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View Full Version : MBB: Duke 75, Boston College 50 Post Game Thread



Bob Green
02-19-2012, 08:04 PM
Discuss the game here.

Furniture
02-19-2012, 08:05 PM
Nice job!

lotusland
02-19-2012, 08:06 PM
Maybe it was BC's lack of offense but Duke's defense looked great tonight. It was nice to watch and easy win for a change,

-bdbd
02-19-2012, 08:10 PM
Great games for Austin, Seth, Miles and, towards the end, Andre.

Very workman-like. Took control late in the first, and didn't let up in the second. Even got to see some of the guys down the bench. Good warm-up for Tallahassee, on Thursday at 7pm.


ESPN's box:
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=320500103

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Duke Blue Devils
STARTERS FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OFF REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
Seth Curry, G 4-8 3-4 7-7 3 5 2 1 0 6 0 18
Austin Rivers, G 7-13 2-5 0-1 0 7 2 0 0 2 1 16
Miles Plumlee, F 3-5 0-0 3-7 4 10 2 0 0 4 3 9
Mason Plumlee, F 1-5 0-0 1-1 2 3 1 0 1 3 4 3
Tyler Thornton, G 1-2 0-1 0-0 0 1 0 1 0 0 2 2
BENCH FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OFF REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
Andre Dawkins, G 5-11 3-7 0-0 0 5 0 0 0 1 2 13
Ryan Kelly, F 2-8 1-2 0-0 2 8 3 0 0 0 0 5
Quinn Cook, G 1-2 1-2 2-2 0 1 3 2 0 1 2 5
Michael Gbinije, G-F 1-2 0-1 2-2 1 2 0 0 0 0 1 4
Todd Zafirovski, F 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Josh Hairston, F 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 0
Marshall Plumlee, F 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
TOTALS FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OFF REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
25-57 10-22 15-20 12 42 14 3 2 18 18 75
43.9% 45.5% 75.0%

Boston College Eagles
STARTERS FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OFF REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
Ryan Anderson, F 6-12 2-3 7-10 2 8 1 1 1 2 1 21
Matt Humphrey, G 3-6 3-6 3-4 0 3 3 2 0 4 2 12
Jordan Daniels, G 3-8 0-2 0-0 0 1 3 0 0 2 1 6
Dennis Clifford, C 2-7 0-0 1-2 0 4 0 0 1 2 4 5
Lonnie Jackson, G 0-3 0-3 0-0 0 0 2 2 0 2 4 0
BENCH FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OFF REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
John Cahill, G 1-2 1-2 0-0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 3
Ryan Kilcullen, F 0-0 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
Eddie Odio, F 0-1 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
KC Caudill, C 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Gabe Moton, G 0-2 0-1 0-1 0 3 0 0 1 0 0 0
Danny Rubin, G 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Deirunas Visockas, G 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 0
TOTALS FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OFF REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
15-44 6-18 14-21 2 20 9 6 2 14 17 50
34.1% 33.3% 66.7%

dukedrummer
02-19-2012, 08:10 PM
Slow start defensively during the 10 minutes, but not as bad as previous games.. BC was 5 of 5 to start. Though once we had the lead we played with heart.

Go Duke!!!

DukeDrummer

dukeballboy88
02-19-2012, 08:10 PM
I love the way this team plays on offense. They have several weapons that can carry them to victory. One guy doesnt have to do it every night and that makes this team very dangerous. I smell a deep run in the ACC and NCAA tourney.

ncexnyc
02-19-2012, 08:11 PM
A nice methodical, workmanlike effort. Austin and Seth continue to develop as an excellent backcourt. After all of the recent nailbiters this one was downright boring:D, but extremely appreciated, as I couldn't take another stressful game on such a short turnaround.

Ultrarunner
02-19-2012, 08:14 PM
Well, I am quite appreciative of the fact that the team didn't do another stress test on my heart.

Defense looked better in nearly every particular. Pretty ugly offense in the first half when the shots didn't drop.

Good to see the bench get some extended time both for their development and also to rest Austin and a couple of the other starters. Mason got his rest by not playing very smart which is a bit unusual for him. Miles would have a double-double if he could hit a free throw.

Funniest play of the game was the inbounds by Austin (think it was Austin - I watch on a pretty lousy feed to the pc). Would not have been nearly so funny in a close game.

Saratoga2
02-19-2012, 08:14 PM
Interesting that Alex Murphy got into the game. Lots of combinations for coach K to look at and some rest for the starters.

hq2
02-19-2012, 08:16 PM
Taking care of business against a bad team (both young and not all that talented).
Nice to see silent G make a little noise at the end; be good to have him available
for defense at the 3 spot in the NCAAs. Austin looking awesome as (nearly) always.

Bluedog
02-19-2012, 08:16 PM
Interesting that Alex Murphy got into the game. Lots of combinations for coach K to look at and some rest for the starters.

Alex did not get into the game. The box score you were looking at must be incorrect as they often are during the game. Silent G did though, which was nice. I certainly liked his dunk and his D. Hard to tell if our defense was really good or BC's offense is just really bad. Either way, enjoyable win. Blowouts are a lot less stressful to watch.

mo.st.dukie
02-19-2012, 08:17 PM
Interesting that Alex Murphy got into the game. Lots of combinations for coach K to look at and some rest for the starters.

Murphy still had his warmup on at the end. Zaf was in the game at the end.

gwlaw99
02-19-2012, 08:17 PM
Interesting that Alex Murphy gHot into the game. Lots of combinations for coach K to look at and some rest for the starters.

Murphy played??

Olympic Fan
02-19-2012, 08:17 PM
Interesting that Alex Murphy got into the game. Lots of combinations for coach K to look at and some rest for the starters.

Murphy did not get in the game.

ESPN has been listing him time after time this season. I'm not sure what the foulup is.

Saratoga2
02-19-2012, 08:19 PM
Great games for Austin, Seth, Miles and, towards the end, Andre.

Very workman-like. Took control late in the first, and didn't let up in the second. Even got to see some of the guys down the bench. Good warm-up for Tallahassee, on Thursday at 7pm.


ESPN's box:
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=320500103

Advertisement
Refresh: 30 | 60 | 90 | OFF
Duke Blue Devils
STARTERS FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OFF REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
Seth Curry, G 4-8 3-4 7-7 3 5 2 1 0 6 0 18
Austin Rivers, G 7-13 2-5 0-1 0 7 2 0 0 2 1 16
Miles Plumlee, F 3-5 0-0 3-7 4 10 2 0 0 4 3 9
Mason Plumlee, F 1-5 0-0 1-1 2 3 1 0 1 3 4 3
Tyler Thornton, G 1-2 0-1 0-0 0 1 0 1 0 0 2 2
BENCH FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OFF REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
Andre Dawkins, G 5-11 3-7 0-0 0 5 0 0 0 1 2 13
Ryan Kelly, F 2-8 1-2 0-0 2 8 3 0 0 0 0 5
Quinn Cook, G 1-2 1-2 2-2 0 1 3 2 0 1 2 5
Michael Gbinije, G-F 1-2 0-1 2-2 1 2 0 0 0 0 1 4
Todd Zafirovski, F 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Josh Hairston, F 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 0
Marshall Plumlee, F 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
TOTALS FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OFF REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
25-57 10-22 15-20 12 42 14 3 2 18 18 75
43.9% 45.5% 75.0%

Boston College Eagles
STARTERS FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OFF REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
Ryan Anderson, F 6-12 2-3 7-10 2 8 1 1 1 2 1 21
Matt Humphrey, G 3-6 3-6 3-4 0 3 3 2 0 4 2 12
Jordan Daniels, G 3-8 0-2 0-0 0 1 3 0 0 2 1 6
Dennis Clifford, C 2-7 0-0 1-2 0 4 0 0 1 2 4 5
Lonnie Jackson, G 0-3 0-3 0-0 0 0 2 2 0 2 4 0
BENCH FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OFF REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
John Cahill, G 1-2 1-2 0-0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 3
Ryan Kilcullen, F 0-0 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
Eddie Odio, F 0-1 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
KC Caudill, C 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Gabe Moton, G 0-2 0-1 0-1 0 3 0 0 1 0 0 0
Danny Rubin, G 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Deirunas Visockas, G 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 0
TOTALS FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OFF REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
15-44 6-18 14-21 2 20 9 6 2 14 17 50
34.1% 33.3% 66.7%

Game tracker listed Alex Murphy in the game for a couple of minutes. Was that wrong or did you miss him?

Bluedog
02-19-2012, 08:23 PM
Game tracker listed Alex Murphy in the game for a couple of minutes. Was that wrong or did you miss him?

Game tracker is wrong.

Newton_14
02-19-2012, 08:25 PM
Maybe it was BC's lack of offense but Duke's defense looked great tonight. It was nice to watch and easy win for a change,

Even though BC is a bad team, Duke did a nice job on defense tonight. The communication, switching, and rotations were sharp on the whole. They closed on shooters quickly as well. Amazing how the guys play much better defense on the road than they do at home. That is a bizarre trait with this team. 6 ACC road wins for this team is darn impressive. If they can somehow steal one at FSU and run the table on the road it will be a special accomplishment.

It took awhile, but the offense finally got going tonight. Austin was solid the entire game (lob pass to the shot clock notwithstanding :p) and can I just state that Austin continues to get hosed on his drives! The charge call on him in the first half was ridiculously horrible. He split the defenders, neither of whom were set or had any kind of position established. It was obvious the ref made up his mind that it was going to be charge. He got hammered several other times with no calls either.

Seth was good again after a slow start, and I thought Miles and Andre had solid games on both ends. In Miles defense on the Thunder Dumb, he got fouled pretty hard in mid-air there, an actually it may be a blessing he did not have two hands on the ball when he got bumped. He used his left hand to catch himself there. I would much prefer the two hand dunk as well, but he might have taken a nasty fall there had he tried that. The dunk to end the half was one of the better plays of his career though. That was amazing.

Mason never got it going after getting in foul trouble, but thankfully we did not need him tonight. Glad to see Silent G get some run, and played well for the most part. Nice baseline dunk and a couple of strong rebounds. Also glad to see Quinn get a 3 to go down. It had been awhile since he his last make there.

All in all, a solid road win, nobody got hurt, no current or former players got tossed (where was Flutie? :)) and Daniel Ewing did not get a technical!

dukeballboy88
02-19-2012, 08:28 PM
BC is 2nd in the ACC behind Duke in 3's made. So I think Duke's d was alot better tonight from what I saw.

Bluedevil114
02-19-2012, 08:30 PM
Gbinje looked great. He stayed with their point after a switch and did not allow him to beat him to the lane. He later had a nice drive and finish. I really like his defense and athleticism. I would much rather Michael get the minutes than Hairston. Hairston does not have the length nor the athleticism to finish at the rim.

DukieInBrasil
02-19-2012, 08:46 PM
Gbinje looked great. He stayed with their point after a switch and did not allow him to beat him to the lane. He later had a nice drive and finish. I really like his defense and athleticism. I would much rather Michael get the minutes than Hairston. Hairston does not have the length nor the athleticism to finish at the rim.

I was pleasantly surprised by Silent G's play today too. Not sure i'd rather have G than Hairston for what Josh gets called on to do, which is defend PFs. I think (s) G has a higher ceiling than Josh, and will probably have better stats next year and beyond, but they're not interchangeable.

loran16
02-19-2012, 08:48 PM
Not sure what many of you were watching....Duke won by 25 while playing incredibly poor defense and at times incredibly poor offense.

BC missed tons of open shots in both halves - they couldn't hit a lick. Now some of this may be strategic (You can leave your guy open at the 3 point line if he's a 25% 3 point shooter) but there were way too many for it to be strategic.

BC was beyond inept, but they were getting very close to the same looks as NC State. That's not a good sign for our D, despite the low points allowed.

Duvall
02-19-2012, 08:56 PM
BC missed tons of open shots in both halves - they couldn't hit a lick. Now some of this may be strategic (You can leave your guy open at the 3 point line if he's a 25% 3 point shooter) but there were way too many for it to be strategic.

...

I don't follow.

Cameron
02-19-2012, 08:57 PM
Austin took over the leadership role of this team tonight and it was a beautiful thing. He is starting to command the ball like J.J. once did and that's the type of presence that we lacked at certain points early in the year. If we need a big shot in the final moments of a game moving forward, I will be surprised if Austin doesn't make it. That's the level of competition he's playing at right now. That three he hit late in the first half, after motioning for Miles draw his man away and clear some space, was shades of Jason Williams. Some might call it brash or whatever, but it's the kind of confidence you need to be the best in your sport. And this kid has it.

I thought Andre had a really nice game as well. What a luxury to have the most explosive sixth man in the country coming off our bench, especially when you look around and see a team such as Ohio State struggling mightily due to underproductive shooting and lack of depth. Dre's 13 points and 3-of-7 shooting from three-point range give him 12 double-figure scoring games on the year through 27 games, matching his total from all of last season. It was even great to see Andre hit a jumper from inside the arc near the free-throw line in the closing seconds. He must have gotten lost. :)

Great W.

Bob Green
02-19-2012, 09:06 PM
It was even great to see Andre hit a jumper from inside the arc near the free-throw line in the closing seconds. He must have gotten lost. :)

Great W.

Andre's first made basket tonight was also inside the arc.

roywhite
02-19-2012, 09:08 PM
Official Boxscore (http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=22724&SPID=1845&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=4200&ATCLID=205383425)

45-21 rebounding advantage!
Andre Dawkins with 13 points and 5 rebounds
Nice to see Gbinije get a few minutes and make a couple plays
Had some turnovers early and finished with 18 vs 14 assists

mgtr
02-19-2012, 09:16 PM
I thought the smalls played well, the bigs did not. Austin, Seth and Andre were terrific. When they tried to involve the bigs, things broke down. That is OK, I guess, since bigs are normally pretty good. Second half was better, obviously, but seemed to take forever. All in all, probably not a very pleasant game for either side to watch.

Cameron
02-19-2012, 09:16 PM
Andre's first made basket tonight was also inside the arc.

Ah, yes, I forgot that his opening field goal was a long two. I was more or less just being tongue-in-cheek, however. As much recognition has his three-point shot receives, Dre, like Seth, has a really nice mid-range touch.

roywhite
02-19-2012, 09:19 PM
The offensive rebound tap-out to a shooter is again becoming a regular play.

With 3 bigs in the 6'10" range and several good 3-point shooters, this play makes a lot of sense.
Was a major staple of the championship run in 2010.

Utley
02-19-2012, 10:23 PM
A nice chance to catch our breath as the homestretch begins.

A few thoughts:

Seth Curry can't have the ball in his hands enough or shoot enough as far as I am concerned. I know he's not a great athlete but his game has a real maturity and he just has a priceless basketball savvy.

I liked Mike G's time tonight too - he's been inconsistent, so its foolish to jump to conclusions, but experimenting with more time with him could be one of the most largest upside moves left to us.

Mason seems to have hit the wall. We've asked a lot of him and he's delivered big time all year long - but BC is a team he should have just owned and yet he seemed to have nothing in the tank- foul trouble notwithstanding.

Andre's game seems to be developing some real maturity. I like what I am seeing on defense and I like the 2 point shooting. Its like the light bulb has gone off. Let's hope that continues - it clearly raises our bar.

mapei
02-19-2012, 10:25 PM
What I mainly saw was that BC is a really bad team. They couldn't score and couldn't rebound, and I think it had as much to do with them as with us. To me it loooked like our D was inconsistent but BC couldn't take advantage.

On our side, Kelly filled in well when Mason had to sit, and Austin continues to be phenomenal. He can drive to the hoop better than any Duke player since JWill, and I'm not sure that he isn't even better at that particular skill than Jason. He certainly gets cocky and restless at times, but it's worth it to get the spectacular plays.

Seth is a bit of an enigma to me. At times he seems average at best, and yet without him we lose to NC State - and tonight he had 19 points.

I'm really liking Miles lately.

jimsumner
02-19-2012, 10:34 PM
One key going forward was the rebounding from the perimeter guys. Rivers, Curry and Dawkins were all effective on the boards. Duke isn't going to go deep into March if it relies on just the bigs to rebound.

DukieInBrasil
02-19-2012, 10:38 PM
A nice chance to catch our breath as the homestretch begins.

A few thoughts:

Seth Curry can't have the ball in his hands enough or shoot enough as far as I am concerned. I know he's not a great athlete but his game has a real maturity and he just has a priceless basketball savvy.

I liked Mike G's time tonight too - he's been inconsistent, so its foolish to jump to conclusions, but experimenting with more time with him could be one of the most largest upside moves left to us.

Mason seems to have hit the wall. We've asked a lot of him and he's delivered big time all year long - but BC is a team he should have just owned and yet he seemed to have nothing in the tank- foul trouble notwithstanding.

Andre's game seems to be developing some real maturity. I like what I am seeing on defense and I like the 2 point shooting. Its like the light bulb has gone off. Let's hope that continues - it clearly raises our bar.

Seth had 6 turns tonight, some of which came from trying too hard. I'm super glad he has recovered his shooting touch, but i'm not sure i agree with having the ball in his hands as much as possible. I like the dynamic between he and Austin, and they both play better on offense with Andre than with Tyler, who couldn't handle the quickness of Daniels at all.
I think Mason's problem was mental, that he knew he was supposed to dominate them, and didn't do a lot of the stuff that has worked well for him lately. Like "a bull in a china shop" (although bulls are actually very agile in a china shop), he just pushed too hard to make the power game work. Miles played really well, although i was gonna hate it if he had blown the OHTD which he probably could have scored as a short jumper if he had gone up with 2 hands. Loved his follow-two-handed-slam though.

mkline09
02-19-2012, 11:05 PM
That first half was one of the worst displays of basketball I've seen in some time. But Duke came out focused and intent on putting BC away in the second half and that I really enjoyed seeing.

BC is just bad. At one point mid way to late in the second half Duke had more rebounds than BC had points. I'm really liking Austin Rivers and Seth Curry coming to the top as the go to scorers with the ball. Would like to see Mason start playing more consistently down the stretch. Foul trouble hurt him tonight but seeing as Duke was so much bigger in the post than BC it would have been nice to see him post a double double. Miles was at least one missed free throw away from doing that. Quinn had a nice game in limited minutes and it was nice to see Mike Gbinije get in the game and play limited bue solid minutes and contribute. Any road win is a good road win and it is nice for a game not to have to come down to the wire or require a major comeback. My heart can't take that anymore. On to Florida State. Big game ahead.

devildeac
02-19-2012, 11:08 PM
Interesting that Alex Murphy got into the game. Lots of combinations for coach K to look at and some rest for the starters.


Alex did not get into the game. The box score you were looking at must be incorrect as they often are during the game. Silent G did though, which was nice. I certainly liked his dunk and his D. Hard to tell if our defense was really good or BC's offense is just really bad. Either way, enjoyable win. Blowouts are a lot less stressful to watch.


Murphy still had his warmup on at the end. Zaf was in the game at the end.


Murphy played??


Murphy did not get in the game.

ESPN has been listing him time after time this season. I'm not sure what the foulup is.


Game tracker listed Alex Murphy in the game for a couple of minutes. Was that wrong or did you miss him?

Marshall was also credited for one rebound. Must have had him confused with one of the other twins:rolleyes:.

devildeac
02-19-2012, 11:11 PM
Even though BC is a bad team, Duke did a nice job on defense tonight. The communication, switching, and rotations were sharp on the whole. They closed on shooters quickly as well. Amazing how the guys play much better defense on the road than they do at home. That is a bizarre trait with this team. 6 ACC road wins for this team is darn impressive. If they can somehow steal one at FSU and run the table on the road it will be a special accomplishment.

It took awhile, but the offense finally got going tonight. Austin was solid the entire game (lob pass to the shot clock notwithstanding :p) and can I just state that Austin continues to get hosed on his drives! The charge call on him in the first half was ridiculously horrible. He split the defenders, neither of whom were set or had any kind of position established. It was obvious the ref made up his mind that it was going to be charge. He got hammered several other times with no calls either.

Seth was good again after a slow start, and I thought Miles and Andre had solid games on both ends. In Miles defense on the Thunder Dumb, he got fouled pretty hard in mid-air there, an actually it may be a blessing he did not have two hands on the ball when he got bumped. He used his left hand to catch himself there. I would much prefer the two hand dunk as well, but he might have taken a nasty fall there had he tried that. The dunk to end the half was one of the better plays of his career though. That was amazing.

Mason never got it going after getting in foul trouble, but thankfully we did not need him tonight. Glad to see Silent G get some run, and played well for the most part. Nice baseline dunk and a couple of strong rebounds. Also glad to see Quinn get a 3 to go down. It had been awhile since he his last make there.

All in all, a solid road win, nobody got hurt, no current or former players got tossed (where was Flutie? :)) and Daniel Ewing did not get a technical!

Sure would have been nice to see jared dudley (?) get a well-deserved T, even if if would have been a few years too late:rolleyes:.

SoCalDukeFan
02-19-2012, 11:19 PM
How did BC beat FSU?

SoCal

Cameron
02-19-2012, 11:29 PM
How did BC beat FSU?

SoCal

After tonight, I'm beginning to think that David Copperfield must have been involved. Maybe it was one of those prime-time specials, only instead of an airplane, he made Leonard Hamilton disappear.

BC is young, but they are plain-vanilla.

JNort
02-20-2012, 12:13 AM
Is there a way I can re-watch this game online or on tv? I was on my way home from the mountains and could not watch. Prefer it to be free btw...

Dukehky
02-20-2012, 12:22 AM
BC's team this year is one of the worst that the ACC has ever had. I am simply amazed at the fact that they beat FSU. I can't help but think/hope that Mason's foul trouble in the first half is going to be a bit of a blessing for the FSU game. Didn't have to play as long or as hard as he did against State. That being said I would have liked to have seen him be a little more consistent with some of his finesse shots. I love it when the guards rebound well, it really is nice to see, but BC is one of the few teams with a smaller guard line-up than Duke.

Not exactly jazzed about our coming confrontation with the Noles in Tallahassee. All I ever think of when we play there is the court getting stormed, I don't like it. We're really gonna need to pack it in and focus on defensive rebounding. They're not a great scoring team, so limiting their OR's is really the key in this game, even more so than it is in most. Need to get their bigs in foul trouble as well.

Billy Dat
02-20-2012, 12:30 AM
That first half was one of the worst displays of basketball I've seen in some time. But Duke came out focused and intent on putting BC away in the second half and that I really enjoyed seeing. BC is just bad.

I have to agree with this, they were truly one of the more inept ACC teams I have seen in some time. The middle 10 minutes of the half were basically unwatchable. I, too, credit our D for dictating the game but they missed a lot of wide open 3s and were throwing he ball all over the gym.

Still, we haven't put a beating on anyone in the league like that, a game where there were 5 solid minutes of real scrub time. I thought Austin was the best playmaker, even if his passes still tend to be a second too late. We seemed a little crowded on the baseline - our bigs didn't have lot of space to operate. We did a much better job looking inside in the second half.

Maybe BC was bad because we were so good? Split the difference? Did we learn anything about our team from this game, aside from our league road warrior status?

Nice W. HUGE game on Thursday!

Billy Dat
02-20-2012, 12:48 AM
K quotes about team still seeking consistency of high-level performance:

"I was really pleased we got a big working margin, but I'm still worried," Krzyzewski said. "I want us to look good all the time. We got a little sloppy there for a minute and then our kids picked it up again. It's not point differential or anything. Whoever's playing, I want them to be sharp."

"They're a good group. We're just not some type of juggernaut," he said. "We'll have spurts of really good defense. Our rebounding has gotten better. Until today, we were taking really good care of the ball."

Rudy
02-20-2012, 09:23 AM
Funniest play of the game was the inbounds by Austin (think it was Austin - I watch on a pretty lousy feed to the pc). Would not have been nearly so funny in a close game.
That was hilarious. I was surprised the announcers and replay guys didn't spend more time on it, since by that time they were struggling to find things to say. Sometimes good teams play sloppy against bad teams because the good players aren't forced to focus quite as well. Ugly game to watch but little to really worry about. On the other hand, sometimes a bad team can unintentionally lull a good one into bad play and then catch fire on shooting percentage to bag a win. Pretty late in the second half we were only 15 points up. Still, good to see Andre miss a couple of long shots and still bounce back to hit several.

RockyMtDevil
02-20-2012, 09:29 AM
We showed a great deal of maturity tonight. The first 15 minutes were pretty brutal to watch, but even though our offense was sluggish, we didn't allow that to affect our defense and communication. I was very pleased to see so many of the guys being vocal tonight, especially Seth, Austin and Dre. That's a huge step forward. Dre's defense was superb at times and I love how Austin is just commanding the ball and taking over, while still getting others involved.

One Huge problem continues to be our inability to finish on the break. We either force things (Cook), or we pass the ball to the wrong guy (Thornton to Miles) or we lack proper spacing in order to weaken the defense. Just a strange thing that these guys have struggled with the open court all year.

Regardless, Miles did an outstanding job with the ball screen and then the run at the rim tonight, he was aggressive on both ends of the court. I think it is safe to say he has equalled if not surpassed Zoubs final stretch of his Sr. year. Miles has an X factor that unfortunately Zoubs never had from an athletic perspective. He, too, is playing with a great deal of confidance.

Gbinije played very well in his limited minutes, though maybe I am the only one, does it not look like he is sad out there? Maybe that's his personality, but he didn't seem emotionally into it. His body language appeared to express frustration. I know it was mop up minutes, but he came in and obviously made an impact on defense, and his knifing dunk was something nobody else could have done. He played very well and hopefully we'll see more, not sure what is keeping him on the bench, especially with Kelly's inability to guard and Hairston's limitations on offense.

Mason had a ho hum night, though I don't believe we continued to try and feed him the ball once they packed their defense in.

Also, BC is horrible, poor guys, they are just awful. They would finish near the bottom of the Patriot league...

rsvman
02-20-2012, 09:39 AM
Good win against a very bad team.

My main concern is that Mason seems to be going somewhat downhill over the past few games. Earlier in the season it seemed he had a lot more finesse on those baby jump hooks. Now it looks as though he's just trying to push he way into the paint to toss up a knuckleball. I hope we can see a little more Jabbar and a lot less Kendrick Perkins out of Mason going forward.

HDB
02-20-2012, 11:04 AM
We showed a great deal of maturity tonight. The first 15 minutes were pretty brutal to watch, but even though our offense was sluggish, we didn't allow that to affect our defense and communication. I was very pleased to see so many of the guys being vocal tonight, especially Seth, Austin and Dre. That's a huge step forward. Dre's defense was superb at times and I love how Austin is just commanding the ball and taking over, while still getting others involved.

One Huge problem continues to be our inability to finish on the break. We either force things (Cook), or we pass the ball to the wrong guy (Thornton to Miles) or we lack proper spacing in order to weaken the defense. Just a strange thing that these guys have struggled with the open court all year.

Regardless, Miles did an outstanding job with the ball screen and then the run at the rim tonight, he was aggressive on both ends of the court. I think it is safe to say he has equalled if not surpassed Zoubs final stretch of his Sr. year. Miles has an X factor that unfortunately Zoubs never had from an athletic perspective. He, too, is playing with a great deal of confidance.

Gbinije played very well in his limited minutes, though maybe I am the only one, does it not look like he is sad out there? Maybe that's his personality, but he didn't seem emotionally into it. His body language appeared to express frustration. I know it was mop up minutes, but he came in and obviously made an impact on defense, and his knifing dunk was something nobody else could have done. He played very well and hopefully we'll see more, not sure what is keeping him on the bench, especially with Kelly's inability to guard and Hairston's limitations on offense.

Mason had a ho hum night, though I don't believe we continued to try and feed him the ball once they packed their defense in.

Also, BC is horrible, poor guys, they are just awful. They would finish near the bottom of the Patriot league...

How in the world did FSU lose to BC?

CoachJ10
02-20-2012, 11:37 AM
That first half was one of the worst displays of basketball I've seen in some time. But Duke came out focused and intent on putting BC away in the second half and that I really enjoyed seeing.

BC is just bad. At one point mid way to late in the second half Duke had more rebounds than BC had points. I'm really liking Austin Rivers and Seth Curry coming to the top as the go to scorers with the ball. Would like to see Mason start playing more consistently down the stretch. Foul trouble hurt him tonight but seeing as Duke was so much bigger in the post than BC it would have been nice to see him post a double double. Miles was at least one missed free throw away from doing that. Quinn had a nice game in limited minutes and it was nice to see Mike Gbinije get in the game and play limited bue solid minutes and contribute. Any road win is a good road win and it is nice for a game not to have to come down to the wire or require a major comeback. My heart can't take that anymore. On to Florida State. Big game ahead.


This BC squad is really bad. How in the world did they beat FSU?

BluDvlsN1
02-20-2012, 11:57 AM
Just some thoughts on the status quo!

The benefit of Hindsight,giving us 20/20 vision, oddly the Mauii tourney was a preview of the season to come! Lots of offensive talent, defensive concerns exposed, young team cohesion issues to work out, a competive team with a will to win someway/anyway evidenced !

The following is nameless on purpose!
Here we are in late February, having seen multiple starting lineup adjustments for varying reasons,! Some individuals adjust to the challenge and step up their individual and team consistency, some others get anxious in trying to "right their own ship" and overplay in their minutes and not let the game unfold and come to them! Hence some intermittent sloppy play we're unaccustomed to seeing at this point in the season!

So, we're 23-4 and we had for all intents and purposes, a televised scrimmage last night, to help us prepare for the long stretch run!
(plagiarizing"devildeac" ) We have (f$u )thursday, and we all know it's an important game, I don't believe that fact will be lost on either the staff or the team!
Using last night as a preparation for thursday as always gives the guys things to work on! Some more than others!

I'm sure the team is going to continue to try to improve the nuances of the game and prepare for each opponent, I think we're sure of that fact, but is anything really significanly different going to materialize at this point! Unlikely!

K,has been showing us the way since the Miami game in taking the focus off the negatives and focusing on the positives of the team and their will to win!
He's done it the only way a leader really can do it, by example!

I don't know why, but the lyrics of " Love the one your with" keep coming back to me and seem somehow to apply!(lol)

For the most part we're all strong DUKE supporters and have been for years, save some competitors and guests that come come by!

For all of our spirit, for all of the history we have to draw on, wins and buzzer beaters!! This young team needs our unqualified support, maybe similar to 2010! They have some pretty significant accomplishments to draw on for their own motivation!

They're going to give us their best effort, let's give them ours, in the best DUKE fashion and help them accomplish the most they're capable of!
The one huge intangible is" that will to win", it's inherent, not taught!

So going forward it's probably not going to be about HOW, just HOW MANY!

Just one guys opinion!

DukieInBrasil
02-20-2012, 12:26 PM
One Huge problem continues to be our inability to finish on the break. We either force things (Cook), or we pass the ball to the wrong guy (Thornton to Miles) or we lack proper spacing in order to weaken the defense. Just a strange thing that these guys have struggled with the open court all year.

Regardless, Miles did an outstanding job with the ball screen and then the run at the rim tonight, he was aggressive on both ends of the court. I think it is safe to say he has equalled if not surpassed Zoubs final stretch of his Sr. year. Miles has an X factor that unfortunately Zoubs never had from an athletic perspective. He, too, is playing with a great deal of confidance.

Gbinije played very well in his limited minutes, though maybe I am the only one, does it not look like he is sad out there? Maybe that's his personality, but he didn't seem emotionally into it. His body language appeared to express frustration. I know it was mop up minutes, but he came in and obviously made an impact on defense, and his knifing dunk was something nobody else could have done. He played very well and hopefully we'll see more, not sure what is keeping him on the bench, especially with Kelly's inability to guard and Hairston's limitations on offense.


Re: Gbinije, absolutely not. The kid is just kinda raw offensively. It looks to me more like he's trying to figure out what he is being asked to do, and how to accomplish that. Silent G, Kelly and Hairston all play different roles and looking at them as competing for minutes is flawed. Sure, Kelly can't guard SFs, but then again he's a PF. Hairston certainly has limitations on O, but (s)G has shown that he does too.
Re: Miles, again, no. I agree that his athleticism certainly could allow him to surpass what Z did, but he has not surpassed what Z did nor is it safe to say that he has. It won't be safe to say that until April.

To me it really looks like Rivers and Curry are really starting to click together, especially when Dawkins is paired with them. IMO, Thornton's presence really chokes the offense when paired with R&C. TT was really hitting those open 3s for a while, which compensated for his offensive limitations otherwise, but he's gone cold lately. Also, he just gets shredded on D cuz he's always trying to get up in the opponents grill and they just blow by him routinely. He can still create havoc, but not when guarding a dribbling ball-handler. Once the ball stops, he can really create problems with tips/strips/steals/held-balls, but he does a much better job as a help defender or if he would just back off and prevent blow-by penetration.

-jk
02-20-2012, 01:45 PM
Don't look now, but our KenPom defensive eff has moved up to 65th! Still among the worst of his top 20, though.

The KP stat I find interesting is "luck" - which (if I understand it correctly) is his measure of error. A team that performs better than expected overall is considered "lucky". We've been lucky all season. It seems unlikely out O is much better than rated, so perhaps our D is not quite as bad as his system paints it.

-jk

UrinalCake
02-20-2012, 03:04 PM
Marshall was also credited for one rebound. Must have had him confused with one of the other twins:rolleyes:.

Brothers, not twins. Would have been one heck of a labor for Mrs. Plumlee to have twins/triplets born three years apart. :)

RockyMtDevil
02-20-2012, 03:11 PM
Much has been made about Miles filling the Zoubek role on the national championship team, and while that is a fair comparison, we don't as yet have the full body of work. However, there are some comparisons that can be made, even if the teams and dates don't match perfectly.

1. Up until this date in the season, Zoubek had only accumulated 116 points compared to Miles current 176 points.
2. During Zoubeks last 7 games, all starts, he averaged 7 points and 11 Boards
For Miles last 8 games, 3 starts, he has averaged 6 points but only 7.5 Boards

3. Zoub's highest point total came against Maryland in his first start: (16) and his highest Rebounds came that same day with (17) in a wonderful second half route.
Miles high point total since 1/21 is (13) and his high similarly comes in the same game with (22) Rebounds.

4. Zoubs obviously finished the year strong, at least in our memories, but statistically, he only managed to average (6 points) and a strong (9 Boards) per game in his final 9 postseason games. I don't believe it is to much to think that Miles can eclipse those numbers if given the nod and minutes at the 5...

jimsumner
02-20-2012, 03:16 PM
Brothers, not twins. Would have been one heck of a labor for Mrs. Plumlee to have twins/triplets born three years apart. :)

I believe this is a sly reference to a reporter (ESPN?) who referred to the Plumlees as triplets earlier in the season.

Saratoga2
02-20-2012, 03:22 PM
A nice chance to catch our breath as the homestretch begins.

A few thoughts:

Seth Curry can't have the ball in his hands enough or shoot enough as far as I am concerned. I know he's not a great athlete but his game has a real maturity and he just has a priceless basketball savvy.

I liked Mike G's time tonight too - he's been inconsistent, so its foolish to jump to conclusions, but experimenting with more time with him could be one of the most largest upside moves left to us.

Mason seems to have hit the wall. We've asked a lot of him and he's delivered big time all year long - but BC is a team he should have just owned and yet he seemed to have nothing in the tank- foul trouble notwithstanding.

Andre's game seems to be developing some real maturity. I like what I am seeing on defense and I like the 2 point shooting. Its like the light bulb has gone off. Let's hope that continues - it clearly raises our bar.

Seth is a very good scoring guard but he did have 6 turnovers last night. I don't think he should be placed in situations where he has to handle the ball under pressure, as the PG for instance.

devildeac
02-20-2012, 03:25 PM
Brothers, not twins. Would have been one heck of a labor for Mrs. Plumlee to have twins/triplets born three years apart. :)

Dang, I gotta stop listening to those whack jobs calling our games. I coulda sworn several weeks ago that one of them referred to Miles and Mason as twins. Several others also commented on that here and/or in chat. (And yes, I do know that they are not twins/triplets as I bet Mrs. Plumlee is also cuz that would indeed be one historically long labor.)

Jim3k
02-20-2012, 03:30 PM
Brothers, not twins. Would have been one heck of a labor for Mrs. Plumlee to have twins/triplets born three years apart. :)

Check your irony meter.

Kedsy
02-20-2012, 03:30 PM
Austin, Seth, and Andre combined for 17 rebounds (7 for Austin, 5 for each of the other two), which is great to see.

On Pomeroy, our offense dropped from 1st to 4th but as someone else noted our defense is now up to 65th. It's possible that, despite Pomeroy's attempts to adjust for the strength of competition, our brutal early schedule has unfairly depressed our rating. Having said that, this clearly isn't a stellar defensive team, but maybe we're really a 30s or 40s type defense, rather than an 80s or 90s.


Gbinje looked great. He stayed with their point after a switch and did not allow him to beat him to the lane. He later had a nice drive and finish. I really like his defense and athleticism. I would much rather Michael get the minutes than Hairston. Hairston does not have the length nor the athleticism to finish at the rim.

I don't think we can draw any reasonable conclusions from Michael's six minutes of garbage time against an overmatched opponent. He's taking steps toward being a productive player, but it's much more likely to come in future seasons than in the near-term.

devildeac
02-20-2012, 03:30 PM
I believe this is a sly reference to a reporter (ESPN?) who referred to the Plumlees as triplets earlier in the season.

Thank you Jim for the supporting evidence. I did not think that several (many?) of us here had misheard that. I can't remember though whether I heard it as twins referring to Miles and Mason or the ~21 feet of Plumlee/Plumli as triplets.

MCFinARL
02-20-2012, 07:13 PM
Thank you Jim for the supporting evidence. I did not think that several (many?) of us here had misheard that. I can't remember though whether I heard it as twins referring to Miles and Mason or the ~21 feet of Plumlee/Plumli as triplets.

Someone definitely referred to them as twins on an earlier gamecast, can't remember which one. Don't think I have ever heard a "triplets" reference that wasn't deliberately facetious.

CDu
02-20-2012, 09:26 PM
On Pomeroy, our offense dropped from 1st to 4th but as someone else noted our defense is now up to 65th. It's possible that, despite Pomeroy's attempts to adjust for the strength of competition, our brutal early schedule has unfairly depressed our rating. Having said that, this clearly isn't a stellar defensive team, but maybe we're really a 30s or 40s type defense, rather than an 80s or 90s.

Well, I don't think it's the early season schedule that unfairly depressed our rating. After the OSU game I think we were in the #20-40 range in defensive efficiency according to Pomeroy (can't remember exactly where, but it was in that range). We actually played pretty good defense during the roughest part of our schedule with the exception of the OSU game.

Instead, I think it was the 76 we allowed St. John's (#136 in offensive efficiency), the 76 we allowed to FSU (#109), and the 73 we allowed to Wake (#205) all at home and the 74 we allowed to Ga Tech (#192) that deflated our defensive rating. The 80 we gave up to Washington (#82) and the 70 we gave up to Western Michigan (#168) didn't help our rating either.

That said, I do think we're more capable defensively than a #90-100 ranking would suggest. And I suspect we'll end up better than our current ranking of #65 defensively by season's end. At least I certainly hope so.

ncexnyc
02-20-2012, 09:28 PM
I don't think we can draw any reasonable conclusions from Michael's six minutes of garbage time against an overmatched opponent. He's taking steps toward being a productive player, but it's much more likely to come in future seasons than in the near-term.

I really wish I could disagree with your assessment of Silent G, but you're right. I've noticed that when he does manage to get into the game, you'll see someone always motioning for him to go somewhere else. He just hasn't adjusted to this level as of yet.

He's got the physical tools of a 3 we so desperately need, but his game just isn't there yet.

Another player who isn't quite there is Josh, however he's really close. He's been getting himself into a number different positive positions around the basket on both the offensive and defensive end of the court, but he's just a tad off. On offense he's doing a great job of bulling his way to the basket, but his put backs are a bit rushed. On the defensive end he's getting to a spot a tad late, which has resulted in some close blocking fouls. This all sounds very much like Lance Thomas, who was often described on this board as having spastic energy. We can only hope Josh turns out just as well as Lance did.

Newton_14
02-20-2012, 09:38 PM
I really wish I could disagree with your assessment of Silent G, but you're right. I've noticed that when he does manage to get into the game, you'll see someone always motioning for him to go somewhere else. He just hasn't adjusted to this level as of yet.

He's got the physical tools of a 3 we so desperately need, but his game just isn't there yet.

Another player who isn't quite there is Josh, however he's really close. He's been getting himself into a number different positive positions around the basket on both the offensive and defensive end of the court, but he's just a tad off. On offense he's doing a great job of bulling his way to the basket, but his put backs are a bit rushed. On the defensive end he's getting to a spot a tad late, which has resulted in some close blocking fouls. This all sounds very much like Lance Thomas, who was often described on this board as having spastic energy. We can only hope Josh turns out just as well as Lance did.

Agree with you on both counts here. This will sound cliché, but I do feel Mike is one of those players where the day will come when "the light bulb flips on" and he will just "get it". He does have the tools to be a really good Small Forward, who defends at a high level and is sneaky good on the offensive end with great hops. I think at some point early on next season that light switch moves to the "On" position for Silent G. Just do not see it happening this year though.

With Josh, he has come along way but still gets a tad bit too excited out there. The game just needs to slow down a little bit for him, and he will be fine. I look forward to seeing him as a JR and Sr as I think he will be a solid player. Not a star player but a guy who can consistently play well on both ends.

HDB
02-20-2012, 09:41 PM
Much has been made about Miles filling the Zoubek role on the national championship team, and while that is a fair comparison, we don't as yet have the full body of work. However, there are some comparisons that can be made, even if the teams and dates don't match perfectly.

1. Up until this date in the season, Zoubek had only accumulated 116 points compared to Miles current 176 points.
2. During Zoubeks last 7 games, all starts, he averaged 7 points and 11 Boards
For Miles last 8 games, 3 starts, he has averaged 6 points but only 7.5 Boards

3. Zoub's highest point total came against Maryland in his first start: (16) and his highest Rebounds came that same day with (17) in a wonderful second half route.
Miles high point total since 1/21 is (13) and his high similarly comes in the same game with (22) Rebounds.

4. Zoubs obviously finished the year strong, at least in our memories, but statistically, he only managed to average (6 points) and a strong (9 Boards) per game in his final 9 postseason games. I don't believe it is to much to think that Miles can eclipse those numbers if given the nod and minutes at the 5...

Zoubs and Miles may have similar scoring and rebounding numbers but I recall Zoubs being one heck of a good defender his senior year. I don't see Miles having that kind of impact on the defensive end of the floor.

roywhite
02-20-2012, 09:45 PM
Agree with you on both counts here. This will sound cliché, but I do feel Mike is one of those players where the day will come when "the light bulb flips on" and he will just "get it". He does have the tools to be a really good Small Forward, who defends at a high level and is sneaky good on the offensive end with great hops. I think at some point early on next season that light switch moves to the "On" position for Silent G. Just do not see it happening this year though.

With Josh, he has come along way but still gets a tad bit too excited out there. The game just needs to slow down a little bit for him, and he will be fine. I look forward to seeing him as a JR and Sr as I think he will be a solid player. Not a star player but a guy who can consistently play well on both ends.

I agree, though with one note.

Young players or players down the bench sometimes get a shot in the ACC Tournament.
Duke especially has been so good in the ACC Tournament that we often play 3 games in 3 days, and will use an expanded rotation especially in the early games.
So Josh and Silent G should be ready for the opportunity, and may be able to make a contribution.

Newton_14
02-20-2012, 09:51 PM
I agree, though with one note.

Young players or players down the bench sometimes get a shot in the ACC Tournament.
Duke especially has been so good in the ACC Tournament that we often play 3 games in 3 days, and will use an expanded rotation especially in the early games.
So Josh and Silent G should be ready for the opportunity, and may be able to make a contribution.

Great point Roy. Josh will definitely get opportunities in the ACC Tourney. In the right circumstance, Mike could see spot minutes as well. K has put Mike into 3 straight games now I believe, if only for a minute or two, and Capel said Mike has improved and has been putting in tons of extra work after practice. Seems to have earned enough trust that K isn't scared to send him out there.

Utley
02-20-2012, 10:13 PM
Seth is a very good scoring guard but he did have 6 turnovers last night. I don't think he should be placed in situations where he has to handle the ball under pressure, as the PG for instance.

Thanks for the color here - further proof that intuition and facts don't always align. I remember a couple of bad passes, but my sense was Seth is the guy that makes the best passes - getting the ball best to the right guy who is int he best position and thrown to a spot where they can catch and shoot. I get that Seth is a natural 2 guard but I just don't know who is doing a better job at point. Austin is trying but it still feels forced and I don't get the sense that his passes are leading to assists to th same extent that Seth's are (although maybe less turnovers). Quinn is still developing and has been inconsistent and I feel like Tyler is the least productive of all right now.

I know my knowledge of hoops is limited relative to most of the rest of you - curious as to who you think should play point most from here on out. Feel free to point me to another thread if this has Ben discussed recently.

Kedsy
02-20-2012, 10:49 PM
Another player who isn't quite there is Josh, however he's really close. He's been getting himself into a number different positive positions around the basket on both the offensive and defensive end of the court, but he's just a tad off. On offense he's doing a great job of bulling his way to the basket, but his put backs are a bit rushed. On the defensive end he's getting to a spot a tad late, which has resulted in some close blocking fouls. This all sounds very much like Lance Thomas, who was often described on this board as having spastic energy. We can only hope Josh turns out just as well as Lance did.

I agree with this. He has so much energy, but he seems to rush, which implies that the game is moving just a bit faster than he can process at the moment. When things slow down for Josh, he'll hopefully be able to use his strength and energy to best advantage.


Well, I don't think it's the early season schedule that unfairly depressed our rating. After the OSU game I think we were in the #20-40 range in defensive efficiency according to Pomeroy (can't remember exactly where, but it was in that range). We actually played pretty good defense during the roughest part of our schedule with the exception of the OSU game.

Well, you're right if you just look at who we've played and how we did. But if you accept the idea that when you play a bad team your Pomeroy rating moves more than the adjustment calls for, then the fact that we played more tough games than usual would suggest our rating is too low. Put another way, if we'd played a bunch of Boston Colleges instead of Kanases and Michigans, we might have been much better than the #20-40 range once we got to our ACC schedule. If we were #5 instead of #35 when we gave up too many points to St. Johns and Wake Forest and Georgia Tech, et al, we'd be a lot higher than we are now. I don't know that it really matters, but it might explain at least part of our historically poor defensive efficiency rating.


Zoubs and Miles may have similar scoring and rebounding numbers but I recall Zoubs being one heck of a good defender his senior year. I don't see Miles having that kind of impact on the defensive end of the floor.

Actually, for most of this season, Miles has been our best interior defender. He went on a several game stretch where his defense was in a slump, but overall, he's been pretty good on defense.

That said, I don't think we can favorably compare him to late-season 2010 Brian Zoubek just yet.

Starter
02-20-2012, 10:59 PM
Agreed with Kedsy on Miles/Zoubek. Miles has been terrific, but post-Valentine's Day Zoubek was the best big man Duke had had since Shelden Williams, and it wasn't close. Zoubek was a very good rebounder, but more so than that, it was the foreboding presence he provided that was his biggest asset. If he doesn't get out on Hayward to affect his next-to-last shot, maybe we're never even in position to have the debate about whether Z should have missed that second free throw, a great argument to have given the outcome. Miles has exceeded my expectations during what has become a solid senior season, but the presence he offers just isn't on a level with what Zoubek provided. It's not even a slight to Miles; Zoubek was simply that damn good.

Stray Gator
02-21-2012, 12:45 AM
It seemed to me that there were two principal areas of improvement in Zoubek's offensive skills that led to his "senior metamorphosis" and elevated him to a major contributor on that end of the court. First, he went from being a guy who often had trouble corralling passes cleanly or was susceptible to having the ball stripped out of his hands, to a guy who was absolutely fierce about capturing passes and rebounds and protecting possession of the ball whenever it came his way. Second, he developed excellent judgment about limiting his shots to those that he felt comfortable he would be able to convert; if he didn't have a very high percentage shot when he got the ball, he immediately looked to pass it out to an open teammate.

Miles is definitely becoming a more consistent and valuable contributor on the offensive end, too. But I think that in those two areas--controlling possession of the ball, and judgment about shot selection--Miles hasn't yet matched Zoub's level of improvement. The good news is that Miles seems to have greater potential as a scorer, because he has that reliable mid-range shot. And I believe that the senior Miles, like the senior Brian, is going to be a huge positive factor for this Duke team in the post-season tournaments.