Duval

[Devilwin]

He has been maligned and bashed all year. As an outside shooter, he's a nightmare. Not good at free throws either, and that's not good for a point guard. But every now and then he shows us why he came in as heralded as he did, and last night was one of those nights.
Talking to my son yesterday morning about the game, he said we were in for a dogfight. I told him I had a feeling we were going to blow them out, and Tre would be a major factor in the assault.
Matt,of course laughed, and said he hoped I was right and said even if we did, he doubted Tre would lead the way. He was more of the "Grayson will drop 40 on them" scenario if we blew them out.
I said we'd of course have to wait and see, but the feeling stuck with me all day. I just felt Tre's time had come to explode, and have a great impact.
And I was right on most of my prediction. If you discount our bad first half, we did "blow them out", outscoring them by 20 in the second half.
And who got it going?
That's right, Duval.
The team was floundering. Then Tre stepped up.
First he harassed UNC'S guards into several frustration turnovers, then nailed a three to get the rally going. His passing was crisp and precise, leading to several of Marvin's spectacular dunks.
There's no doubt in my mind Tre was the major catalyst that turned the game around. And hopefully, the kid has turned the corner and will continue to contribute to us going on a deep run in the post season, because we are going to need him..

[uh_no]

And I was right on most of my prediction. If you discount our bad first half, we did "blow them out", outscoring them by 20 in the second half.


If you discount <thing that was opposite of my prediction>, my prediction was mostly right!

Anyway, I agree with most of what you said here, but could this have not gone in the postgame thread?

[curtis325]

Someone please enlighten me. I may be mistaken, but I think I have heard or read somewhere that Duval wants his first name to be pronounced so as to rhyme with Kevin and be similar to Trevor. So, shouldn't we refer to him as Trev rather than Tre?

[Rich]

Someone please enlighten me. I may be mistaken, but I think I have heard or read somewhere that Duval wants his first name to be pronounced so as to rhyme with Kevin and be similar to Trevor. So, shouldn't we refer to him as Trev rather than Tre?

You are mistaken. He actually said it doesn't rhyme with "Kevin." It's pronounced "Tre" as in "heh" or "meh" + "von" as in "don" or "gone", with the emphasis on the second syllable.

I don't think he cares how people on DBR refer to him, other than we do it positively, which hasn't generally been the case, unfortunately.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

He's understandably had an up and down year, even in context of being a freshman PG, which is always a tough thing to be.

That said, after last night, I'd say that me may be the key to this whole thing. The recipe for Duke to make a long run in the NCAAT includes Trevon as a key ingredient, by setting up Grayson and Marvin so they can be Grayson and Marvin. I don't know how that works exactly between Grayon and Trevon at PG, how that slices and dices, but in their free lance last night, Trevon ended up on the point for some huge possessions, ending in 3s or dunks.

[BobBender]

He has been maligned and bashed all year. As an outside shooter, he's a nightmare. Not good at free throws either, and that's not good for a point guard. But every now and then he shows us why he came in as heralded as he did, and last night was one of those nights.
Talking to my son yesterday morning about the game, he said we were in for a dogfight. I told him I had a feeling we were going to blow them out, and Tre would be a major factor in the assault.
Matt,of course laughed, and said he hoped I was right and said even if we did, he doubted Tre would lead the way. He was more of the "Grayson will drop 40 on them" scenario if we blew them out.
I said we'd of course have to wait and see, but the feeling stuck with me all day. I just felt Tre's time had come to explode, and have a great impact.
And I was right on most of my prediction. If you discount our bad first half, we did "blow them out", outscoring them by 20 in the second half.
And who got it going?
That's right, Duval.
The team was floundering. Then Tre stepped up.
First he harassed UNC'S guards into several frustration turnovers, then nailed a three to get the rally going. His passing was crisp and precise, leading to several of Marvin's spectacular dunks.
There's no doubt in my mind Tre was the major catalyst that turned the game around. And hopefully, the kid has turned the corner and will continue to contribute to us going on a deep run in the post season, because we are going to need him..

He is the most intriguing player on the roster going forward. Perhaps a shot of confidence from last night is the tonic TD needs. We can definitely thrive with a PG who doesn’t hunt his shot, the question is how to hide a PG who doesn’t shoot FT’s particularly well in late/close game situations.

[elvis14]

Last night, we once again saw what a great player TD can be. His ability to beat his man off the dribble is very important for this team. I don't agree that he's been bashed or maligned, however. Duval's play has been up and down. He has holes in his game that can reduce his effectiveness and people have discussed these issues when they have reared their ugly head. Even last night, we saw a bunch of good in the second half but his missed FT's in the first half were costly at the time. At the same time, when he is playing well, I think our team is at it's best, like the second half last night.

When we play other good college basketball teams and UNCheat, we are going to be looking to maximize our advantages by exploiting matchups and attacking weaknesses. Sometimes to do that we'll need Grayson at the PG, other times we will need Trevon. Last night, against a Cheater team that struggles against dribble penetration, we put the ball in Trevon's hands and he stepped up and came through with a big game. I feel like that's one of this team's strength. We can adjust our offense as needed to attack in a variety of ways.

[MCFinARL]

You are mistaken. He actually said it doesn't rhyme with "Kevin." It's pronounced "Tre" as in "heh" or "meh" + "von" as in "don" or "gone", with the emphasis on the second syllable.

I don't think he cares how people on DBR refer to him, other than we do it positively, which hasn't generally been the case, unfortunately.

Yes, I am sure you are right--for what it's worth, though, Grayson Allen referred to him as "Tre" in post-game interviews, so that is apparently what the players call him.

And while I agree this may not have needed its own thread, I'm very glad to see people acknowledging Duval's great play last night given the kind of bashing he has sometimes gotten in the past.

[richardjackson199]

Last night showed Duke is at our best with Duval at the point guard.

Duval seems to have shaky confidence at times if he makes a mistake, gets stuck on free throw line, or misses a few shots.

But after he nailed that 3, he showed how insanely good he is leading this team at PG. He is better in a fast-paced, high tempo style when he relies on instinct and reaction time. His ability to penetrate, score on drives, distribute, and disrupt on defense is some of the best I've ever seen from a Duke PG. He doesn't shoot free throws well, especially in clutch. He won't splash you to death from 3. So he's nothing like Tyus Jones. He has improved ability to make wide open step in 3.

But when he plays to his strengths, Duval can be a nightmare. Duke needs that Duval at the point to be at our best and thus to win it all. Duke needs Duval running point at the 1, playing at a fast pace, high tempo, disruptive defense with 3/4 court press extended zone creating turnovers.

Duval and Carter just have to try their best to avoid foul trouble.

This team is still finding itself, and usually doesn't play well for 40 minutes. But oh that ceiling and potential are high if they can figure it out.

[ncexnyc]

Not to be a wet blanket, but before everyone jumps on the Trevon bandwagon, let us remember that all teams aren't created equal.

We faced an undersized Cheat team and their best defender, Pinson spent the majority of his time attempting to guard Marvin. Had this been your typical Cheat team I'm sure Ol' Roy would have shifted Theo onto TD.

How does Trevon perform when he faces a stud defender who gets square-up in his grill? Will he make quick decisive moves with the ball or will he pound the rock onto the court while the shot clock runs down?

[richardjackson199]

Last night, we once again saw what a great player TD can be. His ability to beat his man off the dribble is very important for this team. I don't agree that he's been bashed or maligned, however. Duval's play has been up and down. He has holes in his game that can reduce his effectiveness and people have discussed these issues when they have reared their ugly head. Even last night, we saw a bunch of good in the second half but his missed FT's in the first half were costly at the time. At the same time, when he is playing well, I think our team is at it's best, like the second half last night.

When we play other good college basketball teams and UNCheat, we are going to be looking to maximize our advantages by exploiting matchups and attacking weaknesses. Sometimes to do that we'll need Grayson at the PG, other times we will need Trevon. Last night, against a Cheater team that struggles against dribble penetration, we put the ball in Trevon's hands and he stepped up and came through with a big game. I feel like that's one of this team's strength. We can adjust our offense as needed to attack in a variety of ways.

Despite my last post, I don't disagree with this. There will be times, especially if Duval is struggling when Grayson should run point for some steady heady play. But the more K can motivate Duval to play free like that, the better we will be. And the closer we will come to optimizing this team's full potential.

[dukelion]

His outside shot has actually been much better in conference play than out.

His conference 3pt% stats put him at .345 which really isn't too bad. He just needs to take the open ones he gets in rhythm and not force too many.

His free throw shooting is a different story though.

And I agree that this team is a its best when Duval is the point guard and playing aggressively but not recklessly. As others have said he's the key to our championship aspirations.

[uh_no]

When we play other good college basketball teams and UNCheat, we are going to be looking to maximize our advantages by exploiting matchups and attacking weaknesses. Sometimes to do that we'll need Grayson at the PG, other times we will need Trevon.

Spot on. People talk about "you need to be able to do this or that to have any shot to win a championship! The only real "rule" in my mind is that you need to be flexible. You need to be able to adjust. in 6 games, you might see 6 very different teams....and have no idea who they are. They are going to throw wrinkles that you haven't seen yet on tape or in game and be built very differently. They may exploit some duke weakness that hasn't yet been. If you REALLY want to have a great shot at it, IMO, you need to be able to adjust. Sometimes, like last night, that may involve trevon at the PG. Maybe if we play syracuse again, that might involve grayson. Maybe we play small. maybe we play 3 bigs. Maybe we pressure, maybe we don't.

I think we can do those things, and if this team can adjust better than everyone else, and outscore the opponent by 20 in the second half....great! But we need to find ways to be a little more effective when what we're doing is not working. The stellar defense has been a major boon from that perspective.

One other comment...I see posts about how if we had just shot the ball better in the first half, it would not have been so dire.....while that is technically true, it is far from the full story. Anecdotally, there was one 60 second stretch near the end of the half where we didn't get off a real shot (and no, I don't count chucking the ball at the hoop as the shot clock expires for lack of a better option a "real shot"). After burning the clock once, we got the o-board, and then burned it again. Yeah things weren't falling....but a lot of it was bad looks....and a few FTs would have been nice :)

One other other comment...Roy was extremely complimentary of grayson, but seemed stymied that berry had such a poor shooting night....did Joel Airy-ball get a clean look from 3 all game? I thought we did a great job on him.

[Rich]

FWIW, this is my take. Duval has showed the ability and strength to get to the hoop all season in the half court set. Once there, however, he often doesn't finish at the rim, which usually leads to a defensive rebound, or throws a lousy pass to a big that leads to a turnover. Last night, for the first time, he consistently made good decisions and was able to finish or made a good dish for a score. He was tremendous, but he's still a freshman and he's still gonna make mistakes.

I hope hope hope this is the new Trevon, but I've been watching college basketball long enough to know that you can't just flip a switch. It takes time and experience to go from inconsistent at best to consistently great. If we see flashes of how he played last night through the tournaments, then that's great because I don't think we're beatable with "that" Trevon. But I think it's overly optimistic to dismiss the entire season before last night and think this is the new Trevon the rest of the way.

[dukelifer]

FWIW, this is my take. Duval has showed the ability and strength to get to the hoop all season in the half court set. Once there, however, he often doesn't finish at the rim, which usually leads to a defensive rebound, or throws a lousy pass to a big that leads to a turnover. Last night, for the first time, he consistently made good decisions and was able to finish or made a good dish for a score. He was tremendous, but he's still a freshman and he's still gonna make mistakes.

I hope hope hope this is the new Trevon, but I've been watching college basketball long enough to know that you can't just flip a switch. It takes time and experience to go from inconsistent at best to consistently great. If we see flashes of how he played last night through the tournaments, then that's great because I don't think we're beatable with "that" Trevon. But I think it's overly optimistic to dismiss the entire season before last night and think this is the new Trevon the rest of the way.

I agree. Duval could easily revert- because he is just a pup. But K will not be afraid to pull that Duval. He will not pull Allen or not even Trent - but if the other Duval somehow returns- K will use the hook.