Time for McBob, Paulus and Nelson to earn their captain's stripes

[dukelifer]

This is a big week and an big upcoming game for Josh, Greg and Demarcus to show they can lead this team. More than anything- Duke needs these three guys to play great on Thursday and to get everyone around them to play to their potential. Duke also needs Thomas and Pocius to really step up in Henderson's absence and do what Casey Sanders and Reggie Love did when Boozer went out. They need to play well and minimize mistakes. This next game will tell a lot about this team- and about these players. The upcoming State game is probably the most important game of the season to show what this team is capable of doing the rest of this year and next. They need to leave everything on the court on Thursday because State will be battling them to the end.

[dukelion]

Paulus has basically transformed himself into a 18 ppg scoring point guard in the past month.

Nelson has been steady but can be better at limiting his turnovers.

McRoberts has been invisible.

With Hendo, Paulus, Nelson, and Scheyer all averaging double figures lately.....all this team need to be complete is 20 ppg out of there post players.

But usually they only get 10 out out McRoberts and then 2-4 points out of Thomas, Zoubek and McClure.

Those extra 8-10 points a game is the difference between a good seaon and a great season.

We will only go as far as McRoberts takes us.

[KyDevilinIL]

The current circumstances are ripe for a 2001-esque reinvention of sorts. Problem is, this team's collective abilities are much narrower than that squad's, so K-orchestrated trickery is probably off the table.

This team has played hard all year long. The effort will probably still be there Thursday. The issue is whether certain guys can muster the will to play stronger and smarter. Without that, we won't last long.

[Classof06]

As hard as I've been on Paulus, he's the only one that has earned his stripes. The fact that McRoberts only had 7 FG attempts is unacceptable. This from a kid that has allegedly begun packing his bags for the NBA already.

[A-Tex Devil]

I feel the same way about Paulus. I am really hard on him during games, but when I look back, he's often the reason we were even in the game (or won the game) in the first place.

I think this team can find an extra 15-20 points without them coming from McRoberts. The key is for these guys to stop expecting McRoberts to get those points. It seems that that has been the problem from the get go -- both the team and the fans have been expecting more points out of McRoberts than he's actually going to provide. He's a very good player, but he's a 10 pts a game guy. It's reality. LT has looked better down low on offense as of late, and when Gerald gets back, he should get 20 shots a game. Perhaps even Marty can start chucking it up against NC State. We don't NEED to get McRoberts the ball on offense and I feel we try to force his game sometimes just so he can try to put up points.

I actually like McBob's role of crashing the O-Boards yesterday - and maybe that's how more points can come to him. And against teams that don't run a break like Carolina and Maryland that might take advantage of us crashing the O-boards, we might not pay for it on the other end when we don't get the rebound.

[Cavlaw]

As hard as I've been on Paulus, he's the only one that has earned his stripes. The fact that McRoberts only had 7 FG attempts is unacceptable. This from a kid that has allegedly begun packing his bags for the NBA already.
It was his turnovers yesterday that got me, not his shots.

Josh is a defensive stud, and has some serious offensive potential. Like most, I wish he were making more of it. I suppose he has to play his game, but it doesn't seem like his game and Duke's game are the same thing right now.

[dukelifer]

When I wrote the post I first did not include Paulus. I agree he has played almost as well as he can of late. But that said- he also needs to motivate the young guys to pick it up. The next week is ALL about leadership. This team is young and it is time for the "old" guys to start playing and leading like it is their team.

[RockyMtDevil]

Greg has earned his stripes several times over in the last month. He's now healthy and playing as well as any guard in the ACC, that shot in the corner yesterday over WRight was a thing of beauty.

Markie is who he is. He is still a bit raw and may always be on offense. But he played really good defense yesterday, guarding Lawson, Terry and even Wright at times. He is underappreciated for all the little things he does.

Josh on the other hand just doesn't have what it takes to put up consistent points. Maybe we should back off the expectations and value him for what he does offer, which is solid D, great rebounding and an outlet to bring the ball up the court during the press.

Henderson, once he is back, must continue to be aggressive on O, he is going to be a star.

[millerecu]

Call me Mr. Negative or whatever you want....but I for one am wondering why people keep talking about McRoberst potential. I was one of his defenders all year long saying lets just wait and see what he becomes. We all know he can dribble, and pass, and play good defense... but isnt about time he starts scoring? Should'nt someone with his potential be showing it this late in his sophmore year? I can remember the McDonalds game his senior year and he made everyone including Hansblahblah look like a bunch of nobody's....what happened to that guy?

Ok, back to Mr. Positive....man do I love Henderson....cant WAIT to continue watching him show his potential.... He is just soooo smooth, looks like a smaller Grant Hill in the way he moves.