MBB: Duke 91, Wake 75 Post-Game Thread

[pfrduke]

Closer than the final score, but good win for the good guys.

[mgtr]

I would say that Wake Forest was outcoached! Duke had a good strategory.

[weezie]

pfr, where's the motm thread? Hurry up!

[BD80]

Brandon, Brandon, Brandon.

Last on the team in FT shooting tonight: 83.3%

Grayson missed one too!

Guys should be watching Marshall - 4 for 4.

[mgtr]

pfr, where's the motm thread? Hurry up!

I know, you just want to vote for Plumlee -- me too.

[Bluedevil114]

What a great game by Duke tonight. So impressed with our strategy to get Plumlee involved. He was a mismatch. Ho many times have we said that before? Luke was amazing. A ton of phantom calls and this team has overcome some early season adversity. Love the fight this team has.

[Troublemaker]

Great, gutsy win considering the foul trouble and being undermanned and how the 1st half played out with Wake dominating the boards.

Marshall's best half of basketball ever. Making him a baseline lurker is a great coaching move. Sticking to dumpoffs and pick-and-rolls really helps his offense and accentuates his athleticism and power. Because of foul trouble, we had to play a whole segment of the 2nd half with Plumlee + 4 frosh on the floor, and he was the glue. Pretty sure we outscored them.

I mean, Duke out-rebounded Wake in the 2nd half. That's just awesome and sort of a heartwarming turnaround.

Now we know why Coach keeps mentioning Luke in the same breath as Grayson and Brandon recently. He can be as good an offensive player as those two.

Never bet your entire bankroll, guys, no matter how off the point spread seems. Wake +8 went down in flames.

[Pghdukie]

Elmore is the worst. By far

[devildeac]

Great, gutsy win considering the foul trouble and being undermanned and how the 1st half played out with Wake dominating the boards.

Marshall's best half of basketball ever. Making him a baseline lurker is a great coaching move. Sticking to dumpoffs and pick-and-rolls really helps his offense and accentuates his athleticism and power. Because of foul trouble, we had to play a whole segment of the 2nd half with Plumlee + 4 frosh on the floor, and he was the glue. Pretty sure we outscored them.

I mean, Duke out-rebounded Wake in the 2nd half. That's just awesome and sort of a heartwarming turnaround.

Now we know why Coach keeps mentioning Luke in the same breath as Grayson and Brandon recently. He can be as good an offensive player as those two.

Never bet your entire bankroll, guys, no matter how off the point spread seems. Wake +8 went down in flames.

I only lost $1K (I also like typing 1K ;)) of OPK's bitcoins so I'm ready to roll again :o .

[Bluedevil114]

That was a coaching clinic of K versus Manning. Manning blew it not rolling the dice on THOMAS at the five minute mark. He was the only player we could not guard tonight. K has an amazing game strategy. I love the attack to the rim all night long.

[weezie]

Elmore is the worst. By far

Well yes but in chat, we were stunned at his new mellow tone. Weird.

[bluenorth]

I would say that Wake Forest was outcoached! Duke had a good strategory.

I definitely agree. Coach K controlled the pace of the game, and his use of timeouts to re-focus the freshmen was excellent. In a close game it's always tempting to hoard the timeouts for the last couple of minutes, but K didn't hesitate to use them early. And Plumlee was great out of the Russian spot down low.

[devildeac]

Well yes but in chat, we were stunned at his new mellow tone. Weird.

I don't listen to the sumI'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this. so I'll trust the chatters on this one, in fact, one chatter on another site signed in as LenElmoreStillSucks (or something like that). ;)

(And we know who you were ;) .)

[devildeac]

I definitely agree. Coach K controlled the pace of the game, and his use of timeouts to re-focus the freshmen was excellent. In a close game it's always tempting to hoard the timeouts for the last couple of minutes, but K didn't hesitate to use them early. And Plumlee was great out of the Russian spot down low.

Very Laettner-esque on the shooting, too. ;)

[killerleft]

Excellent win! Marshall had Devin Thomas yapping at him in the early going, but definitely had the last laugh. Thomas was tough in the first half, but his personal foul followed by the technical was the game-changer. The freshmen, I thought, really showed a lot of heart and spirit considering WF was their second ACC away game.

If we can show that kind of grit the rest of the season, it's going to be a fun ride.

Go Duke!

[bluenorth]

Very Laettner-esque on the shooting, too. ;)

Yep, love the high percentage results from dunks. I wonder why Wake didn't foul Plumlee more often - coaching gaffe?

[devildeac]

Several amazing team stats of the night:

1. 93% FT
2. 6 TO (no typo)
3. 52% FG

[WillJ]

I've gotten to the point where I expect Ingram to play great, and I'm close to expecting the same from Kennard. Between those two and Allen - wow.

[devildeac]

Yep, love the high percentage results from dunks. I wonder why Wake didn't foul Plumlee more often - coaching gaffe?

Wouldn't have helped/worked-he was perfect from the line, too ;) .

[arnie]

That was a coaching clinic of K versus Manning. Manning blew it not rolling the dice on THOMAS at the five minute mark. He was the only player we could not guard tonight. K has an amazing game strategy. I love the attack to the rim all night long.

Yea, Manning's strategy makes no sense when a team is down by more than 5-6 at 5 minutes. Think Thomas came in with 2+ minutes left and too late to matter. Thought our guys played as strong as possible down the stretch.

[DukeFanSince1990]

Several amazing team stats of the night:

1. 93% FT
2. 6 TO (no typo)
3. 52% FG

And one of those turnovers was a crap call.

Excellent poise when a series of bad calls gave wake some life. Great win.

[devildeac]

Couple other interesting stats:

1. MP with 0 TO
2. BI with 4 blocks

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Plumlee has had a light go on. Great game.

Still can't expect him to be the sole interior defender, and Obi didn't look great. Nervous about playing teams with great 4's and 5's.

But heck, I will take a road win against a much improved Wake team any day of the week. ACC is going to be mighty tougj this year. Eek out wins one at a time.

Seriously, MP3, you played like a man tonight.

[killerleft]

Well yes but in chat, we were stunned at his new mellow tone. Weird.

I thought Elmore called a good game. What did he do to spark you knee-jerkers tonight? I heard no anti-Duke talk from him. He made several astute observations, and his early comments about WF's defense proved prophetic (well, it was pretty good for a deer:p).

[Newton_14]

I know it is way early in conf play, but this, in my opinion, was a really huge win for a really young team, especially given the foul trouble they had to contend with!

Send it in big fella!! Yes Marshall Plumlee, that is how you score in the paint! You go up intending to bring the rim down EVERY TIME! Career high 18 Points, and delivered key buckets and defense when the game was on the line and did a lot of it while he himself had 4 fouls. Best game of his career in my opinion. I hope to see more of that type of aggressiveness the rest of the season. Just a great game.

Great job by the Master managing the foul trouble in the second half, and very nice to have 3 guys that can take it hard to the rack, finish in traffic and/or draw fouls, in Grayson, Brandon, and Luke. That's a big 3-Headed Monster if you will, of a weapon to have as a team, and all 3 can shoot the 3 Ball well. Matt and Derryck can also attack, just in a different way, but Matt makes his money with the catch and shoot 3, and Derryck makes his with the mid-range jumper off the bounce. 5 very versatile kids who will keep us in most games.

Defensively they hurt us in the paint as expected, but we were able to get enough key stops down the stretch to put them away.

I was also pleased that Chase held his own while thrown in the fire in the second half due to foul trouble across the board. I was very worried when we had to sit Matt and Grayson and go to two bigs with Chase and Plumdawg, but that unit held their own, and Chase gave some nice minutes. That should help his confidence grow! Important minutes in the 2nd half in a hostile environment on the road, in a tight game. Hopefully that gives Chase a jolt of confidence while also helping him settle down and get the game to slow down a little for him. I was just very very pleased with him tonight. I thought it did wonders for his development in his young career. It is just sooo much harder for Freshman Bigs to adjust because they are playing against players their own size and bigger for the first time in their careers. We should never forget that when evaluating them. Not everyone is Jah. There are far more Chase Jeters and Amile Jeffersons who struggle early in their careers but turn into fine college players over their four year careers. Big step tonight for Chase. Well done big fella!

Well done Devils! Two in a row on the road in hostile environments. Now let's come home and trounce the Hokies in Cameron on Saturday!


Go Duke!

[BD80]

Couldn't watch the game, any reason given for Chase sitting?

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

I thought Elmore called a good game. What did he do to spark you knee-jerkers tonight? I heard no anti-Duke talk from him. He made several astute observations, and his early comments about WF's defense proved prophetic (well, it was pretty good for a deer:p).

He took the MP3 "parked under the basket, catch and dunk" and made it sound like revolutionary basketball. I mean, nice play, but he wouldn't shut up about it.

He is usually anti-Duke and always overly simplistic. IMHO, of course.

[uh_no]

Couldn't watch the game, any reason given for Chase sitting?

because he hasn't played well all year and his minutes have been dwindling? and plumlee played great tonight?

seriously...i hate to be harsh on someone on duke, but he was a foul away from a 7 trillion and you are wondering why he didn't play MORE?

he's simply not ready. He'll figure it out, i'm sure...but it won't be tonight, and probably not this year.

[SilkyJ]

I know, you just want to vote for Plumlee -- me too.

Make it 3 for MP3! It doesn't always look pretty, but tonight he was extremely effective. He's slowly having the Zoubek-ian lights turn on, and is arguably ahead of where Zoubs was at this point as a senior (his lights didn't really come on til February). If Marshall can grow into a 10 & 8 or even 8 & 8 type player with Amile out, we could be very dangerous when Amile returns.

The other guy I am love watching grow is Kennard. Its weird that a guy who won the mickie d 3 pt contest is shooting an abysmal 29% from 3, but he's still finding ways to be effective, is fearless driving and showed an array of finishing moves, including a consistent ability to finish with his off hand. In the 6 games since Amile went out he's averaging 17pts, 5.5rebs, and 2asts, and rarely turns the ball over (10 all season). Impressively, he's shooting 48% overall while only shooting 30% from 3 during those games, which shows how effective he's become as a driver and in the mid-range.

Also, MOTM was really our FT% -- 25-27 is our best performance of the season, beating our 28-32 effort against Long Beach.


Elmore is the worst. By far

Also true. Only Lenny could count 2 steps out loud and then refer to it as a travel. His duke hate is just too much for him to hide.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

he's simply not ready. He'll figure it out, i'm sure...but it won't be tonight, and probably not this year.

I feel it is too soon to write off Jeter for the year. Seems unfortunately likely he will see a lot of playing time when our studs get in inevitable foul trouble. Not inconceivable that the light goes on.

How many games ago were we all wondering why Kennard kept shooting?

[Stray Gator]

I thought Elmore called a good game. What did he do to spark you knee-jerkers tonight? I heard no anti-Duke talk from him. He made several astute observations, and his early comments about WF's defense proved prophetic (well, it was pretty good for a deer:p).

As one who has long lamented Elmore's customarily slanted commentary against Duke, I'll admit that I found him refreshingly neutral tonight. A couple of times he observed that a foul should have been called against Wake that the officials missed, and he occasionally criticized calls that went against Duke players as questionable -- it's been a long, long time since we heard anything like that from Len. He also was generous with compliments to Duke in situations where he has often resorted to grudgingly backhanded "praise." We can hope that he has indeed mellowed. (Or maybe it helps that his beloved Terps are no longer competing with Duke in the ACC.)

[Troublemaker]

Checking twitter while waiting for GoDuke to upload interviews

Bret Strelow ‏@bretstrelow (https://twitter.com/bretstrelow) 31m31 minutes ago (https://twitter.com/bretstrelow/status/684923077793308673)
K says Matt Jones tweaked his ankle in a recent practice. "We're literally on an edge all the time."

Perhaps that explains Matt's off game tonight. (Although sometimes players just have off games without needing a reason.)

[Rich]

because he hasn't played well all year and his minutes have been dwindling? and plumlee played great tonight?

seriously...i hate to be harsh on someone on duke, but he was a foul away from a 7 trillion and you are wondering why he didn't play MORE?

he's simply not ready. He'll figure it out, i'm sure...but it won't be tonight, and probably not this year.

And can we please stop the "play Obi more" banter? Probably a great kid, but pretty obvious he's not ready for ACC play. He looked lost and was completely weak the few times he got his hands on the ball.

[Newton_14]

I feel it is too soon to write off Jeter for the year. Seems unfortunately likely he will see a lot of playing time when our studs get in inevitable foul trouble. Not inconceivable that the light goes on.

How many games ago were we all wondering why Kennard kept shooting?

And I am lost on this commentary because as I stated in my earlier post, Chase got good minutes in the second half when we were in foul trouble and held his own out there. I was very pleased with how he played.

[sagegrouse]

Elmore is the worst. By far

Elmore's my good luck charm. He and Verne Lundquist broadcast the game with "the shot" only 24 years ago.

[Tripping William]

Plumlee has had a light go on. Great game.

Still can't expect him to be the sole interior defender, and Obi didn't look great. Nervous about playing teams with great 4's and 5's.

But heck, I will take a road win against a much improved Wake team any day of the week. ACC is going to be mighty tougj this year. Eek out wins one at a time.

Seriously, MP3, you played like a man tonight.

Downright Zoubekian.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Elmore's my good luck charm. He and Verne Lundquist broadcast the game with "the shot" only 24 years ago.

What shot could you possibly mean?

(Always happy for clarification and citations)

[OldPhiKap]

My MOTM is Plumlee's budding Zoubeard.

[Newton_14]

As one who has long lamented Elmore's customarily slanted commentary against Duke, I'll admit that I found him refreshingly neutral tonight. A couple of times he observed that a foul should have been called against Wake that the officials missed, and he occasionally criticized calls that went against Duke players as questionable -- it's been a long, long time since we heard anything like that from Len. He also was generous with compliments to Duke in situations where he has often resorted to grudgingly backhanded "praise." We can hope that he has indeed mellowed. (Or maybe it helps that his beloved Terps are no longer competing with Duke in the ACC.)


I thought Elmore was fine tonight as well. He did not come across as anti-Duke at all in my opinion. Who was the guy calling the game with him? Seemed like a new guy and I never caught his name.

[Rich]

As one who has long lamented Elmore's customarily slanted commentary against Duke, I'll admit that I found him refreshingly neutral tonight. A couple of times he observed that a foul should have been called against Wake that the officials missed, and he occasionally criticized calls that went against Duke players as questionable -- it's been a long, long time since we heard anything like that from Len. He also was generous with compliments to Duke in situations where he has often resorted to grudgingly backhanded "praise." We can hope that he has indeed mellowed. (Or maybe it helps that his beloved Terps are no longer competing with Duke in the ACC.)

Dunno the name of the guy calling play-by-play, but I thought he was good too. Some of ESPN's young announcers are very good. They actually let you know what's going on, add valuable commentary, tell you # of fouls, clock time, etc. The older guys seem to avoid telling you about the game, only their opinions outside of the game. One guy that has impressed me is Corey Alexander, although I understand he provides color commentary.

[sagegrouse]

Downright Zoubekian.

With a line that can only be described as Laettner-esque: 7-7 0-0 4-4

[HateCarolina]

As one who has long lamented Elmore's customarily slanted commentary against Duke, I'll admit that I found him refreshingly neutral tonight. A couple of times he observed that a foul should have been called against Wake that the officials missed, and he occasionally criticized calls that went against Duke players as questionable -- it's been a long, long time since we heard anything like that from Len. He also was generous with compliments to Duke in situations where he has often resorted to grudgingly backhanded "praise." We can hope that he has indeed mellowed. (Or maybe it helps that his beloved Terps are no longer competing with Duke in the ACC.)

I totally agree with you. When I saw he was announcing the game I even commented to my wife that I would probably yell at him on TV more than the actual game play. Strangely enough I thought he did a pretty decent call of the game.

On an unrelated subject am I the only one that's glad Devin "I mouth off too much" Thomas is a senior and we can be done with him?!?

[DangerDevil]

As one who has long lamented Elmore's customarily slanted commentary against Duke, I'll admit that I found him refreshingly neutral tonight. A couple of times he observed that a foul should have been called against Wake that the officials missed, and he occasionally criticized calls that went against Duke players as questionable -- it's been a long, long time since we heard anything like that from Len. He also was generous with compliments to Duke in situations where he has often resorted to grudgingly backhanded "praise." We can hope that he has indeed mellowed. (Or maybe it helps that his beloved Terps are no longer competing with Duke in the ACC.)

I too found myself stunned that Len Elmore maybe a few comments that bordered on sounding Pro-Duke!

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Dunno the name of the guy calling play-by-play, but I thought he was good too. Some of ESPN's young announcers are very good. They actually let you know what's going on, add valuable commentary, tell you # of fouls, clock time, etc. The older guys seem to avoid telling you about the game, only their opinions outside of the game. One guy that has impressed me is Corey Alexander, although I understand he provides color commentary.

For a hot second I thought it was Paulus - based solely on looks.

[sagegrouse]

What shot could you possibly mean?

(Always happy for clarification and citations)

Duke 104, Kentucky 103, March 28, 1992 at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. According to Verne, he said nothing after "the shot" went in. There was a "rather large commotion" on the floor, as you remember. Then, Verne said, legendary sports reporter Bob Ryan came down to the announcer's table and asked Len Elmore, "Is this the best basketball game you ever saw?" Elmore replied, "Well, I thought the ACC final between Maryland and State in '74 was the best game I ever saw, but this game might have been better."

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Duke 104, Kentucky 103, March 28, 1992 at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. According to Verne, he said nothing after "the shot" went in. There was a "rather large commotion" on the floor, as you remember. Then, Verne said, legendary sports reporter Bob Ryan came down to the announcer's table and asked Len Elmore, "Is this the best basketball game you ever saw?" Elmore replied, "Well, I thought the ACC final between Maryland and State in '74 was the best game I ever saw, but this game might have been better."

I will have to see if I can find some sort of replay online...

[DangerDevil]

Dunno the name of the guy calling play-by-play, but I thought he was good too. .

Mike Couzens

Tonight was the first time I've seen him as well.

http://www.mikecouzens.com/

[wavedukefan70s]

Elmore is just on my list he can never recover enough.hell would be having to listen to him anounce American idle for eternity.
As for the game i thought we played with heart and fought through some serious adversity.i thought thorton sid a good job as well as kennard and allen.plumlee took advantage of every situarion he could.
We did well in a very tough place to play.

[NYBri]

How many games ago were we all wondering why Kennard kept shooting?

I have never thought Kennard was shooting too much. Fire away, Dude!

Also, I have solved the Elmore problem...I watch the games with no sound. I can see what's happening...don't need a couple of yappers tell me what I'm seeing...and tonight I saw a great win...great team win...with a great coach.

[Kjeffrey]

I totally agree with you. When I saw he was announcing the game I even commented to my wife that I would probably yell at him on TV more than the actual game play. Strangely enough I thought he did a pretty decent call of the game.

On an unrelated subject am I the only one that's glad Devin "I mouth off too much" Thomas is a senior and we can be done with him?!?

I completely agree. I turned the game on with about 10 minutes to go in the first half. Thomas immediately scored on a dunk and proceeded to run his mouth on the way back down the court. I said to my husband (a Wake grad) "I've been watching for 10 seconds and Devin Thomas is already trash talking." For a guy who has won very little in college he sure has a lot to say.

[Neals384]

That was a coaching clinic of K versus Manning. Manning blew it not rolling the dice on THOMAS at the five minute mark. He was the only player we could not guard tonight. K has an amazing game strategy. I love the attack to the rim all night long.

This. What was Manning thinking? Eight down, 4:10 to go, and a player Duke just could not stop.

[wavedukefan70s]

I thought k was going to get t'D up on the out of bounds play

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

I thought k was going to get t'D up on the out of bounds play

He was fired up, for sure. In real time, it looked terrible. Replay shows it to be close.

Personally, I love seeing K's fire. What was the point spread over the subsequent 5 minutes?

[jbay201]

excellent game especially in a hostile environment!

freshman showed a lot of poise especially with both grayson and matt out with 4 fouls.

Once again Coach K showed his masterful coaching with a short bench. He is embracing the new rules by having the 5 guards drive to the basket as often as possible knowing that fouls will be called if they continue to be aggressive and switching to the zone intermittently throughout the game. His utilization of Plumlee this game was incredible and completely unexpected by Wake giving us a huge advantage.

Horrible coaching by Manning not putting their best player in earlier even with 4 fouls.

After this game, I feel great about our team doing well in the tough ACC though hopefully jefferson will be back in time for the UNC game!

[killerleft]

And I am lost on this commentary because as I stated in my earlier post, Chase got good minutes in the second half when we were in foul trouble and held his own out there. I was very pleased with how he played.

Agree with this 100%. Give the guy a break! His improvement is slow but steady.

[sagegrouse]

Mike Couzens

Tonight was the first time I've seen him as well.

http://www.mikecouzens.com/

Actually, at first I thought he was referring to Len Elmore as "my cousin."

[dukelifer]

I have never thought Kennard was shooting too much. Fire away, Dude!

Also, I have solved the Elmore problem...I watch the games with no sound. I can see what's happening...don't need a couple of yappers tell me what I'm seeing...and tonight I saw a great win...great team win...with a great coach.

Well to be fair- rather than shooting threes- he was scoring around the hoop where he is very effective and if he doesn't score he is going to get fouled - and he is automatic from the line. Kennard is getting comfortable out there. He plays very well under pressure.

Tight game as expected but an excellent effort by all- Plumlee was a force tonight and the young guys held it together. The team continues to improve and they have a much better sense of their strengths. The D is going to be an adventure for a while- but Duke is hard to guard. A number of guys can put up big numbers on any given night.

[kAzE]

While this was a career night for MP3, it's hard for me to give him the MOTM. He absolutely did a wonderful job finishing plays, but almost all of his points came off of brilliant plays made by Grayson, Luke, and Brandon. We needed everyone's contributions in this one and it was a real team effort. Grayson and Brandon carried us in the first half, and then Marshall and Luke finished the game strong.

It wasn't pretty defensively for most of the game, but it's hard to guard guys on the interior when everyone has 4 fouls. Offensively, this team is just damn good. They are so incredibly efficient with every possession. You would never think a team this young could play the way they do on offense.

I loved how the team handled the hostile environment and the absolutely horrendous officiating at times. (Grayson's 4th was one of the most egregious foul calls I've ever seen. That should be a no-call 100% of the time) It was our first true road game, and it seems like our guys were not fazed at all. Business as usual.

Can't say enough about how we closed the 2nd half out. It was just a gutty performance with a lot of pressure on our kids. 6 total turnovers. 25-27 at the free throw line. WOW. Now that's how you put an opponent away.

[Saratoga2]

Unfortunately, I only got to see the last few minutes but went back to review the stats. They out rebounded us by 9 but we were much better at the line in number and %, much better in TO's, and much better in FG%. Nice to hear MP3 was aggressive tonight and had an excellent stat line. I also looked at Brandon's. An excellent 17 points, 5 RB, 3 Blks, 3 St and one TO.

With Luke coming on as a mainstay of the offense as a sixth man, Gayson and Brandon capable of high double figures, we apparently will be in most games unless opponents find a way to neutralize some of our punch. Matt and Derryck can get theirs and if Marshall can stay aggressive and find a way to be contributor on offense we will be set to move up in the rankings, instead of just treading water and waiting for Amile to return.

[jipops]

Wow, color me surprised and impressed. This had to be the best win of the season so far. Think about it, with 18 minutes left 2 of our main guys had 4 fouls, Matt wasn't hitting anything, and Ingram would only score 1fg in the 2nd half, all on the road in an ACC game. Yet we still win by double figures. Our defense was terrific for most of the 2nd half and Luke was a total killer. He really took over that game.

It appears K really worked with the Plumlee and the guards on plays around the baseline. I'd say it worked quite well.

[BD80]

... Once again Coach K showed his masterful coaching with a short bench. He is embracing the new rules by having the 5 guards drive to the basket as often as possible knowing that fouls will be called if they continue to be aggressive ...

Sounds like the kind of coach top recruits might want to play for

[Newton_14]

Below is the link to the Coach K Presser. Enjoy!

http://www.goduke.com/mediaPortal/player.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4200&id=4886346

[Furniture]

I completely agree. I turned the game on with about 10 minutes to go in the first half. Thomas immediately scored on a dunk and proceeded to run his mouth on the way back down the court. I said to my husband (a Wake grad) "I've been watching for 10 seconds and Devin Thomas is already trash talking." For a guy who has won very little in college he sure has a lot to say.

It was só much fun being at the game and seeing Thomas getting his just rewards!
Did TV show when he slapped the floor?

[ChillinDuke]

Wow! Very impressed! Agree with those that felt like this was the best win of the year.

It was a bit of a foul fest that just felt like the refs were sort of taking over. But for the most part it went both ways - unfortunately someone had to be accruing all those fouls and for us it was Matt. One or two of his were absolutely ridiculous. But they had Thomas and Mitoglou with four as well, so again, sort of even on that front.

To me, this game was all about the gameplan. It was outstanding. The pregame plan seemed to be to let our guards/wings man the perimeter with Plumlee deep under the basket. Once the foul fest was identifiable, we turned to a drive, drive, drive with perhaps an emphasis on Grayson and Luke all the way to the hole because of their free throw shooting ability. Brandon was driving as well with a few more mid range moves. Thornton was driving too with his pull ups, and the Plumlee dumpoffs were consistently beautiful and a true contrast to what freshman Jeter is unable to do at this stage in his college career.

Then, K's ability to massage the foul issues was clinical. Spot minutes for Obi to finish the half. 4 freshman + Plumlee. One of Allen/Jones playing with under 4 to play, effectively hedging a foul out so that the other player was available (especially since we had the lead). Then both Allen/Jones in to seal it. Another true contrast in how Manning couldn't/didn't get Thomas back in the game earlier - and how we took the air out of the ball, obviously to milk clock but also so that they couldn't get Thomas in the game if we drove and got fouled early in the clock.

And sweet mother of pearl, Marshall Plumlee!!! What a game!

Now that really felt like an ACC caliber game, compared to the BC game. Man, if we can get past the Hokies and Tigers to go 4-0 in conference and 3-0 on the road, without Amile, that would really be such a monstrously huge start to the conference season. (Secretly, I was hoping we could get out of the first 4 games 3-1 which may still happen, but 2-2 seemed like a decent possibility.)

The Joel certainly wasn't as popping as it would have been with the students. Noticeably subdued. And loud and clear Duke cheers toward the end when the win was locked in.

All in all, a really satisfying game. And MOTM probably should go to K. Although obviously Marshall will win. I've been pretty harsh on this team in recent weeks, but they acquitted themselves nicely tonight and bought some hard-earned goodwill.

Hokies at home? I'll take it!

- Chillin

[elvis14]

What an interesting game. We had quite a few guys step up. MP3 played great tonight. I know Devin Thomas played well but he did a lot of his damage in the first half after MP3 picked up his second foul. After that we either had Jeter or Obi getting trounced our MP3 playing weak defense (to make sure he didn't pick up his 3rd foul too early). Grayson was killing WF in the first half and when he sat in the second half, Luke picked up where he left off.

Luke is going to be a special Blue Devil. He just handles himself well in any situation we've thrown him into. He plays with a great deal of controlled aggression. With Luke, Grayson and Brandon consistently playing well and other guys filling their roles, our offense is fantastic. Not to mention that Derryck is still growing and that his role will change (and expand) as the season continues. Derryck's handle was sick tonight. He may end up being this year's Grayson...a guy that plays well during the season but really steps up in March.

Now on to the announcers. I know that any time Elmore is calling a Duke game that we are going hear digs against Duke. Tonight I thought he was almost tolerable but then I realized that I may have thought he was tolerable simply because his partner, Mike Couzens, was absolutely horrible! He was basically openly rooting for WF. What I noticed was how he'd go crazy when WF would score and then just calmly mention the player on the Duke end. In the first half listening to these two bozo's you'd have thought that Devin Thomas had 30 and no one on Duke had more than 3. Grayson killed WF in the first half (as bad as Thomas was killing us) and they just stoically mentioned the score when Grayson would score. The whole game it was ridiculous. It was like they picked an announcer out of the WF student section or something.

[Kfanarmy]

And can we please stop the "play Obi more" banter? Probably a great kid, but pretty obvious he's not ready for ACC play. He looked lost and was completely weak the few times he got his hands on the ball.

I'm sure there are some nerves involved to...let's hope he steadies a bit

[DukieTiger]

I really don't remember Thomas going off until we started getting in to foul trouble. Once we did, he certainly capitalized.

Derryck made a couple of big plays tonight, but man- he was skidding all over the place in the first half. Just one way in which this team has so much potential to grow in the next few months.

It's really weird to hear how thin Duke is. There have been shallower Duke teams for sure. This team has a lot of versatile parts and is suffering through an injury. I think there's plenty of depth if we can get Amile back.

Luke Kennard's progression has been amazing to watch. He is attacking whenever he wants now! Still growing on defense but major props to him for rebounding in Amile's absence! He is grabbing over 10% of opponents' misses when he's on the floor, which is pretty good for a guard. You never want to assume things these days, but he feels like Duke's next 4-year star.

Brandon Ingram with 3 steals and 4 blocks tonight?! He is going to make the all defensive team- who was the last Duke player to make it?

I thought those minutes we stole with Jeter and Plumlee in together we're huge! Chase might not be quite there yet but that was valuable experience and the ability to have more options in going big could be important down the road.

All in all, I'm happy to have been wrong about this game and pleasantly surprised! I mentioned this previously, but BC and this game were the perfect introductions to ACC road games for the freshmen. They've been eased into road environments while students have been on break. Next is Clemson, which is basically a neutral site and the Tiger fan base will be a bit preoccupied with the football national championship next week. The way the schedule broke this year was really fortuitous for this team in particular. Though I'm sure I won't be saying that when we go through the Louisville, Virginia, @UNC, @Louisville stretch...

[oakvillebluedevil]

Actually, at first I thought he was referring to Len Elmore as "my cousin."

Reminds me of an NFL game I remember watching pre-internet. There was a running back in the 90s named Natrone Means, who I had never heard of.

I remember watching a whole game where the announcer kept saying "Natrone means...." and the whole time I'm getting frustrated thinking "But what does Natrone ACTUALLY mean?"

Bringing it back to Duke - awesome win. Luke is quickly becoming a favorite of mine on this team. Also, while Marshall made some of those finishes seem easy, the fact that he was able to put them down shows a lot of growth. I'm hoping that trend can continue

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Reminds me of an NFL game I remember watching pre-internet. There was a running back in the 90s named Natrone Means, who I had never heard of.

I remember watching a whole game where the announcer kept saying "Natrone means..." and the whole time I'm getting frustrated thinking "But what does Natrone ACTUALLY mean?"


Some on this board remember Mr. Means quite well. He attended a small vocational school down 15-501 a little ways.

[oakvillebluedevil]

Was just about to reply that I just caught that in my googling - shows that my football knowledge has a long way to go :)

[gocanes0506]

In Manning's defense, Thomas did come off the bench with 4 minutes to go. There wasn't a stoppage until the under 3 media timeout. Thomas sat at the scorers table for more than a minute and a half of game play. I was surprised Manning didn't call a timeout to get him in there.

Great road win. Glad they won since I was a doubter.

[OldPhiKap]

In Manning's defense, Thomas did come off the bench with 4 minutes to go. There wasn't a stoppage until the under 3 media timeout. Thomas sat at the scorers table for more than a minute and a half of game play. I was surprised Manning didn't call a timeout to get him in there.

Great road win. Glad they won since I was a doubter.

Yeah, Wake had three timeouts, and about 90 seconds went off the clock as Thomas waited to check in. Don't be a Roy, call a t.o.

Re:Elmore, when I turned on the game (13-12 or something), the first thing I heard was Elmore going on about how Duke shoots more free throws than about anyone and how we were taking advantage of the new free motion rules. He cannot help but comment on how we get foul shots and foul calls, and do so in a disapproving tone. I loved Len years ago until he turned sour with the rest of the Md faithful in 2001 or so. Now, I cringe when I hear his voice.

[jjasper0729]

Mainly on the defensive end. We were able to get into the lane at will, which was good, but Wake was able to do the same, mainly because of the whiffs and some ole's that the perimeter defenders had (and not just on CMM) so that Plumlee had to rotate over across the lane, leaving his man open for the dish and dunk. There were a few too many of those last night to my liking. If we can clamp down a little bit better on the drive from the arc, then that will definitely complement the offense we can put on the floor.

[jv001]

There were two big plays that happened for Duke: The first; Duke's lead had been cut to 60-58 at the 13:48 mark. We had a Luke turnover and a Thornton miss. Then at the 12:27 mark MPIII get's the offensive rebound off a miss and Ingram get's a layup. The second occurred at the 9:48 mark when the lead had been cut to 65-63, Derryck hit's a big jumper for a four point lead. After that Duke steadily built the lead up to the final 91-75 score.
As for the game, it was a total team effort, including some great coaching by K. Ingram played 39 minutes and scored 17 points(mostly first half). He had 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 turnover. Grayson scored 24 pts(mostly first half), had 3 assist, 1 turnover and 3 rebounds, in 32 minutes, Luke in 32 minutes had 23 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 turnover, MPIII in 34 minutes had 18 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist and 0 turnovers, Thornton played 29 minutes and scored 7 points, 3 rebounds. Matt played 26 minutes and had 2 points. Matt did not shoot the ball well going 1-8. Jeter did a pretty good job and seemed to be more sure of himself. Maybe this will give him confidence going forward. I know some posters have commented saying MPIII just took the ball and dunked it after good passes from Luke, Grayson and Brandon. But we need to remember that in the past, Marshall might have fumbled those passes. We don't see much of that now. He's come a long way and I hope this is his break out game. GoDuke!

[whereinthehellami]

Luke's rebounding has been a huge plus. He has been second in rebounding in quite a few games now. He has excellent spacing and instincts on both offense and defense. Add in his aggressiveness and he is a load. He is forcing himself into the lineup and demanding more PT. It is beautiful to watch.

[dukebballcamper90-91]

I think Manning had enough of Thomas crap for the night.

[Billy Dat]

I am right with everyone calling this, by far, the best win of the year, especially considering the circumstances of the Jones/Allen foul trouble. The remaining kids buckled down and fought like crazy and got it done. It was freakin inspiring!


There were two big plays that happened for Duke: The first; Duke's lead had been cut to 60-58 at the 13:48 mark. We had a Luke turnover and a Thornton miss. Then at the 12:27 mark MPIII get's the offensive rebound off a miss and Ingram get's a layup. The second occurred at the 9:48 mark when the lead had been cut to 65-63, Derryck hit's a big jumper for a four point lead. After that Duke steadily built the lead up to the final 91-75 score.

I agree that these two plays were big, but I have read the whole thread and not seen anyone mention what, to me, was the biggest play of the game. Devin Thomas got switched onto Kennard who immediately recognized the situation and drove right at Thomas making him pick up his 4th foul and sending him to the bench. There were 8 minutes left and we were up 4. Luke's 2 FTs put us up 6 and we then pushed it to 10 and had our working margin. That play was so SMART - showed the classic knowledge of time/score/situation. Back in mid December, in the wake of Amile's injury, DBR's "Henderson" was asking who, after Grayson and Brandon, was going to emerge as "the guy". I argued that it was everyone else, an amalgam of Matt/MP3/Luke/Derryck and Henderson thought Luke was the prime candidate. After these last few games, I am starting to think Henderson was right.

I also am very critical of Manning's keeping Thomas out of the game. Even sending him to the scorer's table at 4 minutes was way too late. He needed to roll the dice earlier. He probably felt that 7 points was 3 possessions and was waiting for them to get it to 5, but they never did. Aside from that, he ceded the game way early. He could have stretched it out with fouling with 2 minutes left but he basically gave up. Wake committed a foul with 4:18 left and then didn't commit another until Thomas fouled out with 48 seconds to go. On the flip side, K did push all the right buttons.

I echo all the Plumlee praise and K lauded him in the post-game, saying he played "perfect" and that his play was a huge shot of adrenaline for all the youngsters. As for those trashing Elmore, I will say that he had the foresight very early on, after an early Plumlee basket, to remind everyone about his performance against Kentucky.

Very impressed with Grayson playing effectively with 4 fouls, he made some big baskets down the stretch. I also credit Derryck for shaking off a terrible start to also play effective, especially on defense.

As for Chase, and probably Derryck too, the foul trouble was a boon because it force them to be on the floor. Chase's first appearance was brief as he lost Thomas on a fast break and gave up a dunk. He looked completely lost on defense, often more than 10 feet from his defensive assignment as he frantically swiveled his head in no man's land. Again, I am glad for the foul trouble because without it, he wouldn't have played again and the kid needs to play to work through this stuff.

Brandon was such a match-up nightmare that it bothered me how long he disappeared on that end. After the first 6-7 minutes, he was silent and we stopped going to him. Why? To his credit, he kept defending and stayed engaged in all other aspects but I thought we should have kept setting him up more. Perhaps the Kennard match-up was just that much better? Brandon was taking it hard but not able to draw as many fouls.

On the Wake side, Thomas was a beast, but I was very impressed with Collins and Hudson. Those kids are really good (maybe not at FT shooting). Danny has it going in W-S.

Fantastic win. This team has a lot of heart. This Amile injury is so devastating because with him, we could really make some noise. Heal up, Philly!

[Bluedevil114]

I am right with everyone calling this, by far, the best win of the year, especially considering the circumstances of the Jones/Allen foul trouble. The remaining kids buckled down and fought like crazy and got it done. It was freakin inspiring!



I agree that these two plays were big, but I have read the whole thread and not seen anyone mention what, to me, was the biggest play of the game. Devin Thomas got switched onto Kennard who immediately recognized the situation and drove right at Thomas making him pick up his 4th foul and sending him to the bench. There were 8 minutes left and we were up 4. Luke's 2 FTs put us up 6 and we then pushed it to 10 and had our working margin. That play was so SMART - showed the classic knowledge of time/score/situation. Back in mid December, in the wake of Amile's injury, DBR's "Henderson" was asking who, after Grayson and Brandon, was going to emerge as "the guy". I argued that it was everyone else, an amalgam of Matt/MP3/Luke/Derryck and Henderson thought Luke was the prime candidate. After these last few games, I am starting to think Henderson was right.

I also am very critical of Manning's keeping Thomas out of the game. Even sending him to the scorer's table at 4 minutes was way too late. He needed to roll the dice earlier. He probably felt that 7 points was 3 possessions and was waiting for them to get it to 5, but they never did. Aside from that, he ceded the game way early. He could have stretched it out with fouling with 2 minutes left but he basically gave up. Wake committed a foul with 4:18 left and then didn't commit another until Thomas fouled out with 48 seconds to go. On the flip side, K did push all the right buttons.

I echo all the Plumlee praise and K lauded him in the post-game, saying he played "perfect" and that his play was a huge shot of adrenaline for all the youngsters. As for those trashing Elmore, I will say that he had the foresight very early on, after an early Plumlee basket, to remind everyone about his performance against Kentucky.

Very impressed with Grayson playing effectively with 4 fouls, he made some big baskets down the stretch. I also credit Derryck for shaking off a terrible start to also play effective, especially on defense.

As for Chase, and probably Derryck too, the foul trouble was a boon because it force them to be on the floor. Chase's first appearance was brief as he lost Thomas on a fast break and gave up a dunk. He looked completely lost on defense, often more than 10 feet from his defensive assignment as he frantically swiveled his head in no man's land. Again, I am glad for the foul trouble because without it, he wouldn't have played again and the kid needs to play to work through this stuff.

Brandon was such a match-up nightmare that it bothered me how long he disappeared on that end. After the first 6-7 minutes, he was silent and we stopped going to him. Why? To his credit, he kept defending and stayed engaged in all other aspects but I thought we should have kept setting him up more. Perhaps the Kennard match-up was just that much better? Brandon was taking it hard but not able to draw as many fouls.

On the Wake side, Thomas was a beast, but I was very impressed with Collins and Hudson. Those kids are really good (maybe not at FT shooting). Danny has it going in W-S.

Fantastic win. This team has a lot of heart. This Amile injury is so devastating because with him, we could really make some noise. Heal up, Philly!

I agree. Mitoglou was called with his fourth foul on Luke Kennard at 4:53. I thought Manning would immediately go to Thomas at that point since he had already been sitting for three plus minutes and the deficit was growing since his departure. I was pleasantly surprised to see him not go in the game as he was the only player that was unguardable on Wake. Coach K would have put Thomas in the game at that point as he was already teaching Manning how to manage a game when you have two of your top players in foul trouble. Sub them for one another and keep reminding both players to be smart. Great win.

[COYS]

Brandon was such a match-up nightmare that it bothered me how long he disappeared on that end. After the first 6-7 minutes, he was silent and we stopped going to him. Why? To his credit, he kept defending and stayed engaged in all other aspects but I thought we should have kept setting him up more. Perhaps the Kennard match-up was just that much better? Brandon was taking it hard but not able to draw as many fouls.



I noticed this, too. On a night when we were as ridiculously efficient as we were on offense, it's hard to nitpick, but during the period when Grayson and Matt first went out, I also thought we should have looked for Brandon a little bit more as our go-to guy. Brandon was so assertive when he got the ball but we went a few possessions where he didn't even touch it. That being said, imagine how devastating Luke will be when he gets his three point shot back! He's more explosive than I originally thought, especially when he goes to his left. He's no Grayson, but he showed surprising burst on a few drives to the hole. He's already good at finishing with either hand. And he's money from the line. When he finds that three point shot . . . look out!

[flyingdutchdevil]

As usual, by two cents:

1) MP3's offensive skills in oops, hand-offs, and offensive rebounding is really good. And putting MP3 behind the basket makes him even better at what he does. It also prevents iso situations for MP3, who has historically been terrible at that part of the game. But his ability to finish with hand offs is really paying off.

2) I was wrong on Luke. I thought Luke would be the forth most impactful freshman this year, but he is clearly second behind Ingram. Luke's handle, mid-range game, and ability to drive and finish have really impressed me. But, I say this again: Luke is not an elite 3pt shooter this year, just like M Jones wasn't an elite 3pt shooter his freshman year (both had the reputation for being the best 3pt shooters in their respective high school classes). Luke is also a big dude, so rebounding and switching works in his favor. He's gonna be fun to watch for at least the next 2.5 years.

3) Teams plan around stopping Grayson and it rarely works. Teams never plan around Ingram and he always scores. Neither Grayson nor Ingram were the "stars" this game (that honor goes to MP3 and Kennard) but they still managed to score a combined 41 points. Let's not take them for granted. There is a very strong chance neither is here next year.

4) Devon Thomas's stupidity helped win us the game. Duke had no answer for Thomas and his inability to control his emotions really helped us out. I think Duke wins with Thomas playing the whole game, but it would have been a nail biter.

5) I thought the refs were good (I usually think they are). I thought Elmore and Couzens were good too.

[killerleft]

What an interesting game. We had quite a few guys step up. MP3 played great tonight. I know Devin Thomas played well but he did a lot of his damage in the first half after MP3 picked up his second foul. After that we either had Jeter or Obi getting trounced our MP3 playing weak defense (to make sure he didn't pick up his 3rd foul too early). Grayson was killing WF in the first half and when he sat in the second half, Luke picked up where he left off.

Luke is going to be a special Blue Devil. He just handles himself well in any situation we've thrown him into. He plays with a great deal of controlled aggression. With Luke, Grayson and Brandon consistently playing well and other guys filling their roles, our offense is fantastic. Not to mention that Derryck is still growing and that his role will change (and expand) as the season continues. Derryck's handle was sick tonight. He may end up being this year's Grayson...a guy that plays well during the season but really steps up in March.

Now on to the announcers. I know that any time Elmore is calling a Duke game that we are going hear digs against Duke. Tonight I thought he was almost tolerable but then I realized that I may have thought he was tolerable simply because his partner, Mike Couzens, was absolutely horrible! He was basically openly rooting for WF. What I noticed was how he'd go crazy when WF would score and then just calmly mention the player on the Duke end. In the first half listening to these two bozo's you'd have thought that Devin Thomas had 30 and no one on Duke had more than 3. Grayson killed WF in the first half (as bad as Thomas was killing us) and they just stoically mentioned the score when Grayson would score. The whole game it was ridiculous. It was like they picked an announcer out of the WF student section or something.

To be honest, I was maybe too busy watching the masterful job Coach K was doing, the great poise shown by our freshmen, and MP3/other veterans to worry too much about the announcers. I was also talking to the freshmen a lot regarding their next move, but danged if they didn't do the right thing very, very often. But I didn't find a lot of stuff that bothered me from either Couzens or Elmore last night.

They're not reading from a script. It may seem easy to call a basketball game, but with everybody and their couzen:) breaking down every sentence they speak, I don't think we'll see perfection any time soon.

I certainly agree with you about the game itself, though. We got a special win. I love what Derryck brings to the table, and don't mind most of his mistakes. He's learning on the fly, and we wouldn't want to take away his creativity. We will need it.

[killerleft]

It was só much fun being at the game and seeing Thomas getting his just rewards!
Did TV show when he slapped the floor?

I missed the floor slap if they showed it, but I did see Thomas mouthing off, trying to get Marshall off his game. I don't guess that worked too well, either.:D

[CDu]

First of all, I have to say, "WHEW!!!" As I mentioned in the pregame thread, this was the game I was most worried about in Phase III. And for about 30 minutes, my fears were being realized. Wake was playing stride for stride with Duke, and was within a basket a couple of times. But then, the turning point: Devin Thomas picked up his fourth foul (joining Allen and Matt Jones in serious foul trouble). And without him, Wake just couldn't keep up with our offense. It was a truly gritty effort (not in the typical way you think of grittiness, because we certainly weren't doing it on the defensive end). Our first true road environment, and the youngsters responded.

I thought Plumlee did a good job offensively of filling his role: being in position to get feeds from our driving guards. Not sure that he had to dribble a single time last night in getting his 18 points, and that's a testament to the gameplan, the awareness and skills of those guards (primarily Allen and Kennard), and Plumlee's awareness to be where he was supposed to be to receive those finishing opportunities. Add in a little (maybe a lot) of defensive lapses by Wake's younger bigs, and you have a monster scoring night for the big guy. Good on him for capitalizing. We needed it.

I can't say enough good things about the play of Allen and Kennard last night. Both players were EXTREMELY effective offensively last night. Kennard was relentless in his drives to the basket, looking almost Allen-like in his willingness to keep being aggressive. The gameplan was clearly to attack the basket, and those guys did a superb job of it. Allen was his usual self: scoring in transition, driving to the hoop, hitting 3s, drawing fouls. Those two combined for 17 free throw attempts (16 makes), and Kennard drew the all-important 4th foul on Thomas (though I must admit that foul was as shaky a call if not moreso than Allen's 4th foul) which swung the balance of power firmly back in our favor. Those two guards were just absolutely terrific for us offensively.

It was a bit of an odd game for Ingram. He scored 17 and was relatively efficient (only 13 FGA), but he seemed quiet during the key parts of the second half. Still, he did get 17, and he added 3 steals and 4 blocks which helped immensely considering our overall defensive struggles. And he did help us jump out to the first half lead. All in all, it was a productive night for him.

Thornton had an up-and-down night. He had a key basket in the second half, but he also looked extremely shaky with the ball at times. And he made a few ill-advised attempts in traffic that resulted in Wake fast breaks. This was definitely a good learning experience for him though.

Tough night for Old Man Jones. He wasn't hitting his shots, and he found himself in foul trouble. He was stuck several times in the game having to play PF due to foul trouble in our frontcourt, and that added a bit to his foul total. He had one really nice driving basket early, but that was the extent of his night offensively. Best to just shake this one off and move on to the Tech game.

Getting back to Plumlee: it was good that he was so effective out there, because Jeter and Obi just were not ready for prime time at all. They played 8 total minutes and combined for 1 rebound (which was immediately stolen away from Obi for 1 turnover) and 1 foul. It was critical that Plumlee stay out of foul trouble, because those guys just weren't getting it done. Thankfully, after picking up 2 fouls in the first half, he did manage to survive without foul trouble in the second half. Which gets to my next point.

Coach K did a great job of managing foul trouble. With the exceptions of leaving Jones and then Allen on the floor with 3 fouls (only to see those guys pick up their 4th almost immediately thereafter), he handled it brilliantly. He subbed Jones for Allen after each got 4, so that there was rarely if ever more than one guy on the floor in serious foul trouble. He switched to the 1-3-1 and then the 2-3 zones to mitigate the risk of fouling, which did have an adverse effect on our defense (Wake was well-coached in how to attack those zones) but allowed Plumlee to stay on the floor for most of the second half. In a game that was tightly called, and with a short bench, Coach K did what it took to keep our key players available down the stretch. Also, kudos to Jones and Allen for managing to remain useful even with 4 fouls. It's easier for guards/wings to do that than for bigs, but it's still worthy of mention that those guys split the final ~10 minutes of the game without fouling out.

Good, good win for a young team trying to find its way without its veteran leader inside. I was very impressed with how we handled the environment and Wake's charge and weathered the storm for what turned out to be a comfortable win down the stretch.

[superdave]

That was a coaching clinic of K versus Manning. Manning blew it not rolling the dice on THOMAS at the five minute mark. He was the only player we could not guard tonight. K has an amazing game strategy. I love the attack to the rim all night long.

Wake had no margin for error with Thomas out. He should have sat for maybe two minutes, then come right back in. You win or lose with your best squad. Dont over think things, Danny!

McIntyre really abused us in the second half, getting into the lane. That is one place where we really missed Amile calling out screens and rotating over.

If not for Thomas' technical foul, we might have lost this one. He really shot himself in the foot.

[FerryFor50]

This game was weird.

Most of it, I was expecting to look at the score and see Duke down 5. But they never wavered. Credit Wake some for that, as well. They looked disjointed and lost on offense at times, especially when Thomas was sitting. The game had all the look of the 2008 debacle where 5 starters fouled out. Thankfully, that didn't occur.

Duke had no answer for Thomas. He was having his way. Problem is, Devin Thomas is Devin Thomas' best defender. He's a head case and that worked in Duke's favor.

I didn't feel like the 4th on Thomas was all that bad. He definitely hit Kennard with a shoulder on a drive. Granted, Kennard sold it a la Tyus Jones, but it was still a foul. Definitely more of a foul than the charge on Jones or Allen's 4th.

Really wish Obi or Jeter would just have it "click" and give us another passable big for spot minutes, but CDu is right - they both look pretty lost out there.

Offensively, I'm loving how aggressively Duke is attacking the paint. Last year, they had Okafor to lean on in the post. This year, they are attacking off the dribble while not turning the ball over all that much. Much better than chucking up 3 after 3. It's a much more sustainable strategy for March.

The team will be so much stronger once Amile comes back - he's the missing piece right now. Defense, rebounding and inside scoring.

[CDu]

This game was weird.

Most of it, I was expecting to look at the score and see Duke down 5. But they never wavered. Credit Wake some for that, as well. They looked disjointed and lost on offense at times, especially when Thomas was sitting. The game had all the look of the 2008 debacle where 5 starters fouled out. Thankfully, that didn't occur.

Duke had no answer for Thomas. He was having his way. Problem is, Devin Thomas is Devin Thomas' best defender. He's a head case and that worked in Duke's favor.

I didn't feel like the 4th on Thomas was all that bad. He definitely hit Kennard with a shoulder on a drive. Granted, Kennard sold it a la Tyus Jones, but it was still a foul. Definitely more of a foul than the charge on Jones or Allen's 4th.

Really wish Obi or Jeter would just have it "click" and give us another passable big for spot minutes, but CDu is right - they both look pretty lost out there.

Offensively, I'm loving how aggressively Duke is attacking the paint. Last year, they had Okafor to lean on in the post. This year, they are attacking off the dribble while not turning the ball over all that much. Much better than chucking up 3 after 3. It's a much more sustainable strategy for March.

The team will be so much stronger once Amile comes back - he's the missing piece right now. Defense, rebounding and inside scoring.

Yeah, I didn't really talk about the defense, but it was, generally speaking, not good at all. As Ferry said above, we had no answer for Thomas. He abused Plumlee in the first half, and then continued to abuse Plumlee's backups when Plumlee got 2 fouls. But, Thomas did himself in by complaining too vociferously and getting a technical early in the 2nd, which gave him foul #3. That play proved costly, as he went from 1 foul to 3 and had to sit. And then when he got his cheap foul on Kennard on the perimeter, he had to sit again. And that was the ballgame. If he doesn't get that technical, I don't think it is outlandish to say we might have lost the game.

But our offense was just so aggressive and so good that thankfully we survived the bad defense.

[Troublemaker]

Yeah, poor Sean. If there's one thing he needs to do when he's inserted situationally like last night, it is defensive rebound. That's his specialty afterall. Wake missed a 3-pter, and it was a 50/50 ball between Sean and Devin Thomas. Those two guys banged into each other, and it was Thomas that moved Sean out of the way for the offensive rebound and Sean had to wrap him up to prevent a layup. Sean's night was pretty much done after that.

[tbyers11]

Brandon was such a match-up nightmare that it bothered me how long he disappeared on that end. After the first 6-7 minutes, he was silent and we stopped going to him. Why? To his credit, he kept defending and stayed engaged in all other aspects but I thought we should have kept setting him up more. Perhaps the Kennard match-up was just that much better? Brandon was taking it hard but not able to draw as many fouls.


I noticed this, too. On a night when we were as ridiculously efficient as we were on offense, it's hard to nitpick, but during the period when Grayson and Matt first went out, I also thought we should have looked for Brandon a little bit more as our go-to guy. Brandon was so assertive when he got the ball but we went a few possessions where he didn't even touch it. That being said, imagine how devastating Luke will be when he gets his three point shot back! He's more explosive than I originally thought, especially when he goes to his left. He's no Grayson, but he showed surprising burst on a few drives to the hole. He's already good at finishing with either hand. And he's money from the line. When he finds that three point shot . . . look out!

I also thought there were times, particularly right after Matt and Grayson went to the bench with 4 fouls, that we should have gotten Brandon the ball more. As I kept watching, I think not getting him the ball was about exploiting our best matchups. It seemed to me that Miller-McIntyre (Wake's best perimeter defender IMO) was primarily on Brandon in the second half, particularly when Grayson was on the bench. In the first half, when he scored most of his points other players were guarding Brandon. This typically forced a bigger Wake player to guard Luke and the matchup was better to exploit.

Aside from other key plays already mentioned, I really liked the 2-for-1 at the end of the first half with Derryck driving straight to the hoop all the way from the backcourt. Derryck did have some issues forcing a few drives, but I do like how K seems to emphasize early offense for him on occasion. As Derryck understands the flow of the game better and decides when to capitalize on early offense for himself and when to initiate offense for the whole team he will become more effective. Understanding this concept was something that made Tyus so special last year.

All-in-all a great win on the road especially in light of the foul issues.

[Channing]

I missed the floor slap if they showed it, but I did see Thomas mouthing off, trying to get Marshall off his game. I don't guess that worked too well, either.:D

I did notice the floor slap, you could only see it on the edge of the screen, as Duke was bringing the ball up court and it looked like Thomas was near the basket ready to play defense. I loved that.

A few other minor thoughts and observations...

1. I have mentioned it several times this season, but I love the unselfish nature of this team. Years past we have had fantastic drivers who were not very willing passers and seemed to take a lot of contested shots around the rim. Allen and Kennard have both shown a great ability to both finish and find the open dump-off. It's a thing of beauty to watch (as we saw last night). DT still has a little work on this element of his game, but he'll get there.

2. The continued use of the mid-range jumper is awesome. Kennard and DT have been great at using a head fake, taking a dribble or two, and then nailing the jumper.

3. Without having looked at the stats, it seems like our 3pt attempts are way down this year (or at least since Amile went out). We seem to be looking for the drive rather than looking for the 3, making our attempts more opportunistic. Years past if we started shooting poorly we were sunk (live by the three, die by the three). Now it feels like a weapon in our arsenal.

4. Defense...smh...

[DBFAN]

So I am excited with what I have seen out of Kennard as of late. I don't care if he ever takes another 3 for his entire career at Duke. He gets to the rim with such ease and craftiness. I'm not saying he is on his level, but his ability to score down low reminds me a lot of Ginobli. When you look at both of them, you think there is no way they should score at the rim, yet they keep on doing it. If Luke continues this Pace, we are going to have 3 legitimate double digit scorers every time we take the floor

[sagegrouse]

So I am excited with what I have seen out of Kennard as of late. I don't care if he ever takes another 3 for his entire career at Duke. He gets to the rim with such ease and craftiness. I'm not saying he is on his level, but his ability to score down low reminds me a lot of Ginobli. When you look at both of them, you think there is no way they should score at the rim, yet they keep on doing it. If Luke continues this Pace, we are going to have 3 legitimate double digit scorers every time we take the floor

To me, Kennard seems to have "total court awareness." How can that be as a freshman? Perhaps the fact that he looks 35 has something to do with his maturity?

[fraggler]

Yeah, I didn't really talk about the defense, but it was, generally speaking, not good at all. As Ferry said above, we had no answer for Thomas. He abused Plumlee in the first half, and then continued to abuse Plumlee's backups when Plumlee got 2 fouls. But, Thomas did himself in by complaining too vociferously and getting a technical early in the 2nd, which gave him foul #3. That play proved costly, as he went from 1 foul to 3 and had to sit. And then when he got his cheap foul on Kennard on the perimeter, he had to sit again. And that was the ballgame. If he doesn't get that technical, I don't think it is outlandish to say we might have lost the game.

But our offense was just so aggressive and so good that thankfully we survived the bad defense.

Do you think that part of the poor D on Thomas was a conscious decision to avoid foul trouble? Plumlee gave up ground a lot easier than he normally does on several of Thomas' drives.

Very relieved we won this game. Definitely was a worst case scenario in the first half where we were shooting 60% and only up a few points due to a lot of whistles. Glad Devin Thomas sabotaged himself and his team again. As soon as he got that tech, I knew our chances of winning had just skyrocketed.

[DBFAN]

This game was weird.

Most of it, I was expecting to look at the score and see Duke down 5. But they never wavered. Credit Wake some for that, as well. They looked disjointed and lost on offense at times, especially when Thomas was sitting. The game had all the look of the 2008 debacle where 5 starters fouled out. Thankfully, that didn't occur.

Duke had no answer for Thomas. He was having his way. Problem is, Devin Thomas is Devin Thomas' best defender. He's a head case and that worked in Duke's favor.

I didn't feel like the 4th on Thomas was all that bad. He definitely hit Kennard with a shoulder on a drive. Granted, Kennard sold it a la Tyus Jones, but it was still a foul. Definitely more of a foul than the charge on Jones or Allen's 4th.

Really wish Obi or Jeter would just have it "click" and give us another passable big for spot minutes, but CDu is right - they both look pretty lost out there.

Offensively, I'm loving how aggressively Duke is attacking the paint. Last year, they had Okafor to lean on in the post. This year, they are attacking off the dribble while not turning the ball over all that much. Much better than chucking up 3 after 3. It's a much more sustainable strategy for March.

The team will be so much stronger once Amile comes back - he's the missing piece right now. Defense, rebounding and inside scoring.

I don't know about all of that. Maybe our defense couldn't play strong because half our team was in foul trouble before the game even started. Thomas abused us last year in Winston as well... Things turned out all right if I recall

[DBFAN]

To me, Kennard seems to have "total court awareness." How can that be as a freshman? Perhaps the fact that he looks 35 has something to do with his maturity?

Ha... And that receding hair line

[fraggler]

So I am excited with what I have seen out of Kennard as of late. I don't care if he ever takes another 3 for his entire career at Duke. He gets to the rim with such ease and craftiness. I'm not saying he is on his level, but his ability to score down low reminds me a lot of Ginobli. When you look at both of them, you think there is no way they should score at the rim, yet they keep on doing it. If Luke continues this Pace, we are going to have 3 legitimate double digit scorers every time we take the floor

I agree mostly with you, but I have noticed a not insignificant number of time where he pulls off a tremendous move, only to miss the layup worse than I was expecting. He has relatively short arms and I wonder if he wouldn't be truly on a Ginobili level if he had a more signficant wingspan. Kind of the same with Thornton. He mis-dribbles a lot like I used to (my wingspan is exactly my height), where the move is there, but because of wingspan issues, isn't executed as cleanly as those who can dribble lower to the ground with out leaning over as much.

[NYBri]

Now that word is out about Grayson , Kennard and Ingram driving to the rack almost at will, K went to the next obvious step...hit Marshall for the slam when his man rotates over. The way they were looking for it implies they practiced it. Now opposition needs to respect the pass to Marshall and that will open up the driving lanes again for the Three Drivers.

Nice to have the best coach in basketball leading your team.

[Neals384]

Yeah, Wake had three timeouts, and about 90 seconds went off the clock as Thomas waited to check in. Don't be a Roy, call a t.o.

Re:Elmore, when I turned on the game (13-12 or something), the first thing I heard was Elmore going on about how Duke shoots more free throws than about anyone and how we were taking advantage of the new free motion rules. He cannot help but comment on how we get foul shots and foul calls, and do so in a disapproving tone. I loved Len years ago until he turned sour with the rest of the Md faithful in 2001 or so. Now, I cringe when I hear his voice.

Yeah, and he took two unused timeouts to the locker room with him. Maybe he and Roy can have a beer sometime and celebrate those saved timeouts!

[superdave]

I love what Derryck brings to the table, and don't mind most of his mistakes. He's learning on the fly, and we wouldn't want to take away his creativity. We will need it.

Agreed. Let Thornton play as many minutes as he can handle. I can live with mistakes in January-February if it pays off in March.

His play is kind of erratic. A lot of that is due to him being pretty green, but some is due to being the 4th or 5th option on the floor with some dominant scorers. I do see him slowing down, and playing more under control than 6 weeks ago. Hopefully we see another leap the next month.

[superdave]

Do you think that part of the poor D on Thomas was a conscious decision to avoid foul trouble? Plumlee gave up ground a lot easier than he normally does on several of Thomas' drives.

Very relieved we won this game. Definitely was a worst case scenario in the first half where we were shooting 60% and only up a few points due to a lot of whistles. Glad Devin Thomas sabotaged himself and his team again. As soon as he got that tech, I knew our chances of winning had just skyrocketed.

Yes - I think Marshall is trying to stay on the court for 35 minutes. Jah did that plenty last year too. We are giving up some ole! defense buckets, but that is by design.

[mkirsh]

I thought Plumlee did a good job offensively of filling his role: being in position to get feeds from our driving guards. Not sure that he had to dribble a single time last night in getting his 18 points, and that's a testament to the gameplan, the awareness and skills of those guards (primarily Allen and Kennard), and Plumlee's awareness to be where he was supposed to be to receive those finishing opportunities. Add in a little (maybe a lot) of defensive lapses by Wake's younger bigs, and you have a monster scoring night for the big guy. Good on him for capitalizing. We needed it.



Plumlee actually took the most important dribble of the night - he caught the ball on the elbow, Thomas cheated for the steal, and Plumlee then dribbled towards the basket, drawing a foul on Thomas which led to the Thomas tantrum and technical foul.


I also thought there were times, particularly right after Matt and Grayson went to the bench with 4 fouls, that we should have gotten Brandon the ball more. As I kept watching, I think not getting him the ball was about exploiting our best matchups. It seemed to me that Miller-McIntyre (Wake's best perimeter defender IMO) was primarily on Brandon in the second half, particularly when Grayson was on the bench. In the first half, when he scored most of his points other players were guarding Brandon. This typically forced a bigger Wake player to guard Luke and the matchup was better to exploit.


It seemed the offense in the first half was all dribble handoffs designed to get Ingram switches and good looks, but the second half offense was mostly running Kennard off baseline screens to get him the ball moving towards the basket. Both were pretty effective, but interesting to see how many times Coach K went to Luke in the second half as the primary option.

The other thing that Duke did incredibly well last night that has not been mentioned yet is run the stall - in the last 6 minutes the team used a lot of clock while taking great shots and not getting stuck late in the shot clock. Incredible execution for a young team, and it really took away any chance Wake had at a comeback.

[FerryFor50]

Plumlee actually took the most important dribble of the night - he caught the ball on the elbow, Thomas cheated for the steal, and Plumlee then dribbled towards the basket, drawing a foul on Thomas which led to the Thomas tantrum and technical foul.



It seemed the offense in the first half was all dribble handoffs designed to get Ingram switches and good looks, but the second half offense was mostly running Kennard off baseline screens to get him the ball moving towards the basket. Both were pretty effective, but interesting to see how many times Coach K went to Luke in the second half as the primary option.

The other thing that Duke did incredibly well last night that has not been mentioned yet is run the stall - in the last 6 minutes the team used a lot of clock while taking great shots and not getting stuck late in the shot clock. Incredible execution for a young team, and it really took away any chance Wake had at a comeback.

They did run stall pretty well, except on one occasion - I recall Matt jacking up a contested 3 with 30 seconds on the shot clock that led to a fast break basket for Wake. We didn't see much Matt after that (albeit partly because of foul trouble).

[CoSprings]

To reiterate what has been said, I think K did one heck of a job last night keeping the guys calm, rotating the line-up, switching to the 2-3 zone, and then playing two bigs. When Matt and Grayson were sidelined with 4 fouls I thought it was pretty much over, but he just had a refuse to lose perspective last night which carried over to the players.

This team has a lot of toughness and grit. I've been waiting to see if we had a killer instinct and last night with everything going against us, Marshall, Luke and Brandon played like freakin men with a chip on their shoulders and a little bit of bite. I love it. Last years team could just intimidate you with pure talent, this year's group can be intimidating in other ways. The relentless nature of how Luke attacked the basket and Marshall's back line dunks were just demoralizing for Wake.

Finally, Manning got utterly out coached. Thomas should have sat for maybe 2-3 minutes and then came back in the game at like the 6 minute mark. By the time he inserted him, the game had been over for 2 minutes. Not sure what he was waiting for, but glad he kept Thomas on the sideline for so long. K woulda never done that.

And P.S., Thomas is one of the most unlikeable ACC players in the league.

[cato]

They did run stall pretty well, except on one occasion - I recall Matt jacking up a contested 3 with 30 seconds on the shot clock that led to a fast break basket for Wake. We didn't see much Matt after that (albeit partly because of foul trouble).

Indeed. K called him out for that -- the only negative comment in an otherwise pleased presser.

[cato]

Finally, Manning got utterly out coached. Thomas should have sat for maybe 2-3 minutes and then came back in the game at like the 6 minute mark. By the time he inserted him, the game had been over for 2 minutes. Not sure what he was waiting for, but glad he kept Thomas on the sideline for so long. K woulda never done that.

And P.S., Thomas is one of the most unlikeable ACC players in the league.

Manning said in his press conference that they were switching ball screens at that point, so Thomas was not a good fit -- presumably in large part due to the four fouls. Manning pointed to his team's inability to stop Duke's penetration and inability to hit foul shots as two big reasons for the loss. Seems pretty spot on.

As for Thomas, K had nothing but good things to say about him. For his sake, I hope he can channel the emotions a bit better. If he had not picked up that T, the game might have been very different.

Then again, Duke clearly came out in the second half intent on driving, driving, driving, so Thomas might have picked up that third foul shortly thereafter anyway.

[Billy Dat]

Agreed. Let Thornton play as many minutes as he can handle. I can live with mistakes in January-February if it pays off in March.

His play is kind of erratic. A lot of that is due to him being pretty green, but some is due to being the 4th or 5th option on the floor with some dominant scorers. I do see him slowing down, and playing more under control than 6 weeks ago. Hopefully we see another leap the next month.

He is an extremely effective driver who hasn't figured out how to finish, that's the next step for him converting via either score or drawn foul when he gets deep into the lane.

He is a very good shooter and he seems to have no fear.

Not to skip ahead, but he is our PG next year so he better also start figuring out how to run a team and get everyone shots in the right spots because we're going to have a just as many offensive threats, and different types.

[English]

Finally, Manning got utterly out coached. Thomas should have sat for maybe 2-3 minutes and then came back in the game at like the 6 minute mark. By the time he inserted him, the game had been over for 2 minutes. Not sure what he was waiting for, but glad he kept Thomas on the sideline for so long. K woulda never done that.

And P.S., Thomas is one of the most unlikeable ACC players in the league.

In fairness to Manning, given what we know after 4 (5? 6? seems like forever) years of seeing Devin Thomas in game play, do you really think Thomas could go a full six minutes of crunchtime ball without giving up a foul? I don't, and I suspect Manning probably doesn't either. In fact, my speculation is that Manning was worried that, given Thomas' inclination to complete meltdown, Devin would foul out within the next 90-120 seconds and his team's morale would be ka-put. That said, watching K's prowess handling the foul adversity versus Manning's was a thing of beauty. There's little question in my mind that Devin Thomas' technical foul, which effectively put a halt to any shred of momentum that Wake had in scratching their way back to only a slim deficit, was a monumental turning point in the game.

Not too many nits to pick with last night.

[Lar77]

Outstanding game. My comments:

As I expected, fouls played a big part in the game. Fortunately, we didn't pick up too many until second half, and Wake (especially Thomas and Mitoglou) also were getting called. Glad to see Miller-Mac getting back in form, especially if we don't see him again.

Great effort by Marshall and his four deputy dawgs when Matt and Grayson were sitting. These are the kinds of situations that will pay off in March.

K gave Danny a lesson today. I agree with another commenter that Manning kept Thomas out because he needed to cool him down. He gambled and lost.

Speaking of which, I will claim my $1,000 (see pre-game thread).

Seriously, great game for our guys. We grew up a bit more.

On to VT, which is on a hot streak, and then Clemson (which is playing well, but nobody will notice until after Monday - maybe).

[ramdevil]

Fun game to watch! Although it was close, I never sensed that we would lose (and our dog hung around until the fouls starting piling up in the second half - at which point he disappeared.)

My thoughts:
I am impressed by how calm the team is, no matter the situation. They seem to really trust each other - they pass the ball so well. They don't stop everything on defense, but they do enough. When the fouls started to build up, they very calmly kept playing. Coach K was fantastic - when he was flipping out over the out of bounds call (off of Luke, in front of the Duke bench in 2nd half) - he visibly shook it off and refocused on getting the players set on defense. It's hard to really judge this from just watching the game on tv, but Capel also looks like he is coaching quite a bit from the sidelines (almost like K and Capel are co-coaching).

I also liked the stall game; I thought it was very effective with all the fouls. They were using the clock as the 6th man for sure. This team seems to be especially good at the stall.

Did anyone notice how quiet the arena was early in the game? The fans got louder toward the end of the first half, but overall they were not a factor. At the end you could hear the Duke fans cheering.

ramdevil

[budwom]

In fairness to Manning, given what we know after 4 (5? 6? seems like forever) years of seeing Devin Thomas in game play, do you really think Thomas could go a full six minutes of crunchtime ball without giving up a foul? I don't, and I suspect Manning probably doesn't either. In fact, my speculation is that Manning was worried that, given Thomas' inclination to complete meltdown, Devin would foul out within the next 90-120 seconds and his team's morale would be ka-put. That said, watching K's prowess handling the foul adversity versus Manning's was a thing of beauty. There's little question in my mind that Devin Thomas' technical foul, which effectively put a halt to any shred of momentum that Wake had in scratching their way back to only a slim deficit, was a monumental turning point in the game.

Not too many nits to pick with last night.

I see your point...but I just don't see how you can leave your best guy on the bench that long. It's a teaching opportunity...and even if Thomas did foul out, they couldn't have gotten fewer points
out of him than they did with him sitting on the bench. Let him play, ask him to be smart (for a change) and hope he sees the light. Evidently Manning did make a halfhearted attempt to
call a timeout to get Thomas back in the game, but the refs didn't see him (he grumbled about it post game).

[BD80]

To me, Kennard seems to have "total court awareness." How can that be as a freshman? ...

He once caddied for the Dalai Lama ...

who, contrary to the universal belief of tar heel basketball players who received credit for classes in Religion, is NOT a llama.

[azzefkram]

A really nice win. Luke continues to impress with his "not in the boxscore" stuff. Derryck shook off an uneven first half to play much more within himself in the second half. As expected, Marshall had a tough time with Thomas but I think a bit of that had to do with some do not foul marching orders. I loved that the guards finally started dumping the ball off to MP3 for an easy slam instead of putting up a contested short jumper. Sean and Chase just don't seem ready. Matt had an off game but those happen. Grayson was Grayson.

I can't seem to recall a player who was more self destructive than Thomas. That T for his third foul just shouldn't happen with a senior.

[huey]

Finally got to watch the game on replay, quick thoughts (echoing many already posted).

Great game. Good conference learning experience for the freshman.

Danny Manning for MOTM! Only one who could really slow Thomas down. At some point I thought maybe this was a Marcus Morris situation and Manning was going to sit him the rest of the game to teach him a lesson. Didn't really even try to reinsert till 4 minutes left, and with no stoppage of play (you're allowed to call TOs you know?), he didn't get in to way too late. Poor Len Elmore kept awkwardly bringing up how Manning was saving Thomas and how Wake just needed to stay in it. Made sense at 8 minutes...but not really at 4. Man, and Thomas really isn't likable. I get it that it's his engine that drive him too much sometimes but he's always gotten on my nerves. Glad he's a senior. Tbf I'd probably like him on my own team for his passion, but yea, I can definitely go without seeing him again.

Great game by super senior MP3. To be expected. ESPN has him down for 2 blocks but I saw a bunch more. Smart play by Grayson and Matt with 4 (weak) fouls. Luke and Thornton were good but I felt that Ingram really matured late in the game. It looked like he wanted to take the team on his shoulders. At one point he waved off Thornton and took the ball up himself, you knew he wanted to take it the whole way, and drew a shooting foul. Also really like Thornton's mid-range game. It's a scarcity in the modern game but he's smooth like CP3 right around the foul line.

And those were some great side-and-unders (whatever you call them) from Thornton and Grayson in the first half. Must've been channeling their inner Kyrie.

[Lar77]

Did anyone notice how quiet the arena was early in the game? The fans got louder toward the end of the first half, but overall they were not a factor. At the end you could hear the Duke fans cheering.

ramdevil

My experience in the Joel is that Wake is like the Dean Dome in this respect. If they are behind, they are fairly quiet. If it's close but back and forth, then it picks up. It they're up and pulling away, it's loudest. I'll also give Wake a partial pass because the students aren't back yet.

I say this because Cameron is very different, which sets us apart. Our fans (led by the Crazies) are loudest if it's back and forth or we're down slightly.

[FerryFor50]

Danny Manning for MOTM! Only one who could really slow Thomas down. At some point I thought maybe this was a Marcus Morris situation and Manning was going to sit him the rest of the game to teach him a lesson. Didn't really even try to reinsert till 4 minutes left, and with no stoppage of play (you're allowed to call TOs you know?), he didn't get in to way too late. Poor Len Elmore kept awkwardly bringing up how Manning was saving Thomas and how Wake just needed to stay in it. Made sense at 8 minutes...but not really at 4. Man, and Thomas really isn't likable. I get it that it's his engine that drive him too much sometimes but he's always gotten on my nerves. Glad he's a senior. Tbf I'd probably like him on my own team for his passion, but yea, I can definitely go without seeing him again.


Wasn't even at 4 min. He subbed him in with about 2-3 min left and Duke up 10. And I'm glad he did. That was the ballgame. :cool:

[Indoor66]

Finally got to watch the game on replay, quick thoughts (echoing many already posted).

Great game. Good conference learning experience for the freshman.

Danny Manning for MOTM! Only one who could really slow Thomas down. At some point I thought maybe this was a Marcus Morris situation and Manning was going to sit him the rest of the game to teach him a lesson. Didn't really even try to reinsert till 4 minutes left, and with no stoppage of play (you're allowed to call TOs you know?), he didn't get in to way too late. Poor Len Elmore kept awkwardly bringing up how Manning was saving Thomas and how Wake just needed to stay in it. Made sense at 8 minutes...but not really at 4. Man, and Thomas really isn't likable. I get it that it's his engine that drive him too much sometimes but he's always gotten on my nerves. Glad he's a senior. Tbf I'd probably like him on my own team for his passion, but yea, I can definitely go without seeing him again.

Great game by super senior MP3. To be expected. ESPN has him down for 2 blocks but I saw a bunch more. Smart play by Grayson and Matt with 4 (weak) fouls. Luke and Thornton were good but I felt that Ingram really matured late in the game. It looked like he wanted to take the team on his shoulders. At one point he waved off Thornton and took the ball up himself, you knew he wanted to take it the whole way, and drew a shooting foul. Also really like Thornton's mid-range game. It's a scarcity in the modern game but he's smooth like CP3 right around the foul line.

And those were some great side-and-unders (whatever you call them) from Thornton and Grayson in the first half. Must've been channeling their inner Kyrie.

He gets the Big Baby Blue Schnoz award for that.:cool:

[duke74]

who, contrary to the universal belief of tar heel basketball players who received credit for classes in Religion, is NOT a llama.

You realize that you just quoted a line from Music and Lyrics? :) (Yes, this 63 year old male likes RomComs)

[NYBri]

Inspired to watch the game again this evening. Doesn't happen often with a regular season game when Austin Rivers isn't drilling clock beating 3s.

[BD80]

You realize that you just quoted a line from Music and Lyrics? :) (Yes, this 63 year old male likes RomComs)

I prefer to call it pilfering

[75Crazie]

Wasn't even at 4 min. He subbed him in with about 2-3 min left and Duke up 10. And I'm glad he did. That was the ballgame. :cool:
No, I believe he sent him to the table at about the 4 minute mark, and he had to sit and cool it for almost 2 minutes of game time because there was no stoppage in play. I was surprised that Manning did not call a timeout at some point during that time to get him in. Thomas' body language during that time showed his frustration at not being able to get in.

[CDu]

No, I believe he sent him to the table at about the 4 minute mark, and he had to sit and cool it for almost 2 minutes of game time because there was no stoppage in play. I was surprised that Manning did not call a timeout at some point during that time to get him in. Thomas' body language during that time showed his frustration at not being able to get in.

You are correct.

[jipops]

Yeah, I didn't really talk about the defense, but it was, generally speaking, not good at all. As Ferry said above, we had no answer for Thomas. He abused Plumlee in the first half, and then continued to abuse Plumlee's backups when Plumlee got 2 fouls. But, Thomas did himself in by complaining too vociferously and getting a technical early in the 2nd, which gave him foul #3. That play proved costly, as he went from 1 foul to 3 and had to sit. And then when he got his cheap foul on Kennard on the perimeter, he had to sit again. And that was the ballgame. If he doesn't get that technical, I don't think it is outlandish to say we might have lost the game.

But our offense was just so aggressive and so good that thankfully we survived the bad defense.

I actually thought our defense was pretty good (decent at worst) for much of the 2nd half. We did hold them to 28 pts and brought them down below 50% after they were on fire in the 1st. I guess I'm neither encouraged nor too discouraged by the defensive effort. Overall it was about what you would expect from this group. We really don't have the personnel to challenge inside scorers defensively.

[NYBri]

I actually thought our defense was pretty good (decent at worst) for much of the 2nd half. We did hold them to 28 pts and brought them down below 50% after they were on fire in the 1st. I guess I'm neither encouraged nor too discouraged by the defensive effort. Overall it was about what you would expect from this group. We really don't have the personnel to challenge inside scorers defensively.

The defense we see is what we will get. Scoring is the key along with key stops along the way. I thought they did a good job in managing the game. Stopping when needed and scoring certainly when needed. The drive and dish to Marshall was key and serves notice that teams can't leave the PlumDog to stop the drive.

Love being a Duke Alum and Fan.

[freshmanjs]

The defense we see is what we will get.

Would you have said this last year after the Miami game?

[Furniture]

So I am excited with what I have seen out of Kennard as of late. I don't care if he ever takes another 3 for his entire career at Duke. He gets to the rim with such ease and craftiness. I'm not saying he is on his level, but his ability to score down low reminds me a lot of Ginobli. When you look at both of them, you think there is no way they should score at the rim, yet they keep on doing it. If Luke continues this Pace, we are going to have 3 legitimate double digit scorers every time we take the floor

I was watching Luke in the warm ups shooting threes. They went in one after another.
It can only be a matter of time......

[Ggallagher]

I was watching Luke in the warm ups shooting threes. They went in one after another.
It can only be a matter of time...

There was one other positive with Luke I thought I noticed during the game.

During several of the brief camera shots when the team was huddling on the floor, Luke appeared to be vocal, assertive and commanding. It struck me as someone stepping up to a leadership role. Of course I don't have a clue what he was saying, but it was a very positive looking scene each time.

If he develops into a leadership role along with his technical skills, floor smarts, and like Elmore pointed out several times a left-handed killer that people just fail to adjust to - Luke could be a lot of fun to watch for the next few years.

[moonpie23]

i am a lip-reader "hobbyist"......it looked like he was talking about Rey, from Star wars, being absent from the Target box set......but then i missed the next part..

[Henderson]

There was one other positive with Luke I thought I noticed during the game.

During several of the brief camera shots when the team was huddling on the floor, Luke appeared to be vocal, assertive and commanding. It struck me as someone stepping up to a leadership role. Of course I don't have a clue what he was saying, but it was a very positive looking scene each time.

If he develops into a leadership role along with his technical skills, floor smarts, and like Elmore pointed out several times a left-handed killer that people just fail to adjust to - Luke could be a lot of fun to watch for the next few years.

I didn't see that, but I did notice during the BC game that he was demonstratively directing team mates on both ends of the court, and they were going where he told them to go. Agree that it's a positive.

[79-77]

Brandon was such a match-up nightmare that it bothered me how long he disappeared on that end. After the first 6-7 minutes, he was silent and we stopped going to him. Why? To his credit, he kept defending and stayed engaged in all other aspects but I thought we should have kept setting him up more. Perhaps the Kennard match-up was just that much better? Brandon was taking it hard but not able to draw as many fouls.



I noticed this, too. On a night when we were as ridiculously efficient as we were on offense, it's hard to nitpick, but during the period when Grayson and Matt first went out, I also thought we should have looked for Brandon a little bit more as our go-to guy. Brandon was so assertive when he got the ball but we went a few possessions where he didn't even touch it.




I also thought there were times, particularly right after Matt and Grayson went to the bench with 4 fouls, that we should have gotten Brandon the ball more. As I kept watching, I think not getting him the ball was about exploiting our best matchups. It seemed to me that Miller-McIntyre (Wake's best perimeter defender IMO) was primarily on Brandon in the second half, particularly when Grayson was on the bench. In the first half, when he scored most of his points other players were guarding Brandon. This typically forced a bigger Wake player to guard Luke and the matchup was better to exploit.

Aside from other key plays already mentioned, I really liked the 2-for-1 at the end of the first half with Derryck driving straight to the hoop all the way from the backcourt. Derryck did have some issues forcing a few drives, but I do like how K seems to emphasize early offense for him on occasion. As Derryck understands the flow of the game better and decides when to capitalize on early offense for himself and when to initiate offense for the whole team he will become more effective. Understanding this concept was something that made Tyus so special last year.

All-in-all a great win on the road especially in light of the foul issues.




It seemed the offense in the first half was all dribble handoffs designed to get Ingram switches and good looks, but the second half offense was mostly running Kennard off baseline screens to get him the ball moving towards the basket. Both were pretty effective, but interesting to see how many times Coach K went to Luke in the second half as the primary option.




I was concerned about this too -- it seemed like not only did Ingram get quiet in the 2nd half, he almost never touched the ball on offense. I think tbyers is right about it being a matchup issue, and would just add that it looked like the plan may have been to keep Ingram, and his defender, on one side of the offensive floor and let Allen or Kennard slash to the basket from the other side of the floor.

I also liked the 2-for-1 at the end of the half -- especially because DT was able to execute a pretty difficult layup.





2) I was wrong on Luke. I thought Luke would be the forth most impactful freshman this year, but he is clearly second behind Ingram. Luke's handle, mid-range game, and ability to drive and finish have really impressed me. But, I say this again: Luke is not an elite 3pt shooter this year, just like M Jones wasn't an elite 3pt shooter his freshman year (both had the reputation for being the best 3pt shooters in their respective high school classes). Luke is also a big dude, so rebounding and switching works in his favor. He's gonna be fun to watch for at least the next 2.5 years.




There was one other positive with Luke I thought I noticed during the game.

During several of the brief camera shots when the team was huddling on the floor, Luke appeared to be vocal, assertive and commanding. It struck me as someone stepping up to a leadership role. Of course I don't have a clue what he was saying, but it was a very positive looking scene each time.

If he develops into a leadership role along with his technical skills, floor smarts, and like Elmore pointed out several times a left-handed killer that people just fail to adjust to - Luke could be a lot of fun to watch for the next few years.



Kennard is really coming on. He's not super-athletic, but he really understands the game and can score and generally add value on offense in a bunch of different ways. The leadership point is interesting -- I totally believe it, as he doesn't seem to lack for confidence.

I'm not sure I can come up with a Duke player who is comparable to Kennard -- i.e. a midsized scorer who, while certainly a good athlete, isn't a superior one. Kennard is bigger and IMHO has more game than Scheyer, and he has more offensive game but less defense and toughness than Carrawell had.

It's been a while since Duke had 3 guys who can score like Ingram, Kennard and Allen.



He once caddied for the Dalai Lama ...



very nice.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Kennard is really coming on. He's not super-athletic, but he really understands the game and can score and generally add value on offense in a bunch of different ways. The leadership point is interesting -- I totally believe it, as he doesn't seem to lack for confidence.

He's not super athletic? He looks pretty athletic to me. Who strikes you as more athletic on this year's squad?


I'm not sure I can come up with a Duke player who is comparable to Kennard -- i.e. a midsized scorer who, while certainly a good athlete, isn't a superior one. Kennard is bigger and IMHO has more game than Scheyer, and he has more offensive game but less defense and toughness than Carrawell had.


I'd compare him to Battier, myself. Capable of scoring in bunches, always hustling, talking - perhaps a bit short on the defensive end, but geez, he's a freshman. Battier didn't come into his own until... junior year? Someone referenced it recently in another thread.

[Troublemaker]

There was one other positive with Luke I thought I noticed during the game.

During several of the brief camera shots when the team was huddling on the floor, Luke appeared to be vocal, assertive and commanding. It struck me as someone stepping up to a leadership role. Of course I don't have a clue what he was saying, but it was a very positive looking scene each time.

If he develops into a leadership role along with his technical skills, floor smarts, and like Elmore pointed out several times a left-handed killer that people just fail to adjust to - Luke could be a lot of fun to watch for the next few years.


I didn't see that, but I did notice during the BC game that he was demonstratively directing team mates on both ends of the court, and they were going where he told them to go. Agree that it's a positive.

Yep. Luke is 19 years old, and from what I've seen on the court, he's sort of taken on a leadership role to the 18-year-olds Derryck, Brandon, and Chase. This may very well have been something that chemistry guru K cooked up in conversations with Luke behind the scenes.

[Troublemaker]

I'm not sure I can come up with a Duke player who is comparable to Kennard -- i.e. a midsized scorer who, while certainly a good athlete, isn't a superior one. Kennard is bigger and IMHO has more game than Scheyer, and he has more offensive game but less defense and toughness than Carrawell had.


I'm having trouble finding a comparison, too, because once Luke starts hitting his threes, he's going to be one of the most efficient offensive players we've ever had at Duke.

Luke is shooting 54.5% on 2-pt jumpers (http://hoop-math.com/Duke2016.php) and 64.3% at the rim. He gets to the line at a good rate, where he is hitting 93%. He's excellent protecting the ball (very low turnover rate) and he has a very good offensive rebounding rate for a guard. Basically once the threes start falling, Luke becomes the perfect offensive player.

To put this in perspective, Luke right now while only shooting 29% on threes and being a fairly high usage player (>20% of possessions), has an offensive rating of 131 (good for 33rd best in the country overall and 10th best among players who use >20% of possessions). That's incredible, and it means that he must be excellent at everything except shooting threes to make up for the low three-pt percentage. When the threes fall, we're looking at someone who is going to sport a 140 offensive rating on relatively high usage. That's sick.

[79-77]

He's not super athletic? He looks pretty athletic to me. Who strikes you as more athletic on this year's squad?


I'd compare him to Battier, myself. Capable of scoring in bunches, always hustling, talking - perhaps a bit short on the defensive end, but geez, he's a freshman. Battier didn't come into his own until... junior year? Someone referenced it recently in another thread.

On this year's team, I would say Allen and Thornton are more athletic (and Plumlee, but apples and oranges in terms of position). In making the comment, I was thinking more of great mid-sized Duke scorers from previous years -- e.g. Gerald Henderson, Dahntay Jones, Jason Williams.

The Battier comparison is interesting (and the 2 of them are probably similar athletically), although I think Kennard has more offensive game than Battier did. I might compare him more to Battier's teammate Dunleavy. Still not a great match though as I think Kennard plays a bit more of a physical game than Dunleavy did at this age.

[79-77]

I'm having trouble finding a comparison, too, because once Luke starts hitting his threes, he's going to be one of the most efficient offensive players we've ever had at Duke.

Luke is shooting 54.5% on 2-pt jumpers (http://hoop-math.com/Duke2016.php) and 64.3% at the rim. He gets to the line at a good rate, where he is hitting 93%. He's excellent protecting the ball (very low turnover rate) and he has a very good offensive rebounding rate for a guard. Basically once the threes start falling, Luke becomes the perfect offensive player.

To put this in perspective, Luke right now while only shooting 29% on threes and being a fairly high usage player (>20% of possessions), has an offensive rating of 131 (good for 33rd best in the country overall and 10th best among players who use >20% of possessions). That's incredible, and it means that he must be excellent at everything except shooting threes to make up for the low three-pt percentage. When the threes fall, we're looking at someone who is going to sport a 140 offensive rating on relatively high usage. That's sick.

Great use of stats. Thanks.

[azzefkram]

Yep. Luke is 19 years old, and from what I've seen on the court, he's sort of taken on a leadership role to the 18-year-olds Derryck, Brandon, and Chase. This may very well have been something that chemistry guru K cooked up in conversations with Luke behind the scenes.

His off the stat sheet stuff has been impressive. There was a sequence during the Wake game after Derryck was called for a foul he sort of hang dogged it out to the 3pt line but Luke corralled him into the huddle before the free throws. That's not the type of move you see a lot of freshman making.

[Lar77]

I'm having trouble finding a comparison, too, because once Luke starts hitting his threes, he's going to be one of the most efficient offensive players we've ever had at Duke.

Luke is shooting 54.5% on 2-pt jumpers (http://hoop-math.com/Duke2016.php) and 64.3% at the rim. He gets to the line at a good rate, where he is hitting 93%. He's excellent protecting the ball (very low turnover rate) and he has a very good offensive rebounding rate for a guard. Basically once the threes start falling, Luke becomes the perfect offensive player.

To put this in perspective, Luke right now while only shooting 29% on threes and being a fairly high usage player (>20% of possessions), has an offensive rating of 131 (good for 33rd best in the country overall and 10th best among players who use >20% of possessions). That's incredible, and it means that he must be excellent at everything except shooting threes to make up for the low three-pt percentage. When the threes fall, we're looking at someone who is going to sport a 140 offensive rating on relatively high usage. That's sick.

What I've noticed is Luke has an effective move of fake on the 3 line, two dribbles, pull up jumper. He may be shooting 90% on that.

As noted in the broadcast, being a lefty helps as well. Many defenders don't adjust.

[cato]

He's not super athletic? He looks pretty athletic to me. Who strikes you as more athletic on this year's squad?


Ah, the age old question of how to define athleticism. If we're talking jumping ability, Ingram is the clear standout. First step and overall strength and power: easily Grayson. Quickness: Thornton.

Luke "suffers" from not being above average (where average refers to major contributor at a top 10 program) in any of these. However, he seems to be at least average (again, see above) in all of these, which means that he is a great athlete.

[cato]

I'd compare him to Battier, myself. Capable of scoring in bunches, always hustling, talking - perhaps a bit short on the defensive end, but geez, he's a freshman. Battier didn't come into his own until... junior year? Someone referenced it recently in another thread.

That was in reference to 3P shooting. Battier made a big jump in percentage during, IIRC, his sophomore year. However, he had taken many fewer shots before making the jump than Luke.

I think that Luke is already a much more proficient scorer than an underclassman Battier. He's not as good a defender. Maybe he's a bit of the flip side Battier?

[cato]

I'm having trouble finding a comparison, too, because once Luke starts hitting his threes, he's going to be one of the most efficient offensive players we've ever had at Duke.

Luke is shooting 54.5% on 2-pt jumpers (http://hoop-math.com/Duke2016.php) and 64.3% at the rim. He gets to the line at a good rate, where he is hitting 93%. He's excellent protecting the ball (very low turnover rate) and he has a very good offensive rebounding rate for a guard. Basically once the threes start falling, Luke becomes the perfect offensive player.

To put this in perspective, Luke right now while only shooting 29% on threes and being a fairly high usage player (>20% of possessions), has an offensive rating of 131 (good for 33rd best in the country overall and 10th best among players who use >20% of possessions). That's incredible, and it means that he must be excellent at everything except shooting threes to make up for the low three-pt percentage. When the threes fall, we're looking at someone who is going to sport a 140 offensive rating on relatively high usage. That's sick.

How about a comparison to Prince Harry? I seem to recall that his 3 was not falling freshman year, but that he was a proficient 2P scorer.

[gumbomoop]

The last 12-15 posts in this thread read like a Loony Luke Love-in. You people need to switch to decaf, or something.

He's still got a lot to work on. Culinary skills, for example. [Old joke, long-ago thread, never mind.] Did you Loonies even notice that 2 of his FTs in the Wake game were not swishes? He needs to practice those things.

[CDu]

That was in reference to 3P shooting. Battier made a big jump in percentage during, IIRC, his sophomore year. However, he had taken many fewer shots before making the jump than Luke.

I think that Luke is already a much more proficient scorer than an underclassman Battier. He's not as good a defender. Maybe he's a bit of the flip side Battier?

Yeah, Kennard's offensive skill set is better than Battier's. Battier was not really a well-rounded offensive player. Kennard's 3pt shot hasn't started falling yet, but I'd say he does pretty much everything else (mid-range, scoring and passing off the dribble) offensively better than Battier. Of course, Battier was SOOOOO much better defensively that upperclassman Battier was a clearly better player than Kennard. That goes without saying. But purely in terms of offense and completely ignoring, I think Kennard is the better talent.

[NYBri]

Would you have said this last year after the Miami game?

I think this is a different situation. Last year we hadn't used the zone pre-Louisville and everyone was heathy.

This year we have tried the zone at times and switched things up...therefore my comment that the defense we see, until Amile returns, is what we are going to get. We've tried man, 1-3-1 and the 2-3. Not much more to do except what we are doing and keep changing things up on D.

Last year was a learning experience for K in having so many freshmen/underclassmen on the floor and now he's more unpredictable with the D this year.

That was our biggest problem, pre-Louisville, last year IMHO...that we were too predictable on defense and that game planning against us was straightforward. Coach L said as much, IIRC, after the Miami game.

[Furniture]

It's been a while since Duke had 3 guys who can score like Ingram, Kennard and Allen.

Wasn't the last time in 2010 when Duke had 'Super" 'Sensational' 'Spectacular'?

[Furniture]

Or was it
Super, Scintillating, Sensational?

[BD80]

Or was it
Super, Scintillating, Sensational?

Where's the damn mute button baby? Oh, its moot.

[79-77]

Wasn't the last time in 2010 when Duke had 'Super" 'Sensational' 'Spectacular'?

Smith, Singler and Scheyer? Those were 3 terrific players, to be sure, and they gave us an unforgettable run to the NC (especially the regional final vs Baylor), but I think this year's threesome (heh) has a bit more offensive versatility and skill -- especially given their youth. OTOH, I think the 2010 group was more mature and reliable and certainly better defensively.

[Furniture]

Smith, Singler and Scheyer? Those were 3 terrific players, to be sure, and they gave us an unforgettable run to the NC (especially the regional final vs Baylor), but I think this year's threesome (heh) has a bit more offensive versatility and skill -- especially given their youth. OTOH, I think the 2010 group was more mature and reliable and certainly better defensively.

Agreed. They were very different to this years guys but if my memory is correct they regularly put up close to 20 points each per game?

[Kedsy]

Agreed. They were very different to this years guys but if my memory is correct they regularly put up close to 20 points each per game?

Well, it's apples and oranges because this year's team has five double-figure scorers (including Amile), plus a sixth guy who scores 9.3 ppg (Derryck). In 2010, our 4th leading scorer scored 5.6 ppg.

But, for completeness' sake:

Scheyer: 18.2 ppg
Singler: 17.7 ppg
Smith: 17.4 ppg

The trio tallied 68.0% of Duke's points that season.

vs.

Allen: 20.8 ppg
Ingram: 16.4 ppg
Kennard: 12.1 ppg

This year's trio comprises 55.7% of Duke's points this season.

Also, for what it's worth, the "threesome" in this discussion doesn't include our third leading scorer (Matt Jones).

[COYS]

Ah, the age old question of how to define athleticism. If we're talking jumping ability, Ingram is the clear standout. First step and overall strength and power: easily Grayson. Quickness: Thornton.

Luke "suffers" from not being above average (where average refers to major contributor at a top 10 program) in any of these. However, he seems to be at least average (again, see above) in all of these, which means that he is a great athlete.

I've been impressed with Luke's quickness on the defensive end. Actually, while Derryck is better at on the ball defense in the open court, I think Luke is better at everything else. He's is better at defending off the ball, better at handling screens, better at helping off of his man and recovering, better at rotating, and he has been really solid on the boards, too. And even then, Luke does a pretty good job staying between his man and the basket. And, while I love Derryck and can see him working and improving, I actually think Luke is a better defender at this point, over all, albeit he's asked to do completely different things. In this way, Luke reminds me a bit of Kyle on the defensive end. Luke is smaller and quicker and obviously doesn't rebound quite as much, but Kyle was always an underrated and versatile defender. I like the comparison to Carrawell, too.

[jimsumner]

If you're looking for a power trio, try these guys from 1978

Jim Spanarkel-20.8 ppg
Mike Gminski- 20.0 ppg
Gene Banks-17.1 ppg

Total-57.9 ppg

The trio "slumped" to 48 ppg the following season.

Still, three guys who totaled over 6,400 points at Duke. Not too shabby.

The only other Duke team with three 2,000 point scorers was 1986, Dawkins, Alarie and Ferry. But the latter averaged less than 6 ppg that year.

So, I think '78 takes the cake.

[cato]

If you're looking for a power trio, try these guys from 1978

Jim Spanarkel-20.8 ppg
Mike Gminski- 20.0 ppg
Gene Banks-17.1 ppg

Total-57.9 ppg

The trio "slumped" to 48 ppg the following season.

Still, three guys who totaled over 6,400 points at Duke. Not too shabby.

The only other Duke team with three 2,000 point scorers was 1986, Dawkins, Alarie and Ferry. But the latter averaged less than 6 ppg that year.

So, I think '78 takes the cake.

What if Williams, Boozer and Dunleavy had stayed four years? I think there is a reasonable chance Boozer and Dunleavy would have reached 2,000. That would have meant three (and almost four, given how close Battier came) on those teams.

While the '01 team was more balanced, the '02 team featured:

Williams: 21.3
Carlos Boozer: 18.2
Mike Dunleavy: 17.3

I sure wish Jason had hit one more free throw, or Boozer had drawn one more foul.

[BlueDevil85]

That was in reference to 3P shooting. Battier made a big jump in percentage during, IIRC, his sophomore year. However, he had taken many fewer shots before making the jump than Luke.

I think that Luke is already a much more proficient scorer than an underclassman Battier. He's not as good a defender. Maybe he's a bit of the flip side Battier?

As cool as the other side of the pillow?

[DukieInBrasil]

was how Duke was -7 while i watched from midway through 1st half and first minutes of 2nd half, but was +23 for the rest of the game.
So y'all can thank me for the win due to having to leave the bar and go hang out with my lady.
Actually, the most amazing part of the win to me was how Duke built the 16 pt lead from 2, during the final minutes. This team closed down this win like a boss. They stepped all over WF's throat and did not step off until after the horn. Manning's bizarre decision to not put Thomas back in the game sooner helped as well, but who's to say he wouldn't have picked up his 5th anyway? You gotta play your best players, and when it came down to winning time, Manning just couldn't see fit to have his best player on the floor, and then it slipped away past winning time before he could get back in.
I think WF had a real chance to win the game if Thomas hadn't let his mouth ruin an otherwise brilliant night. He hurt his team badly with his lack of control.

I was so, so impressed with how our Fr. handled the end of game situation, as well as how K shuffled Allen and Jones in/out with 4 fouls each.
I really, really liked a few wrinkles K threw in for this game: dropping MP3 down below the baseline for easy passes for many, many 2 handed jams! as well as moving Luke off the 3pt line to get more 2pt shots. Dropping MP3 down like that creates more space for the drivers to go to, kinda gets the defender to forget about him a little bit, and when they go to defend the driver creates an easy assist/dunk opportunity. Luke only took one 3, and missed, but he was very active closer to the rim, and he was wicked efficient scoring 23 on 11 shots, or about 15 possessions (9 FTs). Allen also had a scintilating game! A little less impressive than last year. Just kidding!!! I liked Thornton's play, he didn't connect on a few of his plays but his ability to break down his defender is impressive. And he is controlling the ball a lot better.
One curiosity though: i was surprised to see that Obi got a chance to spell MP3 for a bit, and despite his poor showing and the need to protect MP3 from more fouls, yet Vrank didn't get a minute or 2. Vrank is physically imposing and tall, seems to have good hands, but i don't really have a feel for his game.
I thought Duke would lose this game, but the new wrinkles in the offense and clutch performance down the stretch made this a solid win.

[Indoor66]

was how Duke was -7 while i watched from midway through 1st half and first minutes of 2nd half, but was +23 for the rest of the game.
So y'all can thank me for the win due to having to leave the bar and go hang out with my lady.
Actually, the most amazing part of the win to me was how Duke built the 16 pt lead from 2, during the final minutes. This team closed down this win like a boss. They stepped all over WF's throat and did not step off until after the horn. Manning's bizarre decision to not put Thomas back in the game sooner helped as well, but who's to say he wouldn't have picked up his 5th anyway? You gotta play your best players, and when it came down to winning time, Manning just couldn't see fit to have his best player on the floor, and then it slipped away past winning time before he could get back in.
I think WF had a real chance to win the game if Thomas hadn't let his mouth ruin an otherwise brilliant night. He hurt his team badly with his lack of control.

I was so, so impressed with how our Fr. handled the end of game situation, as well as how K shuffled Allen and Jones in/out with 4 fouls each.
I really, really liked a few wrinkles K threw in for this game: dropping MP3 down below the baseline for easy passes for many, many 2 handed jams! as well as moving Luke off the 3pt line to get more 2pt shots. Dropping MP3 down like that creates more space for the drivers to go to, kinda gets the defender to forget about him a little bit, and when they go to defend the driver creates an easy assist/dunk opportunity. Luke only took one 3, and missed, but he was very active closer to the rim, and he was wicked efficient scoring 23 on 11 shots, or about 15 possessions (9 FTs). Allen also had a scintilating game! A little less impressive than last year. Just kidding!!! I liked Thornton's play, he didn't connect on a few of his plays but his ability to break down his defender is impressive. And he is controlling the ball a lot better.
One curiosity though: i was surprised to see that Obi got a chance to spell MP3 for a bit, and despite his poor showing and the need to protect MP3 from more fouls, yet Vrank didn't get a minute or 2. Vrank is physically imposing and tall, seems to have good hands, but i don't really have a feel for his game.
I thought Duke would lose this game, but the new wrinkles in the offense and clutch performance down the stretch made this a solid win.

Quit drinking and watching!

[sagegrouse]

Or was it
Super, Scintillating, Sensational?

Well, for sure, it was Singler, Scheyer and Smith.