MOTM: Duke vs. UAB

[Bob Green]

Who was the Man-of-the-Match against UAB?

[CameronBornAndBred]

Won't be unanimous, never is..but my vote was for who 99% of the votes will be for. Nolan was awesome. Congrats to him for a career scoring night.

[strawbs]

nice to see mason score some points, but man nolan is so freakin good right now!!!

[Duvall]

I give it 34 votes before the first vote for Ryan Kelly.

[NSDukeFan]

I give it 34 votes before the first vote for Ryan Kelly.

I'm looking forward to the explanation.

[strawbs]

I give it 34 votes before the first vote for Ryan Kelly.

i stand by my vote for kelly the other day, don't care if it's not popular and ruins the unanimous stuff. The game of basketball is about more than just scoring points.

[Newton_14]

Nolan in a landslide. Dude is dialed in. Always fun to watch a kid who is "In The Zone".

[hedevil]

No way to go but Nolan. If anyone votes otherwise, I would hope that they remain anonymous. :D

Career game for Nolan. Congratulations are in order.

[Son of Mojo]

Nolan's still out there killing it......and I love seeing it.

[SuperTurkey]

I was about to predict that the combo-breaker would be a stray Mason vote, but it already happened.

To each their own, but make mine Nolan!

[OldPhiKap]

Nolan, but Ryan played extremely well once again.

[Bluedevil114]

Seriously who would vote for Mason Plumlee unless it is family. Yes he played better but Nolan Smith is by far the Man of the Match with a career high of 33 points. Nolan is unbelievable.

[DukeDiva]

I voted for Nolan of course! He is just on fire right now:D

[moonpie23]

we have replaced our injured pg with an awesome pg......

[Bob Green]

Seriously who would vote for Mason Plumlee unless it is family.

It is a public poll. The number of votes is a hyperlink and clicking on the link will reveal all the voters names.

[jv001]

Nolan's numbers were outstanding. Plus he played outstanding defense on UABs best guard. He never let's up on defense or offense. I know posters can vote for who they want in MOTM poll, but this one tonight has me wondering. An ESPN sports editor with a hall of fame vote, voted for BJ Surhoff and did not vote for Blylevin or Alomar in today's HOF voting. Surhoff had career avg. 291, 120 hrs and slugging % of .451 while playing power postions through his career. Good player but not HOF player. That's how I look at Nolan's performance tonight compared to Mason's. Nolan=HOF..Mason..solid performance. Go Duke!

[Bluedevil114]

It is a public poll. The number of votes is a hyperlink and clicking on the link will reveal all the voters names.

I do realize that and it was definitely a joke. I was just stressing again that the poll is for the MOTM not the most improved player from the last game. When you have your best point guard down and a senior playing a new position and goes off for a career high of 33 points there really is no question who the MOTM was. GO DUKE!!

[snowdenscold]

I can only assume some people are opposed to the concept of unanimity on some twisted principle...

Have we ever had a player get 100% of the votes?

[DevilWearsPrada]

Nolan's winning!!!! Nolan was incredible and FIRED UP!!! He can certainly run the point and run the Score up. Congrats on a career high. Nolan is so worthy of all of his accolades!!! I know his Father is rejoicing in Heaven and looking down of his beloved son. "Job, well done, My son!" I know the spirit of Derek Smith, lives through his son, Nolan.

Kyle and Mason both had good games. So glad, everyone got into the game, and got some playing time.

NOLAN SMITH............. is the Man!!! Great leadership from our Senior Captain. Keep on rolling, Nolan!!! Nolan's winning!!!!

And as always,
GO DUKE!!!

[gep]

Nolan may have gotten a career high, but I think his overall command of the game was even more impressive (see Coach Davis' comments).

[ice-9]

i stand by my vote for kelly the other day, don't care if it's not popular and ruins the unanimous stuff. The game of basketball is about more than just scoring points.

Not saying you didn't vote for Nolan this time, but Nolan did so much more than score points! He...
- Scored efficiently with 11-22 shooting and 9-10 FT
- Directed the offense as lead guard
- Had 7 rebounds, 3 of which were offensive which is awesome for a guard
- Posted 5 assists and 2 steals
- Played 36 minutes of high level basketball

The only blemish really was his 4 turnovers, but given he had the ball in his hands a lot that's to be expected.

[cakerace]

Maybe I'm still wearing last season's "alarmingly unathletic" glasses (I think they were a Christmas present from my UVA nephew, who got them in some ESPN promotion), but everything Ryan Kelly does continues to amaze! So much so, before checking the boxscore this morning I would have bet next month's mortgage payment he would have had more minutes than Seth or "Dre." His being in the right place at the right time and making the right decision makes him appear continually larger than life to this often unperceptive Duke fanatic. Now if he had just made one of those threes...

But just because I'm helping keep the discussion from being unanimous, it don't mean I ain't voting for Nolan!

[rotogod00]

I can only assume some people are opposed to the concept of unanimity on some twisted principle...

Have we ever had a player get 100% of the votes?

not this season. this is this closest to unanimous we've seen, though (at least so far), in that he's received all but 2 votes. twice before the top voter-getting got all but 3 votes.

[RelativeWays]

Best individual performance I remember seeing since JJ's destruction of Texas. I was at the GW game last year where Scheyer dropped 34 (I think) on them, but he didn't dominate the game the way Nolan did. That was a superstar performance made by a hungry player.

[peterjswift]

I didn't vote for Ryan Kelly, but the box score doesn't tell the whole story of his game. He only got credit for 8 rebounds, but a lot of his teammates have to look at their own stat line and thank Ryan for their rebounds. I really noticed Ryan Kelly being in the right place at the right time - he is becoming an excellent rebounder. If he couldn't grab the ball, he was at least able to tip it out to someone else, or block off a UAB player so that Nolan or Andre could get in and grab a board. Kudos to Ryan Kelly. MOTM to Nolan Smith.

[PADukeMom]

Sending my vote to Nolan! Another early charge called on him & he lights it up for 34. Refs keep making that call all season long. It only makes the beast score crazy.

You people on here need to talk me out of buying Nolan's jersey until April 5th.

[91_92_01_10_15]

I voted for Nolan, but according to StatSheet, Andre had both the best +/- and Roland ratings for this game:

http://statsheet.com/mcb/games/2011/01/05/uab-64-duke-85/plus_minus

[thenameisbond]

This one was a "no brainer". Nolan was in the zone last night.