MOTM: Duke vs. Michigan State (Mar 29, 2013)

[JBDuke]

Who was Man of the Match in Duke's 71-61 win over MSU in the Midwest Region Semifinals?

[Son of Mojo]

Seth gets it but Rasheed was clutch from the line (the breakaway layup helped, too), Ryan played great defense overall, and Tyler settled the team where Quinn wasn't getting it. Wouldn't fault anyone choosing any of those three tonight.

[Newton_14]

Seth was my man of the match! Silky smooth Curry family jumper! Answered every big basket by Sparty with one of his own!

[OldPhiKap]

Seth and Mason through the game, Rasheed closing it out. I picked Rasheed but TEAM DEFENSE was really the winner.

Great effort, beat the birds!

[CDu]

Seth m'n'f'n Curry. He was awesome, and we needed him to be tonight.

Now, let's hope the rest of the team brings their shooting shoes on Sunday!

[DU82]

Curry was hot tonight!

Seth was pretty good, too.

[rthomas]

The Defense.

[sporthenry]

I'm abstaining. Reminded me of the games earlier where every play was huge and you could give it to anyone. The defense by Mason and Kelly along with rebounding were phenomenal. Kelly hit a few shots in the first and Mason was a rock down low on offense. Also took Nix out of the game.

Don't have to say much about Seth. Sheed played great defense and hit some tough layups that put the game away and then the free throws.

Even Josh had a huge charge call and was solid in spelling Mason.

But if I had to vote, I'd probably go with TT. He got his hands in there on many of the turnovers which opened up the game and the fact that we could turn to him at the point and didn't skip a beat.

[Les Grossman]

Star of the game was obviously Seth. who was the second star? Mason was very good. Rasheed had a heck of a half, too.

[pamtar]

Curry and Sheed played great. I had to go with TT though. He set the tone defensively and filled the gap left by Quinn Cook, who apparently was home grilling hot dogs and playing parcheesi. He played like a upperclassmen should and without him we would have lost.

Oh, and Mason: DUNK THE BASKETBALL!

[wsb3]

The Defense.

Team Defense without a doubt.

[magjayran]

I voted for Tyler. Obviously Seth put on a phenomenal shooting exhibition and Sheed was so clutch from the line and found ways to score without firing up jumpers all night so a vote for them would be correct. But Cook was having a flat out bad game and Tyler stepped up. Fantastic defense, handled pressure, played with his head. I love this kid.

[-bdbd]

Seth and Mason through the game, Rasheed closing it out. I picked Rasheed but TEAM DEFENSE was really the winner.

Great effort, beat the birds!

Really agree about "Team Defense" being the MVP. I voted for MP2 b/c he really dominated MSU's bigs early, and that was key in throwing their offense into a real funk. He also drew a TON of fouls. Obviously Curry hit some BIG 3's too, but I wish they'd get him the ball more down the stretch - he disappeared a bit from abou 8 minute mark to the 2 minute mark. Rasheed FT's and his 1-on-1 penetrations (and drawing fouls) late in shot clocks, was crushing for MSU.

[TNTDevil]

Curry gets, and deserves, a lot of love but, a lot of people contributed tonight.

Tyler, once again 100% from the field. Hairston, best game yet. Kelly with his mid-range shots and excellent defense. Suliamon was again just a fantastic player.

We've won three straight and have yet to play our best ball.

Survive and advance...

[CameronBornAndBred]

Seth with the trophy, but props to Josh for a solid game.

[SCMatt33]

I know Seth and 'Sheed led the offensive charge, but this win was about D, and Ryan and Mason defended the post brilliantly. Not only did they give Nix and Payne problems trying to score in the paint, they also kept them off the offensive glass. I voted for Ryan just because Mason already had a couple of votes and Ryan didn't have any.

[moonpie23]

stone cold shooter vs. steel hard close out..........tough to decide...

[JasonEvans]

Can I vote for Coach K? His schemes and rotations were perfection tonight -- especially at the defensive end of the floor. I want to know who recognized that MSU's bigs were generally slow to make moves, meaning we could do a half-zone, half-man kind of thing where the weak side defender would come close to doubling, but not completely leave his man (well, one time Ryan left Payne and they got a dunk, but it only happened once). That was tremendously impressive team D.

And we all went to the defensive glass like MEN. Huge team effort. Ryan and Mason had 7 each. Sheed had 4. Curry and TT with 3 each. We only got outrebounded by 7 and MSU only had 8 offensive boards, one of their lowest totals of the season... and it came in a game where they missed a ton of shots and had a lot of chances for offensive boards. To put it in perspective, MSU has averaged 14.8 offensive boards per game over their past 7 games.

Stellar effort by so many guys, I just cannot vote for one.

-Jason "If I can't vote for K, I would like to give 1/2 a vote to Seth, 1/8th to TT, 1/8th to Mason, and 1/4 to Rasheed.... ok? Can we make that happen?" Evans

[Jim3k]

I wanna vote for team defense. That was really hard-nosed. The switches and the funneling were terrific. And my second vodte would go to whoever the free throw shooters to hit over 92% from the line. Sulaimon was incredible; ice water.

This was a true team victory.

[Greg_Newton]

My ballot would be:

1. Curry
2. Thornton
3. Plumlee
4. Sulaimon

I thought Thornton had an enormous game for us - completely set the tone and led us to, somehow, out-toughing MSU, something I did not expect to see. Throw in a mostly error-free game running point after Cook went out for good, and he really had a huge hand in the outcome. Love the guy.

Also great to see Sulaimon come up back down the stretch - he had some clutch buckets and rebounds, and was huge from the line. Also thought he played good defense all game.

[J4Kop99]

I don't think that there was one man of the match tonight... this was a Duke team win.

[gus]

Shame that Tyler isn't included on DBR's poll.

[-jk]

Shame that Tyler isn't included on DBR's poll.

It's been fixed.

-jk