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View Full Version : MBB: Duke 81, Pitt 54 Post-Game Thread



JBDuke
01-20-2018, 05:53 PM
Put your post-game thoughts here.

JNort
01-20-2018, 05:54 PM
Let's go Duke!

AGDukesky
01-20-2018, 05:58 PM
Grayson made some shots and Javin was able to play. Otherwise what you would expect against an outclassed opponent.

rocketeli
01-20-2018, 06:09 PM
Pittsburgh is not good and our starters took care of business. Bench players had a good opportunity today but they mostly failed to take advantage of it.

DukieInKansas
01-20-2018, 06:13 PM
Is there video available of how they honored Dick Groat at halftime?

Billy Dat
01-20-2018, 06:17 PM
Wendell's defense is on the rise, fewer fouls, rim protection, etc. He and Marvin seem to be keying our defensive resurgence. The only real negative was that portion of the first half where we allowed a 10-0 run or so with some uninspired play on both ends. I am glad we don't play these guys anymore, and that we are heading into the meat of conference play.

Bob Green
01-20-2018, 06:20 PM
Wendell's defense is on the rise...

Wendell Carter is a BEAST! He took care of business on both ends of the court today.

arnie
01-20-2018, 06:27 PM
Pittsburgh is not good and our starters took care of business. Bench players had a good opportunity today but they mostly failed to take advantage of it.

Someone (maybe JimSumner) in an earlier thread said the gap between our 5 starters and bench was wider than he can remember. Beginning to realize how true this is, which may mean no more than 10-20 minutes bench play in critical games. K’s certainly willing to shorten the bench further if he thinks that will win games.

SkyBrickey
01-20-2018, 06:29 PM
Love the balanced scoring attack. That's exactly what we need- not overly reliant on Bagley. Find the open man.

My eye test tells me our defense is getting better. We'll find out soon with UVA, ND and UNC.

If Trent Jr is hitting 50%+ of his 3s like he's been doing, we are a deadly offensive team.

Wendell filling up the stat line again. 3 blocks and 2 assists to go with his 21/8. So fundamentally solid.

Saratoga2
01-20-2018, 06:35 PM
Coach K used this game to display the work done on defense and the starting 5 were very active and effective. Subs were not so much but did play with a lot of effort.

We have two beasts inside with Carter and Bagley. Both were very impressive in reduced minutes. Grayson played all out and did hit I believe 4 threes. Nice to see him willing to take those. His shot doesn't look especially smooth but at least it was going in frequently. The guy who impressed me perhaps the most was Gary Trent. He is playing more like and upperclassman and rarely makes mistakes out there. His 3 point shot has gotten very reliable.

Judging by the results with the subs in, they weren't holding their own against Pitt. Best to have only one or two subs on at a time.

Kedsy
01-20-2018, 06:48 PM
If Trent Jr is hitting 50%+ of his 3s like he's been doing, we are a deadly offensive team.

Gary has actually hit 74% (17 for 23) over the past three games. His scouting report called him a streaky shooter. This sort of thing is probably what they meant.

mgtr
01-20-2018, 06:48 PM
Amazing stat: No Duke player had more than 2 fouls (except Javin).

UrinalCake
01-20-2018, 06:53 PM
The game looked like a practice session in which we worked on our full court press. A few lapses but overall the performance we expected against this overmatched team of freshmen playing in Cameron. Nice to see Allen knock down a few shots and get Javin back on the floor.

TheOldBattleship
01-20-2018, 07:01 PM
The game looked like a practice session in which we worked on our full court press.

100% this was what this game was. Somewhere DeJuan Blair is shaking his head in disgust (and probably knocking someone over. I actually remember him being a nice guy when he was at Pitt, but, man, the dude knocked two members of the other team over in the paint every time he moved).

duke4ever19
01-20-2018, 07:41 PM
Amazing stat: No Duke player had more than 2 fouls (except Javin).

I like the way you think.

And I didn't eat any of the apple pie my wife made for her sister's birthday (except for the two slices). ;)

WVDUKEFAN
01-20-2018, 07:51 PM
Great to see Grayson hitting today. I thought Trevon had a good game today even if the box score doesn't really show it. He looked more poised and he was aggressive defensively. Overall, the defense looked good too. Understanding we played Pitt, I'm not putting a lot into it, but we just looked like we are starting to get it. Trent had a great showing and there aren't enough accolades to give Bags and WC. Congratulations.

Duke76
01-20-2018, 09:16 PM
100% this was what this game was. Somewhere DeJuan Blair is shaking his head in disgust (and probably knocking someone over. I actually remember him being a nice guy when he was at Pitt, but, man, the dude knocked two members of the other team over in the paint every time he moved).

Blair,,,,now that is who Zion reminds me of.....on the Pitt game today i thought I saw some bigs really down in a defensive stance today out top....like you're suppose to be, really moving their feet laterally side to side....K talked about 'defense being like dancing" interesting longer quote I can't find at the moment...

Newton_14
01-20-2018, 09:43 PM
Solid game and win. The defense is making strides with man to man, two different full court presses, and then the 2-3 zone. Grayson's defense went up 3 or 4 levels after the kid undercut him on the dunk attempt. Dude was mad. Like real mad. But used that anger in a very positive manner. Haven't seen him that fired up in a long time. Great to see his jumper falling again. His misses are so close it has to frustrate the heck out of him. Trent is in some kind of zone with that jumper, fun to watch. Last time I saw them in person was the NC State game, and today they looked significantly better in every phase of the game, opponent being horrible not withstanding.

I didn't think the bench was that bad, it was just they did not score much, but were fine in other phases of the game. Jack White is a rebounding machine and I got the chance to tell him in person after the game when he graciously took a pic with my daughter and her friend.

Shout out to my buddy Uh No who helped me get the two girls moved from upstairs down to the corner of the student section once I saw how empty the corners were about 20 minutes prior to tip! I guess the combo of Pitt/Melting Snow caused many people to skip the game...

Zion surprisingly announcing for Duke on our ride home was icing on the cake. wow. Did not see that one coming!

uh_no
01-20-2018, 09:46 PM
Someone (maybe JimSumner) in an earlier thread said the gap between our 5 starters and bench was wider than he can remember. Beginning to realize how true this is, which may mean no more than 10-20 minutes bench play in critical games. K’s certainly willing to shorten the bench further if he thinks that will win games.

i was about to say i thought goldwire looked comfortable...and I think he did....but then realized the bench scored 2 points. that's pitiful. (pitt-iful?).

Where I think our bench is going to be important is not the direct contribution, but the fact that several guys can come on the court and not be liabilities. I know it sounds awful, but so long as the offense and defense keep on ticking when delaurier is in for carter or oconnell is in for whoever, that's a valuable bench.....even if they're not putting up points.

We had a pretty efficient game tonight, and the starters averaged <30 mins. And we're playing without our #6. Maybe they're not productive, but they're not-un-serviceable....and that's important.

heyman25
01-20-2018, 11:43 PM
i was about to say i thought goldwire looked comfortable...and I think he did...but then realized the bench scored 2 points. that's pitiful. (pitt-iful?).

Where I think our bench is going to be important is not the direct contribution, but the fact that several guys can come on the court and not be liabilities. I know it sounds awful, but so long as the offense and defense keep on ticking when delaurier is in for carter or oconnell is in for whoever, that's a valuable bench....even if they're not putting up points.

We had a pretty efficient game tonight, and the starters averaged <30 mins. And we're playing without our #6. Maybe they're not productive, but they're not-un-serviceable...and that's important.
Jack White was solid,but only getting 2 points for all those minutes is not good. Hopefully those guys will look at the film and get better. They are all competitive players, but were unproductive. Jack is very good on defense and rebounding. O'Connell was sloppy and missed open looks. Goldwire was competent. This was DeLaurier's 1st game back. We need Bolden back to shake off his rust. Starting 5 were better. Carter and Trent were the best today.

Dr. Rosenrosen
01-21-2018, 07:52 AM
Jack White was solid,but only getting 2 points for all those minutes is not good. Hopefully those guys will look at the film and get better. They are all competitive players, but were unproductive. Jack is very good on defense and rebounding. O'Connell was sloppy and missed open looks. Goldwire was competent. This was DeLaurier's 1st game back. We need Bolden back to shake off his rust. Starting 5 were better. Carter and Trent were the best today.
He’s been really off his game since visiting whichever barber stole his powers. Someone send him some Miracle-Gro!

dukelifer
01-21-2018, 08:58 AM
He’s been really off his game since visiting whichever barber stole his powers. Someone send him some Miracle-Gro!

A rookie mistake - need to track the effect of the haircut on Freshman performance. We have seen the bad haircut before.

DukieInBrasil
01-21-2018, 09:43 AM
Glad Duke came out strong, never really let Pitt think they could win after about 5 minutes. Starters all looked good.
During the in-game thread i bemoaned the lack of bench scoring, and 1-11 ain't good. However, the bench did contribute in good ways: 11 rebs, 5 asts, and 3 blocked shots, to go with just the 2 points.
As mentioned earlier, all we need from our bench is for it to be serviceable, and vs Pitt it was that.

Vrank scored the only 2 bench points, but i'm gonna have to say that my tenure of driving the Vrankmobile might be over. The kid plays hard and is everything we as fans can ask of a Duke player, but i just don't think that even as a Sr that he's going to provide much more than mop-up minutes. He doesn't really get off the ground so his rebounding is limited to what comes right to him, and he doesn't really block shots. He's not a good passer and when he (inexplicably) gets the ball way out past the rim he often has trouble finding someone to pass it to. And he's not that gifted of a shooter, although he made the one shot yesterday, he doesn't generate good separation in the lane to get off clean looks. I guess i've noticed these things before, but something about his play in the Pitt game really crystallized those aspects of his game. During his 1st 2 seasons i was hoping that we'd get a breakout solid-if-not-spectacular Jr and/or Sr campaign from him. I just don't see that happening anymore. Now that we landed Zion Williamson? Vrank will be lucky if he gets on the floor any more than he does this year. Don't get me wrong, i am glad he is at Duke, and i'm sure he's a good teammate and embodies what it means to be a Duke Blue Devil. Go Vrank!

Bull City Proud
01-21-2018, 09:49 AM
Glad Duke came out strong, never really let Pitt think they could win after about 5 minutes. Starters all looked good.
During the in-game thread i bemoaned the lack of bench scoring, and 1-11 ain't good. However, the bench did contribute in good ways: 11 rebs, 5 asts, and 3 blocked shots, to go with just the 2 points.
As mentioned earlier, all we need from our bench is for it to be serviceable, and vs Pitt it was that.

Vrank scored the only 2 bench points, but i'm gonna have to say that my tenure of driving the Vrankmobile might be over. The kid plays hard and is everything we as fans can ask of a Duke player, but i just don't think that even as a Sr that he's going to provide much more than mop-up minutes. He doesn't really get off the ground so his rebounding is limited to what comes right to him, and he doesn't really block shots. He's not a good passer and when he (inexplicably) gets the ball way out past the rim he often has trouble finding someone to pass it to. And he's not that gifted of a shooter, although he made the one shot yesterday, he doesn't generate good separation in the lane to get off clean looks. I guess i've noticed these things before, but something about his play in the Pitt game really crystallized those aspects of his game. During his 1st 2 seasons i was hoping that we'd get a breakout solid-if-not-spectacular Jr and/or Sr campaign from him. I just don't see that happening anymore. Now that we landed Zion Williamson? Vrank will be lucky if he gets on the floor any more than he does this year. Don't get me wrong, i am glad he is at Duke, and i'm sure he's a good teammate and embodies what it means to be a Duke Blue Devil. Go Vrank!

Vrank good kid,but we never should have taken him.

OldPhiKap
01-21-2018, 09:52 AM
Vrank good kid,but we never should have taken him.

Disagree strongly, and note that K praised his efforts in one of the post-game press conferences recently.

Bob Green
01-21-2018, 09:57 AM
Disagree strongly, and note that K praised his efforts in one of the post-game press conferences recently.

Exactly! Vrank is a solid representative of the program. I'm very happy he is at Duke.

Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15
01-21-2018, 10:31 AM
Vrank good kid,but we never should have taken him.

Hi there new fella. Do you have any one sentence critiques of our non-OAD players that you like? Or just more throwaway slams of Bolden and Vrank?

Since you are new here, I will let you know - we aren't big on slandering our own guys.

Vrank has filled an important role off the bench, and may get substantially more minutes next year. He has shown flashes of solid athleticism and definitely has value to the team.

Not everyone on a team can start.

Welcome to the forums, and go Duke!

DukeDevilDeb
01-21-2018, 10:54 AM
A rookie mistake - need to track the effect of the haircut on Freshman performance. We have seen the bad haircut before.

A bit like Samson after Delilah shaved his head. The reverse of Grant Hill in the 1991 National Championship game which was the worst do ever!

AtlDuke72
01-21-2018, 11:44 AM
Glad Duke came out strong, never really let Pitt think they could win after about 5 minutes. Starters all looked good.
During the in-game thread i bemoaned the lack of bench scoring, and 1-11 ain't good. However, the bench did contribute in good ways: 11 rebs, 5 asts, and 3 blocked shots, to go with just the 2 points.
As mentioned earlier, all we need from our bench is for it to be serviceable, and vs Pitt it was that.

Vrank scored the only 2 bench points, but i'm gonna have to say that my tenure of driving the Vrankmobile might be over. The kid plays hard and is everything we as fans can ask of a Duke player, but i just don't think that even as a Sr that he's going to provide much more than mop-up minutes. He doesn't really get off the ground so his rebounding is limited to what comes right to him, and he doesn't really block shots. He's not a good passer and when he (inexplicably) gets the ball way out past the rim he often has trouble finding someone to pass it to. And he's not that gifted of a shooter, although he made the one shot yesterday, he doesn't generate good separation in the lane to get off clean looks. I guess i've noticed these things before, but something about his play in the Pitt game really crystallized those aspects of his game. During his 1st 2 seasons i was hoping that we'd get a breakout solid-if-not-spectacular Jr and/or Sr campaign from him. I just don't see that happening anymore. Now that we landed Zion Williamson? Vrank will be lucky if he gets on the floor any more than he does this year. Don't get me wrong, i am glad he is at Duke, and i'm sure he's a good teammate and embodies what it means to be a Duke Blue Devil. Go Vrank!
Was it really necessary to write at length trashing Vrank?

ncexnyc
01-21-2018, 12:41 PM
Glad to see the bench minutes are expanding beyond garbage time, I hope this trend continues.

I wouldn't worry about bench production all that much, because if the amount of playing time continues to stay consistent for these kids, then Coach K. will learn to make better use of each player's specific talents. Right now it seems he inserts two or three of the bench players at a time and it's tough for each of them to find their niche within the flow of the game. A believe as the season progresses we'll see a more refined use of the bench that will yield better results.

Nice to have a solid win that didn't cause me to go ballistic while watching the game, hopefully that's a trend that continues as well as bench usage.

And OMG I was in total shock watching Zion's press conference. We've come a long, long way from the infamous Skype fiasco.

azzefkram
01-21-2018, 01:40 PM
I thought the starters looked solid. Wendell is playing really well on both sides of the ball. It was nice to see Grayson's shot reappear. Gary looks locked in. Marvin was Marvin. Tre was really good on the defensive end.

The drop-off from the starters is stark. I think our defensive performance took a significant hit when the subs were in. This is the first game where I really noticed how the physicality impacted AOC. He had several balls just ripped away from him. Javin gets a pass as he's probably shaking off some rust and not quite at 100%. Jack looked good.

The team did what it needed to do and they stayed healthy while doing it. Wake should be a tougher test.

accfanfrom1970
01-21-2018, 02:02 PM
My wife and I fill the bleachers at 5-6 games a year. We live for and love the minutes from guys like Vrank and Jack White. They are an essential part of the program and always play hard. Many thought the same as the poster above about Marshall, he proved the critics wrong, and I believe Vrank will too.

Kedsy
01-21-2018, 02:17 PM
Many thought the same as the poster above about Marshall, he proved the critics wrong, and I believe Vrank will too.

Marshall Plumlee was significantly more athletic than Antonio Vrankovic. He was also significantly higher rated, coming out of high school (#61 vs. #240+). He also played a lot more as a sophomore (7.3 mpg for Marshall vs. 2.7 mpg for Antonio) and a junior (9.6 mpg for Marshall vs. 3.1 for Antonio so far -- that number will likely be lower by season's end).

I like watching the subs play too, and I like Antonio as a player; from afar he seems like a great young man. And I'm not sure what you would consider "prov[ing] the critics wrong," but he is nowhere near the same Duke career path as Marshall Plumlee. Realistically, absent a major injury to one of the players ahead of him, he has very little chance to be a regular rotation player for Duke next season, and virtually no chance to play 30+ mpg like Marshall did his senior season.

DukieInBrasil
01-21-2018, 02:50 PM
Was it really necessary to write at length trashing Vrank?

you think that's trashing? I was critiquing what i see in his game. If we are not allowed to make dispassionate observations about players, then what is the point of this place?

jimsumner
01-21-2018, 06:26 PM
Vrankovic is a valuable practice player and a valuable presence on the team. Duke never recruited him with the expectation that he would ever be a starter. I think the folks who insist on comparing his career arc to people like Brian Zoubek or Marshall Plumlee are unrealistically inflating expectations among portions of the fan base and thus unintentionally doing him a disservice.

I've consistently stated that his ceiling was someone like Matt Christensen, who was able to carve out a limited but productive role late in his career.

All programs need players who will work off their derrieres in practice with no guarantee of PT but will play hard and unselfishly when called on, regardless of the circumstances.

AtlDuke72
01-21-2018, 06:52 PM
you think that's trashing? I was critiquing what i see in his game. If we are not allowed to make dispassionate observations about players, then what is the point of this place?

Is there anybody else at the end of the bench that you can share your dispassionate observations about ?

dukelifer
01-21-2018, 08:33 PM
Vrankovic is a valuable practice player and a valuable presence on the team. Duke never recruited him with the expectation that he would ever be a starter. I think the folks who insist on comparing his career arc to people like Brian Zoubek or Marshall Plumlee are unrealistically inflating expectations among portions of the fan base and thus unintentionally doing him a disservice.

I've consistently stated that his ceiling was someone like Matt Christensen, who was able to carve out a limited but productive role late in his career.

All programs need players who will work off their derrieres in practice with no guarantee of PT but will play hard and unselfishly when called on, regardless of the circumstances.

And Vrank will play in Europe and probably have a decent career. He is playing against future NBA players everyday. I am sure he is having a great time at Duke and is getting better. We may see it this year or next.

kAzE
01-22-2018, 12:50 PM
The drop-off from the starters is stark. I think our defensive performance took a significant hit when the subs were in. This is the first game where I really noticed how the physicality impacted AOC. He had several balls just ripped away from him. Javin gets a pass as he's probably shaking off some rust and not quite at 100%. Jack looked good.

The team did what it needed to do and they stayed healthy while doing it. Wake should be a tougher test.

Even I (#1 Jack White fan) am a bit surprised at how far along Jack has come. Obviously, this was against one of the worst teams in the ACC, but he didn’t look out of place at all. He looks strong and is extremely tenacious on the glass, especially the offensive glass, where he’s had a few kick out assists to Grayson for 3s in recent games. The guy plays hard and knows his role. I hope to see continued improvement from him. He will be competing for back up forward minutes next year.

DukieInBrasil
01-22-2018, 12:58 PM
Even I (#1 Jack White fan) am a bit surprised at how far along Jack has come. Obviously, this was against one of the worst teams in the ACC, but he didn’t look out of place at all. He looks strong and is extremely tenacious on the glass, especially the offensive glass, where he’s had a few kick out assists to Grayson for 3s in recent games. The guy plays hard and knows his role. I hope to see continued improvement from him. He will be competing for back up forward minutes next year.

I am kinda bummed that Jack hasn't been able to get a 3 to drop this year so far, after his prodigious 50% mark last year :p
But i agree, he has looked pretty good on the court and his rebounding has been a bonus.
I'm sure that he's expecting to be a reserve player next year, but hopefully he's content to play when needed on a team looking for back-to-back titles!!!