First games in a Duke career

[Lord Ash]

Hey all!

Obviously Kyrie had a great overall first game in a Duke uniform... look at that line!

17 points (2nd on team) 9 assists (1st) 4 rebounds (t-1st) 2 steals (t-1st) 1 TO.

I find myself wondering how he stacks up against other Duke players first games!

Is there an easy place to find this? I am not the best at net searches... someone out there happen to know of a place this info could be found?

[phaedrus]

Shav, 23 points and 7 rebounds against Army.

Also the first game of JJ, Shelden, and Dock (and Thompson).

http://statsheet.com/mcb/games/2002/11/23/army-53-duke-101

Edit: Of course, I forgot Lee.

[El_Diablo]

Shavlik Randolph's first game:
23 points, 7 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal, 0 turnovers (in 18 minutes)

And for his second game:
17 points, 12 rebounds, 4 blocks, 1 steal, 1 turnover

Edit: phaedrus beat me to it

[SCMatt33]

Here's Jay Will's first game stat line (keep in mind that it was against Stanford so the level of competition was completely different):

13 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 6 turnovers, 2 steals

BTW, for all of your future stat needs, Go Duke has a very complete statistical database (http://goduke.statsgeek.com/basketball-m/)

[uh_no]

Here's Jay Will's first game stat line (keep in mind that it was against Stanford so the level of competition was completely different):

13 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 6 turnovers, 2 steals

BTW, for all of your future stat needs, Go Duke has a very complete statistical database (http://goduke.statsgeek.com/basketball-m/)

it's conclusive.....kyrie is better than jwill

[Lord Ash]

Great site! I've never seen it before!

Grabbed a few from recent big-time Dukies...

JJ, 14 pts, 2 rebounds, 0 assists.
Elton, 12 pts, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks, 1 to.
Shane, 15 pts, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 0 to.
JWill, 13 pts, 10 rebounds (!) 3 assists, 2 steals, 6 to.
Chris Duhon, 0 pts, 8 assists, 3 to.
Kyle, 15 pts, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 blocks, 3 to.
Jon Scheyer: 12 pts, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 blocks, 2 to.

Three things jump out at me... Shane with 15, which seems high for him at that point, and JWill with TEN rebounds... yikes! And Kyle with a line that wouldn't seem too out of place today. Talk about RIDICULOUSLY consistent.

[gep]

Here's Jay Will's first game stat line (keep in mind that it was against Stanford so the level of competition was completely different):

13 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 6 turnovers, 2 steals




it's conclusive.....kyrie is better than jwill

Especially since US News ranks Princeton ahead of Stanford :cool:

[arnie]

it's conclusive.....kyrie is better than jwill

Forget the stats, Kyrie's the best freshman I've seen at Duke. We'll have so many wide open threes this year cause of his penetration - could be banner years for all the guards. Too bad he'll never get HB level props.

[Bob Green]

Too bad he'll never get HB level props.

I think the props will come quickly:

http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2010/11/14/1047844?sac=Sports

This Dan Wiederer article is flattering.

[Lord Ash]

I had not seen that article before; very interesting, thanks for the link. I love the story about K, Kyrie, and furrows... even though it might LOOK effortless, it isn't.

Oh, and the original post WASN'T an attempt to say that Kyrie will be better than JWill... it was just because it isn't often we get to see a guys first game in a Duke uniform, and it definitely isn't often it is so successful, so I thought it would be nice to see how other Duke guys did in their starts and to reminisce a bit!:)

[uh_no]

Forget the stats, Kyrie's the best freshman I've seen at Duke. We'll have so many wide open threes this year cause of his penetration - could be banner years for all the guards. Too bad he'll never get HB level props.

pretty big assertions given kyrie has played exactly 1 real game, and exactly 0 real games against real competition (let alone ACC competition)

[deezl]

Pretty sure Kyrie had a block as well in that first 2 minutes.

[94duke]

Pretty sure Kyrie had a block as well in that first 2 minutes.

Kyrie had the first block, first steal, and first points of the season. :)

[juise]

Kyrie had the first block, first steal, and first points of the season. :)

According to ESPN, Kyrie had the first assist, too.

[Greg_Newton]

Here's an article from GoDuke.com that compares Irving's debut to some of our historical PG debuts: http://www.goduke.com//ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4200&ATCLID=205031094

[94duke]

According to ESPN, Kyrie had the first assist, too.

I believe Mason had the first assist (18:24).
But I was sure hoping it would be Kyrie. :)

http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=22724&SPID=1845&DB_OEM_ID=4200&ATCLID=205030973

[gw67]

Forget the stats, Kyrie's the best freshman I've seen at Duke. We'll have so many wide open threes this year cause of his penetration - could be banner years for all the guards. Too bad he'll never get HB level props.

I'm sorry that I didn't see the game yesterday. The wife and I were returning home. I'm anxious to see Irving play. Irving better than JWill, Redick, Hurley, Brand, and Dawkins as freshmen? That is very good company. We shall see.

gw67

[Lord Ash]

I'm sorry that I didn't see the game yesterday. The wife and I were returning home. I'm anxious to see Irving play. Irving better than JWill, Redick, Hurley, Brand, and Dawkins as freshmen? That is very good company. We shall see.

gw67

I did not see Bobby's or JDawk's first game, but I definitely think Kyrie outshone JWill, JJ, and Elton in his first game. Stats-wise, it certainly seems Bobby was no comparison. Kyrie looked super poised out there, like an upperclassman, while being out there with a ridiculous amount of firepower... easier to pick up assists when the guys you are passing to are Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler:)

But again, first game does NOT mean "career" or "freshman year" or anything other than exactly that; first game. Fun, for sure, but not necessarily long-term meaningful.

[juise]

I believe Mason had the first assist (18:24).
But I was sure hoping it would be Kyrie. :)

http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=22724&SPID=1845&DB_OEM_ID=4200&ATCLID=205030973

Nice. Yeah, that's why I threw in the ESPN caveat. I know that their stats (http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/playbyplay?gameId=303180150) don't always line up with the official ones.

[arnie]

I'm sorry that I didn't see the game yesterday. The wife and I were returning home. I'm anxious to see Irving play. Irving better than JWill, Redick, Hurley, Brand, and Dawkins as freshmen? That is very good company. We shall see.

gw67

And I am usually a big pessimist. He sure seems unstoppable to me and looks like Chris Paul with a shot.

[phaedrus]

And I am usually a big pessimist. He sure seems unstoppable to me and looks like Chris Paul with a shot.

I expected Kyrie to be good at many things but I was most pleased at his shooting. He had a smooth stroke, quick release, and showed very little hesitation. One game is obviously too little to assess just how good a shooter he is, but his three-point shot is clearly a weapon.

We've often had a bevy of shooters at our disposal, but I can hardly imagine a team with more really great long-range shooters than we have right now.

[COYS]

I expected Kyrie to be good at many things but I was most pleased at his shooting. He had a smooth stroke, quick release, and showed very little hesitation. One game is obviously too little to assess just how good a shooter he is, but his three-point shot is clearly a weapon.

We've often had a bevy of shooters at our disposal, but I can hardly imagine a team with more really great long-range shooters than we have right now.

I was impressed with his spot up shooting abilities, as well. If I recall correctly (posters more knowledgeable about recruiting and his high school career can correct me), he played off the ball from time to time in high school which may have helped him get used to getting a few catch and shoot opportunities off of drive and kicks, something that point guards who dominate the ball are often not used to when they reach the college level. Jon was deadly as a spot up shooter after giving up the ball in our half court sets last season. If Kyrie can hit those shots consistently, it will go a long way toward making our half court offense as deadly as last year's.

[The Gordog]

I expected Kyrie to be good at many things but I was most pleased at his shooting. He had a smooth stroke, quick release, and showed very little hesitation. One game is obviously too little to assess just how good a shooter he is, but his three-point shot is clearly a weapon.

We've often had a bevy of shooters at our disposal, but I can hardly imagine a team with more really great long-range shooters than we have right now.

I loved the scene in last weeks ESPN "Training Days with the Duke Blue Devils" when Kyrie and Dre were having a shooting contest. After Dre make a half court swish they show how Kyrie made on from sitting down on the bench. Not just a 26 foot shot, but sitting down. That's some rediculous arm strength.

[DukieInBrasil]

I was thinking about this during the game too, and I was very impressed with Mr Kyrie. Rough start shooting, but he ended up settling down, but his passing and movement on the court were amazing.
Just to put it out there, in their respective first games, Kyrie badly outplayed Harrison B. Statistics aside, where Kyrie outperformed HB in every category, Kyrie helped make the game flow the way it did, whereas HB responded to the flow of the game rather than form it. This isn't really surprising considering their positions, and the fact that HB is dependent on a group of UNC PGs that aren't very good. If Kyrie had responded to the flow of the game rather than making the flow, his stats would probably have been more like 9pts, 4/2 a/to, 1 reb and 1 steal.
I'd say that Kyrie won the match-up of 1st career games at the NCAA level.

[phaedrus]

Should point out that Seth had a decent first game as a Dukie, too. 14 points, 3 rebounds, an assist and a steal in 24 minutes. I think we can look forward to him being far more than a three-point gunner, too.

[cato]

We've often had a bevy of shooters at our disposal, but I can hardly imagine a team with more really great long-range shooters than we have right now.

Not to downplay the potential for this team, but they'll have to make some significant improvements just to beat out their predecessors from a decade ago. Let's not forget the 3-point firepower from the '01 team.

Season averages:

Williams: 42.7% (132-309)
Battier: 41.9% (124-296)
Dunleavy: 37.3% (57-153)
Duhon: 36.1% (43-137)
James: 31.4% (44-122)

Overall, those 5 players took 1,017 3-pt FGAs, and hit 400 of them, for a combined average of 39.3%.

For comparision, here are the averages for last year for the returning players:

Singler: 39.9% (85-213)
Smith: 39.2% (60-153)
Dawkins: 37.9% (36-95)

Singler, who lead the team in 3-pt percentage, was the only individual to beat out the average of the top five players from the 01 team. And no one came close to Jason Williams' totals of 309 attempts and 132 made 3-pt FGs.

[phaedrus]

Not to downplay the potential for this team, but they'll have to make some significant improvements just to beat out their predecessors from a decade ago. Let's not forget the 3-point firepower from the '01 team.

Season averages:

Williams: 42.7% (132-309)
Battier: 41.9% (124-296)
Dunleavy: 37.3% (57-153)
Duhon: 36.1% (43-137)
James: 31.4% (44-122)

Overall, those 5 players took 1,017 3-pt FGAs, and hit 400 of them, for a combined average of 39.3%.

For comparision, here are the averages for last year for the returning players:

Singler: 39.9% (85-213)
Smith: 39.2% (60-153)
Dawkins: 37.9% (36-95)

Singler, who lead the team in 3-pt percentage, was the only individual to beat out the average of the top five players from the 01 team. And no one came close to Jason Williams' totals of 309 attempts and 132 made 3-pt FGs.

Those are impressive numbers, especially from Williams and Battier. However, I would point out that the 3-point line was moved back a foot after that year. In addition, my opinion is that all 4 of Singler, Smith, Dawkins, and Curry are notably better long-range shooters than Duhon was (although 36.1% is quite good), and Irving may turn out to be, as well. We'll have to see how the numbers play out.

[biscuit30]

Forget the stats, Kyrie's the best freshman I've seen at Duke. We'll have so many wide open threes this year cause of his penetration - could be banner years for all the guards. Too bad he'll never get HB level props.

HB can have the props, KI can get the banners.