I actually think that Coach K did a great job this year.

[Redickulous]

It seems that, for the media and basketball fans around the country, it's Coach K-bashing time.

However, I think he did an excellent job this season. All of us who watched Duke this year felt frustrated with the lack of offensive production and the huge amount of turnovers. You could also argue, just like every year, that Coach K could learn from basically every Sweet 16 coach how to use the bench.

Nevertheless, if you take a look at the season, you'll see that, in reality, Duke beat every team that they were better than. There were no major upsets, unless you count Va. Comm., which was a team that was predicted as a "giant-killer" even before the season started in publications like SI and ESPN magazine.

I really think that Coach K was frustrated with the roster he ended up with, but that, despite their limitations, such as not having a Division I-caliber power-forward (until Lance Thomas bulks up a bit), they pretty much beat every team they were supposed to. Also, in several of those losses, Coach K did a pretty darn good job of drawing up a last-second shot that could have won the games.

Good job, K.

[fallsriver]

I have to respectfully disagree. Duke has more McDonald All-Americans than any other team in the country. The talent is here. Being young is not an excuse. Duke had 9 fresh and sophs, UNC 11. UNC's may just be more talented, but that falls back to recruiting. The inability to develop a post player is the main reason I feel this year was disappointing. On a side track, last year's team could have been more successful if the offense had run thru S. Williams more, instead of Redick chuncking up 12 threes a game at a 33% clip. Maybe injuries had something to do with this year's disappointment. What the excuse maybe, the K shouldn't avoid criticism and for sure this was one of his better coaching jobs.

[johnb]

One reason for the old message board is that it reduced the number of posts that were more spontaneous than informed.

[Redickulous]

Those are good points. Last year's sweet 16 demise was totally depressing and was obviously a result of JJ being well-guarded by LSU's awesome defender Garrett Temple (I think that's his name).

I seem to remember JJ having several bad games during the NCAA losses Duke suffered during his career. When a shooter has an off night, and you have another All-American player (Shelden), the offense should be capable of re-routing to include the All-American big-man or anybody else who can get to the rim.

I still think that, despite Coach K recruiting like 8 guards and only one who can bring the ball up the floor, this team did well considering that whoever played power-forward was a complete black hole on offense....this would be tough for any top team to overcompensate for.

He did well this season keeping the team competitive since that was the case. This team had major deficiencies but still had over 20 victories...I can't wait for next year to see Lance bulked up and/or David McClure capable of shooting (no offense intended since McClure is a good kid and plays his butt off....but, again, black hole on offense).

[Redickulous]

"One reason for the old message board is that it reduced the number of posts that were more spontaneous than informed."

Uh, since your post contains nothing, that's a self-fulfilling prophecy. Oh well.

[RelativeWays]

UNC also has 3 seniors and some juniors as well on this team so its not all freshmen and sophmores. UNC would have had a year very similar to this one last year if not for David Noel. In fact, the reason I think they may not win the NC this year is that they don't have a definite senior leader like Jawad Williams who will hit the big shots and make the big plays they needed to in 05. Terry is waaaaaay too inconsistent.

[Classof06]

I think Coach K did a good job as well. To be honest, I didn't expect much more than 22 wins this season. What a lot of people, Duke fans and haters alike, fail to realize is that VCU might actually be better than Duke. I know it's humbling for a lot of Duke fans to consider, but I think it's time to accept the fact that we just weren't that good this year. That doesn't necessarily place blame on the Coach. Coach K can't force McRoberts to dominate a game, he can't force Paulus to take care of the ball and keep his man in front of him. Not that I'm throwing these kids under the bus (not Paulus, at least) but we were simply limited in terms of talent. As far as last year's team, we lost to LSU becuase we weren't athletic enough. That's why LSU was able to score as much as they did, that's why JJ couldn't get free. Same thing with Michigan State the year before. If you want to say Krzyzewski's recent recruiting is suspect, then that's another issue, an issue I wouldn't fully disagree with. But the job he did with the players he actually had was commendable

[mdlagebdevil]

I can only fault for possibly not using the bench enough. I would like to see us develope more than 7 players. As for all the "haters", all I will say is everybody has a bad year. If they believe we are done, all I will say is "next year":)

[SoCalDukeFan]

By some measures K did a very good job. He lost 4 valuable players from last year so we really rebuilding. He had no scholarship senior. Paulus missed the start of the year. By many standards a good year and a good job.

By some measures he did not. Duke reloaded with McD AA's. At the end of the year everyone was healthy. Teams should expect some injuries and the loss of Paulus at the beginning of the season is in the category of stuff happens. He really got very little out of Zoubek and Thomas. The team played worse at the end of the season than at the beginning.

I personally do not think it was one of his best years but I would not trade him for any other coach.

SoCal

[nyesq83]

This was a talented team. But at times they played a young & inexperienced group. Which is understandable, since this was the youngest Duke team since 1946!!!

Turnovers! Let me say that again, turnovers! are game-killers, unless the team is a scoring machine.

Though they always came prepared to play, and always played hard, this TEAM lacked focus at times, exhibiting an offensive offense i.e. w/ multi-minute non-scoring stretches. Wide open shots were missed on numerous occasions. This is a focus issue, not necessarily an issue of desire or talent.

Individually, and team-wide, there was poor free throw shooting (granted, Paulus and McBob got tight and tired at times, especially in the VCU game).

Individually, there were moments of inexperience or failure of execution or questionable decision-making. But that is to be expected when there is a lack of mature leadership on the team. This is the culture of which K speaks.

By the way, look at the historical stats for when Duke averages over 70 and compare when the team averages below 70 points per game.

Finally, I am a 1983 grad. I went to every home game in 1982-83. It was not pretty. I have faith in K. We are lucky to have him.

But I still want to know why Zoubek played 0 minutes in the VCU game, and I still don't know why he doesn't use the bench more, and I still don't know why he slows the game down too early when we have a big lead.

See you all next fall.

[Redickulous]

nyesq83:

agreed---why no Zoubek? and why not use the bench more?

...but, having said that, Coach K still rules. I hope next year will be awesome.

[Clipsfan]

nyesq83:

agreed---why no Zoubek? and why not use the bench more?

...but, having said that, Coach K still rules. I hope next year will be awesome.

I think that during the minutes we saw Zoubek, we saw why he wasn't playing more. He has some strengths, and they will hopefully come through next year, but they just weren't developed enough this year. He travelled something like 50% of the time that he received the ball on the offensive end over the last 10 games, largely due to lack of strength (he was pushed off his position when he made his move). He also took too long to choose and start his move, which added to the inability to get off the shot. On defense, he presents some of the problems we may have seen an excellent freshman such as Oden struggle with: lack of lateral speed on the perimeter. Oden was getting killed by Cage etc in the Xavier game, and Zoubek is that bad on the perimeter while nowhere near as good around the rim. I love the guy, and think that he will be a key for us going forward, but don't think that he was as helpful during game situations as some of the posts in this thread are making him out to be. Next year, or the year after, he will hopefully be a stud. It's been mentioned, but think of Pitt's Gray as a comparable development path.

[Channing]

my own personal evaluation of how good a coach was during a particular season comes down to winning the close games. When a game is close at the end, and it is a tossup as to which team is going to make the plays, I think that is when the coaching really comes into play. The defensive assignments at the end of the VCU game, I would contend was poor coaching (for example).

There were numerous times when Duke would build up a big lead against a team and then let them back into the game. Its not that Duke wasnt good enough - after all they built up double digit leads against these teams - they just failed to maintain those leads. That again comes back to coaching.

Because of these reasons I have a hard time saying that Coach K was his usual extraordinary self throughout this year.

[ItalianDevil]

"One reason for the old message board is that it reduced the number of posts that were more spontaneous than informed."

Uh, since your post contains nothing, that's a self-fulfilling prophecy. Oh well.+1, mostly because people must also accept criticism towards Duke. The Shel/JJ issue is shared by me. Nice one. Reminded me of '99 finals vs UConn. With a monster in the paint we keep on tossing freaking threes. Let's get back to good offense!