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gotoguy
03-18-2011, 10:49 AM
Tim Layden of SI has a great article in this weeks SI NCAA tournament issue which can be read at the SI/CNN website.

Link here: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1183376/index.htm

Thanks again guys, what a run, time for another.

stillcrazie
03-18-2011, 11:09 AM
Tim Layden of SI has a great article in this weeks SI NCAA tournament issue which can be read at the SI/CNN website.

Link here: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1183376/index.htm

Thanks again guys, what a run, time for another.

I got the magazine in the mail yesterday and read the article - fantastic. Took me back to the final two minutes with such intensity that I was worried Duke was going to lose. Interesting insights from players and coaches on both sides about what they were thinking during pivotal moments of the game. Good think Zoubek didn't hear Chris Collins's comment before his second free throw or things might have turned out differently...

MChambers
03-18-2011, 11:15 AM
Tim Layden of SI has a great article in this weeks SI NCAA tournament issue which can be read at the SI/CNN website.

Link here: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1183376/index.htm

Thanks again guys, what a run, time for another.

It looks like a great article. Also interesting to see that the NCAA supervisor of officials thinks that that screen sent by Matt Howard was illegal. Don't want to restart that debate, of course, since it really doesn't matter now.

Reilly
03-18-2011, 11:42 AM
One hallmark of a great game: the horn sounds, and you don't know yet who won.

UrinalCake
03-18-2011, 11:52 AM
Very interesting that Collins was telling Z to make the second free throw, but Z never heard him because of the raised court. My heart really goes out to Butler as they played a heck of a game and deserved to win too.

Yesterday's Vanderbilt-Richmond game had a similar ending. Richmond was up by one with about three second left and went to the line. They opted to make both free throws, so Vanderbilt (now down by three) passed the ball up to half court and then called a timeout. They had time (about 2.5 seconds) to run a play but screwed it up and didn't score. However, seeing this made me glad that Z did miss that second free throw, because if you give Butler 2.5 seconds to inbound from halfcourt, there's a good chance they'll create a good look.

dukelifer
03-18-2011, 12:30 PM
Very interesting that Collins was telling Z to make the second free throw, but Z never heard him because of the raised court. My heart really goes out to Butler as they played a heck of a game and deserved to win too.

Yesterday's Vanderbilt-Richmond game had a similar ending. Richmond was up by one with about three second left and went to the line. They opted to make both free throws, so Vanderbilt (now down by three) passed the ball up to half court and then called a timeout. They had time (about 2.5 seconds) to run a play but screwed it up and didn't score. However, seeing this made me glad that Z did miss that second free throw, because if you give Butler 2.5 seconds to inbound from halfcourt, there's a good chance they'll create a good look.

I thought they had no timeouts.

94duke
03-18-2011, 12:34 PM
I thought they had no timeouts.

Correct. That's one of the reasons Coach K wanted to miss it. If they had a time out left, it would have been less advantageous to intentionally miss it.

Newton_14
03-18-2011, 12:38 PM
I thought they had no timeouts.

Correct. Butler had no timeouts remaining, so they had to go the distance if Zoubs makes the free throw.

-bdbd
03-18-2011, 12:40 PM
Very interesting that Collins was telling Z to make the second free throw, but Z never heard him because of the raised court. My heart really goes out to Butler as they played a heck of a game and deserved to win too.

Yesterday's Vanderbilt-Richmond game had a similar ending. Richmond was up by one with about three second left and went to the line. They opted to make both free throws, so Vanderbilt (now down by three) passed the ball up to half court and then called a timeout. They had time (about 2.5 seconds) to run a play but screwed it up and didn't score. However, seeing this made me glad that Z did miss that second free throw, because if you give Butler 2.5 seconds to inbound from halfcourt, there's a good chance they'll create a good look.

I kinda come down on the same side - glad we chose to miss and force a timeout-lacking Butler team rush it up for a desperation heave. Actually I give Butler and their coach a lot of credit for getting as good a shot off as they possibly could have (90% of the teams out there don't get as good a shot as they did). Their coach had anticipated the miss and called a play in advance. Smart. That's why he's such a hot commodity.

As I recall, however, K got a lot of second-guessing for calling for the miss. I think it was more "gut" than odds calculation -- "I didn't want to risk (going to) O/T in that situation with them (having the momentum and crowd)." Several other coaches said that wasn't what they would have done, including a former Dukie or two. Tough situation/pressure for a coach. He would have been forever crucified if it worked out wrong.

uh_no
03-18-2011, 12:49 PM
Correct. Butler had no timeouts remaining, so they had to go the distance if Zoubs makes the free throw.

They had to go the distance regardless of whether the FT was made or not....

uh_no
03-18-2011, 12:50 PM
Tough situation/pressure for a coach. He would have been forever crucified if it worked out wrong.

Sort of like pitino should be for having not fouled yesterday....

coldriver10
03-18-2011, 01:31 PM
A beautifully-written article...my heart was pounding just reading it. With all the Butler-Hoosiers similarities, the buzzer-beating attempt, playing in Indianapolis no less...I still can't believe that shot didn't go in.

wilson
03-18-2011, 01:34 PM
They had to go the distance regardless of whether the FT was made or not....Uh_no. ;)
The rebound of the miss caromed out and left them with a solid twenty fewer feet to travel than if they'd had to inbound from the baseline off a make. On the other hand, if they'd been inbounding, they'd have had an extra moment to set positions for the final play. Another wrinkle of a still interesting (though thankfully inconsequential) hypothetical.

uh_no
03-18-2011, 01:39 PM
Uh_no. ;)
The rebound of the miss caromed out and left them with a solid twenty fewer feet to travel than if they'd had to inbound from the baseline off a make. On the other hand, if they'd been inbounding, they'd have had an extra moment to set positions for the final play. Another wrinkle of a still interesting (though thankfully inconsequential) hypothetical.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6Bi7lC6QIQ

he's right at the rim. 20' would have put him at almost the 3 pt line....One could also argue that the inbound pass could possibly have covered that "20" feet before the clock started anyway

edit: maybe 'right at the rim' is a stretch....but 20' is such a gross overestimation.....

jv001
03-18-2011, 01:54 PM
I kinda come down on the same side - glad we chose to miss and force a timeout-lacking Butler team rush it up for a desperation heave.
As I recall, however, K got a lot of second-guessing for calling for the miss. I think it was more "gut" than odds calculation -- "I didn't want to risk (going to) O/T in that situation with them (having the momentum and crowd)." Several other coaches said that wasn't what they would have done, including a former Dukie or two. Tough situation/pressure for a coach. He would have been forever crucified if it worked out wrong.

Wednesday Scott VanPelt and his dummy, Ryen "whats his name" were poking fun at Coach K and his decision to miss the foul shot intentionally. I had to e-mail them and point out that Coach has forgotten more than they'll ever know about college bb. And I ended the email with; Scott, what's those Maryland graduation rates again? Of course it didn't get on the air. Go Duke!

ThePublisher
03-18-2011, 01:58 PM
Great article. Everytime I see a replay of Zoubek's foul shot and Howard's miss, I still get nervous as if somehow it could go differently. It's probably my body's reaction to being incredibly tense for the whole game and it all culminating in that split second.

What a game.

uh_no
03-18-2011, 01:59 PM
Wednesday Scott VanPelt and his dummy, Ryen "whats his name" were poking fun at Coach K and his decision to miss the foul shot intentionally. I had to e-mail them and point out that Coach has forgotten more than they'll ever know about college bb. And I ended the email with; Scott, what's those Maryland graduation rates again? Of course it didn't get on the air. Go Duke!

Instead of making ad hominem arguments, it would be better to provide a defense for coach K's decision. Reasonable minds can differ on such topics, and there has been much debate here to the decision. Saying "you're wrong because Coach K is smarter than you" is a terrible argument (and one that gets made here far too often).

Another example: coach K lives by the man defense....is someone wrong if they say we should go zone? Someone might say "blah blah coach K is smarter than you," If that is the case, then why does rick pitino play a matchup zone and jim boeheim play zone? Are they 'dumber' than coach K for not playing man?

summary: make real points instead of ceding to the 'holiness of coach K' defense

SuperTurkey
03-18-2011, 02:06 PM
Instead of making ad hominem arguments, it would be better to provide a defense for coach K's decision. Reasonable minds can differ on such topics, and there has been much debate here to the decision. Saying "you're wrong because Coach K is smarter than you" is a terrible argument (and one that gets made here far too often).

Another example: coach K lives by the man defense....is someone wrong if they say we should go zone? Someone might say "blah blah coach K is smarter than you," If that is the case, then why does rick pitino play a matchup zone and jim boeheim play zone? Are they 'dumber' than coach K for not playing man?

summary: make real points instead of ceding to the 'holiness of coach K' defense

Agreed. Ad hominem attacks don't improve the standing of any fan base.

burns15
03-18-2011, 02:08 PM
Sort of like pitino should be for having not fouled yesterday....

Why should Pitino have fouled yesterday? Louisville was leading by two, why would you give the other team a chance to tie? I would much rather force them to take a tough shot and if he makes it, you have to tip your cap to him.

gwlaw99
03-18-2011, 02:34 PM
This is one of my favorite articles about the game.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/joe_posnanski/04/06/duke.title/index.html

Udaman
03-18-2011, 02:56 PM
Wonderful article. I'll say 4 things:

1) As someone else said...every single time I see that last play, my heart starts pounding, and every single time I except that shot to go in. Whew!

2) I did at the time, and still do now, disagree with Coach K's decision to miss the free throw. It's all about decision tree for me. If you make it, the absolute worst thing that can happen is they tie the game and it goes to OT. If that happens, I still put our odds of winning in OT at 50/50. We were better on paper, they had the home crowd. So to me, the odds of a shot at the end of the game like they took is about 15%, and the odds of them making a shot with a throw in, are about 25%. Under that, it's still more likely you win with the game going to OT (even counting his 60% free throw shooting). It worked out....but it was truly a gutsy call.

3) I was very, very glad to see the head official say that was an illegal screen - because it absolutely was. The rules are clear - you have to give the player a step before he crashes into you, and Howard did not. The ref should have blown the whistle. Singler could have been seriously injured on the play. As I wrote way back in April (quoting the NCAA rules):

Section 4, 59 states "A player shall not....take a position so close to a moving opponent that this opponent cannot avoid contact by stopping or changing direction."

In other words, you can't set a pick on a person who is running at full speed by sliding up to him in a manner that there is no way he could have avoided hitting you. That is EXACTLY what Howard did.

Also, it says that a screener should

"stay within his or her vertical plane" Howard was still moving forward, and edged forward.

Then in the rules, Appendix III, Section 2, Point 6 (and this is the key one)

A foul shall be called when....the screener sets a blind screen (outside the visual field) on a moving defender and doesn't allow him/her ample time to stop or change directions, usually one to two strides.

This is plain black and white - Singler had ZERO chance to avoid that screen - even if someone had yelled out. The screen was set, and in less than one step Singler crashed into him. It was an absolute foul. Thankfully - it did not matter.

4) What a tremendous game!

UrinalCake
03-18-2011, 03:10 PM
Thanks for the correction about Butler not having any timeouts. Still, I thought (and the article confirmed) that Butler would have a play designed for the last shot that they could run if given the chance to inbounds. 3.6 seconds is enough time to get a good look, as Valporaiso did by running the hook and ladder for the game winner several years ago.

Coach K basically felt that going to overtime would mean a loss. You can assign a percentage to it if you want, but you only get to play the game once and Coach K felt that overtime = loss. After reading the SI article, you can really see why he felt that way as Butler had all the momentum and the crowd behind them. So in a sense that second free throw was irrelevant. A made three by Butler equals a loss, either in regulation or in overtime.

gep
03-18-2011, 05:21 PM
I skimmed through the article this morning... will read it entirely later. My thoughts...

Lance and Zoubs had 4 fouls from mid-way through the 2nd half... so they were also getting tired. Coach K said that was a big factor too in thinking that overtime = loss.

Also, with the miss, the clock starts when a player touches the ball... so there will be a scramble of sorts before everyone is set up. With an out of bounds play, the clock doesn't start till a player touches the ball, so there's time to set everyone up. And there's 5 seconds to in-bound too.

After all, McRoberts to Dockery (VT) was less than 3 seconds, Scheyer to McClure (Clemson) was 2-3 seconds(?), and of course Grant to Christian was less than 3 seconds... all with an out of bounds play.

Great game in any case.:cool:

uh_no
03-18-2011, 06:10 PM
Why should Pitino have fouled yesterday? Louisville was leading by two, why would you give the other team a chance to tie? I would much rather force them to take a tough shot and if he makes it, you have to tip your cap to him.

He can ask butler how fouling up 2 worked out for them....or maybe he knows... because butler is in the second round of the tournament

dukelifer
03-18-2011, 10:44 PM
A beautifully-written article...my heart was pounding just reading it. With all the Butler-Hoosiers similarities, the buzzer-beating attempt, playing in Indianapolis no less...I still can't believe that shot didn't go in.

It is amazing that everytime you think of that shot (or read about it)- it seems like it should have gone in. It should have been a fairy tale ending but it was not. Bulter was not ready to win it all- the basketball gods know that you need to have some heartbreak to build a great program. Excellent article for sure.

onepresent
03-18-2011, 11:18 PM
Dramatic reenactment here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtGzJQaYZZg), starts 1:34 into the video. Video also leads off with the 1992 win over Kentucky. No matter how many times (or ways) I see these, the emotions really flow. ;)

rfaison
03-18-2011, 11:59 PM
Also, with the miss, the clock starts when a player touches the ball... so there will be a scramble of sorts before everyone is set up. With an out of bounds play, the clock doesn't start till a player touches the ball, so there's time to set everyone up. And there's 5 seconds to in-bound too.


That's one thing that's always stood out to me when I see that last sequence - whether by pure luck or Hayward positioning himself, the missed free throw ball caromed right into Hayward's hands so there was absolutely no time lost in setting up the play, no scramble at all. He caught the ball and took off up court. No pass needed, no scrum for the ball eating up valuable seconds.

The basketball gods were really quite cruel weren't they, letting Butler get oh so very close, but denying the final crowning victory. It's telling that there's been so much said about last year's championship game in the commentary of the past couple of days of this year's tournament. A fabulous, fabulous game.

The SI article reminds me of the similar article - which I was unable to find in the SI archive (I'll spare you my rant about how cumbersome I find that archive to search) hoping to provide the link here - about the epic Duke-Kentucky 1992 regional final, which appeared around Christmas of 1992 I think, and went through the last moments in great detail.

What a blessing to be a Duke alum/fan!

gep
03-19-2011, 12:41 AM
That's one thing that's always stood out to me when I see that last sequence - whether by pure luck or Hayward positioning himself, the missed free throw ball caromed right into Hayward's hands so there was absolutely no time lost in setting up the play, no scramble at all. He caught the ball and took off up court. No pass needed, no scrum for the ball eating up valuable seconds.

What a blessing to be a Duke alum/fan!

I agree with this. But, I thought, still, that if they had the in-bound play, they could have passed to near mid-court, and if Hayward started his move from there, he'd get a much better shot... all assuming they could do that. But Duke did in 1992, 2005, so...:cool:

hurleyfor3
03-19-2011, 01:22 AM
The SI article reminds me of the similar article - which I was unable to find in the SI archive (I'll spare you my rant about how cumbersome I find that archive to search) hoping to provide the link here - about the epic Duke-Kentucky 1992 regional final, which appeared around Christmas of 1992 I think, and went through the last moments in great detail.

It helps to remember when it ran -- it was in the year-end 1992 issue.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1004691/index.htm

77devil
03-19-2011, 01:38 AM
That's one thing that's always stood out to me when I see that last sequence - whether by pure luck or Hayward positioning himself, the missed free throw ball caromed right into Hayward's hands

There was no luck or special positioning by Hayward. He had an unobstructed path to the rebound. There were no Duke players on his side of the lane. LT was the lone Duke player on the other side, and he backed away after the missed free throw, presumably to avoid any chance of being called for a foul. Matt Howard moved away from the ball as well. And the ball did not carom into Hayward's hands. He took several steps across the lane to catch the ball.




so there was absolutely no time lost in setting up the play, no scramble at all. He caught the ball and took off up court. No pass needed, no scrum for the ball eating up valuable seconds.

This is inaccurate too. In fact, as the article points out, Zoubek stepped forward after the missed shot and forced Hayward laterally costing him valuable time, enough to cause a half court shot instead of a 25 to 30 footer. I believe Butler coach Stevens is quoted in this regard, although it's been over a week since I read the article.

weezie
03-19-2011, 09:08 AM
Wednesday Scott VanPelt and his dummy, Ryen "whats his name" were poking fun at Coach K and his decision to miss the foul shot intentionally. I had to e-mail them and point out that Coach has forgotten more than they'll ever know about college bb. And I ended the email with; Scott, what's those Maryland graduation rates again? Of course it didn't get on the air. Go Duke!

It seems that some members of the "popular sport press" (now, there's an oxymoron) simply cannot, c-a-n-n-o-t, get over that fact that poor Butler didn't have their fairy tale ending. It's so poignant and deep to ponder the what ifs?????
:rolleyes:

moonpie23
03-19-2011, 09:16 AM
It is amazing that everytime you think of that shot (or read about it)- it seems like it should have gone in. It should have been a fairy tale ending but it was not. Bulter was not ready to win it all- the basketball gods know that you need to have some heartbreak to build a great program. Excellent article for sure.

instant karma for the thug block on singler.....

Jason W
03-19-2011, 01:14 PM
I'm not sure Coach K would say he would call the intentional miss again. Everyone, including K, has had time to think and rethink and reanalyze. From a logical standpoint, it was probably the wrong call. From a feel of the game call, truly being in that moment, it was the right call. If you put him back in the same situation, he makes the same call.

uh_no
03-19-2011, 01:28 PM
If you put him back in the same situation, he makes the same call.

I think wojo or collins might tie him up and gag him before he has that opportunity...

Buckeye Devil
03-19-2011, 09:30 PM
I am just glad that last shot did not go in-for obvious reasons but for one that came to light several months later.

My church got a new minister and they had several "meet the minister" small group nights. Part of the meeting was for each person to go around and give a truth and a lie about himself and then the rest of the group had to pick the lie. My truth was that I was an avid Duke basketball fan. The minister's wife had already insulted Ohio State fans (I live in a part of Ohio that supplies quite a few basketball and football players to OSU) and she said that she hoped that my lie was that I was a Duke fan. When I said that I was a Duke fan she got a nasty look on her face and the minister got a sick look on his face. Turns out they both graduated from Butler. I sarcastically said "I am so sorry."

My mind went back to that halfcourt shot and I was so glad that I wasn't saying I was an avid Duke fan to two people who would have gladly gloated over me had it gone in.

DevilWearsPrada
03-20-2011, 01:39 AM
I would love to see Duke and Butler in the Final 4 again this year and playing for the national championship again! I did pick Butler over Pitt!

However, I have Duke and Notre Dame in the final game! Wait and see.

Blue KevIL
03-20-2011, 02:15 AM
Interesting that the missed FT was a topic of discussion this week -- it seemed to me that Brad Stevens had Matt Howard pruposely miss his FT tonight when Butler was up by one with 0.8 seconds left.

freshmanjs
03-20-2011, 09:14 AM
Interesting that the missed FT was a topic of discussion this week -- it seemed to me that Brad Stevens had Matt Howard pruposely miss his FT tonight when Butler was up by one with 0.8 seconds left.

of course he did. why would there even be any question about whether you try to miss in that situation?

bluepenguin
03-20-2011, 10:04 AM
want a really made for hollywood script? have duke play butler in the finals this year. How cool would that be?

BlueTeuf
03-20-2011, 10:08 AM
of course he did. why would there even be any question about whether you try to miss in that situation?

I think the calculus differs a bit - depending on whether you're up by one or two

freshmanjs
03-20-2011, 10:11 AM
I think the calculus differs a bit - depending on whether you're up by one or two

yeah that was my point. the calculus differs a lot. up 1, it is an obvious and easy call to miss it. completely different from the duke-butler game.

BlueTeuf
03-20-2011, 10:14 AM
Agreed

DevilWearsPrada
03-21-2011, 08:06 AM
My brackets are a mess! But I did have Butler over Pitt! Love Brad Stevens!

Since FSU knocked off Notre Dame, there goes my Final 2 with Duke and ND. And I would love love a rematch of Duke and Butler for the National Championship!!!

Somebody knock off Kansas and Ohio State!

During the Duke-Mich game yesterday in Charlotte, I was feeling the same way I was during the Duke Butler game in Indy. My nerves were a wreck, and I know my blood pressure went up. You can hardly breathe during those intense minutes.

Congrats to Butler on a great win over Pitt! And the ACC for advancing 3 teams into the Sweet 16.

And as always,

Lets Go Duke!

COYS
03-21-2011, 10:35 AM
One thing that I think is lost on the public at large (although this excellent article discusses it to some degree) is that the 2010 Duke team has an almost equally compelling fairy-tale element to it. I know no one is going to cry over Duke's "struggles" in the tourney from 2005 to 2009, but last year's crop of seniors had probably faced more ridicule and criticism in the sports-journalism world than any group of NCAA seniors in history. This is the group that lost in the first round in 2007. The group that almost lost to Belmont in the first round in 2008 before falling to WVU the following weekend. Most people even viewed the 2009 ACC Championship as a matter of luck that Lawson's toe was injured and thus prevented the Holes from reaching the title game and beating us for a third time that season. After the 2009 shellacking by Nova and the departures of out most "athletic" players Elliot Williams and Gerald Henderson, most people saw 2010 as, at best, no better than 2009. Even many fans began to look forward to the recruiting class of 2010 (which, at least at that point, many thought would include Kyrie and Barnes). When Barnes picked UNC, many thought Duke's title window was closing shut for the foreseeable future.

It will always be particularly sweet to me that Jon (the unathletic point guard), Lance (the offensively inept 'tweener'), and Brian (the uncoordinated stiff) were the nucleus of a team that (through a perfect draw) avenged every slight the media had thrown at them. First, they barreled through the tough Purdue team that was supposed to knock Duke around (and many believed should still have gotten a number 1 seed despite the injury to Hummel). Then, they got to defeat the type of "long, athletic" team that the alarmingly unathletic Blue Devils were destined to lose to . . . in that team's home state in a semi-home game. Next, the team got its revenge by dismantling a WVU team that came from the oh so tough Big East, was supposed to rough Duke up, and was supposed to have gotten the 1 seed that Duke got. And oh yeah, they got payback for 2008.

The game against Butler was amazing and I'm glad we won and were part of it. I admit, once Princeton was knocked out against Kentucky I've adopted Butler as my second favorite team this tournament. However, part of me wants to make sure that the stories of Jon, Lance, and Brian are not lost in the lore of the 2010 championship game. The perseverance they showed to go from 2007 to 2010 is truly remarkable.

DukieInKansas
03-21-2011, 10:38 AM
I really enjoy Joe Posnanski's writing. Here is another on hating Duke: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/joe_posnanski/04/05/duke.butler/1.html

I like his last sentences in the final paragraph talking about last year's final: "That's part of the beauty of this matchup. You can hate Duke without guilt. Duke has earned the right to be hated. And that might be just about the best thing you can say about a college basketball team."

Nugget
03-21-2011, 07:03 PM
Wonderful article. I'll say 4 things:

2) I did at the time, and still do now, disagree with Coach K's decision to miss the free throw. It's all about decision tree for me. If you make it, the absolute worst thing that can happen is they tie the game and it goes to OT. If that happens, I still put our odds of winning in OT at 50/50. We were better on paper, they had the home crowd. So to me, the odds of a shot at the end of the game like they took is about 15%, and the odds of them making a shot with a throw in, are about 25%. Under that, it's still more likely you win with the game going to OT (even counting his 60% free throw shooting). It worked out....but it was truly a gutsy call. . . .

4) What a tremendous game!

This has been hashed out repeatedly (and, of course, happily), but you've rightly hit on the key point in this split-second judgment call being what one's assessment is of losing in OT if we make the FT and the hit a three.

Given Coach K's assessment that the chances of our winning in OT were much less than 50/50, I think his decision makes perfect sense.

And, with our foul trouble (Zoubs and Thomas both having 4, and our losing them being a much bigger hit to us than Howard fouling out would have been to Butler), I shared Coach K's feeling that we probably would not have won in OT.

cspan37421
03-21-2011, 09:56 PM
I finally got around to reading the article today. A few things stood out to me:


How much basketball I don't understand. The details of the particular screens, weaves, positioning/switching ... there's quite a bit of complexity to it that probably is only appreciated by those who have played or coached at least at the HS level.
Say what you want about the thug screen set by Howard, he's a tough and skilled player that we would probably have loved to see in Duke Blue. Plus he's (or was) an Academic all-America(n), something that used to be our calling card, or at least, we used to think our players operated at a higher academic level than most. IIRC there were 2 such recognized players in the final, and they were both on Butler!
It was interesting that the one shot that Hayward wanted back was the fadeaway over Zoubek, not another shot at the half court heave. Makes sense, but wasn't the immediate one to come to mind.
That the supervisor of officials said that if the last Hayward shot wasn't wayward, and Butler won, that the ongoing controversy would be that screen. One needn't be a genius to predict that had we lost and mentioned the screen, we'd be labeled whiners, sore losers, etc. But that supervisor of officials did say, "in a vacuum, that's probably a foul." The official on the court did not see it that way, though, and of course, no replay would come into play.
While I love our guys and their loyalty to Duke, I would also be delighted to see Brad Stevens succeed Coach K when that time comes. Does that mean we get 12 more years of Coach K? :)

davekay1971
03-21-2011, 10:07 PM
Great article. Zoubek's quote is my new sig for the indefinite future!

1 24 90
03-21-2011, 11:04 PM
Great article. Zoubek's quote is my new sig for the indefinite future! "Fifty percent I'm crapping my pants."

Well that's 50% percent less than I was at the moment.

Richard Berg
03-21-2011, 11:33 PM
One thing that I think is lost on the public at large (although this excellent article discusses it to some degree) is that the 2010 Duke team has an almost equally compelling fairy-tale element to it. I know no one is going to cry over Duke's "struggles" in the tourney from 2005 to 2009, but last year's crop of seniors had probably faced more ridicule and criticism in the sports-journalism world than any group of NCAA seniors in history. This is the group that lost in the first round in 2007. The group that almost lost to Belmont in the first round in 2008 before falling to WVU the following weekend. Most people even viewed the 2009 ACC Championship as a matter of luck that Lawson's toe was injured and thus prevented the Holes from reaching the title game and beating us for a third time that season. After the 2009 shellacking by Nova and the departures of out most "athletic" players Elliot Williams and Gerald Henderson, most people saw 2010 as, at best, no better than 2009. Even many fans began to look forward to the recruiting class of 2010 (which, at least at that point, many thought would include Kyrie and Barnes). When Barnes picked UNC, many thought Duke's title window was closing shut for the foreseeable future.

It will always be particularly sweet to me that Jon (the unathletic point guard), Lance (the offensively inept 'tweener'), and Brian (the uncoordinated stiff) were the nucleus of a team that (through a perfect draw) avenged every slight the media had thrown at them. First, they barreled through the tough Purdue team that was supposed to knock Duke around (and many believed should still have gotten a number 1 seed despite the injury to Hummel). Then, they got to defeat the type of "long, athletic" team that the alarmingly unathletic Blue Devils were destined to lose to . . . in that team's home state in a semi-home game. Next, the team got its revenge by dismantling a WVU team that came from the oh so tough Big East, was supposed to rough Duke up, and was supposed to have gotten the 1 seed that Duke got. And oh yeah, they got payback for 2008.

The game against Butler was amazing and I'm glad we won and were part of it. I admit, once Princeton was knocked out against Kentucky I've adopted Butler as my second favorite team this tournament. However, part of me wants to make sure that the stories of Jon, Lance, and Brian are not lost in the lore of the 2010 championship game. The perseverance they showed to go from 2007 to 2010 is truly remarkable.
Well said.

And don't forget the whole story line where Nolan dedicated his performance to his late father...finishing out his season by winning a championship on the same court Derek's Cardinals won theirs 30 years prior.

uh_no
03-22-2011, 12:19 AM
Well said.

And don't forget the whole story line where Nolan dedicated his performance to his late father...finishing out his season by winning a championship on the same court Derek's Cardinals won theirs 30 years prior.

Just a point: it was the same city, but not much else. Lucas oil stadium did not exist 30 yrs ago

gep
03-22-2011, 12:20 AM
Great article. Zoubek's quote is my new sig for the indefinite future!

Regarding Zoub's sig... he also said that he's practiced all his life to making shots, free throws, etc... then his last college shot is "supposed" to miss. :)

Duke Parent 06
03-22-2011, 02:40 AM
Regarding Zoub's sig... he also said that he's practiced all his life to making shots, free throws, etc... then his last college shot is "supposed" to miss. :)

My favorite line from this great article: "A Hall of Fame coach took a momentous gamble on a gut feeling. And a big kid from south Jersey did more great things in 13.6 seconds than some players do in their entire careers."

GO DUKE!