MBB: Duke 90, Notre Dame 60 Post-Game Thread

[hurleyfor3]

That was a fun one.

[lotusland]

We'll never advance beyond the 1st round playing like that

[kmspeaks]

We'll never advance beyond the 1st round playing like that

No kidding, we gave up 50% more points in the 2nd half than the 1st. Have to finish better to be playing deep into March.

[MarkD83]

That was a great way to get some confidence and swagger back into this Duke team. And..it happened on both ends of the floor.

[throatybeard]

I think we covered.

[fuse]

Wow- what a game, what a statement.

Hope to see this the rest of the season.

Never expected to see such a thorough dismantling this afternoon.

Go Duke!

[6th Man]

Decent showing.

[Bay Area Duke Fan]

Justise prevails!

[dukelifer]

Duke was due a game like that- if only you could bottle it. That said - nice confidence builder for Matt Jones and Grayson. This team has talent but needs to be consistent.

[AIRFORCEDUKIE]

Justice looked like D Wade out there. Too bad the Heat dont have a first round pick this year.

[grossbus]

Anyone scouting us today would have to be a little concerned.

Don't need any more hurts on Justise.

[pamtar]

Total disappointment. I was expecting Vastoria to shoot his free throws underhanded.

[jasoninchina]

Decent showing.

I am really hoping you are either joking or being sarcastic. If not, what pray tell, would constitute a dominant performance?

[FerryFor50]

Total domination. Game was never in question after Duke recovered from the 6-0 deficit.

What was most amazing was that a large amount of the run they went on in the first half was with Jah on the bench after a couple of questionable fouls.

Winslow seems to be 100% and can impose his will on most teams. His slashing and athletic finishes have been missing from Duke basketball for years.

Matt Jones has found his confidence and his shot. Now he's a dual threat. I've been singing his praises all year, and that was before he went on this offensive streak of the past few games.

Okafor had a solid game despite the foul trouble in the first. 20 points and 10 boards despite missing 10 minutes of the first half?? And he was playing aggressive D!

Tyus Jones has 7 assists, no turnovers.

Grayson Allen had one of THE highlights of the season on his block:


https://vine.co/v/OUZw1OQhm2H

He also drained a 3. I said in the UVA thread that the Notre Dame game was perfect for Allen. I like being right. :-P

This was a Duke team with EVERY player firing on all cylinders. Best defensive performance of the year. Holding the #2 offense to 39% shooting and 60 points? Shutting down one of the best guards in the nation (Grant had 7 points on 3-10 shooting and was 1-7 from the line)? First time that ND has been held under a point per possession this season.

Just utter dominance. Hopefully this doesn't mean they've peaked in Feb. :-P

[lotusland]

I am really hoping you are either joking or being sarcastic. If not, what pray tell, would constitute a dominant performance?

Deeper rotation.

[DukeFanSince1990]

My wife and I prepared our boys for a close tight game. Now we have to work on trust issues.

What a team performance. What an effort play by Allen....

[FerryFor50]

Deeper rotation.

Yea, we need to develop our walk ons if we hope to get out of the first round.

Disappointed that Paglucia didn't get any shot attempts.

[lotusland]

Yea, we need to develop our walk ons if we hope to get out of the first round.

Disappointed that Paglucia didn't get any shot attempts.

They're going to transfer

[Troublemaker]

They're going to transfer

It's even worse than that. We've peaked too soon.

Edit: whoops, I see Ferry already said this.

[kAzE]

Dominant performance, everyone showed up to play hard and give great effort.

Okafor was his typical unstoppable self, but when he was on the bench with foul trouble, Winslow absolutely took over. I thought I was watching LeBron James out there. He was rebounding, hustling, taking the ball full court, getting in the paint, drawing fouls, and finishing through contact. Unbelievable performance, and I think his 3rd straight double double. Almost had a heart attack when he turned his ankle... The guy just plays so hard....

Awesome to see Matt Jones really have a breakout game. We're a completely different team if he can stretch the floor and shoot with confidence. Grayson Allen finally got back to playing like the crazy reckless (in a good way) Grayson Allen from November, and played some really good minutes. I thought he looked confident out there, and I look forward to seeing him contribute more and more as we get down to the stretch run.

I think this is the best we've played all year, even better than the Wisconsin game. Our defense and hustle in this game was amazing.

[FerryFor50]

Dominant performance, everyone showed up to play hard and give great effort.

Okafor was his typical unstoppable self, but when he was on the bench with foul trouble, Winslow absolutely took over. I thought I was watching LeBron James out there. He was rebounding, hustling, taking the ball full court, getting in the paint, drawing fouls, and finishing through contact. Unbelievable performance, and I think his 3rd straight double double. Almost had a heart attack when he turned his ankle... The guy just plays so hard....

Awesome to see Matt Jones really have a breakout game. We're a completely different team if he can stretch the floor and shoot with confidence. Grayson Allen finally got back to playing like the crazy reckless (in a good way) Grayson Allen from November, and played some really good minutes. I thought he looked confident out there, and I look forward to seeing him contribute more and more as we get down to the stretch run.

I think this is the best we've played all year, even better than the Wisconsin game. Our defense and hustle in this game was amazing.

I said in game chat that I see a little Kevin Love in Winslow with those rebound/outlet passes. Really good work by Winslow today.

Also said that it was appropriate they played the Hot Tub Time Machine commercials during the game - this was a time warp to 1999 Duke. And 1991 Notre Dame (http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/notre-dame/1991.html).

[NM Duke Fan]

For me this was the most satisfying win in years, because this team imposed its will both defensively and offensively, and every player made a valuable contribution. This is a good bench, no matter what some say, and it is getting better. And Winslow, what else can you say about his game today?

For the first time I saw a team that has all the parts and the synergy to seriously contend for the national championship--against anybody...

What an outstanding job by the coaching staff and the players to make adjustments and execute a great game plan to the max.

[gurufrisbee]

Fantastic game. To be able to pull away and run all over a top ten team in that first half WITH Okafor sitting on the bench through most of it - just remarkable. I know people like to point to Kentucky's thumping of Kansas and talk about how impressive they are, but there is no chance at all that ANYONE comes even close to as impressive of a quartet of wins as AT WISCONSIN, AT LOUISVILLE (in a blowout), AT VIRGINIA, and now at home versus NOTRE DAME - by 30! I mean Kentucky has only played four ranked teams at all this season - two are home and one on a neutral site and only one was a blowout.

[Dr. Rosenrosen]

Props to the crowd today too. They delivered energy in spades.

[jasoninchina]

Deeper rotation.

While it would have been nice to play everyone more or at least some, use of a deeper rotation would not have constituted a more dominant performance. We beat the #10 team in the country by 30! Are you seriously displeased about anything?

[bbosbbos]

Very good game.

Now I understand why K said our D was better when O was good.

A 100% Winslow is so important to this team. Hope he stay 100% for ever. I really think his performance in the last 3 games should put him at #2 in the draft.

[Kedsy]

While it would have been nice to play everyone more or at least some, use of a deeper rotation would not have constituted a more dominant performance. We beat the #10 team in the country by 30! Are you seriously displeased about anything?

They're screwing around with you. Everyone knows this was a dominant performance.

This is what we miss by not having the round robin. Duke knew the opponent and wanted payback. And we got it.

I hope Justise's ankle is OK.

[jasoninchina]

They're screwing around with you. Everyone knows this was a dominant performance.

This is what we miss by not having the round robin. Duke knew the opponent and wanted payback. And we got it.

I hope Justise's ankle is OK.

I did not attend Duke, so I don't always catch certain things that Duke grads do. I know I don't have to reveal this in a public forum, but I am not ashamed to reveal it to everyone. I have Asperger's Syndrome which is a high-functioning form of autism which also prevents me from discerning things that others do effortlessly (such as being able to interpret facial expressions and tone of voice). Anyway, I am glad to know they were joking!

[AIRFORCEDUKIE]

Very good game.

Now I understand why K said our D was better when O was good.

A 100% Winslow is so important to this team. Hope he stay 100% for ever. I really think his performance in the last 3 games should put him at #2 in the draft.

Shhh dont tell people about Winslow, we need him next year!!

[NYBri]

Best defense of the year...maybe 3 years.

Bring on the Knicks.

[Troublemaker]

The first half defense was probably what Coach K was envisioning pre-season when he made the switch to icing ball screens. We completely dominated their ball screen offense with ice.

Matt Jones needs to continue to get big minutes. I think the key to defense this year is just getting Matt and Justise, our two best defenders, on the court together as much as possible. I feel for Amile, who is one of my favorite players, but Matt does more for this particular roster of players.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

I did not attend Duke, so I don't always catch certain things that Duke grads do. I know I don't have to reveal this in a public forum, but I am not ashamed to reveal it to everyone. I have Asperger's Syndrome which is a high-functioning form of autism which also prevents me from discerning things that others do effortlessly (such as being able to interpret facial expressions and tone of voice). Anyway, I am glad to know they were joking!

Welcome to the club of Duke fans. Probably best if you assume everything you read on here is tongue-in-cheek. Except this, of course. This is a sincere welcome.

Great game. If we can keep our FG% north of 70, I like our chances in every game.

[jasoninchina]

Welcome to the club of Duke fans. Probably best if you assume everything you read on here is tongue-in-cheek. Except this, of course. This is a sincere welcome.

Great game. If we can keep our FG% north of 70, I like our chances in every game.

I appreciate your kind words! I will keep what you said in mind (God did give me a great memory!).

Warmest regards,
Jason Stockard
Harbin, China and Enville, TN

[porkpa]

Perhaps I'm at the wrong thread, if so, I apologize. I was commenting on the in game thread about what I saw as an opportunity by the crazies to use a Gray-som All-en, Gray-son All-en chant as we've done with players of the bench as we've done in past years.
All this brings me to a senior moment which I am now experiencing. What was the name of the kid who was from the state of Delaware who they used the chant on often? My poor memory suggests that he might have been around in the Chris Carrawell era.

[Monmouth77]

Perhaps I'm at the wrong thread, if so, I apologize. I was commenting on the in game thread about what I saw as an opportunity by the crazies to use a Gray-som All-en, Gray-son All-en chant as we've done with players of the bench as we've done in past years.
All this brings me to a senior moment which I am now experiencing. What was the name of the kid who was from the state of Delaware who they used the chant on often? My poor memory suggests that he might have been around in the Chris Carrawell era.

Carmen Wallace!!! He was a legend of Delaware High School hoops (played in my high school's conference) and had a 42 inch vertical. Great guy and a smart guy too. And a fan favorite during some lean times for Duke basketball.

[tbyers11]

Perhaps I'm at the wrong thread, if so, I apologize. I was commenting on the in game thread about what I saw as an opportunity by the crazies to use a Gray-som All-en, Gray-son All-en chant as we've done with players of the bench as we've done in past years.
All this brings me to a senior moment which I am now experiencing. What was the name of the kid who was from the state of Delaware who they used the chant on often? My poor memory suggests that he might have been around in the Chris Carrawell era.

Carmen Wallace. He graduated in 96. Carrawell came the next year.

[AIRFORCEDUKIE]

Perhaps I'm at the wrong thread, if so, I apologize. I was commenting on the in game thread about what I saw as an opportunity by the crazies to use a Gray-som All-en, Gray-son All-en chant as we've done with players of the bench as we've done in past years.
All this brings me to a senior moment which I am now experiencing. What was the name of the kid who was from the state of Delaware who they used the chant on often? My poor memory suggests that he might have been around in the Chris Carrawell era.

There was a grayson allen chant right after his block. It lasted a good 30 seconds.

[jipops]

Shhh dont tell people about Winslow, we need him next year!!

Too late, he's gone...especially after today. Some of those drives to the bucket were NBA type plays. This guy is a machine. And I'm sure he would rather be earning a paycheck with a cracked rib. If this kid can get a reliable jump shot going...look out.

Just an overall dominating performance. I can't wait to watch it again late tonight after the wife goes to bed.

[AIRFORCEDUKIE]

OK St just helped our tournament seeding out by coming back and beating Kansas!! It was a good day so far!

[lotusland]

I did not attend Duke, so I don't always catch certain things that Duke grads do. I know I don't have to reveal this in a public forum, but I am not ashamed to reveal it to everyone. I have Asperger's Syndrome which is a high-functioning form of autism which also prevents me from discerning things that others do effortlessly (such as being able to interpret facial expressions and tone of voice). Anyway, I am glad to know they were joking!

My son has aspergers or, as they say nowadays, he's on the spectrum. Anyway, he misses my brilliant wit occasionally too. Maybe I should employ those emoticon thingies. Nah.

[NashvilleDevil]

OK St just helped our tournament seeding out by coming back and beating Kansas!! It was a good day so far!

I think wins @Wisconsin, @UVA, @Louisville will help their seeding out more than what happened in Stillwater today.

[jasoninchina]

My son has aspergers or, as they say nowadays, he's on the spectrum. Anyway, he misses my brilliant wit occasionally too. Maybe I should employ those emoticon thingies. Nah.

I found out about 15 1/2 years ago that I have it. When I am in person, I can usually pick up nuisanced humor if I know the person. Online and without the benefit of emoticons, it will be easy for me to misunderstand people. Anyway, I am not upset about anything.

I thought some people might still be upset because some people are never satisfied. When I lived in Memphis, John Calipari dubbed fans who fit the above description as "The Miserables."

[cptnflash]

Two halves of great offense + one half of great defense = 30 point win.

For once I think the talking heads have it right... Justice is the key to our season. We know what we're getting from Jah, Tyus, Quinn, and Amile. Justice is the wild card. When he's playing well, we can overcome our defensive limitations and spacing issues on offense. Here's hoping the Justice League is in full force for the rest of the season.

And as much as I can't stand rooting for Rick Pitino over Tony Bennett... for tonight only... let's go Cardinals!

[NYBri]

For me this was the most satisfying win in years, because this team imposed its will both defensively and offensively, and every player made a valuable contribution. This is a good bench, no matter what some say, and it is getting better. And Winslow, what else can you say about his game today?

For the first time I saw a team that has all the parts and the synergy to seriously contend for the national championship--against anybody...

What an outstanding job by the coaching staff and the players to make adjustments and execute a great game plan to the max.

There is a different satisfaction that comes with this kind of game compared to the come back win vs. the Johnnies, etc. Both rewarding in their own way and we have a team that has delivered both.

This from someone who cast major doubt after the Miami game about whether we had it in us to do either.

I was so wrong....GLADLY I will eat humble pie with sides of crow and my hat.

[6th Man]

I found out about 15 1/2 years ago that I have it. When I am in person, I can usually pick up nuisanced humor if I know the person. Online and without the benefit of emoticons, it will be easy for me to misunderstand people. Anyway, I am not upset about anything.

I thought some people might some people might still be upset because some people are never satisfied. When I lived in Memphis, John Calipari dubbed fans who fit the above description as "The Miserables."

I originally posted the "decent showing" comment. I meant it completely in jest. Was nice to see the team play so well and to see the energy in Cameron that was lacking Wednesday night. All seemed right in the Duke basketball universe today.

[Orange&BlackSheep]

Grayson Allen had one of THE highlights of the season on his block:


https://vine.co/v/OUZw1OQhm2H


How many cinderblocks could you fit under his jump?

O&B Sheep

[cptnflash]

I think wins @Wisconsin, @UVA, @Louisville will help their seeding out more than what happened in Stillwater today.

Agree that our road wins are valuable, but the result in Stillwater helped a lot as well. Any loss by Kansas, Wisconsin, Arizona, or Villanova is good news for us. Or Virginia, of course.

[jasoninchina]

Was nice to see the team play so well and to see the energy in Cameron that was lacking Wednesday night. All seemed right in the Duke basketball universe today.

On all this we can agree! Thanks for the clarification.

[Kedsy]

Just looked at the box score (https://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf9/3172111.pdf?ATCLID=209880020&SPSID=22724&SPID=1845&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=4200). Not only did we shoot 73+% for the game, we also rebounded 48% of our (few) misses. Wow.

Quinn and Tyus combined for 12 assists and 0 turnovers.

Our offensive efficiency was 1.48 ppp. Our defensive efficiency was 0.98 ppp. Even our free throw defense was good -- ND shot just 35% from the line.

[DRC]

Nobody's mentioned MP3. He was very active and contributed with some good strong rebounds and some points. It was really nice to see Grayson break out. The whole team was on another level today and really good to see. They were definitely on a mission and let's hope that elevated collective mental attitude will be ongoing with each upcoming game. Go Duke!

[TKG]

Did anyone else catch the CBS halftime segment with Seth Davis? When the subject turned to Matt Jones and his performance in the half, Seth said something to the effect that "this" is why K dismissed Sulaimon. The team is more at ease and comfortable with Matt. My memory and interpretation could be wrong and welcome corrections if someone else heard Seth.

[jasoninchina]

I have always wanted to say this in public: How much wood could a wood shed shed if a wood shed could shed wood. Wood shed! (along the lines of how much wood could a woodchuck chuck ...).

[wilson]

While it would have been nice to play everyone more or at least some, use of a deeper rotation would not have constituted a more dominant performance. We beat the #10 team in the country by 30! Are you seriously displeased about anything?Are you seriously that incapable of detecting sarcasm?

[jasoninchina]

Are you seriously that incapable of detecting sarcasm?

I have a high-functioning form of autism... so yes. Apology expected!

[wilson]

I have a high-functioning form of autism... so yes. Apology expected!
Welp, consider me chastened. Sincerest apologies.

[-bdbd]

Probably our best performance of the season. Just great all-around by Winslow, T. Jones, Jah, Cook, AJ, Allen, etc. Even the Crazies had one of their best performances too. I LOVE that this team is peaking late in the season. Let's pray that this trend continues intop March. The sky's the limit if they do.

Side note: I also loved seeing/hearing from Grant Hill in the "booth" (catwalk). He and Raf are going to be a great pairing in the Final Four! :D

[NYBri]

Side note: I also loved seeing/hearing from Grant Hill in the "booth" (catwalk). He and Raf are going to be a great pairing in the Final Four! :D

Great hearing Grant.

[jasoninchina]

Welp, consider me chastened. Sincerest apologies.

It's ok. Don't worry about it!

[duke74]

Did anyone else catch the CBS halftime segment with Seth Davis? When the subject turned to Matt Jones and his performance in the half, Seth said something to the effect that "this" is why K dismissed Sulaimon. The team is more at ease and comfortable with Matt. My memory and interpretation could be wrong and welcome corrections if someone else heard Seth.

Heard the same thing and didn't understand the connection..."...why he dismissed..." We'd be better on-court? Anyone else have a thought here on how he came to this conclusion as to K's motive?

[AIRFORCEDUKIE]

Agree that our road wins are valuable, but the result in Stillwater helped a lot as well. Any loss by Kansas, Wisconsin, Arizona, or Villanova is good news for us. Or Virginia, of course.

Yea thats what I meant with my original post. Also Arizona State is giving Arizona a game right now. Its a 2 point game but its a really good game so far. Pulling for Herb, who has put on a few pounds it would seem.

[OldPhiKap]

I gotta admit -- I did not see that coming.

[Kedsy]

I LOVE that this team is peaking late in the season.

We're just one game past the halfway point of the conference season, right? I wouldn't call it "late" yet.

That said, hopefully we haven't peaked yet, either.

[AIRFORCEDUKIE]

Welp Arizona goes down to complete a really good day for Duke fans!!!

[Troublemaker]

Welp Arizona goes down to complete a really good day for Duke fans!!!

Call me greedy, but it'd be really nice if the game in Charlottesville that tips in a few minutes goes our way, too.

[DukeDevil]

Anyone know where I can watch a replay of the game? I was listening to the duke radio broadcast while driving (thanks for the tip on the other thread!!!) and REALLY a want to watch the game now.

Also...can't believe it took me so long to listen to a duke radio broadcast...it's so much more entertaining than the TV commentators!!!!

[AIRFORCEDUKIE]

Call me greedy, but it'd be really nice if the game in Charlottesville that tips in a few minutes goes our way, too.

That is greedy, but at this point we might as well go for the whole day right!! I want Louisville and Florida to win... Hows that for greedy!!

[NashvilleDevil]

Heard the same thing and didn't understand the connection..."...why he dismissed..." We'd be better on-court? Anyone else have a thought here on how he came to this conclusion as to K's motive?

Because he's Seth Davis and he thinks he knows things.

[Henderson]

Just looked at the box score (https://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf9/3172111.pdf?ATCLID=209880020&SPSID=22724&SPID=1845&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=4200). Not only did we shoot 73+% for the game, we also rebounded 48% of our (few) misses. Wow.

That 73+% was from the FT line. "Only" 61% from the field.

[gam7]

Now, THIS is what I have been hoping to see from this team! Just a beatdown in all phases against a good opponent. This is a great sign.

Couldn't help but think of Duke-UVA in 2000-2001 while watching this game. UVA ranked #10 at the time against a Top 5 Duke team at Cameron. Halftime score of that one was 53-20. 103-61 final. And, as with ND this year, we split with UVA that year. If memory serves, I think we finished that season fairly strong.

[dukepsy1963]

Just never prouder!!!!

[arnie]

Did anyone else catch the CBS halftime segment with Seth Davis? When the subject turned to Matt Jones and his performance in the half, Seth said something to the effect that "this" is why K dismissed Sulaimon. The team is more at ease and comfortable with Matt. My memory and interpretation could be wrong and welcome corrections if someone else heard Seth.

Your hearing skills are perfect - that is what S. Davis said. A really atrocious comment, unfortunately that is the state of talking head "journalism" today.

[hurleyfor3]

Just looked at the box score (https://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf9/3172111.pdf?ATCLID=209880020&SPSID=22724&SPID=1845&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=4200).

Our first-half eFG% was 97.6%. Rather disappointed it wasn't over 100%.

[BD80]

... Even our free throw defense was good -- ND shot just 35% from the line.

I think this where cutting ties with Sheed helped us the most


Welp Arizona goes down to complete a really good day for Duke fans!!!

But carolina won, so not a perfect day


That 73+% was from the FT line. "Only" 61% from the field.

That 61% would have been higher but for our 3-point shooting ...

a paltry 60%


I was going to make a smartass comment about starting slow (DOWN 6-0!!!), but don't want my attempts at humor to diminish the mood for such a magnificent game.

I think this Coach K guy is a keeper. He might turn out to be a pretty good coach. My son compared Duke's play the last 2 games to Stan Van Gundy cutting Josh Smith from the Pistons and then winning 7 of the next 8 games.

[Utley]

I thought we played with swagger tonight - really lead by Okafor's example. I think that's what we need to bring every game. I especially loved that it really manifest at the defenisve end.

No question in my mind that our A game is one of the 4 best in the country.

I loved that the score was 82-50 at one point. I hope it provides the same karma that it did in2010.

[Newton_14]

Did anyone else catch the CBS halftime segment with Seth Davis? When the subject turned to Matt Jones and his performance in the half, Seth said something to the effect that "this" is why K dismissed Sulaimon. The team is more at ease and comfortable with Matt. My memory and interpretation could be wrong and welcome corrections if someone else heard Seth.

Warning alert: This will be a long post. But first, Seth Davis saying that is just classless. There is no reason at all to make an asinine comment like that. Seth would do himself and everyone else a great service by never mentioning Rasheed Suliamon's name again, the rest of this life. There is no way Coach K or any other staff member made that statement to Seth. He speculated it on this own to try to make it look like he has inside info. He should be ashamed of himself and I for one, just lost a ton of respect for him. Nothing he saids going forward will matter to me. But that's the end of that rant. Too much good stuff to talk about from today.

First, I want to thank the fine DBR member who generously sent me and CDu to the game today using his seats. He is as fine a person as DBR has on the member list. Many thanks to him. It is much appreciated. Folks, the crowd and atmosphere today was on par with a Unc-cheat game. When we walked into the gym about 20 minutes prior to tip, the grad and undergrad sections were packed in like sardines and the noise levels were unreal. There were also some new wrinkles that I suspect were orchestrated by K's daughters who come up with a lot of things that happen in Cameron. That said, major props to Native and gang today. Homie brought his A game, had a bounce in his step and did a stellar job leading his fellow crazies. With about 10 to go before tip, they played Bon Jovi Living on A Prayer, and all the grads and undergrads were singing in unison in great harmony at the top of their lungs. They also passed out those thin long balloons to the grads in blue, black, and white colors which was another new wrinkle.

On to the game. The team played "Duke Defense" today the way we all know it is supposed to be played, totally disrupting what ND wanted to do. The man to man defense was really really smothering and great today. Awesome to see. They shut down the ND guards from getting into the lane and attacking the paint, and they showed great toughness and rebounded like madmen. Its obvious of course but it was the best defensive game all year and just so happened to be the best offensive game all year.

The other important thing is how they are getting back to committing to attacking with fast breaks before the defense can get set. That aspect makes this team go, and helps them tremendously in two ways. 1st. It allows them to get easy buckets and also draw fouls prior to the defense being able to get back and get set. This team has so many weapons that can finish on those type fast breaks (and they are atypical type fastbreaks, not one would call normal). Winslow is a big part of that because he can both pass ahead with the best of them but can also either take it coast to coast himself with a great ability to use his ballhandling skills and ability to cut and weave to get to the rim to score with strength and grace, or catch a fast break hit ahead pass from a teammate, near midcourt and then use those same skills and moves to attack the basket as a pass recipient. He did that numerous times today and is unstoppable. 2nd. It prevents them from having to rely on scoring in the halfcourt offense for too many possessions as they sometimes fall into the trap of being very passive in the halfcourt, not moving the ball and not making the defense work, or having to force it into Okafor too much. When they both dump into Jahlil then stand and star watch the offense bogs down. That leads to missed shots and as we have seen then hurts them on defense.

Beyond Winslow almost every other kid can also use their own unique abilities to score on fast breaks. They started getting back to doing this with the UVA game with great success. If they continue approaching offense and defense the way they approached it today and against UVA for example, they will be very hard to beat even without shooting crazy percentages from 3.

Matt was outstanding today on both ends, getting hot from 3 but also scoring around the rim. Jahlil got 20 and 10 in only 23 minutes just abusing every ND kid that defended him, Tyus wowed us over and over with passing, drives to draw fouls and finish, and Quinn played outstanding defense while hitting key buckets even though he only chipped in 8 points.

My other big shout out goes to Grayson. The kids confidence is growing game by game, leading to more minutes, and once his confidence and poise catches up with his incredible talent, the kid is going to be a player. 3 more key plays today, with the drive to get fouled at the rim making both foul shots, knocking down the 3 from the wing in the rhythm of the offense, and then the incredible block. His teammates loved it and were stoked for him, and lastly Grayson is a kid who does a lot of little things that do not show up in the statsheet, in that he crashes the boards hard every time, and today got his hands on balls the led to a teammate securing a rebound, disrupted a few shot attempts at the rim, and also is a sneaky good defender that is only going to get better at it.

Lastly, Tyus Jones is one of the more gifted and cerebal kids we have had in a very long time. He sees things on the floor that the average superstar just does not see. It is a gift and it can't be taught. Larry Bird had it. John Stockton had it. Magic Johnson had it. Tyus Jones has it. He processes what he sees, purposely takes certain angles on something as simply as bring the ball up the court and reads what will happen in that if he does "A", then it will lead to 2 or 3 things such that a teammate will get an easy bucket whether from a direct pass from Tyus himself or a pass from a different teammate that was initiated by Tyus two or three passes or movements earlier. The kid is special and I believe we have only seen glimpses of what he is truly capable of. On a similar note, Matt Jones said in the post game we have only seen glimpses of what Grayson can do as he shows them wow plays with his incredible athleticism every day in practice.


Just a great great win and I truly hope everyone recognizes just how well Duke played today in all facets of the game against a Top 10 team with a highly potent offense. Enjoy this one folks. It was a thing of beauty against a high quality team.

Go Duke!!

[pamtar]

I agree, coach.

http://streamable.com/412

[roywhite]

Since around Christmas time, I've been wandering whether this Duke team would approach or equal the level of play we had against Wisconsin, and it definitely wasn't happening for a good while.

But the last 10 minutes in C-ville (and some early play as well in that game) and now this game today have been evidence that this team has played as well or better than it did in the early season. The combination of talent and teamwork is devastating. Somebody may catch us on an off-day, but if Duke is playing well, we'll be awfully hard to beat.

[NYBri]

I agree, coach.

http://streamable.com/412

Out of my seat in my living room, alone screaming at that one!

[grossbus]

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"When you go through one like that, I always go through the stat sheet to make sure it only counts as one loss," Brey said.

[Acymetric]

Are CBS games available to stream anywhere? Could stand to watch that again :).

[Kedsy]

That 73+% was from the FT line. "Only" 61% from the field.

Oh, sorry, my bad. Although with this crew, 73% from the line actually surprises me a little bit more than if we'd hit 73% from the field.

[Troublemaker]

Anyone know where I can watch a replay of the game? I was listening to the duke radio broadcast while driving (thanks for the tip on the other thread!!!) and REALLY a want to watch the game now.


Are CBS games available to stream anywhere? Could stand to watch that again :).

Unlike ESPN3, I'm not aware of a way to stream CBS games that have been played.

Now, I just did a google search, and there IS a torrent of the game available. Not gonna link to it for obvious reasons.

The advisable, legal way of re-watching this game (if you didn't DVR it) is to pay $10 for a month of GoDuke.com. (And not even that, since they have a 7-day free trial).

[weezie]

It's likely been said upstream but quietly and strongly, Quinn was the glue today. I haven't seen that kind of defensive performance by Quinn, ever.
He was magnificent. Eyes all over the court, no down time, moving constantly. I thought Jerian Grant looked like he might start crying.
Quinn was a bad, bad man today!

[sagegrouse]

Are CBS games available to stream anywhere? Could stand to watch that again :).

Not apparently on the CBS Sports channel. The schedule does not show any replays through Tuesday -- but that may change -- and I am relying on the DirecTV guide.

[OldPhiKap]

GoDuke app has full game and condensed game replay.

[Des Esseintes]

I had hoped after a performance such as that our numbers on kenpom would spike. His engine doesn't think the Irish are as good as the polls think they are, and the blowout was at home. Still, 30 points, man. Our D continues to rate in the high forties, though, and our O remains behind Notre Dame's. I am certain all the math works out, but sometimes I cannot find the logic. In January, our defense was top ten and fell into the seventies on the "strength" of two bad losses. I suppose the data set is just that much larger and thus harder to budge now?

Regardless, what an insane amount of fun today.

[InSpades]

It was nice to see after a quick start (they jumped out 6-0) we just took it to them. In fact, our 1st 5 buckets were all dunks/layups. That's imposing your will on the other team. I think it set the tone for the rest of the half and when you're getting open looks inside... sometimes you get a few open looks outside as well and Duke didn't miss. We won't always be that successful from outside but when we are... look out.

Winslow's slump is officially over (if it wasn't before, which it probably was). He kind of disappeared there for a few games and I thought maybe we'd have him back next year. Not if he plays like this. He's like a man amongst boys out there. Getting to the rim w/ ease and finishing strong. Great outlet passes. Spectacular defense. If he's going to play like this then maybe 1 year is enough!

Great game, just what the doctor ordered. Now let's keep it going through the rest of the year!

[Troublemaker]

GoDuke app has full game and condensed game replay.

Do you have to be a GoDuke subscriber to use, though, OPK? I think the previous queriers were hoping for something free.

[Troublemaker]

I had hoped after a performance such as that our numbers on kenpom would spike. His engine doesn't think the Irish are as good as the polls think they are, and the blowout was at home. Still, 30 points, man. Our D continues to rate in the high forties, though, and our O remains behind Notre Dame's. I am certain all the math works out, but sometimes I cannot find the logic. In January, our defense was top ten and fell into the seventies on the "strength" of two bad losses. I suppose the data set is just that much larger and thus harder to budge now?

It IS sort of weird that we didn't take a big jump today. I mean, just one game ago, we dropped 12 spots on D after playing an average defensive game against GaTech.

You would think holding the #2 offense in the country to their first sub-100 efficiency of the season would merit more than a 7-spot jump on D.

Maybe inserted in all that code is a few lines that account for Ken Pomeroy having never gotten over this shot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxyO4AKMveY

[elvis14]

That was just too much fun to watch. I watched the game again this morning just to start my day off right. This is what it looks like when it all comes together. As cool as it was to watch us roll up a bunch of points what was even better was watching the defense play so well.

I know some of us were frustrated with the mediocre play against Ga. Tech earlier in the week. I think what was frustrating about that game is that we all know the team is capable of playing like we did against Notre Dame yesterday. I don't expect the near perfection we saw yesterday but I think we worry about lack luster games like Ga. Tech because they are the kind of games that can cause a loss in the tournaments.

Mostly, I'm just happy about yesterday's game. So many guys stepped up and did something good. Justise was great all game long. Matt Jones was fantastic, particularly in the first half when we built our lead. Grayson put in solid minutes. Big Jah was consistently dominant. Quinn Cook played fantastic defense, QC! MP3 put in quality minutes when Jahlil went to the bench with foul trouble in the first half. Tyus was, well Tyus :-) Everyone played at a high level.

[DukeDevil]

Do you have to be a GoDuke subscriber to use, though, OPK? I think the previous queriers were hoping for something free.

At 4.99 for the rest of the season...I was fine paying for the *godlike app.

*goduke...but the autocorrect was too good to change.

[OldPhiKap]

At 4.99 for the rest of the season...I was fine paying for the *godlike app.

*goduke...but the autocorrect was too good to change.

I think this is right. I do not any monthly subscription but may pay some nominal annual fee -- not sure b/c I've had it for years.

Post-game press conferences (K, Cut, others); highlights; previews; replays for hoops and football IIRC.

[DrChainsaw]

Maybe inserted in all that code is a few lines that account for Ken Pomeroy having never gotten over this shot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxyO4AKMveY

Only game my wife has seen in Cameron. I assured her before we got there that it ought to be a pretty easy win for Duke. Mid-court seats that cost an arm and a leg. What a classic.

[Listen to Quants]

I had hoped after a performance such as that our numbers on kenpom would spike. His engine doesn't think the Irish are as good as the polls think they are, and the blowout was at home. Still, 30 points, man. Our D continues to rate in the high forties, though, and our O remains behind Notre Dame's. I am certain all the math works out, but sometimes I cannot find the logic. In January, our defense was top ten and fell into the seventies on the "strength" of two bad losses. I suppose the data set is just that much larger and thus harder to budge now?

Regardless, what an insane amount of fun today.


It IS sort of weird that we didn't take a big jump today. I mean, just one game ago, we dropped 12 spots on D after playing an average defensive game against GaTech.

You would think holding the #2 offense in the country to their first sub-100 efficiency of the season would merit more than a 7-spot jump on D.

....

Part of the lack of numerical sensitivity to the blowout win might be due to the start point expectation. Overall, an approx. 10 pt Duke win was expected so a 30 point win is well into the "diminishing return of a blowout win" region. ESPN's BPI (which I like as it deals with injuries, unlike KenPom) has some blurb that says a 30 point win only produces some 20% more credit than a 10 point win (I'm writing from a vague memory so this is rough).

A human observer could see that the first half, perhaps before most of the effects of a blow-out really take effect, indicates the 30-point gap was real as could be. Marvalous D. As an aside, I was impressed by a couple of lighting quick passes from Winslow into the post, getting a jump on the ND defense.

[Native]

Do you have to be a GoDuke subscriber to use, though, OPK? I think the previous queriers were hoping for something free.

The full game replay is on YouTube; don't want to link to it though — don't know about board rules and copyrighted content, yada yada yada.

[Acymetric]

It looks like the video was put on YouTube by the NCAA right? Wouldn't be any copyright issues I would think.

[Native]

It looks like the video was put on YouTube by the NCAA right? Wouldn't be any copyright issues I would think.

I don't think that's an official channel.

Anyway, you can just search "Duke Notre Dame" and it's on the first page of results.

[rsvman]

I could be wrong, but it seems to me that the improved defense wasn't just about more effort. I think the coaching staff tweaked the defense a bit. Sure, they played aggressive man-to-man defense in the usual Duke style up top, but what was different was how few times ND was successful at getting into the lane.

To my eye that was not just because of effective icing on screens, but also because of aggressive trapping, which I don't think was a part of the original defensive formula at the start of the season. As soon as a ND player would get anywhere near the paint there was a trap awaiting; for a few minutes it almost looked like we were playing a slightly saner version of VCU's "havoc" D. I don't think I've seen us run the D exactly like this before. I don't have the game on tape so I can't go back and look at it, but I remember that, in addition to traps near the lane there were occasional and seemingly random traps way out on the perimeter. That part of the D, in particular, looked a lot like "havoc."

I think that this version of the D ran a bit better when Okafor was on the bench in foul trouble. Plumlee seems a lot more aggressive, especially in the trapping and in defensive rotation. I am beginning to think that Okafor, while obviously a HUGE advantage on offense, tends to be a bit of a liability at times on D. I wish we could have Okafor on O and Plumlee on D; that would be ideal.

Overall, though, what a huge game! It helps when all your shots are going through the basket, obviously, but this D was very effective and I can't real tell whether the D fueled the O or the other way around.

If there's a downside, I think it's that Coach K, so recently converted to the idea of a 2-3 zone, a 3-2 zone, and the general idea of mixing up defenses depending on the circumstance, will now be tempted to believe that this D is obviously the most effective, and want to go with it ALL THE TIME. Which might be fine, as long as the players commit to it the way they did today. But it's also more tiring and harder to keep up for long stretches, which is why I think the zone should continue to be used, at least intermittently, regardless of how suffocating this havoc-like D proves to be. I really don't want to see us sticking to this D against teams with quick, elite point guards who are making it into the lane; that could be a recipe for another early loss in the post-season, which I really, really don't want to see happen to this team.

[fuse]

Luke DeCock had a nice article about yesterday's game.

http://www.newsobserver.com/2015/02/07/4538918_decock-for-20-minutes-duke-approaches.html?rh=1

For all the statisticians, per the article, at one point in the first half Duke was above 2 points per possession.

Yesterday's win was pretty special.

[Native]

I could be wrong, but it seems to me that the improved defense wasn't just about more effort. I think the coaching staff tweaked the defense a bit. Sure, they played aggressive man-to-man defense in the usual Duke style up top, but what was different was how few times ND was successful at getting into the lane.

To my eye that was not just because of effective icing on screens, but also because of aggressive trapping, which I don't think was a part of the original defensive formula at the start of the season. As soon as a ND player would get anywhere near the paint there was a trap awaiting; for a few minutes it almost looked like we were playing a slightly saner version of VCU's "havoc" D. I don't think I've seen us run the D exactly like this before. I don't have the game on tape so I can't go back and look at it, but I remember that, in addition to traps near the lane there were occasional and seemingly random traps way out on the perimeter. That part of the D, in particular, looked a lot like "havoc."

I think that this version of the D ran a bit better when Okafor was on the bench in foul trouble. Plumlee seems a lot more aggressive, especially in the trapping and in defensive rotation. I am beginning to think that Okafor, while obviously a HUGE advantage on offense, tends to be a bit of a liability at times on D. I wish we could have Okafor on O and Plumlee on D; that would be ideal.

Overall, though, what a huge game! It helps when all your shots are going through the basket, obviously, but this D was very effective and I can't real tell whether the D fueled the O or the other way around.

If there's a downside, I think it's that Coach K, so recently converted to the idea of a 2-3 zone, a 3-2 zone, and the general idea of mixing up defenses depending on the circumstance, will now be tempted to believe that this D is obviously the most effective, and want to go with it ALL THE TIME. Which might be fine, as long as the players commit to it the way they did today. But it's also more tiring and harder to keep up for long stretches, which is why I think the zone should continue to be used, at least intermittently, regardless of how suffocating this havoc-like D proves to be. I really don't want to see us sticking to this D against teams with quick, elite point guards who are making it into the lane; that could be a recipe for another early loss in the post-season, which I really, really don't want to see happen to this team.

Noticed the trapping, especially getting Jah involved. That one steal he had where he basically ripped it out of the hands of the trapped player was a thing of beauty.

Also, our guys were a lot better on their closeouts — they were absolutely FLYING around on defense, but weren't reckless. Just playing at a very high clip.

[Troublemaker]

If there's a downside, I think it's that Coach K, so recently converted to the idea of a 2-3 zone, a 3-2 zone, and the general idea of mixing up defenses depending on the circumstance, will now be tempted to believe that this D is obviously the most effective, and want to go with it ALL THE TIME.

I don't think we have to worry about this. Within this same game we're talking about -- the one where Duke played such suffocating man-2-man in the first half -- what did Coach K do when Notre Dame cut Duke's lead to 18 points in the 2nd half? He switched to zone, and Duke pushed the lead back into the 30s.

I think Coach has made peace with icing ball screens and having a backup zone defense as his adjustments to the freedom-of-movement rule changes that began last season. The zone does appear to be the backup to the man-2-man at this point (meaning the m2m will continue get first dibs at opposing offenses), but he seems comfortable deploying the zone as a changeup when the m2m isn't getting the job done. If it means anything, he did say in the postgame presser something like "We will continue to use multiple defenses," which is different from his wishy-washiness last season about the line changes.



To my eye that was not just because of effective icing on screens, but also because of aggressive trapping,

Great point. Especially on sideline ice, once we directed the opposing ball-handler down the sideline, Duke's big man and guard would trap the ball-handler.


Sure, they played aggressive man-to-man defense in the usual Duke style up top,

There was a lot of variation in this, actually. Tyus was told to be conservative and pick up Jackson at the top of the key (probably because Jackson is considered to be quicker than Tyus). Justise was told to pressure Connaughton far beyond the 3-pt line (probably because Justise is quicker than Connaughton.) Quinn picked up Grant in between these two extremes and had the most interesting assignment, which it seemed to me was to make Jerian Grant go left at all costs. Quinn constantly stayed on Grant's right hand and made him go left.

Overall, Duke's defense in this game was much more compact than, say, the GaTech game.

[Furniture]

I thought we played with swagger tonight - really lead by Okafor's example. I think that's what we need to bring every game. I especially loved that it really manifest at the defenisve end.

No question in my mind that our A game is one of the 4 best in the country.

I loved that the score was 82-50 at one point. I hope it provides the same karma that it did in2010.

Only watched the game tonight because I was at a Soccer tourney in Wilmington NC on Saturday. It's just not the same as watching live.....poop.
Anyway, I thought that Jah REALLY stepped up in this game. He was dominant! Maybe he was mad and he wanted to avenge the last game or he is just getting better?

[Edouble]

Did anyone else catch the CBS halftime segment with Seth Davis? When the subject turned to Matt Jones and his performance in the half, Seth said something to the effect that "this" is why K dismissed Sulaimon. The team is more at ease and comfortable with Matt. My memory and interpretation could be wrong and welcome corrections if someone else heard Seth.

Yes, I heard exactly what Seth Davis said regarding Duke's play against Notre Dame, and what he said about Rasheed. I think your interpretation is a bit off.


Heard the same thing and didn't understand the connection..."...why he dismissed..." We'd be better on-court? Anyone else have a thought here on how he came to this conclusion as to K's motive?


Because he's Seth Davis and he thinks he knows things.

Well, he does know some things. He actually knows some things about Rasheed Sulaimon. Seth was the first one to report that Rasheed had been thrown out of practice several times this year and asked to stay away from the team for a few weeks this past summer.


Your hearing skills are perfect - that is what S. Davis said. A really atrocious comment, unfortunately that is the state of talking head "journalism" today.

He said that our play against Notre Dame is why we are actually better without Rasheed Sulaimon... because our offensive flow is better.

These are fair comments, especially considering the many comments on this board regarding Rasheed's propensity to drive into the lane without a plan. Pretty much the antithesis of a free flowing offense. Rasheed had the lowest OER of any of the rotation players this year, so this is a pretty fair comment.


Warning alert: This will be a long post. But first, Seth Davis saying that is just classless. There is no reason at all to make an asinine comment like that. Seth would do himself and everyone else a great service by never mentioning Rasheed Suliamon's name again, the rest of this life. There is no way Coach K or any other staff member made that statement to Seth. He speculated it on this own to try to make it look like he has inside info. He should be ashamed of himself and I for one, just lost a ton of respect for him. Nothing he saids going forward will matter to me. But that's the end of that rant. Too much good stuff to talk about from today.

So, if you were at the game, you couldn't have heard what Seth Davis said, unless you brought a tablet to the game, or DVR'ed it.

Never mentioning Rasheed's name again? What is this? Is Coach K Pharaoh and Rasheed is Moses or something? C'mon, isn't that a bit dramatic? Rasheed was a McDonald's All-American, our most talented (I'm not saying best, mind you) on-ball defender, and an important rotation player. It is certainly reasonable to remark on how the team is playing without Rasheed, particularly when the two games since he's left the team have been wins against the #2 team in the country at their arena, and a win over the #10 team in the country at home!

[kAzE]

I watched the replay of this game again last night, and it's been mentioned several times in this post, but HUGE props to the crowd at the game. I was one of the critics of the weak crowd support at the Ga Tech game, and the crazies showed up big time for this one. It was very difficult to even hear the announcers for long stretches. ND totally crapped their pants, our guys were the most fired up they've been all year, and the environment in Cameron had a big hand in that one.

[COYS]

Part of the lack of numerical sensitivity to the blowout win might be due to the start point expectation. Overall, an approx. 10 pt Duke win was expected so a 30 point win is well into the "diminishing return of a blowout win" region. ESPN's BPI (which I like as it deals with injuries, unlike KenPom) has some blurb that says a 30 point win only produces some 20% more credit than a 10 point win (I'm writing from a vague memory so this is rough).

A human observer could see that the first half, perhaps before most of the effects of a blow-out really take effect, indicates the 30-point gap was real as could be. Marvalous D. As an aside, I was impressed by a couple of lighting quick passes from Winslow into the post, getting a jump on the ND defense.

Good points. I also wonder if ND's horrible free throw shooting is also factored in. Our defense was really good, but our excellent free throw defense was instrumental in maintaining a 30 point win. Without ND's poor day at the line, their offensive efficiency would've been comfortably over 1.00 ppp. Despite a few transition opportunities for Duke early in the game, there really weren't that many possessions in the contest (per scacchoops.com, Duke had only 57.4 possessions (with free throws, I assume) and ND had 61 (which seems a little weird, but even if it's off a little bit, it's clear the game was a low possession game)). Obviously, holding the previously number 1 offense down like that is an accomplishment, but it does mean that the particularly bad free throw shooting of the Irish made it seem like our good defensive performance was even better than it actually was.

This isn't meant to take anything away from our team. I hope we play D like this the rest of the season. And obviously it would be lovely if our offense were this otherworldly good the rest of the way, too =). I bet that if we string together a few more performances like Saturday's, we'll see our D rating start to creep up.

[sagegrouse]

Reflections on the ND game -- two days later:

1. There is NO reason we can't play such stellar defense every game. As coach Al McGuire used to say, "Offense goes up and down, but defense can be the same every game."

2. There are LOTS of reasons the offense won't be as good in future games. Holy cow! We had an effective shooting percentage of over 97.6% in the first half, with 17-21 overall and 7-8 from three.

3. Notre Dame has no answer to Okafor, and I don't know if anyone has. Clearly Brey will try a different defensive scheme next time. But traps and double teams will give us some great shots elsewhere. It looks to me that Jah is seeing the court better and making passes.

4. Okafor will get a good test tonight against the behemoths from FSU.

5. Winslow was unstoppable.

[kAzE]

Reflections on the ND game -- two days later:

1. There is NO reason we can't play such stellar defense every game. As coach Al McGuire used to say, "Offense goes up and down, but defense can be the same every game."

2. There are LOTS of reasons the offense won't be as good in future games. Holy cow! We had an effective shooting percentage of over 97.6% in the first half, with 17-21 overall and 7-8 from three.

3. Notre Dame has no answer to Okafor, and I don't know if anyone has. Clearly Brey will try a different defensive scheme next time. But traps and double teams will give us some great shots elsewhere. It looks to me that Jah is seeing the court better and making passes.

4. Okafor will get a good test tonight against the behemoths from FSU.

5. Winslow was unstoppable.

I have a suspicion that Willie Cauley-Stein might be a pretty awful 1-on-1 matchup for Okafor with his length and athleticism (not to mention Karl Towns lurking on help defense), so I hope we never have to play UK.

[AIRFORCEDUKIE]

I have a suspicion that Willie Cauley-Stein might be a pretty awful 1-on-1 matchup for Okafor with his length and athleticism (not to mention Karl Towns lurking on help defense), so I hope we never have to play UK.

I don't think there is a player in College that can guard Jah 1on1. That said help defense with another excellent big man would be effective, but hopefully create open looks for others. At this point I don't think many NBA players can match up 1on1 in the post with JAH. Dude's inside game is too polished, and hes just going to get better and better.

[uh_no]

I have a suspicion that Willie Cauley-Stein might be a pretty awful 1-on-1 matchup for Okafor with his length and athleticism (not to mention Karl Towns lurking on help defense), so I hope we never have to play UK.

you just pump fake and UK fouls. they bite HARD on fakes, and several teams have used that to almost beat them (one of them being florida last weekend)

[FerryFor50]

you just pump fake and UK fouls. they bite HARD on fakes, and several teams have used that to almost beat them (one of them being florida last weekend)

Yep. And if Louisville could shoot at all, they'd have beaten UK with the head fakes as well.

[DukieInBrasil]

you just pump fake and UK fouls. they bite HARD on fakes, and several teams have used that to almost beat them (one of them being florida last weekend)

to be fair, Jahlil bites on head fakes a lot too. He's been pretty good at avoiding foul trouble but let's not pretend that Kentucky's bigs won't present Jahlil with a lot of challenges as well. Whereas UK has several 7footers to throw at us, Duke has only 2 and as commendable as MP3 has been, there is a huge drop-off in talent and performance between JO and MP3.

[Karl Beem]

to be fair, Jahlil bites on head fakes a lot too. He's been pretty good at avoiding foul trouble but let's not pretend that Kentucky's bigs won't present Jahlil with a lot of challenges as well. Whereas UK has several 7footers to throw at us, Duke has only 2 and as commendable as MP3 has been, there is a huge drop-off in talent and performance between JO and MP3.

Not on defense.

[Des Esseintes]

you just pump fake and UK fouls. they bite HARD on fakes, and several teams have used that to almost beat them (one of them being florida last weekend)

Yeah, totally, you just pump fake them. Kentucky is playing better than any defense of the modern era (http://www.si.com/college-basketball/2015/02/06/kentucky-wildcats-defense-john-calipari-rick-pitino), but that's only because nobody has cottoned to the world-breaking power of the pump fake. Can't believe anyone is treating these guys as though they'll be a challenge. Don't people know about pump fakes?

[Newton_14]

So, if you were at the game, you couldn't have heard what Seth Davis said, unless you brought a tablet to the game, or DVR'ed it.

Never mentioning Rasheed's name again? What is this? Is Coach K Pharaoh and Rasheed is Moses or something? C'mon, isn't that a bit dramatic? Rasheed was a McDonald's All-American, our most talented (I'm not saying best, mind you) on-ball defender, and an important rotation player. It is certainly reasonable to remark on how the team is playing without Rasheed, particularly when the two games since he's left the team have been wins against the #2 team in the country at their arena, and a win over the #10 team in the country at home!

So, a fair call out/challenge/etc. First, when I make a strong comment, I never take issue or offense if someone challenges that, because when someone does or says something the irks me to no end, I comment on it and sometimes overreact to it. That could have been the case here, so I will explain. I did not hear the comments first hand obviously, as I was at the game, so I was going solely on the statement of the OP, and taking that statement in good faith as accurate. And yes the comment hit me really badly. I took it to mean Davis was implying/stating that K kicked Rasheed to the curb so he could more easily get Matt Jones more playing time, and to me, that would suggest that K is a man of low integrity who kicked a kid off the team simply to help the team have a better chance to win, and help another player get more PT, which to me is absurd and a crappy thing to suggest about Coach K. If Davis meant it as such then what I meant was he should not comment on the Rasheed situation again. Now if Davis did not suggest that, and the OP took the Davis comments out of context, then yeah, my bad and I deserve the call out.

I just believe that K dismissed Rasheed for actions committed by Rasheed that were so egregious, there was no way he could be allowed to remain on the team. I was actually talking about this dismissal with another die hard Duke fan tonight and he spoke about how with this being the first time in his 35 year career that K had ever done this, whatever it was Rasheed did, it had to have been really bad. It simply could not have been a case of "oh well, you know Rasheed is a real problem child with his attitude, and gosh Matt would really blossom if Rasheed were not here, and that would greatly help the team, therefore I have no choice but to get rid of Rasheed".

If Davis did not imply anything of the such, then I was wrong to make the comments I made. I actually made the terrible mistake of forgetting to DVR the game so I still have not seen or read the comments first hand.

[uh_no]

Yeah, totally, you just pump fake them. Kentucky is playing better than any defense of the modern era (http://www.si.com/college-basketball/2015/02/06/kentucky-wildcats-defense-john-calipari-rick-pitino), but that's only because nobody has cottoned to the world-breaking power of the pump fake. Can't believe anyone is treating these guys as though they'll be a challenge. Don't people know about pump fakes?

heaven forbid anybody point out something that UK has appeared especially vulnerable to. guess we should accept your take that they're unbeatable?

[Des Esseintes]

you just pump fake and UK fouls. they bite HARD on fakes, and several teams have used that to almost beat them (one of them being florida last weekend)


Yeah, totally, you just pump fake them. Kentucky is playing better than any defense of the modern era (http://www.si.com/college-basketball/2015/02/06/kentucky-wildcats-defense-john-calipari-rick-pitino), but that's only because nobody has cottoned to the world-breaking power of the pump fake. Can't believe anyone is treating these guys as though they'll be a challenge. Don't people know about pump fakes?


heaven forbid anybody point out something that UK has appeared especially vulnerable to. guess we should accept your take that they're unbeatable?

Here's you, on the subject of flying to the moon: "you just point your catapult straight in the air and put on a scuba suit. my dad makes a catapult that throws HARD, and several times he's gotten a capsule above the height of our house (which is almost to the moon)"

Here's me: [sarcastic comment about catapults being insufficient for getting to the moon]

You: "heaven forbid anybody point out that catapults can throw things into the air. guess we should accept your take that no one will ever visit the moon?"

Me: "The moon is very much a reachable place, and your suggestion that the capsule must go up to reach the moon is correct, insofar as it goes. However--and I mean no disrespect to your dad in this--but I think the professionals would say that flying to the moon is a more complicated endeavor than you are here suggesting. I like you and your dad's optimism, though. It's part of what makes this country great."

[uh_no]

I think the professionals would say that flying to the moon is a more complicated endeavor than you are here suggesting.

While I appreciate your analogy, sometimes it IS as simple as calling a run play when you're at the 1/2 yard line with the super bowl at the line.

A good game plan is worth a lot.

[Des Esseintes]

While I appreciate your analogy, sometimes it IS as simple as calling a run play when you're at the 1/2 yard line with the super bowl at the line.

A good game plan is worth a lot.

But game plans are complex and sophisticated. We don't need to get deep into the weeds on that endlessly analyzed play here, but I think it's worth pointing out that things are rarely as simple as they appear.

1. Seattle had the ball at the 1 with under a minute to go. They have one timeout. Second down. The Seahawks do not have enough time/timeouts to call three straight runs. If they wanted three chances at the end zone, one *had* to be a pass.

2. If Seattle runs on second down and doesn't get in, they have to call their last timeout. This all but guarantees that the third down play must be a pass, allowing New England a chance to put out a defense that overwhelmingly expects pass.

3. If Seattle passes, as it did, and fails to get a completion, the clock is stopped. They can now plausibly pass OR run on each of the final two downs. Preserving that flexibility is vital in goal line situations.

4. The chances of a turnover from a goal line interception were actually less than those of a goal line fumble this past season. Something like 1.4% to 1.7%. Over a five year sample, they reverse, but basically it's a wash turnover-wise.

5. Beast Mode was something like 1 for 5 on the season this year in punch-it-in situations of this kind.

All of which is to say that most coaches, especially most successful coaches, are not morons. Had Wilson thrown a better pass, or Kearse rubbed the d-back more effective, or Butler made anything less than a brilliant break on the ball, we'd be lauding the genius of the Seattle staff. In hindsight, I don't know if they made the right call. They certainly made the losing call. But sports, and life, are complicated. If we think it's a "simple" matter to have chosen an alternative course, we usually just aren't looking closely enough.

[Duke95]

yeah, totally, you just pump fake them. Kentucky is playing better than any defense of the modern era (http://www.si.com/college-basketball/2015/02/06/kentucky-wildcats-defense-john-calipari-rick-pitino), but that's only because nobody has cottoned to the world-breaking power of the pump fake. Can't believe anyone is treating these guys as though they'll be a challenge. Don't people know about pump fakes?

http://img.deseretnews.com/images/article/midres/1043619/1043619.jpg

Funny right there.

[jimsumner]

But game plans are complex and sophisticated. We don't need to get deep into the weeds on that endlessly analyzed play here, but I think it's worth pointing out that things are rarely as simple as they appear.

1. Seattle had the ball at the 1 with under a minute to go. They have one timeout. Second down. The Seahawks do not have enough time/timeouts to call three straight runs. If they wanted three chances at the end zone, one *had* to be a pass.

2. If Seattle runs on second down and doesn't get in, they have to call their last timeout. This all but guarantees that the third down play must be a pass, allowing New England a chance to put out a defense that overwhelmingly expects pass.

3. If Seattle passes, as it did, and fails to get a completion, the clock is stopped. They can now plausibly pass OR run on each of the final two downs. Preserving that flexibility is vital in goal line situations.

4. The chances of a turnover from a goal line interception were actually less than those of a goal line fumble this past season. Something like 1.4% to 1.7%. Over a five year sample, they reverse, but basically it's a wash turnover-wise.

5. Beast Mode was something like 1 for 5 on the season this year in punch-it-in situations of this kind.

All of which is to say that most coaches, especially most successful coaches, are not morons. Had Wilson thrown a better pass, or Kearse rubbed the d-back more effective, or Butler made anything less than a brilliant break on the ball, we'd be lauding the genius of the Seattle staff. In hindsight, I don't know if they made the right call. They certainly made the losing call. But sports, and life, are complicated. If we think it's a "simple" matter to have chosen an alternative course, we usually just aren't looking closely enough.

My but we're off subject here.

But while we're on the other subject, I agree that calling a pass in that situation is a defensible position. But a slant-in on a compressed goal line? Any pass play in that situation has to be one with only two possible outcomes, touchdown or incompletion. You have to call a play that takes interception off the table, out of the equation. Give Wilson a chance to assess the landscape on a fade route and throw it away if the situation dictates. Don't throw it into a crowd.

Back to the original subject. I'm pretty darn sure that K's dismissal of Sulaimon was the result of an accumulation of incidents and was only undertaken after much discussion and consideration. If K wanted to take away minutes from Sulaimon and give them to Jones, then he would simply have taken away minutes from Sulaimon and given them to Jones. He's done the same thing over the years to everyone from Mike Tissaw to Taymon Domzalski to Mike Chappell to Greg Newton to Greg Paulus. I'm pretty sure he didn't lose his nerve in 2015.

[Newton_14]

First, apologies for providing this gem way too late. I meant to include it immediately when I posted for the first time in this thread. As I was fortunate enough to attend this game (thanks much buddy, you know who you are!) I was able to take a beautiful picture of the Duke Scoreboard that hangs over middle court. I am sure you will agree this is one beautiful and heart warming picture, so enjoy!

4816

While I got that out of the way, I want to offer some constructive criticism, and ask a pointed but fair question. When I dug this thread back up to post my picture, I happened to notice that this thread died at four pages. Folks, this was by far the best game this Top 5 Duke team has played all season. They executed flawlessly on both ends for about 37 minutes of game action. Quinn (you know one of our two hapless backcourt players) had an outstanding game defensively against one of the league's best players, a kid many are predicting to get the ACC Player of the Year Award over Okafor. So I ask, why is it that when the team plays a really great game, the post game thread is only four pages long like this one, or less than 6 in a lot of similar cases, yet when they struggle, like with the VaTech game, the thread reaches 10+ pages, usually within 24 hours, and some of you come running from the streets to post as quickly and as often as you possibly can to chastise the team for a performance below the standards you demand? (And this is a pattern and trend, not a one time thing. Don't believe me? Search the boards going as far back as you wish)

What does that say about us as a community? I have not researched it to be sure, but I am almost certain some posters never put one single comment or post in a post game thread where the team has played well and had a big win, but those same posters never miss posting in a post game thread where the team has either lost (and it does not matter who they lost too, it seems Duke is supposed to never lose a game for any reason) or they did win but they struggled in doing so. I am not trying to sit on a high horse here. I am honestly asking why it is that a person would only post when the team loses and they would never post when the team wins?

I honestly and sincerely do not understand that logic. To steal from Coach K, these kids take us on a wonderful journey each and every year. Yeah, unfortunately in the College Basketball system the team IS going to lose their last game almost every season, as the only way to avoid that is to win the National Title (or win the NIT which no one wants unless that was in fact a great season for that particular team). Each of you are certainly entitled to view each season as you wish. Winning the National Title is the ultimate achievement, but I recognize the odds are against it heavily, so I choose to first, enjoy the dang journey, and 2nd, hope like heck to win the ACC Tourney, and then hope like heck to advance to the Sweet 16, as those two goals are realistically achievable almost every year for us fortunate Duke fans, and everything after that is gravy. The journey however, is what gives me the most enjoyment. Following the team daily, going to as many games as possible to soak in the wonderful Cameron Indoor atmosphere, and in our current era, getting to witness and be a part of 25+ wins per year. It never gets old and I do not wish the dark days of the early 70's and early 80's back. This is golden compared to those days.

But again, the main question is twofold; why so many posts in a loss or a struggling win; and why do some only post in the threads after a loss or struggle, and never post in a thread after a good or great win? If that is a form of enjoyment, I honestly want no part of it.

Thanks for listening. Enjoy the pic and the memory of what 82-50 represents.

[jv001]

First, apologies for providing this gem way too late. I meant to include it immediately when I posted for the first time in this thread. As I was fortunate enough to attend this game (thanks much buddy, you know who you are!) I was able to take a beautiful picture of the Duke Scoreboard that hangs over middle court. I am sure you will agree this is one beautiful and heart warming picture, so enjoy!

4816

While I got that out of the way, I want to offer some constructive criticism, and ask a pointed but fair question. When I dug this thread back up to post my picture, I happened to notice that this thread died at four pages. Folks, this was by far the best game this Top 5 Duke team has played all season. They executed flawlessly on both ends for about 37 minutes of game action. Quinn (you know one of our two hapless backcourt players) had an outstanding game defensively against one of the league's best players, a kid many are predicting to get the ACC Player of the Year Award over Okafor. So I ask, why is it that when the team plays a really great game, the post game thread is only four pages long like this one, or less than 6 in a lot of similar cases, yet when they struggle, like with the VaTech game, the thread reaches 10+ pages, usually within 24 hours, and some of you come running from the streets to post as quickly and as often as you possibly can to chastise the team for a performance below the standards you demand? (And this is a pattern and trend, not a one time thing. Don't believe me? Search the boards going as far back as you wish)

What does that say about us as a community? I have not researched it to be sure, but I am almost certain some posters never put one single comment or post in a post game thread where the team has played well and had a big win, but those same posters never miss posting in a post game thread where the team has either lost (and it does not matter who they lost too, it seems Duke is supposed to never lose a game for any reason) or they did win but they struggled in doing so. I am not trying to sit on a high horse here. I am honestly asking why it is that a person would only post when the team loses and they would never post when the team wins?

I honestly and sincerely do not understand that logic. To steal from Coach K, these kids take us on a wonderful journey each and every year. Yeah, unfortunately in the College Basketball system the team IS going to lose their last game almost every season, as the only way to avoid that is to win the National Title (or win the NIT which no one wants unless that was in fact a great season for that particular team). Each of you are certainly entitled to view each season as you wish. Winning the National Title is the ultimate achievement, but I recognize the odds are against it heavily, so I choose to first, enjoy the dang journey, and 2nd, hope like heck to win the ACC Tourney, and then hope like heck to advance to the Sweet 16, as those two goals are realistically achievable almost every year for us fortunate Duke fans, and everything after that is gravy. The journey however, is what gives me the most enjoyment. Following the team daily, going to as many games as possible to soak in the wonderful Cameron Indoor atmosphere, and in our current era, getting to witness and be a part of 25+ wins per year. It never gets old and I do not wish the dark days of the early 70's and early 80's back. This is golden compared to those days.

But again, the main question is twofold; why so many posts in a loss or a struggling win; and why do some only post in the threads after a loss or struggle, and never post in a thread after a good or great win? If that is a form of enjoyment, I honestly want no part of it.

Thanks for listening. Enjoy the pic and the memory of what 82-50 represents.

Great post, worthy of sporks. I don't those 70's and 80's seasons back either. I don't think we're entitled to anything and therefore, I relish every win. It's great to see these young men grow, both on and off the court. Yeh and I like that scoreboard. 82-50 will always be special. GoDuke!

[kmspeaks]

First, apologies for providing this gem way too late. I meant to include it immediately when I posted for the first time in this thread. As I was fortunate enough to attend this game (thanks much buddy, you know who you are!) I was able to take a beautiful picture of the Duke Scoreboard that hangs over middle court. I am sure you will agree this is one beautiful and heart warming picture, so enjoy!

4816

While I got that out of the way, I want to offer some constructive criticism, and ask a pointed but fair question. When I dug this thread back up to post my picture, I happened to notice that this thread died at four pages. Folks, this was by far the best game this Top 5 Duke team has played all season. They executed flawlessly on both ends for about 37 minutes of game action. Quinn (you know one of our two hapless backcourt players) had an outstanding game defensively against one of the league's best players, a kid many are predicting to get the ACC Player of the Year Award over Okafor. So I ask, why is it that when the team plays a really great game, the post game thread is only four pages long like this one, or less than 6 in a lot of similar cases, yet when they struggle, like with the VaTech game, the thread reaches 10+ pages, usually within 24 hours, and some of you come running from the streets to post as quickly and as often as you possibly can to chastise the team for a performance below the standards you demand? (And this is a pattern and trend, not a one time thing. Don't believe me? Search the boards going as far back as you wish)

What does that say about us as a community? I have not researched it to be sure, but I am almost certain some posters never put one single comment or post in a post game thread where the team has played well and had a big win, but those same posters never miss posting in a post game thread where the team has either lost (and it does not matter who they lost too, it seems Duke is supposed to never lose a game for any reason) or they did win but they struggled in doing so. I am not trying to sit on a high horse here. I am honestly asking why it is that a person would only post when the team loses and they would never post when the team wins?

I honestly and sincerely do not understand that logic. To steal from Coach K, these kids take us on a wonderful journey each and every year. Yeah, unfortunately in the College Basketball system the team IS going to lose their last game almost every season, as the only way to avoid that is to win the National Title (or win the NIT which no one wants unless that was in fact a great season for that particular team). Each of you are certainly entitled to view each season as you wish. Winning the National Title is the ultimate achievement, but I recognize the odds are against it heavily, so I choose to first, enjoy the dang journey, and 2nd, hope like heck to win the ACC Tourney, and then hope like heck to advance to the Sweet 16, as those two goals are realistically achievable almost every year for us fortunate Duke fans, and everything after that is gravy. The journey however, is what gives me the most enjoyment. Following the team daily, going to as many games as possible to soak in the wonderful Cameron Indoor atmosphere, and in our current era, getting to witness and be a part of 25+ wins per year. It never gets old and I do not wish the dark days of the early 70's and early 80's back. This is golden compared to those days.

But again, the main question is twofold; why so many posts in a loss or a struggling win; and why do some only post in the threads after a loss or struggle, and never post in a thread after a good or great win? If that is a form of enjoyment, I honestly want no part of it.

Thanks for listening. Enjoy the pic and the memory of what 82-50 represents.

Excellent post, very well said and something I have been wondering about over the last few days. It also seems to me that there is a general attitude (which is certainly not shared by every poster) that our poor defensive performances, like VT, are predictors of early tournament exits while our good defensive performances, like Notre Dame round 2, are just flukes and we can't take anything from them. Are we really that pessimistic as a whole?

[wk2109]

First, apologies for providing this gem way too late. I meant to include it immediately when I posted for the first time in this thread. As I was fortunate enough to attend this game (thanks much buddy, you know who you are!) I was able to take a beautiful picture of the Duke Scoreboard that hangs over middle court. I am sure you will agree this is one beautiful and heart warming picture, so enjoy!

4816

While I got that out of the way, I want to offer some constructive criticism, and ask a pointed but fair question. When I dug this thread back up to post my picture, I happened to notice that this thread died at four pages. Folks, this was by far the best game this Top 5 Duke team has played all season. They executed flawlessly on both ends for about 37 minutes of game action. Quinn (you know one of our two hapless backcourt players) had an outstanding game defensively against one of the league's best players, a kid many are predicting to get the ACC Player of the Year Award over Okafor. So I ask, why is it that when the team plays a really great game, the post game thread is only four pages long like this one, or less than 6 in a lot of similar cases, yet when they struggle, like with the VaTech game, the thread reaches 10+ pages, usually within 24 hours, and some of you come running from the streets to post as quickly and as often as you possibly can to chastise the team for a performance below the standards you demand? (And this is a pattern and trend, not a one time thing. Don't believe me? Search the boards going as far back as you wish)

What does that say about us as a community? I have not researched it to be sure, but I am almost certain some posters never put one single comment or post in a post game thread where the team has played well and had a big win, but those same posters never miss posting in a post game thread where the team has either lost (and it does not matter who they lost too, it seems Duke is supposed to never lose a game for any reason) or they did win but they struggled in doing so. I am not trying to sit on a high horse here. I am honestly asking why it is that a person would only post when the team loses and they would never post when the team wins?

I honestly and sincerely do not understand that logic. To steal from Coach K, these kids take us on a wonderful journey each and every year. Yeah, unfortunately in the College Basketball system the team IS going to lose their last game almost every season, as the only way to avoid that is to win the National Title (or win the NIT which no one wants unless that was in fact a great season for that particular team). Each of you are certainly entitled to view each season as you wish. Winning the National Title is the ultimate achievement, but I recognize the odds are against it heavily, so I choose to first, enjoy the dang journey, and 2nd, hope like heck to win the ACC Tourney, and then hope like heck to advance to the Sweet 16, as those two goals are realistically achievable almost every year for us fortunate Duke fans, and everything after that is gravy. The journey however, is what gives me the most enjoyment. Following the team daily, going to as many games as possible to soak in the wonderful Cameron Indoor atmosphere, and in our current era, getting to witness and be a part of 25+ wins per year. It never gets old and I do not wish the dark days of the early 70's and early 80's back. This is golden compared to those days.

But again, the main question is twofold; why so many posts in a loss or a struggling win; and why do some only post in the threads after a loss or struggle, and never post in a thread after a good or great win? If that is a form of enjoyment, I honestly want no part of it.

Thanks for listening. Enjoy the pic and the memory of what 82-50 represents.

Great post. And for completeness:
4818

[Henderson]

First, apologies for providing this gem way too late. I meant to include it immediately when I posted for the first time in this thread. As I was fortunate enough to attend this game (thanks much buddy, you know who you are!) I was able to take a beautiful picture of the Duke Scoreboard that hangs over middle court. I am sure you will agree this is one beautiful and heart warming picture, so enjoy!

4816

While I got that out of the way, I want to offer some constructive criticism, and ask a pointed but fair question. When I dug this thread back up to post my picture, I happened to notice that this thread died at four pages. Folks, this was by far the best game this Top 5 Duke team has played all season. They executed flawlessly on both ends for about 37 minutes of game action. Quinn (you know one of our two hapless backcourt players) had an outstanding game defensively against one of the league's best players, a kid many are predicting to get the ACC Player of the Year Award over Okafor. So I ask, why is it that when the team plays a really great game, the post game thread is only four pages long like this one, or less than 6 in a lot of similar cases, yet when they struggle, like with the VaTech game, the thread reaches 10+ pages, usually within 24 hours, and some of you come running from the streets to post as quickly and as often as you possibly can to chastise the team for a performance below the standards you demand? (And this is a pattern and trend, not a one time thing. Don't believe me? Search the boards going as far back as you wish)

What does that say about us as a community? I have not researched it to be sure, but I am almost certain some posters never put one single comment or post in a post game thread where the team has played well and had a big win, but those same posters never miss posting in a post game thread where the team has either lost (and it does not matter who they lost too, it seems Duke is supposed to never lose a game for any reason) or they did win but they struggled in doing so. I am not trying to sit on a high horse here. I am honestly asking why it is that a person would only post when the team loses and they would never post when the team wins?

I honestly and sincerely do not understand that logic. To steal from Coach K, these kids take us on a wonderful journey each and every year. Yeah, unfortunately in the College Basketball system the team IS going to lose their last game almost every season, as the only way to avoid that is to win the National Title (or win the NIT which no one wants unless that was in fact a great season for that particular team). Each of you are certainly entitled to view each season as you wish. Winning the National Title is the ultimate achievement, but I recognize the odds are against it heavily, so I choose to first, enjoy the dang journey, and 2nd, hope like heck to win the ACC Tourney, and then hope like heck to advance to the Sweet 16, as those two goals are realistically achievable almost every year for us fortunate Duke fans, and everything after that is gravy. The journey however, is what gives me the most enjoyment. Following the team daily, going to as many games as possible to soak in the wonderful Cameron Indoor atmosphere, and in our current era, getting to witness and be a part of 25+ wins per year. It never gets old and I do not wish the dark days of the early 70's and early 80's back. This is golden compared to those days.

But again, the main question is twofold; why so many posts in a loss or a struggling win; and why do some only post in the threads after a loss or struggle, and never post in a thread after a good or great win? If that is a form of enjoyment, I honestly want no part of it.

Thanks for listening. Enjoy the pic and the memory of what 82-50 represents.

Another great post. Thanks.

I want to quibble just a bit. I'm OK with both extremes of naysayers and cheerleaders.

No matter how good or bad a team is, people want to offer positive and negative assessments. Human nature. You can be the worst (or best) HS team in your league, and people will say things like, "Billy really hustled there." or "Why did the coach call for that?" Both teams' fans do it.

I like it even more in the college discussions. No matter how good or bad Duke is, people want to talk about both good and bad. I like it. And the mods modulate to keep it civil. There were recent examples.

It's much better conversation than that on other boards where critical voices are just shouted down like a chaperone at a frat party.

[Newton_14]

Another great post. Thanks.

I want to quibble just a bit. I'm OK with both extremes of naysayers and cheerleaders.

No matter how good or bad a team is, people want to offer positive and negative assessments. Human nature. You can be the worst (or best) HS team in your league, and people will say things like, "Billy really hustled there." or "Why did the coach call for that?" Both teams' fans do it.

I like it even more in the college discussions. No matter how good or bad Duke is, people want to talk about both good and bad. I like it. And the mods modulate to keep it civil. There were recent examples.

It's much better conversation than that on other boards where critical voices are just shouted down like a chaperone at a frat party.
To be clear, I am not advocating in any way shape or form that criticism be banned. Not at all. I am suggesting the balance is out of whack when the best win of the year warrants 4 pages and a loss gets to 10+ in practically 24 hours. Constructive criticism is welcome.

[DUKIE V(A)]

In answer to your question, I believe the old saying "misery loves company" is true. Expressing disappointment, Venting, or attempting to come up with ways to improve things can be a healthier outlet than many alternatives.

Great picture! Thanks for sharing. One of the beauties of 82-50 is we did it with the foot off the gas. It would have been significantly uglier if Coach K would have been less kind. :-)