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View Full Version : MBB (Exh): Duke 132, Ferris State48



JBDuke
10-23-2018, 09:03 PM
Duke's second exhibition game of the preseason will be this Saturday, October 27th, at 4 pm in Cameron. The game is available on the ACC Network Extra, which is the streaming service on WatchESPN.

ndkjr70
10-23-2018, 10:16 PM
I’m praying for three things.

1. No injuries

2. A sign of life from our 3-ball

3. A television crew that doesn’t cut to commercial and miss 30% of the defensive possessions for Duke, where you can hear the crowd react while watching the fourth highlight of Zion’s put-back.

hallcity
10-23-2018, 10:24 PM
Why are they playing this game at 4:00 with a Duke road football game starting at 3:30? Why haven’t they changed the time of the game?

budwom
10-26-2018, 03:41 PM
Who knows what about Ferris State? All I know is that they tend to be rusty this time of year, but generally iron out their problems pretty quickly.

mgtr
10-26-2018, 03:44 PM
Wow! How frequent is it to begin a thread with puns? Surprised that spell checker did not flag "Ferris."

sagegrouse
10-26-2018, 03:49 PM
Who knows what about Ferris State? All I know is that they tend to be rusty this time of year, but generally iron out their problems pretty quickly.

A lot of big wheels, so I hear.

CrazyNotCrazie
10-26-2018, 03:53 PM
This would be an appropriate day to honor Coach Al Buehler.

CameronBornAndBred
10-26-2018, 04:02 PM
Should be a good game, those guys are iron men.

MChambers
10-26-2018, 04:10 PM
Lots of steals.

rasputin
10-26-2018, 04:17 PM
Lots of steals.

And they keep the pedal to the metal.

AGDukesky
10-26-2018, 04:17 PM
I’m just hoping our players don’t take the day off

devildeac
10-26-2018, 04:30 PM
Hope the defense is not too malleable and our players alloy themselves in elemental fashion, consistently and not periodically.

Tripping William
10-26-2018, 04:37 PM
Hope the defense is not too malleable and our players alloy themselves in elemental fashion, consistently and not periodically.

This is over-wrought.

Indoor66
10-26-2018, 05:54 PM
Who knows what about Ferris State? All I know is that they tend to be rusty this time of year, but generally iron out their problems pretty quickly.

They tend to turn Reddish after they get wet.

4Gen
10-26-2018, 05:55 PM
I hear they're better better better than we think, better better

OldPhiKap
10-26-2018, 06:16 PM
If under 2800 degrees Fahrenheit, it is in a solid state.
Above that, it is in a liquid state until it reaches a boiling point of 5,182 degrees Fahrenheit at which point it reaches a gaseous state.

I would do Celsius, but I’m American.
I would do Kelvin, but he coaches Houston.

HereBeforeCoachK
10-26-2018, 06:40 PM
I hear they're better better better than we think, better better

i heard that too, then I heard they return almost nobody from their title team last season.......:confused:

left_hook_lacey
10-26-2018, 07:16 PM
Singler should've gone to Ferris State.

NSDukeFan
10-26-2018, 07:32 PM
Singler should've gone to Ferris State.

He didn’t have to. He already was.

MChambers
10-26-2018, 08:43 PM
If under 2800 degrees Fahrenheit, it is in a solid state.
Above that, it is in a liquid state until it reaches a boiling point of 5,182 degrees Fahrenheit at which point it reaches a gaseous state.

I would do Celsius, but I’m American.
I would do Kelvin, but he coaches Houston.

So Duke really needs to turn up the heat on defense?

oakvillebluedevil
10-26-2018, 08:55 PM
So Duke really needs to turn up the heat on defense?

At least I'm pretty confident they can't catch on fire

DavidBenAkiva
10-26-2018, 09:22 PM
In case anyone was overly concerned about the close score of the first exhibition game for Duke, Kentucky just wrapped up it's exhibition against D-III Transylvania by a final of 94-66. The Wildcats shot 1-13 from 3 in the game. There was balanced scoring, though, with 7 players in double figures. None scored more than freshman E.J. Montgomery, who ended the night with 14 pts and 9 rebs. It's hard to get overly concerned about these exhibition games. They don't tell you much about the quality of the team one way or the other.

tteettimes
10-26-2018, 09:37 PM
Round and round and round we go
Go Devils Go

devildeac
10-26-2018, 09:57 PM
They tend to turn Reddish after they get wet.

Rust Never Sleeps and no, I'm not too Young to say that.

DU82
10-26-2018, 09:58 PM
Moving this to the top to avoid the annoying puns of the other thread.

OldPhiKap
10-26-2018, 10:01 PM
Rust Never Sleeps and no, I'm not too Young to say that.

Is this the story of Johnny Rotten?

jipops
10-26-2018, 10:23 PM
I’m praying for three things.

1. No injuries

2. A sign of life from our 3-ball

3. A television crew that doesn’t cut to commercial and miss 30% of the defensive possessions for Duke, where you can hear the crowd react while watching the fourth highlight of Zion’s put-back.

We shot 42% from 3 against Virginia Union. That’s more than a sign of life.

OldPhiKap
10-26-2018, 10:27 PM
We shot 42% from 3 against Virginia Union. That’s more than a sign of life.

42% alive is 58% dead.


(But it is a more than respectable shooting percentage from three)

proelitedota
10-26-2018, 10:43 PM
Looking for:

1. No injuries
2. Trans Defense.
3. Improved Rebounding.

HereBeforeCoachK
10-26-2018, 10:47 PM
42% alive is 58% dead.


(But it is a more than respectable shooting percentage from three)

...= 63% 2pt % - I'll take 42 for the season....where do I sign?

HereBeforeCoachK
10-26-2018, 10:49 PM
I think we should put the pedal to the metal....

devildeac
10-26-2018, 11:03 PM
Is this the story of Johnny Rotten?

You must be crazy, hoss. Or something like that.

devildeac
10-26-2018, 11:05 PM
I think we should put the pedal to the metal...

A bit slow there, chief. See #7 above.

:p :D

Green Wave Dukie
10-26-2018, 11:10 PM
Round and round and round we go
Go Devils Go

But when they are at the top of their rotation, they look out over the whole college basketball landscape.

CameronBornAndBred
10-26-2018, 11:58 PM
Here's a late night thought. Is Puerto Rico upset that Ferris got statehood before them?

NSDukeFan
10-27-2018, 05:55 AM
Here's a late night thought. Is Puerto Rico upset that Ferris got statehood before them?

They haven’t gotten over Murray becoming a state.

Troublemaker
10-27-2018, 06:34 AM
Hope the defense is not too malleable and our players alloy themselves in elemental fashion, consistently and not periodically.

Agreed, but at the same time, a great performance against this level of competition could be fool's gold. I mean, I wouldn't want to get too excited by a blowout, then make a foolish bet that loses me a pyrite? I couldn't sulfide the embarrassment!

Green Wave Dukie
10-27-2018, 06:58 AM
Agreed, but at the same time, a great performance against this level of competition could be fool's gold. I mean, I wouldn't want to get too excited by a blowout, then make a foolish bet that loses me a pyrite? I couldn't sulfide the embarrassment!

Trouble - don’t worry about it. You’ll either win a pie, ...ore you’ll lose one.

slower
10-27-2018, 07:47 AM
Moving this to the top to avoid the annoying puns of the other thread.

Hard to believe there's a thread with worse puns than this one.

Indoor66
10-27-2018, 08:28 AM
Hard to believe there's a thread with worse puns than this one.

You say that with a rather steely expression.

Neals384
10-27-2018, 10:26 AM
At least I'm pretty confident they can't catch on fire

Ferris State was founded by Woodbridge Ferris. Glad he’s not still around to play for the bulldogs as he could catch on fire!

CameronBornAndBred
10-27-2018, 10:39 AM
Hard to believe there's a thread with worse puns than this one.

There used to be, but it appears a mod merged them.

MChambers
10-27-2018, 11:32 AM
There used to be, but it appears a mod merged them.

more like the mod alloyed them.

budwom
10-27-2018, 11:43 AM
All the diversion is probably OK since there isn't a person on this board (I would imagine) who knows the slightest about Ferrous State without Googlage. It's not like we're missing any analysis.

OldPhiKap
10-27-2018, 11:57 AM
Rust Never Sleeps and no, I'm not too Young to say that.

Neil Young also has an album called “Weld” with Crazy Horse.

FWIW.

Saratoga2
10-27-2018, 01:27 PM
This would be an appropriate day to honor Coach Al Buehler.

They say he has a magnetic personality.

rsvman
10-27-2018, 01:45 PM
They could be carbonized and they steel wouldn't win this game. *ducks*

-jk
10-27-2018, 03:30 PM
DBR Chat (http://forums.dukebasketballreport.com/forums/misc.php?do=cchatbox) is open!

If it gets a bit slow, refresh the page. If you're on a mobile device, you'll need to select "Blue" at the bottom.

As always - please follow the DBR Posting Guidelines.

Let's Go Duke!

-jk

AGDukesky
10-27-2018, 04:06 PM
Fast start!

whereinthehellami
10-27-2018, 04:14 PM
Active defense so far, I like the effort.

Getting a little sloppy on the offense, maybe a little too easy at the start. Freshmen losing a little focus.

AGDukesky
10-27-2018, 04:23 PM
Game got a bit sloppy. Duke is up 17 and it should be 25.

duke4ever19
10-27-2018, 04:29 PM
Some of those Ferris State players look shell-shocked.

whereinthehellami
10-27-2018, 04:30 PM
Holy smokes is Duke explosive. Barrett is just a stone cold killer. I love how Jones is looking ahead on the break.

DukieTiger
10-27-2018, 04:39 PM
AOC had a really nice stretch there late in the first half - notably on the defensive boards where Duke had been giving up some ORebs off long misses. Alex got in there and got (what seemed like) every defensive board for a solid 4 minute stretch. Nice contribution. Wouldn’t be surprised to hear K go out of his way to praise AOC in the post game presser.

AGDukesky
10-27-2018, 04:40 PM
Well that escalated quickly! Everyone has had good moments. Zion is just such a freak and a joy to watch play!

MChambers
10-27-2018, 04:42 PM
Nice to see great ball pressure from Jones and Barrett, albeit against a team with limited perimeter talent. Sure would be nice to have a strong man-to-man defense this season.

BigZ
10-27-2018, 04:54 PM
This Duke team shoots better than people talk about

whereinthehellami
10-27-2018, 04:57 PM
Duke looks so much better today than in the first scrimmage. Playing with a lot of effort, high Bball IQ, and togetherness. They look like they are having fun!

Seeing Jones go down in a heap about ruined my IPA. Fortunately it looks like he took a shot to the head and will be ok. He was laughing on the bench a few minutes later.

Bolden has been really active and made some nice plays.

dukelifer
10-27-2018, 05:11 PM
This Duke team shoots better than people talk about

Free throw shooting still a bit shaky but Reddish looks good from deep and Barrett is pretty good with his feet set. Love the way the team shares the ball.

whereinthehellami
10-27-2018, 05:21 PM
This looks and feels like a video game. Barrett has 5 more points than Ferris.

Bolden for 3!

At 91 points with 12 minutes left.

Sixthman
10-27-2018, 06:04 PM
So much to work on

weezie
10-27-2018, 06:16 PM
K pleased with Bolden good minutes

Billy Dat
10-27-2018, 06:26 PM
K pleased with Bolden good minutes

I think he's looked good two games in a row...I guess he has often looked good against bad comp but there is something different about his body language...more confidence...more spring. I like it!

dukelifer
10-27-2018, 06:29 PM
So much to work on

They improved from the first game. Not sure they are quite ready for KY but you can see the potential.

Troublemaker
10-27-2018, 07:15 PM
They improved from the first game. Not sure they are quite ready for KY but you can see the potential.

I haven't watched the game yet but why would Duke not be ready for Kentucky? Certainly, UK is not going to be any more ready than us, right? Both teams played two exhibitions, both teams took foreign trips, both are extremely young. Coach K seemingly gets his team prepared very well early in the season, and we typically win the big non-conference matchups in Nov / Dec. It's really the start of the ACC season that usually gets us...

HereBeforeCoachK
10-27-2018, 07:25 PM
Ferris State scored less on Duke today than Pitt.....

-jk
10-27-2018, 07:25 PM
I haven't watched the game yet but why would Duke not be ready for Kentucky? Certainly, UK is not going to be any more ready than us, right? Both teams played two exhibitions, both teams took foreign trips, both are extremely young. Coach K seemingly gets his team prepared very well early in the season, and we typically win the big non-conference matchups in Nov / Dec. It's really the start of the ACC season that usually gets us...

Still learning how to play together? Play defense together?

It’s a work in progress...

-jk

dukelifer
10-27-2018, 07:26 PM
I haven't watched the game yet but why would Duke not be ready for Kentucky? Certainly, UK is not going to be any more ready than us, right? Both teams played two exhibitions, both teams took foreign trips, both are extremely young. Coach K seemingly gets his team prepared very well early in the season, and we typically win the big non-conference matchups in Nov / Dec. It's really the start of the ACC season that usually gets us...

They are a bit older than Duke with a few experienced players starting - so not relying as much on players who have not had big moments in big games. I am not saying KY is going to dominate but they are a big step up. Experienced players have helped Duke win those early games in the past.

Troublemaker
10-27-2018, 07:53 PM
Still learning how to play together? Play defense together?

It’s a work in progress...

-jk

Those are concerns for Kentucky, too. I guess I'm looking at things relatively and don't see Duke at a disadvantage. We may be at an advantage actually if you believe Coach K gets his team ready faster than other coaches.


They are a bit older than Duke with a few experienced players starting - so not relying as much on players who have not had big moments in big games. I am not saying KY is going to dominate but they are a big step up. Experienced players have helped Duke win those early games in the past.

I have a feeling you're going to end up losing pie to me on this game :-)

pokeresq
10-27-2018, 08:03 PM
It is not the Kentucky young guys that worry me about playing them in the first game. I like my chances in a K vs Cal coaching battle. Stanford grad transfer Reid Travis who put up 19.5 and 8.7 last year is my biggest worry. His numbers have improved every year, and being 4 years older can overcome an athleticism gap at this stage. I like the concept of playing the Div 2 champs every year, but we need to remember that the championship schools at that level tend to lose seniors and sharply drop off, especially a school like Ferris which has not traditionally dominated.

DukeFanSince1990
10-27-2018, 08:09 PM
It is not the Kentucky young guys that worry me about playing them in the first game. I like my chances in a K vs Cal coaching battle. Stanford grad transfer Reid Travis who put up 19.5 and 8.7 last year is my biggest worry. His numbers have improved every year, and being 4 years older can overcome an athleticism gap at this stage. I like the concept of playing the Div 2 champs every year, but we need to remember that the championship schools at that level tend to lose seniors and sharply drop off, especially a school like Ferris which has not traditionally dominated.

Not throwing shade at the PAC-12 but didn't he average 19 and 8 in the PAC-12?

left_hook_lacey
10-27-2018, 08:14 PM
But I thought the front page article said not to sleep on Ferris State? 😂 Those hype articles always annoy me.

BD80
10-27-2018, 08:41 PM
But I thought the front page article said not to sleep on Ferris State? 😂 Those hype articles always annoy me.

Proofreading is so important, it should have read: "don't sleep IN a ferrous state"

8756

Newton_14
10-27-2018, 09:03 PM
So much to work on
???
Surely you jest??

They were excellente on both ends today.....

weezie
10-27-2018, 10:10 PM
And Fe St didn't hang their heads. Still ran plays gave it their best. They'll play well again this season I'm thinking. The band was very sharp today. Crazies need to chill on the airball chant when there's a commanding lead. It's not cool.

budwom
10-27-2018, 10:25 PM
But I thought the front page article said not to sleep on Ferris State? 😂 Those hype articles always annoy me.

front page meant to say don't sleep on Ferris State because they'll put rust stains on your jammies.

ncexnyc
10-27-2018, 10:38 PM
Was there a reason Goldwire didn't play today?

JasonEvans
10-27-2018, 11:00 PM
Please let me know if you see a better picture than this today... cause this is about as good as it gets!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dqi8erPW4AA9g3S?format=jpg&name=large

dukelifer
10-27-2018, 11:13 PM
Was there a reason Goldwire didn't play today?

I suspect he broke a rule. He was dressed but never got in.

devildeac
10-27-2018, 11:52 PM
Ferris State scored less on Duke today than Pitt....

I'll bet they had less yards rushing.

:mad:

flyingdutchdevil
10-28-2018, 10:46 AM
Barrett is one of the most athletic players in the country. And he’s not even the most athletic on his own team.

We are the polar opposite of the 09-10 team: no experience, all athleticism. Gottlieb probably loves this team.

WillJ
10-28-2018, 11:15 AM
Not throwing shade at the PAC-12 but didn't he average 19 and 8 in the PAC-12?

If Travis were *really* good, he'd have gone league by now.

dukelifer
10-28-2018, 11:23 AM
If Travis were *really* good, he'd have gone league by now.

There is NBA really good and there is college really good. He is college really good and this is a college game.

53n206
10-28-2018, 12:04 PM
So much to work on

So much to work with.

HereBeforeCoachK
10-28-2018, 12:08 PM
There is NBA really good and there is college really good. He is college really good and this is a college game.

What you say is true, and the vast differences in the two games has always kind of been unsettling to me....kept me from really getting into pro ball. That said, with the kind of offense K is using this year....and more and more NBA teams doing it also......could be the games are going to get more similar in the coming years.

uh_no
10-28-2018, 12:46 PM
Gottlieb probably loves this team.

welp, so much for our title hopes....

jimsumner
10-28-2018, 01:26 PM
"Worst 80 point win in program history"

A pretty small sample size, methinks.

lotusland
10-28-2018, 01:42 PM
The freshmen are fun to watch and I’m looking forward to Duke playing fast this year. Baker is really the only guy who looks kinda lost on the court at this point. Everyone else looks ready to contribute when/if called upon. Vrank looks like the last one off the bench for his Senior year and that’s too bad but hard to argue. Bolden was confident and active on both ends. The 3 point shooting was just icing. I hope he has a great junior year and maybe a senior year too. I’m pulling for Javin too. Looks like the Freshmen and Bolden/Javin in the starting lineup and AOC filling out the 7 man rotation. Jack looks like the next guy off the bench. JRob, JGold and Vrank available when injuries or foul trouble arise. I doubt Baker red-shirts but he’s probably not going to play meaningful minutes this year.

MChambers
10-28-2018, 02:04 PM
Proofreading is so important, it should have read: "don't sleep IN a ferrous state"

8756

As someone pointed out earlier, rust never sleeps.

uh_no
10-28-2018, 02:41 PM
"Worst 80 point win in program history"

A pretty small sample size, methinks.

I can't name a worse one.

CoachJ10
10-28-2018, 02:44 PM
Is going to put a lot of pressure on referees with the attacking mentaility they have. The amount of hand checking that will be attempted against RJ and Zion (I’m looking at you UVA) will be constant and over the top.

With the talent that these frosh have, and the offense K is going to let them run...we should easily lead the conference in FTA this year.

uh_no
10-28-2018, 02:57 PM
Is going to put a lot of pressure on referees with the attacking mentaility they have. The amount of hand checking that will be attempted against RJ and Zion (I’m looking at you UVA) will be constant and over the top.

With the talent that these frosh have, and the offense K is going to let them run...we should easily lead the conference in FTA this year.

I pity the fool who tries to take a charge against zion.

dukelifer
10-28-2018, 03:04 PM
Is going to put a lot of pressure on referees with the attacking mentaility they have. The amount of hand checking that will be attempted against RJ and Zion (I’m looking at you UVA) will be constant and over the top.

With the talent that these frosh have, and the offense K is going to let them run...we should easily lead the conference in FTA this year.

I am hoping that they lead the league in FT makes

jimsumner
10-28-2018, 04:02 PM
The freshmen are fun to watch and I’m looking forward to Duke playing fast this year. Baker is really the only guy who looks kinda lost on the court at this point. Everyone else looks ready to contribute when/if called upon. Vrank looks like the last one off the bench for his Senior year and that’s too bad but hard to argue. Bolden was confident and active on both ends. The 3 point shooting was just icing. I hope he has a great junior year and maybe a senior year too. I’m pulling for Javin too. Looks like the Freshmen and Bolden/Javin in the starting lineup and AOC filling out the 7 man rotation. Jack looks like the next guy off the bench. JRob, JGold and Vrank available when injuries or foul trouble arise. I doubt Baker red-shirts but he’s probably not going to play meaningful minutes this year.

I think Jack White will absolutely be in the rotation. He's confident, poised and absolutely locked in on what he needs to do to help this team; defend, rebound and play off the studs to get and hit open 3s. K loves his leadership abilities, as witnessed by the fact that he was named co-captain last week. Right now, he's ahead of O'Connell.

HereBeforeCoachK
10-28-2018, 04:04 PM
Is going to put a lot of pressure on referees with the attacking mentaility they have. The amount of hand checking that will be attempted against RJ and Zion (I’m looking at you UVA) will be constant and over the top.


Methinks the hand checking against Zion will be fruitless.......

lotusland
10-28-2018, 05:29 PM
I think Jack White will absolutely be in the rotation. He's confident, poised and absolutely locked in on what he needs to do to help this team; defend, rebound and play off the studs to get and hit open 3s. K loves his leadership abilities, as witnessed by the fact that he was named co-captain last week. Right now, he's ahead of O'Connell.

So a possible 8-man rotation. Be still my heart!

MChambers
10-28-2018, 06:36 PM
Methinks the hand checking against Zion will be fruitless....

Possibly dangerous to the defender, too.

jimsumner
10-28-2018, 06:49 PM
So a possible 8-man rotation. Be still my heart!

Don't worry. Somebody will try to impress Coach K by drawing a charge on Zion Williamson during practice and Duke will be down to seven. :)

Neals384
10-29-2018, 09:29 AM
Is going to put a lot of pressure on referees with the attacking mentaility they have. The amount of hand checking that will be attempted against RJ and Zion (I’m looking at you UVA) will be constant and over the top.

With the talent that these frosh have, and the offense K is going to let them run...we should easily lead the conference in FTA this year.

“Duke gets all the calls.”

COYS
10-29-2018, 10:17 AM
With baseball season over I am now fully commit to basketball, and it has been fun rewatching all of the games available on ESPN+. This team is about as close to Coach K's dream "5 Grant Hills" lineup as we'll probably ever see. It's particularly close to that when Tre is off the floor and Cam, Zion, RJ, Jack, and Javin are all on the court, together. The competition has obviously been super weak, but an interesting thing to watch will be how well RJ and Cam are able to guard the opposing team's point guard spot. Tre has been a solid on-the-ball defender so far, but RJ, in particular, has not only been serviceable, but has actually looked really good defending opposing point guards. Cam has also looked up to the task. To me, this is a strong indication that our M2M defensive potential really is higher this year than in many previous seasons. We should be able to switch more readily on screens without giving up as much in the way of mismatches. And switching screens is a far less complicated way of playing M2M than icing screens or hedging screens (although I"m sure we'll do some of each, too). And if RJ and Cam are capable of holding down the fort against opposing point guards, it means that we can survive more easily when Tre is off the floor (even though I doubt he'll come out much in big games barring foul trouble) without having to rely on Jordan too much (who, despite his abilities on the defensive end, really doesn't seem to offer much on offense).

If RJ continues to look good against opposing point guards, I could see Coach K decide to use his length and quickness to slow down particularly athletic opposing point guards, similar to how K used Lance Thomas in that capacity from time to time or how LeBron was deployed to lock up Derrick Rose back when Derrick Rose was a rising star with the Bulls.

Other recent Duke teams have had somewhat similar parts that in theory would be interchangeable, but there were key gaps in athleticism. The 2017 team had no one who was natural guarding opposing point guards outside of Frank, and had issues with lateral quickness with Matt and Luke (even though I think Luke is more athletic than anyone remembers and Matt was an incredible team defender). Of course, the injuries to Harry and seemingly everyone else didn't help, either, and were probably the biggest issues. The 2014 team had the double whammy of lacking size inside AND having a PF (Jabari) who lacked the physical and mental tools to be a strong defender (usually a team that lacks size inside makes up for it with quick forwards, but that was not the case with Jabari). The 2012 team had issues guarding the opposing point guard spot. And the trio of Mason, Ryan, and a freshman Amile were not as versatile as Cam, Zion, Javin, and RJ.

In other words, my early thought is that this year's squad actually has the length and athleticism up and down the roster to make M2M work in ways that other recent wing-heavy teams have come up short. If all three of Tre, RJ, and Cam are capable of defending opposing point guards, it will go a long way to making this a reality.

dukelifer
10-29-2018, 12:03 PM
With baseball season over I am now fully commit to basketball, and it has been fun rewatching all of the games available on ESPN+. This team is about as close to Coach K's dream "5 Grant Hills" lineup as we'll probably ever see. It's particularly close to that when Tre is off the floor and Cam, Zion, RJ, Jack, and Javin are all on the court, together. The competition has obviously been super weak, but an interesting thing to watch will be how well RJ and Cam are able to guard the opposing team's point guard spot. Tre has been a solid on-the-ball defender so far, but RJ, in particular, has not only been serviceable, but has actually looked really good defending opposing point guards. Cam has also looked up to the task. To me, this is a strong indication that our M2M defensive potential really is higher this year than in many previous seasons. We should be able to switch more readily on screens without giving up as much in the way of mismatches. And switching screens is a far less complicated way of playing M2M than icing screens or hedging screens (although I"m sure we'll do some of each, too). And if RJ and Cam are capable of holding down the fort against opposing point guards, it means that we can survive more easily when Tre is off the floor (even though I doubt he'll come out much in big games barring foul trouble) without having to rely on Jordan too much (who, despite his abilities on the defensive end, really doesn't seem to offer much on offense).

If RJ continues to look good against opposing point guards, I could see Coach K decide to use his length and quickness to slow down particularly athletic opposing point guards, similar to how K used Lance Thomas in that capacity from time to time or how LeBron was deployed to lock up Derrick Rose back when Derrick Rose was a rising star with the Bulls.

Other recent Duke teams have had somewhat similar parts that in theory would be interchangeable, but there were key gaps in athleticism. The 2017 team had no one who was natural guarding opposing point guards outside of Frank, and had issues with lateral quickness with Matt and Luke (even though I think Luke is more athletic than anyone remembers and Matt was an incredible team defender). Of course, the injuries to Harry and seemingly everyone else didn't help, either, and were probably the biggest issues. The 2014 team had the double whammy of lacking size inside AND having a PF (Jabari) who lacked the physical and mental tools to be a strong defender (usually a team that lacks size inside makes up for it with quick forwards, but that was not the case with Jabari). The 2012 team had issues guarding the opposing point guard spot. And the trio of Mason, Ryan, and a freshman Amile were not as versatile as Cam, Zion, Javin, and RJ.

In other words, my early thought is that this year's squad actually has the length and athleticism up and down the roster to make M2M work in ways that other recent wing-heavy teams have come up short. If all three of Tre, RJ, and Cam are capable of defending opposing point guards, it will go a long way to making this a reality.

It will be interesting to see how fast they come together on that end of the floor. If they do- this has the potential to be a very good team. They have a lot of folks who can drive and pass the ball- even AOC is pretty crafty and more than a shooter. If Bolden plays big and stays healthy- this is a team with 8 solid players who should see minutes- and a few serviceable guys beyond that.

flyingdutchdevil
10-29-2018, 02:57 PM
It will be interesting to see how fast they come together on that end of the floor. If they do- this has the potential to be a very good team. They have a lot of folks who can drive and pass the ball- even AOC is pretty crafty and more than a shooter. If Bolden plays big and stays healthy- this is a team with 8 solid players who should see minutes- and a few serviceable guys beyond that.

I feel like to say this every year.

Breaking it down, we know 6 players will get healthy minutes: 4 frosh, 2 junior bigs.

After that, we have two very capable wings in AOC and White. The question is a) can AOC defend, b) what kind of foul trouble will the frosh get into, and c) can White gel with the frosh on the floor. If the answer is "kinda", "freshman-level foul trouble", and "yup, cus White doesn't need the ball to be effective", then our rotation is 8. If any of those answers drastically changes, we could be looking at a rotation of 6-7.

And no, I don't think the rotation will ever be greater than 8 players.

dukelifer
10-29-2018, 09:11 PM
I feel like to say this every year.

Breaking it down, we know 6 players will get healthy minutes: 4 frosh, 2 junior bigs.

After that, we have two very capable wings in AOC and White. The question is a) can AOC defend, b) what kind of foul trouble will the frosh get into, and c) can White gel with the frosh on the floor. If the answer is "kinda", "freshman-level foul trouble", and "yup, cus White doesn't need the ball to be effective", then our rotation is 8. If any of those answers drastically changes, we could be looking at a rotation of 6-7.

And no, I don't think the rotation will ever be greater than 8 players.

The rotation will likely be 7 but I suspect that Duke will have Freshman foul trouble to deal with (at least early in the season), so AOC or White will get minutes depending on needs.