MBB: Duke vs. Yale (Nov 25, 7 pm, ESPNU) Pre-Game and In-Game Thread

[JBDuke]

Yale comes to Cameron Indoor Stadium on the night before Thanksgiving.

[uh_no]

Yale comes to Cameron Indoor Stadium on the night before Thanksgiving.

lets have a heaping helping of BULLDOG

[Olympic Fan]

Pretty fair Yale team -- one of the preseason favorites to win the Ivy League. They'll come in with a 3-1 record.

I watched them lose 71-69 at SMU Sunday. SMU is pretty good -- they won 27 games and are the preseason favorite in the American Conference (they were essentially No. 26 in last week's AP poll). Yet, Yale led most of the game.

Yale has a couple of pretty athletic frontcourt players, including 6-8 senior Justin Spears, last year's Ivy player of the year, and 6-6, 240-pound junior Brandon Sherrod -- he missed last season after taking off the year to tour with the Whiffenpoofs (Yale's singing group). They started three guards against SMU -- they are smallish guards and not very quick, but handle well and can all shoot the three -- 6-1 soph Makai Mason had a great night with 24 points and seven assists.

Definitely a team Duke should handle (especially in Cameron), but a respectable opponent that will help our RPI (because they will finish with a very good record whether they win the Ivy or not). Right now, they are No. 72 in Pomeroy.

Good chance for our youngsters to play and maybe make some progress. I think we really need Brandon Ingram to hit his stride if we're going to contend in the ACC. I love what we're getting from the three upperclassmen and Grayson has been phenomenal in four of our five games, but we need Ingram and Kennard to emerge as scoring threats if we're going to be the team we hope to be. K can only give them so much rope in games like Kentucky, VCU, Georgetown and (the upcoming game with Indiana). He has to use this game with Yale and Sunday's game with Utah State to help them figure their games out and get some confidence.

[subzero02]

A 6 foot 6 inch 240 pound whiffenpoof... Marshall and Amile eat whiffenpoofs for breakfast.

[Bluedevil114]

I flew to Chicago to watch Duke lose to Kentucky. I decided Saturday to drive up from Marylamd to New York to watch Duke defeat Georgetown on Sunday. At the half I was thinking should I sell my Yale tickets because I did not want to be the jinx. Wednesday morning I am driving down with two of my kids to see Duke take on Yale at Cameron. Pretty fun week. Even tonight I am going to the Capitals game in DC.

Great week of live sports. I am looking forward to watching the maturation of Thornton at the point. When will his court vision improve? Does Kennard get his three point touch going over the next two games? Will Ingram start becoming more physical and increase his energy? Will Duke start working the ball inside to develop an interior game or do we reply on drives and jumpers? Will Grayson continue to be our leader and not play down to the competition?

This will be a very fun team to watch develop over the next several months. Go Duke!

[devildeac]

Pretty fair Yale team -- one of the preseason favorites to win the Ivy League. They'll come in with a 3-1 record.

I watched them lose 71-69 at SMU Sunday. SMU is pretty good -- they won 27 games and are the preseason favorite in the American Conference (they were essentially No. 26 in last week's AP poll). Yet, Yale led most of the game.

Yale has a couple of pretty athletic frontcourt players, including 6-8 senior Justin Spears, last year's Ivy player of the year, and 6-6, 240-pound junior Brandon Sherrod -- he missed last season after taking off the year to tour with the Whiffenpoofs (Yale's singing group). They started three guards against SMU -- they are smallish guards and not very quick, but handle well and can all shoot the three -- 6-1 soph Makai Mason had a great night with 24 points and seven assists.

Definitely a team Duke should handle (especially in Cameron), but a respectable opponent that will help our RPI (because they will finish with a very good record whether they win the Ivy or not). Right now, they are No. 72 in Pomeroy.

Good chance for our youngsters to play and maybe make some progress. I think we really need Brandon Ingram to hit his stride if we're going to contend in the ACC. I love what we're getting from the three upperclassmen and Grayson has been phenomenal in four of our five games, but we need Ingram and Kennard to emerge as scoring threats if we're going to be the team we hope to be. K can only give them so much rope in games like Kentucky, VCU, Georgetown and (the upcoming game with Indiana). He has to use this game with Yale and Sunday's game with Utah State to help them figure their games out and get some confidence.


A 6 foot 6 inch 240 pound whiffenpoof... Marshall and Amile eat whiffenpoofs for breakfast.

I'd imagine that Sherrod is very vocal on the floor...

[dball]

I'd imagine that Sherrod is very vocal on the floor...

Can't let Sherrod dictate the tenor of the game.

[kAzE]

Pretty fair Yale team -- one of the preseason favorites to win the Ivy League. They'll come in with a 3-1 record.

I watched them lose 71-69 at SMU Sunday. SMU is pretty good -- they won 27 games and are the preseason favorite in the American Conference (they were essentially No. 26 in last week's AP poll). Yet, Yale led most of the game.

Yale has a couple of pretty athletic frontcourt players, including 6-8 senior Justin Spears, last year's Ivy player of the year, and 6-6, 240-pound junior Brandon Sherrod -- he missed last season after taking off the year to tour with the Whiffenpoofs (Yale's singing group). They started three guards against SMU -- they are smallish guards and not very quick, but handle well and can all shoot the three -- 6-1 soph Makai Mason had a great night with 24 points and seven assists.

Definitely a team Duke should handle (especially in Cameron), but a respectable opponent that will help our RPI (because they will finish with a very good record whether they win the Ivy or not). Right now, they are No. 72 in Pomeroy.

Good chance for our youngsters to play and maybe make some progress. I think we really need Brandon Ingram to hit his stride if we're going to contend in the ACC. I love what we're getting from the three upperclassmen and Grayson has been phenomenal in four of our five games, but we need Ingram and Kennard to emerge as scoring threats if we're going to be the team we hope to be. K can only give them so much rope in games like Kentucky, VCU, Georgetown and (the upcoming game with Indiana). He has to use this game with Yale and Sunday's game with Utah State to help them figure their games out and get some confidence.

I agree that Ingram and Kennard need to get it going on offense, but I've been very impressed with Thornton's scoring ability over the last couple of games. He is 100% able to get his own shot, which is something even Tyus Jones struggled with at times last season. What Thornton lacks at this point is the instincts and feel for the game that Tyus has, knowing when to set up his teammates and when to get his own shot. That might not happen this year, but he is clearly a good scorer, and I think he will be one of the top 3 scorers on this team when it's all said and done, and we will be a better team with him taking more of the offensive load.

No question though, we need Kennard and Ingram to step it up in a major way if we have dreams of a 2nd consecutive Final Four. Just saying, I believe we can afford to rely on Thornton a bit more for scoring at least in the short term, and potentially for the long haul as well, although I'd be even more thrilled if he started trying to set up his teammates more. Nobody else on the team can create an open shot as easily as he can. He just has to knock them down, and he's been doing that the last couple of games.

[devildeac]

Can't let Sherrod dictate the tenor of the game.

On what do you bass your statement?

Hoping for a solid win here for the home team by low double digits.

[kAzE]

On what do you bass your statement?

Hoping for a solid win here for the home team by low double digits.

As long as we're playing alto-gether, we'll be fine.

[Wander]

Trap game! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F4qzPbcFiA) Yale should be an NCAA tournament team - remember that they actually tied Harvard for the Ivy League title last year, and just barely lost the 1-game playoff to get the tournament bid. Duke is young, 4 of Yale's starters are seniors, it's Thanksgiving break, comes right after a big week against Kentucky/VCU/Georgetown and a week before the Indiana showdown, and Yale has already played a road game this year against a talented team and was right in the game. I would not be surprised to see this be a close game.

[cato]

Trap game! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F4qzPbcFiA)

5727

[dukelifer]

Trap game! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F4qzPbcFiA) Yale should be an NCAA tournament team - remember that they actually tied Harvard for the Ivy League title last year, and just barely lost the 1-game playoff to get the tournament bid. Duke is young, 4 of Yale's starters are seniors, it's Thanksgiving break, comes right after a big week against Kentucky/VCU/Georgetown and a week before the Indiana showdown, and Yale has already played a road game this year against a talented team and was right in the game. I would not be surprised to see this be a close game.

With this Duke team- no game is going to be easy. Duke should prevail but I expect it will be a game for a half.

[Troublemaker]

Highlight video of Yale's best player, 6'8" 205-lb Sr. Justin Sears

Later in the season, I would hope that Brandon is up to this task. But for now, it's probably best to sic Matt on him.

Also, check out that full possession by Yale that begins at 2:07. Can Duke guard that for 30 seconds without leaking? (And is that Amaker borrowing from Dean Smith's playbook with the point zone?)



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBJKCvjfgbw

[COYS]

With this Duke team- no game is going to be easy. Duke should prevail but I expect it will be a game for a half.

Perhaps, but I also think that the season started as a whirlwind for our young guys. The two openers were easy, to be sure, but then the guys had to hit the road to play a team with (probably) more overall talent in UK and then two experienced and good teams at The Garden. We're accustomed to seeing Duke freshman kill it right away to be sure, but as has been mentioned many times, this year's freshman class isn't as strong as years past, whether we're talking at Duke or overall across the nation. Brandon probably would have been ranked behind Jah, Tyus, and possibly even Justise if he had been in last year's class. So perhaps they weren't quite ready to have the spotlight shined directly on them. There's no shame in that. We still emerged with only one loss. Meanwhile, we got to see Derryck mature more than anticipated over the three game stretch. Grayson has made some adjustments after his humbling performance against UK. His offensive game is in the stratosphere. And while the defense has been porous at times, there is still plenty of potential to get those kinks worked out . . . especially since some of our defensive struggles start on the offensive end when we take bad shots with no one back or commit silly, live ball turnovers.

Now, the guys will be back in the friendly confines of Cameron. They will have been sufficiently humbled. And the staff will have a day or two to make some choice adjustments. So far, nothing is guaranteed for anyone. Grayson and the freshman know that if they don't perform, they can lose their starting spot and/or minutes. I think everyone will come out hungry to prove that they are deserving of their time on the floor. As you say, Yale is an experienced team. But I am fully expecting our guys to come out focused from the get-go. After two games in a row where we took a while to ease into the game while spotting the other team a big lead, I think the staff and the players will zero in on starting strong.

As least, this is what I'd like to see. This, and a breakout game for Brandon.

[duke79]

Who will President Brodhead be rooting for?

[devildeac]

Who will President Brodhead be rooting for?

The slightly lighter, (hopefully) more athletic shade of blue;) .

[dukelifer]

Who will President Brodhead be rooting for?

I wonder if he ever attended a Yale basketball game.

[Edouble]

I wonder if he ever attended a Yale basketball game.

Did they have basketball back then?

[Lar77]

Especially gave some insights into our favorite coach that I hadn't seen before. Sesumarongi. Durante, DeBergerac, Pinocchio. Never thought of him in that context.

On another note, the next two games give our freshman an opportunity to grow. A lot has been written elsewhere about how we take half a game to get it together (halftime speech anyone?), how Brandon Ingram is struggling (I wonder if putting so much weight on has thrown him off a bit and he's still growing into it), how Luke Kennard can't find the three (it's there).

We just played three difficult games in tournament conditions and emerged 2 and 1. The UK game turned out to be a good learning experience. I expect VCU and Georgetown to be in the conversation on Selection Sunday. Yale and Utah State are not soft pitches (mediocre KenPom ratings but both 3-0) and give us an opportunity to develop.

We need to grow and diversify our offense (not often we have someone scoring 20 points a game much less 30)and improve our defense, cleaning up the lapses. As seen the last few days, Miami will be tough and Wake is better than expected.

[Olympic Fan]

Yale and Utah State are not soft pitches (mediocre KenPom ratings but both 3-0) and give us an opportunity to develop.


I think both Yale and Utah State will 3end up ranked higher in the RPI than in KenPom. Both are contenders in their conferences and are likely to post strong overall records.

Hey, I know how flawed RPI is, but it's the ranking that matters to the committee.

But agree that the two games should give our kids more chance to development. I think it's especially important for Brandon and/or Luke to emerge as another consistent scoring threat. I think we know what MP3, Amile and Matt bring to the table -- at this stage in their careers, it's not likely to suddenly change. We can't ask any more of Grayson than he's giving us. And Derryck is definitely ahead of his projected schedule.

Chase has a lot of room for development, but I doubt he emerges this year as a consistent scoring threat. That leaves Brandon and Luke -- both have the potential to be consistent double figure scorers -- and we're going to need that. We can't keep expecting Brandon to score 30-plus against strong teams (and losing when he doesn't).

[Lar77]

I think both Yale and Utah State will 3end up ranked higher in the RPI than in KenPom. Both are contenders in their conferences and are likely to post strong overall records.

Hey, I know how flawed RPI is, but it's the ranking that matters to the committee.

But agree that the two games should give our kids more chance to development. I think it's especially important for Brandon and/or Luke to emerge as another consistent scoring threat. I think we know what MP3, Amile and Matt bring to the table -- at this stage in their careers, it's not likely to suddenly change. We can't ask any more of Grayson than he's giving us. And Derryck is definitely ahead of his projected schedule.

Chase has a lot of room for development, but I doubt he emerges this year as a consistent scoring threat. That leaves Brandon and Luke -- both have the potential to be consistent double figure scorers -- and we're going to need that. We can't keep expecting Brandon to score 30-plus against strong teams (and losing when he doesn't).

I agree. We've been relying on Grayson too much. Even though he has responded, he's not scoring 30 points a game. Matt's an opportunistic scorer and Derryck seems to be responding to his new role as a scorer and playmaker (and can make FTs). But those three will probably settle in for 50 a game (48?). MP3 and Amile are who thought they would be (even a little better). Add in a dozen. So scoring has to come from the other 3 freshman. Luke and Brandon should be able to get 20 between them. Chase will contribute his in spots.

Based on our defense so far, I think as a team we need 80 points to feel somewhat comfortable.

[weezie]

I gave our tix to a family member and his five year old son. The little shaver has had a Duke fixation since he was a toddler. They live in Greensboro and this will be the youngster's first live game. I wish I could be there to see his excitement so if any of you who know where we sit are going to be there, tell him Aunt weezie says hello. Cute as a little button, he is.

[Bob Green]

I love what we're getting from the three upperclassmen and Grayson has been phenomenal in four of our five games, but we need Ingram and Kennard to emerge as scoring threats if we're going to be the team we hope to be.

I agree this game will be a good opportunity for Ingram and Kennard to get it going on offense. On defense, I'll be watching to see if we mix things up by switching between multiple defenses. We all know we will see M2M and the basic 2-3 Zone, but I am interested in seeing if we utilize the 1-3-1 again plus some sort of 3/4 court trap.

Witnessing this team develop its defensive identity is going to be enjoyable.

[Troublemaker]

I agree this game will be a good opportunity for Ingram and Kennard to get it going on offense. On defense, I'll be watching to see if we mix things up by switching between multiple defenses. We all know we will see M2M and the basic 2-3 Zone, but I am interested in seeing if we utilize the 1-3-1 again plus some sort of 3/4 court trap.

Witnessing this team develop its defensive identity is going to be enjoyable.

Agreed. We haven't played all that well in the 2-3 zone this season, but we've shown some promising signs of being a disruptive defense in the 1-3-1. I'd like to see us develop our M2M and our 1-3-1 in this game. The 2-3, I'm about ready to toss in the garbage bin. At least for the time being.

[Henderson]

I gave our tix to a family member and his five year old son. The little shaver has had a Duke fixation since he was a toddler. They live in Greensboro and this will be the youngster's first live game. I wish I could be there to see his excitement so if any of you who know where we sit are going to be there, tell him Aunt weezie says hello. Cute as a little button, he is.

Will make his day, I'm sure. Sporkification coming your way.

[COYS]

Agreed. We haven't played all that well in the 2-3 zone this season, but we've shown some promising signs of being a disruptive defense in the 1-3-1. I'd like to see us develop our M2M and our 1-3-1 in this game. The 2-3, I'm about ready to toss in the garbage bin. At least for the time being.

This definitely reflects my observations, too. Does anyone know if there is a website that breaks down defensive efficiency by type of defense? I feel as if our 2-3 has been particularly ineffective this season, far more so than our man-to-man. But it could also be that I watch more closely when we play zone simply because it still surprises me when we do it for an extended period, even after last season. Therefore, I tend to remember the negative outcomes more clearly.

[uh_no]

This definitely reflects my observations, too. Does anyone know if there is a website that breaks down defensive efficiency by type of defense? I feel as if our 2-3 has been particularly ineffective this season, far more so than our man-to-man. But it could also be that I watch more closely when we play zone simply because it still surprises me when we do it for an extended period, even after last season. Therefore, I tend to remember the negative outcomes more clearly.

kenpom tracks it on a per-game basis....what % of possessions were man or zone, and you should be able to come up with rough efficiencies of each on a per-posesesion basis.

i don't know of anyone who explicitly tracks that, or breaks down the D to the type of zone.

[COYS]

kenpom tracks it on a per-game basis...what % of possessions were man or zone, and you should be able to come up with rough efficiencies of each on a per-posesesion basis.

i don't know of anyone who explicitly tracks that, or breaks down the D to the type of zone.

Looks like I'll be shelling out the $20 for a subscription . . .

[Troublemaker]

kenpom tracks it on a per-game basis...what % of possessions were man or zone, and you should be able to come up with rough efficiencies of each on a per-posesesion basis.

i don't know of anyone who explicitly tracks that, or breaks down the D to the type of zone.

I'm a Kenpom subscriber, and I'm not aware that he tracks that and I can't see how he could track that. Ultimately, all of his data are derived from the information contained in a standard box score and standard play-by-play, which do not break down man vs zone possessions. I think you may be mistaking his service for something more costly like Synergy, who employs people to watch games and chart each possession by what offensive plays and defenses are being run. Pomeroy, as far as I know, is one man who gathers data by writing automated computer scripts to cull basic stats from standard box scores and play-by-plays and then derives more advanced stats (tempo-free) from those basic ones.

[Troublemaker]

Uh_no, not to pick on you, but in another thread you wrote this:


great writeup. it will certainly be interesting to watch going forward.

Hopefully kenpom puts his per-lineup stats back up like he had last year...

Kenpom does not break down his stats by lineup.

Either you have a higher subscription than I do (but I'm only aware of one level of subscriber), or you're mistaking his service for someone else's.

[uh_no]

http://kenpom.com/team.php?team=Duke&y=2015

bottom: he tracks the usage and efficiency of each player in each lineup combination, as well as the amount of time that lineup is used.

http://kenpom.com/gameplan.php?team=Duke

for each game, he tracks whether the opponent used all man, mostly man, mostly zone, or all zone.....but now that I look at it, it appears static...so perhaps he assigns a value for each team and uses that? hm

either way, he definitely tracks individual efficiency on a per lineup basis, which used in conjunction with the usage percentages (for both individual and lineup) can be used to generate efficiencies per lineup.

he doesn't seem to have that posted this year though.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

FYI, my ESPN app is now listing this game at 5pm... any explanation?

[Bob Green]

FYI, my ESPN app is now listing this game at 5pm... any explanation?

Perhaps your app thinks you are in Mountain Time. My computer still says 7 pm Eastern.

[Troublemaker]

http://kenpom.com/team.php?team=Duke&y=2015

bottom: he tracks the usage and efficiency of each player in each lineup combination, as well as the amount of time that lineup is used.

<snip>

either way, he definitely tracks individual efficiency on a per lineup basis, which used in conjunction with the usage percentages (for both individual and lineup) can be used to generate efficiencies per lineup.


One of us is reading it wrong. From what I can tell, he tracks the frequency of each lineup (as explained here by him) (http://kenpom.com/blog/index.php/weblog/entry/most_frequent_lineups) but nothing else (no lineup efficiencies). For example, in the link you provide, the number 46.1% indicates that Coach played our starting lineup together 46.1% of all minutes. That's frequency data. But, what number corresponds to Tyus' efficiency in this lineup? Or the efficiency of the lineup itself? That data isn't there, from what I can tell.

I would love to be wrong, as that would be cool data to have.



http://kenpom.com/gameplan.php?team=Duke

for each game, he tracks whether the opponent used all man, mostly man, mostly zone, or all zone...but now that I look at it, it appears static...so perhaps he assigns a value for each team and uses that? hm


That's right. He uses an algorithm to estimate how much zone or m2m a team plays based entirely on their statistical profile and then places teams into one of 4 high-level categories - "Mostly Man," "Mostly Zone," "Some Zone," "Inconclusive." He calls it a team's defensive fingerprint (http://kenpom.com/blog/index.php/weblog/entry/defensive_fingerprint/). But he does NOT have actual real numerical data (e.g. number of possessions of zone played) because he does not have people watching and charting games.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Perhaps your app thinks you are in Mountain Time. My computer still says 7 pm Eastern.

Strange. It just changed back. Watched it happen. Must be the turkeys at ESPN.

Good - 7pm is far for convenient for me.

[uh_no]

One of us is reading it wrong. From what I can tell, he tracks the frequency of each lineup (as explained here by him) (http://kenpom.com/blog/index.php/weblog/entry/most_frequent_lineups) but nothing else (no lineup efficiencies). For example, in the link you provide, the number 46.1% indicates that Coach played our starting lineup together 46.1% of all minutes. But, what number corresponds to Tyus' efficiency in this lineup? Or the efficiency of the lineup itself? That data isn't there, from what I can tell.

I would love to be wrong, as that would be cool data to have.


In the words of Dear Mr Bennet: Read On!


Border thickness proportional to player %Poss, green shading proportional to 3PA/(.475*FTA+FGA)

but it appears i'm wrong again, as it seems to be static for a given player, and is not per lineup :(
Mr. Pom: I am dissapoint!

[Troublemaker]

In the words of Dear Mr Bennet: Read On!



but it appears i'm wrong again, as it seems to be static for a given player, and is not per lineup :(
Mr. Pom: I am dissapoint!

Right, plus the border thickness indicates that player's usage, and the green shading indicates how often that player shoots 3s, so, as clever as that "at a glance" summary is by KenPom, he's not indicating efficiency with it.

He SHOULD be able to provide lineup efficiencies, though, so like you I hope he does so one day. Although that is lower on my wishlist. The #1 feature I would want KenPom to add is a breakdown of efficiencies by types of change of possession, e.g. After Made Shot, After Missed Shot, After Turnover. Some teams may be great in transition but a poor halfcourt team. That kind of breakdown can help tease that out.

[uh_no]

Right, plus the border thickness indicates that player's usage, and the green shading indicates how often that player shoots 3s, so, as clever as that "at a glance" summary is by KenPom, he's not indicating efficiency with it.

He SHOULD be able to provide lineup efficiencies, though, so like you I hope he does so one day. Although that is lower on my wishlist. The #1 feature I would want KenPom to add is a breakdown of efficiencies by types of change of possession, e.g. After Made Shot, After Missed Shot, After Turnover. Some teams may be great in transition but a poor halfcourt team. That kind of breakdown can help tease that out.

this should be *relatively* easy to do since NCAA makes PbP data available (i think).....for any enterprising undergrad who wants to write me a scraper!

[Isaac Sours]

As long as we're playing alto-gether, we'll be fine.

These puns are falling a little flat. Maybe scale them back a little bit? I feel they will affect the harmony of this thread.

[OldPhiKap]

These puns are falling a little flat. Maybe scale them back a little bit? I feel they will affect the harmony of this thread.

Pretty sharp comments there.

[grad_devil]

Pretty sharp comments there.

Eh, to me they've fallen flat.

[CDu]

These puns are falling a little flat. Maybe scale them back a little bit? I feel they will affect the harmony of this thread.


Pretty sharp comments there.


Eh, to me they've fallen flat.

That is a familiar refrain, grad_devil.

[OldPhiKap]

That is a familiar refrain, grad_devil.

This thread is definitely headed for treble. . . .

[devildeac]

Trying to correct the timing of this thread, I hope we can force the Bulldogs to play a bit up-tempo...

Hope that measures up...

[OldPhiKap]

^^ if not, I am sure it is purely accidental. Because it would surely not be natural.

[riverside6]

Live tempo-based stats for Duke/Yale, starters posted...

http://www.scacchoops.com/yale-at-duke-basketball-live-stats-11252015

[Troublemaker]

Looks like the in-game thread will get work tonight. No chat, huh?

[jipops]

'13-'14 defense back in effect

[rsvman]

Sad on the defensive end.

bright spot is Ingram so far.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Nice little clip of K talking about Amaker. Bilas, et al winning the ACC regular season - his "first championship."

But, did anyone else think the #nevergraduate was a little too.... UNC?

:)

Just kidding, of course.

We show flashes of brilliance, but wow our defense is Gawd Awful.

[ChillinDuke]

Turned on with 2 mins left first half. Ingram with 9. Anyone can describe?. Eerily quiet roun here.

- Chillin

[kAzE]

Ugh, Derryck could be so good if he just had a little better vision . . . he called for a pick from Amile with around 13:00 to go in the 1st half, made a great move to get in to the paint, then just completely missed Amile wide open rolling to the basket, and gave it up to Luke, who was standing on the wing with a defender in position. Then with about 10:30 to go, he was leading a fast break and missed a wide open Matt Jones spotting up for 3 on the opposite side of the floor. He's got all the quickness and physical gifts to be great, but his point guard instincts need a great deal of work. Love his future potential though.

[Troublemaker]

I'm Thankful for the 1-3-1 zone defense.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

That is a familiar refrain, grad_devil.

Am I too late?

/ins Ed Cota joke

[Troublemaker]

Turned on with 2 mins left first half. Ingram with 9. Anyone can describe?. Eerily quiet roun here.

- Chillin

Get in chat, Chillin and others. Bob Green posted link on main forum.

[uh_no]

Ugh, Derryck could be so good if he just had a little better vision . . . he called for a pick from Amile with around 13:00 to go in the 1st half, made a great move to get in to the paint, then just completely missed Amile wide open rolling to the basket, and gave it up to Luke, who was standing on the wing with a defender in position. Then with about 10:30 to go, he was leading a fast break and missed a wide open Matt Jones spotting up for 3 on the opposite side of the floor. He's got all the quickness and physical gifts to be great, but his point guard instincts need a great deal of work. Love his future potential though.

This was lost in the praise that was heaped on him last weekend. Yeah he started putting up points, but he still wasn't the point guard that i think this team needs on the floor...the guy who can find and make those passes. He doesn't have an assist in 10 minutes yet tonight.

It's early yet, yes, but I'm not sure one year is enough to find those instincts. I think his biggest role on the team will be to be a threat enough that he gives grayson room to work. As kedsy pointed out in the other thread, both seem to thrive while the other is on the floor.

anyway, lots of ball yet to be played....just my thoughts after 3 exhibitions and 5 games. He'll have plenty of chances to prove me wrong :)

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Loving our aggression starting the second half

[Tripping William]

Whiffenpoof: Ahhhhh, see ya!

[Bob Green]

I'm Thankful for the 1-3-1 zone defense.

The 1-3-1 zone could be our base defense this year. We have the length to execute it to perfection.

[jipops]

22 for Yale looks like the best player on the floor.

[uh_no]

The 1-3-1 zone could be our base defense this year. We have the length to execute it to perfection.

ever since the 1-3-1 took my team to the middle school rec league championship game, I've been a fan. It takes a certain kind of team, good solid anchor, and quick but long people on the sides. So long as the off-ball side of the zone adjusts properly, especially to cover the post, it can be really versatile.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Whew! Much better second half. LGD GTHc!