MBB: Duke 62, Pitt 76 Post Game Thread

[Bob Green]

Discuss the game here. Let's keep it civil. Thanks!

[toughbuff1]

Sometimes you're the windshield and sometimes you're the bug.

[bedeviled]

Duke's semi-annual flogging game is never fun to watch.

Huge credit to Pitt, though. Not only did they shoot superbly, but their activity, positioning, and passing were great.
Most of all, I appreciated and respected their attitudes, especially given how charged the audience atmosphere was. There was very little manimal posturing stuff (I hate when Duke does it, too). Even on things like the big block on Chase in the 1st half, the over-the-top pass to dunk to start the 2nd half, the 3-on-1 dunk, and the dagger 3-ptr, Pitt continued to work instead of flexing and yelling. And, they got the job done; I give all my kudos to them.

[gurufrisbee]

Ugly.

[jacone21]

Sometimes you're the windshield and sometimes you're the bug.

And sometimes the bug flies in your mouth.

[DukieInKansas]

If you are looking for a bright spot this afternoon, the women are up by 35 over unc with around 6 left in 3rd qtr.

9F 9F 9F 9F

[Coballs]

And there went 2 hours that I'll never get back.

[Ian]

You can talk about rebounding and you can talk about us settling for jumpshots. But it all came down to one thing, we had no legs, no legs to move for rebounds or drive into the lane. The gas gauge was at empty when the game started.

The team is worn down, particularly Ingram and Allen and Plumlee. This is starting to remind me of the 2006 Duke team that was a 2 man team that just wore down at the end.

Maybe Amile will come back and give them a lift, I down know what else to say.

[porkpa]

The final score probably doesn't accurately measure the degree by which we were thrashed.

[weezie]

What else is on? Time for a golf nap.

[duke4ever19]

Shades of Georgetown in 2010. Just a honest to goodness beat down.

[KandG]

Pretty brutal beatdown by Pitt.

Confession: before we went on our recent run of quality play, I feared this is how the season would end. Barely squeaking into the tournament with five guys averaging 38+ minutes, matched up on day 1 with a deep physical team that would take advantage of us being too small, too depleted, too gassed.

I assume this game is an outlier, and that Pitt played slightly over their heads in punishing every single mistake Duke made, and even when we defended reasonably, making a lot of tough jumpshots (plus converting rebounds when they didn't go in). Sometimes our offense is so good we can just match shots with the opponent, but Pitt defended well, plus the tired legs meant we settled for a lot of long shots. Just couldn't find anything near the rim that wasn't heavily contested for almost the entire game.

I maintained the slightest glimmer of hope when it was 59-48 and we had the ball with a chance to cut it back down to single digits after falling behind 17. Thornton missed a stepback jumper and the rout was truly on thereafter.

No rest for the weary with a quick turnaround this week. Next play.

[CameronDuke]

One of 16 league games where we have missed Amile tremendously. Sometimes we have been able to mask it and earn/steal wins, today it was apparent we had a very limited front court.

Marshall has 11-12 career games left at most (if we win the ACC and NCAA Tournaments) and had 0 points and 4 rebounds today.

Wake Forest became a must win game for Duke.

Next play.

[CoSprings]

That was 2 hours of the real. As I said in the 'in-game' thread, this team has really overachieved the last 3 weeks and today felt like a reversal to the mean. We just need to be honest with ourselves as fans and admit this team is incredibly limited and very, very fortunate to be 21-8 given the schedule we've played. This team can see-saw up to the point where they can barely knock off a top team and then have the same ability to sink to being absolutely embarrassed by a bubble team. That's just life this year for Duke. It is what is. The kids are trying like heck, they have great attitudes and are very likable, they just aren't a top shelf Duke squad, and we probably need to let them be what they are and stop thinking they are going to go make some crazy run in March with the limitations they have.

[dukelifer]

Not the team I have watched over the past few weeks. It was the team I thought I would be watching- one that was overmatched and unable to muster the will on the road. Fortunately this team has been tough and has shown the ability to fight through game time aversity. Bad games happen. Pitt was desperate and played with focus. This was a major win for them and should help get them off the bubble. The only takeaway is that this team is still young and struggles with physical teams. Usually Marshall is better in these games but he gave almost nothing. Amile would have been ideal here. Need to beat Wake and then UNC is always a crapshoot. Team is learning for next year an beyond. The chances of winning the ACC and NCAA tourneys is not zero but pretty small. Just need to work on not having games like this anymore. Part of the process of getting the Final Four- hopefully next year.

[wavedukefan70s]

I hate to say we looked beat.flat out gassed.

[Devilwin]

Pitt was unreal. We were horrible. End of story. Oh, and for those of us praying for Amile, we are running out of games. He'll be back, but my money's on next year. We play with what we got.:mad:

[CameronDuke]

Any chatter on if Amile has filed his redshirt papers yet? Is the team still planning on bringing him back for 2 regular season games and 10 at most ACC/NCAA Tournament games (likely less)?

[SCMatt33]

So first things first. The first and primary reason Duke lost is because our energy level wasn't in the same ballpark as theirs. Everything else that happened, imo, is merely a symptom of that.

I'm gonna vent on the offense a bit now. By my count (and this could be inaccurate) Duke attempted a grand total of 6 passes in the second half where the recipient was inside the 3 point line. 3 of those possessions were in the last 5 minutes, with 2 in the final few possessions. On those six possessions, Duke scored 6 points, a made 3, a made 2, and a 1-2 from the foul line. On the rest of the half court possessions for the half (so discounting the 2 points for the tech and not counting Luke's steal and shoot 3 as a possession at all for these purposes), Duke scored 19 points. I don't have an exact count on those possessions, but my gut says that there were likely 30-35 total possessions in the half leaving it at 19 points in the mid to high 20's on possessions without an interior pass attempt. It makes it so easy for the other team to defend when they know they can press out on all ball screens and not have to look behind them for a cutter. You just can't beat teams playing offense that way. If I'm an opposing coach. I'm showing this tape to my team and telling them to deny any kick out pass and make them prove that they'll beat you on a back door cut. I tell moon ball defenders to guard close and funnel the dribbler to help while telling my center to fully commit to the help and make Duke probe that they'll dumping off successfully.

This isn't a just today thing either. Dukes assist rate before today was 48.5 good for 260th in the country, I guarantee that it's much worse than that on two pointers. I fully understand that we don't have a passing point guard on the roster, but you don't need crazy stuff. Just some simple flashes to the high post by Ingram, or a post and kick out by Plumlee can get the defense moving for driving lanes.

[KandG]

Coach K:

"We played with no emotion"

"Forty-eight shots and 32 threes...that shows a lack of wanting contact...that and the rebounding."

[Saratoga2]

That was as bad as Duke has looked this year. A lot of credit goes to Pitt they outplayed us in every phase of the game. Duke looked tired from the outset while Pitt used all their long bench to tire us further. My view of Duke's weaknesses today.

1. No inside scoring presence and poor rebounding.
2. Couldn't penetrate their defense effectively
3. Were turnover prone
4. Gave up way too many open shots

On the other hand Pitt

1. Hammered us on the boards
2. Shot well from outside
3. Got their points in the paint
4. Were solid on defense and most of our shots were contested

Brandon was the only one who they couldn't defend, but he wasn't shooting that well.

Grayson got his points by sheer persistence and determination.

Personally, I think the starting lineup didn't match up well and we got into a big hole right away. Coach K stuck with it for quite a while. Our best opportunity to score today was when Brandon, Grayson and Luke played together. Luke needs to be encouraged to continue to be aggressive with his offense as he draws defenders and can score in a number of ways and passes well. Unfortunately, he didn't have a great shooting day but I still think the team is more dangerous with him in. Thornton game was off virtually the entire day. Jones is probably not 100% as yet either.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Zero energy and want. This is the last game like this that we can afford.

[Pghdukie]

We lost. Game over. Drink another one for me. Get home safe. Who's next. That's my theory !

[dyedwab]

Personally, I think the starting lineup didn't match up well and we got into a big hole right away. Coach K stuck with it for quite a while. Our best opportunity to score today was when Brandon, Grayson and Luke played together. Luke needs to be encouraged to continue to be aggressive with his offense as he draws defenders and can score in a number of ways and passes well. Unfortunately, he didn't have a great shooting day but I still think the team is more dangerous with him in. Thornton game was off virtually the entire day. Jones is probably not 100% as yet either.

We have yet to have a game this year in which Brandon, Luke, and Grayson are all "on" offensively at the same time.

Pitt outplayed us and outworked us. Our last possible chance of a comeback was snuffed out when, after Brandon picked up his 4th floor, Derryck took a pull-up inside the lane early in the shot clock, and missed, and that was all she wrote...

My question is whether this is a one-off and we just write off to a bad matchup, emotional game for out opponent, and just being "off" or whether this touch, but under-manned team has so used up its physical and emotional reserves that it can't recover enough of it for tougher opponents.

I hope the former, but i worry about the latter.

[uh_no]

If you are looking for a bright spot this afternoon, the women are up by 35 over unc with around 6 left in 3rd qtr.

9F 9F 9F 9F

and the tractor offense was in full effect at the peterson events center!!!!

To be fair, if people want to criticize P for her negative effect on the women's offense, they should also criticize her for how she's managed to affect the men's team as well! Quite a feat!

[devildeac]

We lost. Game over. Drink another one for me. Get home safe. Who's next. That's my theory !

Well, ok:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWnVxuqvY7Jh4s8AyVxYaL4vB5QapV7It

[Furniture]

Bad day at the office. It happens.

I still love this team.

[gofurman]

Zero energy and want. This is the last game like this that we can afford.

Outliers happen. That doesn't bother me. Clemson is a 'bubble' team and that loss didn't bother me. Its the old 'I don't mind that we lost.. I mind how we lost'. We better get some legs and energy. I hope the coaches do more film study and less running of the kids - short turnaround for Tuesday. Luckily its Wake. No disrespect to Wake but they are one of the best matchups for us. No Cat Barber etc even among the worse teams...

Wake aside - its about the big picture. These kids needs rest. I think they get a week before the ACCT and then 5 days or so before the NCAAT. That could be helpful.

If we get up on Wake I wish they would sit Allen and Ingram just a few minutes once or twice. I admit I didn't see all of this game but it appears Pitt KILLED us on the boards getting a ton of boards and loose balls. And they are not a great team nor an overly large team. Their 'center' is usually about 6'9" or so. A bunch of forwards really. Anyway, we need ENERGY. Maybe this was a regression to the mean. When Duke was 4-4 ACC many thought without Amile we were a bubble team. And maybe we have been playing above our heads. That's a possibility. Still, whatever this teams average game is - we need to be rested to do our best.

K rarely admits fatigue (even in years where tough players such as Singler said they hit a wall) but he has mentioned it publically in his press conferences this year - that says a lot!.

Thoughts - agree? disagree?

[Kfanarmy]

Taking contact...I'm not sure that Duke players refused early, but Pitt was literally running into the ball handler coming around the screen in the first half...no fouls called whatsoever. Not sure what you're supposed to do at that point, but they got pushed further and further out as the game went on. There was a tremendous amount of contact on the perimeter, that's partially why Duke couldn't get into the paint...that and all the rest...

[Ian]

We have yet to have a game this year in which Brandon, Luke, and Grayson are all "on" offensively at the same time.

Pitt outplayed us and outworked us. Our last possible chance of a comeback was snuffed out when, after Brandon picked up his 4th floor, Derryck took a pull-up inside the lane early in the shot clock, and missed, and that was all she wrote...

My question is whether this is a one-off and we just write off to a bad matchup, emotional game for out opponent, and just being "off" or whether this touch, but under-manned team has so used up its physical and emotional reserves that it can't recover enough of it for tougher opponents.

I hope the former, but i worry about the latter.

Yeah I'm really worried about the latter. To be honest Ingram has looked like he hit the wall for a couple of games now.

[sagegrouse]

Pitt got every single loose ball. That's our game.

What K said about settling for threes and lack of rebounding.

How did we only lose by 14? Well, our offense was semi-effective. We couldn't stop Pitt.

[LSanders]

These guys have been Superman for so many games, they've earned the right to be Clark Kent from time to time.

I think the '06 analogy is sobering. Even if Amile comes back and is in form, it won't cancel out depleted legs.

Still ... We'll always have February 17th. :cool:

[Jarhead]

Worst Duke game since the early Seventies, if memory serves me.

[pfrduke]

Worst Duke game since the early Seventies, if memory serves me.

You don't remember the 70-47 loss to Clemson a few years ago?

[FerryFor50]

You don't remember the 70-47 loss to Clemson a few years ago?

Or the Miami blowout last year at Cameron.

Or Georgetown in 2010.

It happens.

Next play.

[FerryFor50]

That was 2 hours of the real. As I said in the 'in-game' thread, this team has really overachieved the last 3 weeks and today felt like a reversal to the mean. We just need to be honest with ourselves as fans and admit this team is incredibly limited and very, very fortunate to be 21-8 given the schedule we've played. This team can see-saw up to the point where they can barely knock off a top team and then have the same ability to sink to being absolutely embarrassed by a bubble team. That's just life this year for Duke. It is what is. The kids are trying like heck, they have great attitudes and are very likable, they just aren't a top shelf Duke squad, and we probably need to let them be what they are and stop thinking they are going to go make some crazy run in March with the limitations they have.

So you threw out 3 weeks of actual data against legit teams and are relying on 2 hours to tell you what is "real"?

And you did it for a game where Pitt went absolutely bonkers from the field to start the gsme?

Confirmation bias much?

[JPtheGame]

Or the Miami blowout last year at Cameron.

Or Georgetown in 2010.

It happens.

Next play.

I go with gtown 2010 considering that was a national championship team that looked defenseless all day.

Louisville and today remind me of the 2010 team but in 08 and 09 v West Virginia and Villanova. I remember scheyer saying they watched those games over and over as reminders that they had to get tougher. Problem is, this team will have weeks, not years, to figure that part out.

[dukelifer]

That was 2 hours of the real. As I said in the 'in-game' thread, this team has really overachieved the last 3 weeks and today felt like a reversal to the mean. We just need to be honest with ourselves as fans and admit this team is incredibly limited and very, very fortunate to be 21-8 given the schedule we've played. This team can see-saw up to the point where they can barely knock off a top team and then have the same ability to sink to being absolutely embarrassed by a bubble team. That's just life this year for Duke. It is what is. The kids are trying like heck, they have great attitudes and are very likable, they just aren't a top shelf Duke squad, and we probably need to let them be what they are and stop thinking they are going to go make some crazy run in March with the limitations they have.

In March the goal is to get to the dance and then you are in it until you are out. Every team at the start has a chance to make a crazy run. Duke will be right there. If they win it all we will all be rejoicing and claiming we saw this fight in them in February. If they lose before April- then we will chalk it up to inexperience and injury. 5 Championships as a Duke fan- I never ever take that for granted. They are really hard to get.

[buddy]

Kudos to Pitt. They played with controlled emotion and completely dominated in all aspects of the game. I was also impressed that there was a minimum of woofing. It would have been easy to strut and high five, but they focused on the game. That may be a credit to Jamie Dixon. I also appreciated how he took his brought his seniors out with the game well in hand in the last two minutes. It gave them a chance for recognition, and also ensured that there were no regrettable actions.

[Pghdukie]

If it helps at all - I was surprised at all the Duke fans at the game. We didn't have much to cheer for, but a nice Duke crowd at an away game

[sagegrouse]

That was 2 hours of the real. As I said in the 'in-game' thread, this team has really overachieved the last 3 weeks and today felt like a reversal to the mean. We just need to be honest with ourselves as fans and admit this team is incredibly limited and very, very fortunate to be 21-8 given the schedule we've played. This team can see-saw up to the point where they can barely knock off a top team and then have the same ability to sink to being absolutely embarrassed by a bubble team. That's just life this year for Duke. It is what is. The kids are trying like heck, they have great attitudes and are very likable, they just aren't a top shelf Duke squad, and we probably need to let them be what they are and stop thinking they are going to go make some crazy run in March with the limitations they have.

"That was 2 hours of" really uninspired play. You may think this team "overachieved," but I don't. Ingram and Allen are two of the best wing players to ever play for Duke (Grayson a more muscular Jeff Mullins and Ingram incomparable in many, many ways). The other guys are good players with both defensive and offensive capabilities. There are, however, not enough of them and, without Amile Jefferson, this team, even at its best, will have problems winning three games in a row at the ACC's or getting to the Final Four (or the Elite).

I won't speculate how far Duke could go if Amile returns this week -- that would be unfair to Amile, a guy who hasn't been on the court in nearly three months.

[ChillinDuke]

Got smoked pretty good. Not much to say from me about the game.

Perhaps this is the wrong thread, but what the heck is up with Amile? I mean, at this point, he's clearly been practicing for at least a couple weeks. We have photographic evidence of that. I get he may have pain, and I get foot injuries can be complicated. But color me completely confused as to what the heck is going on with him.

Boy oh boy, do we ever need him.

- Chillin

[Troublemaker]

That was 2 hours of the real. As I said in the 'in-game' thread, this team has really overachieved the last 3 weeks and today felt like a reversal to the mean. We just need to be honest with ourselves as fans and admit this team is incredibly limited and very, very fortunate to be 21-8 given the schedule we've played. This team can see-saw up to the point where they can barely knock off a top team and then have the same ability to sink to being absolutely embarrassed by a bubble team. That's just life this year for Duke. It is what is. The kids are trying like heck, they have great attitudes and are very likable, they just aren't a top shelf Duke squad, and we probably need to let them be what they are and stop thinking they are going to go make some crazy run in March with the limitations they have.

Wait, what? Why are the past 7 games a fluke and this 1 (most recent) game the reality?

[FerryFor50]

Wait, what? Why are the past 7 games a fluke but this 1 most recent game the reality?

Because this game fits his narrative.

[NashvilleDevil]

Wait, what? Why are the past 7 games a fluke and this 1 (most recent) game the reality?

When Duke hit tha bad stretch right after Amile went down Co was saying they'd be lucky to make the tourney. Until today I have not noticed the poster and now after a very poor performance they are back regurgitating the narrative from December/January.

[kAzE]

I'm still firmly on the bandwagon. We got outplayed, no doubt about it. First game in awhile that we haven't at least matched the intensity of the opposing squad. We looked tired out there, especially Grayson, who usually never looks tired. A bunch of his jumpers were short.

Can't say I expected this outcome, but I'm not surprised that we ran into an absolute buzzsaw on Pitt's senior night against a veteran team who is hitting their shots. It seemed like we just didn't have the energy to play our usual level of defense, or grab loose balls and rebounds. Some of those 3s were just deflating. Gotta tip your hat to Pitt, that was a strong showing by them. I'm very confident that we will bring our usual level of energy to our final 2 home games.

I have no insider info, but I have a hunch that Amile will make his return vs. Wake. His return will definitely give the team a boost, and then there's no need for any extra motivation to beat the Heels.

[NashvilleDevil]

I'm still firmly on the bandwagon. We got outplayed, no doubt about it. First game in awhile that we haven't at least matched the intensity of the opposing squad. We looked tired out there, especially Grayson, who usually never looks tired. A bunch of his jumpers were short.

Can't say I expected this outcome, but I'm not surprised that we ran into an absolute buzzsaw on Pitt's senior night against a veteran team who is hitting their shots. It seemed like we just didn't have the energy to play our usual level of defense, or grab loose balls and rebounds. Some of those 3s were just deflating. Gotta tip your hat to Pitt, that was a strong showing by them. I'm very confident that we will bring our usual level of energy to our final 2 home games.

I have no insider info, but I have a hunch that Amile will make his return vs. Wake. His return will definitely give the team a boost, and then there's no need for any extra motivation to beat the Heels.

Yes Duke is tired but I have to think that espn's attempt to make Grayson the biggest villain in sports had an affect. It also seemed that Duke was afraid to drive, like they know contact is not going to get called. So much for freedom of movement on games that matter.

[Saratoga2]

Yes Duke is tired but I have to think that espn's attempt to make Grayson the biggest villain in sports had an affect. It also seemed that Duke was afraid to drive, like they know contact is not going to get called. So much for freedom of movement on games that matter.

Can't say I agree with the thought that Duke was afraid to drive. The Pitt defense was good and made it hard to drive. The starting team came out absolutely flat and in fact our start against Florida State with the same starters was also slow. The difference this afternoon is that we just didn't regain our energy as can be seen by weak defense and rebounding. Hope a rest of a day will re-energize the team. If not that, perhaps the crowd will help lift our spirits.

[ncexnyc]

For the trolls on the board writing off this team you could at least try being a little more creative when announcing these kids as D.O.A.

As for myself, I'm tipping my hat to Pitt, as they played with a sense of urgency and desperation that a team in their position should. At the end of the day they walked away with the scalp they badly needed for their resume.

Coming into today I had hoped that our kids were paying attention to what went down on Saturday throughout college hoops, especially the FSU game, but alas they weren't ready to handle the intensity that a desperate Pitt team brought to this game.

I will say that I'm proud with the way our kids fought throughout the game and I actually believed that when we cut it to single digits in the second half, Pitt was going to fold. Again, kudos to Pitt for having a great game. I'll be very curious to see how the rest of their season plays out.

I'm still looking for bigger and better things from this team the rest of the season the talent is definitely there and having followed this team since 1985, when I was first stationed at Ft. Bragg and learned what ACC basketball was all about, I know that tournament basketball is all about the match-ups.

[camion]

Simply put, this was their day. Congratulations to Pitt on an excellent game.

I still love this Blue Devil team.

[Duke76]

Pretty brutal beatdown by Pitt.

Confession: before we went on our recent run of quality play, I feared this is how the season would end. Barely squeaking into the tournament with five guys averaging 38+ minutes, matched up on day 1 with a deep physical team that would take advantage of us being too small, too depleted, too gassed.

I assume this game is an outlier, and that Pitt played slightly over their heads in punishing every single mistake Duke made, and even when we defended reasonably, making a lot of tough jumpshots (plus converting rebounds when they didn't go in). Sometimes our offense is so good we can just match shots with the opponent, but Pitt defended well, plus the tired legs meant we settled for a lot of long shots. Just couldn't find anything near the rim that wasn't heavily contested for almost the entire game.

I maintained the slightest glimmer of hope when it was 59-48 and we had the ball with a chance to cut it back down to single digits after falling behind 17. Thornton missed a stepback jumper and the rout was truly on thereafter.

No rest for the weary with a quick turnaround this week. Next play.

I kinda thought that was the critical miss, not that it would have mattered much, but he should have passed that ball I thought to one of the hot shooters..that killed the memo and then they went on the run, also thought the bball gods weren't with us because of the "trip"...glad we got it behind us, at least "us" being the Duke family,,,sure we will hear about it until our season ends....with winning the national championship!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Newton_14]

That was 2 hours of the real. As I said in the 'in-game' thread, this team has really overachieved the last 3 weeks and today felt like a reversal to the mean. We just need to be honest with ourselves as fans and admit this team is incredibly limited and very, very fortunate to be 21-8 given the schedule we've played. This team can see-saw up to the point where they can barely knock off a top team and then have the same ability to sink to being absolutely embarrassed by a bubble team. That's just life this year for Duke. It is what is. The kids are trying like heck, they have great attitudes and are very likable, they just aren't a top shelf Duke squad, and we probably need to let them be what they are and stop thinking they are going to go make some crazy run in March with the limitations they have.

Oh I sooo disagree with this. People wrote the same things in past seasons when we were blown out by NC State more than once, and Georgetown, and others. Today was a Next Play game. The very definition of it, actually. Team A was fresher and shot well above their season average and collective abilities, Team B was not as fresh and shot well below their collective abilities and season averages, and when that happens in a College Hoops you get a fools gold game. I hope anyone doesn't really think Pitt is 20 points better than Duke. Pitt did the exact same thing to uncheat last season up there. Yet some will write: "We got exposed today. Big time", or "see, see, we are just not that good".

The biggest flaw this team has is not having Amile Jefferson. Totally different season if he does not go down. As has been noted previously, the losses to Utah, Clemson, ND, and Syracuse, very likely do not happen with Amile. They barely happened without him. The talk I heard today is that Amile will play Tuesday against Wake. Whether that is reality or not, I have no idea.

Our squad is thin, but very talented. Whether they make a run in March or not doesn't change that fact. You don't go 3-1 (and very easily could have gone 4-0) during the toughest part of the schedule without being a very good team. If they get Amile back and he can contribute similar to how he did pre-injury, this is very much a Top 10 team.

They can beat anyone on a neutral court, but they are not dominant. But neither is any other team in College Basketball this season. The Tourney is going to be wide open.

[NM Duke Fan]

Senior night, a team desperate to win against a ranked opponent. And it starts out the game shooting lights out. Against a thin, very talented but tired team which was not shooting well. Not a big surprise, there have been plenty of games like this in college basketball history. And very often they really do not mean all that much when it coimes to the Big Dance. This teams mostly needs soime rest, which is coming up soon. If Amile comes back, they may very well have the depth that could push them to another gear. I agree that in a season like this they have a chance to play with anybody, and I look forward to the NCAA tournament!

[Duke76]

Simply put, this was their day. Congratulations to Pitt on an excellent game.

I still love this Blue Devil team.

Pitt doesn't play or better said shoot that well the rest of the season...they were unconscious really...I think 5-6 of their misses in the first half was on one possession.
50% overall undersells how well they shot or maybe it was just that we shot so bad and when we did miss we never got a second chance...I swear we only had one possession with more that one shot

[rsvman]

The way I feel right now reminds me a lot of how I felt after we lost to Notre Dame in the ACC tournament last year. Very similar feel to the game. A lot of people kind of writing off the team a bit after that one, too. Something about how the one-and-dones were ruining college basketball our how they could never work in the Duke system, or some such.

And yes, I realize that last year's ND team squad was a far sight more talented than this year's Pitt squad. I'm just sayin'.

Xavier beat Villanova; Xavier is a powerhouse one seed for the tournament. Except that they then turned around and got blitzed by providence. Kentucky is on the comeback trail, strengthening just in time for the tournament. Except they got handled by Vanderbilt. And, as they said in "The King and I," et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

[Steven43]

this team has really overachieved the last 3 weeks and today felt like a reversal to the mean. We just need to be honest with ourselves as fans and admit this team is incredibly limited and very, very fortunate to be 21-8. This team can see-saw up to the point where they can barely knock off a top team and then have the same ability to sink to being absolutely embarrassed by a bubble team. That's just life this year for Duke. It is what is. The kids are trying like heck, they have great attitudes and are very likable, they just aren't a top shelf Duke squad, and we probably need to let them be what they are and stop thinking they are going to go make some crazy run in March with the limitations they have.
I could not disagree more with this post.

What do you mean 'this team has really overachieved the last three weeks'? Says who? Based on what? How do you know what Duke did against UNC, UVA, and Louisville is an overachievement? Just one overachievement after another after another, huh?

And what makes this team 'incredibly limited'? Duke has high-level players at EVERY SINGLE POSITION. And the best coach in all of basketball. And some of the better assistants. What do you want? Two-deep with Mickie D's at every position? Just so a bunch of guys could sit on the bench, not play much, and then transfer?

You dismiss Duke for 'barely beating' top teams as if there is something wrong with that. When playing a top team one cannot hope for much more than to barely beat them. You think Duke should be crushing the top teams they play? That's just a ludicrous notion.

And how do you know this is not a top shelf Duke team at full strength? Everybody has gotten better in Amile's absence. Everybody. If Amile returns at or near full strength I think you're going to see a very high level team that is absolutely capable of making a "crazy" run in March. You can go ahead and jump ship now. I'm staying on board.

[crf30]

This was only the second Duke game I've been to, and I was happy to see the number of Duke fans filling out the Pete. I'm a Pitt student, and I actually got a ticket in the lottery so I could have worn my 2015 National Champs shirt into the student section, but my brother and I got two tickets with assigned seats since he couldn't get into the Zoo as a non-student.

The guys just looked flat from the start, and got buried quickly. There were plenty of questionable calls, but Pitt wins this game no matter how it's called as well as they were shooting. It seemed like we shot about 70% of our shots from behind the arc and got <5 offensive boards. Does that sound about right? It seemed like for a stretch in the beginning of the second half Gray and Brandon were making a really concentrated effort at driving for foul calls. After all, in the first half each time Brandon drove and got a shot off they said it was on the floor. Whether they were all correctly called or not, bottom line was Pitt took away scoring opportunities on drives and we were not hot enough from three.

Today just wasn't our day. We thought about waiting by the bus after the game to cheer them on, but then we reminisced about when people used to do that to us during our playing days and we decided against it.

Side note: The guy sitting beside us was also a Duke fan, and he was talking about how Marshall should get most improved player. I don't know if he meant ACC or the team. But I feel like the general consensus here is that Grayson will easily win that award based on his huge leap in production. But maybe Marshall actually improved his game more, whereas Grayson is just able to be put on display more this year.

[Kedsy]

We looked tired out there, especially Grayson, who usually never looks tired.

To me, Grayson looked negatively affected by the Pitt fans booing him loudly every time he touched the ball. It's possible I was projecting my own distaste at the tactic, but to me he really looked knocked back by the concerted booing.

[DukieInKansas]

To me, Grayson looked negatively affected by the Pitt fans booing him loudly every time he touched the ball. It's possible I was projecting my own distaste at the tactic, but to me he really looked knocked back by the concerted booing.

Hopefully, he can learn to embrace it because it may continue. Better page JJ for a consultation.

[wavedukefan70s]

To me, Grayson looked negatively affected by the Pitt fans booing him loudly every time he touched the ball. It's possible I was projecting my own distaste at the tactic, but to me he really looked knocked back by the concerted booing.

I thought the same thing .i was literally yelling at the tv do your thing! expletive them.
I sorta had the feeling something was going to be off when i thought colson was on ptts team.i somehow threw off our mojo i know it.
I do believe we will be ok.they were on fire.we also had a lot of distractions this week.thanks to espn and every two bit sportswriter.

[dukelifer]

To me, Grayson looked negatively affected by the Pitt fans booing him loudly every time he touched the ball. It's possible I was projecting my own distaste at the tactic, but to me he really looked knocked back by the concerted booing.

Grayson had a bad few days. I doubt he embraces being hated as Laettner did. In fact, off the court I suspect he is a quiet, sensitive kid. I also agree it affected him and this response will continue to follow him for a while. The sports media made a huge deal about this- mostly using articles and talk radio to attack Coach K and the program for not suspending him. It may end up making him more tempted to go pro.

[oldnavy]

Well that was not pretty at all!

Pitt was REALLY good and we were not anywhere near the team we have been the past couple of weeks.

It happens. Congrats to Pitt for the win! They beat us soundly!

MP3 was a shell of what he needs to be. A 7 foot 5th year senior has to have a better line than O points and 4 rebounds. Get some rest Lt, we really need you!

We have to get Amile back soon. I still think he will make a tremendous difference. He brings the very thing that is missing off this team. I hope he can get past the injury and come back to help this year, but if not... I hope he wants to end his Duke career on a better note than him riding the pine in a boot and decides to play next year.

Bad effort today, so only one thing left to say, Next Play!! GO DUKE!

[jv001]

To me, Grayson looked negatively affected by the Pitt fans booing him loudly every time he touched the ball. It's possible I was projecting my own distaste at the tactic, but to me he really looked knocked back by the concerted booing.

You can count me in on thinking Grayson was set back with all the booing. I wish he could have shut them up by having a great game and he did have a good game but not the same kind of play we've seen YTD. Those 4 turnovers were bad. I'm glad the next 2 games are in Cameron because we need for the team to get back on track. But then it's off to Maryland/DC for the ACC Tournament where no doubt there will be more of the same for Grayson. He better put on his big boy pants because it could be ugly. GoDuke!

[jdc75]

To me, Grayson looked negatively affected by the Pitt fans booing him loudly every time he touched the ball. It's possible I was projecting my own distaste at the tactic, but to me he really looked knocked back by the concerted booing.

I agree wholeheartedly with this.


All the negative blowback from the end of the FSU game up until tip off yesterday had to be a huge distraction for him, but more importantly to the entire team and coaching staff. And although the reaction from

espn and other media has been ridiculously overblown, his actions are what brought all of this negativity on. Coach K said in in post game interview that the team played with no emotion. I believe these distractions

were the major cause of this. Grayson has to find a way to ignore all the noise, and to use this to make himself and the team stronger. Luckily he has a master of sports psychology advising him.

On a positive note, there are no more road games.

[Saratoga2]

We had no offensive or rebounding presence inside. (-19 rebounding margin). We gave them a ton of wide open shots. We lost by 14 points. Clearly with fairly even rebounding and better coverage of their shooters we would have been in the game.

Marshall was way off and Chase unable to play at a high enough level to make a big difference. Our defense was unable to rotate onto the shooters quickly enough. We looked tired from the get go while they played intensely. Amile would have made some difference for sure but the problems ran deeper during that one game.

Derryck also had an off game and we seemed better when it was Luke handling the ball and initiating the offense. Unfortunately, he seems a little uncomfortable in a lead role and needs to be encouraged to be more aggressive. Even he was not shooting very well.

[Dr. Rosenrosen]

I agree wholeheartedly with this.


All the negative blowback from the end of the FSU game up until tip off yesterday had to be a huge distraction for him, but more importantly to the entire team and coaching staff. And although the reaction from

espn and other media has been ridiculously overblown, his actions are what brought all of this negativity on. Coach K said in in post game interview that the team played with no emotion. I believe these distractions

were the major cause of this. Grayson has to find a way to ignore all the noise, and to use this to make himself and the team stronger. Luckily he has a master of sports psychology advising him.

On a positive note, there are no more road games.
I bet JJ could offer some words of advice.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

On a positive note, there are no more road games.

On a negative note, there are only two more home games.

Grayson had made this bed for himself and now needs to figure out how to best deal with it. Coach K's explanation ought to put to rest any discussion of Allen's intent (K doesn't strike me as the sort of apologize unncessarily). Allen needs to learn to channel his emotion into the game within the bounds of fair play and sportsmanship. This will enable him to make the team stronger rather than potentially jeopardizing it.

[CDu]

On a negative note, there are only two more home games.

Grayson had made this bed for himself and now needs to figure out how to best deal with it. Coach K's explanation ought to put to rest any discussion of Allen's intent (K doesn't strike me as the sort of apologize unncessarily). Allen needs to learn to channel his emotion into the game within the bounds of fair play and sportsmanship. This will enable him to make the team stronger rather than potentially jeopardizing it.

Not only Coach K's comments, but Allen's comments himself make it clear the intent.

In any case, just an awful game yesterday. We didn't match their intensity, and the game started with us missing jumpers and them making them. That only built their confidence and aggressiveness, and we never really rebounded. We made some runs int he first half to cut it to within striking distance (6 or 7), and at the half it looked like we'd survived the onslought. Down only 7 going into the second half, we had a chance to claim the momentum with a strong start. Unfortunately, we started the half allowing two offensive rebounds and a dunk on the third try. Then we took a quick 3 (and missed). We actually got a stop on the next possession, but Allen got stripped by Artis and they dunked on the other end. Suddenly, the 7-point game was up to 11, and that was about as close as we'd get the rest of the way.

Kudos to Pitt for playing harder than us in a game that they also really needed. Now they are pretty comfortably in the NCAA tourney field with some nice wins after an abysmal non-con schedule. Disappointing performance from our guys. After suddenly having the light switch flip on defensively a few games back, we reverted to early season form defensively (and that's not a good thing). Hopefully it was just a one-game blip. It was pretty crazy that not a single player had a particularly good game. It's hard to win when everyone has an off day. Only Matt Jones shot well, but he was ineffective on the other end of the floor as he appeared hindered by his injured ankle.

[Wander]

That only built their confidence and aggressiveness, and we never really rebounded.

Appropriate choice of wording.

[AIRFORCEDUKIE]

We have seen this before guys, a worn out team gets thrashed at an away game. We have also seen it play out different ways, sometimes the loss will lead to an awakening and the team will perform really well down the stretch. Other times the loss is more of a precurser of things to come.

Hopefully this Duke team learns from this loss and refocuses on these next two games. Luckily we don't have to wait to long to get this sour taste out of our mouths. Hopefully Wake serves as a confidence booster for the whole squad going into the UNC game.

I don't know about Grayson, he put up his numbers and had a very workmanlike game. He just seemed to press a little too much and try to create things that weren't there. With his type of game, that will happen from time to time especially as young as he is. He should be back to himself in the friendly Cameron atmosphere.

I am assuming if Amile doesn't come back for the Wake game then we won't be seeing him anymore this year, or ever in a Duke uniform. Maybe Coach K is holding him out for a dramatic return against UNC, or maybe Wake tomorrow? Perhaps K is going to wait until tournament time to put him back in the lineup so teams that have played us already have a new wrinkle that they weren't prepared for. More than likely his foot just still hurts and he can't be effective enough to return to action.

The ACC and NCAA tournaments should be interesting in regards to Grayson. He might get booed at every tournament venue from here on out. Hopefully it won't be the sustained booing that the ZOO had but it will be there. It will be interesting to see how he reacts to all the negative energy.

[Billy Dat]

Duke's semi-annual flogging game is never fun to watch.

Yeah, this is just how I felt while watching the first 5-8 minutes of the second half. It aint our day, it's prohibitively THEIR day, and I wonder when I will feel comfortable that I can turn it off and move on. That happened when the lead hit 19.

Aside from the fact that Pitt was ON and we were OFF, they definitely defended us in a really effective manner. I wonder if there are any wrinkles in there that others can copy? I don't want to go back and watch, but it felt very "advanced stats" level defense in that they were happy to give us mid-range shots but defended the interior and rim very well. As we drove, they'd sag just enough to not allow that straight line to the rim, and we often kept driving into the teeth. They few "easy" baskets we got were when our guys would stop and pop from 10-15. Granted, we had a bunch of clean looks from 3 when the game was still in reach, especially DT, but it just wouldn't drop.

Big kudos to Pitt, though. They looked like a real force yesterday. I'm sure that was a sweet W for their team and fans.

[MCFinARL]

Side note: The guy sitting beside us was also a Duke fan, and he was talking about how Marshall should get most improved player. I don't know if he meant ACC or the team. But I feel like the general consensus here is that Grayson will easily win that award based on his huge leap in production. But maybe Marshall actually improved his game more, whereas Grayson is just able to be put on display more this year.

I think Marshall has improved his game tremendously--over his four playing years, but especially this year as he has been called on to do more. Yesterday, however, was far from the best evidence of his improvement, as (like most of the team) he had an off day.


To me, Grayson looked negatively affected by the Pitt fans booing him loudly every time he touched the ball. It's possible I was projecting my own distaste at the tactic, but to me he really looked knocked back by the concerted booing.


Hopefully, he can learn to embrace it because it may continue. Better page JJ for a consultation.




The ACC and NCAA tournaments should be interesting in regards to Grayson. He might get booed at every tournament venue from here on out. Hopefully it won't be the sustained booing that the ZOO had but it will be there. It will be interesting to see how he reacts to all the negative energy.

While I don't think the booing was Grayson's only problem yesterday, since the whole team just seemed gassed and off their game, I agree he looked bothered by it. And I agree he is likely to get booed at every tournament game for as long as the season goes.

I'd like to think he can use it to fuel himself, as JJ did, but there is a little bit of a difference. The JJ hatred was mostly a reaction to his game and his "bring it on" attitude toward opposing fans. The booing of Grayson, on the other hand, is related to a specific incident in which Grayson was clearly in the wrong. The media circus and "most hated white Duke player" stuff have exacerbated the situation badly, but at bottom, Grayson has to deal with the fact that, however unfair and out of proportion, the booing is essentially his fault. And--as another poster mentioned whom I forgot to quote--he has to deal with the fact that it has been a distraction and problem for the whole team, not just for him.

That has got to be really difficult, to hear those boos and think "I've hurt myself and my team." And there may not be an easy fix, because a) the booing won't go away for a while, except at Cameron; b) the very borderline-out-of-control energy that makes Grayson good may also lead to those instinctive acts of retaliation, so learning to keep one and lose the other could be a challenge.

So I guess what I hope for Grayson is not that he can learn to use the animosity as fuel, since I suspect that might lead to playing hero ball to prove himself or make up for the negative impact of his previous actions, but that he can just learn to block it out entirely and focus on the game.

[CDu]

Yeah, this is just how I felt while watching the first 5-8 minutes of the second half. It aint our day, it's prohibitively THEIR day, and I wonder when I will feel comfortable that I can turn it off and move on. That happened when the lead hit 19.

Aside from the fact that Pitt was ON and we were OFF, they definitely defended us in a really effective manner. I wonder if there are any wrinkles in there that others can copy? I don't want to go back and watch, but it felt very "advanced stats" level defense in that they were happy to give us mid-range shots but defended the interior and rim very well. As we drove, they'd sag just enough to not allow that straight line to the rim, and we often kept driving into the teeth. They few "easy" baskets we got were when our guys would stop and pop from 10-15. Granted, we had a bunch of clean looks from 3 when the game was still in reach, especially DT, but it just wouldn't drop.

Big kudos to Pitt, though. They looked like a real force yesterday. I'm sure that was a sweet W for their team and fans.

They basically just crowded the lane and forced us to shoot long shots (usually 3s). That strategy can work if we shoot 11-32 on 3s, but it's a dangerous game to play if we happen to be hitting shots. But what it did was prevent us from getting to the rim efficiently.

The strategy only works if your defense is well-coordinated. They hedged hard on high ball screens, and their off-side wings were ready to help on angled drives They would concede the lateral pass along the perimeter, but they just didn't want us going "North-South". If the big doesn't do a good job of hedging, or if the weakside wings don't help on drives, we get what we want in going to the rim.

It certainly didn't help that the officials discarded the notion of freedom of movement. To be fair, they generally discarded it both ways, as it was a really ugly-looking game. But that probably hampered us more as we are SO reliant on dribble penetration, whereas Pitt was much more of a passing/ball-movement team. That was my biggest fear with the game being at Pitt, and it played out that way - especially after their hot start which got the crowd even more involved.

[Billy Dat]

They hedged hard on high ball screens, and their off-side wings were ready to help on angled drives They would concede the lateral pass along the perimeter, but they just didn't want us going "North-South". If the big doesn't do a good job of hedging, or if the weakside wings don't help on drives, we get what we want in going to the rim.

It certainly didn't help that the officials discarded the notion of freedom of movement. To be fair, they generally discarded it both ways, as it was a really ugly-looking game. But that probably hampered us more as we are SO reliant on dribble penetration, whereas Pitt was much more of a passing/ball-movement team. That was my biggest fear with the game being at Pitt, and it played out that way - especially after their hot start which got the crowd even more involved.

Yes, as you describe it is how I now remember it, they were hedging like crazy and not really being too concerned about getting back to cover the screener (usually MP3) but choosing to try and disrupt the dribbler often with two defenders off that PnR. The one time we could have made them pay I remember Grayson rifling a ball at a wide open MP3 under the hoop and he just couldn't handle the pass...just one of those days.

Of course, so much was about our inability to finish defensive possessions.

[TruBlu]

Yes, Plumlee booted the pass, but it was a fairly difficult pass to handle.

After that, there were a few plays where Plumlee rolled off a screen toward the basket, was wide open for a pass/dunk, and no one got him the ball. Coach K will probably mention this during a review of the game and in practice.

[dukebluesincebirth]

I don't get people saying how much Grayson was negatively impacted by booing fans and negative energy, and how he needs to learn how to embrace it and play better. The dude had 22pts/3reb/2assists as our starting shooting guard on the road against a hungry conference team playing for an ncaa birth on senior day. What more were you guys expecting from him? 0 turnovers? Three of our other starters combined for 12 points. You can't blame that on Grayson. He's fine. He needs some help.

[CDu]

Yes, as you describe it is how I now remember it, they were hedging like crazy and not really being too concerned about getting back to cover the screener (usually MP3) but choosing to try and disrupt the dribbler often with two defenders off that PnR. The one time we could have made them pay I remember Grayson rifling a ball at a wide open MP3 under the hoop and he just couldn't handle the pass...just one of those days.

Of course, so much was about our inability to finish defensive possessions.

Yeah, our defense was the biggest problem. We let them shoot 50% from the field, and we let them rebound OVER HALF OF THEIR OWN MISSED SHOTS!!! Seriously, they got 16 of the 29 possible rebounds on their misses, and two of our 13 rebounds came on missed free throws in which they basically conceded the rebound. That's just atrocious.

We were certainly also bad offensively, shooting just 34% from 3 and 37.5% overall, but you just aren't likely to win many games when the other team rebounds over half of their own misses - especially when they shoot 50% overall anyway.

[FerryFor50]

Yeah, our defense was the biggest problem. We let them shoot 50% from the field, and we let them rebound OVER HALF OF THEIR OWN MISSED SHOTS!!! Seriously, they got 16 of the 29 possible rebounds on their misses, and two of our 13 rebounds came on missed free throws in which they basically conceded the rebound. That's just atrocious.

We were certainly also bad offensively, shooting just 34% from 3 and 37.5% overall, but you just aren't likely to win many games when the other team rebounds over half of their own misses - especially when they shoot 50% overall anyway.

I think it was more rebounding than defense.

First possession defense (while the game was still in reach) was actually pretty decent. They often had a hand up. Pitt just kept hitting contested shot after contested shot.

Then, if they *did* miss, they'd get the board and often score.

That snowballed in the 2nd half where we started giving up more open looks, layups, etc. Some of the points came off transition, where we forced up a bad shot.

It was just that kind of day.

[CDu]

I don't get people saying how much Grayson was negatively impacted by booing fans and negative energy, and how he needs to learn how to embrace it and play better. The dude had 22pts/3reb/2assists as our starting shooting guard on the road against a hungry conference team playing for an ncaa birth on senior day. What more were you guys expecting from him? 0 turnovers? Three of our other starters combined for 12 points. You can't blame that on Grayson. He's fine. He needs some help.

Agreed. Of all the guys to talk about in this game, Allen probably was among the least of our troubles.

Allen shot 6-13 (almost 50%) from the field and scored 22 points. He did have 4 turnovers to just 2 assists, which is not good. But he was still a pretty productive player. Compare his performance to, say, Plumlee, who had just 2 defensive rebounds in 25 minutes of play. Or Thornton, who shot just 2-9, had 3 turnovers, and fouled out. Or Ingram, who went 5-13 for 17 points, with 3 turnovers and just 1 assist and just 2 defensive rebounds from the PF spot.

I'd argue that Allen had one of our best two performances on the night, with Matt Jones in the mix as well. Kennard did some nice things as a playmaker, but shot poorly. Ingram scored relatively efficiently but struggled at everything else. And Thornton and Plumlee just had really bad days.

[Billy Dat]

I think it was more rebounding than defense.
First possession defense (while the game was still in reach) was actually pretty decent. They often had a hand up. Pitt just kept hitting contested shot after contested shot.
Then, if they *did* miss, they'd get the board and often score.
That snowballed in the 2nd half where we started giving up more open looks, layups, etc. Some of the points came off transition, where we forced up a bad shot.
It was just that kind of day.

I tend to conflate rebounding with either offense or defense. It's tough to separate rebounding from defense because a defensive rebound is what completes a defensive possession. As such, it is essentially as important as every other aspect of the defense - stopping ball penetration, staying connected to shooters, rotating/helping, etc.


Agreed. Of all the guys to talk about in this game, Allen probably was among the least of our troubles.

Allen shot 6-13 (almost 50%) from the field and scored 22 points. He did have 4 turnovers to just 2 assists, which is not good. But he was still a pretty productive player. Compare his performance to, say, Plumlee, who had just 2 defensive rebounds in 25 minutes of play. Or Thornton, who shot just 2-9, had 3 turnovers, and fouled out. Or Ingram, who went 5-13 for 17 points, with 3 turnovers and just 1 assist and just 2 defensive rebounds from the PF spot.

I'd argue that Allen had one of our best two performances on the night, with Matt Jones in the mix as well. Kennard did some nice things as a playmaker, but shot poorly. Ingram scored relatively efficiently but struggled at everything else. And Thornton and Plumlee just had really bad days.

After the last game, K talked about trying out Plumlee and Jeter together. This might have been a good game to try that out to see if we could stop the bleeding on the defensive glass. As with everything else, I guess we just didn't have time to practice. It would be nice to go back to mid week game, weekend game, mid week game, weekend game...ah...the curse of millions in TV money.

[FerryFor50]

I tend to conflate rebounding with either offense or defense. It's tough to separate rebounding from defense because a defensive rebound is what completes a defensive possession. As such, it is essentially as important as every other aspect of the defense - stopping ball penetration, staying connected to shooters, rotating/helping, etc.



After the last game, K talked about trying out Plumlee and Jeter together. This might have been a good game to try that out to see if we could stop the bleeding on the defensive glass. As with everything else, I guess we just didn't have time to practice. It would be nice to go back to mid week game, weekend game, mid week game, weekend game...ah...the curse of millions in TV money.

Right, I don't disagree with that premise.

I was just stating that the first shot defense seemed to be pretty good, results notwithstanding. :)

[Billy Dat]

Right, I don't disagree with that premise.

I was just stating that the first shot defense seemed to be pretty good, results notwithstanding. :)

I agree, in fact I think it's worth noting that Pitt was really disciplined with their offense, many of those first shots were pretty deep in the shot clock which made giving up those boards particularly deflating.

[FerryFor50]

I agree, in fact I think it's worth noting that Pitt was really disciplined with their offense, many of those first shots were pretty deep in the shot clock which made giving up those boards particularly deflating.

Yep. And that stuff adds up, emotionally.

[CDu]

It certainly didn't help that we lost seemingly all of the pinball battles for those boards. Pitt is a very physically strong team, and they are used to playing a "battle of attrition" style. They really scrapped for those rebounds, moreso (or at least more effectively) than we did. But it had to be frustrating that even when we WERE battling for rebounds they tended to come up victorious.

I remember very few contested defensive rebounds that we got. Plumlee had one at the end of a long sequence of Pitt misses in close, and maybe Plumlee and Kennard each had one. But most of our very few defensive rebounds were the uncontested one. That's a demoralizing stat when the true "up for grabs" rebounds all seem to go to the opponent.

[FerryFor50]

It certainly didn't help that we lost seemingly all of the pinball battles for those boards. Pitt is a very physically strong team, and they are used to playing a "battle of attrition" style. They really scrapped for those rebounds, moreso (or at least more effectively) than we did. But it had to be frustrating that even when we WERE battling for rebounds they tended to come up victorious.

I remember very few contested defensive rebounds that we got. Plumlee had one at the end of a long sequence of Pitt misses in close, and maybe Plumlee and Kennard each had one. But most of our very few defensive rebounds were the uncontested one. That's a demoralizing stat when the true "up for grabs" rebounds all seem to go to the opponent.

Yea, some of those rebounds were of the "bounce right to the Pitt player for an uncontested shot" variety. I recall one where Robinson threw up a terrible contested floater that grazed the front of the rim and then right back to him for an open shot. Or another where a loose ball was just out of Brandon Ingram's 7'3" wingspan on the floor that Pitt got for another layin.

Then there was one sequence where Pitt got 5 offensive boards in one possession, with no fouls and even had a Pitt player that I could have sworn had not re-established himself inbounds get one of those boards.

Yea, Duke seemed out of sorts, but that was a result of how the game was going I think.

[CDu]

Yea, some of those rebounds were of the "bounce right to the Pitt player for an uncontested shot" variety. I recall one where Robinson threw up a terrible contested floater that grazed the front of the rim and then right back to him for an open shot. Or another where a loose ball was just out of Brandon Ingram's 7'3" wingspan on the floor that Pitt got for another layin.

I was referring more to the rebounds that were batted around and ended up in Pitt's hands. The ones that bounced directly to a Pitt player are examples of bad defense. The one where Robinson had the ball bounce right to him for an open shot shouldn't happen. If we box him out even in the slightest, the ball that bounces right to him for an uncontested layup is instead an easy defensive rebound. We've always been a bad box-out team, and yesterday was certainly evidence of that in many cases.

It was the ones that we got our hands on and didn't possess that I was referring to. Two come to mind for Ingram: one in the first half that he tipped away from Allen and Jones and wound up in Artis' hands, where we proceeded not to defend him as he drove from the top of the key to the basket for a layup past 4 defenders; one early in the second half on the floor that Ingram slapped off his own knee and out of bounds. And of course there was the 5-offensive-rebound melee that Pitt had late in the first half that Plumlee eventually came away with the rebound.

[ncexnyc]

I don't get people saying how much Grayson was negatively impacted by booing fans and negative energy, and how he needs to learn how to embrace it and play better. The dude had 22pts/3reb/2assists as our starting shooting guard on the road against a hungry conference team playing for an ncaa birth on senior day. What more were you guys expecting from him? 0 turnovers? Three of our other starters combined for 12 points. You can't blame that on Grayson. He's fine. He needs some help.

It's nice to see someone else not buying into the excuse fest the last two pages of this thread has become.

Pitt needed the game more than we did and they played with the intensity and desperation a team in their position needed too.

All of this talk about Grayson and the team being effected by the supposed blowback from the incident the other night is just that, talk.

If Coach K is the great coach everyone always says he is, then he never would have let the team get distracted by the media sideshow.

As fans we just need to accept the fact that Pitt played great and we didn't, it happens, so please stop making excuses.

[kAzE]

Yea, some of those rebounds were of the "bounce right to the Pitt player for an uncontested shot" variety. I recall one where Robinson threw up a terrible contested floater that grazed the front of the rim and then right back to him for an open shot. Or another where a loose ball was just out of Brandon Ingram's 7'3" wingspan on the floor that Pitt got for another layin.

Then there was one sequence where Pitt got 5 offensive boards in one possession, with no fouls and even had a Pitt player that I could have sworn had not re-established himself inbounds get one of those boards.

Yea, Duke seemed out of sorts, but that was a result of how the game was going I think.

I was beginning to get mad at how many 50-50 balls were going Pitt's way, but then they just went on a huge run in the 2nd half and absolutely crushed us. I think even if those 50-50 plays had been more typical (50% for each team), I'm still convinced we would have lost this one. It was their night.

[uh_no]

I was beginning to get mad at how many 50-50 balls were going Pitt's way, but then they just went on a huge run in the 2nd half and absolutely crushed us. I think even if those 50-50 plays had been more typical (50% for each team), I'm still convinced we would have lost this one. It was their night.

many of those 50-50 balls went there way because they were in better position. how many times did the ball clang around and there were 4 or 5 pitt guys vs marshall plumlee?

[oldnavy]

many of those 50-50 balls went there way because they were in better position. how many times did the ball clang around and there were 4 or 5 pitt guys vs marshall plumlee?

I had to check myself once or twice with regards to yelling at the TV (so much for a lazy Sunday afternoon!! :(

I was getting upset with MP3, and to be fair, he has to do better than 4 rebounds and 0 points, but he wasn't getting much in the way of help underneath.

[sagegrouse]

It's nice to see someone else not buying into the excuse fest the last two pages of this thread has become.

Pitt needed the game more than we did and they played with the intensity and desperation a team in their position needed too.

All of this talk about Grayson and the team being effected by the supposed blowback from the incident the other night is just that, talk.

If Coach K is the great coach everyone always says he is, then he never would have let the team get distracted by the media sideshow.

As fans we just need to accept the fact that Pitt played great and we didn't, it happens, so please stop making excuses.

We didn't get any of the loose balls. Against UNC and most other teams we got almost all of the loose balls.

[Kfanarmy]

We didn't get any of the loose balls. Against UNC and most other teams we got almost all of the loose balls.

That's the first time in a long time, I've seen that many available rebounds rolling across the floor, without Duke players diving/sliding to get them...

[Turk]

A few random thoughts from Peanut Heaven:

When they start the pre-game intros at the Pete, the announcer starts the hype with "Welcome to the greatest college basketball arena in the world!!" I had to laugh at that. I will concede "the greatest basketball arena in Pennsylvania west of Valley Forge" but that's about it...

I was actually feeling pretty good that the Devils had finished strong at the end of the first half, only down by 7 after that poor start. But then Pitt got a dunk from a switch that gave them a mismatch advantage inside, then another dunk after a turnover, and Pitt never looked back.

On defense, Pitt came out high and showed a double when Grayson got a ball screen, and when Mason rolled to the hoop, an offside forward hedged enough that Grayson didn't try to make the pass. I thought he was open a few times, but the only time Grayson threw it, Mason couldn't catch the pass. So most of the time, Duke just swung the ball to the other side of the floor and settled for a jumper. (usually contested). When Duke attacked the basket on the drive, a second defender would collapse to prevent the layup, and the outside shooters just couldn't hit enough of the kickouts.

Lastly, I thought Grayson carried himself well, and I didn't have a problem with the booing. Grayson was the steadiest player out there, just not spectacular.

There was good representation of Duke blue in the stands, but we never really had a chance to make some noise.

Looking for a good week of home cooking for the boys and a strong finish on Saturday. 9F! 9F! 9F!

[NYBri]

First real stinker of the year.

Not that long ago when everyone was extolling the heart and grit of this team. This is still that team.

K will address the problems.

Next game.

Go Devils!

[rsvman]

A few random thoughts from Peanut Heaven:

When they start the pre-game intros at the Pete, the announcer starts the hype with "Welcome to the greatest college basketball arena in the world!!" I had to laugh at that. I will concede "the greatest basketball arena in Pennsylvania west of Valley Forge" but that's about it...

I was actually feeling pretty good that the Devils had finished strong at the end of the first half, only down by 7 after that poor start. But then Pitt got a dunk from a switch that gave them a mismatch advantage inside, then another dunk after a turnover, and Pitt never looked back.

On defense, Pitt came out high and showed a double when Grayson got a ball screen, and when Mason rolled to the hoop, an offside forward hedged enough that Grayson didn't try to make the pass. I thought he was open a few times, but the only time Grayson threw it, Mason couldn't catch the pass. So most of the time, Duke just swung the ball to the other side of the floor and settled for a jumper. (usually contested). When Duke attacked the basket on the drive, a second defender would collapse to prevent the layup, and the outside shooters just couldn't hit enough of the kickouts.

Lastly, I thought Grayson carried himself well, and I didn't have a problem with the booing. Grayson was the steadiest player out there, just not spectacular.

There was good representation of Duke blue in the stands, but we never really had a chance to make some noise.

Looking for a good week of home cooking for the boys and a strong finish on Saturday. 9F! 9F! 9F!

Pretty sure you meant to say Marshall, not Mason. So many Plumlees. It can get confusing sometimes. :)

[Jeffrey]

Is Matt still hurt? His D was the worst I recall. If so, it sure would be nice to rest him until Saturday.

[Turk]

Pretty sure you meant to say Marshall, not Mason. So many Plumlees. It can get confusing sometimes. :)

That was embarrassing. Complete lack of effort and focus; I don't care how well the other team plays. Can't have those kinds of mistakes this late in the season. We're thin at the proofreading position, so we need a total team effort before posting. It will be addressed and corrected in drills: MP3 MP3 MP3 MP3 MP3

[jacone21]

That was embarrassing. Complete lack of effort and focus; I don't care how well the other team plays. Can't have those kinds of mistakes this late in the season. We're thin at the proofreading position, so we need a total team effort before posting. It will be addressed and corrected in drills: MP3 MP3 MP3 MP3 MP3

I'm pretty sure it's just late season fatigue. Clearly you've been spending too many minutes posting and not enough resting. We need a bench.

[MCFinARL]

It's nice to see someone else not buying into the excuse fest the last two pages of this thread has become.

Pitt needed the game more than we did and they played with the intensity and desperation a team in their position needed too.

All of this talk about Grayson and the team being effected by the supposed blowback from the incident the other night is just that, talk.

If Coach K is the great coach everyone always says he is, then he never would have let the team get distracted by the media sideshow.

As fans we just need to accept the fact that Pitt played great and we didn't, it happens, so please stop making excuses.

I think there is a difference between making an observation and making an excuse. Yes, Pitt outplayed Duke in every aspect of this game and more than deserved the decisive victory. Pitt had a great game plan and executed it very well. Duke was not ready to match their intensity and seemingly had no answer for their strategy. But unless you think Pitt is flat out a better team and would win, say, 9 out of 10 games with Duke, it's reasonable to speculate about why that happened, and it doesn't count as an excuse (it's not, for example, like claiming we lost because of bad reffing; we still lost because we didn't play well).

Of course you are right that we don't (at least I don't; I shouldn't speak for other posters here, who may be much closer to the program) know whether the team has actually been affected by this situation and how much. But the possibility that they were is a reasonable speculation. And Coach K, great as he is, can help the team try to focus, but he can't actually control every thought and emotion of his team--that's a bridge too far even for the GOAT.

If you disagree, that's fine too. But it still doesn't mean people who think the team may have been affected are making excuses--they are just offering a possible contributing factor for the team's poor performance.

[MCFinARL]

All of this talk about Grayson and the team being effected by the supposed blowback from the incident the other night is just that, talk.

If Coach K is the great coach everyone always says he is, then he never would have let the team get distracted by the media sideshow.




Krzyzewski said the controversy surrounding Allen’s tripping incident — and the resulting ACC reprimand — weighed on him.
http://www.fayobserver.com/sports/college_sports/stephen-schramm-far-from-perfect-duke-heads-into-march-with/article_5406c2d6-e035-11e5-ad64-7b7651b986c7.html

Just sayin'.