MBB: Duke 98, Elon 72 Post-Game Thread

[JBDuke]

Please put your post-game thoughts here.

[cptnflash]

The most important stat: Congrats to Coach K on tying Dean Smith for #2 all time with victory #879!! He is the man of the match!

[BattierBattalion]

Ugly win... but I'll take it. Nolan was sensational. I love Kyle's leadership. I'm concerned with Mason. He's taken a step back these past few games.

Congrats to Coach K on 879! Truly remarkable!

[Lord Ash]

Hm. Some tough situations tonight with fouls and long break and still no Kyrie and all... very nice game by Kyle. I really do like Ryan... good sense, good IQ, great passing. Dre and Seth looked good. Still stumped by the Plumbros... they have decent feet (as you can see by how well they hedge) but their hands, which I think you cannot teach, are not very good, and Mason just is not aggressive at all... he really needs to step up a bit if we want to win a title.

Funny how a 30 point win can feel so disjointed:)

And congrats to the best coach in the game!

[cptnflash]

Hm. Some tough situations tonight with fouls and long break and still no Kyrie and all... very nice game by Kyle. I really do like Ryan... good sense, good IQ, great passing. Dre and Seth looked good. Still stumped by the Plumbros... they have decent feet (as you can see by how well they hedge) but their hands, which I think you cannot teach, are not very good, and Mason just is not aggressive at all... he really needs to step up a bit if we want to win a title.

Funny how a 30 point win can feel so disjointed:)

And congrats to the best coach in the game!

Manos de piedra, just like Roberto Duran back in the day. (Ok, way back in the day.)

[Saratoga2]

Can't really talk about how people played, seeing only gametracker, however it was clear that Nolan and Kyle gave us their usual excellent games. A positive sign is that Dawkins had a strong game and got his points in a variety of ways and also rebounded well. It is good to see Kelly get some points.

Was Elon in a zone? It is a little disconcerting to see each of the Plumlee brothers only able to get 4 points against this team. Anyone have a view as to why they aren't contributing more on the offensive end?

It also seemed that our defense was subpar tonight giving up quite a few points. Is Elon that good?

[Acymetric]

My Phoenix hung tough in this game...refs were whistle happy which sort of sucked some of the life out of the game.

Duke definitely had some rust (I was definitely wrong saying that they would be fine) but I think they light up Greensboro after Christmas.

Also, Nolan has to avoid foul trouble. I think tonight was an aberration with regards to officiating but the drop-off without him on the floor is pretty noticeable. I like Thornton and Curry but neither can run the point near as well as Nolan on both ends of the floor.

[Acymetric]

Was Elon in a zone? It is a little disconcerting to see each of the Plumlee brothers only able to get 4 points against this team. Anyone have a view as to why they aren't contributing more on the offensive end?

It also seemed that our defense was subpar tonight giving up quite a few points. Is Elon that good?

Yeah, that was definitely odd...our bigs should have eaten Elon alive tonight, maybe chalk it up to the touchy officiating?

[dukelifer]

Can't really talk about how people played, seeing only gametracker, however it was clear that Nolan and Kyle gave us their usual excellent games. A positive sign is that Dawkins had a strong game and got his points in a variety of ways and also rebounded well. It is good to see Kelly get some points.

Was Elon in a zone? It is a little disconcerting to see each of the Plumlee brothers only able to get 4 points against this team. Anyone have a view as to why they aren't contributing more on the offensive end?

It also seemed that our defense was subpar tonight giving up quite a few points. Is Elon that good?

This team really does not pass well to the post players. This is where Kyrie is missed most. Mason is much better with Kyrie in the lineup. Duke has many great shooters and absent Kyrie, no great drive and dish guys and that means the big fellas have to create more.

[ChicagoCrazy84]

Did Mason get benched? I was watching ESPN GameCast and didn't see anything in the stat sheet for him for a while.

[Wander]

I'm concerned with Mason. He's taken a step back these past few games.

It's certainly no coincidence that his step back has exactly coincided with Kyrie's absence.

[dukelifer]

Did Mason get benched? I was watching ESPN GameCast and didn't see anything in the stat sheet for him for a while.

Kelly was playing well tonight.

[Doctor Mu]

It's certainly no coincidence that his step back has exactly coincided with Kyrie's absence.

I completely agree. Mason benefits greatly from KI's style, speed, and triple threat to open lanes.

Kelly's hi b'ball IQ and hi-lo game is allowing him to develop under a more ordinary half-court game.

[CLW]

A rusty/sloppy win.

Mason just doesn't seem to have that "mean streak" in him. I thought he would dominate tonight on the glass and in the paint. However, his lack of a back to the basket game is really hurting him right now with Kyrie's absence.

[jipops]

If it weren't for the exam period, I would call this effort a bit disturbing. Because of exams, I'm not sure what to call it. Our big guys did a terrific job of moving the ball around, check out Kelly's 6 assists! Nolan did a great job of creating instant offense. But in the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half our defense was abysmal, against an offense that is at the bottom half of division 1.

Mason gets almost no touches since Kyrie has gone out. Obviously he has been struggling the most. It is hard to produce when you don't get any more than 3 shots. I think he had figured out where he fit in and now with the offense having to change again he has lost some comfort out there.

Again I know this is that game of the season where we routinely expect a degree of sloppiness. But if we see this same kind of effort in Greensboro in 9 days I may feel some concern.

[superdave]

We out-rebounded Elon 40-26 and forced them into 18 turnovers. But they scored 41 2nd half points on us, and that's quite frankly not acceptable. Our defensive intensity disappeared after halftime.

I thought Elon played their butts off and exceeded our intensity for the most part. They should be proud of their effort tonight. Every time we had a chance to put them away, they put a little run on us. They forced Singler to play 37 minutes.

I thought Seth stepped up admirably tonight to run the offense and to pressure Elon's ball handlers. He was my MOTM.

[CameronBornAndBred]

I enjoyed the last 5 minutes.

[El_Diablo]

It is a little disconcerting to see each of the Plumlee brothers only able to get 4 points against this team. Anyone have a view as to why they aren't contributing more on the offensive end?

Miles did not do a lot of posting up tonight...mostly high screens & rolls. A few lob passes were broken up as he was rolling to the rim, which is starting to become a pattern with this team. The guards need to recognize the situation and make the smart bounce pass for a layup rather than try to go for the alley-oop every time.

Mason did post up a few times, and did get the ball fed to him. Two problems though. First, as is common with him, he did not start with great positioning. He tends to let the defender push him around a little while he's trying to establish position, so when he finally catches the ball, he's at least 6 feet off the block. Part of this is the guards' problem too...when they're looking to pass it down low, they sometimes take way too long, and they don't always establish good passing angles (they're often pounding the ball into the court while they wait for Mason to seal off the defender, rather than swinging the ball, for example, to the corner where it would be easier to get a better angle). Anyway, the second issue was that, at least in the second half, Elon ran a second defender at him every time he got the ball down low (even if he was 12 feet from the rim), so he had to pass out of the double team. I don't think he turned it over in any of those situations, so he did well in my book.

Not a great offensive performance from either one, but neither one was really looking for his shot. On the plus side, Kelly backed his man down a few times and got a couple nice looks from it.

[jv001]

A rusty/sloppy win.

Mason just doesn't seem to have that "mean streak" in him. I thought he would dominate tonight on the glass and in the paint. However, his lack of a back to the basket game is really hurting him right now with Kyrie's absence.

has fallen off from earlier games and it does go hand in hand with Kyrie's injury. When Mason receives the ball in the low post, it's plain to see he's thinking way too much. Two thngs that hurt him are his lack of a left hand shot and the lack of a quick power move in getting the ball to the basket. Miles has improved in both of these areas and he will get better. If Mason does not take his game to a higher level, Ryan will get some of his minutes and I hate to see this happen. We need for Mason to play to his potential in order for Duke to reach team goals for this season. Go Duke!

[hurley1]

score a hundred and win by thirty.......some fans still are doubting thomases......:D.........you guys just kill me........:D.....is there any possibility that Coach K experiemented with any offensive or defensive schemes tonite ???.......maybe tests that he would have not run againat a good ball team ???.........if Coach K wanted to test a few things in game action, tonite was the nite......duke will be fine......

[DevilHorns]

score a hundred and win by thirty.......some fans still are doubting thomases......:D.........you guys just kill me........:D.....is there any possibility that Coach K experiemented with any offensive or defensive schemes tonite ???.......maybe tests that he would have not run againat a good ball team ???.........if Coach K wanted to test a few things in game action, tonite was the nite......duke will be fine......

That makes sense if you're talking offense.

The issue tonight was defense. Elon had far too many good-to-easy shot attempts (and they happened to shoot a healthy clip). Given the rust expected to build at this time in the season with exams and all, I think it's healthy not to read to much into our performance.

Landmark win for K. Congratulations to him and the program.

[fisheyes]

score a hundred and win by thirty.......some fans still are doubting thomases......:D.........you guys just kill me........:D.....is there any possibility that Coach K experiemented with any offensive or defensive schemes tonite ???.......maybe tests that he would have not run againat a good ball team ???.........if Coach K wanted to test a few things in game action, tonite was the nite......duke will be fine......

Thank for the reality check. I would much rather peak in say...March or April.

[bluepenguin]

Kelly's hi b'ball IQ and hi-lo game is allowing him to develop under a more ordinary half-court game.
One thing he did that I really liked: when he got the ball underneath, he did not pump the ball several times to get the defender in the air, nor did he put the ball on the ground. He caught it high and went straight back up. Almost impossible to defend - would be nice if Mason would do that more often.

[Duke76]

tonight the boys flunked the test, let's hope they did
better on their academic exams with which they just finished.
We were very lazy in getting down in defensive position tonight.
Elon guys blew by most of our guys constantly with first steps...
not suppose to happen on Duke's team...K is gonna light them up when
they get back from holidays.

I think one charge was taken by us...kinda tells us the story, imo..that and a bunch of
reaches and swats as players blowing by us

[hurley1]

One thing he did that I really liked: when he got the ball underneath, he did not pump the ball several times to get the defender in the air, nor did he put the ball on the ground. He caught it high and went straight back up. Almost impossible to defend - would be nice if Mason would do that more often.

i absolutely agree.......mason needs to directly attack the basket every opportunity he gets......that's where his gold mine is.......he needs to play the game with some muscle behind him.......he needs to challenge defenders straight up, and use his strength to gain position......i really like kelly......kelly is going to get even better...alot better.....when april comes, kelly will be zoubek with a nasty 3 point shot.....i am getting excited about that.....i hope that is what is coming......we will see....

[delfrio]

I liked the announcer quote, "And Singler has become unstoppable."

[Newton_14]

I enjoyed the last 5 minutes.

Bingo. Just got in from the game. Actually with about 6 minutes to go is when we finally started playing defense and woke up as a team. It also led to better offense. Had we played that way out of the gate this would have been a easy 40 point win rather than the sluggish win.

I chalk it up to rust and still adjusting to life with out Kyrie. Nolan in foul trouble made it even worse as he missed 13 of the first 14 minutes of the 2nd half. The officiating was horrible all game on both ends which made for a choppy game.

Hopefully they will shake off the rust in Greensboro and put on a better showing.

Edit: I would be remiss not to give props to Elon. They are well coached, executed their game plan and played a very smart basketball game. Their 2 guards played really well and as a team they did not back down.

[watzone]

Here is a post game report with Coach K's post game audio verbatim where he talks of tying Dean, Kyries injury and such. http://bluedevilnation.net/2010/12/bdn-post-game-report-duke-defeats-elon-98-72-coach-k-post-game-audio/

[ncexnyc]

has fallen off from earlier games and it does go hand in hand with Kyrie's injury. When Mason receives the ball in the low post, it's plain to see he's thinking way too much. Two thngs that hurt him are his lack of a left hand shot and the lack of a quick power move in getting the ball to the basket. Miles has improved in both of these areas and he will get better. If Mason does not take his game to a higher level, Ryan will get some of his minutes and I hate to see this happen. We need for Mason to play to his potential in order for Duke to reach team goals for this season. Go Duke!

Have you ever considered that maybe Duke could reach it's team goals if Ryan reached his full potential?

Afterall, we saw what happened with last year's team. Everyone was ready to annoint the Plumlee brothers as our starting frontcourt and it just didn't work out like that.

If Ryan earns more playing time than Mason, then so be it. Coach K will go with the players that are contributing the most to what the team wants to do.

[hurley1]

Have you ever considered that maybe Duke could reach it's team goals if Ryan reached his full potential?

Afterall, we saw what happened with last year's team. Everyone was ready to annoint the Plumlee brothers as our starting frontcourt and it just didn't work out like that.

If Ryan earns more playing time than Mason, then so be it. Coach K will go with the players that are contributing the most to what the team wants to do.

i absolutely agree........how much better was zubek at christmas than ryan ???........remember, ryan can drain the 3........

[dukebluelemur]

i really like kelly......kelly is going to get even better...alot better.....when april comes, kelly will be zoubek with a nasty 3 point shot


remember, ryan can drain the 3........

Listen Mrs. Kelly, I don't mean to be harsh, but we know you like Kelly and since you remind us 2-3 times per thread, there is no way on this planet we will ever forget he can shoot the three.

Maybe you don't realize just how often you've been doing it, so I'm going to start quoting you when you do!

For myself, this team is loaded with offense, what I desperately want to see is someone take over Zoubek/Lance's roles as rebounding/defensive maniacs, which I haven't seen yet. The big man who does that gets my vote for starter and 30+min/g, regardless of his offensive contributions.

[Kedsy]

It is a little disconcerting to see each of the Plumlee brothers only able to get 4 points against this team. Anyone have a view as to why they aren't contributing more on the offensive end?

The good news is we scored 97 points, so we really didn't need the MPs to contribute more on the offensive end, or at least we didn't need more points from them, which admittedly is not exactly the same thing.


It's certainly no coincidence that his step back has exactly coincided with Kyrie's absence.

I agree. It's interesting that Mason seems to have lost some swagger with Kyrie out. Hopefully, he'll get it back whether Kyrie comes back or not.


Again I know this is that game of the season where we routinely expect a degree of sloppiness. But if we see this same kind of effort in Greensboro in 9 days I may feel some concern.

I wouldn't feel any. It's hard to take anything away from games against the likes of Elon and UNCG (no offense to either of those schools or teams, but there's just too much of a talent disparity).


...Mason just is not aggressive at all... he really needs to step up a bit if we want to win a title.


If Mason does not take his game to a higher level, Ryan will get some of his minutes and I hate to see this happen. We need for Mason to play to his potential in order for Duke to reach team goals for this season. Go Duke!

If last season taught us anything it should be that things that seem necessary for us to reach our goals or win a title really might not be so necessary. Even without Kyrie I do not think any of our bigs have to contribute so much on offense for us to win. Tonight we got 21 points and 20 rebounds from our Mason/Miles/Ryan/Josh and I think that's adequate.

Note that since Kyrie's out, we are only playing the small lineup an average 4.33 minutes per game, so Coach K seems to be satisfied with the way the bigs are playing.


The issue tonight was defense.

I didn't see the game, but I have said since before the season that defense will pretty much always be the issue for us. The offense will come. What will determine whether our team is good or great is how well we play defense. Fortunately there's plenty of time for our D to gel.


...when april comes, kelly will be zoubek with a nasty 3 point shot.....

I don't think Ryan's game resembles Z's game in any meaningful way, other than they sort of play the same position. Ryan does seem to have a good opportunistic 3-point shot, although he only hit 1 of 3 tonight. Just like Mason, though, I don't think Ryan's shooting or point production will ever be the critical factor for us this season.

[superdave]

I didn't see the game, but I have said since before the season that defense will pretty much always be the issue for us. The offense will come. What will determine whether our team is good or great is how well we play defense. Fortunately there's plenty of time for our D to gel.


I have to say that I noticed the Plums making their defensive rotations better tonight, hedging screens (and recovering) and maintaining pretty good discipline throughout. The team D thing is creeping up on them and that's really good for where this team can go. We'll have to see if the trend continues.

[hurley1]

Listen Mrs. Kelly, I don't mean to be harsh, but we know you like Kelly and since you remind us 2-3 times per thread, there is no way on this planet we will ever forget he can shoot the three.

Maybe you don't realize just how often you've been doing it, so I'm going to start quoting you when you do!

For myself, this team is loaded with offense, what I desperately want to see is someone take over Zoubek/Lance's roles as rebounding/defensive maniacs, which I haven't seen yet. The big man who does that gets my vote for starter and 30+min/g, regardless of his offensive contributions.


Well, first of all i have never met ryan kelly.......but, i have watched duke basketball for many, many years.....i see a very special player developing in kelly.....and a special void being filled by his developement.....i believe his developement is the most improved on the team.....therefore, i am going to give him his props.......and i believe when april comes, you will be just as big a kelly fan as i am....but, i could be wrong....how does he compare to zubek at christmas time ???...... it's looking good so far......

[superdave]

Well, first of all i have never met ryan kelly.......but, i have watched duke basketball for many, many years.....i see a very special player developing in kelly.....and a special void being filled by his developement.....i believe his developement is the most improved on the team.....therefore, i am going to give him his props.......and i believe when april comes, you will be just as big a kelly fan as i am....but, i could be wrong....how does he compare to zubek at christmas time ???...... it's looking good so far......

I like Mr Kelly but he's not going to be averaging 15 and 10 this season. It does not appear that any of our bigs will do that. Collectively they are pretty good and getting demonstrably better though, which is what we should expect out of them.

[moonpie23]

just got home from work. Gonna watch the game on DVR.......

please don't tell me who won, k?

[snowdenscold]

just got home from work. Gonna watch the game on DVR.......

please don't tell me who won, k?

Huh? Aren't you posting this in a threat with the score in the subject line?

[Greg_Newton]

First of all - WHOA. That Miles Plumlee dunk was the highlight of the season so far. Please tell me that made SC top plays of some sort? That was jump-out-of-your-chair nasty.

Anyway, I'll be glad when this little stretch is over. I suppose it could be nice in that it won't drain the guys during exam time, but there's almost no point in playing these teams.

I think our defense will ratchet up a little when the games start counting. It's hard work playing Duke defense correctly, and I can imagine it being a little tough to keep that extra edge when you know you'll win handily regardless. Nolan cracked me up running around with his hands behind his back and in the air for a couple of plays after his spree of fouls - I almost wonder if K told him he could do that to make a point to that Karl Hess-looking ref, who made a ton of phantom calls.

I also think Mason and Kyle will start coming on later in the year. Both seem to come up big in the biggest games, especially in physical slugfests.

Until then, it's fun watching Dre fill it up. He's showing some really, really good touch in his 5-15' game. Most shooters get used to shooting from a certain distance like the three point line or foul line - muscle memory, and all - and don't have the same kind of touch on a 10' floater. Dre, on the other hand, hasn't missed one that I can remember all year, and you could tell he knew exactly where the ball was going on that leaning 10-footer he hit today. Really impressive, especially considering how much he elevates.

I'm also glad Ryan is adding the drive to the basket from the three-point-line to his arsenal. He was so good at that in high school, and it makes him so much more of a mismatch on offense if he can do it well.

[TruBlu]

Highlight of the game for me was Nolan playing the first few seconds with his hands behind his back & laughing, after returning to action in the second half with four fouls.

[oldnavy]

Highlight of the game for me was Nolan playing the first few seconds with his hands behind his back & laughing, after returning to action in the second half with four fouls.

That was very funny! I think Nolan has the best sense of humor, he is so dead pan, yet has a very funny wit about him....

[roywhite]

It was interesting to hear that the players would be able to go home after the game last night, and not be back in Durham until 12/26. With a long season that had big games even in November, this seems like a good idea. Just guessing, but I'd say not many teams take a break like this. Another good move by Coach K, IMO.

Enjoy your break, guys, and easy on the Christmas pudding.

[Indoor66]

Why is the Front Page no longer carrying the coaches comments (by both coaches) in the list of links asociated with the game commentary? I seem to recall this was a section I enjoyed reading after each game. Anyone know why they are no longer linked - or am I missing something?

[SMO]

tonight the boys flunked the test, let's hope they did
better on their academic exams with which they just finished.
We were very lazy in getting down in defensive position tonight.
Elon guys blew by most of our guys constantly with first steps...
not suppose to happen on Duke's team...K is gonna light them up when
they get back from holidays.

I think one charge was taken by us...kinda tells us the story, imo..that and a bunch of
reaches and swats as players blowing by us

Man, I'm glad I missed the game. Sounds like the worst 30 point win in the history of Duke basketball. Is it too early to say it's over?

[MCFinARL]

Didn't see the game. Can anyone give me some insight into why Seth started over Andre last night? Was he sharing point guard duties with Nolan (until Nolan got in foul trouble)? From the box score, it seems Andre got lots of minutes anyway, but without seeing the game I don't know how many of those resulted from Nolan sitting on the bench.

[Indoor66]

Man, I'm glad I missed the game. Sounds like the worst 30 point win in the history of Duke basketball. Is it too early to say it's over?

Naah - after reading the board, I doubt we win another game this year. No inside game, the wings are weak and nothing out of the back court. Too few rebounds or steals, not enough blocks and no pressure in the defense. It is time to fold the tent and call it a season. It must be over.

[jv001]

Have you ever considered that maybe Duke could reach it's team goals if Ryan reached his full potential?

Afterall, we saw what happened with last year's team. Everyone was ready to annoint the Plumlee brothers as our starting frontcourt and it just didn't work out like that.

If Ryan earns more playing time than Mason, then so be it. Coach K will go with the players that are contributing the most to what the team wants to do.

thought that Duke can reach it's team goals if Ryan reaches his potential, but I think Ryan is closer to reaching his potential than Mason is to reaching his potential. By that I mean Mason's potential is much higher because of his natural abilities. Hey I like Ryan and I hope he does well. Right now I think he deserves more minutes than Mason, but I don't see the guys in practice. Just my thought on the matter. I'm satisified where the team is at this point in the season. No whinning from me. Go Duke!

[Saratoga2]

When the season gets to a point where we face a really tough defensive team like Purdue was last year, our guys will have to work very hard to get their shots Points will be difficult to come by. Thats why I prefer Nolan to be in the position of shooting guard. He has the toughness to get it done in a number of ways against the better defenders. That means Seth and Tyler will need to be effective at the point. It is a lot to ask of Nolan to run the point and also score 20 a game. Kyle we also know will get his points. What we need is for other guys to pick up their game, particularly in the absense of Kyrie, and get us points consistently.

Last night we saw Andre vary his game a little more and he definitely is one of the guys that can give us consistent offense. Miles and Kelly are both showing signs of contributing. Hard to gage without the tough level of competition we will see in the ACC. Hairston didn't show much last night. Maybe his defensive effort relagated him to short minutes.

There has been a lot said in this string about Mason. He has the height, length, strength and athletic ability to be special on both offense and defense. Lets hope it will translate into rebounds, blocks, and points as we move forward.



.

[-jk]

Why is the Front Page no longer carrying the coaches comments (by both coaches) in the list of links asociated with the game commentary? I seem to recall this was a section I enjoyed reading after each game. Anyone know why they are no longer linked - or am I missing something?

I see the quote link there now; it's on the Duke Burns Phoenix, 92-78 (http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/articles/?p=37376) page, as well as with Jim's story.

Sometimes links don't get added until later. Julio updates sometime after midnight, and all the stories haven't been published yet. He'll usually go back and add a few in the morning.

-jk

[hq2]

Not quite sure what's happened to Mason either; without Kyrie, he clearly has struggled. The fact that both Andre and Ryan are showing an ability to score off the dribble is big. We need offensive variety, and since they don't have Kyrie to get them the ball down low any more, it's up to the other players to create more of their own shots. If Andre can shoot both threes and hit the stop and pop, he'll be almost unstoppable; that was a natural, easy 17 last night, well within the flow of the offense, and Kelly clearly showed he can drive against at least some defenders. And, he showed decent hops on that slam too. At this rate, he may definitely overtake the Plumlees; he's improving rapidly, and starting to discover what his new, bigger, taller, body can do.

[Neals384]

I see the quote link there now; it's on the Duke Burns Phoenix, 92-78 (http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/articles/?p=37376) page, as well as with Jim's story.

Sometimes links don't get added until later. Julio updates sometime after midnight, and all the stories haven't been published yet. He'll usually go back and add a few in the morning.

-jk

When Julio wakes up, maybe he'll correct the score in the headline!

[Indoor66]

When Julio wakes up, maybe he'll correct the score in the headline!

Dyslexia can be fun!

[roywhite]

Top 5 plays Duke vs Elon...from DukeBluePlanet (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iAukfkuuJA)

Kyle doing a little bit of everything.

[lotusland]

When the season gets to a point where we face a really tough defensive team like Purdue was last year, our guys will have to work very hard to get their shots Points will be difficult to come by. Thats why I prefer Nolan to be in the position of shooting guard. He has the toughness to get it done in a number of ways against the better defenders. That means Seth and Tyler will need to be effective at the point. It is a lot to ask of Nolan to run the point and also score 20 a game. Kyle we also know will get his points. What we need is for other guys to pick up their game, particularly in the absense of Kyrie, and get us points consistently.

Last night we saw Andre vary his game a little more and he definitely is one of the guys that can give us consistent offense. Miles and Kelly are both showing signs of contributing. Hard to gage without the tough level of competition we will see in the ACC. Hairston didn't show much last night. Maybe his defensive effort relagated him to short minutes.

There has been a lot said in this string about Mason. He has the height, length, strength and athletic ability to be special on both offense and defense. Lets hope it will translate into rebounds, blocks, and points as we move forward.



.

This a good summary of the game as I saw it too. It's great to win big but we gave up allot of points to Elon. They got pretty good looks all night and were able to knock down a good percentage. Duke is bigger and quicker so I would have liked to see the defense apply more pressure a disrupt their sets more. I guess it's a credit to how sound and well coached they are but it seemed pretty effortless on their part.

[Kedsy]

Didn't see the game. Can anyone give me some insight into why Seth started over Andre last night? Was he sharing point guard duties with Nolan (until Nolan got in foul trouble)? From the box score, it seems Andre got lots of minutes anyway, but without seeing the game I don't know how many of those resulted from Nolan sitting on the bench.

I have no idea why Seth started, but maybe he practiced better during the week? Maybe it was an attempt to get Nolan off the ball for a little while? Seth and Andre both played 30+ minutes, although as you point out Nolan only played 21.

I think the elephant in the room is the complete collapse of our vaunted free throw defense. Elon shot 93.8% from the line, and if this continues I don't see how we can win a national championship. ;)

[roywhite]

I think the elephant in the room is the complete collapse of our vaunted free throw defense. Elon shot 93.8% from the line, and if this continues I don't see how we can win a national championship. ;)

Great point, and the coaches should be aware.

Let's hope it's not a situation where the local teams come in and shoot FT's well in Cameron. If a team from Burlington can hit FT's, does that apply to teams from Raleigh and Chapel Hill? ugh.

[Kedsy]

Top 5 plays Duke vs Elon...from DukeBluePlanet (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iAukfkuuJA)

Kyle doing a little bit of everything.

Nice highlights. Ryan running the floor and Kyle threading passes. That three from Kyle was waaaay past the NBA line but it wasn't a heave at all -- so smooth that if you couldn't see the court you wouldn't know it was further than the college line.

[slower]

Naah - after reading the board, I doubt we win another game this year. No inside game, the wings are weak and nothing out of the back court. Too few rebounds or steals, not enough blocks and no pressure in the defense. It is time to fold the tent and call it a season. It must be over.

we just beat Elon. ELON. Please spare me the comments that imply that this was some sort of dominant 30-point victory - far from it. Until the last 5 minutes, it was incredibly frustrating to watch. But it may be post-exam rust. We'll start getting a truer reading in about 12 days. Ryan's offensive variety is heartening, Dre is looking very good and Seth looks like he may be able to run the point and free up Nolan a bit. Mason still shouldn't be attempting 3-pointers. Nolan and Kyle are money.

[1Devil]

I usually agree with the DBR voters for player of the game, but I think they're way off this time by voting for Kyle ahead of Nolan by a wide margin. Did people not watch the game? Nolan, when he was allowed to be in the game, was completely dominant. Elon could do nothing to stop him. Kyle got his, but there was some ugliness as he went about it. Nolan was a man among boys.

[Duvall]

I usually agree with the DBR voters for player of the game, but I think they're way off this time by voting for Kyle ahead of Nolan by a wide margin. Did people not watch the game? Nolan, when he was allowed to be in the game, was completely dominant. Elon could do nothing to stop him. Kyle got his, but there was some ugliness as he went about it. Nolan was a man among boys.

To be Man of the Match, you have to stay in the match.

[Devilsfan]

What this fan noticed was the only person moving in our "motion"? offense when Nolan was out with foul trouble was Kyle. Everyone stood around like they did when we had JJ and Sheldon and seemed to be watching or were too tired(?) to be in constant motion. Shooters stood behind the arc and big men threw maybe one screen then seemed to be motionless while Kyle tried to get open. He truely is a beautiful player to watch. If one or two others would move like Kyle (with or without the ball) we would be a far better team, imo.

[HCheek37]

Last night we ran 3 offensive sets that we are bound to see alot more of this year:

1) The Hi-Low play with Mason and Miles, this is where the Plums seem to be most effective as they can feed each other well from the elbow when the other cuts to the hole. Kelly is also fairly adept at this set. I believe we only saw it once last night but it looked smooth and I'm sure we'll see it again.

2) The handoff game with Nolan, he got several buckets curling off of a handoff by either pulling up or finishing at the rack. This is also how he had his spectacular dunk last week, it gives him an extra step on his defender since it basically acts as a ball screen. This has been in our repetoire for years and will be prominent this year.

3) The 4 across the top look with Kyle cutting from the corner to the block. We saw this one back to back possessions in the 2nd half where the 4 guys on the court besides Kyle would be almost in a line at free throw range extended and Kyle would cut from the deep corner to the block and receive a pass on the move. He finished twice on this play and it really gives him a way to score points when being guarded by smaller 3s.

[superdave]

Last night we ran 3 offensive sets that we are bound to see alot more of this year:

1) The Hi-Low play with Mason and Miles, this is where the Plums seem to be most effective as they can feed each other well from the elbow when the other cuts to the hole. Kelly is also fairly adept at this set. I believe we only saw it once last night but it looked smooth and I'm sure we'll see it again.

2) The handoff game with Nolan, he got several buckets curling off of a handoff by either pulling up or finishing at the rack. This is also how he had his spectacular dunk last week, it gives him an extra step on his defender since it basically acts as a ball screen. This has been in our repetoire for years and will be prominent this year.

3) The 4 across the top look with Kyle cutting from the corner to the block. We saw this one back to back possessions in the 2nd half where the 4 guys on the court besides Kyle would be almost in a line at free throw range extended and Kyle would cut from the deep corner to the block and receive a pass on the move. He finished twice on this play and it really gives him a way to score points when being guarded by smaller 3s.

We did run a lot of set plays last night. I really wish we did not have to do so, but it seems to be the easiest way to keep our offense organized while using two combo guards at pg rather than a true point.

I do hope we continue to emphasize running the ball though because uncontested buckets are a great way to shock and awe a team into submission. We have enough athletes to ratchet up pressure in the backcourt and play the passing lanes, and we have some really good finishers in the open court too.

Our secondary break is also much improved compared to recent years with Curry and Dawkins happy to gun away from the corners.

It would be nice to see a little more post scoring though, so we can keep defenses honest and utilize our athleticism down there. Our lobs and dump down passes need a lot of work in my opinion, but our big men are often screening up high so they are not in post up position during those plays. All three bigs are good passers though, so a post up could lead to our wings cutting to the bucket for the drop off pass. That would make for some good variety to add.

[watzone]

Kyle Singler audio interview from last evening - http://bluedevilnation.net/2010/12/more-bdn-post-game-kyle-singler-talks-the-win-over-elon-and-future/

[ncexnyc]

I was able to watch the game early this morning and here are my thoughts on the game.

Hats off to the Elon kids. They appear to be very well coached, as they hustled from start to finish. They did a good job of making the extra pass, which resulted in a number of wide open shots and most importantly they made a good number of those shots. As was shown by the graphic FSN displayed at the start of the game, Elon leads their league in scoring so it’s easy to see why.

I like the new line-up, if in fact that’s what we saw yesterday. When Phase 0 was first posted there was a question about agendas and I responded that Dre and Seth could possibly put undue pressure on themselves to perform in order to get playing time. Dre has played very well, but Seth while having some good moments seems to be in a funk. I believe Dre has the mental toughness exhibited by players like Jon and Shane to handle anything Coach K asks him to do without skipping missing a beat. I therefore believe he is much better suited for the 6th man role, while Seth makes the better starter. I also like the fact that Nolan can now go back to his primary role. My only concern is whether Seth has the ball handling skills necessary to fill the PG’s role once ACC play starts.

Reading the in game thread and viewing Gamecast I was concerned about the play of Mason and Miles, however having viewed the game I believe they played within the flow of the game and there just weren’t that many opportunities for them. Miles does seem to be playing better offensively than his younger brother. He seems a lot more comfortable with the ball and seems to have a plan on how to attack the basket once he gets the ball. While he hasn’t converted many of these plays, he does seem very smooth and under control. The ball will start dropping for him sooner rather than later.

Kyle had an excellent all around game and that steal he made on the back cut, which he then converted into a breakout slam for Ryan was awesome. He also had a sick feed to Miles later in the game.

Nolan picked up some really cheap fouls, but when he was on the court he was extremely efficient.

Kelly has outstanding basketball IQ and he can do just about everything on the court you could want a player his size to do.

Mason needs to step it up as he’s now the third big on our team, at least in my eyes. He just seems lost and his moves away from the basket aren’t fluid. The physical ability is clearly there, but I think his basketball skills are far behind.

[jv001]

I was able to watch the game early this morning and here are my thoughts on the game.

Hats off to the Elon kids. They appear to be very well coached, as they hustled from start to finish. They did a good job of making the extra pass, which resulted in a number of wide open shots and most importantly they made a good number of those shots. As was shown by the graphic FSN displayed at the start of the game, Elon leads their league in scoring so it’s easy to see why.

I like the new line-up, if in fact that’s what we saw yesterday. When Phase 0 was first posted there was a question about agendas and I responded that Dre and Seth could possibly put undue pressure on themselves to perform in order to get playing time. Dre has played very well, but Seth while having some good moments seems to be in a funk. I believe Dre has the mental toughness exhibited by players like Jon and Shane to handle anything Coach K asks him to do without skipping missing a beat. I therefore believe he is much better suited for the 6th man role, while Seth makes the better starter. I also like the fact that Nolan can now go back to his primary role. My only concern is whether Seth has the ball handling skills necessary to fill the PG’s role once ACC play starts.

Reading the in game thread and viewing Gamecast I was concerned about the play of Mason and Miles, however having viewed the game I believe they played within the flow of the game and there just weren’t that many opportunities for them. Miles does seem to be playing better offensively than his younger brother. He seems a lot more comfortable with the ball and seems to have a plan on how to attack the basket once he gets the ball. While he hasn’t converted many of these plays, he does seem very smooth and under control. The ball will start dropping for him sooner rather than later.

Kyle had an excellent all around game and that steal he made on the back cut, which he then converted into a breakout slam for Ryan was awesome. He also had a sick feed to Miles later in the game.

Nolan picked up some really cheap fouls, but when he was on the court he was extremely efficient.

Kelly has outstanding basketball IQ and he can do just about everything on the court you could want a player his size to do.

Mason needs to step it up as he’s now the third big on our team, at least in my eyes. He just seems lost and his moves away from the basket aren’t fluid. The physical ability is clearly there, but I think his basketball skills are far behind.

Elon kids showed lot's of energy and heart. I agree with you that Dawkins may be better suited to come off the bench as our "6th man". Seth can play the pg position and let's Nolan play the #2. Which Nolan seems more comfortable playing. As for Miles and Mason, it looks like Miles has improved while Mason has regressed. I'm sure Coach K knows what it's going to take to get Mason going again and that's being addressed. We're blessed to have Ryan stepping up his play while Mason figures it out. I like where we are at this point in the season. Go Duke!

[Greg_Newton]

I'm not so sure about Mason regressing and becoming our 3rd big. I feel like these feelings are based on a couple of patsy games against undersized, quicker teams, which Mason has always seemed to be underwhelming against, for whatever reason. Not a very meaningful sample in any case.

Let's not forget this is the same guy that went for 25 and 12 and led us to victory against a strong Big East team a month ago. His biggest games have been against big, tough teams.

[dukelifer]

we just beat Elon. ELON. Please spare me the comments that imply that this was some sort of dominant 30-point victory - far from it. Until the last 5 minutes, it was incredibly frustrating to watch. But it may be post-exam rust. We'll start getting a truer reading in about 12 days. Ryan's offensive variety is heartening, Dre is looking very good and Seth looks like he may be able to run the point and free up Nolan a bit. Mason still shouldn't be attempting 3-pointers. Nolan and Kyle are money.

Folks are reading too much into this game. A lot of lineup changes due to foul trouble- a nice comeback by Elon who did not go away and a few Duke runs to keep it way out of reach. This was not dominant but in no way did Elon ever have a chance to win. They hit some shots and Duke played sloppy in stretches. Still an easy win. Without a penetrating point guard- this is a team that will have stretches where they fall in love with the long ball and fail to score. This team needs to work on its passing game. Ryan may be the best passer. Seth seems to be okay getting the ball to the half court but after that- his passes are not crisp and often a bit risky. Right now- that is the biggest issue. Fortunately, the team can shoot it very well. Dre is a real weapon.

[CEF1959]

I didn't get to watch or listen to the game, but just looking at the box score, it looks like a pretty solid effort, with good numbers in most of the important stats. Isenbarger sure got to the line a lot, so I don't know what that's about. Up by almost 20 at half-time, coasting home against much lesser competition (which shot 15-16 from the line). I'm OK with it. But I'll be the first to admit that you can't read a game just from the box score.

[ncexnyc]

I'm not so sure about Mason regressing and becoming our 3rd big. I feel like these feelings are based on a couple of patsy games against undersized, quicker teams, which Mason has always seemed to be underwhelming against, for whatever reason. Not a very meaningful sample in any case.

Let's not forget this is the same guy that went for 25 and 12 and led us to victory against a strong Big East team a month ago. His biggest games have been against big, tough teams.

Last year Miles had 14 boards and 19 points against WF. In that same game Mason had 7 boards and 11 points. Many of us thought this was their break through game, as we now know that wasn't the case.
Yes, Mason had a monster of a game against Marquette, but has he really turned the corner. You say that the last few games were against patsy competition, fine, let's look at his stats against tougher teams.
KSU: 5/10
Ore: 12/7
MSU:10/10
But: 8/8
So I'll go so far as to say they are decent, but not earthshaking. So who is the real Mason and has he really turned the corner?

[Greg_Newton]

Last year Miles had 14 boards and 19 points against WF. In that same game Mason had 7 boards and 11 points. Many of us thought this was their break through game, as we now know that wasn't the case.
Yes, Mason had a monster of a game against Marquette, but has he really turned the corner. You say that the last few games were against patsy competition, fine, let's look at his stats against tougher teams.
KSU: 5/10
Ore: 12/7
MSU:10/10
But: 8/8
So I'll go so far as to say they are decent, but not earthshaking. So who is the real Mason and has he really turned the corner?

Why did you exclude Marquette from there? They're better than Butler and Oregon, and probably not that far behind KSU and MSU right now.

If you count that game too, Mason is averaging 12 points and 9.4 rebounds in our five "real" games this year. I'm not saying he'll keep that up or that he's necessarily turned the corner, but I certainly don't think it's justifiable to say he's regressed or fallen behind Ryan or Miles based on what we've seen so far.

(Last thing - most of Mason's 25 against Marquette came on old-fashioned, back-to-basket post moves. That's a little different than the WFU game from last year, when the Plums benefitted from Wake's defensive strategy and awful boxing out by Aminu and scored a ton of points on putbacks and easy dunks.)

[Kedsy]

Yes, Mason had a monster of a game against Marquette, but has he really turned the corner. You say that the last few games were against patsy competition, fine, let's look at his stats against tougher teams.
KSU: 5/10
Ore: 12/7
MSU:10/10
But: 8/8
So I'll go so far as to say they are decent, but not earthshaking. So who is the real Mason and has he really turned the corner?

The averages based on the games you list above would make Mason one of the top 5 or 6 big men (based on ppg/rpg) in the ACC. Even if you can justify taking out the Marquette game, I still think those numbers are a lot more than decent.

Put another way -- in all games, even including the past few "poor" performances, Mason is 7th in the ACC in rebounds per game, 7th in FG %, 9th in blocks per game, and 10th in steals per game. This while only being 44th in minutes per game. What does he have to do to impress you?

[CEF1959]

The averages based on the games you list above would make Mason one of the top 5 or 6 big men (based on ppg/rpg) in the ACC. Even if you can justify taking out the Marquette game, I still think those numbers are a lot more than decent.

Put another way -- in all games, even including the past few "poor" performances, Mason is 7th in the ACC in rebounds per game, 7th in FG %, 9th in blocks per game, and 10th in steals per game. This while only being 44th in minutes per game. What does he have to do to impress you?

Shooting better than 42% from the line would go a long way. :D

But I agree: Mason is fine. His skill set hasn't been needed that much in many of these games.

[dukebluelemur]

Kelly has outstanding basketball IQ and he can do just about everything on the court you could want a player his size to do.


Except Rebound.

According to Pomery (http://kenpom.com/team.php?team=Duke), Kelly's Offensive and Defensive Rebounding percentages are: 7.0% and 13.0%

Compare that to other players on the team.
Mason: 11.3% and 22.4%
Miles: 11.3% and 19.1%
Hairston: 9.8% and 14.4%
Singler: 7.5% and 11.2%
Smith: 3.1% and 12.5%

He is at the moment our 5th best offensive rebounder, statistically, and very nearly getting out-rebounded by 6-2 shooting guard on the defensive end. Rebounding is definitely something I could want more of from a guy his size. For a guy who has very rarely been worse than the 3rd tallest guy on the court, a 13% defensive rebounding percentage is just atrocious, imo.

That said, he has been impressing me lately in other areas.

[ncexnyc]

I didn't feel the need to post Mason's stats vs Marquette as they had already been listed, however I did acknowledge them. I guess maybe the fact that Mason isn't bringing his A game to the table every night out is making me wonder was that Marquette game just a fluke or is it something we can count on when we need it.
Do those of you who've taken my posts on this matter in a negative fashion believe that Mason's offensive moves look as polished as his brother's these past few games? Do any of you feel that he has displayed the basketball skill set and IQ of Ryan?

I guess maybe we'll get some answers on this subject once we get several games into ACC play.

[jv001]

I'm not so sure about Mason regressing and becoming our 3rd big. I feel like these feelings are based on a couple of patsy games against undersized, quicker teams, which Mason has always seemed to be underwhelming against, for whatever reason. Not a very meaningful sample in any case.

Let's not forget this is the same guy that went for 25 and 12 and led us to victory against a strong Big East team a month ago. His biggest games have been against big, tough teams.

Could it be that Mason's play of late comes from not having our starting pg in the lineup? I realize Mason played very well in some big games, but recently his play has fallen off. I don't think he's injured so maybe he's adjusting from not having Kyrie running the show. Mason was great in our fast paced style of play before Kyrie went out. Go Duke!

[uh_no]

That was very funny! I think Nolan has the best sense of humor, he is so dead pan, yet has a very funny wit about him....

his performances in the duke blue planet interviews are hilarious

"this aint my first rodeo"

[gep]

I didn't get to see the game, but just went through the Duke Blue Planet top-5 plays. Just amazing stuff.

What really caught my eye was Kyle... #3 and #2 in the top-5 plays... he reminded me of Larry Bird (definitely NOT saying he is, just that I was reminded). In #3, the catch and over-the-back-of-the head "lay-up"... something I think I saw Bird do. And in #2, when Kyle got the steal, dribbled down court in his right hand, then left, then switched to right, then pass-off to Ryan with his dribble-hand while in stride... just like what I remember Bird did too. In fact, in one split-second during Kyle's drive when he looked at Ryan, he even "looked" like Bird. Just made me happy with good memories :cool:

[slower]

What really caught my eye was Kyle... #3 and #2 in the top-5 plays... he reminded me of Larry Bird (definitely NOT saying he is, just that I was reminded). In #3, the catch and over-the-back-of-the head "lay-up"... something I think I saw Bird do. And in #2, when Kyle got the steal, dribbled down court in his right hand, then left, then switched to right, then pass-off to Ryan with his dribble-hand while in stride... just like what I remember Bird did too. In fact, in one split-second during Kyle's drive when he looked at Ryan, he even "looked" like Bird. Just made me happy with good memories :cool:

Kyle's step-back jumper is also quite reminiscent of Bird - especially when it goes in.