Fun!

[Jumbo]

I've been catching up on all the threads, and I just want to ask a simple question: Is everyone actually having fun? Because if you're not, you really need to take a step back. Here are some things to remember:
-Duke is 15-1.
-Duke is way better than last year.
-The Clemson game was remarkably entertaining. The pace was that of a vintage Duke team. Every time Clemson pushed Duke, we shoved back. Not only was that game incredibly important and impressive for Duke in a variety of areas, as a fan of basketball, it was just really enjoyable to watch.
-It takes about three seconds to see how much more these guys enjoy playing with each other than last season.
-Duke is deep and balanced. You never know who is going to step up -- not just in a given game, but in a given five-minute stretch. Against Clemson, Nolan Smith entered the game and changed the nature of the game with a quick seven-point spurt. Then Jon Scheyer went nuts for 10 points in like two minutes. Henderson took over for a brief stretch in the second half, getting to the line repeatedly. Nelson was consistent throughout. And so on. There are so many different things to enjoy about this year's team.

So, good people of DBR, let's take a moment to smell the roses. We wait all offseason for moments like these, after all. We worry about recruiting so we can have seasons ... like this one. I'm not saying Duke's going to win the ACC or a national title. I'm saying that the first 16 games have been a really fun ride and everyone who loves Duke should make an effort to enjoy what's left. Because it'll be April before we know it and -- win or lose -- we'll be counting down the days to November for a long time.

[wilson]

Thanks, Jumbo. You're right, and at just about every turn this season, I've been having fun. But the boards seem to illustrate a similar phenomenon to what we do in my history seminars: "I really liked this book...now, here are two hours of discussion of what was wrong with it."

[billybreen]

On the flip side, Jumbo is playing the role of rosy sunshine. Given that alone, it's clear that the apocalypse is coming and the sky is falling.

Seriously, though, this is fun.

[A-Tex Devil]

Couldn't agree more. We are undefeated if not for a bad free throw night.

I can't remember a team where we had so many different people (Nelson, Henderson, Scheyer, Singler, King, Paulus and now Smith) who could drop 20-25 on any given night depending on who is hot and how the other team is playing us.

I was as ticked off at the end of last year as anyone. I remember my post-VCU post on these boards may have been on the board 5 minutes at the most it was so angry.

This team is fun. We may make the final four, we may lose in the 2nd round of the tourney, but they are enjoying themselves and I enjoy watching them. Barring some drastic drop off, the ride these guys are taking us on now will probably make any loss in the NCAAs, much more palatable than last year, even if a little disappointing. Something that couldn't be said last year.

[Bob Green]

I am having a blast:

1. DeMarcus Nelson is having a great Senior season.
2. The Freshmen are amazing.
3. Jon and Gerald are both much better than last season.
4. We are deep and talented.
5. 15-1 but more important 3-0 in ACC play and alone in 1st Place in the conference standings.

The smile on my face is huge!

[2001dukechamps]

*sniffs the air* mmm...it does smell good, I feels good to be a Dukie right now!

[Lavabe]

It's fun watching the team grow and perform this year. Watch the roulette wheel work and we can pick favorite moments for nearly everyone on the team.

If there's an incomplete, based on TV coverage, it's that the TV deities have really not given us any indication as to this year's Crazie Inventiveness Statistic (CIS). Surely there's more than just Lederhosen Guy? Is the TV coverage just not catching ANY of the Crazie routines this year?:confused:

Thanks,
Lavabe

[dukegirlinsc]

I totally LOVE this team. I've been so pleasantly shocked this season, and I'm loving all of it. I didn't have very high expectations this year, especially after last year's misery...but so far it's been a blast. I just hope they keep it up.

[mpj96]

This team is a blast! Our freshmen are studs. Our sophomores are much improved. Our junior and senior leadership is exceeding my hopes for the season. Every game I seem to learn a bit more about each player's ability and see each improve.

They are a young team. This will be a season of ups and downs. But this team has great heart, great sincerity and a tremendous desire to excel. Jumbo, this is a really fun team. It must be. I'm still fired up from Saturday night. Bring on the twerps!

[devildeac]

The victory over clemson was also accomplished with a -16 on the glass and shooting about 31% from 3-point range. We really valued the b-ball with only 12 TO, I think(2 in the 2nd half!), turned clemson over 20 or 21 times, shot 75% from the line and held clemson to <50% from the FT stripe:D. Now that is very nice progress.

[dukepsy1963]

Yes, I'm having a ball!! The guys (and gals) make me proud that I am a Dukie!

For many years I lost touch with my Duke roots and Duke basketball. Somehow I let career, degrees, parenthood, and such get in the way. Now I'm back. I even went to see the guys play Davidson! That was the first game I had seen since my senior year; back when Mullins and Heyman were playing!!! I am ashamed of myself!! I got chills when some guy stood up and played Dear Ole Duke on a trumpet!! I was home again!!

But let me say that one thing that has really helped me get "back into the spirit" is this board and the many faceless Duke friends of all ages that I have met. Thank you! It is the first thing I look at each morning....and periodically throughout the day and night. It confirms once again the fact that Dukies have "class." We should be proud. It sets a standard for what a sports board should be! Good clean fun among among people who have a common love, Duke basketball!

I even recruited my wife to become a basketball nut and Dukie fan! She is one of our biggest fans, and shames me sometimes in her analysis of the game.

So, "am I having a good time?" Damn straight Red Ryder!

[Ima Facultiwyfe]

I live with the ol' professor who is the eternal pessimist!

"We'll never make it without an inside presence!"
"Our free throw shooting will kill us!"
"We're not signing any recruits!"

If one of our grandkids comes in grinning with a 99 on an exam, his response is "Whadja miss?"

I need all of you to help me keep remembering to accentuate the positive and not mess with mr. inbetween! This season IS the most fun in a long time.

I wish there were some way to let these kids know just how very much they lift us up!

Love, Ima

[Indoor66]

I wish there were some way to let these kids know just how very much they lift us up!

Love, Ima

I think you just did!

This is a fun year and will, I hope, become even more fun as it continues. May all the gloom, doom and boom fans stay home.

[Madrasdukie]

Jumbo said: It takes about three seconds to see how much more these guys enjoy playing with each other than last season.


I agree with all of the reasons you've stated but mostly with this one above. It's awesome to see the fun the team is having: the chest bumping after a huge play (Singler and Scheyer), the charged-up smile Kyle and Nolan exchanged after Nolan had just played some swarming defense, the impish smile Gerald has when he's complimented, Nelson talking with the other players, Taylor King jumping up-and-down by the bench......it really is awesome.

Nice thread to start.

[Devilsfan]

"Impish" smile. Good choice of words. I wonder how many heels even know what that word means. Also I wish Taylor wasn't jumping up and down by the bench. Wish he was on the court.

[rthomas]

Hold on a minute and let me find my Duke blue colored glasses. There they are. OK, wow...it's all cool now.:) Ahhhh...

[BD80]

on the second game of the tournament weekends. We have finally become the team we used to dread playing, a team full of quick, tough wing players who attack the basket or can pull up and shoot, and pressured the hell out of the ball all over the court. Imagine trying to prepare a team in one day to play against Duke in the second or fourth rounds of the tourney! Our timing and teamwork should be even better by then. This is like 10 years ago when Coah K owned the second game of the weekend.

[dkbaseball]

Jumbo is playing the role of rosy sunshine.

Yes, but it's Little Miss Sunshine as stern schoolmarm: "Anybody I catch not having fun is getting his knuckles rapped." :)

Seriously, I've liked this team and its prospects ever since seeing footage of Singler in high school. The fact that King and Smith have turned out to be decidedly better than I expected is a real bonus. I think they both have to play a vital role for the team to fulfill its potential. Except for the second half of the Pitt game, this squad has given no reason at all to think it can't contend for the NC.

[shadowfax336]

I have loved

Seeing the guys who took so much heat last year (D-Marc, Paulus) step up and make huge plays this year

Watching Gerald produce a highlight dunk a night

Seeing Dave come back and start after a rough start to the season

Watching the student section rock the building on saturday

seeing the AP poll this afternoon

getting to tell my friends that Duke is back...

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

Thank you, Jumbo, for starting something positive! I truly enjoy the "conversations" we have on this board, but must admit that at times I just have to get up and walk away when the nit picking and negative talk sometimes takes over. For me the glass is not only half full, it's a Waterford goblet!!

I think our positive attitude has to extend to football as well. Critical mass has finally developed; we're changing directions for the better. We should be so thankful and enjoy every time Coach Cutcliffe is on TV and somebody mentions that he's the new coach at Duke. What a dramatic change! As for how he'll recruit or how the team will perform under his leadership, relax. Have a little faith. Give the man a chance. Go to the Blue and White game this spring. Wouldn't it be marvelous to fill up the seats for the spring scrimmage?

I believe that positive thinking is what allows dreams to develop and releases energy to keep reaching for the stars.

They don't call me the "Devil in the Blue Dress" for nothin'!

[mgtr]

A couple more things I enjoy --
Seeing Paulus overjoyed when Smith makes a great play
Seeing Scheyer and Singler doing all the little Basketball things that don't show up on the stat sheet, but lead to wins.

I have been high on this team since well before the season started, and they have surpassed my expectations. Clemson and FSU were excellent teams for us to play. Wouldn't we love to have the Pittsburgh game back now? But, that loss may have toughened us up, and it looks as though everybody (maybe even Coach K) learned something from the loss.
To paraphrase a recent President when he left office -- this may not be the best team Duke has had, but no team has had more fun playing the game. And that enjoyment most definitely been passed on to the fans.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

I live with the ol' professor who is the eternal pessimist!


Ima, I think your husband and I need to sit down and have a heart to heart some day.:D Do y'all go to the games together?

[pamtar]

Much fun indeed!

There is no better sport in the world than college basketball, and no better team to pull for than Duke.

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

I live with the ol' professor who is the eternal pessimist!

"We'll never make it without an inside presence!"
"Our free throw shooting will kill us!"
"We're not signing any recruits!"

I wonder if he's in the same department as my former brother-in-law. Sounds just like him!

[Madrasdukie]

I think that the following News and Observer article about Nelson in reference to a post-game exchange between him and Paulus, is in line with the great team chemistry we have this year.

Link to the article:
http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/story/891871.html



Quote from the News and Observer article:

As the players left the floor, Paulus, a former captain, put his arm around Nelson, the current captain, and praised him for his performance.

Paulus, who made two key steals late in the game that turned into four of Duke's 29 fastbreak points, then apologized. He tried to say he had let the team down in the first half. As he said it, Nelson shook his head.

"He tried to apologize but I wouldn't let him," Nelson said. "I told him, 'It's basketball.' He came out in the second half and play extremely well. I wouldn't let him apologize."

[Delaware]

I love the Aretha reference! Hope others got it.

[SilkyJ]

But the boards seem to illustrate a similar phenomenon to what we do in my history seminars: "I really liked this book...now, here are two hours of discussion of what was wrong with it."

Well there is always room for improvement...this team has the chance to compete for a title with a little more improvment, imho.


On the flip side, Jumbo is playing the role of rosy sunshine. Given that alone, it's clear that the apocalypse is coming and the sky is falling.


wait, what did you say about Patrick Yates :D


Jumbo said: It takes about three seconds to see how much more these guys enjoy playing with each other than last season.


I agree with all of the reasons you've stated but mostly with this one above. It's awesome to see the fun the team is having: the chest bumping after a huge play (Singler and Scheyer), the charged-up smile Kyle and Nolan exchanged after Nolan had just played some swarming defense, the impish smile Gerald has when he's complimented, Nelson talking with the other players, Taylor King jumping up-and-down by the bench......it really is awesome.


True that. I love seeing King's enthusiasm. Would love to see him play a lil more too...

On a separate, but related note, Bill Simmons (popular ESPN Page 2 columnist) wrote a recent article on Chemistry in the NBA and its importance for becoming a winning team, and he even said there has been a concerted effort by many GMs to focus on chemistry and the character of the guys you bring in to your team. He went on to "document" how it had worked for lots of teams. I think we are seeing the effects as well. Its hard to quantify how much better we are playing b/c the guys actually like each other, but I think its definitely helping...friggin mcbob...


Yes, but it's Little Miss Sunshine as stern schoolmarm: "Anybody I catch not having fun is getting his knuckles rapped." :)


that made me laugh.

[Jumbo]

On the flip side, Jumbo is playing the role of rosy sunshine. Given that alone, it's clear that the apocalypse is coming and the sky is falling.

Seriously, though, this is fun.

Since when am I Mr. Negative?

[Ima Facultiwyfe]

Ima, I think your husband and I need to sit down and have a heart to heart some day.:D Do y'all go to the games together?

Yep we do drive over there together, have the usual debate about whether to park where we can get out the quickest (I think that's a guy thing.) vs. getting closer to the front door of Cameron (my thing)....but we rarely SIT together!

He's been known to grab my shirt tail and sit me back down unceremoniously when I yell at the refs (which I consider my job), so I usually sit with my rowdy daughter or "Crazy Hopeful" grandson. We jump up and down and yell "OH Baby" from our seats in the rafters and we leave Grumpy to sit in our one remote seat down low by himself.

Don't get me wrong.....he loves our guys just as much as I do. He's just a hard driving perfectionist who worries about EVERYthing ALL the time!!! Definitely not a smeller of roses, bless his heart!

Love, Ima

[dukepsy1963]

Don't get me wrong.....he loves our guys just as much as I do. He's just a hard driving perfectionist who worries about EVERYthing ALL the time!!! Definitely not a smeller of roses, bless his heart!

Love, Ima

Ima..
Sounds like hubby is a Type A. He needs to work toward becoming a type D (Duke above all other concerns) and DBR lover. We'll loosen him up; get him to sign in.......:)

[RPS]

Jumbo -- What you say is both correct and appreciated. The Clemson game was downright terrific and illustrative of your points. VT and the Twerps next. I'd add that Duke football is at its highest point in many years now too. We have to start playing games and actually winning some of them, of course, but I'm thrilled with the strides we have made already there too.