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View Full Version : Duke MBB vs. Clemson Post-Game Thread



Bob Green
01-19-2008, 08:24 PM
From the perspective of converting turnovers into points in transition, this was Duke's best game this year. We really excelled in this victory.

dukie8
01-19-2008, 08:26 PM
nelson is looking more and more like a 1st team all acc player.

SMO
01-19-2008, 08:27 PM
From the perspective of converting turnovers into points in transition, this was Duke's best game this year. We really excelled in this victory.

It was so close for a while, then Duke just kept going and Clemson slowed. I really think Clemson got worn down then began to turn it over more and not get back on defense, allowing Duke to pull away. A true "team" win as collectively Duke's effort simply outlasted Clemson.

pamtar
01-19-2008, 08:29 PM
This team is good.

Period.

Ben63
01-19-2008, 08:29 PM
I thought this was a very good win for Duke. FT% was up, TO were down, and we proved we can beat a team with big guys if we shoot well. No one had a terrible game. I also noticed Nolan Smith never has a bad game. He might not play spectacular every night but he never stinks up the gym.

CameronBlue
01-19-2008, 08:29 PM
Thought Lance had one of his better games though his stat line won't reflect it. Played decent help defense, moved better without the ball than I've ever seen him. Still a long long way for him to go but tonight he was mentally into the game and active on defense.

dukestheheat
01-19-2008, 08:30 PM
I am so proud of this team and they were a lot of fun to watch tonight! Markie was stellar and that dunk by (my favorite player) Nolan Smith had me jumping all over the place like a little kid!

Nolan stepped right over half court, saw an empty highway right before him, and he hit the jets for 3 pumps and within two milliseconds he was in the lane and then he looked like Michael Jordan on that dunk!

WOW!

This was a great win for Duke and though Clemson had the horses down low, we were able to a) keep turnovers low (valued the ball), b) hit our free throws! and c) hit shots from 2 and 3 ball range.

GO DUKE!

dth.

Indoor66
01-19-2008, 08:30 PM
It was a demonstration of our pressure D, balance and depth. When we play that way there is no letup for the opposition. I have not seen another team with depth of a quality that they can keep up. If we shoot reasonably well, we are extremely tough.

bbar7502
01-19-2008, 08:31 PM
King in the doghouse?

Constantstrain 81
01-19-2008, 08:33 PM
I never thought I would see it (Duke fan since 1977 when I had my freshman year). The last two games were won by our depth and our nerve. With as many fast, active, interchangeable parts as we have, sooner or later, the other team wears down. Actually Pitt was the same way, only we lost on the last second shot.

The team is aggressive, unselfish, and relentless. If they can continue to show the nerve that they have, they have a great upside - even without the big rebounding presence. We were outrebounded today, but not in the last 8 minutes.

Great game!

KandG
01-19-2008, 08:34 PM
I can't believe no one's mentioned the zone yet. :) I thought that was the turning point -- it created a couple of turnovers and allowed us to build our margin and confidence. Clemson really handled it poorly.

Scheyer with another awesome game, and Markie doing really nicely with creating other opportunities for himself as teams have taken away his drives and his 3 pointers.

Bob Green
01-19-2008, 08:34 PM
Nolan stepped right over half court, saw an empty highway right before him, and he hit the jets for 3 pumps and within two milliseconds he was in the lane and then he looked like Michael Jordan on that dunk!



I thought Nolan looked like Grant Hill :D

arnie
01-19-2008, 08:34 PM
Nelson, Henderson and Smith - I don't remember any college team (Duke or otherwise) with 3 better slashers that could finish. And the others aren't bad either!

Constantstrain 81
01-19-2008, 08:36 PM
King in the doghouse?
I think maybe TK didn't click right away in this game. With Lance playing well and McClure starting, I think Taylor just lost some minutes. Not that he was bad, just others were better. When he didn't hit an immediate 3, he got "phased" out tonight. It will happen again before the season is other.

Saratoga2
01-19-2008, 08:37 PM
I love the way the team played tonight. This is the most determined and tough bunch of kids that I have seen at Duke in a long time. We were up against it in the rebounding area and had to make it up in turnover differential and we did. Their poor free throw shooting heped us as well and ours was pretty good tonight. We also saw some zone toward the end and it was effective as used.

It is hard to single one guy out, there were so many good ones tonight. Even with that said, Nelson had a magnificent game tonight. Very efficient 24 points, terrific defense and no forcing of shots. Probably very low turnovers for him as well.

Behind him was Singler with a really excellent game. He was asked to go against much bigger players and held his own. I know he was in double figures and forced some turnovers and made an excellent block when things were close.

Henderson used his great athletic ability to score consistently and forced Clemson to foul him. Great game from him as well.

Nolan Smith showed me a lot tonight. He still makes a few freshman mistakes, but he has the quickness to guard their point guard and can finish in transition.

Scheyer had an excellent overall game. He cooled off in the second half but was still contributing in so many ways.

Paulus had a stinker of a first half but came on to score well and handle the ball fairly well in the second with a nice pass of the inbound for a two when we needed it. He really needs to value the ball more and needs to adjust his game to avoid the silly turnovers. As a junior, he should be getting out of the unforced turnover.

Thomas has a way to go to get back and McClure played well but was up against a big size differential so didn't get as many minutes tonight.

If I am correct, we move up to a #3 ranking and move ahead of UNC. That will stick in their craw.

Mike Corey
01-19-2008, 08:38 PM
Taylor will be a crucial part of this team's success going forward. He's not in the doghouse, no worries.

mapei
01-19-2008, 08:39 PM
Why would we move ahead of Carolina?

delfrio
01-19-2008, 08:41 PM
Nelson, Henderson and Smith - I don't remember any college team (Duke or otherwise) with 3 better slashers that could finish. And the others aren't bad either!

I really wish Henderson had stuck that dunk. Would have made the highlights for years.

dukie8
01-19-2008, 08:42 PM
Why would we move ahead of Carolina?

because our loss was to a ranked team on a neutral court and their loss was to bad team at home.

mnk1010
01-19-2008, 08:43 PM
King in the doghouse?

first time poster, sorry if i dont quit know the rules of the forum, but wouldnt king be :confused: perfect for instant offense? does K not trust king when it matters. if i was coach he's the one guy i would want to take the last shot? of course i could be out of line, this is my first time posting

Indoor66
01-19-2008, 08:44 PM
I love the way the team played tonight. This is the most determined and tough bunch of kids that I have seen at Duke in a long time. We were up against it in the rebounding area and had to make it up in turnover differential and we did. Their poor free throw shooting heped us as well and ours was pretty good tonight. We also saw some zone toward the end and it was effective as used.

It is hard to single one guy out, there were so many good ones tonight. Even with that said, Nelson had a magnificent game tonight. Very efficient 24 points, terrific defense and no forcing of shots. Probably very low turnovers for him as well.

Behind him was Singler with a really excellent game. He was asked to go against much bigger players and held his own. I know he was in double figures and forced some turnovers and made an excellent block when things were close.

Henderson used his great athletic ability to score consistently and forced Clemson to foul him. Great game from him as well.

Nolan Smith showed me a lot tonight. He still makes a few freshman mistakes, but he has the quickness to guard their point guard and can finish in transition.

Scheyer had an excellent overall game. He cooled off in the second half but was still contributing in so many ways.

Paulus had a stinker of a first half but came on to score well and handle the ball fairly well in the second with a nice pass of the inbound for a two when we needed it. He really needs to value the ball more and needs to adjust his game to avoid the silly turnovers. As a junior, he should be getting out of the unforced turnover.

Thomas has a way to go to get back and McClure played well but was up against a big size differential so didn't get as many minutes tonight.

If I am correct, we move up to a #3 ranking and move ahead of UNC. That will stick in their craw.

And imagine how good we would be if we could recruit big guys! :p

DUKEinFW
01-19-2008, 08:44 PM
I really wish Henderson had stuck that dunk. Would have made the highlights for years.

He only missed it because he was fouled, unfortunately it wasn't called!

Saratoga2
01-19-2008, 08:46 PM
Why would we move ahead of Carolina?

They were #1 and lucked out to win one this week and lost tonight. Duke won two and did so impressively against a team UNC had to luck out to beat. Both Duke and UNC are one loss teams. Duke will move from #5 to #3, whereas UNC will move down to #4 or maybe #5.

DukePA
01-19-2008, 08:47 PM
I don't think I'll be able to choose a MOTM. I nominate the whole team, their tenacity, the crazies, the snow, etc . . . :) What a team! What a game! I love Duke!!

mnk1010
01-19-2008, 08:49 PM
I don't think I'll be able to choose a MOTM. I nominate the whole team, their tenacity, the crazies, the snow, etc . . . :) What a team! What a game! I love Duke!!

the man of the match goes to K for switching to the 2-3 zone. that broke the game open IMO

DUKEinFW
01-19-2008, 08:49 PM
The Defense and on ball pressure get my vote

Buckeye Devil
01-19-2008, 08:49 PM
Good defense tonight aided by some poor guard play by Clemson. Duke was able to capitalize big time on Tiger miscues. What sticks out in my mind is when Clemson went up 61-60, Duke stepped it up a few notches and left them in the dust going on that 21-4 run. That was impressive on both ends of the floor. Rebounding was better in the second half but is still a little dis- concerting.

It was a little shocking to see Taylor King on the bench all through the game tonight. I think he will see some playing time in conference play but my mind goes back to a post from Jumbo (I am pretty sure it was Jumbo-sorry if I am wrong) several weeks ago. At that time, he stated something to the effect that during the ACC schedule King's PT and effectiveness would be less than it was during the pre-conference schedule. Are we seeing this come to pass?

yancem
01-19-2008, 08:49 PM
Why would we move ahead of Carolina?

Why wouldn't we? I'm not saying we are a better team but we have played a stronger schedule and our 1 loss was to a ranked team and theirs was at home and to a team that has already lost 7 games (American, Ohio and VCU among the 7). Add the fact that they have needed overtime to beat Clemson (which we just beat handily) and almost lost to a mediocre GaTech team and I think that there is a strong case that can be made for Duke to be ranked higher than UNC.

3rd Dukie
01-19-2008, 08:50 PM
Why would we move ahead of Carolina?

Partly because the rankings are so much based on "What have you done for me lately?"
I have no idea if we are actually better than UNC or not. I just think we will move ahead of them in the rankings THIS week.

We'll see. Just My opinion.

Karl Beem
01-19-2008, 08:52 PM
I'd love it if UNC stayed #1!

edensquad
01-19-2008, 08:53 PM
As was alluded to in the broadcast, Duke does have an inside presence this year. Not a Boozer, Brand type; but, a driving Henderson, Nelson, Smith, Scheyer type.... more than one way to skin a cat!

dukelifer
01-19-2008, 08:53 PM
What a great team win. With the game in doubt with 9 or so minutes left- there were a series of plays by 5 or 6 different players that were impressive with the degree of confidence with which they were executed. First Nelson, hits a huge three (Nelson played great today- just great)- they Paulus, who again struggled with his shot, hit three throws and then got the steal for the layup. Then Henderson did his thing- slashing and driving- getting fouled, Smith got the layup off the turnover, Singler hit two huge threes and then the close game became a blowout. It is becoming a habit that I really like seeing - hitting threes when really needed. Also huge props to Coach K for throwing in the zone when Duke got separation and not before. That was brilliant. It messed up Clemson just enough that Duke got 6 or so points to break it open. They never got a chance to figure it out and make adjustments.

Clemson is a strong and solid team-no doubt- and absolutely dominated Duke on the boards and inside. It was pretty brutal- but Duke is what it is and forced turnovers- and kept Clemson off balance all game. Of course, Clemson is an awful free throw shooting team- If they are just decent- they are a a very tough out. But they will never be able to win those close games if this keeps up.

A few other highlights to mention. Smith is really getting better. He was a huge spark in the first half and having him in there for stretches makes Paulus better at the end. Nelson really turned it around from a really bad game in Florida. Again he made plays when it counted. Henderson again showed his potential. Also, this is two straight games where Duke has played much better in the last quarter of the game. Depth is really helping there. A great win for this team. If they can play on the road as well as they play at home- watch out.

loran16
01-19-2008, 08:55 PM
I wanted to echo an earlier person's statements....despite four fouls, Lance really had a much better game today...now if he could finish those moves he pulled off, he'd be better, but i was impressed.

Smith looks impressive in spurts, and thus the current situation is good for him. I feel he's still a bit young to be playing 40 minutes, but splitting time with paulus is being extremely effective.

dw0827
01-19-2008, 08:59 PM
A great win.

This summer, I expressed some doubt about Markie . . . after having watched him dribble the ball off his foot time after time last year. I was soooooo wrong. What a warrior. Anybody who wonders if Coach K has lost his touch need only look at Markie's performance. Coach K made Markie the captain . . . the only captain. He obviously knew that Markie would respond this year . . . and has he ever. As Jumbo's thread celebrated . . . I am so proud of Markie.

I also liked Hendo's game tonight. Didn't force much. Played with his head up most of the time. Made some very nice passes. And that would have been a dunk for the ages.

Scheyer just makes me laugh. The choirboy assassin.

The zone. I hate zone. But it was a nice change of pace at just the right time. Show it . . . confuse them . . . and get the hell out of it.

A great win.

DUKEinFW
01-19-2008, 09:16 PM
Partly because the rankings are so much based on "What have you done for me lately?"
I have no idea if we are actually better than UNC or not. I just think we will move ahead of them in the rankings THIS week.

We'll see. Just My opinion.

A fall from #1 beyond #3 is tough. But, they did lose to an unranked at home. And, as mentioned Maryland did have some bad losses. We are either #3 or #4 and either is a great honor and well deserved by this team. Very fun to watch these guys!

DukeDevilDeb
01-19-2008, 09:22 PM
I love Taylor King... I love his enthusiasm, his heart, and (of course) his shot!;)

But Taylor hasn't learned to play Duke defense and, in truth, he is not one of the fastest players on the team. He made two egregious errors when he first went in, Coach gave him one more play, and he didn't do well on that.:(

We didn't need Taylor on offense tonight... we could have used his body to eat up space but not at the cost of not getting back on defense. Like Pocius, Taylor is a project in the making... I think he'll be great when he thinks DEFENSE FIRST, Then shoot!

What a great game! Cameron was ROCKING! And to have Maryland beat Carolina.. if only our water shortage would disappear and world peace would appear, my life would be perfect!

Go Devils!!!!

Saratoga2
01-19-2008, 09:28 PM
Clemson is a strong and solid team-no doubt- and absolutely dominated Duke on the boards and inside. It was pretty brutal- but Duke is what it is and forced turnovers- and kept Clemson off balance all game. Of course, Clemson is an awful free throw shooting team- If they are just decent- they are a a very tough out. But they will never be able to win those close games if this keeps up.



The rebounding stat was 42 to 26 for Duke. A lot to overcome, since Clemson was scoring inside after some of the rebounds.

Kimist
01-19-2008, 09:28 PM
I really wish Henderson had stuck that dunk. Would have made the highlights for years.

Perhaps he can use it as a trial one for an even more spectacular (successful) one over HansTravel in a couple of weeks??:D

mgtr
01-19-2008, 09:30 PM
Many good choices for MOTM tonight. Nelson will be the winner, but many players had good games -- Henderson, Scheyer, Smith, Paulus (in the second half), and of course Singler. He was a man among men tonight.
I was impressed by the team effort -- particularly in the second half, after we had worn them down in the first half. A good win.

dukestheheat
01-19-2008, 09:32 PM
for MOTM my vote goes to Markie. The guy is turning into money for Duke and has stepped up his game.

dth.

Billy Dat
01-19-2008, 09:34 PM
I agree with all the sentiment about tonight's great win...I wanted to mention how much I liked Henderson calling for the ball and taking his man off the dribble. When he is aggressive but in control like that, it's very hard to keep him from getting a good shot or to the line.

I have heard Coach talk alot about how D'Antoni has a set-up in his system where the ball goes to a 2 or a 3 at the elbow or just foul line extended. The use it on the national team with Carmelo and Lebron. I have noticed K adding that wrinkle on this team and it is usually Singler and Henderson getting the ball. It's a great little set that allows that player many shooting, driving or passing options.

I guess we all know that if we don't hit a good percentage from 3, we're going to have long nights. Luckily we've got a lot of guys that can shoot. I'd like to see Paulus snap out of his shooting funk.

Clemson really impressed me. Ollie Purnell is the real deal. He must stare at the ceiling all night, though, thinking about foul shooting. That must kill their fans. Booker may head to the L after this year - he is a beast. Even though he didn't start well, that PG Stitt is going to give us fits for years to come. He is tough!

Great great win. I think it's our best league win since beating BC on the road last year (that was a huge game at the time which we never built on).

CrazyCat
01-19-2008, 09:35 PM
Many good choices for MOTM tonight. Nelson will be the winner, but many players had good games -- Henderson, Scheyer, Smith, Paulus (in the second half), and of course Singler. He was a man among men tonight.
I was impressed by the team effort -- particularly in the second half, after we had worn them down in the first half. A good win.


I have to agree, I was impressed with the second half as well. All the names mentioned above really came out, and came together as a team and pulled it off. Very poud of them tonight. I thought they looked good.

dukestheheat
01-19-2008, 09:37 PM
I like Coach Purnell as well. You gotta admit some of his facial expressions are rather comedic. He also took last year's clock issue at Cameron very well.

dth.

tbyers11
01-19-2008, 09:37 PM
I love Taylor King... I love his enthusiasm, his heart, and (of course) his shot!;)

But Taylor hasn't learned to play Duke defense and, in truth, he is not one of the fastest players on the team. He made two egregious errors when he first went in, Coach gave him one more play, and he didn't do well on that.:(

We didn't need Taylor on offense tonight... we could have used his body to eat up space but not at the cost of not getting back on defense. Like Pocius, Taylor is a project in the making... I think he'll be great when he thinks DEFENSE FIRST, Then shoot!

What a great game! Cameron was ROCKING! And to have Maryland beat Carolina.. if only our water shortage would disappear and world peace would appear, my life would be perfect!

Go Devils!!!!

I agree with what Deb said.

King is a great shooter and has great enthusiasm. However, the other aspects of his game are not as developed yet. I think his minutes will be up and down depending mostly on defensive matchups (he can't guard true posts very effectively and isn't quick enough to guard most wings). Tonight against Clemson the defensive emphasis was all-out pressure. Combine that with a stellar defensive performance from Lance and the minutes just weren't there. A couple of bad plays in the first half including one ill-advised long inbounds pass didn't help his cause any.

There have been games this year, and there will be more, where King will play a vital role. Tonight just wasn't one of them.

tbyers11
01-19-2008, 09:46 PM
I guess we all know that if we don't hit a good percentage from 3, we're going to have long nights. Luckily we've got a lot of guys that can shoot. I'd like to see Paulus snap out of his shooting funk.



I agree that we generally have to have a good night from 3 to beat good teams. That is what makes tonight's victory even more impressive. We shot 53.4% overall (31-58) but only 31.8% from 3 (7-22). That means we shot 66.7% (24-36) from 2. A lot of layups will help that stat :D . We also shot 75% (24-32) from the FT line. That is a good sign.

Big win against a solid team. I especially liked that we won by imposing our will (lots of defensive pressure out front) on a team that wants to play a half-court offensive game.

Billy Dat
01-19-2008, 10:00 PM
I forgot to wax poetic about Singler. I am trying to thinking of another time that a consensus top 10 player out of HS has been so willing to put aside his ego and fill a role that he was never asked to play before for the good of the team. He is literally carrying our front line, I can imagine what would be happening to us up front without his defense, rebounding, and simple presence on the court. Then, every once in a while he steps out and nails a crucially important 3 just to remind us, "I am KYLE SINGLER" (said with Seinfeldian 'I am Keith Hernandez" panache). As Double Down Trent said to Sue about Mikey, "God Bless that Kid"

3rd Dukie
01-19-2008, 10:04 PM
A fall from #1 beyond #3 is tough. But, they did lose to an unranked at home. And, as mentioned Maryland did have some bad losses. We are either #3 or #4 and either is a great honor and well deserved by this team. Very fun to watch these guys!

I wholeheartedly agree! On all points. And, as I said, I'm not necessarily convinced that we are a better team right now. Just give us a couple more weeks! :)

3rd Dukie
01-19-2008, 10:19 PM
It almost skipped my mind to mention what the announcers were saying about our forcing Clemson to "downsize" to match up with us, as opposed to the other way around. I think someone was talking about this in another thread earlier in the week. It was obvious that we were forcing them to play our game at times, not a good thing for them.

Finally, I was very impressed with Clem's sportsmanship. There was no "chippiness" at all that I saw. I regard this as a reflection of Oliver Purnell's character. He seems to be quite the class act, perhaps more so than some other coaches in the league whom we may encountered in, oh say, the last 3-4 days.

tbyers11
01-19-2008, 10:24 PM
Finally, I was very impressed with Clem's sportsmanship. There was no "chippiness" at all that I saw. I regard this as a reflection of Oliver Purnell's character. He seems to be quite the class act, perhaps more so than some other coaches in the league whom we may encountered in, oh say, the last 3-4 days.

Or the team (and its coach) that we will encounter in the next 3-4 days ;) .

OZZIE4DUKE
01-19-2008, 10:25 PM
Finally, I was very impressed with Clem's sportsmanship. There was no "chippiness" at all that I saw. I regard this as a reflection of Oliver Purnell's character.

I was surprised, but pleased, that when they were down by 12+ with 40 seconds left they backed off and didn't extend the game with fouls. I think they conceded a series or two before I would have, but I don't doubt Purnell's competitiveness one bit.

lmb
01-19-2008, 10:25 PM
Just an additional comment on Lance. I noticed that he's calmed down a lot on defense. He used to hop up and down and wave his arms like a crazy man. Last year, I appreciated that energy and enthusiasm since he was a freshman, but tonight he played defense in a much more controlled and effective manner. Great job!

ArtVandelay
01-19-2008, 10:32 PM
Points that may or may not need to be made:

1) Clemson is a very solid team this year. Booker is indeed a beast, although to respond to an earlier post, I question his NBA future somewhat (at least in terms of jumping this year). He's a bit smallish for the NBA 4, but he's strong enough to compensate for it in college. On a related point, agreed on all accounts about Purnell. He's my favorite ACC coach outside of K and Leitao (went to UVA for law school).

2). Our trapping D in the first half was reminiscent of the Carolina game in 2001, the first big game after Boozer went down. With Casey starting, we went to the backcourt trap with Shane and it worked beautifully. What a good job preventing Booker from taking over the game. K clearly learned his lesson against Pitt.

3) I was a little surprised that we didn't look for Kyle to put the ball on the floor more against the big men. Considering that he's at a disadvantage on the defensive end, you'd think we'd want to exploit his quickness mathcup on the other end. Instead, he seems to be content to pick and pop. Now, granted, 3-7 for 3 is not too shabby and he has hit some BIG shots on that play this year. But even though he's not really a go-to scorer putting the ball on the floor yet, considering that he's often being guarded by a bigger guy (Booker), wouldn't we want to exploit that, especially to try to get him in foul trouble? Jumbo made this point w/r/t to Blair in the Pitt game, and I was hoping we'd see it a bit more tonight. I mean, I'm nitpicking here obviously. That and Greg's shooting slump are my only real criticisms tonight. Considering the competition, I think this is about as good as we've looked all year.

4) Where was the "Go to hell Carolina" chant in the waning minutes, especially in light of today's outcomes?

For the record, Go to hell Carolina, go to hell!

loran16
01-19-2008, 10:36 PM
I was surprised, but pleased, that when they were down by 12+ with 40 seconds left they backed off and didn't extend the game with fouls. I think they conceded a series or two before I would have, but I don't doubt Purnell's competitiveness one bit.

Not to mention the fact that Mays stayed behind to shake all our players' hands. Good sportsmanship indeed. A nice change from FSU.

devildeac
01-19-2008, 10:53 PM
first time poster, sorry if i dont quit know the rules of the forum, but wouldnt king be :confused: perfect for instant offense? does K not trust king when it matters. if i was coach he's the one guy i would want to take the last shot? of course i could be out of line, this is my first time posting

Welcome to DBR. Stick around for a while, read the 'rules/decorum' for posting located on the sticky at the top of the main board and enjoy the chatter.

TK looked out of sync tonite with a missed shot or two, a TO or 2, a missed defensive assignment or two and probably bad match-ups with the clemson bigs and some decent speed on the perimeter. He responded well a few games ago after some pine time he earned for the same reasons, particularly a bad early shot or 2 in a possession and a pass or two into the 3rd row. Most of us here are quite confident he'll continue to learn and improve.

devildeac
01-19-2008, 11:10 PM
It almost skipped my mind to mention what the announcers were saying about our forcing Clemson to "downsize" to match up with us, as opposed to the other way around. I think someone was talking about this in another thread earlier in the week. It was obvious that we were forcing them to play our game at times, not a good thing for them.

Finally, I was very impressed with Clem's sportsmanship. There was no "chippiness" at all that I saw. I regard this as a reflection of Oliver Purnell's character. He seems to be quite the class act, perhaps more so than some other coaches in the league whom we may encountered in, oh say, the last 3-4 days.

I made a very similar comment to a couple clemson fans sitting in front of us after the game. They cheered and clapped appropriately when clemson made some nice plays with no woofing. I also complimented them on a tough game and the fact they did not resort to thuggery when they got behind like some other rugby squads do regularly when they play us.

wilko
01-19-2008, 11:23 PM
We have a big win. The Holes have a big Loss.

It dont get much better than that in my book...

About our Win... Loved what I saw. Lotta heart. Guys fought and wanted the win. If we get thru the 1st half of the Conf. sched w/o Zoubek I think him coming bag will add just enuff of a wrinkle and hopefully to keep teams off balance. Learning how to play w/o him should help us protect him better once hes back in the rotation.

Markie was the man!

Gee was close behind. When he can get a step or two before takeoff he is amazing. Starting to show good consistency.

Paulus showed up at winning time after forcing a few things early.

Smith is growing every game. What a player for us he is..

Lance had a nice game with energy and hustle. Wish he could get a couple of shots to go down. David too. Nice effort from both guys.

Jon is.. making a habit out of GREAT play coming off the bench. No other way to say it. He a momentum builder.

King had a quiet game. Having to go against Clemsons bigs was not a great matchup for him.. Hopefully things will "click" for to earn more court time other than just shooting. We need him.

Kyle had the a very quiet 12pts.. I guess hes the bass player .. you only notice when he not there or messes up. An amazing Frosh!!

Feel like im forgetting someone..

No doubt about it this was a team win!
NO clock BS... or funky call... or anything else. We BEAT them. That feels pretty good and makes the critics pause for a second or two... at least.

Our pressure outta scare the living snot outta folks now.. I wonder if it will start psyching the opponents out at all.. I sure hope so.

jimsumner
01-19-2008, 11:27 PM
FWIW,

K said after the game that Clemson was the best team Duke had played this season.

Purnell is a class act. The highlight of the post-game was some nimrod asking Purnell if Clemson had been struggling from the foul line. OP laughed and asked him if he had been living in a cave. He could have really teed off on the guy (local radio station that shall remain nameless) but didn't.

Friday Nelson said that Duke's goal was to try to wear down Clemson by running and running. That goal was accomplished. Purnell cited fatigue after the game.

Most impressive stat? Duke had two turnovers in the second half, against an athletic team that starts pressing as soon as they get off the bus. And when they beat the press, they kept attacking, numerous players from every angle. Playing only eight players after intermission, with McClure playing sparingly, Duke was the fresher, sharper team down the stretch.

DukeFencer
01-20-2008, 12:37 AM
Kyle's "quiet 12" was really a very vocal 17... IMO

dukie8
01-20-2008, 12:42 AM
so does lunardi bump us up to a 1 and drop unc to a 2 on monday?

DukeBlood
01-20-2008, 12:51 AM
Singler scored 17.. :). Not sure if it was Vocal as fencer pointed out. Certainly wasnt quiet though.

jzp5079
01-20-2008, 03:40 AM
I love the way the team played tonight. This is the most determined and tough bunch of kids that I have seen at Duke in a long time. We were up against it in the rebounding area and had to make it up in turnover differential and we did. Their poor free throw shooting heped us as well and ours was pretty good tonight. We also saw some zone toward the end and it was effective as used.

It is hard to single one guy out, there were so many good ones tonight. Even with that said, Nelson had a magnificent game tonight. Very efficient 24 points, terrific defense and no forcing of shots. Probably very low turnovers for him as well.

Behind him was Singler with a really excellent game. He was asked to go against much bigger players and held his own. I know he was in double figures and forced some turnovers and made an excellent block when things were close.

Henderson used his great athletic ability to score consistently and forced Clemson to foul him. Great game from him as well.

Nolan Smith showed me a lot tonight. He still makes a few freshman mistakes, but he has the quickness to guard their point guard and can finish in transition.

Scheyer had an excellent overall game. He cooled off in the second half but was still contributing in so many ways.

Paulus had a stinker of a first half but came on to score well and handle the ball fairly well in the second with a nice pass of the inbound for a two when we needed it. He really needs to value the ball more and needs to adjust his game to avoid the silly turnovers. As a junior, he should be getting out of the unforced turnover.

Thomas has a way to go to get back and McClure played well but was up against a big size differential so didn't get as many minutes tonight.

If I am correct, we move up to a #3 ranking and move ahead of UNC. That will stick in their craw.

were not a top 3 team. we have the potential to upset a top 3 team, but were not. Clemson's not even a top 25 team... (in reality, no what they were ranked at the time)

dukelifer
01-20-2008, 07:39 AM
were not a top 3 team. we have the potential to upset a top 3 team, but were not. Clemson's not even a top 25 team... (in reality, no what they were ranked at the time)

Yesterday Duke played very well against and very good opponent. Clemson is definitely a top 25 team- they have the parts to be very good- excellent guards- long big men and a powerful inside force in Booker. If Mays can be 100% with that hand- they will be dangerous even if they shoot free throws as badly as they do. But Duke is not an elite team yet because they are very shaky away from CIS. But the only way for them to keep out of that top 3 spot now is to lose and I don't expect them to try to do that. There are two very tough road games coming up. Both will be close- Maryland, in particular, is feeling pretty good about themselves. Enjoy this win because the games start getting harder with back-to-back trips on the road. Each night is going to be a battle for this team- but with each win- they will get better.

jjasper0729
01-20-2008, 08:11 AM
I liked the defensive intensity from Lance last night. He was in control on defense (got a couple of iffy calls, but that's how the ball bounces sometimes) and was able to get his hands in to create some turnovers for points the other way. I agree, if he can get those close in shots to fall, that would be awesome and he could take a little pressure off the perimeter like Fraschilla was saying during the game (loved fraschilla last night. very good at breaking down the plays)

as for TK. i think it's more to do with th ematchups we had on the floor. he's big for a wing, but probably not big enough to handle their bigs and their wings/points are too quick for him. just the way the matchups break down

Devilsfan
01-20-2008, 08:56 AM
Aren't they coachable? Rest of the team played great but Taylors on too short of a leash!

Papa John
01-20-2008, 08:57 AM
were not a top 3 team. we have the potential to upset a top 3 team, but were not. Clemson's not even a top 25 team... (in reality, no what they were ranked at the time)

We're a top 5/6/7 team, depending on which set of rankings you're looking at... Of course, Clemson actually is a top-25 team, according to what I read... These subjective views of what we all "think" are largely meaningless and irrelevant--about as irrelevant as those rankings that will, indeed, have us in the top-3/4 come Monday...

jimsumner
01-20-2008, 09:35 AM
"Rest of the team played great but Taylors on too short of a leash!"

Yes, cause gosh darnit, Duke could actually be good if TK played more.

Look, I understand that criticizing the coach is par-for-the-course when a team is struggling. But Duke is 15-1, ranked in the top five, and coming off a tough, hard-fought, 13-point win against a nationally-ranked team and people want to complain that the playing time isn't being distributed to their liking.

Last night wasn't a good match-up for TK. The game plan was to attack defensively and offensively, pressure the ball on defense, go aggressively to the hoop on offense. Not the best game for him to get major minutes and the coaching staff recognized that. Has nothing to do with leashes, a lot to do with the proper utilization of resources.

SMO
01-20-2008, 09:42 AM
"Rest of the team played great but Taylors on too short of a leash!"

Yes, cause gosh darnit, Duke could actually be good if TK played more.

Look, I understand that criticizing the coach is par-for-the-course when a team is struggling. But Duke is 15-1, ranked in the top five, and coming off a tough, hard-fought, 13-point win against a nationally-ranked team and people want to complain that the playing time isn't being distributed to their liking.

Last night wasn't a good match-up for TK. The game plan was to attack defensively and offensively, pressure the ball on defense, go aggressively to the hoop on offense. Not the best game for him to get major minutes and the coaching staff recognized that. Has nothing to do with leashes, a lot to do with the proper utilization of resources.

I thought his 2 turnovers in 2-3 minutes were great and coach should have kept him in...I'm a big King fan but bloody hell, let's give it a rest. I think a lot of people on this board are more upset that he didn't play than he is!

LIVE4BBALL
01-20-2008, 09:53 AM
Yes, watching TK in the game last night, he never got comfortable. Before one in bound play, he kept looking back to the bench for direction rather than knowing, or feeling where he should be - the in bound play resulted in a Clemson lay up

Lance looked like he was getting winded very quickly - wonder if the upper respiratory problem is still lingering

Paulus did seem to play pretty poorly in the first half, but it the turning point in the second half seemed to happen when he drove and got a lay-up, and then made the steal and lay-up. During one break, he ran over to the bench and got a towel, and was working his hand like there was a problem - anyone else notice that?

Nothing to add that others haven't, Jon's spurt in the first half was awesome, especially driving the lane and scoring over 2-3 bigs. Clemson got the message and kept very close to him after that.

WheatDevil
01-20-2008, 10:02 AM
'Sounds like TK has filled the void in many fan's hearts that was left when Marty's season ended.

Bryan
01-20-2008, 10:07 AM
The boxscore shows King with 2 minutes, 1 missed shot (a 3), 2 turnovers and 1 foul. As others have pointed out this game created difficult match-ups for him. I think, though, that he needs to play in the second half in games like this, even if his first half performance isn't effective. He's too good a player to get only two minutes. He was played last night as if he's a situational sub rather than a regular member of the rotation.

Duke will play teams in the NCAA tournament with big guys like Clemson's and the chances of winning will be much better if King has some experience in playing against good big guys, since Singler may get in foul trouble in those games.

mpj96
01-20-2008, 10:37 AM
Thought Lance had one of his better games though his stat line won't reflect it. Played decent help defense, moved better without the ball than I've ever seen him. Still a long long way for him to go but tonight he was mentally into the game and active on defense.

This was Lance's best game that I have seen. Particularly his play in the first half.

tbyers11
01-20-2008, 10:41 AM
Duke will play teams in the NCAA tournament with big guys like Clemson's and the chances of winning will be much better if King has some experience in playing against good big guys, since Singler may get in foul trouble in those games.

King is not a "big" guy that will ever be guarding a player like Mays or Booker for extended periods of time. If his foot heals according to the schedule that has been stated, it is much more likely that Zoubek would get 10 minutes a game guarding these players in the future.

Getting King (either our 8th or 9th man) experience for future games is important. But is it more important than winning the Clemson game at hand. Despite the final margin of victory, this game was very much in doubt with 5-6 minutes to play and as pointed out above King didn't match up well defensively with Clemson and didn't play well in the minutes that he was in.

mpj96
01-20-2008, 10:57 AM
the man of the match goes to K for switching to the 2-3 zone. that broke the game open IMO

That was a great call. Timed perfectly as Oglesbee was riding the bench for that stretch and Clemson couldn't bust the zone.

My MOTM is split right now between Thomas, Singler, Smith and Henderson. And I'm still feeling guilty not to have Nelson on this list.

I don't think we're better than UNC this year so far. But I do think we played much better defense against Clemson last night than UNC played against them. We did have home court advantage though . . .

mpj96
01-20-2008, 11:08 AM
4) Where was the "Go to hell Carolina" chant in the waning minutes, especially in light of today's outcomes?

For the record, Go to hell Carolina, go to hell!

It may have not been audible on TV but the Crazies chanted it at the end of the game.

DukeDevilDeb
01-20-2008, 11:15 AM
Points that may or may not need to be made:

1) Clemson is a very solid team this year. Booker is indeed a beast, although to respond to an earlier post, I question his NBA future somewhat (at least in terms of jumping this year). He's a bit smallish for the NBA 4, but he's strong enough to compensate for it in college. On a related point, agreed on all accounts about Purnell. He's my favorite ACC coach outside of K and Leitao (went to UVA for law school).

2). Our trapping D in the first half was reminiscent of the Carolina game in 2001, the first big game after Boozer went down. With Casey starting, we went to the backcourt trap with Shane and it worked beautifully. What a good job preventing Booker from taking over the game. K clearly learned his lesson against Pitt.

3) I was a little surprised that we didn't look for Kyle to put the ball on the floor more against the big men. Considering that he's at a disadvantage on the defensive end, you'd think we'd want to exploit his quickness mathcup on the other end. Instead, he seems to be content to pick and pop. Now, granted, 3-7 for 3 is not too shabby and he has hit some BIG shots on that play this year. But even though he's not really a go-to scorer putting the ball on the floor yet, considering that he's often being guarded by a bigger guy (Booker), wouldn't we want to exploit that, especially to try to get him in foul trouble? Jumbo made this point w/r/t to Blair in the Pitt game, and I was hoping we'd see it a bit more tonight. I mean, I'm nitpicking here obviously. That and Greg's shooting slump are my only real criticisms tonight. Considering the competition, I think this is about as good as we've looked all year.

4) Where was the "Go to hell Carolina" chant in the waning minutes, especially in light of today's outcomes?

For the record, Go to hell Carolina, go to hell!

I don't know whether you were at the game or watching/listening to it, but the Crazies (bless their souls) were chanting GTH,C over and over again... some of us upstairs were as well. It's just that then plays in the game would happen, and they would cheer in response to them. But don't worry, it was there!

Bryan
01-20-2008, 12:05 PM
King is not a "big" guy that will ever be guarding a player like Mays or Booker for extended periods of time. If his foot heals according to the schedule that has been stated, it is much more likely that Zoubek would get 10 minutes a game guarding these players in the future.

Getting King (either our 8th or 9th man) experience for future games is important. But is it more important than winning the Clemson game at hand. Despite the final margin of victory, this game was very much in doubt with 5-6 minutes to play and as pointed out above King didn't match up well defensively with Clemson and didn't play well in the minutes that he was in.

If King is in the game he will likely be guarding one of the other teams two biggest players, so at least in that sense he's a big man. I agree the game yesterday was in doubt until the last few minutes. If King had struggled for 2+ minutes in the second half the way he did in the first it might have swung the result. I still think King is good enough and his development is important enough to Duke going deep in the NCAA's this year that it's worth risking a bad couple minutes from him, even if it does cost Duke one ACC game somewhere along the way. When King has a good stretch he adds a lot to the team and I think they need to get him some experience against Duke's best opponents and give him a chance to recover quickly from stretches like he had in the first half last night.

jzp5079
01-20-2008, 12:55 PM
We're a top 5/6/7 team, depending on which set of rankings you're looking at... Of course, Clemson actually is a top-25 team, according to what I read... These subjective views of what we all "think" are largely meaningless and irrelevant--about as irrelevant as those rankings that will, indeed, have us in the top-3/4 come Monday...

your exactly right. I just wasn't impressed with their composure on the road. Decision making under pressure was terrible for the Tigers. Don't get me wrong - we haven't had a better night as far as forcing turnover's against quality opponents, but I think this is kind of game that exposes a team ranked in the 20's like Clemson.

Saratoga2
01-20-2008, 01:31 PM
your exactly right. I just wasn't impressed with their composure on the road. Decision making under pressure was terrible for the Tigers. Don't get me wrong - we haven't had a better night as far as forcing turnover's against quality opponents, but I think this is kind of game that exposes a team ranked in the 20's like Clemson.

With a 14 rebound deficiency, Duke needed to win the turnover battle and did just that. We also needed to win the free throw battle and did that as well. Finally, we needed to win the shooting margin battle and we did that and more of our shots were 3 pointers. That gave us the win.

When we turned up the defensive pressure after a made basket or free throw, Clemson had great difficulty getting the ball inside and they turned the ball over repeatedly. But our defense didn't do nearly as well when Clemson rebounded off a missed shot. Then they were able to push the ball and get a lot of easy opportunities off the break.

Duke plays a lot with the floor spread wise with Scheyer and sometimes Henderson or Markie in the corner. That forces the opponent to shade out to cover our 3 point shooters. It also freed up the middle for dribble penetration by Henderson, Markie and Smith. On the other hand, that leaves us spread out when we miss the shot with only two guards able to get back and play defense on the break. Paulus took some really quick 3's that resulted in fast break opportunities for Clemson. Scheyer also was cold in the second half, and the rebounds from those shots also resulted in some fast break opportunities.

I am not sure how to deal with the lack of size for rebounding and our spread offense. It appears we could benefit from more patience shooting but beyond that I see nothing that I could recommend.

3rd Dukie
01-20-2008, 01:44 PM
"Rest of the team played great but Taylors on too short of a leash!"

Yes, cause gosh darnit, Duke could actually be good if TK played more.

Look, I understand that criticizing the coach is par-for-the-course when a team is struggling. But Duke is 15-1, ranked in the top five, and coming off a tough, hard-fought, 13-point win against a nationally-ranked team and people want to complain that the playing time isn't being distributed to their liking.

Last night wasn't a good match-up for TK. The game plan was to attack defensively and offensively, pressure the ball on defense, go aggressively to the hoop on offense. Not the best game for him to get major minutes and the coaching staff recognized that. Has nothing to do with leashes, a lot to do with the proper utilization of resources.

I think this is absolutely correct. I feel strongly that, as an earlier poster said, King's playing time will be matchup-driven. As long as he works his tail off in practice, he'll get his PT when appropriate to the overall game plan. Let me also say that I underestimated King's attitude and overall contribution before the season started. I was concerned he would be somewhat of a prima dona, and he has been anything BUT that.

I also think Jim is right in his sarcasm about why K's decisions are being challenged. (At least I think it was sarcasm.) :) I might be wrong here, but I'm thinking K may have been down this road a time or two before. When we are 15-1, I really don't care who has played how much. Would we be 16-0 if he had played more? I sorta doubt it.

Patrick Yates
01-20-2008, 02:25 PM
By troika, I mean King, McClure, and Thomas. I think Zoubs is different, in that he is a true Big, and can only guard, and be guarded by, other bigs. The troika can guard wings or bigs and vice versa.

Personally, I would like King to play more, but it is hard to argue with K's apparant strategy of going with the hot hand. And, it is pretty obvious that Hot Hand has little to do with offensive production, because King on a bad day is ahead of McClure on O, and probably Thomas as well. K is playing whoever is playing well that day.

McClure is the most consistent, and while his effort and intensity are spotless, he is at or near his ceiling. Thomas probably has the most upside, and King can be a deadly assasin. But, if Thomas plays as well as he did yesterday, at least in the first half, it is hard not to play him. He can D up true posts, and provide desparately needed rebounding. If he brings that to the table every game, he will play more, and King less, as the season wears on. Frankly, we need D and rebounding more than another scorer, because it is pretty obvious that the rest of the guys can put up enough points to win any game.

If one or more of the top 6-7 is cold, then King becomes more of a necessity. But, that is unlikely given that the others seem to be rounding into offensive form. So, King will probably get some minutes going forward, but it looks like the light may be comming on for Lance. He needs to finish plays, but he can contribute by playing defense and rebounding. We really don't need much else at this point. He can still improve, a lot, but efforts like yesterday make us a different team.

As well as we played yesterday, I do have one quibble. Our blocking out needs to drastically improve. I accept that we will be out rebounded most nights. Our lack of interior size all but dictates that end result. But, the guys on the court need to block out better, to cut down on the negative margin. Only Scheyer really blocks out well regularly. Singler is great at blocking out, but he forgets to do it sometimes. Everybody, excepting the PG, needs to put a body on someone when the shot goes up. Our continuing failure to do so allows the opponents to crash the board, where their superior height spells doom for us.

Now, Clemson would have out rebounded us yesterday, no matter what. But, with a little more effort and execution on blocking out, the margin would have been smaller. It is really the only thing that we can improve on going forward. It needs to improve. Smaller guys can block out bigger guys. It just isn't happening for us yet.

Patrick Yates

tbyers11
01-20-2008, 02:52 PM
If King is in the game he will likely be guarding one of the other teams two biggest players, so at least in that sense he's a big man. I agree the game yesterday was in doubt until the last few minutes. If King had struggled for 2+ minutes in the second half the way he did in the first it might have swung the result. I still think King is good enough and his development is important enough to Duke going deep in the NCAA's this year that it's worth risking a bad couple minutes from him, even if it does cost Duke one ACC game somewhere along the way. When King has a good stretch he adds a lot to the team and I think they need to get him some experience against Duke's best opponents and give him a chance to recover quickly from stretches like he had in the first half last night.

I'm with you in that game experience is quite valuable for developing players and that it would likely benefit King. But IMO, the entire team needs game experience in winning close games against good teams. We lost nearly all of these such games last year including first-round exits in the ACC and NCAA tourney. Heck, Greg, Demarcus and Dave are the only players that have won a post-season (ACC or NCAA) game.

The Clemson game last night (on top of just being a poor matchup for Taylor) was one of these games. I saw some really good development in offensive decision-making from Gerald. I saw very good things, especially on the defensive end, from Lance. Not that the occurrence of these things are necessarily mutually exclusive of minutes from Taylor, but I would put them both, especially Lance's development, ahead of developing King's dribble penetration or post-defense skills on the priority list for a successful team and long tourney run.

devildeac
01-20-2008, 03:08 PM
It may have not been audible on TV but the Crazies chanted it at the end of the game.

Oh, they chanted it-LOUDLY-before the game, especially when they realized/found out that unc had just lost to md. The clemson fans even joined in the cheer.

Jumbo
01-21-2008, 12:34 AM
the man of the match goes to K for switching to the 2-3 zone. that broke the game open IMO

Duke was in the zone for all of two possessions. It was a nice change-up, but there are many, many more important reasons why Duke won.

Jumbo
01-21-2008, 12:36 AM
Good defense tonight aided by some poor guard play by Clemson. Duke was able to capitalize big time on Tiger miscues. What sticks out in my mind is when Clemson went up 61-60, Duke stepped it up a few notches and left them in the dust going on that 21-4 run. That was impressive on both ends of the floor. Rebounding was better in the second half but is still a little dis- concerting.

It was a little shocking to see Taylor King on the bench all through the game tonight. I think he will see some playing time in conference play but my mind goes back to a post from Jumbo (I am pretty sure it was Jumbo-sorry if I am wrong) several weeks ago. At that time, he stated something to the effect that during the ACC schedule King's PT and effectiveness would be less than it was during the pre-conference schedule. Are we seeing this come to pass?

I think I've been saying all year that King would be a situational player. Certain matchups will be better for Taylor than others. The FSU game was excellent for him -- FSU's bigs weren't offensive threats. But given Clemson's overall athleticism and the talent of Mays/Booker, this was a tough matchup for Taylor. He got a couple of early shifts, struggled against the pressure and didn't look comfortable defensively. So, Duke went with other optoins. That's the advantage of depth. Taylor could easily play 15-20 minutes and post a big scoring game against VT.

Jumbo
01-21-2008, 12:50 AM
If King is in the game he will likely be guarding one of the other teams two biggest players, so at least in that sense he's a big man. I agree the game yesterday was in doubt until the last few minutes. If King had struggled for 2+ minutes in the second half the way he did in the first it might have swung the result. I still think King is good enough and his development is important enough to Duke going deep in the NCAA's this year that it's worth risking a bad couple minutes from him, even if it does cost Duke one ACC game somewhere along the way. When King has a good stretch he adds a lot to the team and I think they need to get him some experience against Duke's best opponents and give him a chance to recover quickly from stretches like he had in the first half last night.

King got a ton of playing time in a tight FSU game. He played very well. Duke needs TK for offense. Did Duke look like it needed offense against Clemson? I CANNOT BELIEVE people are complaining about crap like this after a terrific win.

Papa John
01-21-2008, 08:20 AM
your exactly right. I just wasn't impressed with their composure on the road. Decision making under pressure was terrible for the Tigers. Don't get me wrong - we haven't had a better night as far as forcing turnover's against quality opponents, but I think this is kind of game that exposes a team ranked in the 20's like Clemson.

True... But remember that one of their key guards/outside shooting threats is a freshman playing in Cameron Indoor for the first time [and was clearly the most rattled and frustrated]... I like Purnell and like to see this Clemson team doing well--perhaps it's a residual effect of Klemnop's presence here, and what a class act he always is... I hope Booker doesn't step up a level at the end of the year--he's a great player and fun to watch in college [I'm one of those old farts who like to see guys stay in school for my own selfish reasons--because it makes the college product better and more fun to watch]...

Carlos
01-21-2008, 08:42 AM
Duke was in the zone for all of two possessions. It was a nice change-up, but there are many, many more important reasons why Duke won.

Two possessions resulting in two turnovers. We could have forced 47 turnovers if we had played it the whole game ;)

Carlos
01-21-2008, 08:50 AM
Please settle down with the Taylor King stuff. It's all about matchups and in a game where Duke was being productive by forcing turnovers and limiting their own turnovers to just 2 in the second half it's just not going to be Taylor King Bobblehead Night.

LetItBD08
01-21-2008, 10:39 AM
True... But remember that one of their key guards/outside shooting threats is a freshman playing in Cameron Indoor

Well, according to him playing on the road isn't a distraction at all. Wonder if his feelings have changed or if it was just a rough game for him that he'll have from time to time. He seemed to force a lot in that environment...

“You can’t concern yourself about what’s going on around you,” he said. “You have to focus like a laser pointer instead of like a flashlight. It’s almost like I concentrate better on the road because I’m blocking everything out so it is just something that comes with it.”

http://www.upstatetoday.com/news/2008/jan/17/clemson-shooter-looking-forward-seeing-cameron-cra/

Matches
01-21-2008, 02:15 PM
I think the time is coming - maybe sooner than later - when Smith supplants Paulus as our primary PG. I am a Paulus fan. He's a tough kid with a great attitude, and he is deadly in the clutch. But Smith is getting better and better each game, and you can see his confidence growing. He has become a solid playmaker and will only improve.

I think Paulus has the mental makeup to handle a slightly diminished role, if it's for the good of the team.

mpj96
01-21-2008, 02:29 PM
Booker may head to the L after this year - he is a beast. Even though he didn't start well, that PG Stitt is going to give us fits for years to come.

I hope Booker doesn't leave and that we get to see Clemson beat the living crap out of UNC next year at the hill.

I believe there is a very good chance of this. Especially if Hansblah and/or Lawson go pro.

mr. synellinden
01-21-2008, 05:51 PM
Forgive me if I missed it, but I didn't see any mention of Singler's block from behind that led to a fast break layup on the other end. That was a huge play - 4 point swing - and an incredible athletic play.

Papa John
01-21-2008, 06:16 PM
Well, according to him playing on the road isn't a distraction at all.

Wow... And he's a standup comedian, too! What a multi-faceted young man! ;)
I somewhat admire the confidence, but think the ignorant arrogance is simply a further indication of Oglesby's youthful naivete... In any event, the kid is a baller, will be fun to watch, but I quite enjoyed watching our guys teach him a tough lesson...

It was clear that Clemson's youth got a bit rattled at times by the Cameron atmosphere... Another key and perennial thorn in the Tigers' side--have they ever been able to hit a shot from the charity stripe when unguarded? Good God, their FT shooting is horrendous!