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View Full Version : Keeping a lid on it.



Ima Facultiwyfe
03-09-2007, 07:56 AM
It must be really tough to get a team conditioned mentally to be passionate and aggressive while keeping a lid on their emotions with all the hateful venom that is thrown at them in every arena they enter. They have to stay so much under control that it's got to be hard to play with unbridled enthusiasm. Very draining, too. They must be sooooo tired.

My skin is so thin I can't imagine what that must be like.

The guys' had no real chance to get acquainted with this venue since their only practice was the warm up before the game. It must have been hard to adjust to a new place on the fly like that. Was that a calculated decision made in an effort to protect them from all the hostility and from the rumored threats against G's life?

Can any of you former jocks out there give thoughts on that?
Love, Ima

Lord Ash
03-09-2007, 11:28 AM
A former jock's perspective;

I really never minded going to new places to play; I always felt that was some of the specialness of it. Same with away games; people say "Oh man the crowd!" but personally I LOVED when the crowd hated me; I just played harder:)

So not sure if the venue really hurt them much. I think there were a lot of other things that hurt.

Steve68
03-09-2007, 11:48 AM
For whatever reason, Duke chose not to participate in Wednesday's practice sessions. They had an opportunity to become more familiar with the venue.

BlueDevilBaby
03-09-2007, 12:24 PM
Missing the practice day did not seem to hurt their scoring ability as they racked up 80 points - lack of effective defense was the problem. More familiarity with the venue would not have helped on that end.

RockyMtDevil
03-09-2007, 02:37 PM
Missing the practice had nothing to do with not knowing how to switch and recover on the freakin ball screen. that's a junior high move and we have guys in March that still don't play defense consistently. It's poor execution and poor concentration, that game could have been played on the moon and we wouldn't have played good defense.

Pathetic defensive effort to give up that many points to a 15-14 anemic offense like State.

bhd28
03-09-2007, 03:03 PM
I agree with Ash... I LOVED playing in hostile 'enemy territory.' I was actually probably a bit of a jerk about it at times, as I would try to encourage them... nothing too obnoxious (except for the occasional 'shh' finger to the lips when you bury a shot that silences the crowd... I always loved that one), but I let them know how much I enjoyed the 'scorn.'

I am not sure how much 'toughness' the guys have developed this year, though, so I don't know how well they handle tough environments. I didn't really talk much until I felt confident in myself to back it up, and it is much easier to be confident as an upper classman who has had a lot of previous success. If the team doesn't have that yet, hopefully they will develop it. For sure, though, there aren't a lot of guys on the team who have succeeded being the guy at tough times in the NCAA. Hopefully that will come. Josh actually did a pretty good job of it last night (the exception being the 'fadeaway' he tried in OT - that just isn't his shot), particularly after the drive and dunk late in the game.