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Can't believe there wasn't already a thread like this, so I decided to start one.
Slow start, poor outside shooting, but eventually began to get it together and came away with a comfortable win. Seemed a little rusty. Started with what seemed like a fair but if complacency.
Another 25 point win. Wasn’t pretty the whole game but other than horrid 3 point shooting, Duke was dominant in most statistical categories. I especially liked crushing Brown on the boards 45-34 and Duke’s 9 blocks. Never hurts going 13-16 from the line either. Good game to knock the rust off in our final out of conference game before ACC play starts.
11-1, Let’s Go Duke!
Yes--looked a little more energetic after Coach K took his jacket off. The shooting is a concern.Quote:
Originally Posted by rsvman
eyes only says defense was pretty good but the offense quite poor for ~15 minutes, and then we started converting towards the end.
There was an in-game reincarnation of Joey Baker into the body of AOC.
Vernon continues to be our least stoppable player.
The Wendell Moore PG experiment was employed today, and as a 3rd PG he's not a bad option, but...
Overall, a very meh game.
Very slow start but came alive in the 2nd half. Loved to see Coach K go off on the guys during one timeout and it was well deserved. The team seemed to be jogging around the court rather than running. Good 2nd half for Alex with some timely buckets. Carey is a beast and played well. We really missed Tre in a game like this. I think we don't play lazy if he's in the lineup. Looking forward to the beginning of the ACC season(minus VT game). GoDuke!
Who is our third best player?
Jones and Carey are clearly the top two.
I'd argue that White is the third most important, but who is the third best?
In my eye, no one rises out of the pool of Hurt, Stanley, Moore, AOC, White, Baker, maybe even Goldwire.
That timeout had to be called because nobody came back to receive the inbounds pass. This was immediately after a lazy close out led to a wide open Brown three. Definitely a list of rust to shake off, including effort level and focus.Quote:
Originally Posted by jv001
Hard to complain about Carey when he put up such huge numbers, but he does seem to shy away from contact at times instead of going straight up at the basket. It took a while but we were finally able to get him the ball in positions to score and Brown just had no answer.
It's evident Coach K wants Wendell to help Tre out when it comes to running the team. Whether it's running the point behind Tre and Goldy or being a point forward while he's on the court with Tre and or Goldy. However it seems the ball stops moving when it's in Wendell's hands and the offense bogs down. He will make the occasional good play(made basket or assist) but many times it's a turnover, missed shot or blocked shot. He seems to be thinking rather than reacting to what the defense is giving him. I believe he has the ability to make the plays but it may take him two years to get up to that level. GoDuke!Quote:
Originally Posted by DukieInBrasil
Agree on all of your post. I will add that I want to see the guys finishing with their off hands. There were several times today I think baskets may have been made if they would use their off hand. Vernon used his right hand one time but the shot didn't go down. GoDuke!Quote:
Originally Posted by UrinalCake
Quote:
Originally Posted by UrinalCake
We went it him 3 (or 4) consecutive trips to start the 2H. I think he scored each time. Then, right on cue, we stopped feeding him. Brown’s center is/was a stiff and had no idea what to do with VC.
Those in that pool are close but are different kinds of players. On any given night - one of those guys may be important to the game and that is a luxury many teams do not have. I have seen growth in the Freshman and Baker. As you note, White is pretty important because of his toughness. If he can ever find that outside shot- he probably would be the third best player. I will go out on a limb and say the Moore will emerge as the third best. He is raw but you can see what he can do. Just needs to tighten his handle and only shoot when open.Quote:
Originally Posted by BD80
It occurred to me that we didn’t need to keep going to Vernon to win the game. Perhaps K wanted to create some separation to begin the half and then start working other players and sets into the rotation. This was, after all, a tune up game after a long break before ACC time.Quote:
Originally Posted by TKG
Lord give us strength. I fear this will be a hard season too bear. Fortunately teams all over seem to be alike.
I'm going with Cassius because he can make outside shots, drive the ball and his defense is good. Wendell has the potential to be the 3rd best but he has a lot of work to do. I thought the midrange jumper he made looked smooth and if he can carry that over to his three point game, he could really take it to the next level. Having the 3 pointer in his arsenal would open up drives to the basket. GoDuke!Quote:
Originally Posted by dukelifer
Did you ever think the outcome was in doubt? This team has been much better that I expected. They are young and couple that with losing one of your best players and a long layoff, and you get an ugly game. But I never thought Duke would lose but was not sure they would win by more than 10.Quote:
Originally Posted by 53n206
Took us awhile to get in gear, but not a bad game, considering the long layoff and missing Tre Jones.
OFFENSE
Possessions: 68.1 (slow)
oRtg: 1.10 (1.08 adjusted; not so good)
eFG%: 45.6% (poor; our 3rd worst eFG of the season)
3pt%: 12.5% (very, very bad; worst 3pt performance of the season)
2pt%: 53.8% (not bad, not great)
%threes: 23.5% (low, but if we're going to shoot this poorly, at least we weren't jacking them up in high quantity)
FT rate: 23.5% (blah)
OR%: 45.0% (strong)
TO%: 16.2% (pretty good, especially factoring in that we played without our PG)
a/to: 1.36:1 (without Tre, I'll take it)
%assisted: 50.0%
fast break pts: 11 (14.7% of points; I'd like better)
DEFENSE
dRtg: 0.73 (adjusted dRtg of 77.6 is great, especially without our best defensive player)
eFG%: 39.6% (in general, this is the worst part of our defense but really good today; our 3rd best defensive eFG of the season)
3pt%: 31.6% (not bad)
2pt%: 35.3% (excellent; our last two games have been our two best opposing 2pt% of the season)
%threes: 35.8% (this has been our strength all year, so would have hoped for lower)
FT rate: 34.0% (not good)
DR%: 69.2% (pretty lousy, considering how much bigger we were than Brown; 3rd worst DR% of the season)
TO%: 26.4% (pretty strong, especially without Tre, but it's worth noting that Brown is one of the worst in the country (308th) at protecting the ball)
a/to: 0.61:1 (good)
%assisted: 61.1%
stl%: 19.1% (wow, best steals performance of the season and we did it without Tre)
blk%: 17.0% (26.5% of 2pt shots) (wow again, best blocks performance of the season)
fast break pts: 4 (8.0% of points; fabulous, fourth straight game allowing 4 or fewer fast break points)
Defense was outstanding even without our best defensive player. Very impressive to have our best steals performance and best blocks performance in the same game. Plus, over the past four games, we haven't been allowing fast break points, which is nice. Overall offense was poor, but the only really awful element was three point shooting. If we rose to the level of merely lousy three-shooting (say, 31%), we would have won by 34 points and nobody would be complaining.
Also, Justin Robinson now has 7 blocks in 29 minutes played this season. That's an astonishing 9.7 per 40 minutes.
I'm guessing that this opportunity was part of the discussion around Wendell Moore coming to Duke as well. Moore knows that he needs to add point guard skills to his resume if he wants to have any chance of making it to the NBA and wanted to come to a school that would be willing to let him try that role at least at times.Quote:
Originally Posted by jv001
Joey Baker hasn't done much this season other than score points, and today in the first start of his career he only had two points. BUT, if you add up rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks, Joey had his most productive game in the non-scoring categories. With two rebounds, two blocks, and an assist, Joey had five "non-scoring things" against Brown. He'd previously only had one game above three (and that was four against VaTech, another game in which he only had two points).Quote:
Originally Posted by Kedsy
Perhaps five combined rebounds/assists/steals/blocks is still not so impressive but, you know, baby steps.
I'm positively shocked that someone hasn't manned up an issued an apology to Alex.
I'd venture the early start had a lot to do with the ugly play for most of the game. Factor in the long layoff and we could easily have joined ranked teams that have been bitten by the upset bug this season.
Stanley hasn't looked sharp since going down with the injury. I wouldn't be surprised if he's still being bothered by it.
I was really impressed with Jack's play today. He seemed to be especially fired up, more so than usual. I felt his play kept us ahead when Brown was still trying to make a game of it.
I seems to me he is still adjusting to the speed, size and athleticism at this level. He doesn't anticipate well because his brain is still trying to catch up with where he is in relation to the ball and other players. He does seem to be getting there. He may never get to the level some of our players reached (cough, who's your daddy? cough) but maybe he won't always be one step behind in the rotations.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kedsy
FWIW: I think there are 4 or 5 of our players going through similar learning curves. There is a very good chance this team can really improve through the regular season and beyond.