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Jumbo
03-14-2010, 03:25 PM
Who was the Man of the Match in the ACC Tournament final against Georgia Tech?

grossbus
03-14-2010, 03:26 PM
because of the shot, jon.

CDu
03-14-2010, 03:27 PM
Had to go with Nolan Smith for his play over the entirety of the game, but that was a big shot by Scheyer at the end.

RoyalBlue08
03-14-2010, 03:27 PM
I was all set to vote Nolan, and honestly he probably had the best game of any of the players, but that shot won the game. Clutch. Jon wins.

ReformedAggie
03-14-2010, 03:28 PM
I had to vote for Andre because the kid came home today. Nice to see.

slower
03-14-2010, 03:31 PM
No Kyle, no win. Too bad he didn't take out Vitale instead of Shulman, though!

ice-9
03-14-2010, 03:33 PM
Jon's shot was the shot of the ACC tournament! But I don't think he should be MOTM on that basis -- he played a poor game the rest of the time.

Nolan was fantastic in the first half.

However, I'm gonna go with Singler with his clutch CLUTCH 14 free throws. We struggled to score in the second half and if it wasn't for Singler drawing fouls we wouldn't have won this game. On top of that -- 6 rebounds, and that heroic save over press row.

Kyle should definitely get MVP for the ACC tournament.

Son of Mojo
03-14-2010, 03:36 PM
Wanted to give it to Jon for the shot, Kyle easily was the Case winner, and Dre's play gave us energy in the 1st half, but Nolan was MOTM for the game.

Andre Buckner Fan
03-14-2010, 03:42 PM
Without Dawkins' 7 we go in a huge hole in the first half. He was our bench and we needed our bench in this game. I give him the vote for that.

I want to vote Jon, however he was too cold for too long, but that last shot was clutch.

Singler is clearly the Tourney MVP.

Ima Facultiwyfe
03-14-2010, 04:09 PM
This is a toughy. But, I guess I have to go with Kyle. Those free throws were as big as Jon's big time three. And he really gave up his body for this one.
Bless them ALL!
Love, Ima

borodevil16
03-14-2010, 04:23 PM
Pamtar a vote for Lance? Really?

weezie
03-14-2010, 04:23 PM
Kyle gave it the ol'Battier, "Climb on my back, we're not losing this"

But, it was a superb team effort. Everybody was focused, no panic, grit and guts.

Gosh!!! Hugs to all of them!

And come on, K played that game like a virtuoso.

Native
03-14-2010, 04:27 PM
Kyle and Jon were the reason we won, but I just have to give it to Andre -- solid contribution from the bench and a great throwdown (over GT's frontcourt, no less!) signals a bright future for both him and Duke. Way to go!

Merlindevildog91
03-14-2010, 04:27 PM
This was a tough one for me. Jon's shot was money, and Nolan carried us in the first half, I liked Andre's minutes, but I have to come back to Kyle. He did so many good things. Except, as someone said before, I wish he'd taken out Vitale instead of Shulman.

DukeDevilDeb
03-14-2010, 04:40 PM
Jon's shot was the shot of the ACC tournament! But I don't think he should be MOTM on that basis -- he played a poor game the rest of the time.

Nolan was fantastic in the first half.

However, I'm gonna go with Singler with his clutch CLUTCH 14 free throws. We struggled to score in the second half and if it wasn't for Singler drawing fouls we wouldn't have won this game. On top of that -- 6 rebounds, and that heroic save over press row.

Kyle should definitely get MVP for the ACC tournament.

And he did. True, Jon's shot was key; true, Nolan's play at the beginning of the game was huge; true, Andre really stepped up.

But no Kyle, no win... no championship.

mgtr
03-14-2010, 04:48 PM
Everybody makes a good case for one of four players, but nobody even mentions Lance and Zoubs! I simply cannot choose, there were six people who played great games, so I guess I just wimp out and give to the team. But Singler was certainly the tournament MVP.

DukeGirl4ever
03-14-2010, 04:49 PM
I don't think I can vote for this one. Each player made GREAT contributions from Andre's dunk, to Mason's slam off of Nolan's miss, to Zoub's boards....
Nolan in the first half, Kyle doing everything as usual, and Jon's shot.

This is one time I'd give it to the entire team.
As the great Coach Norman Dale said, "Five players on the floor functioning as one single unit: team, team, team - no one more important than the other. "

:p

Jarhead
03-14-2010, 05:36 PM
My vote went to Singler, but I wish there was a way to split my vote. The RayComm folks had Favors for Ga Tech, and the big three for Duke. By the way, in a link to an interview with the three of them they indicated a preference for "The Law Firm" as their nick name. I go along with that.

BleedsP287
03-14-2010, 06:01 PM
Singler gets my vote if only because his free throw shooting down the stretch won us the game- it was the only was we could score.

Jon's shot was sweet though, he really came through when we needed it.

greybeard
03-14-2010, 06:50 PM
Kyle gave it the ol'Battier, "Climb on my back, we're not losing this"

But, it was a superb team effort. Everybody was focused, no panic, grit and guts.

Gosh!!! Hugs to all of them!

And come on, K played that game like a virtuoso.

Agrre! Sometimes you have to say that there is only one game ball and it goes to the coach. He was magnificant! A little thing, GT was playing well, two good plays off the high screen which resulted in easy catches by the screener near the rim. K puts in Lance for Mason, Z shows on the screen, Lance picks up the screener as he comes to the middle and Z rotates easily to Lance's man. Two seasoned vets put a stop to a mini run.

Who calls for that shot from a guy who is obviously playing with a sore back? Who does that?

Hadn't seen any of the previous games but Jon is definitely hurting. The week will do him good. He's been heroic. Grev can play you into or out of a game; Jon, even wounded, did not do that in fact he was clutch. POTY!

POTM, Kyle "John Havlecek" Singler. Tell me he doesn't remind you of a taller Hondo, even the way the two extend their entire shoulder girdle up when reaching. I( thought everybody battled well, really, really well, Singler carried the offense during key parts of the second half.

OZZIE4DUKE
03-14-2010, 08:02 PM
Kyle. Period.

DukieInBrasil
03-14-2010, 08:30 PM
I had to vote for Singler, despite the wretched FG shooting he was so clutch at the line. Of course, when shooting 16 FTs, you get a certain rhythm going, but nailing 14-16 from the stripe in pressure packed conditions deserves a tip of the hat.
Though not MOTM worthy a shout needs to go to Andre, for his little explosion of 7 pts and a nasty dunk thru the heart of the D! I think he's back...

Richard Berg
03-14-2010, 09:19 PM
I think Andre is a little "too" back. At barely 18yo, he still needs to learn the difference between "feeling it" and "hogging it." After he finally hit that 3pt (putting him 1-2) he forced some stupid turnaround/fallaway shots that would've ordinarily landed him back on the bench were it not for Nolan's foul trouble.

Lucky for both him & Duke, K stuck with Andre and let him stroke another nice J plus the nasty dunk. I think Favors was too stunned at what he was seeing to even contest the shot!

His defense was also pretty good. No major disruptions, but no major mistakes either. It's clear to me that he'll be ready to rock next week. (Hopefully his improvement over the last few weeks can put the "Collins/Wojo don't develop players" myth to rest once & for all. Same goes for the Plumlees, frankly, who looked much much smoother this week despite Miles' continued inability to catch the ball.)

Oh yeah, what was this thread about? MOTM = Kyle. I'd love to vote for Coach, but that wasn't a choice. So Kyle it is, for being the epitome of the grit & determination that our whole team has really become.

Newton_14
03-14-2010, 10:15 PM
I am a huge Kyle Singler fan, and in fact I think he is the most complete player to play at Duke since Danny Ferry in terms of complete skill set and doing many things well. And he had a heck of a tournament and was a warrior again today. We don't win without him.

All that said, I voted for Jon. That 3 was the dagger of all daggers and I fully believe we lose that game today if he misses it. Dude was off on his jumper all day, was dead tired, and the game was slipping out of our hands, yet he came off that screen without hesitation, and did not blink and drained it with all of the marbles on the line. Huge huge shot from an All-American.

Props to Kyle for great D, and 14 out of 16 at the line and taking out Vitale,

Props to Zoubs for great D, great rebounding and 2 huge free throws,

Props to Nolan for great D, and for coming out of the gate hot and setting the tone,

Props to Andre for good D, and coming out of his shell in the biggest game of his life so far, knocking down 3 of 5 shots including the nasty dunk,

Props to LT for great D, forcing TO's and handling the press again (Work on the deep pass though)

And finally props to Mason and Miles for solid D, and helping the offense flow better while avoiding the silly mistakes we have seen in several games.. (And note to Miles, next time you drive the lane like you did today, dunk it in a nasty way big fella, no layup attempts for you!).


Lastly, thinking back on the game, aside from a few bad TO's that I attribute to fatigue and great pressure D from Tech, I thought the only "bad" thing any of our guys did today was miss shots. Which is not surprising given we have struggled all year in that category and with it being the 3rd tough game in as many days we had to expect the shooting to be less than stellar today.

All in all a really good effort by all 8 guys that played..

NSDukeFan
03-14-2010, 10:24 PM
I am a huge Kyle Singler fan, and in fact I think he is the most complete player to play at Duke since Danny Ferry in terms of complete skill set and doing many things well. And he had a heck of a tournament and was a warrior again today. We don't win without him.

All that said, I voted for Jon. That 3 was the dagger of all daggers and I fully believe we lose that game today if he misses it. Dude was off on his jumper all day, was dead tired, and the game was slipping out of our hands, yet he came off that screen without hesitation, and did not blink and drained it with all of the marbles on the line. Huge huge shot from an All-American.

Props to Kyle for great D, and 14 out of 16 at the line and taking out Vitale,

Props to Zoubs for great D, great rebounding and 2 huge free throws,

Props to Nolan for great D, and for coming out of the gate hot and setting the tone,

Props to Andre for good D, and coming out of his shell in the biggest game of his life so far, knocking down 3 of 5 shots including the nasty dunk,

Props to LT for great D, forcing TO's and handling the press again (Work on the deep pass though)

And finally props to Mason and Miles for solid D, and helping the offense flow better while avoiding the silly mistakes we have seen in several games.. (And note to Miles, next time you drive the lane like you did today, dunk it in a nasty way big fella, no layup attempts for you!).


Lastly, thinking back on the game, aside from a few bad TO's that I attribute to fatigue and great pressure D from Tech, I thought the only "bad" thing any of our guys did today was miss shots. Which is not surprising given we have struggled all year in that category and with it being the 3rd tough game in as many days we had to expect the shooting to be less than stellar today.

All in all a really good effort by all 8 guys that played..
Kyle is such a warrior and such a fantastic player. I had to give him MOTM as well. It's nice when we have a tournament when we don't shoot that well in any game (from the field, fantastic job from the line) and can still come away with the championship. That's smart basketball and gritty defense.

gep
03-14-2010, 11:56 PM
I had to go with Kyle. I think he's still on an upward trajectory... just getting better and better. Amazing that he seems to get stronger and "less" tired as games go on. I'd love for Kyle to get "so good" that he takes Duke to the NC... even if that means that he goes to the league. Next year is next year... yeah, I'd take that :)

Bob Green
03-15-2010, 07:03 AM
I think Andre is a little "too" back. At barely 18yo, he still needs to learn the difference between "feeling it" and "hogging it." After he finally hit that 3pt (putting him 1-2) he forced some stupid turnaround/fallaway shots that would've ordinarily landed him back on the bench were it not for Nolan's foul trouble.

Dawkins was 3-5 from the field (1-2 on 3-point attempts) so he only missed one two point attempt in the game. I missed the first 19 minutes of the game due to a Daylight Savings Time goof-up on my part (we don't have DST in Japan) so I'd be interested in hearing more details on Dawkins "hogging it." It sounds to me like he might have taken one bad shot after draining a 3-pointer. In a low scoring first half, his seven points were critical.

His drive down the lane and power dunk was awesome. I watched it on ESPN over and over.

Saratoga2
03-15-2010, 07:58 AM
While Jon has had periods this year where his guile and playinng ability have carried the team and Nolan with his quickness and aggressiveness did the same, Kyle was definitely the man of the tournament.

When guarded by a small quicker player he posted up and scored over him, yesterday, GT has good sized and athletic players so Kyle altered his game, drew fouls and drained them. His last 11 points were from free throws and he calmly drained them all.

In addition, he often was tasked with bringing the ball over the line, since GT was putting so much pressure on our guards. That he can do that well was a help to th team. Then there was his tough rebounding and excellent defense.

Kyle has the combination of size, strength, athletic ability, determination and experience to make him extremely difficult to stop and he definitely earned the MVP for the tournament. I dare say that we probably would have lost all three games if Kyle was sidelined.

jv001
03-15-2010, 03:33 PM
Kyle but it could have been Jon, Nolan, Andre, Zoubs, or the Plumlees. Chose Kyle for his gutsy and clutch play. Go Duke!

dball
03-15-2010, 03:38 PM
Dawkins was 3-5 from the field (1-2 on 3-point attempts) so he only missed one two point attempt in the game. I missed the first 19 minutes of the game due to a Daylight Savings Time goof-up on my part (we don't have DST in Japan) so I'd be interested in hearing more details on Dawkins "hogging it." It sounds to me like he might have taken one bad shot after draining a 3-pointer. In a low scoring first half, his seven points were critical.

His drive down the lane and power dunk was awesome. I watched it on ESPN over and over.

Andre took one bad shot where I thought he was definitely 'feelin' it' but that's what shooters do. When you're feeling it, you think every shot is going to fall. And it appeared his teammates were trying to get him the ball. :)To his credit, I don't think he hoisted any other poor shots up.

Thought the kid played a great game.