Poll: Who has had the best individual performance against Duke thus far this season?

[1999ballboy]

I decided to post a poll here because I have been thinking about this question lately, and honestly any of the choices I put on here could be legitimately argued for. In some years past, it's been an easy answer (think Bootsy Thornton, Nick Collison, etc.), but this year, as I see it, there are 5 really good candidates. I'd like to see whether anyone can argue strongly for any of these guys, or if they want to throw anyone else into the mix.

[allenmurray]

I voted for Tracy Smith. But my vote really goes to Coach Lowe for devising, and to the NCSU guards for executing a game plan that repeatedly got him the ball in just the right position. When TS gets the ball in certain spots on the floor he is going to score - the key to defending him is to not let him get the ball. His team-mates consistently put him in a position to score and we couldn't figure out how to defend it.

[DeBlueDevil]

I voted Hughes. Can't remember his stats exactly but I do remember he was the whole reason Wisconsin walks away with that W. He hit a lot of big shots a big times in the game and eventually led to a victory for his team.

[CDu]

I'd have excluded Horner (he was clearly secondary to Smith anyway) and included:

DJ Kennedy (St John's): 18 pts, 9 ast, 4 reb, 5-10 FG
Trevor Booker (@Clemson): 22 pts, 6 reb, 2 blk, 2 stl, 10-14 FG
Al-Farouq Aminu (Wake): 22 pts, 10 reb, 2 stl, 1 blk

I'd say it's the performance by the Radford guy. Hughes had a great shooting game, but he can't compete with 23 pts, 14 reb, and 3 blk.

[NYDukie]

Went with Lawal as he was just a beast that game. He seemed like every time they needed a score, he either bullied, willed or did whatever to score and grabbed every important rebound with two hands either going over or through the Duke team to get it down. He ran the court, played defensed and just basically everything the team needed. To me his impact was on both ends of the court throughout the game as he just seemed possesed.

[1999ballboy]

I'd have excluded Horner (he was clearly secondary to Smith anyway) and included:

DJ Kennedy (St John's): 18 pts, 9 ast, 4 reb, 5-10 FG
Trevor Booker (@Clemson): 22 pts, 6 reb, 2 blk, 2 stl, 10-14 FG
Al-Farouq Aminu (Wake): 22 pts, 10 reb, 2 stl, 1 blk

I'd say it's the performance by the Radford guy. Hughes had a great shooting game, but he can't compete with 23 pts, 14 reb, and 3 blk.
Yeah, I admit I just included Horner to round out the field. Thinking about it more, Gonzalez and Degand were equally important with their superb ball distribution.

I still think it's a tough vote, but am inclined to go with either Parakhouski or Lawal. Tracy Smith had a great game, but he did so against our worst defensive performance of the season, and with his teammates doing a great job of getting him the ball. That game was a team win for the Wolfpack.

Parakhouski put up great numbers against us without a lot of help from his teammates. Could you imagine what he might have done to us if HE had Javier Gonzalez and Farnold Degand feeding him instead of Radford's overmatched guards? Some might take the opinion that he would have scored fewer points had teammates helped him out with the scoring. I would argue that that may be true if he were a guard, but since he's a big man, and the inside game was working, better guards would have focused on getting the ball inside rather than getting the points themselves. It's pretty widely accepted that that's the best way to beat Duke in general. Plus, how many opposing players get applauded by the Crazies when they step off the court? I've only seen it a couple times, and this was one of them.

Lawal beat us on a night when we hung around the whole time, unlike the NC State game. Our defense shut down Favors OK, but not Lawal. Nothing was going to beat him that night. He was just HUNGRY.

I might be biased against Hughes because I was watching the game in a loud room with no sound on the TV, and I knew nothing about Wisconsin's players. I didn't really notice who kept scoring all those points for Wisconsin. I just noticed that someone was, and it was making me mad.

Out of your nominations, which are all pretty good, I'd go with Booker. I hadn't realized his numbers were that good. His defense, however, was as good as his offense that game, whereas Aminu was forcibly introduced to the Plumlee brothers that night. Kennedy would be a frontrunner in my book if he had showed up both halves. His second half performance was outstanding, but we totally shut him down in the first.

[CDu]

Yeah, I admit I just included Horner to round out the field. Thinking about it more, Gonzalez and Degand were equally important with their superb ball distribution.

I still think it's a tough vote, but am inclined to go with either Parakhouski or Lawal. Tracy Smith had a great game, but he did so against our worst defensive performance of the season, and with his teammates doing a great job of getting him the ball. That game was a team win for the Wolfpack.

Parakhouski put up great numbers against us without a lot of help from his teammates. Could you imagine what he might have done to us if HE had Javier Gonzalez and Farnold Degand feeding him instead of Radford's overmatched guards? Some might take the opinion that he would have scored fewer points had teammates helped him out with the scoring. I would argue that that may be true if he were a guard, but since he's a big man, and the inside game was working, better guards would have focused on getting the ball inside rather than getting the points themselves. It's pretty widely accepted that that's the best way to beat Duke in general. Plus, how many opposing players get applauded by the Crazies when they step off the court? I've only seen it a couple times, and this was one of them.

Lawal beat us on a night when we hung around the whole time, unlike the NC State game. Our defense shut down Favors OK, but not Lawal. Nothing was going to beat him that night. He was just HUNGRY.

I might be biased against Hughes because I was watching the game in a loud room with no sound on the TV, and I knew nothing about Wisconsin's players. I didn't really notice who kept scoring all those points for Wisconsin. I just noticed that someone was, and it was making me mad.

Yeah, I'd put both Degand and Gonzalez (along with Booker, Aminu, and Kennedy) ahead of Horner. They were much bigger factors. Horner had a solid game, but he was very much tertiary to the other players.

Hughes had the most points against Duke this year (26), so I think it's appropriate to include him. I just think that, when considering overall performance, several other guys were better. I'd put the performances by the Radford guy, Booker, Aminu, Kennedy, Lawal, and Smith ahead of Hughes's performance. I went with the Radford guy just on the bulk of the numbers, but honestly I could see a case for any of the guys I mentioned in the last sentence.

[ScreechTDX1847]

Lawal. He scored points when they really counted for GT. Every time he got a rebound I sighed dejectedly.

[GothicKnightDevil]

i was torn between Tracy Smith, Trevon Hughes and Gani Lawal. In the end I voted for Trevon Hughes, you couldn't wrong with either three IMO.

[dukestheheat]

State's Smith lit the fire and torched our inside game; we had zero answer for him. Play them again this week, and we'd win it, but that guy woke us up last week, so thanks Smith!

dth.