MBB: Duke 97, Florida Atlantic 64 Post-Game Thread

[JBDuke]

Put your post-game thoughts here.

[Cameron]

I didn't get to watch the game, but after reading of Andre's near heroic exploits, my smile is so big right now you can see my lungs.

This is the best day in recent Duke Basketball history. Hey, I said recent. :D

[NSDukeFan]

Fabulous to see Andre out there again and shooting that beautiful jumper of his. Nice to see Hood and Parker in dominant form and some minutes for everyone.

[dukelifer]

Team played hard and looked more together. It was great to see Dawkins play well. He can still shoot as well as anyone in the college game. I still have not seen the elite shooting ability of Jones. He is a solid player but he has an odd shot for a supposed great jump shooter. In contrast, Dawkins has outstanding mechanics. Hood was more aggressive and hit his throws. He needs to do this every game and dominate for stretches. Parker is a pro playing with kids. His bball IQ is amazing. Team D was better but there is still work to do.

[MartyClark]

I had a jerky feed on ESPN3 but was, again, impressed with Hood and Parker. I was really happy to see Andre score although, I think, he looked a little lost on defense a few times.

Good win. Good day for Duke. I wish we could jump start MPIII.

[Henderson]

Not sure if anyone else noticed, but the big center for FAU committed two hard fouls that sent our players into the floor under the basket. One against Jabari, and one against Amile. In each case, he immediately ran over and extended a hand to the downed player, as if to say, "Let's get after it, but I'm not trying to hurt anyone." I liked it.

[Dukehky]

We won the rebounding battle 41-38. This is a good thing. Other than Jabari, there hasn't been any real consistency other than Josh and Tyler are going to get at least 3 fouls. I hope we develop more consistency as the season progresses. I think that Rodney's game against Kansas will be more of an aberration than the norm. We'll see. This was a solid bounce back game. Great defensive effort, sometimes the aggressive nature of our defense gets us burned a little bit, but K will work out the kinks.


Also, Dino said during the broadcast that Marshall was the future of Duke's post presence... NOT ANYMORE!!!! (Not knocking him, but I am more comfortable with Marshall as a back-up)

[nmduke2001]

Seeing Dre knocking down shots and having a good time out there makes me very happy. I couldn't be cheering more for the kid.

[Ggallagher]

Not sure if anyone else noticed, but the big center for FAU committed two hard fouls that sent our players into the floor under the basket. One against Jabari, and one against Amile. In each case, he immediately ran over and extended a hand to the downed player, as if to say, "Let's get after it, but I'm not trying to hurt anyone." I liked it.

I saw him do the same thing. Seemed like a pretty nice gesture.

[meloveduke]

We have to remember that this is game 3, and this is a different team from last year. We Are getting better every game. We still need lots of work stopping the dribble. Not that they killed us, but I did see us look lost on a few plays tonight.

Dre did put a big smile on my face....

[ChillinDuke]

I watched a great ESPN3 feed, and I have a lot of thoughts on this game.

First of all, Jabari is spectacular. Period. We all hoped he would be. But it's beyond hope now. It's clear, and it's spectacular. Three straight 20+ point games in his first three games is unprecedented in the K era and unbelievable. He not only has the ability to control games, but he has a sick sick ability to help his team control games. His unselfishness in this game was on display front to back - making extra passes, getting everyone involved, rebounding with purpose, handling the ball in the open floor, and passing on a good shot to get someone else a great shot. Just fantastic. As someone else already posted, he is a man playing amongst boys. Anyone that thinks he's here for more than a year, get off it. I would be shocked to see this young man in Durham a year from now. And I'll take that one year every single day and five times on Sunday.

Rodney Hood has a ton of ability. He's got a sick mid-range, controlled game. He can finish in traffic. And when he plays with the intensity of that follow jam, he is clearly a force to be reckoned with. If he can bring that night in and night out, I'm not sure any team in the country has the one-two punch that we have. I'll leave it at that for now, although I could clearly ramble on.

Let's talk about Andre. First off, I'll admit I was giddy seeing him out there early - I'm sure everyone was. I'm not on record voicing this thought on the board, so I can't say "I told ya so". But after reading that superb SI article by Seth Davis on Andre, I wondered if perhaps K didn't want to just throw Andre back into a big-time role too quick and that maybe there was an art to getting him back on the floor for extended minutes. Well, Andre got plenty of time tonight (19 mins; the most of any bench player) and looked excellent on offense. His shot is just as silky as ever, he's more than willing to pull the trigger, and his teammates appeared completely willing (even eager) to get him the ball. And with people like Quinn, Rasheed, Jabari, and Rodney commanding the D's attention, it almost looked easy to get Andre the ball in situations where he could score. With the normal caveat of the weak opponent aside, this was a lot of fun to watch. And I hope it's a sneak peak into things to come.

While I'm caveat-ing the weak opponent, let's talk about the bench. Where was Murph (9 mins), Marsh (6), Semi (7), and especially Matt (8)? In our previous (only) two games, they averaged 5.5, 4, 4, and 10.5 mins, respectively. Sample sizes blah blah blah. Let's cut to the chase. Andre averaged 2 mins previous to today. So where is the end of the bench? I think it's safe(ish) to say that in a blowout, with Murphy, Marsh, and Semi getting so few minutes that they are the clear end of the bench. At least for now. But the Matt vs Andre debate appears alive and well - cue the playing time threads. There is zero doubt that Matt plays better defense; he looks great in this regard for a freshman. But Andre's offense, to me, is something that is so conducive to the slashing studs that we have. And while we're being honest, as again someone else already noted, Matt has not looked like the dead-eye shooter he was (perhaps overly) hyped to be. This is no knock on Matt, Andre, or any of the other three players mentioned here. But I think it's a valid observation and very worthy of keeping an eye on going forward.

All that said, we looked good tonight. The defense looked better, we looked into the game, we didn't seem to slow down at any point, we appeared to make positive progress. As a team. I know it wasn't a premier opponent, but I think this was a great game to build on.

Can't wait for the next one.

- Chillin

[roywhite]

Mike Jarvis post-game presser (http://www.goduke.com/mediaPortal/player.dbml?id=3103076&db_oem_id=4200)

Highly recommend this video (about 5 1/2 minutes long) for an interesting commentary on the character and achievements of Mike Krzyzewski, from the perspective of a friend and rival.

**note -- the link may take you directly to Coach K's post-game presser, which is always interesting to see. The Jarvis video can be selected from the list on the right on this go.duke.com page.

[JNort]

Will this game be up on BDN today?

[NashvilleDevil]

Every time Jabari shoots I think it's going in. Kid is fun to watch.

[DST Fan]

I watched a great ESPN3 feed, and I have a lot of thoughts on this game.


Let's talk about Andre. First off, I'll admit I was giddy seeing him out there early - I'm sure everyone was. I'm not on record voicing this thought on the board, so I can't say "I told ya so". But after reading that superb SI article by Seth Davis on Andre, I wondered if perhaps K didn't want to just throw Andre back into a big-time role too quick and that maybe there was an art to getting him back on the floor for extended minutes. Well, Andre got plenty of time tonight (19 mins; the most of any bench player) and looked excellent on offense. His shot is just as silky as ever, he's more than willing to pull the trigger, and his teammates appeared completely willing (even eager) to get him the ball. And with people like Quinn, Rasheed, Jabari, and Rodney commanding the D's attention, it almost looked easy to get Andre the ball in situations where he could score. With the normal caveat of the weak opponent aside, this was a lot of fun to watch. And I hope it's a sneak peak into things to come.

- Chillin


K indicated in his press conference last night that Andre missed a number of practices with a back injury and only began to shoot well in practice a couple of days ago.

[jimsumner]

We won the rebounding battle 41-38. This is a good thing. Other than Jabari, there hasn't been any real consistency other than Josh and Tyler are going to get at least 3 fouls. I hope we develop more consistency as the season progresses. I think that Rodney's game against Kansas will be more of an aberration than the norm. We'll see. This was a solid bounce back game. Great defensive effort, sometimes the aggressive nature of our defense gets us burned a little bit, but K will work out the kinks.


Also, Dino said during the broadcast that Marshall was the future of Duke's post presence... NOT ANYMORE!!!! (Not knocking him, but I am more comfortable with Marshall as a back-up)

Duke narrowly won the rebounding battle against a mid-major team that started one player taller than 6-4.

FAU had 16 offensive rebounds, 12 in the second half.

Duke is not a good rebounding team. That was a significant contributor to the loss against Kansas and it is something that needs to improve if Duke is going to fulfill its considerable potential.

It would help if the starting center could stay on the floor.

[Skitzle]

Duke narrowly won the rebounding battle against a mid-major team that started one player taller than 6-4.

FAU had 16 offensive rebounds, 12 in the second half.

Duke is not a good rebounding team. That was a significant contributor to the loss against Kansas and it is something that needs to improve if Duke is going to fulfill its considerable potential.

It would help if the starting center could stay on the floor.

Duke lost to Kansas because they missed 12(15) free throw attemps. The rebounding was a factor, but the FTs killed them (12 missed 3 of which were front ends on 1+1s)

Theyll get better.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

There was ONE amazing play in last night's game: we saw the one and only CHARGE that will be called in Duke's favor this season! WooHoooooo! :cool: </sarcasm>

[jimsumner]

Duke lost to Kansas because they missed 12(15) free throw attemps. The rebounding was a factor, but the FTs killed them (12 missed 3 of which were front ends on 1+1s)

Theyll get better.

I believe my chosen term "significant contributor" allows for other contributors.

But I think a 39-24 rebounding deficit is one that Duke will find difficult to overcome against good teams, especially when turnovers are even.

[duke80]

Duke narrowly won the rebounding battle against a mid-major team that started one player taller than 6-4.

FAU had 16 offensive rebounds, 12 in the second half.

Duke is not a good rebounding team. That was a significant contributor to the loss against Kansas and it is something that needs to improve if Duke is going to fulfill its considerable potential.

It would help if the starting center could stay on the floor.

Interesting stat Jim. I'm glad you brought it up because winning tends to hide your weaknesses a little more, until the next time you lose. I remember Dennis Rodman. His sole desire and focus was to get every rebound and it worked. We could use a little of what he had. I'm not criticizing the effort, I just think we are focusing on many other things. Maybe someone on our team could take a 'Rodman' type role.

The thing that bothered me about the Kansas game was that they seemed to have developed players or more players within their team concept than we had. What I saw yesterday was a conscious effort to get more players involved. Of course it started with Andre which was amazing to see. Also, the team just seemed to have a good attitude/focus yesterday.

[Olympic Fan]

Duke narrowly won the rebounding battle against a mid-major team that started one player taller than 6-4.



While I agree that Duke has rebounding issues (a major reason for the loss to Kansas), I think your description of FAU is a bit misleading.

True, they only started one guy over 6-6 -- 7-0, 250-pound Dragon Sekelja, a fifth-year senior who played three seasons at Baylor (interesting note: he was on the bench in 2010 when Duke beat Baylor in Houston. He didn't play in the 2010 game, but he was there).

Sekelja played 30 minutes ... but 6-9, 240-pound Justin Raffington, a transfer from San Francisco, also played 27 minutes. Much of the time, they had both players in together which makes them a formidable rebounding team. Raffington hurt Duke more than Sekelja.

I was encouraged by the performance of the Duke guards on the boards. Quinn Cook had three rebounds in the first five minutes (and six for the game). Rasheed had four, Dawkins three.

The big men were a little better -- Amile who had one in each of his first two games, had five in 14 minutes, including a couple of really impressive ones. And, of course, Jabari had a "career high" with 10 boards in 28 minutes.

All I can say if that this team remains a work in progress ... to solve the rebounding issue, it's going to take contributions from a lot of players.

[jimsumner]

While I agree that Duke has rebounding issues (a major reason for the loss to Kansas), I think your description of FAU is a bit misleading.

True, they only started one guy over 6-6 -- 7-0, 250-pound Dragon Sekelja, a fifth-year senior who played three seasons at Baylor (interesting note: he was on the bench in 2010 when Duke beat Baylor in Houston. He didn't play in the 2010 game, but he was there).

Sekelja played 30 minutes ... but 6-9, 240-pound Justin Raffington, a transfer from San Francisco, also played 27 minutes. Much of the time, they had both players in together which makes them a formidable rebounding team. Raffington hurt Duke more than Sekelja.

I was encouraged by the performance of the Duke guards on the boards. Quinn Cook had three rebounds in the first five minutes (and six for the game). Rasheed had four, Dawkins three.

The big men were a little better -- Amile who had one in each of his first two games, had five in 14 minutes, including a couple of really impressive ones. And, of course, Jabari had a "career high" with 10 boards in 28 minutes.

All I can say if that this team remains a work in progress ... to solve the rebounding issue, it's going to take contributions from a lot of players.

Your math is correct. Their two big men combined for 57 minutes. Out of a possible 80 player-minutes at the 4/5. Which means only one was on the floor for the majority of the game.

FAU's leading rebounder was Kelvin Penn, all 6-6 of him. He had nine rebounds, four on the offensive boards. That's in 13 minutes!! Richard Morrow had five rebounds. He's 6-4. Jackson Trapp had four rebounds. He's 6-4.

Duke didn't block out well and didn't grab loose balls well. Mike Krzyzewski specifically referenced poor rebounding when asked a question about low turnovers and Mike Jarvis specifically noted that his team wasn't a very good rebounding team.

I think Jefferson can be a force on the boards if he can stay out of foul trouble. And it's great when the guards help out. But 6-8 Rodney Hood, 6-8 Josh Hairston, 6-8 Alex Murphy, 6-7 Semi Ojeleye and 7-0 Marshall Plumlee combined for 7 rebounds in 60 combined minutes.

That's not a lot of production for big guys against a mediocre mid-major team. It's early but the trend is a troubling one. As Barney would say, nip it in the bud, nip it in the bud.

[jimsumner]

To give some perspective, FAU lost to St. Francis a few days ago. St. Francis outrebounded FAU 38-37.

[dukelifer]

Your math is correct. Their two big men combined for 57 minutes. Out of a possible 80 player-minutes at the 4/5. Which means only one was on the floor for the majority of the game.

FAU's leading rebounder was Kelvin Penn, all 6-6 of him. He had nine rebounds, four on the offensive boards. That's in 13 minutes!! Richard Morrow had five rebounds. He's 6-4. Jackson Trapp had four rebounds. He's 6-4.

Duke didn't block out well and didn't grab loose balls well. Mike Krzyzewski specifically referenced poor rebounding when asked a question about low turnovers and Mike Jarvis specifically noted that his team wasn't a very good rebounding team.

I think Jefferson can be a force on the boards if he can stay out of foul trouble. And it's great when the guards help out. But 6-8 Rodney Hood, 6-8 Josh Hairston, 6-8 Alex Murphy, 6-7 Semi Ojeleye and 7-0 Marshall Plumlee combined for 7 rebounds in 60 combined minutes.

That's not a lot of production for big guys against a mediocre mid-major team. It's early but the trend is a troubling one. As Barney would say, nip it in the bud, nip it in the bud.
Yep. The big guys need to do much better - it is a worry but seems solvable- if that becomes a point of emphasis.

[azzefkram]

But 6-8 Rodney Hood, 6-8 Josh Hairston, 6-8 Alex Murphy, 6-7 Semi Ojeleye and 7-0 Marshall Plumlee combined for 7 rebounds in 60 combined minutes.

One of those 5 will have to step up. Rodney's the obvious choice given the minutes he'll play but I wonder if he'll be a little too much like Ryan when it comes to rebounding. Marshall is a darkhorse but yesterday was more than a bit disappointing. I actually thought Marshall's D was pretty good yesterday but the rebounding was ugly. I am intrigued by Alex and Semi but I don't think they'll get the opportunity to show if they can get the job done. Josh has never really been a good rebounder.

[Billy Dat]

First of all, Jabari is spectacular. Period.

Indeed.


But the Matt vs Andre debate appears alive and well - cue the playing time threads.

Indeed, again. Hearing that Andre has been hurt makes this playing time shuffle more understandable. To expand the scope a bit, Marshall and Semi both got in before Jones and Murphy. I wonder if K is trying to get Plumlee to be a viable rotation player because of the rebounding issues that Jim and others have been rightly hammering on?

I was falling asleep watching the final 10 minutes (on delay), but for the first 30, aside from the kudos people have given Jabari, Andre and Rodney, I was not thrilled with Quinn's decision making. I feel like he still looks for his own shot at bad times, fails to get the ball to the right guy at the right time, and generally is more erratic then he needs to be for us to be great. We have so many weapons that someone needs to organize them. It feels like Jabari is more interested in that job, but he's too lethal to have him directing traffic at the top of the key. If Cook can figure out his optimal role in the offense, we'll have another gear.

I noticed Andre drove and kicked to Thornton for a 3. THAT's a new wrinkle.

I was also happy to see Rasheed start.

At one point, K went with Thornton, Dawkins, Rasheed, Hairston and Marshall. I wonder how many minutes that 5 will log together?

[roywhite]

At one point, K went with Thornton, Dawkins, Rasheed, Hairston and Marshall. I wonder how many minutes that 5 will log together?

As a late game lineup where Duke has a big lead, I hope that combination sees a lot of time.
Otherwise...not so much.

Seems to me that Marshall needs to show some production soon, or he could be toward the end of the bench.

[gurufrisbee]

And it has to be solved in two places:

A) Hood. At his height and playing a forward position he HAS to get more boards. He can't be rebounding like a 6'2" guard - not when we already have Cook, Sulamin, Thorton, and Dawkins.

B) Jefferson/Hairston/Plumlee. Apparently we're basically going to go this season with the three headed 'center'. Parker and Hood will get the forward minutes and Semi and Murphy will back them up, so I doubt there will be a lot of time where Duke will roll out two of these three at the same time. After three games they are combining to average 32 minutes a game - and 3.3 rebounds. Especially considering that the three headed beast isn't being counted on for much scoring, they absolutely must rebound.

[Kedsy]

B) Jefferson/Hairston/Plumlee. Apparently we're basically going to go this season with the three headed 'center'. ... After three games they are combining to average 32 minutes a game - and 3.3 rebounds. Especially considering that the three headed beast isn't being counted on for much scoring, they absolutely must rebound.

OK, first of all, "three headed center" and/or "three headed beast" sounds like at least close to an even time share, when what we have isn't that at all. Marshall is averaging less than 5 mpg and Josh is averaging 10. Amile is our center, and the only reason his minutes are as low as 17 mpg is because of foul trouble. I expect his minutes will go up to around 23 to 25 mpg once he figures out how to control his fouls, with Josh (or Marshall or Alex or Semi) as a backup and Marshall (or Josh or Alex or Semi) as a mopup. Also, Amile has scored 35 points in his 51 minutes, so he's scoring plenty.

Also, note that for at least 8 mpg, Jabari is playing center, presumably with Rodney at PF.

All that said, I agree that Amile and Josh and all of them probably ought to work on increasing their rebounding. Although I don't agree that rebounding is "the concern." Duke teams rarely rebound well, and if anything is a concern at this stage it's defending well within the confines of the new rule interpretations.

[dukechem]

Did anyone notice that only four of the twelve players who saw action for Duke shot free throws, and NONE of them were guards? Hood and Parker had most of the shots with Jefferson and Murphy getting a couple each. It's odd that with the guards driving as they did that none of them got to the line.

[Billy Dat]

Seems to me that Marshall needs to show some production soon, or he could be toward the end of the bench.

After Jabari, Rodney, Quinn, Amile, Rasheed, Tyler and maybe Josh it seems that Marshall, Andre, Alex, Semi and Matt Jones are in a 100% fluid bottom of the rotation free for all. They represent a bunch of different looks so I wonder if it will remain fluid? Will the rotation harden at 8 meaning only 1 will really get meaningful PT? As many as 9-10, bucking K historical norms? Can any of them move up at the expense of the any of the others I listed in the first seven?

[Billy Dat]

Post Game Press Conference Quotes related to the bottom of the rotation:

K:
"The thing I tried to do today was to sub guys in from our bench during really quality time, just to give them a chance to be with key players in key situations. In doing that, I can even work with the rhythm of your key players by doing that. But overall I thought we benefitted from doing that. We have to keep looking at that. You can’t get that in practice. You’ve got to try to do that in a game.”

Andre:
“Obviously I want to play, but I wasn’t frustrated and I had a positive outlook on it. I just had to get better. With a team this deep, it’s very easy to slip and the difference between playing minutes and not playing minutes is very small on this team. It’s just a matter of getting in the gym and getting better and then showing in practice that you deserve to be on the court.”

Good stuff, to, from Coach Jarvis, note his Freudian Dean Dome slip. (http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=22724&SPID=1845&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=4200&ATCLID=209308641)

[CDu]

OK, first of all, "three headed center" and/or "three headed beast" sounds like at least close to an even time share, when what we have isn't that at all. Marshall is averaging less than 5 mpg and Josh is averaging 10. Amile is our center, and the only reason his minutes are as low as 17 mpg is because of foul trouble. I expect his minutes will go up to around 23 to 25 mpg once he figures out how to control his fouls, with Josh (or Marshall or Alex or Semi) as a backup and Marshall (or Josh or Alex or Semi) as a mopup. Also, Amile has scored 35 points in his 51 minutes, so he's scoring plenty.

Also, note that for at least 8 mpg, Jabari is playing center, presumably with Rodney at PF.

All that said, I agree that Amile and Josh and all of them probably ought to work on increasing their rebounding. Although I don't agree that rebounding is "the concern." Duke teams rarely rebound well, and if anything is a concern at this stage it's defending well within the confines of the new rule interpretations.

1. I think the more accurate statement is that we don't have a C but two PF. I would argue that Parker is playing as much C as Jefferson, even when they share the court.

2. I fear it is an IF rather than a WHEN with regards to Jefferson figuring out fouls this year. Between the new rules and the weight disadvantage (this was always a concern with him playing more C), there are a lot of questions for him to address.

3. Completely agree that all 3 guys are a problem right now on the glass. Jefferson is only averaging 2.3 rpg in 17+ mpg. That rate won't cut it from our starting PF/C.

4. While Duke has typically been a bad rebounding team, they haven't usually been this bad. I do think that this will be a big problem, ESPECIALLY if we can't force turnovers as hoped.

[-jk]

Post Game Press Conference Quotes related to the bottom of the rotation:

K:
"The thing I tried to do today was to sub guys in from our bench during really quality time, just to give them a chance to be with key players in key situations. In doing that, I can even work with the rhythm of your key players by doing that. But overall I thought we benefitted from doing that. We have to keep looking at that. You can’t get that in practice. You’ve got to try to do that in a game.”

Andre:
“Obviously I want to play, but I wasn’t frustrated and I had a positive outlook on it. I just had to get better. With a team this deep, it’s very easy to slip and the difference between playing minutes and not playing minutes is very small on this team. It’s just a matter of getting in the gym and getting better and then showing in practice that you deserve to be on the court.”

Good stuff, to, from Coach Jarvis, note his Freudian Dean Dome slip. (http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=22724&SPID=1845&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=4200&ATCLID=209308641)

No Freudian slip there. The first two rounds of the NCAA were played in the dean dome. That was the same year the NCAA decided teams couldn't play games at home. (It was also the last time unc hosted NCAA men's games. We got the dean dome; they got shipped out.)

-jk

[roywhite]

No Freudian slip there. The first two rounds of the NCAA were played in the dean dome. That was the same year the NCAA decided teams couldn't play games at home. (It was also the last time unc hosted NCAA men's games. We got the dean dome; they got shipped out.)

-jk

Yeah, Duke beat Boston U. and SMU in NCAA play at the Dean Dome in 1988.

Duke 85 Boston University 69 (http://goduke.statsgeek.com/basketball-m/games/boxscore.php?gameid=19880317)

Check out the first name in the Boston U. stats; turned out to have a Duke connection.

Boston U. Terrier Hall of Fame Member (http://www.goterriers.com/hallfame/irving-dederick.html)

[-jk]

Being the home team in the dean dome was surreal. Even more surreal, though, was Rhode Island wearing Carolina blue, with a ram mascot, and an off-key Carolina fight song.

-jk

[OldPhiKap]

Being the home team in the dean dome was surreal. Even more surreal, though, was Rhode Island wearing Carolina blue, with a ram mascot, and an off-key Carolina fight song.

-jk

One of my favorite memories is the rousing "GTH,C!" And "ES,DS,ES!" Chants in the Dean Dome, filled with dark blue. Then going to He's Not Here to watch UNC play Loyola-Marymount out west (the Hank Gaithers year IIRC, both teams scored over 100 points).

[Billy Dat]

No Freudian slip there. The first two rounds of the NCAA were played in the dean dome. That was the same year the NCAA decided teams couldn't play games at home. (It was also the last time unc hosted NCAA men's games. We got the dean dome; they got shipped out.)

-jk

WOW, I never knew that. Considering my Duke fandom began with matriculation in 1990, I definitely have some weak spots in my historical knowledge. That is indeed surreal, Duke playing an NCAA game in the Dean Dome. Thanks for the clarification.

[OldPhiKap]

WOW, I never knew that. Considering my Duke fandom began with matriculation in 1990, I definitely have some weak spots in my historical knowledge. That is indeed surreal, Duke playing an NCAA game in the Dean Dome. Thanks for the clarification.

I think it was 1988. The DD was relatively new.

[Newton_14]

Sorry to be late to the party. I intended to post this much sooner but had a crazy busy weekend and have been having trouble with the site since last night. Keeps freezing up and timing out on me on two different browsers. Not sure if it's my computer or an issue with the site.

I was fortunate enough to attend the FAU game since it was not on TV. The rotation changed again, but K's post game presser cleared up some of that confusion though. At least for me. K rolled out the starting lineup most folks have been pining for, with Quinn, Rasheed, Hood, Amile, Jabari. I do feel that is our best starting line up, and FWIW they started strong out of the gate. The first two backcourt wing reserves, were Tyler and Andre, and K went with those two plus the starters for most of the first half. The first two bigs reserves were MP3/Josh, and then Semi made a short appearance in the post. Neither Murphy or Matt got off the bench in the first half if my memory is correct.

They went back to full court pressure man to man right out of the gate. It seemed to bother FAU some but did not generate a huge amount of turnovers. I thought the perimeter defense was really good most of the night. Quinn and Rasheed especially. Interior defense still needs a lot of work especially on slashers attacking the basket, and agree with everyone else that defensive rebounding continues to be a problem. Like Jim said, if Amile can stay on the floor more it will help that situation some, but mainly, all 5 guys are going to have to crash the boards and gang rebound. Jabari is the only big rebounding consistently as of right now.

Offense: We moved the ball better, and looked to shoot the three more, especially when Andre came in. To get one quick thing out of the way, it's kind of disappointing no one disclosed the fact that Andre has been hurt. Could have staved off a lot of the speculation. K stated after the game that Andre had a really good preseason and looked good in the early practices but then suffered an injury (hurt his back) and missed several practices, then was not 100% when he returned, and is just now getting back to full speed. K also said "Andre has always been in our plans for this season" which eased my mind a lot. More on him later.

Rodney Hood came out very assertive and very dominant. He attached the basket a lot and scored with ease. He is just a killer from mid-range in, and also shoots the 3 ball well. When he had a smaller defender on him he went straight to the post, sometimes even posting up and getting entry passes, and just turned, elevated and shot right over the defender. He said himself he was way too passive against Kansas. That got corrected in a hurry in this game. He had 19 in the first half and at one point well into the half he had more points than FAU. Andre then started making jumpers, and Quinn had a good night as well. The offense was good much of the night, except for a few times where the guys were too unselfish and screwed up making extra passes or at times being a little too cute with passes. I had to laugh when Jabari had one of those in the first half, where he caught it just inside the foul line, turned down an easy shot with a tough pass to Amile on the block that went out of bounds, and K jumped off the bench and yelled "Shoot the Freakin ball" (he did not say freakin either :) )

Back to Andre. The kid played a really solid game beyond even the 3 balls he made. It was easily his best game since the FSU game on the road in 2012. He hit three 3's in the first half, but also drove to the basket hard and kicked to Tyler in the corner for an assist on Tyler's 3, then had a nice assist on a Jabari make. He hit two more 3's in the second half, and had a nice dribble drive to attack the basket and scored on a tough layup at the rim. On defense he even showed some new wrinkles. Even though he did not look as quick and bouncy as he did in the open practice and CTC (I assume due to the injurry) he played really good team defense. He has stolen a page from Tyler in that regard, where he cheats off of his man to go be disruptive in help defense. He did that several times actually and on two occasions either forced a turnover or caused a loose ball. That's something we have never really seen him do. If he can get his body back to where it was in preseason, and keep the mindset he has now it will be great for this team. He said after the game that his job was simple, and he needs to identify the seams and then get there when the drivers like Quinn, Rasheed, Rodney, Jabari are drawing the defense, and make sure they see him. He even mentioned that he used to stand around too much rather than working to get to the open seam. Great stuff.

Jabari got it going in the second half with 3's, drives, mid-range, you name it. The kid is just a beast and a star. Two times he grabbed a defensive rebound and took it coast to cost for a score. The players are still getting used to playing with each other and the offense be scary good by the time all is said and done.

Like I said early, interior defense and defensive rebounding are the key areas needing improvement right now. I think it is just going to be a work in progress all season long. The new rules don't help that cause either. There was one charge called the entire game. Amile had to sit a lot in the first half again due to two early fouls, but played well in the second half. Hope he can correct that soon as we need him on the floor.
FAU was overmatched clearly, but they had good size inside, which I suspect is one reason they got the invite. I was upset after the Kansas game as I felt we should have won the game, but to be honest we were right there with one of the biggest and best teams in the nation and Duke will get much better as the season progresses. Still confident of that.

All in all a solid performance and K said he thought they played well. He was pleased.

What a weekend for Duke! Sign Number 1 Overall and Number 1 Center Okafor, sign the top rated PG in the class who is Number 4 overall recruit, looked good in a solid win Friday night, then Duke Football pounds Miami in the 4th qtr on Saturday to not just upset them but beat them convincingly! Great times! We are blessed to be witnesses!

Go DUke

[moonpie23]

i seem to be having some trouble as well…


pages slow to load, hanging…..not loading at all…..

using safari, does the same with chrome…



i'm on Time warner……..i also use open dns….
??

[-jk]

Odd. I'm having no trouble with DBR, but was having trouble with opendns on a different app recently.

-jk

[Olympic Fan]

Didn't see this posted anywhere, but after losing to Duke Friday night, FAU caught a plane to Boston.

They played Boston College Sunday night and took the Eagles to the wire, losing by three. They actually had the ball and a chance to get off a tying three, but their guard slipped and went to the turf and never got a shot off.

The difference in the game was at the end of the half. With BC up two, FAU held for the last shot, but launched a bit early. BC got a rebound, got it to Joe Rahon, who swished a midcourt heave (much like Capel's shot against UNC in 1995). I know the game goes differently without that play, but it still ended up as the margin of victory.

I know there is no game-to-game transitive property, but still impressed with how well FAU played after being whipped by Duke.

[Duvall]

]I know there is no game-to-game transitive property, but still impressed with how well FAU played after being whipped by Duke.

Well, maybe. FAU was playing the most disappointing team of the college basketball season to date, after all.

[MChambers]

They actually had the ball and a chance to get off a tying three, but their guard slipped and went to the turf and never got a shot off.
How does basketball look on turf? I've never seen that.