MBB: Duke 63, Utah 57 (NCAAT, Sw16) Post-Game Thread

[pfrduke]

Survive and advance.

Still haven't lost a game when our opponent hasn't hit 70.

[Duke95]

Survive and advance.

Still haven't lost a game when our opponent hasn't hit 70.

Game ain't over trigger.

[ChrisP]

Not over....refs called some strange stuff there at the end

[InSpades]

Premature thread closing!

Spread was 5.5? Interesting...

[pfrduke]

Premature thread closing!

Spread was 5.5? Interesting...

Late cover!

[Duke95]

Moderator fail.

[FerryFor50]

premature thread closing!

Spread was 5.5? Interesting...

they covered the spread!!!

[hurleyfor3]

This game approached Indiana-in-1992 levels of weirdness.

[hurleyfor3]

they covered the spread!!!

And that was Duhonesque.

[pfrduke]

Moderator fail.

Even though it was slightly early, it's 100% impossible to lose when up by 5 with 0.7 seconds left.

[FerryFor50]

Even though it was slightly early, it's 100% impossible to lose when up by 5 with 0.7 seconds left.

Gone in .7 seconds?

[Papa John]

Not over....refs called some strange stuff there at the end

Awful officiating in the last 5 minutes or so... Horribly inconsistent and completely lost control of the game at the end. Send that crew home! They sucked!

[kcduke75]

CBS says Sheed played 1 minute????

Must have been one of the weird refs that called that too

[kaufmjo]

This game approached Indiana-in-1992 level of weirdness.

Too many commercials

[FerryFor50]

Awful officiating in the last 5 minutes or so... Horribly inconsistent and completely lost control of the game at the end. Send that crew home! They sucked!

Yea it went from "call absolutely nothing" at the start to "call everything!"

[SCMatt33]

Say what you will about stallfense, Duke did win. Not designed to be pretty

[yancem]

Tried to post this in the in game thread but got locked out. Utah played maybe the best defense we have seen all year but Duke also was very sloppy with the ball. There were several lazy passes that were easy to intercept. Of course having a 5'9" guy to hide in the weeds helped a lot.

In the end survive and advance. Hopefully we play better on Sunday.

[kaufmjo]

Yea it went from "call absolutely nothing" at the start to "call everything!"

Is the same officiating crew doing the Sunday game?

[bedeviled]

Odd game. Whoever can put it in the basket in that stadium wins. Winslow put it in the basket.

[DesertDevil]

Definitely a weird ending.

Dear Coach K - I know you are an all time great, but please don't pump the breaks on the offense with 7 minutes left.

Sincerely,

DD

[crdaul]

Hoping to see the real Jah on Sunday...

[gocanes0506]

3 ACC teams in the elite eight.

Cmon Sparty, if you win all my final four teams remain alive.

[kaufmjo]

Definitely a weird ending.

Dear Coach K - I know you are an all time great, but please don't pump the breaks on the offense with 7 minutes left.

Sincerely,

DD

Word DD

[Kfanarmy]

That was too close for comfort in the end...went to stall about 2 minutes early IMO.

[MCFinARL]

Say what you will about stallfense, Duke did win. Not designed to be pretty

Sure, but maybe if they had waited another 2 or 3 minutes to stall it wouldn't have been so gut wrenching

[kaufmjo]

Hoping to see the real Jah on Sunday...

Too slow today, didn't move to basket quick enough

[FerryFor50]

All in all, good start to the weekend.

UNC loses. Duke wins, and does it with some solid defense.

Nice to win a game against a really solid, well rounded team when Okafor and Cook are off and the offense isn't clicking.

[ChrisP]

I think we were up 15 with the ball (after a big O rebound by Amile) and then Tyus drove it, got stuffed and the ball went off him. I can't remember if Utah scored, but the next possession, we started stall ball with (I think over 7 1/2 to go) and I remember thinking, "Oh no, this is too early". I stand by that thought. What a nail biter that probably shouldn't have been.

Yeah, yeah, hard to second-guess K but...wow. I don't have a problem with stall ball but it seems more like an under 5 minute type thing to me.

On to the positives - GREAT game by Justise, obviously, and a huge three point play when we were struggling there in the 2nd. Hopefully, he learned a lesson about chest pounding, though. I thought it was a really nice game by Tyus and Quinn. Sooooo nice to have such clutch FT shooters - and a pair at that!

[MCFinARL]

Hoping to see the real Jah on Sunday...

Hope so too--but he will have a couple of tall trees to deal with again in Karnowski and Sabonis.

[rocketeli]

for a while in the first it was looking like who wanted it least...and it was Utah. Duke tried to have one of their patented "nothing goes right and every thing's just a little off" games, but Utah wasn't having it. Coach K said after the game that the guys were nervous. Second half Duke played better. Those were the worst refs I've seen all tournament and I've watched a lot of games. Traveling, really?

[NYBri]

This team found another way to win.

What a joy to watch.

[flyingdutchdevil]

Ceeeeeeeeelebrare good times come on!!!!!!!

[bluenorth]

Good to get that one over with. Hope that the players put the nervous feelings behind them. Winslow keeps coming up big, seems to enjoy the spotlight.

[duke79]

Seemed like a disjointed, sloppy game to me. Glad we won but we have to play better on Sunday.

[UrinalCake]

Satisfying to know we can beat a really good team despite not playing our best and not shooting well. The game didn't seem to have much rhythm to it, but it's all about survive and advance. Winslow was everywhere and our defense has really improved. Hope our shots are falling sunday in this weirdly configured stadium.

[kaufmjo]

How painful is the in studio quartet? It continues to boggle the mind how bad these guys are

[Troublemaker]

Live postgame press conference will be here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZm5TFta1jQ

Great defense won it for Duke. Shooting background didn't play that significant a role in either, imo. I think Duke had held them to only 6 three-pt ATTEMPTS at the under 8 timeout. We shut down their 3-pt attack, which was key.

[dukelifer]

Duke won- nothing else really matters. Next game is a different ball game. Team was nervous but should be better in the next game. Big issue is getting rest.

[Duke95]

Even though it was slightly early, it's 100% impossible to lose when up by 5 with 0.7 seconds left.

Game wasn't over. Don't jinx it.

But we won. Whew.

[kcarson]

So, yeah, if you would've told me Okafor would score single digits, Quinn wouldn't hit a 3, and we would only score 63 points, I would've not felt good about this game at all. We played pretty poorly and still should've won fairly comfortably. We made it harder than it should have been. But we won and I'm thrilled to watch these kids at least one more game! Let's Go Duke!

[Troublemaker]

Live postgame press conference will be here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZm5TFta1jQ


I'm glad the NCAA is smart enough to let Duke go first. Obviously every minute of rest is crucial. Physical game.

[FerryFor50]

Too slow today, didn't move to basket quick enough

Probably because he had two physical 7 footers leaning on him all game and hard doubles whenever he caught it.

Only fault i find with his game were the bad turnovers. Utah had that part of his game scouted well.

[pfrduke]

Game wasn't over. Don't jinx it.

And amazingly enough, there was no jinx. Shocking that.

[davekay1971]

That was too close for comfort in the end...went to stall about 2 minutes early IMO.

Have faith in the stall. 60% of the time, it works every time.

[bluenorth]

for a while in the first it was looking like who wanted it least...and it was Utah. Duke tried to have one of their patented "nothing goes right and every thing's just a little off" games, but Utah wasn't having it. Coach K said after the game that the guys were nervous. Second half Duke played better. Those were the worst refs I've seen all tournament and I've watched a lot of games. Traveling, really?

And a three second call? Those guys may not ref another game this season after that performance.

[Papa John]

We've officially beaten half the teams in the Elite Eight already this season, and that's only because we can't beat ourselves (only Carolina can do that)...

[Troublemaker]

Game wasn't over. Don't jinx it.

But we won. Whew.

I'm about as superstitious as anyone, but I'm perfectly fine with starting postgame up 5 with 0.7 secs left.

[DukieInKansas]

How painful is the in studio quartet? It continues to boggle the mind how bad these guys are

Kenny Smith couldn't even say that he thought Duke would win - he went with the school from Durham.

[Dukehky]

Game over, doesn't matter anymore. Let's go kick Gonzaga's teeth in (Justise, I don't mean that I want you to literally kick them)

[duke4ever19]

Game wasn't over. Don't jinx it.

Wait. People don't really believe in jinxes on this site, right? The whole "Not gonna jinx it" thread is just fun, but I haven't met anybody since a wiccan girl in high school that puts any stock in superstitions.

[Duke95]

And amazingly enough, there was no jinx. Shocking that.

Yes. Despite closing the "game" thread before the game was over, it didn't matter.

Like I said, moderator fail. Accept it and move on.

[ChrisP]

I thought maybe the three second call had some merit, but that traveling BS at the end on Quinn was just awful. And then to not call a foul or held ball there at the very end and THEN make the teams come back out for two FT's with 0.7 left? Just bush league, IMHO. Anyway, hope we don't see anyone from that crew again this year.

[Duke95]

Wait. People don't really believe in jinxes on this site, right? The whole "Not gonna jinx it" thread is just fun, but I haven't met anybody since a wiccan girl in high school that puts any stock in superstitions.

Psst. It's called a "figure of speech".

:rolleyes:

[devildeac]

Yea it went from "call absolutely nothing" at the start to "call everything!"


And some imaginary crap, too.:mad:

[FerryFor50]

I'm about as superstitious as anyone, but I'm perfectly fine with starting postgame up 5 with 0.7 secs left.

Plus when he started it, CBS and Utah thought it was over.

[Troublemaker]

I'm glad the NCAA is smart enough to let Duke go first. Obviously every minute of rest is crucial. Physical game.

lol, this turned out to be sarcasm

[DrChainsaw]

Conventional wisdom: Low scoring games = Boring.

Thank goodness for that (and the Sam Adams Double Bock).

[neemizzle]

Whew. I will say this, Utah played a heck of a defensive game. But I honestly believe between now and that NC State game we lost at State, our defense has gotten so much better. More of a variety of looks, and that press is something else when it's clicking. Really upset Utah and they couldn't get moving whenever we would execute the press well.

Another thing, so Utah was ranked #8 in KenPom correct? So basically, to reach the Final Four, we'll have to beat realistically TWO #2 seeds? I know Utah isn't a 2, but to be ranked like they are and play the way they do, I feel like they were underseeded by quite a bit. Just an opinion.

Great game. Justise was served.

Go Duke! :cool:

[_Gary]

Okay, time to tick off a person or two who'll think I'm just picking on poor Matt Jones. But honestly now, you can't tell me he wasn't involved in more than one really, really, really bad offensive possession tonight. Whether it was missing an easy layup, a fairly easy put-back off his own miss, or just forgetting how to dribble down the stretch when we were in stall ball. I honestly love the kid and want him to do well. But I just feel like he's going to kill us yet on the offensive end. So far we've been able to overcome those mistakes, but at some point I'm not so sure. It would be a great time for him to break out of his offensive funk and just really pick it up on that end of the floor.

[duke4ever19]

Psst. It's called a "figure of speech".

:rolleyes:

Gotcha. Please continue.

[FerryFor50]

I thought maybe the three second call had some merit, but that traveling BS at the end on Quinn was just awful. And then to not call a foul or held ball there at the very end and THEN make the teams come back out for two FT's with 0.7 left? Just bush league, IMHO. Anyway, hope we don't see anyone from that crew again this year.

I hated the 3 second call.

Okafor had half his foot in the paint and then re-entered.

By the book? Sure. But no advantage gained.

[CDu]

Justise Freaking Winslow is unreal. He has been a man amongst boys out there in this tournament. Let's hope he keeps it rolling on Sunday. And let's hope his teammates decide to join him.

Sad to see Quinn Cook's 3pt streak come to an end. I guess it was going to end in a few games either way, but still sad. Glad that he didn't force 3s just to chase the mark though.

Great effort by Cook on Delon Wright. If you hadn't seen Wright previously, you wouldn't know that he was one of the top 10-15 players in the country by the way he played tonight. Cook (and to a lesser extent Winslow) deserve a lot of credit for how they contained him.

Not the most exciting display at times. But is a win. Three more of them please!

[gus]

Have faith in the stall. 60% of the time, it works every time.

More like 90%...

[pfrduke]

Yes. Despite closing the "game" thread before the game was over, it didn't matter.

Like I said, moderator fail. Accept it and move on.

I'm glad that you think the most important thing to discuss after the game was the timing of when the post-game thread was opened. In the grand scheme of things, that's definitely the key event that took place tonight. Kudos to you for keeping the focus where it matters.

[FerryFor50]

Okay, time to tick off a person or two who'll think I'm just picking on poor Matt Jones. But honestly now, you can't tell me he was involved in more than one really, really, really bad offensive possession tonight. Whether it was missing an easy layup, a fairly easy put-back off his own miss, or just forgetting how to dribble down the stretch when we were in stall ball. I honestly love the kid and want him to do well. But I just feel like he's going to kill us yet on the offensive end. So far we've been able to overcome those mistakes, but at some point I'm not so sure. It would be a great time for him to break out of his offensive funk and just really pick it up on that end of the floor.

Of course he was.

But so were a few Duke players, including Tyus (getting his layups blocked in Matt Jones fashion), Allen (also getting blocked) and Cook. Utah played good defense.

[Duke95]

I'm glad that you think the most important thing to discuss after the game was the timing of when the post-game thread was opened. In the grand scheme of things, that's definitely the key event that took place tonight. Kudos to you for keeping the focus where it matters.

Because we only talk about 1 thing on a message board: the most important thing.

LOL. Stop being so thin-skinned. It's not a huge deal. We won.

[burnspbesq]

Traveling, really?

Absolutely. Quinn had clearly established his right foot as his pivot foot, and just as clearly picked it up. You could argue that the officials missed the fact that he was being ridden from that side, but at that point in the game, that foul isn't going to be called.

[BobbyFan]

This game approached Indiana-in-1992 levels of weirdness.

There were about 15 possessions in the last 1:20 or so of the game.

As for stall ball, I had no problem with it. It does take us a bit away from our strength, but it wasn't the reason for poor execution. And it wasn't related to Utah getting 7 points in a three possession stretch, after we had built the 15 point lead. If anything, without it, there would have been a few extra possessions for each team before the last minute marathon ensued, and who knows how that would have played out.

[gumbomoop]

Okay, time to tick off a person or two who'll think I'm just picking on poor Matt Jones. But honestly now, you can't tell me he wasn't involved in more than one really, really, really bad offensive possession tonight. Whether it was missing an easy layup, a fairly easy put-back off his own miss, or just forgetting how to dribble down the stretch when we were in stall ball. I honestly love the kid and want him to do well. But I just feel like he's going to kill us yet on the offensive end. So far we've been able to overcome those mistakes, but at some point I'm not so sure. It would be a great time for him to break out of his offensive funk and just really pick it up on that end of the floor.

Matt certainly did not have a good game on O. I'll wait to see the game again to judge his D. I will only guess that he was the least confident -- in himself -- of our starting 5. Over the summer, he needs lots of work on his handle, a key to his confidence, and really that of most perimeter players. (Plenty of time to talk about that months from now.)

[Duke95]

And to top off the victory, we have a 7-page thread on OUR game on Inside Carolina.

[cptnflash]

More like 90%...

I think you may have missed the Anchorman reference. Words of wisdom from Brian Fantana.

[FerryFor50]

Absolutely. Quinn had clearly established his right foot as his pivot foot, and just as clearly picked it up. You could argue that the officials missed the fact that he was being ridden from that side, but at that point in the game, that foul isn't going to be called.

I get what you are saying, but if a foul leads to a turnover, it HAS to be called regardless of game situation.

[anonj]

Hoping to see the real Jah on Sunday...

I didn't think Jah played bad but just not up to his standard tonight with a few ill advised passes. Utah wasn't only double-teaming him at times - I swear where I saw a few triple teams. If the defense is going to throw that much at him then I can't complain too much about his production. My only critique would him being able to recognize it a little earlier so he doesn't trap himself and having to throw a cross-court heave to an open man.

Overall, I was really happy with what I saw outside of the first five minutes. We started out trying to push the pace but it ended up like we were out of control and rushing everything (nerves, I suspect). Cook didn't have a good game, Okafor wasn't as productive as normal but we still beat a really good team and had control of the game for pretty much the entire night even though it was never too comfortable. Call me crazy, but I'm actually feeling really good after gutting out a win against a team that good where Cook and Okafor struggled for the most part.

As for the stall-ball. I'm usually not a fan but with a guy like Delon Wright who at any point can drain a few threes in a matter of moments - I was fine holding onto the ball and keeping it out of his hands. It only takes one of his shots to fall before he goes on a tear and makes it a completely new ball game.

Gonzaga's good but I think this is a game where where our ridiculous schedule and tough games like @Virginia, UNC and Wisky will help us. It'll be a nail-biter but I like our chances :cool:

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

I called for 16 from Justise second half. I think he likes playing at home.

[Troublemaker]

Okay, time to tick off a person or two who'll think I'm just picking on poor Matt Jones. But honestly now, you can't tell me he wasn't involved in more than one really, really, really bad offensive possession tonight. Whether it was missing an easy layup, a fairly easy put-back off his own miss, or just forgetting how to dribble down the stretch when we were in stall ball. I honestly love the kid and want him to do well. But I just feel like he's going to kill us yet on the offensive end. So far we've been able to overcome those mistakes, but at some point I'm not so sure. It would be a great time for him to break out of his offensive funk and just really pick it up on that end of the floor.

True, Matt needs to make layups and protect the ball. Could definitely bite us.

On the positive side, he did a great job on Brandon Taylor, who only got loose late in the game with others guarding him.

[kaufmjo]

Because we only talk about 1 thing on a message board: the most important thing.

LOL. Stop being so thin-skinned. It's not a huge deal. We won.

This back and forth is more interesting than the last minute of play imho!

[cbarry]

I agree. I cringe and yell "Don't shoot" every time Matt touches the ball. He does play decent (not exceptional) defense, but his minutes should be cut in half. Give Grayson those minutes. Yes, Grayson is not the greatest on defense (yet), but Grayson's offense (and handle) is much better than Matt's. Matt plays hard, but he hasn't shown that he is ready for anything more than garbage minutes. But K loves him, so he will play. I'd be much happier if we benched Matt AND Stall-Ball (but that's another topic!)


Okay, time to tick off a person or two who'll think I'm just picking on poor Matt Jones. But honestly now, you can't tell me he wasn't involved in more than one really, really, really bad offensive possession tonight. Whether it was missing an easy layup, a fairly easy put-back off his own miss, or just forgetting how to dribble down the stretch when we were in stall ball. I honestly love the kid and want him to do well. But I just feel like he's going to kill us yet on the offensive end. So far we've been able to overcome those mistakes, but at some point I'm not so sure. It would be a great time for him to break out of his offensive funk and just really pick it up on that end of the floor.

[burnspbesq]

And a three second call? Those guys may not ref another game this season after that performance.

i thought the three second call was correct. On replay, it looked like Jah's right foot was on the line, and it has to be completely outside the lane to stop the count.

[FerryFor50]

I agree. I cringe and yell "Don't shoot" every time Matt touches the ball. He does play decent (not exceptional) defense, but his minutes should be cut in half. Give Grayson those minutes. Yes, Grayson is not the greatest on defense (yet), but Grayson's offense (and handle) is much better than Matt's. Matt plays hard, but he hasn't shown that he is ready for anything more than garbage minutes. But K loves him, so he will play. I'd be much happier if we benched Matt AND Stall-Ball (but that's another topic!)

Interesting time to make the argument of Grayson over Jones. Both Grayson and Matt Jones were 1-4.

Also, Allen played more than garbage minutes.

[hurleyfor3]

i thought the three second call was correct. On replay, it looked like Jah's right foot was on the line, and it has to be completely outside the lane to stop the count.

Not only did I think it was the right call, but I was watching Ok on that play and thinking, "He's pretty close to three seconds" right before the whistle. His foot never left the lane.

[jipops]

I very, very rarely comment on officiating but this was such an odd game. At the start they let a lot contact go then all of a sudden everything was called tight. This hurt both teams.

Amazing for such a young group to pull out a win like this. The way we came out in the 2nd half was impressive.

[burnspbesq]

I get what you are saying, but if a foul leads to a turnover, it HAS to be called regardless of game situation.

I didnt say it WAS a foul. It might have been, but neither the baseline official or the sideline official were in good position to judge whether the contact was excessive (and they were both in proper position, but there were big bodies obscuring their vision). Quinn needed to really dig in and hold his position--or fly out of bounds and hope to sell the call.

[FerryFor50]

I very, very rarely comment on officiating but this was such an odd game. At the start they let a lot contact go then all of a sudden everything was called tight. This hurt both teams.

Amazing for such a young group to pull out a win like this. The way we came out in the 2nd half was impressive.

I felt like the game started getting called differently after the 3rd Wright foul.

[Newton_14]

Wow. A female reporter from Houston just asked K the dumbest question, like ever, in the presser and she asked it with great enthusiasm. She said "Coach, how HUMONGOUS was it, getting the news just before the game that Tyus had been cleared to play?" K was like, "Uh, huh? I don't understand the question". She scrambles to check her notes, and then she goes "uh, well, you know, coming off the injury?" K was like, ""uh, our guys came in perfectly healthy. we didn't have any injuries".

Really? You are a real reporter with clearance to a freaking Sweet 16 press conference, and you are THAT UNPREPARED??? Were I her boss she would be seeking employment as of right now. That was plain bizarre as the way the ref's handled the end of the game.

[DesertDevil]

And to top off the victory, we have a 7-page thread on OUR game on Inside Carolina.

I'm going to guess 7 pages of "Coach K is a crook", "refs won it for Duke....AGAIN", "the South Region was set up for Duke to win"... Sound about right?

[NSDukeFan]

Pretty cranky thread for a win that advances the team to the elite 8 and an exciting matchup against Gonzaga. Go Duke and may Justise continue to rule.

[subzero02]

True, Matt needs to make layups and protect the ball. Could definitely bite us.

On the positive side, he did a great job on Brandon Taylor, who only got loose late in the game with others guarding him.

Seriously... Matt must make those layups through contact. We can't have those misses from "point blank".

[FerryFor50]

I didnt say it WAS a foul. It might have been, but neither the baseline official or the sideline official were in good position to judge whether the contact was excessive (and they were both in proper position, but there were big bodies obscuring their vision). Quinn needed to really dig in and hold his position--or fly out of bounds and hope to sell the call.

The bright side was that he was able to eat up 4-5 seconds off the clock before the turnover.

[Duke76]

I agree. I cringe and yell "Don't shoot" every time Matt touches the ball. He does play decent (not exceptional) defense, but his minutes should be cut in half. Give Grayson those minutes. Yes, Grayson is not the greatest on defense (yet), but Grayson's offense (and handle) is much better than Matt's. Matt plays hard, but he hasn't shown that he is ready for anything more than garbage minutes. But K loves him, so he will play. I'd be much happier if we benched Matt AND Stall-Ball (but that's another topic!)

agreed on this, its pretty obvious grayson can finish at the hole much better and doesn't have the turnovers....but the venue we are playing in stinks for both teams those black curtains, the two steps down to the bench...hope they can get in shooting a lot of 3's in practice tomorrow in that arena....but driving to the basket and finishing is key and that's where tyus, quinn, justice and grayson can excel...but we gotta cut down careless turnovers.....clutch free throws

[kcarson]

Okay, time to tick off a person or two who'll think I'm just picking on poor Matt Jones. But honestly now, you can't tell me he wasn't involved in more than one really, really, really bad offensive possession tonight. Whether it was missing an easy layup, a fairly easy put-back off his own miss, or just forgetting how to dribble down the stretch when we were in stall ball. I honestly love the kid and want him to do well. But I just feel like he's going to kill us yet on the offensive end. So far we've been able to overcome those mistakes, but at some point I'm not so sure. It would be a great time for him to break out of his offensive funk and just really pick it up on that end of the floor.

Agreed. I have to continually remind myself during games that he is a very good defender. Love the kid too but it can be frustrating at times. He's hit some big shots for us this year, though.

[_Gary]

Interesting time to make the argument of Grayson over Jones. Both Grayson and Matt Jones were 1-4.

Also, Allen played more than garbage minutes.

And I'll say it again: I'm personally not actually trying to advocate for more Grayson time over Matt time. In an ideal world I'd like to throw both of them into the old "transformation" chamber from the Fly and get a player that has both their skills in one. A guy like Matt that can really "D up" when needed and get some nice boards, but also a guy like Grayson who continues to seem much more confident in the offense even if his numbers aren't better. But I'll always maintain you want a guy on the offensive end of the court who believes in himself and won't play it too cautious. I still say Matt does that - in spades at times. I guess at this point splitting their minutes is about the best one can ask for.

[NSDukeFan]

Wow. A female reporter from Houston just asked K the dumbest question, like ever, in the presser and she asked it with great enthusiasm. She said "Coach, how HUMONGOUS was it, getting the news just before the game that Tyus had been cleared to play?" K was like, "Uh, huh? I don't understand the question". She scrambles to check her notes, and then she goes "uh, well, you know, coming off the injury?" K was like, ""uh, our guys came in perfectly healthy. we didn't have any injuries".

Really? You are a real reporter with clearance to a freaking Sweet 16 press conference, and you are THAT UNPREPARED??? Were I her boss she would be seeking employment as of right now. That was plain bizarre as the way the ref's handled the end of the game.

She was prepared, just wrong team from North Carolina.

[MCFinARL]

This back and forth is more interesting than the last minute of play imho!

Watching grass grow is more interesting than the last minute of play.

[FerryFor50]

And I'll say it again: I'm personally not actually trying to advocate for more Grayson time over Matt time. In an ideal world I'd like to throw both of them into the old "transformation" chamber from the Fly and get a player that has both their skills in one. A guy like Matt that can really "D up" when needed and get some nice boards, but also a guy like Grayson who continues to seem much more confident in the offense even if his numbers aren't better. But I'll always maintain you want a guy on the offensive end of the court who believes in himself and won't play it too cautious. I still say Matt does that - in spades at times. I guess at this point splitting their minutes is about the best one can ask for.

Oh I know you aren't.

But it's a common theme (as the poster I quoted was saying). Both players have their strengths. I think Matt gets too much flak for his offense snd Grayson doesn't get enough credit for his defense.

[Duke95]

I'm going to guess 7 pages of "Coach K is a crook", "refs won it for Duke....AGAIN", "the South Region was set up for Duke to win"... Sound about right?

How'd you know? :D

I think the Cheats are grumpy knowing the NCAA is about to go all elbow drop off the top rope on them.

[InSpades]

This game came down to 2 things:
1. Justise was the best player on the court and it wasn't close.
2. Duke played great defense.

The defensive #s might not look so great thanks to the last 7 minutes or so of the game... but leading up to that point the defense was impressive. The only thing they really got going was their backup center. CDu said it above... Delon Wright looked nothing like the player he is supposed to be and a lot of that was defense.

A lot of things went wrong... the starting backcourt went 6 of 20 from the floor and 0 for 6 from 3. They had 7 turnovers and 5 assists (according to ESPN). Not a good performance for any of our guards on the offensive end of the court.

None of the matters though. Great defense and Justise was enough tonight. Survive and advance. I will give the guards credit for knocking down their free throws though. Quinn and Tyus were 16 of 18. Lots of big free throws. Well done team. Bring on the Zags!

[uh_no]

i'm going to just pretend that game didn't happen and we got a bye to the elite 8....mostly because if i think different, I realize that if we had that much trouble with Utah's length, how the heck are we going to deal with UK's?

[Duke95]

i'm going to just pretend that game didn't happen and we got a bye to the elite 8....mostly because if i think different, I realize that if we had that much trouble with Utah's length, how the heck are we going to deal with UK's?

Well, our next game is not against UK.

[FerryFor50]

i'm going to just pretend that game didn't happen and we got a bye to the elite 8....mostly because if i think different, I realize that if we had that much trouble with Utah's length, how the heck are we going to deal with UK's?

Oh did UK already advance to the championship game? Must have missed that.

[anonj]

Pretty cranky thread for a win that advances the team to the elite 8 and an exciting matchup against Gonzaga. Go Duke and may Justise continue to rule.

We survived and advanced. With a three freshman lineup, the toughest schedule in the country and an Elite 8 appearance - can't say I'm feeling too bad!

Enjoy the win on a Friday night - this should be fun;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oj8s1u61AM

[hurleyfor3]

Oh did UK already advance to the championship game? Must have missed that.

Happened back in December IIRC.

[brevity]

And to top off the victory, we have a 7-page thread on OUR game on Inside Carolina.

The Inside Carolina Meltdown (https://twitter.com/icmeltdown) account on Twitter exists so we don't have to visit their board. Not many tonight, though, and only a couple are clean.

"K will leave all refs who have called games for him $200 after he passes." #ILaughed #unc

"In a fair game Utah wins by 7." #ThingsTarHeelsBelieve #unc

[Troublemaker]

i'm going to just pretend that game didn't happen and we got a bye to the elite 8....mostly because if i think different, I realize that if we had that much trouble with Utah's length, how the heck are we going to deal with UK's?

According to 538, the odds of a Duke-UK final is only 25% as of right now, and I think that estimate is too high.

Who cares about UK? It's all about Gonzaga (who also has some length, btw).

[Billy Dat]

Pretty cranky thread for a win that advances the team to the elite 8 and an exciting matchup against Gonzaga. Go Duke and may Justise continue to rule.

Yeah - we got past the dreaded Sweet 16 that has beguiled us over the past 15 years!

It was an odd tense game.

Justise has emerged as our 2nd most productive player. Jah did not score but his gravity enables everything else. Tyus overcame a rough start to hit a bunch of shots and FTs. CDu made good points about Quinn's D but his O was shut down, he has seemed a bit emotional the past few games, I am sure he is feeling the end if his career. I thought M.Jones was off, but I trust him. Is our D better or is it a mirage? His play adds to that I would think.

Gonzaga will be really tough, but so are we!

[gumbomoop]

I think Matt gets too much flak for his offense....

I do tend to be critical of his O, but my concern would be his confidence in himself on this big, big stage. I strongly suspect that on O he's simply the least confident of our starters, and I speculate that he'd be a lot more confident if his handle were significantly better. His inability to finish tonight, plus that late bumbling turnover may or may not further affect his confidence on Sunday.

As Krzyzewski noted in his post-presser, Gonzaga's guys -- like Utah's -- are on average older than our guys. Matt cannot play tentatively on Sunday. We will need contributions from him, and something from our 3 bench guys, too.

[uh_no]

According to 538, the odds of a Duke-UK final is only 25% as of right now. I think that's actually a touch high.

Who cares about UK? It's all about Gonzaga.

yes, but the odds of kentucky reaching the final is 65%.

We're fans. I wouldn't expect the team to be thinking about UK, but it's reasonable for fans to consider an opponent that we will play 2/3 times should we make it to the title game.

[subzero02]

On Kenpom, we dropped 1 spot in offensive efficiency to #3 and moved up to #27 in defensive efficiency. Gonzaga has very similar rankings... #4 in offensive efficiency, #30 in defensive efficiency. Our opponent tonight was significantly better than theirs. Hopefully this will give us more of an edge on Sunday. Let's hang a banner.

[gofurman]

Probably because he had two physical 7 footers leaning on him all game and hard doubles whenever he caught it.

Only fault i find with his game were the bad turnovers. Utah had that part of his game scouted well.

That myght be the best Okafor defense I have seen all things included - scoring, ineffective, picking off his passes thrown across the court. Okafor affected the game in large part. That's why Amile was so open and others were able to drive to the rim bc Utah hedged towards Okafor. Still, I was amazed at the 6 or 8 points and the way he couldn't find any open shooter when doubled. He is usually good at finding someone to pass to for an open shot. When he did see someone open the ball got picked off a few times bc it had to go across the court the entire way. Can someone explain to me what Utah did differently? Sure other teams have doubled but Okafor was able to make passes to open shooters. Not tonight. How can you both double team and cover the shooters?

[Troublemaker]

Is our D better or is it a mirage?

D is up to #27 in Pomeroy.

Since the VaTech game, Duke has played very good defense.

And in this tourney, it's stepped up another notch due to Okafor protecting the basket.

Shout out to Jahlil for his defense in this game. We could only have shut down Utah's 3-pt shooting if Jah held down the fort inside by bothering drivers with his length. That's what he did.

[Troublemaker]

yes, but the odds of kentucky reaching the final is 65%.

We're fans. I wouldn't expect the team to be thinking about UK, but it's reasonable for fans to consider an opponent that we will play 2/3 times should we make it to the title game.

Fair enough. It's going to end up so moot, though. Like all the USA vs Spain talk in the summer for FIBA. Hopefully UK is Spain and not Duke.

[fan345678]

Everybody on the team, regardless of offensive stats or perceived confidence, found a way to contribute to the win. Jah came through with some timely rebounds. Grayson drew a timely foul. Amile had a couple big buckets and offensive boards. Marshall's one rebound was in a key situation. Matt might have missed shots, but he was exactly where he needed to be to receive passes that relieved pressure and extended our possessions (his main job on O). In fact, Matt's ability to take the ball to the rack should tell us that he has confidence. Utah gave him those drives, but if we have a guard repeatedly getting to the basket then that has to make them at least question their defensive strategy on Okafor.
Everyone did what needed to be done to win.

[-bdbd]

To me, it was a classic "workmanlike" game - not a thing of beauty, but a sure, steady grind-it-out, well-coached effort.

Survive and advance.

I'd be perfectly happy with another one like that on Sunday....

[Billy Dat]

Team post game - they seem tight...can't wait for Sunday

https://twitter.com/dukeblueplanet/status/581689606770323457

[Newton_14]

Weird game and definitely agree with Ferry that the game was refereed far differently after the ridiculously ignorant 3rd foul call on Wright. First, there were like 6 or 7 makeup calls (literally) including the 1st and 2nd foul calls on Jahlil, and the 2nd foul calls on Justise and MP3. I was like "ok, I think you have made up for it, you can stop now". After that it was "ok let's just call everything suspicious".

Our defense was outstanding and K made a point to say in the press conference afterwards that our defense has gotten a bad rap most of the year. He said you don't win 30 games by being bad defensively and I happen to agree with him. Utah also played great defense but fortunately they had no answer for Justise Winslow. With everyone else having subpar bad offensive games (Yes Gary, if you will stop watching Matt Jones with bated breath and counting his mistakes so you can run on here and tell us how bad Matt is, you would have notices Quinn, Tyus, Jahlil, Grayson, MP3, and Amile having off nights offensively. Not sayin, just sayin), Winslow's play was huge. The 3 pointers, the tough points in the lane, but most of all, the 3rd game in a row where he was a one man run-stopper. Every single time this Duke team has to have a basket to thwart an opponent's run, Winslow gets that bucket. It's a joy to watch. The mid-range And-1 bucket where K high-fived him afterward was just huge. A dagger. The guy has ice in his veins. He just makes Duke so much harder to guard, especially with the amount of focus it takes to try to keep Jahlil from killing you, and the amount of focus it take to keep our guards from killing you with 3's or drives. Keep it up big fella.

Regarding stall ball, I think when it doesn't go as smoothly as we wish the common misconception is "we started it too early" which isn't true. We didn't start it too early tonight for a couple of reasons, one being Utah is a low scoring team that takes a long time to score. A 13 point lead on them with 8 mins left is more like a 17 or 18 point lead on a different team. The problem was the execution which normally is the problem when it does not go well. We were either taking a terrible shot or turning it over, but even with that, it worked fine. Utah never got closer than 5 points after we started it. The other issues were fouling too much (mostly stupid fouls) and then our defense attention got lax and we started giving them good looks from 3 for the first time all game. In a game like that where we are milking clock you can hear K scream the same line over an over again "No Fouls No Threes!, No Fouls No Threes".

Credit Utah for taking advantage of our lack of execution during that stretch as they played great defense and then hit a good percentage of the open three's, but in the end, the strategy worked and we left the court with the victory.

The refs at the end were stupid ridiculous. On that last rebound by Quinn when he was just going to stand there and let the clock run out, the refs must protect the players from being stupid. The minute the first Utah kid starts swiping at the ball, revealing that he is not content to let the clock run out, you blow the whistle immediately so it does not escalate, which it did. By the time the ref decided the blow the whistle it was too late and Quinn almost gets his shoulder ripped out of joint. If you noticed, after Quinn shot the free throw, Amile tried to block the 3 quarter court shot by the Utah guy, again, because the refs let it get chippy and Amile was irritated at Quinn getting his arm yanked out of joint. Sorry to belabor the point, but these kids are big and strong and the last thing you want is an injury due to chippiness that would never had started had a ref done his job. If there is anything to be irritated about after this Sweet 16 win, it's that.

On to the Elite 8!! Go Devils!

[Bay Area Duke Fan]

I hope Quinn's ankle is OK for Sunday. Maybe his poor shooting and the traveling at the end were a result of the ankle hurting.

[OneK]

Long time reader....first time post. I had to begrudgingly check out this "Inside Carolina" blog that's been alluded to in various posts. All I can say is wow! It would be comic relief if it wasn't such a pathetic recycling of the "Duke gets all the calls", "Duke has the easiest bracket", "K is a cheater" ramblings we've all heard so often. Just really, really sad. 7 pages of meltdown....9F9F9F!!!

[cptnflash]

i'm going to just pretend that game didn't happen and we got a bye to the elite 8....mostly because if i think different, I realize that if we had that much trouble with Utah's length, how the heck are we going to deal with UK's?

We're not going to deal with UK's length. Arizona is going to beat them (I hope).

[Newton_14]

Long time reader....first time post. I had to begrudgingly check out this "Inside Carolina" blog that's been alluded to in various posts. All I can say is wow! It would be comic relief if it wasn't such a pathetic recycling of the "Duke gets all the calls", "Duke has the easiest bracket", "K is a cheater" ramblings we've all heard so often. Just really, really sad. 7 pages of meltdown....9F9F9F!!!
Welcome to the board. Like someone here commented a while back, it is a scary thought knowing that the good folks at IC get to vote in elections just like you an I. To think that people that ignorant and sick are amongst us in our daily lives is a very scary thought.

[OneK]

Welcome to the board. Like someone here commented a while back, it is a scary thought knowing that the good folks at IC get to vote in elections just like you an I. To think that people that ignorant and sick are amongst us in our daily lives is a very scary thought.

Indeed, sir. Indeed.

[duke09hms]

Wait. People don't really believe in jinxes on this site, right? The whole "Not gonna jinx it" thread is just fun, but I haven't met anybody since a wiccan girl in high school that puts any stock in superstitions.

I wouldn't say I'm superstitious but I am a little stitious.

[Newton_14]

I wouldn't say I'm superstitious but I am a little stitious.

Somewhere along the way this season, I started wearing my Road Blue #12 jersey (yes, I know it's hard to tell but Justise is my favorite player on this team :) ) to every game I attended, but also for games when I am watching at home. It has only let me down once obviously, so I am riding that jersey to the end, which hopefully will result in National Title #5!

Are there seriously sports people who AIN"T superstitious? Say it ain't so Joe!

[juise]

Quinn and Tyus were 16 of 18. Lots of big free throws.

Crazy when your best ball handlers miss two late free throws and "regress" to their mean of 89%. Their free throw shooting is underrated element of Duke's offensive potency.

[DesertDevil]

We're not going to deal with UK's length. Arizona is going to beat them (I hope).

If Arizona plays them, KY wins by 15-20. Notre Dame has a much better shot than Arizona.

[Wander]

If Arizona plays them, KY wins by 15-20. Notre Dame has a much better shot than Arizona.

Still think Wisconsin has the best chance of all of them. Arizona's a very good team, but not a good match-up; they don't have enough shooters (or any, outside of York really) to take down Kentucky now, I don't think.

[juise]

I may have missed it, but I haven't seen any mention of Justise's fishing pose that lead to a fast break layup. It seems like Duke wins every game we have an "Oh, Justise" moment. Hopefully that's the last time one of his poses costs Duke points. I expect that he'll be making several more big plays in this tournament.

[InSpades]

Still think Wisconsin has the best chance of all of them. Arizona's a very good team, but not a good match-up; they don't have enough shooters (or any, outside of York really) to take down Kentucky now, I don't think.

I hear we have good luck playing a team a 4th time... I'm rooting for Notre Dame!

[KandG]

Thought Utah had a great defensive game plan for Duke, and it was aided at the start by the players being nervous and the weird sightlines for shooting.

As K mentioned after the game, Krystkowiak mixed up defenses on Duke, going from zone to a straight man to man-to-man w/constant switching. On top of that, Utah confused Jah by constantly giving him different looks, sending doubles at him from different directions, guarding him with a smaller man, even tripling/trapping him on the baseline on one or two occasions. I swear there were a couple of occasions where it looked like Utah was playing a warped variation on a triangle and two (two on Okafor, one man who never left Quinn), with the other two Utes zoning the rest of the Duke players and aggressively playing passing lanes.

The result were a couple of ugly cross court turnovers by Jah, and a clogged offense in general when he tried to find opportunities which Utah kept denying. On the other hand, it opened up space for Winslow's 3s and the occasional Tyus penetration. Also helped when K inserted Amile to serve as an outlet, which ended up paying off when the Utes were so focused on Jah that they comically allowed Amile to just waltz in unimpeded for a dunk.

Really liked what K said postgame about how this team has shown the ability to adapt well during games when it confronts adversity or unfamiliar situations. Such a contrast to last year when the young guys, talented as they were, too often let things go downhill when the opponent came back at them.

Didn't have a problem with slowing the game down with the lead at 49-34 with around 8 minutes left...there have been countless times K's teams have started to burn clock around the 6 to 7 minute mark and put a game away methodically, and Utah is challenged offensively. The problem was the execution was very poor considering who their opponent was. Duke became too predictable in running the clock down to under 10 seconds and then trying to beat an elite defense, when for most of the game, they probed more methodically throughout their possessions and tried to attack. It became too easy for Utah to defend for a few seconds at the end of the shot clock, especially since Duke seemed to switch off mentally thinking the game was over.

The end of the game was absurd and one of the worst advertisements for college basketball you could imagine, but I couldn't even be mad at Utah for using every timeout and extending the game. We encouraged them to do that with our inability to quit fouling late in the game and some of our shaky ballhandling. On the whole though, getting the ball to the free throw shooters and making almost all the FTs at the end was good enough.

Great win, and Justise was clearly motivated by the 100+ people he had there to watch him play. I suspect having that many friends and family members there was what led to the infamous posing that the national TV cameras were happy to highlight and (justifiably) embarrass him with. I was ticked at him for giving up the transition basket right after his celebration, but watching him in the postgame talking about how many requests he got for tickets, I just kind of laughed and forgave him. Can't really argue with how he handled the pressure and increased attention otherwise.

We're going to need contributions from more of his teammates to win on Sunday, but last night was a promising start for what will hopefully end up being an MVP performance for the weekend for Justise. No better way to come home!

[burnspbesq]

Thought Utah had a great defensive game plan for Duke, and it was aided at the start by the players being nervous and the weird sightlines for shooting.

As K mentioned after the game, Krystkowiak mixed up defenses on Duke, going from zone to a straight man to man-to-man w/constant switching. On top of that, Utah confused Jah by constantly giving him different looks, sending doubles at him from different directions, guarding him with a smaller man, even tripling/trapping him on the baseline on one or two occasions. I swear there were a couple of occasions where it looked like Utah was playing a warped variation on a triangle and two (two on Okafor, one man who never left Quinn), with the other two Utes zoning the rest of the Duke players and aggressively playing passing lanes.

The result were a couple of ugly cross court turnovers by Jah, and a clogged offense in general when he tried to find opportunities which Utah kept denying. On the other hand, it opened up space for Winslow's 3s and the occasional Tyus penetration. Also helped when K inserted Amile to serve as an outlet, which ended up paying off when the Utes were so focused on Jah that they comically allowed Amile to just waltz in unimpeded for a dunk.

Really liked what K said postgame about how this team has shown the ability to adapt well during games when it confronts adversity or unfamiliar situations. Such a contrast to last year when the young guys, talented as they were, too often let things go downhill when the opponent came back at them.

Didn't have a problem with slowing the game down with the lead at 49-34 with around 8 minutes left...there have been countless times K's teams have started to burn clock around the 6 to 7 minute mark and put a game away methodically, and Utah is challenged offensively. The problem was the execution was very poor considering who their opponent was. Duke became too predictable in running the clock down to under 10 seconds and then trying to beat an elite defense, when for most of the game, they probed more methodically throughout their possessions and tried to attack. It became too easy for Utah to defend for a few seconds at the end of the shot clock, especially since Duke seemed to switch off mentally thinking the game was over.

The end of the game was absurd and one of the worst advertisements for college basketball you could imagine, but I couldn't even be mad at Utah for using every timeout and extending the game. We encouraged them to do that with our inability to quit fouling late in the game and some of our shaky ballhandling. On the whole though, getting the ball to the free throw shooters and making almost all the FTs at the end was good enough.

Great win, and Justise was clearly motivated by the 100+ people he had there to watch him play. I suspect having that many friends and family members there was what led to the infamous posing that the national TV cameras were happy to highlight and (justifiably) embarrass him with. I was ticked at him for giving up the transition basket right after his celebration, but watching him in the postgame talking about how many requests he got for tickets, I just kind of laughed and forgave him. Can't really argue with how he handled the pressure and increased attention otherwise.

We're going to need contributions from more of his teammates to win on Sunday, but last night was a promising start for what will hopefully end up being an MVP performance for the weekend for Justise. No better way to come home!

One thing you didn't mention that helped Utah defensivey is that they rotated early. Taking a page from Virginia, they were moving while the entry pass was in the air, so that the double arrivedat the same time as the ball. That took away Jah's time to survey the floor. They also made good second slides to take away the quick pass to the guy whose man had gone to double.

If you watch the Amile dunk again, you'll see that he created the space for himself with a good pass fake, although he appeared surprised when the Utes bought the fake.

[Edouble]

Wow. A female reporter from Houston just asked K the dumbest question, like ever, in the presser and she asked it with great enthusiasm. She said "Coach, how HUMONGOUS was it, getting the news just before the game that Tyus had been cleared to play?" K was like, "Uh, huh? I don't understand the question". She scrambles to check her notes, and then she goes "uh, well, you know, coming off the injury?" K was like, ""uh, our guys came in perfectly healthy. we didn't have any injuries".

Really? You are a real reporter with clearance to a freaking Sweet 16 press conference, and you are THAT UNPREPARED??? Were I her boss she would be seeking employment as of right now. That was plain bizarre as the way the ref's handled the end of the game.


Yes sir, it was awful and deserves further call out: that was Leah Frazier Dixon of Bring the Pain Sports.

https://www.youtube.com/user/coachmomu

Coach K handled it really well, but the look of confusion on his face was priceless!

[BigWayne]

they covered the spread!!!

Hurt the bookies apparently.

http://espn.go.com/chalk/story/_/id/12575347/late-duke-free-throw-causes-millions-dollars-swing-las-vegas

[cato]

And that was Duhonesque.

But so much more satisfactory.

[cato]

Just finished re watching most of the second half. What a wonderful win. I love seeing this team embrace defense.

Sad to see Quinn break his 3 point made streak. Hope he gets to console himself with a regional championship (at least).

[Duke3517]

Great win by Duke, they basically beat a number two/number three seed. The committee has to do a better job with seeding. Winslow seemed to have his way tonight. Props to the tremendous improvement on defense.

On to Gonzaga!

[devildeac]

I get what you are saying, but if a foul leads to a turnover, it HAS to be called regardless of game situation.

Similar to when a white-uniformed player gets all ball while blocking a shot and gets called for his second foul of the half just before halftime. Or when a white-shirted guy goes up for a layup and a red clad player grabs his left arm while blocking the shot he's taking with his right hand. Ahhh, never mind. We play Sunday thankfully.

[porkpa]

He's Coach K and I'm not. But I sure hate it when we start playing stall ball with lots of time left on the clock. We're up by 15 and essentially let Utah back in the game when we started killing the clock.

[OldPhiKap]

Anyone have a link to Utah's post-game press conference? Did not see not at goduke.

[alteran]

I think we were up 15 with the ball (after a big O rebound by Amile) and then Tyus drove it, got stuffed and the ball went off him. I can't remember if Utah scored, but the next possession, we started stall ball with (I think over 7 1/2 to go) and I remember thinking, "Oh no, this is too early". I stand by that thought. What a nail biter that probably shouldn't have been.

Yeah, yeah, hard to second-guess K but...wow. I don't have a problem with stall ball but it seems more like an under 5 minute type thing to me.

On to the positives - GREAT game by Justise, obviously, and a huge three point play when we were struggling there in the 2nd. Hopefully, he learned a lesson about chest pounding, though. I thought it was a really nice game by Tyus and Quinn. Sooooo nice to have such clutch FT shooters - and a pair at that!

For a long time, I felt the way you do about stall ball. Not anymore.

Stall ball is sometimes agonizing, but I honestly can't think of a time it cost us a game. Scared us out of our minds, yes, actually lost a game, no.

[Saratoga2]

Weird game and definitely agree with Ferry that the game was refereed far differently after the ridiculously ignorant 3rd foul call on Wright. First, there were like 6 or 7 makeup calls (literally) including the 1st and 2nd foul calls on Jahlil, and the 2nd foul calls on Justise and MP3. I was like "ok, I think you have made up for it, you can stop now". After that it was "ok let's just call everything suspicious".

Our defense was outstanding and K made a point to say in the press conference afterwards that our defense has gotten a bad rap most of the year. He said you don't win 30 games by being bad defensively and I happen to agree with him. Utah also played great defense but fortunately they had no answer for Justise Winslow. With everyone else having subpar bad offensive games (Yes Gary, if you will stop watching Matt Jones with bated breath and counting his mistakes so you can run on here and tell us how bad Matt is, you would have notices Quinn, Tyus, Jahlil, Grayson, MP3, and Amile having off nights offensively. Not sayin, just sayin), Winslow's play was huge. The 3 pointers, the tough points in the lane, but most of all, the 3rd game in a row where he was a one man run-stopper. Every single time this Duke team has to have a basket to thwart an opponent's run, Winslow gets that bucket. It's a joy to watch. The mid-range And-1 bucket where K high-fived him afterward was just huge. A dagger. The guy has ice in his veins. He just makes Duke so much harder to guard, especially with the amount of focus it takes to try to keep Jahlil from killing you, and the amount of focus it take to keep our guards from killing you with 3's or drives. Keep it up big fella.

Regarding stall ball, I think when it doesn't go as smoothly as we wish the common misconception is "we started it too early" which isn't true. We didn't start it too early tonight for a couple of reasons, one being Utah is a low scoring team that takes a long time to score. A 13 point lead on them with 8 mins left is more like a 17 or 18 point lead on a different team. The problem was the execution which normally is the problem when it does not go well. We were either taking a terrible shot or turning it over, but even with that, it worked fine. Utah never got closer than 5 points after we started it. The other issues were fouling too much (mostly stupid fouls) and then our defense attention got lax and we started giving them good looks from 3 for the first time all game. In a game like that where we are milking clock you can hear K scream the same line over an over again "No Fouls No Threes!, No Fouls No Threes".

Credit Utah for taking advantage of our lack of execution during that stretch as they played great defense and then hit a good percentage of the open three's, but in the end, the strategy worked and we left the court with the victory.

The refs at the end were stupid ridiculous. On that last rebound by Quinn when he was just going to stand there and let the clock run out, the refs must protect the players from being stupid. The minute the first Utah kid starts swiping at the ball, revealing that he is not content to let the clock run out, you blow the whistle immediately so it does not escalate, which it did. By the time the ref decided the blow the whistle it was too late and Quinn almost gets his shoulder ripped out of joint. If you noticed, after Quinn shot the free throw, Amile tried to block the 3 quarter court shot by the Utah guy, again, because the refs let it get chippy and Amile was irritated at Quinn getting his arm yanked out of joint. Sorry to belabor the point, but these kids are big and strong and the last thing you want is an injury due to chippiness that would never had started had a ref done his job. If there is anything to be irritated about after this Sweet 16 win, it's that.

On to the Elite 8!! Go Devils!

I believe the 3 keys for Duke in this hard fought game were:

1. Superb play of Justise
2. Excellent overall defense for most of the game
3. Excellent foul shooting by our guards

Justise:
He was full of energy and played outstanding defense, made the tough rebounds and even was there to block a shot or two. One of the best defensive efforts I have seen from any Duke player. Yes he did have that one chest pounding incident and I hope he has learned from that and his other earlier foul tendencies. On offense he was a one man wrecking crew. If they guard him closely he can drive and finish and if they foul him his ability at the foul line has improved. If they back off of him he has the size to get off a three point shot and went 3 for 4 in the game while our others went 0 for 5. He was also able to post up inside since so much attention was being given to Jahlil Great game for Justise.

Overall Defense:
All of our players contributed to the defense and we held Utah to a very bad night with a lot of turnovers. They did get points off of our turnovers, but that was not against our set defenses. Coach K kept them guessing and I thought the method of slowing the ball down as it came up the floor gave them fits. Numerous turnovers of Utah. Jahlil did a much better job of defending and you can see that he is improving. When he gets tired he can have trouble recovering to cover the basket but I thought he did quite well.

Four Shooting:
If we have a lead near the end, our guards can make it stick. We really have Quinn and Tyus who are good handlers and can make their shots and we can also put in Grayson who is also very good from the line.


Did we have shortcomings in the game. Yes and Utah played a very active and smart defense against us. One of our offensive approaches is to try to get Jahlil. I think our other players tend to become stagnant when we push the ball inside so we are easy to guard. We have no one who moves like Reddick used to. Utah made the entry to Jahlil difficult and then took away his passing lanes. He tried to go to Quinn twice but they had that scouted. Once he tried to go to Justise but there the ball was mishandled. I didn't think we had our guys moving without the ball. To only get 5 three point shots other than Justise (4 more) indicated that we weren't moving and also that they stayed with Quinn on defense.

We did survive and advance but we will need to be better against Gonzaga to survive and advance again.

[vrob90]

I wonder if Utah's performance last night was representative of their play this year. They weren't a good team. Duke didn't play well either, but we know they can play much better. I just hope they do.

[OldPhiKap]

I wonder if Utah's performance last night was representative of their play this year. They weren't a good team. Duke didn't play well either, but we know they can play much better. I just hope they do.

Utah is an outstanding defensive team, and was so last night too. If they looked off, it is because Quinn shut down Wright and that third foul call -- while not awful -- is not always called.

[vrob90]

Utah is an outstanding defensive team, and was so last night too. If they looked off, it is because Quinn shut down Wright and that third foul call -- while not awful -- is not always called.

Your're right. They played terrific defense. Their inability to score was jaw dropping.

[azzefkram]

Great win. Justise was amazing (aside from the showboating after the made three). I thought our D was great. Quinn did a fabulous job on Wright. While Jah struggled on O (Kudos to Utah), I thought his D was the best we've seen from him. Watching Matt miss bunnies can be annoying but I am more alarmed at how tentative he appeared with the ball in his hands. We hadn't seen that Matt in while. Amile was quietly effective in his minutes. I am surprised he didn't get more play since they were killing us on the offensive glass. Greyson and MPIII were effective when they were in.

Really impressed with Utah. They are good and very well coached team.

[flyingdutchdevil]

Wow. Between comments on reffing, opening this thread "prematurely", and stall ball, you'd think we lost! I can't imagine comments on reffing if we actually do lose (and we won't ;)). Thanks to CDu, KandG, and a few others for some great posts on more interesting and relevant topics.

1) Justise Winslow probably made himself an additional $3-4 million over the next 4 years with his play in the last 3 games. Unbelievable. He is amazing. His D, his 3, his transition play, and his ability to finish are so vital to this team. I had no idea that Winslow was going to be anywhere near this good. Poorman's Lebron indeed. Also, did anyone notice that Justise has an unbelievable Euro step? Best Euro step I've seen from a Duke player.

2) Our defense was outstanding, and I never thought I'd type those words this season. I was really impressed with all players, including T Jones and Okafor. Winslow is on another level, M Jones has elevated his D, and where the hell did Cook's D come from? His strong play on Wright has incredible! I hope Cook can keep this going.

3) That is the best defense we've faced all year. Their game plan on Okafor was ingenious: effective double teams with rotating players sniping those Okafor inside-out passes. I thought Okafor had a decent game, with his defense and patience. It's tough to score when a very competent 7-footer and competent help defender are doubling you every time to touch the ball. Congrats to Utah - you just stopped the best offensive player in America.

4) I love Grayson's energy off the bench. His shots may not have been falling, but the team clearly looks to him to score when he's in. He is so good at changing speeds and elevating that it's tough for defenses to contain him. If he can work on finishing and passing when driving, he'll be something else.

5) Looking forward to Gonzaga. It's no secret that I'm not a fan of mid-majors (go Goliath!), so I really want Duke to lay down the law. Both teams are great offensively, so I'm expecting 150 total points scored.

[Jackson]

I feel really uncomfortable when Matt has the ball in his hands. I would like to see a lot more Amile and less Matt on Sunday. I like Grayson's energy. Even when his shot isn't falling, he provides a spark. With Gonzaga's size, hopefully #21 will see the floor more often. Think Marshall will play a bigger role as well. One more till Indy. Was a nerve wracking game to watch. Officiating was terrible. Grayson was hacked going to the basket and ref didn't even think about calling the foul.

[wsb3]

For a long time, I felt the way you do about stall ball. Not anymore.

Stall ball is sometimes agonizing, but I honestly can't think of a time it cost us a game. Scared us out of our minds, yes, actually lost a game, no.

Stall ball is one thing but with that much time on the clock & all the momentum going our way. I don't think Utah had scored in a few minutes at the time. Put the hammer down & run them out the gym. Under 5 minutes is one thing but with over seven minutes..

Oh & I think it has cost us games. It has also helped us win games. And if the same situation with under 4 -5 minutes to go would have been made last night okay.. but with that much time left. I confess time he did it I had a sinking feeling that it would allow Utah right back in the game..I sure wish I would have been wrong. It would have saved my nerves..:)

Very glad Winslow is with the good guys. I will miss him. I love the way he plays with a chip on his shoulder & he is never shy about taking the big shot or making the big play.

On to the Regional Finals.. Go Duke..

[fuse]

Have to say other than the first 5 minutes which felt like both teams playing nervous, the paranoid fan in me felt like this was a game we controlled from start to finish yet tried to offer it to Utah several times.

I'm not one to harp on officiating, and the officiating felt both inconsistent and awful to both teams. The third foul on Wright really sunk Utah.

Utah's defense did a great job taking advantage of our lazy passes/ lack of valuing the ball.
Then Tyus Stones put on his cape and owned the court.

Winslow continues to be the difference maker on an incredibly fun team to watch.

Hope Quinn's ankle is ok.

[diveonthefloor]

I thought maybe the three second call had some merit, but that traveling BS at the end on Quinn was just awful.

I felt the same way in real time, but watch the close up replay from the baseline camera. He actually took three small but definite steps.

[Troublemaker]

I suspect this will be the first win this season after which Duke Blue Planet doesn't release a Top Plays / postgame locker room video. Well, the Top Plays portion they could do, but I'd be surprised if the Duke team stuck around very long after the game. Duke had the late game and needs to get as much rest as possible.

[Troublemaker]

Anyone have a link to Utah's post-game press conference? Did not see not at goduke.

Utah: http://www.goduke.com/mediaPortal/player.dbml?&db_oem_id=4200&id=3869221

[Furniture]

Everybody on the team, regardless of offensive stats or perceived confidence, found a way to contribute to the win. Jah came through with some timely rebounds. Grayson drew a timely foul. Amile had a couple big buckets and offensive boards. Marshall's one rebound was in a key situation. Matt might have missed shots, but he was exactly where he needed to be to receive passes that relieved pressure and extended our possessions (his main job on O). In fact, Matt's ability to take the ball to the rack should tell us that he has confidence. Utah gave him those drives, but if we have a guard repeatedly getting to the basket then that has to make them at least question their defensive strategy on Okafor.
Everyone did what needed to be done to win.

Don't forget that Matt got two very important steals...

[Dr. Rosenrosen]

Somewhere along the way this season, I started wearing my Road Blue #12 jersey (yes, I know it's hard to tell but Justise is my favorite player on this team :) ) to every game I attended, but also for games when I am watching at home. It has only let me down once obviously, so I am riding that jersey to the end, which hopefully will result in National Title #5!

Are there seriously sports people who AIN"T superstitious? Say it ain't so Joe!
My son has been wearing his to sleep for all these late games we've had. Now he won't go to sleep on game night without it!

[Clay Feet POF]

And amazingly enough, there was no jinx. Shocking that.


Unlike the old movies, you don't have to be the first reporter to the phones, there's no bonus.

[rocketeli]

Somewhere along the way this season, I started wearing my Road Blue #12 jersey (yes, I know it's hard to tell but Justise is my favorite player on this team :) ) to every game I attended, but also for games when I am watching at home. It has only let me down once obviously, so I am riding that jersey to the end, which hopefully will result in National Title #5!

Are there seriously sports people who AIN"T superstitious? Say it ain't so Joe!

Got to do it. The other year I was watching my daughter's field hockey team play for the state championship and I overhead the kid next to me from the other school say to is friend "I know we're going to win because I'm wearing my lucky green underwear" and I my reaction was "#$%! I"ve brought nothing to counteract lucky underwear!" and sure enough we lost. Coincidence? I think not!

[Exiled_Devil]

Live postgame press conference will be here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZm5TFta1jQ

Great defense won it for Duke. Shooting background didn't play that significant a role in either, imo. I think Duke had held them to only 6 three-pt ATTEMPTS at the under 8 timeout. We shut down their 3-pt attack, which was key.

3 questions:

1. How did you get that?
2. Is this happening after the Elite 8 game?
3. Is there a recording of that?

[RepoMan]

Sort of surprised at the vibe in this thread.

For me, while it wasn't always pretty, I enjoyed the game because, really, it never felt like the outcome was in doubt. I love low stress games, and this was pretty low stress. Even on those occasions when the score started to get close, it just didn't seem like they were going to be able to go on a run.

Before the game, I sort of felt that there were basically two ways to game-plan for Duke: Double Okafor, but run the risk of getting killed by 3s OR Play Okafor straight, running the risk that he has a monster game, but defend the 3. In this game, though, they effectively doubled Okafor AND we didn't score much off 3s, but we still won comfortably. How did that happen? Defense. It looks like this team may be developing a 3rd way to win games. A nice development for this time of the year!

[Channing]

I felt the same way in real time, but watch the close up replay from the baseline camera. He actually took three small but definite steps.

He definitely took steps but I thought it was because he was getting pushed. I don't think he accidentally just moved his foot.

That said I thought the third on wright was an awful call. I also think we got lucky Winslow and Okafor didn't pick up a third earlier. Not that they were fouling but a lot of very tough defense and contested shots that often get called that weren't called.

As for the crying about the held ball at the end of the game that didn't get called (or crying I'm hearing from friends) ... Duke had the arrow. It would have made no difference and Utah would have been better off fouling than going for a held ball.

[gumbomoop]

I may have missed it, but I haven't seen any mention of Justise's fishing pose that lead to a fast break layup. It seems like Duke wins every game we have an "Oh, Justise" moment. Hopefully that's the last time one of his poses costs Duke points. I expect that he'll be making several more big plays in this tournament.

Post #363 in-game thread. Crowd clowning, for lack of a better term. Idiotic (my word here) pose (yours, definitely accurate).

I prefer scoreboard points to style points. Justise provided both teams scoreboard points in that wonderful/infuriating sequence.

Justise seems a wonderful young man, incredibly talented, tough-nosed, dependable. Although Jahlil's brilliant post moves, footwork, hands, and soft-and-spin touch probably constitute the most remarkable and unusual O-talent on the team, Justise's truly multiple D/O talents have arguably become the most important, as many teams seem determined not to allow Jahlil to beat them.

I hope Jahlil can find cutters Justise and Amile on Sunday. Passing across court for an open 3 might be a little more difficult than a simple soft pass into the lane to Justise, but also Amile. Amile had almost disappeared on O late in the season. We saw the effect of that last night in that instant where he almost passed up a wide-open dunk. It's as if he'd unlearned his own baseline game. I know good and well that all of us were thinking, just for a split second, "Amile, what the ...." But he recovered his basketball senses just in time to save us from major fanatic meltdown. We need Amile and Justise to cut down the lane on those double-teams.

[kAzE]

I echo all the positive vibes from this thread. We played fantastic for the majority of the game, although I was kind of surprised at how many really good open looks from 3 Utah got. Luckily, they just couldn't get anything going from deep, and we did a great job of containing wright.

I'd also love to point out that I was absolutely this high on Winslow prior to the start of the season... Maybe even too high. I saw him as a top 5 pick in the preseason, and that may happen if he keeps this up. He's been dominant since midway through the conference schedule. He's also sneakily been one of, if not our most consistent three point shooter lately.

Lastly, I'm sorry if this has already been posted, but I love this: http://espn.go.com/chalk/story/_/id/12575347/late-duke-free-throw-causes-millions-dollars-swing-las-vegas

Quinn's late FT cost Vegas millions. He's truly a man of the people. My only regret is that his duke record streak finally came to an end Friday night, as he failed to hit a three.

[sagegrouse]

I felt the same way in real time, but watch the close up replay from the baseline camera. He actually took three small but definite steps.

Isn't it a foul when you get knocked over?

[MCFinARL]

I hope Quinn's ankle is OK for Sunday. Maybe his poor shooting and the traveling at the end were a result of the ankle hurting.

Possibly. But re the shooting, it wasn't so much that his shooting was poor as that he got very few opportunities to shoot. Quinn took only 5 shots, and only 1 3-point attempt; he made 2-5, plus his 7 foul shots, for 11 points. So he was 50% from two (not all that bad for a guard) and missed one 3-pointer. So I think a lot of his shooting night has to be attributed to the excellent coverage by Utah--denying him the ball and/or keeping him from open looks.

On the other end, Quinn was playing excellent, and likely exhausting, defense himself; perhaps the need to focus on that left him less energy to try to create good scoring opportunities in the face of strong defense.

[Newton_14]

Post #363 in-game thread. Crowd clowning, for lack of a better term. Idiotic (my word here) pose (yours, definitely accurate).

I prefer scoreboard points to style points. Justise provided both teams scoreboard points in that wonderful/infuriating sequence.

Justise seems a wonderful young man, incredibly talented, tough-nosed, dependable. Although Jahlil's brilliant post moves, footwork, hands, and soft-and-spin touch probably constitute the most remarkable and unusual O-talent on the team, Justise's truly multiple D/O talents have arguably become the most important, as many teams seem determined not to allow Jahlil to beat them.

I hope Jahlil can find cutters Justise and Amile on Sunday. Passing across court for an open 3 might be a little more difficult than a simple soft pass into the lane to Justise, but also Amile. Amile had almost disappeared on O late in the season. We saw the effect of that last night in that instant where he almost passed up a wide-open dunk. It's as if he'd unlearned his own baseline game. I know good and well that all of us were thinking, just for a split second, "Amile, what the ...." But he recovered his basketball senses just in time to save us from major fanatic meltdown. We need Amile and Justise to cut down the lane on those double-teams.

Agree on all points. Terrible idea. Surprised too, that no one is talking about Tyus, who did the exact same thing in the first half, only worse, he did not make his 3 Pointer. He did stand there and pose though, all the while the big that challenged his shot leaked up court and got an uncontested layup. Very glad those 4 points did not come back to haunt us. There is just no excuse for those guys doing that and no excuse for a team this athletic to not be good in transition defense, which is accomplished mainly by simply hustling back on defense. Every time. No exceptions. Hopefully K corrects this and we have now seen it for the last time this season.

Amile, Amile, buddy. You have a great, slinky like, skillset around the basket. You have shown us this over an over again. You can score the basketball in a myriad of ways around the hoop. Why then have you stopped trying? It's all mental. Please go back to the aggressive Amile who tried to score early an often when catching the ball within 10 feet of the hoop. We need that Amile back.

[OldPhiKap]

Utah: http://www.goduke.com/mediaPortal/player.dbml?&db_oem_id=4200&id=3869221

Thanks. It won't open for me though; I assume goDuke.com will add it to the iPad link son.

[Utley]

So delighted with the level we are playing. Have we been up less than 5 in the last 30 minutes of any game?

Many of the recent champs have had someone put the team on their backs - could that be Justise this year.

We should go easy with the Matt bashing. What's so,great about this team is that you never know who the next games hero is going to be. We need to keep riding all 8 horses.

[Utley]

Also good to go through the experience of hitting some important end game free throws. Can only help you down the road

[_Gary]

With everyone else having subpar bad offensive games (Yes Gary, if you will stop watching Matt Jones with bated breath and counting his mistakes so you can run on here and tell us how bad Matt is, you would have notices Quinn, Tyus, Jahlil, Grayson, MP3, and Amile having off nights offensively. Not sayin, just sayin), Winslow's play was huge.

Newton, I can't thank you enough for reminding me to watch other players on the court besides Matt. That's opened an entirely new world for me. ;)

In all seriousness, I think just about everyone sees what I've been pointing out recently, so I won't belabor it more now. But I certainly do want to correct any mistaken idea that I'm only focused in on Matt, and specifically to see where he screws up next. That's certainly not the case.

Justise flat out saved our bacon last night, even though he too cost us a bucket after letting off the gas for a second. Thankfully that one didn't hurt us, but boy it was embarrassing at the moment. I have noticed that this team, not only the freshmen either because Quinn also engages in this, will lag on transition D from time to time if they think they didn't get a call on the offensive end. I really hope the coaching staff drills it into their head that they simply cannot afford any lags on such plays going forward. You've got to forget about the call and run your butt off back up the court on defense. There won't be any more "Little, Blind Sisters of the Poor" opponents this year, so come strong and stay smart from opening tip-off till the final whistle.

[jv001]

So delighted with the level we are playing. Have we been up less than 5 in the last 30 minutes of any game?

Many of the recent champs have had someone put the team on their backs - could that be Justise this year.

We should go easy with the Matt bashing. What's so,great about this team is that you never know who the next games hero is going to be. We need to keep riding all 8 horses.

I agree we should not bash Matt or any Duke player. With 8 guys giving their all, I don't think we should bash anyone. But I do believe that on a board like DBR we can discuss players without bashing. Most of the negative comments have involved: Matt, Marshall and Amile this season. Some comments were well stated and not out of line, but some comments were not so well stated and were out of line. Matt seems to be a player that loses his confidence easily and Coach K has quickly complimented him on several occasions. Matt has plenty of confidence when it comes to defense, but not so much when it comes to offense. But unlike other Duke players, he doesn't let his lack of offense carry over to his defense. He plays hard and is a very valuable player on this squad. I would say I look for Matt to have a good offensive game against the Zags, but the last time I predicted that, he had an off game shooting the ball. So, I'll just hope he has a bounce back game. :cool: GoDuke!

[Kfanarmy]

I'm with all of you on the emotional displays by Justise and Tyus. What's the deal with teenagers having fun playing the game during the tourney anyway?

Seriously I'm kinda glad to see them having fun...there were several years before the last championship when it looked like Duke kids were under so much pressure that the game was painfully serious. So yeah, get back on D, but have fun...don't listen to those who expect perfection.

[Troublemaker]

I hope Jahlil can find cutters Justise and Amile on Sunday. Passing across court for an open 3 might be a little more difficult than a simple soft pass into the lane to Justise, but also Amile.

I think UVA and Utah are unusually good at the double-team. Besides those two opponents, I think Duke has fared fairly well against double-teams when playing 4-out-1-in. (We do struggle when Amile is in the game.) I think/hope Gonzaga won't be at that level of double-teaming. And I think if Jahlil had pass-faked away from his intended target, similar to a QB looking off the safety in football, Duke could've had more open threes and fewer turnovers yesterday, too. As mentioned by Grant (or maybe Raftery or Nantz), Taylor was playing like a roving safety.


3 questions:

1. How did you get that?
2. Is this happening after the Elite 8 game?
3. Is there a recording of that?

1. Go here when a game has ended and a live link should eventually appear: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKjEtnnXEHsXE9IvCb92V7g

2. Yes, after every NCAA tournament game.

3. GoDuke has the press conference if you miss it live.

[jv001]

I'm with all of you on the emotional displays by Justise and Tyus. What's the deal with teenagers having fun playing the game during the tourney anyway?

Seriously I'm kinda glad to see them having fun...there were several years before the last championship when it looked like Duke kids were under so much pressure that the game was painfully serious. So yeah, get back on D, but have fun...don't listen to those who expect perfection.

This ^. I absolutely think it's ok for these guys to have fun playing college basketball. I'm thankful that Coach K let's his players have a lot of freedom on the court. I think that's one reason he's such a successful recruiter. He's also quick enough to jerk a player off the court when said player goes overboard with celebrating. Remember Jah's failed reverse slam. I do however believe that players must celebrate without costing the team points. Like Justise celebrating a little too long and not getting back down court. That's not acceptable. GoDuke!

[juise]

I'm with all of you on the emotional displays by Justise and Tyus. What's the deal with teenagers having fun playing the game during the tourney anyway?

Seriously I'm kinda glad to see them having fun...there were several years before the last championship when it looked like Duke kids were under so much pressure that the game was painfully serious. So yeah, get back on D, but have fun...don't listen to those who expect perfection.

I mentioned Justise's pose earlier, but I actually really like how much the team focuses their emotions back to their teammates. At the beginning of the year, Justise was doing a lot of the stares and poses to the crowd. I like now that energy from Justise/Jah/Tyus/Quinn gets focused back to the bench. The Tyus 3 at the end of the UVA game is probably my favorite example (with Amile doing the Tyus Stones pose). I'm all for poses from bench players, during stoppages in play, and mostly after defensive stops. Let's just get back on D. :) This team really seems to love each other and playing together. It's been a fun ride so far.

[Atldukie79]

Terrific result with some of our best defense of the year. Perhaps we have figured out how to play, or perhaps the shining moment has created more drive in our players to focus and hustle on defense. Whatever the cause, I like what we are doing on D.

In general, there have been 3 key topics where I have disagreed with K's strategies over the years (Consider there are a few thousand where I agree with him for perspective).

1) All man to man: For the first 3 years of K at Duke, I joined the chorus screaming to play zone as we were clearly overmatched by opposing teams. After a few years, I came around and respected that K was establishing an identity and a program. So after a couple of decades of accepting that truth, Coach K is now willing to mix it up and play zone. I can't tell whether to be vindicated or confused. But I am happy. I am at peace on this.

2) Substitutions: Why don't we play more guys? Rest our starters and avoid foul trouble? Of course I came around to K's perspective that you want your best players on the court. (Did the '86 team get worn out? did '04 need to lose Sheldon to fouls?) This debate still rages...But I am at peace with this.

3) Stall Ball: Why do we start so soon? We lose leads. Yet we seem to win most (all?) when we do. My 3 adult sons predict accurately when I will text them in game to display my , ahem, thoughts about our stall tactic. To be clear, I agree with stalling, but my pet peeve is that we wait too late in the clock to start our offense when we stall with more than 2:00 minutes to go in the game. We tend to start a play at 10 seconds...often with the ball-handler backing up to reset. We leave no margin for error. Our shot attempt is basically limited to one drive/move. At least start the play at 15, or even 20 seconds. Having myself been a backyard court end game hero, I know we all count down 3...2...1... SCORE! I think the players are indoctrinated into that timing. Guess what...so is the defense.

So stall ball timing remains my one open issue with K's strategy...I am yet to be at peace with it...but I am patient :)

[juise]

In general, there have been 3 key topics where I have disagreed with K's strategies over the years (Consider there are a few thousand where I agree with him for perspective).

I believe those are 1a, 1t, and 1e. :)

[jv001]

In general, there have been 3 key topics where I have disagreed with K's strategies over the years (Consider there are a few thousand where I agree with him for perspective).



3) Stall Ball: Why do we start so soon? We lose leads. Yet we seem to win most (all?) when we do. My 3 adult sons predict accurately when I will text them in game to display my , ahem, thoughts about our stall tactic. To be clear, I agree with stalling, but my pet peeve is that we wait too late in the clock to start our offense when we stall with more than 2:00 minutes to go in the game. We tend to start a play at 10 seconds...often with the ball-handler backing up to reset. We leave no margin for error. Our shot attempt is basically limited to one drive/move. At least start the play at 15, or even 20 seconds. Having myself been a backyard court end game hero, I know we all count down 3...2...1... SCORE! I think the players are indoctrinated into that timing. Guess what...so is the defense.

So stall ball timing remains my one open issue with K's strategy...I am yet to be at peace with it...but I am patient :)

In last night's game, Utah had a terrific game plan to take Jah out of the game scoring wise. In the past Jah had been able to find the open man fairly easily. But last night the Utes took away our best 3 point shooter in Quinn. They covered him better than any opponent had thus far this season. But Duke countered that strategy by going to Justise who was sensational. However in the delay game, our guards held the ball until very late in the shot clock and our guards were forced to make a play against a much taller and stronger player. This was the only time I questioned Coach K all season regarding the delay game. We lost our Mo and our lead but Justise bailed us out with a great play and got us back on track. Our great foul shooting from Quinn and Tyus brought home the victory. So, the delay game worked, even though it almost gave me a heart attack in the process. GoDuke!

[alteran]

I get what you are saying, but if a foul leads to a turnover, it HAS to be called regardless of game situation.

Totally. Yeah, they let stuff go at the end, but not when letting it go provides an advantage. There's a reason most tournament games don't end with one team shoving the other out of bounds. Just another bush league call in a game filled with many.

You could tell that last series of fouls ticked Quinn off. There were at least three before they called the hook.

[hudlow]

Totally. Yeah, they let stuff go at the end, but not when letting it go provides an advantage. There's a reason most tournament games don't end with one team shoving the other out of bounds. Just another bush league call in a game filled with many.

You could tell that last series of fouls ticked Quinn off. There were at least three before they called the hook.

Wondering if the officials have been cautioned about all those end-of-game extremely long, momentum killing, official timeouts for video reviews we've seen so many times this season?

hud

[Utley]

I agree we should not bash Matt or any Duke player. With 8 guys giving their all, I don't think we should bash anyone. But I do believe that on a board like DBR we can discuss players without bashing. Most of the negative comments have involved: Matt, Marshall and Amile this season. Some comments were well stated and not out of line, but some comments were not so well stated and were out of line. Matt seems to be a player that loses his confidence easily and Coach K has quickly complimented him on several occasions. Matt has plenty of confidence when it comes to defense, but not so much when it comes to offense. But unlike other Duke players, he doesn't let his lack of offense carry over to his defense. He plays hard and is a very valuable player on this squad. I would say I look for Matt to have a good offensive game against the Zags, but the last time I predicted that, he had an off game shooting the ball. So, I'll just hope he has a bounce back game. :cool: GoDuke!

This is really well put

[Utley]

3) Stall Ball: Why do we start so soon? We lose leads. Yet we seem to win most (all?) when we do. My 3 adult sons predict accurately when I will text them in game to display my , ahem, thoughts about our stall tactic. To be clear, I agree with stalling, but my pet peeve is that we wait too late in the clock to start our offense when we stall with more than 2:00 minutes to go in the game. We tend to start a play at 10 seconds...often with the ball-handler backing up to reset. We leave no margin for error. Our shot attempt is basically limited to one drive/move. At least start the play at 15, or even 20 seconds. Having myself been a backyard court end game hero, I know we all count down 3...2...1... SCORE! I think the players are indoctrinated into that timing. Guess what...so is the defense.

So stall ball timing remains my one open issue with K's strategy...I am yet to be at peace with it...but I am patient :)

At the risk of this devolving into a stall ball tangent what I didn't like yesterday was that it also seemed to take us out of our defensive rhythm. In addition to it leading to some scoring opportunities, it seems like the lower intensity on one end can knock it down on the other. That being said if its working none of these negatives manifest. Perhaps it calls for a little more flexibility in its use and the need to perhaps switch gears if it doesn't appear ripe for this matchup.

[gus]

Everytime Duke uses the stall, people complain endlessly about it. It's very predictable.

But one common thing about all those complaints about the stall... they all come after Duke *wins*.

[NYBri]

3) At the risk of this devolving into a stall ball tangent what I didn't like yesterday was that it also seemed to take us out of our defensive rhythm.

This was my main concern about last night's Stall Ball. It wasn't the timing, it was the effect it had on our defensive rhythm, which was cooking along at a high level.

My take....let them play in rhythm until the other team forces you out of it....THEN kill the clock. Utah gave no indication of mounting a run until we stopped our rhythm and focus and gave it to them.

Make them earn the comeback, don't hand it to them.

[uh_no]

Everytime Duke uses the stall, people complain endlessly about it. It's very predictable.

But one common thing about all those complaints about the stall... they all come after Duke *wins*.

we won the 2010 title playing stall ball for usually the last 8 minutes of the game...it worked because
a) it was very similar to our regular offense
b) Jon had the patience to run it very efficiently

What I see in this (and recent duke teams) is once you get to 15s, that aggresiveness never comes back on, and we don't actually RUN any offense...we just keep dribbling around waiting for something to happen, and it usually doesn't....there's no aggressiveness like there is in the normal offense. It's a skill to be able to flip from stalling to running offense, and I don't think this team does it very well.

Does that necessarily mean stalling is the WRONG answer? no. the thought is that we'll take a slightly decreased offensive efficiency to decrease the chance that the opponent is able to exert an abnormally high efficiency over many possessions (by decreasing possessions, and limiting the impact should they have a stupid high stretch). The thought is that even if their efficiency is better over time, the difference isn't enough to overcome the lead given the number of possessions you limit them to.

We rode a VERY fine line last night, but it worked. That doesn't mean we should aspire to do it better, but it also doesn't mean it was the wrong decision.

[jv001]

we won the 2010 title playing stall ball for usually the last 8 minutes of the game...it worked because
a) it was very similar to our regular offense
b) Jon had the patience to run it very efficiently

What I see in this (and recent duke teams) is once you get to 15s, that aggresiveness never comes back on, and we don't actually RUN any offense...we just keep dribbling around waiting for something to happen, and it usually doesn't....there's no aggressiveness like there is in the normal offense. It's a skill to be able to flip from stalling to running offense, and I don't think this team does it very well.
Does that necessarily mean stalling is the WRONG answer? no. the thought is that we'll take a slightly decreased offensive efficiency to decrease the chance that the opponent is able to exert an abnormally high efficiency over many possessions (by decreasing possessions, and limiting the impact should they have a stupid high stretch). The thought is that even if their efficiency is better over time, the difference isn't enough to overcome the lead given the number of possessions you limit them to.

We rode a VERY fine line last night, but it worked. That doesn't mean we should aspire to do it better, but it also doesn't mean it was the wrong decision.

With Tyus, Quinn and Justise, you would think that we would be better at it. As long as we win, I don't mind the delay game. Next Play. GoDuke!

[OldPhiKap]

With Tyus, Quinn and Justise, you would think that we would be better at it. As long as we win, I don't mind the delay game. Next Play. GoDuke!

I think we have been efficient with it this year. The tough shooting conditions n Houston make it harder though.

[Stray Gator]

we won the 2010 title playing stall ball for usually the last 8 minutes of the game...it worked because
a) it was very similar to our regular offense
b) Jon had the patience to run it very efficiently

What I see in this (and recent duke teams) is once you get to 15s, that aggresiveness never comes back on, and we don't actually RUN any offense...we just keep dribbling around waiting for something to happen, and it usually doesn't....there's no aggressiveness like there is in the normal offense. It's a skill to be able to flip from stalling to running offense, and I don't think this team does it very well.

Does that necessarily mean stalling is the WRONG answer? no. the thought is that we'll take a slightly decreased offensive efficiency to decrease the chance that the opponent is able to exert an abnormally high efficiency over many possessions (by decreasing possessions, and limiting the impact should they have a stupid high stretch). The thought is that even if their efficiency is better over time, the difference isn't enough to overcome the lead given the number of possessions you limit them to.

We rode a VERY fine line last night, but it worked. That doesn't mean we should aspire to do it better, but it also doesn't mean it was the wrong decision.

I'm delighted whenever we reach the point in a game at which Duke goes to what I'll call the time-consuming offense. For those who find it a source of consternation, I submit that there are a couple of other factors to keep in mind.

First, based on experience, Coach K has developed an incomparable feel for the dynamics of each game, so he is capable of assessing how the tempo, the momentum, and the ebb and flow at both ends is evolving as the game progresses. It's true that there were some occasions in the past with other Duke teams when he elected to slow the offense too early, and the opponent was able to come all the way back to overcome Duke's lead; but that rarely happens anymore, simply because he's better at making the correct judgment based on the margin of the lead, the pace of the game, and the relative efficiencies of his team versus the opponent. I trust K to know when to make that call without jeopardizing his team's lead.

Second, when dealing with a team that lacks depth, particularly in a semi-final game in the tournament, it's important to exploit every opportunity to conserve energy while keeping your best players on the court. A slower pace not only enables the players to rest for at least 10-15 seconds on each offensive possession late in the game, but dramatically reduces the risk of accumulating more fouls -- both factors that enable a coach to keep the best players on the floor performing without undue fatigue.

[dyedwab]

Second, when dealing with a team that lacks depth, particularly in a semi-final game in the tournament, it's important to exploit every opportunity to conserve energy while keeping your best players on the court. A slower pace not only enables the players to rest for at least 10-15 seconds on each offensive possession late in the game, but dramatically reduces the risk of accumulating more fouls -- both factors that enable a coach to keep the best players on the floor performing without undue fatigue.

I wanna focus on this for a second. Watching in real time, right before we went to the stall, we looked exhausted. Though the game lacked rhythm due to the weird officiating, we had actually gone a while without a stoppage prior to starting "stall ball". So, at least part of it could have been fatigue.

Also, while we tend to debate "stall ball" as a strategy, the real issue is execution. Last night, we did not execute it very well....yet, we still won.

Great, great win over a really good team. I'm thrilled.

[Troublemaker]

I wanna focus on this for a second. Watching in real time, right before we went to the stall, we looked exhausted. Though the game lacked rhythm due to the weird officiating, we had actually gone a while without a stoppage prior to starting "stall ball". So, at least part of it could have been fatigue.

Also, Utah did seem to go deeper into their bench than usual, maybe in an effort to wear Duke down.

[gumbomoop]

I didn't expect to revive the Utah thread, but thought some of you might be interested in a heads-up re Katz Korner's last few minutes of today's show. Katz interviewed a jerk named Ken Thomson, a radio "personality" in Las Vegas.

Katz found himself in a very awkward position, as Thomson railed on, repeatedly, about how several pro-Duke calls in the Utah game were further evidence of how Duke gets special treatment. Repeatedly, repeatedly. Katz was reduced to smiling and referring, repeatedly, to conspiracy theories, after the final of which Thomson repeated his mantra, insisting that he was no conspiracist, merely an observer of reality.

Many of you will be understandably uninterested in such nonsense. If by chance this particular brand of conspiracy nutter fascinates you, you can catch his act twice more this (Mon 3/30) aft, ESPNU. That 5-minute segment will air around 2:50 and again around 3:50.

I commend it to your attention, or disdain.

[camion]

I didn't expect to revive the Utah thread, but thought some of you might be interested in a heads-up re Katz Korner's last few minutes of today's show. Katz interviewed a jerk named Ken Thomson, a radio "personality" in Las Vegas.

Katz found himself in a very awkward position, as Thomson railed on, repeatedly, about how several pro-Duke calls in the Utah game were further evidence of how Duke gets special treatment. Repeatedly, repeatedly. Katz was reduced to smiling and referring, repeatedly, to conspiracy theories, after the final of which Thomson repeated his mantra, insisting that he was no conspiracist, merely an observer of reality.

Many of you will be understandably uninterested in such nonsense. If by chance this particular brand of conspiracy nutter fascinates you, you can catch his act twice more this (Mon 3/30) aft, ESPNU. That 5-minute segment will air around 2:50 and again around 3:50.

I commend it to your attention, or disdain.

The guy probably bet that Duke wouldn't cover the spread. That last call cost him some money. :mad:

[Henderson]

The guy probably bet that Duke wouldn't cover the spread. That last call cost him some money. :mad:

Ding ding ding. Winnah!

Ken Thomson is an independent sports betting handicapper in Las Vegas, not a journalist. He makes his money selling his betting tips. And he told his clients to bet Utah over Duke. When Duke beat the spread, his clients lost, and it wasn't his fault. He got screwed by the refs.

His line, of course, is that Duke always gets the calls. Yet somehow that supposed fact didn't make it into the "expert" analysis he provided to his clients for a fee who lost money on the game.

He's a hack self-promoter in a world of so many hack self-promoters.

[oldnavy]

Ding ding ding. Winnah!

Ken Thomson is an independent sports betting handicapper in Las Vegas, not a journalist. He makes his money selling his betting tips. And he told his clients to bet Utah over Duke. When Duke beat the spread, his clients lost, and it wasn't his fault. He got screwed by the refs.

His line, of course, is that Duke always gets the calls. Yet somehow that supposed fact didn't make it into the "expert" analysis he provided to his clients for a fee who lost money on the game.

He's a hack self-promoter in a world of so many hack self-promoters.

Yes, he should have figured the "Duke gets all the calls" factor into his spread. Problem is that if the refs were attempting to give Duke a chance to pad the lead and beat the spread, they sure waited to the very last second to do it.... they had about 6 opportunities to call a foul before they actually got around to it.

[Newton_14]

Ding ding ding. Winnah!

Ken Thomson is an independent sports betting handicapper in Las Vegas, not a journalist. He makes his money selling his betting tips. And he told his clients to bet Utah over Duke. When Duke beat the spread, his clients lost, and it wasn't his fault. He got screwed by the refs.

His line, of course, is that Duke always gets the calls. Yet somehow that supposed fact didn't make it into the "expert" analysis he provided to his clients for a fee who lost money on the game.

He's a hack self-promoter in a world of so many hack self-promoters.
Well, one silly question. If he believes the Duke gets all the calls and special treatment, then why in the world didn't he tell all his "clients" to bet on Duke? Wouldn't that have been the smart, safe, surefire way to win?

Gosh, this guy, along with that idiot blogger in Houston are just sick idiots. I guess we will never make a Final Four without it being the refs, or the NCAA giving us a special bracket, etc.

Never mind that MSU could not have won any other region besides the East. No way MSU makes it through any other Region.