MBB: Duke 80, Yale 61 Post-Game Thread

[Bob Green]

Post your game comments here.

1-3-1 defense to the rescue!

[Waynne]

Very encouraging to see Brandon play a good game.

[wilko]

While watching the game my 13yo called Ingram "Groot Jr"
Nice to see the team respond after a slow start.

[Troublemaker]

Very good win. We accomplished a lot tonight despite a poor start. We got Brandon Ingram and Luke Kennard going, and we've established the 1-3-1 as our go-to zone for this season that should be effective against most teams given our length and athleticism.

This was technically the first time Duke has covered the point spread this season. (The Bryant game was un-lined, but we won by a big enough margin that we probably would've covered had Vegas lined it.)

[Tripping William]

Somewhere out there Tommy Amaker is celebrating and yet worrying at the same time. Yale is no pushover. Solid second half, and Matty Jones is a rock.

[Heaven's Guardian]

Very encouraging to see Brandon play a good game.

It'll be even better once he adjusts to his new strength. It doesn't seem like his mechanics are broken, but a lot of his missed shots look like he doesn't know how hard to shoot. Once he figures that out, the jumpers and free throws should start falling.

[Kfanarmy]

It'll be even better once he adjusts to his new strength. It doesn't seem like his mechanics are broken, but a lot of his missed shots look like he doesn't know how hard to shoot. Once he figures that out, the jumpers and free throws should start falling.

Wow...some of his misses were just wow bad. He had I think 4 or 5 really short airballs in the 2nd half. Good to see him score and be more agressive, but he was 7 of 16 from the field and I don't recall any of his misses hitting the rim.

[Troublemaker]

Somewhere out there Tommy Amaker is celebrating and yet worrying at the same time. Yale is no pushover.

True. If Yale stays healthy and wins the Ivy (besides Harvard/Tommy, Princeton is supposed to be really good this year), I'll look at them closely for nabbing one or two wins in my bracket. Very savvy and connected team; they have 4 senior starters and it shows. Excellent rebounders for their size. Somewhat athletic, too.

[mgtr]

Very happy to see the frosh who played tonight coming along. Another poster noted that they just needed to adapt to the speed of play and gain confidence. I think both boxes are getting checked.

[dukelifer]

Tough game after a tough week. Team continues to respond in the second half. There are flashes but it is still not a cohesive unit out there. I am really beginning to like what I see from Jeter. He does a lot of good things in the limited minutes he plays. He has very good instincts and seems to understand his strengths and weaknesses. Ingram was a bit more aggressive. He clearly plays well against less athletic teams but he needs to figure it out once the ACC seasons starts up. This team is taking baby steps toward getting better. Not sure they are ready to compete in the ACC day in and day out right now. It is good that they have a little more time to work out the kinks.

[Furniture]

Tough game after a tough week. Team continues to respond in the second half. There are flashes but it is still not a cohesive unit out there. I am really beginning to like what I see from Jeter. He does a lot of good things in the limited minutes he plays. He has very good instincts and seems to understand his strengths and weaknesses. Ingram was a bit more aggressive. He clearly plays well against less athletic teams but he needs to figure it out once the ACC seasons starts up. This team is taking baby steps toward getting better. Not sure they are ready to compete in the ACC day in and day out right now. It is good that they have a little more time to work out the kinks.

In regards Jeter it was very interesting to hear Amiles recent remarks about him. Not his exact words but something like that he is so vocal when he is on the bench that when he comes on he is already in the game.
BTW Amile is such a well spoken focused young man (reminds me of Winslow). I am sure that he will do really well in NBA interviews....

[Bluedevil114]

In regards Jeter it was very interesting to hear Amiles recent remarks about him. Not his exact words but something like that he is so vocal when he is on the bench that when he comes on he is already in the game.
BTW Amile is such a well spoken focused young man (reminds me of Winslow). I am sure that he will do really well in NBA interviews...

I was at the game tonight and got to sit in the front row behind the media next to the crazies. I could hear Jeter talking on defense. He was yelling switch and calling out the defense. He is coming along. I could even hear him from the bench. He was very aggressive when on the floor going after rebounds and loose balls.

Kennard just reminds me so much of Jon Scheyer. Coach K loves his play. He gets minutes because he just plays total team ball.

[CameronDuke]

Good win. Ingram looked more assertive at times tonight. Matty hit some big shots in the 2nd half. Grayson continued to be a stud. Duke came out the gates rather slow but their athleticism and halftime adjustments wore Yale down in the 2nd half. I liked the 1-3-1 with Amile at the point of the defense. I hope the guys and coaching staff enjoy their Thanksgiving Day tomorrow. This was a tough game to stay focused in coming off an emotional, tough win over Georgetown and all things considered, Duke took care of their business tonight.

Another DNP for Obi and Vrankovic. Hopefully they see the floor in some of the upcoming games but at this point, even that is questionable. Both have shown decent talent in the few experiences I have had watching them but do not look like they will crack the rotation anytime soon unless something drastic happens.

[Olympic Fan]

(1) Duke starts out down 9-0 and at that point gets a huge lift from Brandon and Luke off the bench. They combined to score 10 of Duke's first 11 points.

(2) Agree that the 1-3-1 turned the game around late in the first half. Right now, it's Duke's best defense -- the only one we play well.

(2) Duke opened a two-point halftime lead to 12 with a 12-2 run in the first few minutes of the second half and the key player in that spurt was Grayson ... and not with his scoring. It started on the defensive end when in two Yale possessions he had three deflections and an outright steal ... at the offensive end he had three assists (two for 3-pointers, one a beautiful pass to Amile for a layup). He capped the run with a rebound and a length of the court drive with an amazing finish in traffic. Allen had "just" 14 points tonight, but he had five rebounds, five assists and just one turnover.

(3) Duke showed the offensive balance that we have been lacking -- four players scored between 12 and 17 points ... with Amile adding nine (and 12 rebounds). Kennard still isn't shooting well (2-of-8 and 2-of-6 3-pointers), but he is playing well -- three steals, an assist and no turnovers.

(4) Brandon broke out of his funk, except he continues to launch 3-pointers with few results (1-of-6). But he hit 6-of-10 2-point tries and had five rebounds, a steal and a beautiful blocked shot on a hook shot. He had two spectacular offensive rebounds and follow shots in the second half.

(5) Best moment of the night came in Coach Jones' postgame interview. The Yale coach was talking about the development of guard Jack Montague and said, "Two years ago, he couldn't guard my son." What none of the reporters knew was that his son (who appeared to be about 6-7 years old) was sitting in the press area. As soon as Jones finished, his son stood up and asked in a very amazed voice, "He couldn't guard ME?"

PS Very, VERY disappointed in the Crazies ... you have a key Yale player who quit basketball for a year to sing with the Whiffenpoofs and not one clever or even not-so-clever reference by the fans -- even when the guy fouled out in the early moments of the second half.

One final comment: One of the worst officiated games I've ever seen in Cameron -- and I'm not complaining that Duke got screwed ... it was equally bad for both teams. Nobody could figure out what was a foul and what wasn't ... at times they allowed brutal contact and at times they called the slightest touch. It was awful -- for both teams.

[kAzE]

- I liked the team effort in the 2nd half to be tougher on the glass and more disruptive defensively. Shows that they respond well to coaching.
- Good to see Brandon finally have a nice all around game. His increased involvement on offense allowed Grayson to be used a bit more sparingly, which I think is good, because Grayson needs to be preserved for the long haul . . .
- Derryck had a few frustrating plays where better passing vision could have lead to a wide open bucket on pick and rolls and fast breaks. It's great that he's become a threat on offense, but to reach the highest ceiling of this team, we need him to develop the ability to find and make those passes. It may not happen this year, but we're all hoping it will.
- I thought Luke actually had a pretty nice game. He was off once again from the field, but he managed to contribute in a few other areas. I could be imagining things, but it seemed like each of his 3s got a really loud cheer from the home crowd. Seems like everyone is trying to will his stroke into form.

[GGLC]

Man, from most of these comments you'd never know Matt led the team in scoring!

[Devilwin]

Overall, a good game. Second half especially. Matt hit some big shots that got us going, Amile came to life, and Ingram had a decent run too. Thornton and Kennard showed flashes of what they will become, and I want to see more Jeter minutes. Love his talent and even more, his enthusiasm. Obi and Vrank????

[Troublemaker]

Man, from most of these comments you'd never know Matt led the team in scoring!

The old man had his floater working! Matt was great on the drive last night.

Happy Thanksgiving, all!

[uh_no]

PS Very, VERY disappointed in the Crazies ... you have a key Yale player who quit basketball for a year to sing with the Whiffenpoofs and not one clever or even not-so-clever reference by the fans -- even when the guy fouled out in the early moments of the second half.


students are on break.

[devildeac]

(1) Duke starts out down 9-0 and at that point gets a huge lift from Brandon and Luke off the bench. They combined to score 10 of Duke's first 11 points.

(2) Agree that the 1-3-1 turned the game around late in the first half. Right now, it's Duke's best defense -- the only one we play well.

(2) Duke opened a two-point halftime lead to 12 with a 12-2 run in the first few minutes of the second half and the key player in that spurt was Grayson ... and not with his scoring. It started on the defensive end when in two Yale possessions he had three deflections and an outright steal ... at the offensive end he had three assists (two for 3-pointers, one a beautiful pass to Amile for a layup). He capped the run with a rebound and a length of the court drive with an amazing finish in traffic. Allen had "just" 14 points tonight, but he had five rebounds, five assists and just one turnover.

(3) Duke showed the offensive balance that we have been lacking -- four players scored between 12 and 17 points ... with Amile adding nine (and 12 rebounds). Kennard still isn't shooting well (2-of-8 and 2-of-6 3-pointers), but he is playing well -- three steals, an assist and no turnovers.

(4) Brandon broke out of his funk, except he continues to launch 3-pointers with few results (1-of-6). But he hit 6-of-10 2-point tries and had five rebounds, a steal and a beautiful blocked shot on a hook shot. He had two spectacular offensive rebounds and follow shots in the second half.

(5) Best moment of the night came in Coach Jones' postgame interview. The Yale coach was talking about the development of guard Jack Montague and said, "Two years ago, he couldn't guard my son." What none of the reporters knew was that his son (who appeared to be about 6-7 years old) was sitting in the press area. As soon as Jones finished, his son stood up and asked in a very amazed voice, "He couldn't guard ME?"

PS Very, VERY disappointed in the Crazies ... you have a key Yale player who quit basketball for a year to sing with the Whiffenpoofs and not one clever or even not-so-clever reference by the fans -- even when the guy fouled out in the early moments of the second half.

One final comment: One of the worst officiated games I've ever seen in Cameron -- and I'm not complaining that Duke got screwed ... it was equally bad for both teams. Nobody could figure out what was a foul and what wasn't ... at times they allowed brutal contact and at times they called the slightest touch. It was awful -- for both teams.

Well, at least the Crazies that were there didn't do something off-key:rolleyes:.

Or, maybe they decided to give it a 5731.

[Olympic Fan]

students are on break.

Maybe -- and the ends of the student section were filled with ordinary fans. But there were plenty of students. The bulk of the student section behind press row were packed with a large student turnout ... they did a good job of harassing Jack Montague (why they picked on him, I don't know), but never had anything for the Whiffenpoof guy.

[gumbomoop]

I'm going to hope one of the Yale-Harvard games will be televised. Maybe FoxSports 1 or 2?

I'd watch that game. More interesting, better basketball, than a whole lot of ACC stuff.

Well, SEC stuff, anyway.

[jimsumner]

"Whiffen en poof

Sit with us.

Whiffen en poof

Sit with us."

Might have worked. :)

But yes, these holiday games are always a bit weird. A blend of students and non-students, many of the latter making their first trip to Cameron.

No cheer leaders, no Devil, a pep band that seemed to have students, alums, maybe some community folks.

So, you're not going to get the full experience the night before Thanksgiving. Just not going to happen.

[superdave]

Tough game after a tough week. Team continues to respond in the second half. There are flashes but it is still not a cohesive unit out there. I am really beginning to like what I see from Jeter. He does a lot of good things in the limited minutes he plays. He has very good instincts and seems to understand his strengths and weaknesses. Ingram was a bit more aggressive. He clearly plays well against less athletic teams but he needs to figure it out once the ACC seasons starts up. This team is taking baby steps toward getting better. Not sure they are ready to compete in the ACC day in and day out right now. It is good that they have a little more time to work out the kinks.

Does Jeter remind you of Ryan Kelly? Mobile, skilled big guy. Knows the game well. Jeter is more athletic though, so he could have a bigger upside.

[jimsumner]

Does Jeter remind you of Ryan Kelly? Mobile, skilled big guy. Knows the game well. Jeter is more athletic though, so he could have a bigger upside.

I tend to be cautious with comparisons because it's too easy to turn a-reminds-me-of b into a-is-as-good as-b.

But Kelly was a stretch 4, with perimeter skills that Jeter just doesn't have. But Jeter does remind me a bit of a young Alaa Abdelnaby, hopefully with more maturity than the young Alaa Abdelnaby.

But that's the closest Duke analog I can come up with.

[jv001]

I tend to be cautious with comparisons because it's too easy to turn a-reminds-me-of b into a-is-as-good as-b.

But Kelly was a stretch 4, with perimeter skills that Jeter just doesn't have. But Jeter does remind me a bit of a young Alaa Abdelnaby, hopefully with more maturity than the young Alaa Abdelnaby.

But that's the closest Duke analog I can come up with.

Jim, that's a good comparison and one that I hope comes to be true. At least a mature Alaa. He was an underrated player in my opinion. Just like Randy
Denton. GoDuke!

[Furniture]

The old man had his floater working! Matt was great on the drive last night.

Not sure if anyone has mentioned it but Matt has developed a very nice fake shot and looks more and more confident in using it too.

[OldPhiKap]

Not sure if anyone has mentioned it but Matt has developed a very nice fake shot and looks more and more confident in using it too.

Agreed. Matt has made up his mind that he is not just a defensive specialist -- he is an all-around leader on this team. Go get 'em!

[NSDukeFan]

Jim, that's a good comparison and one that I hope comes to be true. At least a mature Alaa. He was an underrated player in my opinion. Just like Randy
Denton. GoDuke!

I really liked Alaa's game as a senior. He was a beast inside with great moves.

[Saratoga2]

Good to see Brandon and Luke get into double figures. Both do well defensively and handle the ball fairly well so when they get points as well, the team is much tougher to defend. Brandon can get his outside shot off anytime he wishes. To date, his accuracy has been missing but his form is not terrible so perhaps he can come along with that. Luke also has room to grow. His shot looks better but hasn't been going down as often as I expect he is capable of.

Amile played a very good second half and is a smart player who boxes his man out well and has gotten stronger which results in more rebounds. I just wish he would go back to putting more arc on his FT attempts. He will get enough opportunities to get a couple points more per game with a better free throw stroke.

Matt is very steady, hitting a high percentage of his threes and if he can get to the basket also against the better teams he will give the team an edge that perhaps wasn't expected. Great to see him play so well.

[Henderson]

I really liked Alaa's game as a senior. He was a beast inside with great moves.

It did take him some time to develop. And he had a solid NBA career too. A friend of mine who used to be a beat writer for the Portland Oregonian when Alaa played there said Abdelnaby was always the smartest interview on the team.

I hope we get to see Jeter's game as a senior. Unless he blasts off into greatness early, in which case we'd be happy anyway. But Alaa seems like a reasonable comparator both in terms of skill level and trajectory.

[sagegrouse]

It did take him some time to develop. And he had a solid NBA career too. A friend of mine who used to be a beat writer for the Portland Oregonian when Alaa played there said Abdelnaby was always the smartest interview on the team.

I hope we get to see Jeter's game as a senior. Unless he blasts off into greatness early, in which case we'd be happy anyway. But Alaa seems like a reasonable comparator both in terms of skill level and trajectory.

Some points:

Alaa (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaa_Abdelnaby) was the co-announcer on the big screen at the Final Four in Indy this year -- pre-game, between-game and halftime stuff. He was really good. He also is the color commentator for the Sixers (employed by Comcast). Since he also did Arab-language broadcasts of the NBA at one time, does this make him the only bilingual sports announcer?

I am not sure everyone remembers Alaa's background -- his dad was a PhD physicist at Bell Labs.

[Henderson]

Since he also did Arab-language broadcasts of the NBA at one time, does this make him the only bilingual sports announcer?


I think there are lots of bilingual sports announcers in almost any sport. But Alaa was likely the most cunning. Being a Duke guy and all.

[duke09hms]

I think there are lots of bilingual sports announcers in almost any sport. But Alaa was likely the most cunning. Being a Duke guy and all.

Hahaha nice one.