MOTM: Duke vs. Arizona (Nov 29, 2013)

[JBDuke]

Who was Man of the Match in Duke's 72-66 loss to Arizona?

[BD80]

Other

[NYBri]

I don't have one...

Maybe the swallowed whistles?

[FerryFor50]

I voted for Marshall because he did the least to cause this loss.

[mapei]

I Thought Rodney was pretty solid. This wasn't his fault.

[CDu]

A lot of negativity abound. We lost a close game to a top-5 team. Not exactly worthy of angst. It was a much better showing than almost losing to Vermont at home.

And I thought Hood was pretty clearly deserving of the honor tonight. Shame on those who suggested nobody deserved it.

[Dukeface88]

A lot of negativity abound. We lost a close game to a top-5 team. Not exactly worthy of angst. It was a much better showing than almost losing to Vermont at home.

And I thought Hood was pretty clearly deserving of the honor tonight. Shame on those who suggested nobody deserved it.

I think it's more about the way we lost that was discouraging. I don't think this was a game where you can point to a specific player as being "off", or brush it off as some minor factor like failing to make free throws (Kansas) or officiating. It really feels like a "team loss", the same way some wins feel like "team wins".

Having said that, I voted for Quinn. I thought his defense was much improved, and that he played within himself. He had one bad play early (where he gave up an "and-one"), but other than that I didn't notice any major mistakes. I can certainly see the case for Rodney Hood though.

[jv001]

I think it's more about the way we lost that was discouraging. I don't think this was a game where you can point to a specific player as being "off", or brush it off as some minor factor like failing to make free throws (Kansas) or officiating. It really feels like a "team loss", the same way some wins feel like "team wins".

Having said that, I voted for Quinn. I thought his defense was much improved, and that he played within himself. He had one bad play early (where he gave up an "and-one"), but other than that I didn't notice any major mistakes. I can certainly see the case for Rodney Hood though.

Coach K was really upset over two Quinn turnovers and let him know about it. I think those came in the first half when Duke could have extended their lead. Quinn is a good point guard that has the potential to be a great point guard. His defense this year is way better than last year. But he still get's a little out of control and makes mistakes. Then he compounds them by standing still shaking his head instead of getting back on defense. This Duke teams has lot's of room for improvement. GoDuke!

[CDu]

I think it's more about the way we lost that was discouraging. I don't think this was a game where you can point to a specific player as being "off", or brush it off as some minor factor like failing to make free throws (Kansas) or officiating. It really feels like a "team loss", the same way some wins feel like "team wins".

Well, I disagree a bit here. I think we can very easily point to TWO players being a bit off: Parker and Sulaimon. Those two guys shot a combined 9-29 from the field. The rest of the team: 16-29.

Parker and Sulaimon tried to do it all on their own, going wildly into the heart of Arizona's defense. The result was a really bad shooting night and 5 turnovers. I'm not criticizing them - just pointing out that they had bad nights. It happens. But in this case, I think we can pretty clearly point to where we struggled.

Conversely, Cook and Hood both had terrific offensive games, going a combined 14-23 from the field. They almost counterbalanced the off-nights for Parker and Sulaimon.


Having said that, I voted for Quinn. I thought his defense was much improved, and that he played within himself. He had one bad play early (where he gave up an "and-one"), but other than that I didn't notice any major mistakes. I can certainly see the case for Rodney Hood though.

Cook's two turnovers were pretty bad ones (and got him pulled by Coach K). But aside from that and the bad foul, I agree he had a pretty strong game.

[OldPhiKap]

A lot of negativity abound. We lost a close game to a top-5 team. Not exactly worthy of angst. It was a much better showing than almost losing to Vermont at home.

And I thought Hood was pretty clearly deserving of the honor tonight. Shame on those who suggested nobody deserved it.

This.

The key play was when Arizona missed its two free throws, but got the rebound to extend the possession. IIRC, we could have cut the lead to two or three if we had kept possession and scored. Arizona would not let us close the gap and hit their free throws after that point. Congratulations to a very good Arizona team, time to get ready for Michigan.

Much better team defense, a few broken assignments notwithstanding.

Rodney played well, I thought TT did what he was supposed to do as well. First game that Parker looked mortal, and still was pretty good (going to have to work on passing out of double teams, and the other players making themselves available). Sheed, we need you buddy.

Entertaining game, gives us some things to work on. This is a young team, this is part of the development process. Next play.

[JNort]

While Hood put on a clinic I was mesmerized by cooks play.

[DevilFalcon]

Hood was good. He deserves the vote. Had Jabari shoot his usual clip or our guys make a few more freebies (Amile comes to mind) we would be looking at a #3/4 ranking on Monday. Not a bad outing. In fact, our best game in a while