought. When we were just passing it back and forth without moving it down the court, or having one of the big guys try to dribble it up under pressure. We improved later, by making diagonal passes and looking for long passes up the court, and were also aided a great deal clemson's trouble shooting, which denied them the opportunity to set up the press in the second half.

[gumbomoop]

K talkin about Lance's game tonight like it's a newborn child. God, he is so happy.

Having found LT's chaotic energy too often self-defeating, I can see why K is thrilled tonight. About 95% of the time tonight, LT played ferocious, but controlled, ball. He was steady as inbounder, receiver, and next-passer, all 3 keys to breaking the press. He recovered to find Booker after switches. He rebounded. He scored early, hit 2 FTs late. Booker was superb, but he didn't dominate enough to control the game emotionally.

I think maybe MP1's rebounding [8] might be overlooked, in our thrill at LT's steadiness, NS's brilliance, and enough smart plays by JS and KS in 2d half to steady the O.

[mr. synellinden]

People need to start talking more about nolan for first team acc or even acc poy. He has improved a lot from last year, and is playing at a high level consistently. Hopefully Singler can get it going the rest of the way, and we can have the big 3 be recognized on the acc conference teams

Right now Nolan is our best and most consistent player. I don't think we win that game if he doesn't play such an outstanding second half offensively. He might be the most improved player in the country - I think he has more than doubled his scoring average.

He should definitely be in the All-ACC AND All-American discussion.

Second most impressive thing about the second half was our rebounding. Thomas and Miles were rock solid.

I hope that the two non-factor games from Mason aren't an indication that his injury against Wake wasn't something more serious that could affect him for a while.

[BlueDevilCorvette!]

Thrilled about this win! Total team effort. All those UNC fans who said, "I'll be calling you to talk junk after your butt whipping Saturday night" can STFU. That's how you win a game in a hostile environment!

[moonpie23]

awesome effort on defense tonight and good controlled focus on offense...


zoubs gets called no matter WHAT happens...

lance was da man...

[hakentotoro]

Lance Thomas had an awesome game today

http://thirtyonecents.com/2010/01/24/duke-beat-clemson-60-47

[moonpie23]

i have already, on previous posts, called Lance out for looking like dave chapell..

[SCMatt33]

I had a few points about the game tonight:

1. It's no secret that the terrific job on the press break helped with that win. I was particularly impressed with the awareness of the ten second count. They rarely panicked about the time and consistently crossed half court with 2-3 seconds left. They took their time, but knew when it was time to go. Much of the success of the press comes from forcing teams to panic and make bad mistakes, but Duke didn't allow that in the second half.

2. The announcers were talking about one of the big 3 needing to take over, and after they combined to get Duke in front, Nolan really stepped up to bump the lead out to a comfortable margin.

3. Defense. Been talked about ad nauseum already. Nothing to add.

4. Lance. He has really started to take advantage of defenses forgetting about him. He's at his best when he knows that nobody is looking for him and he can think solely about scoring. He can sometimes struggle when he hesitates or has any indecision, but is capable of putting the ball on the floor if he knows that he's taking it to the basket.

[-bdbd]

Thrilled about this win! Total team effort. All those UNC fans who said, "I'll be calling you to talk junk after your butt whipping Saturday night" can STFU. That's how you win a game in a hostile environment!

Retort to those heels:
"So, I forget, didn't UNC@CH play Clemson just this week? So, how'd that go??" Alternatively, "Hey, so who's in next-to-last-place in the ACC right now?"

'was really pleased at the performance tonight. Not surprised, though, as I thought they'd be all fired up following that humbling in Raleigh a few nights earlier. (BTW, HOW does State then come out so entirely flat vs MD??!)

Several of the guys showed their 'A' game tonight. That's the sort of performace we'll need in march in the ACC and NCAA tournaments...

Nolan had one of his best overall games ever. Scheyer was a steadying, mature presence - patient and smart in beating the press (and shot well enough). Lance was just spectacular on D, and a real key in breaking the press. Zoubs made some bad plays, but still certainly was a presence down low. Mason clearly contributed on the boards (but for heaven's sake don't think you, at 6'10", can be dribbling up against the press! Lesson learned hopefully.). Even Kyle played fairly well - certainly one of his better games so far this month. Let's hope this is the team that shows up the next few times!!!


:p:p:p

[mgtr]

I am one of many who have been critical of Lance in other games and other years, but he earned a whole lot of redmption points tonight. Great defense, and some legit offensive moves. Keep it up, NJ man!

[BlueDevilCorvette!]

One of Clemson's fans was holding up a sign that read "Remember 74-47". Well, it looks like Duke remembered hence the superb defensive effort that made LittleJohn Coliseum about as loud as a hospital's cafeteria!

[gwwilburn]

This Duke team has shown that it can win in a variety of situations. Tonight, we saw zero bench points, four made threes, and two points out of the Plumlee brothers, yet we cruised to a tough win on the road. Hopefully, as this team matures, more and more pieces of the puzzle will have to be missing for a loss to occur.

[devildownunder]

having found lt's chaotic energy too often self-defeating, i can see why k is thrilled tonight. About 95% of the time tonight, lt played ferocious, but controlled, ball. He was steady as inbounder, receiver, and next-passer, all 3 keys to breaking the press. He recovered to find booker after switches. He rebounded. He scored early, hit 2 fts late. Booker was superb, but he didn't dominate enough to control the game emotionally.

I think maybe mp1's rebounding [8] might be overlooked, in our thrill at lt's steadiness, ns's brilliance, and enough smart plays by js and ks in 2d half to steady the o.

i c, k.

[tele]

Nice win! Clemson is a tough team to beat at Littlejohn and they press really well. Although they did seem to tire a little from chasing Duke back and forth across the court for just under 10 seconds each time Duke brought the ball up. Clemson never gave up on the press but have to wonder if they were a little more tired on defense and maybe a step slower on offense, especially in the second half.

Coach K is pretty good isn't he?

[Kane]

http://content.usatoday.com/sportsdata/basketball/ncaab/game/Duke_Clemson/2010/01/23

. . . but a win at Clemson is awewsome, especially after the way we played against the weak press from State, I was worried we'd have a reapeat of last year . . . Go Duke!

[Welcome2DaSlopes]

This may have been answered but is there any OFFICIAL reason Andre didn't play?

[RoyalBlue08]

This may have been answered but is there any OFFICIAL reason Andre didn't play?

I have been trying to figure this out too and can't find an answer. I would think he must have an injury or something as I would have thought he would have at least came in instead of RK when Nolan picked up his second in the first half.

[Coballs]

Maybe this was previously stated...actually probably. This was the best road win in since we won in the Dean Dome 2 years ago.

[Bluedog]

Obviously, a very solid win and puts us in prime position to win the ACC regular season crown. Definitely a solid rebound from the game vs. NC St and gotta be pleased with the second half effort. More thoughts...Nolan seems to be by far the best player on our team to take his defender off the dribble and drive to the hoop. I had hoped we'd have a very solid 1-2 punch with Nolan and Kyle, but with Kyle driving, I still don't personally have the confidence of a solid finishing that I do with Nolan. Kyle certainly had a decent game, but we really rode Nolan on this one, especially during that second half spurt. Jon had an okay game, his shot wasn't the greatest, but he certainly was his usual self in doing stuff that doesn't appear on the stat sheet, even though his assist to turnover ratio was 1:1 in this one. I still don't think we broke the press as well as we could have, especially in the first half. By now, with the players we have, should get some easy buckets after breaking it, and I don't think we got as many as we should, especially in relation to the turnovers that Clemson caused.

Lance played a full 35 minutes and had a quiet 13 points in my mind, but perhaps I just wasn't paying enough attention to him. Personally, I feel a lot better when the Plumlees are on the court with their athleticism than when Zoubek and LT are on there....LT certainly has some nice defensive efforts, and Zoubs has great offensive rebounding efficiency, but our offense seems to flow better with Plumlee1 and 2 on the court, IMHO. Not sure why Andre didn't play at all, especially when we had some foul trouble at the guard spot and Kyle moved over to the 2.

Having said all that, we've gotta be pleased with the effort. This is probably our biggest win to date and puts us in the driver's seat for the rest of the season. Great effort in a hostile environment and a great rebound from the performance on Wednesday. I'm excited for this team and especially looking forward to seeing continued performances like we saw in the second half!

[uh_no]

Maybe this was previously stated...actually probably. This was the best road win in since we won in the Dean Dome 2 years ago.

against a ty lawsonless tar hole team......this win is probably better

[BobbyFan]

People need to start talking more about nolan for first team acc or even acc poy. He has improved a lot from last year, and is playing at a high level consistently.

Absolutely. He's been extremely efficient shooting the ball (48% FG, 51% 3PT, 81% FT) and he picks and chooses his attacking modes very well - the ball doesn't become stagnant when he gets his hands on it. And he's been incredibly consistent, scoring between 16 and 24 points in all but 3 games this season.

[Faison1]

Great win last night! I was 90% confident in the first 3 minutes that Duke was going to win. An obviously different effort and preperation from last year.

Positives:
Nolan and the big 3 were AWESOME!
Lance had arguably one of his best career performances in big game settings.
This might have been a turning point for the team in terms of confidence.
Our bigs really controlled another legit top 10-15 front court.

And here comes the dead-horse:
Playing the BIG 3 S's 37, 40, and 40 minutes is just not sustainable....
Where was Dre? Is Ryan Kelly only going to get 3 mins every game?

Oh well.....GREAT GAME GUYS!!!! Very proud of you!!!!

[CDu]

Heading into the game, I felt that we needed to do three things to win: handle the press, prevent dribble penetration, and contain Booker. We certainly did the first two with aplomb. Booker scored 22 on 10-14 shooting, so I can't say that we really contained Booker. But we did limit him to 6 rebounds. And by doing #1 and #2, we made it less imperative that we hold Booker down.

It's been said already, but it was just an unbelievable effort from Thomas. The kid played 35 minutes, most of them guarding Booker. And he managed to stay out of foul trouble while making Booker work for his points. But just as importantly, he was our inbounder against the press. This was an area of the game last year that hurt us a lot. Singler appeared to panick at times on the end line, and committed some bad turnovers. Thomas was under control and made great decisions. And as someone noted, Thomas did a fantastic job of channeling his energy. One of the weaknesses for him historically has been that he is just too wild and frenetic and commits dumb fouls or turnovers. Tonight, he focused his energy and made good decisions. Just an amazing game from him. Hopefully he can keep it up.

Smith's second half was just tremendous offensively and defensively. His 15 in the second half paced us and helped us put Clemson away. The guy has put up 18 or more points in 9 of the last 10 games, shooting 50% or better from the field in 8 of those 10. That's an impressive stretch.

It was not the best of offensive games for Singler and Scheyer, though they weren't awful. They had 8 turnovers and only 4 assists, and neither averaged a point per shot attempt. But both were very good defensively, especially in forcing some early second half turnovers to get the run going. Scheyer's shot is slumping and the amazing assist:turnover ratio has dropped to (gasp) 2:1 in January. He's probably back to just really good and not NPOY caliber. Hopefully he can get his shot back in February. I don't anticipate him getting back to the 5:1 or 6:1 assist:turnover ratio again, but maybe he can get it back to 3:1.

Just a great win in a near must-win situation. It appears that Coach K went to his starters/veterans today (11 minutes total for the freshmen, 25 minutes total for the bench), and they obliged by not getting in foul trouble (in the second half at least).

[Saratoga2]

Duke showed real improvement from last year in breaking the press and by doing so avoiding giving up points off of turnovers.

Lance had an excellent overall game showing the value of experience in the college game. He has also had other very good games this year. Perhaps he will graduate into consistency by playing hard but controlled basketball for the remainder of the season. It would be a big plus for the team.

Nolan is showing that the hard work of the offseason is paying off. He is our one player who can create and now he is playing smart mature basketball. You can't get far in the tounament without a guard like Nolan.

Miles has shown a big improvement this season. He is solid and athletic and his rebounding and defense have shown a big improvement. He probably would have made the bunnies that Zoubek just didn't make.

Jon and Kyle are experienced players and perhaps the ACC level of physicality have impacted their offense but their defense and leadership is excellent. Jon is just missing on some of his shots, while Kyle could improve his offense by being a little more under control. He still is charging and getting stripped driving into the basket. I would love to see them screen for him and give him the ball back close to the basket.

Mason's game is full of promise. Right now though he seems to be getting into too much one on one, getting lost on defense and fouling. It will come to him and his improvement will make the team much better inside.

Perhaps it is too late to look for improvement from Zoubek. He is what he is and he can rebound and clog up the middle but his offense is not a strong point and he just fouls way too often. A valuable cog at this point but not someone who will win a lot of games for us.

Whatever happened to Dawkins, he has a lot of upside too. Perhaps the ankle was worse than we knew. Kelly is getting some time, but is not likely to get a lot of PT unless another of our bigs is injured this year. He has a big upside as well and I expect that they will concentrate on making him a stronger player for the remainder of this year. Too bad he missed on the 3 point try.

[CDu]

This may have been answered but is there any OFFICIAL reason Andre didn't play?

My guess would be that Dawkins is not a comfortable ballhandler and isn't tall enough to pass over the defense. Against Clemson's press (which again, is the absolute key to their entire game), it appeared that Coach K wanted either experienced ballhandlers or guys who were willing and able to simply pass over the top of the press to handle the duties in the backcourt. Kelly is tall and is a very good passer, so I can see the logic behind going with him for a brief stretch (and having him guard a non-entity on defense) rather than risk Dawkins making mistakes and allowing a run by Clemson late in the first half.

[DUKIE V(A)]

Lance played a full 35 minutes and had a quiet 13 points in my mind, but perhaps I just wasn't paying enough attention to him. Personally, I feel a lot better when the Plumlees are on the court with their athleticism than when Zoubek and LT are on there....LT certainly has some nice defensive efforts, and Zoubs has great offensive rebounding efficiency, but our offense seems to flow better with Plumlee1 and 2 on the court, IMHO.


The offense does flow better with the Plumlees, because they are flat out better offensive players than LT and Zoubs. Still, LT and Zoubs are so underappreciated by Duke fans. They add a ton and whoever can't see that either ain't watching or doesn't want to see it. By the way, despite their lack of scoring last night, both Plumlees contributed A LOT of defensive aggressiveness and were important in tonight's win. They helped set the tone that we would not be backing down.

All four of our big guys add a lot to the team and are necessary for us to win against really good teams. With this depth, we are able to weather foul trouble and other teams thinking we are going to wear down. In many previous years, when our big guys got in foul trouble, we did not have an answer and we were "worn down" by big, aggressive teams. Now, we have four legit bigs, plus Singler and Kelly just in case. I think Coach K and the staff is doing a beautiful job managing the playing time and all four players are playing well overall. I expect that they will all play even better and more consistently down the stretch.

[Billy Dat]

RE: Dawkins

To me, there was no point where I was thinking, "Why isn't Andre in there?" I thought it for a millisecond in the first half when we couldn't get anything going on O but that was it. As K said, it was a man's game and he is still a boy. I know boys need experience to become men, but that game was won with defense and that's not his calling card.

[CDu]

RE: Dawkins

To me, there was no point where I was thinking, "Why isn't Andre in there?" I thought it for a millisecond in the first half when we couldn't get anything going on O but that was it. As K said, it was a man's game and he is still a boy. I know boys need experience to become men, but that game was won with defense and that's not his calling card.

Agreed, except for the "manhood" argument. I will say though that Dawkins's playing time in January is of interest. He's currently averaging 8.7 mpg in January, with only one game in which he had more than 12 minutes.

Whatever is going on (and it could be a number of things working together), it appears that Coach K is comfortable playing the big three for 37+ mpg every night. I won't be surprised if that continues.

At this point, I just hope Dawkins can be ready to contribute when needed. I don't see him averaging more than about 12-13 mpg the rest of the way as long as the big three don't get hurt or start really committing more fouls.

What's impressive is how well those three have done in avoiding fouls while playing at a high level.

[_Gary]

RE: Dawkins

To me, there was no point where I was thinking, "Why isn't Andre in there?" I thought it for a millisecond in the first half when we couldn't get anything going on O but that was it. As K said, it was a man's game and he is still a boy. I know boys need experience to become men, but that game was won with defense and that's not his calling card.

I think that's being way too harsh. I don't know why he wasn't in there. I hope it was due to a tweaked ankle that K just didn't want to potentially hurt more. But regardless of the reason, Andre has shown some fire and savvy this year already and I don't think questioning his manhood does anyone any good.

[ChicagoCrazy84]

RE: Dawkins

To me, there was no point where I was thinking, "Why isn't Andre in there?" I thought it for a millisecond in the first half when we couldn't get anything going on O but that was it. As K said, it was a man's game and he is still a boy. I know boys need experience to become men, but that game was won with defense and that's not his calling card.


Did Coach K say that in response to a Dawkins question or was he just saying it was a man's game?

I do agree that this was not a great game for Dawkins to play in with their full court press. I find it so odd though that he has trouble putting the ball on the floor. He was such a stud in high school!

Anyway, good job Devils! I was so giddy, I couldn't contain myself. I was a little harsh with them at halftime and some concerns still hold true, but all in all, I am ecstatic about this win. I know we have FSU on Wednesday, but let's go get GTown!!

[davekay1971]

First off...good, strong road win for Duke. Our guys played with mental and physical toughness on both ends of the court. It was a strong performance against a good team on their home court.

I wasn't disturbed at all to see Andre sit this one out. This was a game and an environment where experience mattered. Putting Andre out there as a ball handler against that press would have been setting the kid up to fail. We can debate all day about K's willingness to use his bench and how he develops talent, but one thing that you can't argue is that K puts kids in a position to succeed, and tries hard not to put them in a position to fail. Putting Andre out there would have been putting him a very tough position, one that could have hurt his confidence.

I would love to see more consistent offensive performance from Miles and Mason, but they're still developing. We've seen the improvement in both of them, would love to see it every game, but that's just not the way it goes. What we can count on from our bigs at this point is decent interior defense and very good rebounding. At this point we know that any offense we get from Lance or Zoubs is a bonus, which is ok. Miles and Mason clearly have the potential to supply some interior offense. I hope we see it more consistently by the end of the season.

All in all, a strong performance by our team. Can't wait to see what our interior can do against FSU...

[CDu]

I do agree that this was not a great game for Dawkins to play in with their full court press. I find it so odd though that he has trouble putting the ball on the floor. He was such a stud in high school!

The scouting report on Dawkins out of high school was that he was a very good shooter and a very good athlete but not a great ballhandler. That appears to have been correct assessment.


I know we have FSU on Wednesday, but let's go get GTown!!

Careful. These were the same sorts of comments made at the end of last weekend, and we see what happened against NC State. Hopefully the team is focused on FSU.

[moonpie23]

oh, and let's not forget.....the REAL score of the game is sixty ONE - 47......that WAS a 3 by jon the third shot into the 2nd half...

why didn't they go back and look at THAT???

[CDu]

It's been mentioned before, but I'm amazed at how the big three have been able to play at such a high level for so many minutes consistently while avoiding foul trouble. This isn't about whether or not they should play that many minutes every night - I'll leave that ongoing debate about fatigue for others.

But what has impressed me are these January numbers:
Scheyer: 38mpg, 18.7ppg, 4.4apg, 1.3fpg
Singler: 37.3mpg, 15.7ppg, 7.2 rpg, 2.6fpg
Smith: 36.9mpg, 19.3ppg, 53.9 fg%, 47.6 3pt%, 2.0fpg

Coach K has asked these guys to play 37+ minutes a game basically every game, and they've been up to the challenge. They've avoided foul trouble, mostly avoided injury, and still managed to be huge factors on both ends of the floor. Kudos to them.

[Neals384]

I hope that the two non-factor games from Mason aren't an indication that his injury against Wake wasn't something more serious that could affect him for a while.

I thought Mason's mistakes were mental, not physical. For example, when dribbling up court against the press, he failed to realize that Booker wasn't in front of him, so he must be....coming from behind to get a steal.

[CDu]

I thought Mason's mistakes were mental, not physical. For example, when dribbling up court against the press, he failed to realize that Booker wasn't in front of him, so he must be....coming from behind to get a steal.

I agree. I think Mason showed with his driving dunk in the NC State game that he's probably not that hurt.

I think his lack of PT against Clemson was a combination of his mental mistakes, the necessity of playing a very disciplined game against Clemson, AND how well Thomas was playing.

[MarkD83]

Agreed. I keep waiting for Z to get a foul called when he's on the bench. The refs must get a bonus for whistling him.

Those types of fouls are reserved for Daniel Ewing.

[yancem]

People need to start talking more about nolan for first team acc or even acc poy. He has improved a lot from last year, and is playing at a high level consistently. Hopefully Singler can get it going the rest of the way, and we can have the big 3 be recognized on the acc conference teams

What's interesting is that by the end of the season Duke could have the preseason pick for ACC POY (Singler), the pre=ACC season pick (Scheyer) and the post season pick (Smith)!!!!!

I think that Scheyer's shooting slump has brought him back to the pack when it comes to the POY discussion but fortunately for Duke Smith has continued to elevate his game and my be jumping to the head of the pack!

[sagegrouse]

oh, and let's not forget.....the REAL score of the game is sixty ONE - 47......that WAS a 3 by jon the third shot into the 2nd half...

why didn't they go back and look at THAT???

I thought the refs were killing us until halfway through the second half, when they decided to b emore even-handed, because we were going to win anyway.

sagegrouse

[roywhite]

I thought the refs were killing us until halfway through the second half, when they decided to b emore even-handed, because we were going to win anyway.



Yeah, what was up with that 3-point FG by Scheyer early in the second half that was counted as a 2-pointer, and not reviewed?? And then when Nolan hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key a few minutes later, it too was counted initially as a 2-pointer and only changed to 3-pts after a long, begrudging review.

Booker also seemed to lead a charmed life....

Ah well, the officiating turned out not to be factor.

[flyingdutchdevil]

I will be the first to say that I was very wrong in thinking Duke was inept playing on the road. We shut our critics up (including me). He played one of the best defensive games we've had in a while. Booker was Booker - nothing you can do too stop a bull.

However, one bench didn't have a great game - that was clear. If it wasn't for LT's opportunities, it may have been a much different game. He was certainly the difference maker for this game, although Nolan, as we have come to expect, would not be stopped. As Jumbo has said countless times, Scheyer seems to be in a shooting funk again. Not good at all...

[hq2]

I think Lance benefited a lot by the fact that a lot of teams have forgotten about him lately. He was getting open on the baseline, which is unusual, and he was also finishing well going to the basket, which he also hasn't done all that much of lately as well. Hopefully, the fact that he has exhibited both driving and jump shooting skills lately will force other teams to take him more seriously, and therefore take some pressure off the big 3, and (maybe) the Plumlees.

[SupaDave]

I think his lack of PT against Clemson was a combination of his mental mistakes, the necessity of playing a very disciplined game against Clemson, AND how well Thomas was playing.

K does indeed go with the hot hand...

[superdave]

Did anyone notice how LT and Kyle were the primary ballhandlers for beating the press much of the night?

It seemed that K wanted to avoid having Clemson's best defensive pressure-ers (the guards) on the ball. The bet was that LT and Kyle could handle the pressure from Clemson's big men better than Duke's guards could handle the pressure from Clemson's guards. Does that make sense to anyone?

Also, we knew where the holes in the press were and constantly found them, over the top, across the court, big men breaking down the middle. We get an a for breaking the press. Very poised.

[CDu]

Did anyone notice how LT and Kyle were the primary ballhandlers for beating the press much of the night?

It seemed that K wanted to avoid having Clemson's best defensive pressure-ers (the guards) on the ball. The bet was that LT and Kyle could handle the pressure from Clemson's big men better than Duke's guards could handle the pressure from Clemson's guards. Does that make sense to anyone?

Also, we knew where the holes in the press were and constantly found them, over the top, across the court, big men breaking down the middle. We get an a for breaking the press. Very poised.

I wouldn't say that Thomas and Singler were the primary ballhandlers for beating the press. The two were certainly heavily involved, but Smith and Scheyer were also prominently involved.

The team's strategy for breaking the press was to be patient, minimize dribbling, and pass over/around the pressure. That meant that the inbounder (who was mainly Thomas) and all of the perimeter players were involved. Whenever a double-team was approaching the ballhandler simply passed to the nearest open man, and we worked it up court that way, while trying to get the ball to the middle of the court (away from the corners/sidelines where the traps are most effective).

The use of Thomas and Singler wasn't really designed to isolate them against the bigs (Clemson's pressure isn't man-to-man but rather a full-court trap) but more an acceptance of the fact that the team needed our forwards to be involved as outlets to alleviate the pressure on the guards.

[PSurprise]

Agreeing with many on this thread, I think LT was the major difference in this game. He showed that he has a fairly quick first step and was able to finish strong except for that dunk near the end-fortunately he picked it up and put it in or else he would've gotten a bit more ragging. I'm sure his teammates let him know about that one.

[Highlander]

One thing I noticed last night - our end of game management running "stall ball" was dern near perfect. We ran the shot clock down twice and either got a bucket or got fouled and hit the FT's. Nolan then got fouled on a rebound and hit his FT's, and Lance put back his own missed dunk attempt. It made it very difficult for Clemson to mount any kind of rally when we scored every possession and ran ~25 seconds off the clock each time. For all the people who normally criticize our delay game, I just wanted to mention that we ran it very well last night and it was very effective.

Anyway, great game all around, especially in the second half.

[NSDukeFan]

What's impressive is how well those three have done in avoiding fouls while playing at a high level.


It's been mentioned before, but I'm amazed at how the big three have been able to play at such a high level for so many minutes consistently while avoiding foul trouble. This isn't about whether or not they should play that many minutes every night - I'll leave that ongoing debate about fatigue for others.

But what has impressed me are these January numbers:
Scheyer: 38mpg, 18.7ppg, 4.4apg, 1.3fpg
Singler: 37.3mpg, 15.7ppg, 7.2 rpg, 2.6fpg
Smith: 36.9mpg, 19.3ppg, 53.9 fg%, 47.6 3pt%, 2.0fpg

Coach K has asked these guys to play 37+ minutes a game basically every game, and they've been up to the challenge. They've avoided foul trouble, mostly avoided injury, and still managed to be huge factors on both ends of the floor. Kudos to them.

This is one time that a point bears repeating. I agree with you wholeheartedly and this is something that I hadn't really thought about it. To not be in foul trouble playing so many minutes and playing very solid D is impressive. If I am correct, that was a bit of a concern for Nolan coming into the year, as he tended to pick up some cheap ones last year and didn't play this number of minutes last year.
Overall, I am just really impressed with the team's effort and how much things can change in a few days. Now we can put to rest the haven't won on the road talk. It's interesting that if you look at Luke Winn's article in SI from last week, the only teams that could argue they have more impressive road wins this year would be Syracuse (with WVU) and Pitt (with Syracuse).

The breakdown of road wins by top-10 teams is as follows:

Texas (3): Rice, Arkansas, Iowa State
Kentucky (3): Indiana, Florida, Auburn
Kansas (3): UCLA, Temple, Nebraska
Villanova (3): Marquette, Louisville, Rutgers
Syracuse (4): Seton Hall, Rutgers, West Virginia, Notre Dame
Michigan State (3): The Citadel, Northwestern, Iowa
Duke (0)
Tennessee (2): Memphis, Alabama
Pittsburgh (3): Syracuse, Cincinnati, UConn
Kansas State (1): Colorado

Pitt and Syracuse, I would say, have the best away resumes, while K-State's is the second-worst after Duke's.

Given how important this win was and that it solidifies us as the favorite in the ACC and as a solid top 10 team nationally that can win tough games on the road, I find it hard to understand why posters would argue about coach K's rotation in this game. This was not the game to try a player for a few minutes to give Jon, Nolan or Kyle a break as a few minutes could be a few turnovers and the difference in the ball game against an explosive team like Clemson.
I am just really impressed with the defensive effort and our ability to handle the press without turning it over. Fantastic job!

[Kewlswim]

Hi,

Instead of channeling say 'Casey Sanders' will you guys and gals please channel 'Elton Brand' or 'Carlos Boozer' or 'Laettner' or 'G-man' or you get the idea. Our big men seem to have hands of stone and feet of clay much of the time. I am hoping Mason will soon channel 'Elton Brand' (big time)...though a little help by us won't hurt. :p

GO DUKE!

[moonpie23]

For all the people who normally criticize our delay game, I just wanted to mention that we ran it very well last night and it was very effective.

granted, but we didn't START the stall ball till about 4 min to go.....i think a lot of folks, (me) cringe when we take the foot off the gas as early as 8 or 6 min still on the clock...

It's difficult to continue high percentage success for a longer period of time. When the other team breaks our stall ball and scores immediately, it seems to swing momentum...