MBB Duke 76, Purdue 60 Post-Game

[-bdbd]

What a great game!
Probably the best all-around performance of the young season tonight.

Nolan seems to really be maturing into his starting PG role very effectively - an important sign (though I thought a couple of his fouls were silly). Singler was incredible, especially down the stretch when we seemed to falter a bit. Paulus was solid, as always - I really like the 1-2 punch of him and Smith, esp for ball-handling at game's end. Scheyer is just fun to watch. Always scrapping, and always around the ball. Great BB IQ - could easily see him coaching some day. Zoubs was solid again. Miles seemed to play like a freshman, but it sure is nice to have that size off the bench. Now, if we can just get that "breakout" we've all been expecting from Gerald

-V hit the nail on the head in pointing out the great pressure D Duke plays -- "they realy make you work hard to get an open look." This is our best defensive team in a while.

Great job guys!!

-BDBD

[Cdog923]

Although Vitale usually drives me up a wall, I thought that he was remarkable restrained tonight, especially in the first half. He kept on talking about the game, and actually made some insightful comments in the process. It really was night and day compared to the last Duke game he did...either he took his meds, or the network somehow chilled him out. There was some slippage in the second half, but overall, a well-called game for Dickie V.

And Duke played well too.

He still annoys the hell out of me. If the radio broadcast wasn't 20 seconds behind, I'd listen to it.

[pamtar]

I didn't think we were a top 5 caliber team - until tonight.

[DukieInKansas]

Sorry to point out the obvious but the refs were awful. Especially the old guy with all the hair.
Only six team fouls on PU in the first half?

That can't be right - Duke gets all the calls.

[A-Tex Devil]

Yah, but he was 1-8 on offense and didn't even get to the foul line. I agree about the D, but those are never good numbers...

and double teamed off the ball?? This is just not true... I have never seen it

I'm not saying all the time, but the help defense came over to him at least twice and stole the ball when we were trying to pass it to him. I guess I mean the help defense is coming to him before he gets the ball rather than helping on the Duke guy with the ball. It's the second game I've seen where the defense is actively trying to deny him the ball before he gets it.

[beltwayBD]

Sorry to point out the obvious but the refs were awful. Especially the old guy with all the hair.
Only six team fouls on PU in the first half?

Definitely agree -- a few ridiculous calls.

My other observations:

1) Even when Kyle and Gerald were lukewarm on offense, their defensive effort was spectacular.

2) Really impressed with the composure of the team (depth!) when both Nolan and Zoub were on the bench. We would have really wrecked them if Paulus were healthy -- an incredible effort from him as well, especially that layup where he was fouled hard.

Here we go Devils here we go!

[JDev]

Although Vitale usually drives me up a wall, I thought that he was remarkable restrained tonight, especially in the first half. He kept on talking about the game, and actually made some insightful comments in the process. It really was night and day compared to the last Duke game he did...either he took his meds, or the network somehow chilled him out. There was some slippage in the second half, but overall, a well-called game for Dickie V.

And Duke played well too.

My wife and I decided that during the next Duke game Vitale calls, we are going to institute a little drinking game. The rules are simple: drink every time he mentions UNC and/or Hansbrough.
On second thought, I don't think I'll do that. I'm not in college anymore, I don't think I have the stamina for that.

[camion]

My wife and I decided that during the next Duke game Vitale calls, we are going to institute a little drinking game. The rules are simple: drink every time he mentions UNC and/or Hansbrough.
On second thought, I don't think I'll do that. I'm not in college anymore, I don't think I have the stamina for that.

Yeah, you might not make it to halftime.

[dukelifer]

I didn't think we were a top 5 caliber team - until tonight.

Hard to know how good Duke is right now- they have lots of room for improvement on the offensive end. It will get there-but it is very tough to play defense that hard all the time- and it does affect their O. They need to be a bit more efficient on the offensive end- perhaps using Singler inside more. He is very effective near the hoop.

[Exiled_Devil]

A few points...

-

- I think we need to spread the minutes out around. We could've used Nolan and Greg a little more to sub Jon out, and the Lance/Dave combo to give Kyle a bit of rest. Not alarmed they played so much, but they can't keep doing that all year.

I think the substitution pattern tonight was impacted by Nolan's fouls and Zou's fouls. Nolan had 4 for much of the second half - that is why Greg played the point so much. If he had more floor time, we could have had Greg spell Jon more.

And I think that the fact that Purdue typically relies on the 3, and can get back in the game fast, meant that the lead wasn't as big as we would think .

[diesel]

So Vitale called a good game tonight? Well, he called a better game.

But am I right in thinking he opined that Bobby Knight should be back in coaching? I thought to myself, well that means he would be eliminated as competition for you in calling games--and the almost unanimous consensus on DBR is that Kniight is the superior color commentator

[yancem]

It really wasn't there tonight. Duke didn't shoot *that* well.

We shot 8-22 from behind the arc. Certainly not lights out but a solid shooting night. I agree with godukecom, there seemed to be stretches where we looked for the three ball an awful lot. While I love it when the threes are going in, the last few years we seemed to have lost our touch at some inopportune times. I hope that we continue to attack the basket and get to the line. That gives us a better chance of wining on off shooting nights.

All in all a great effort. Purdue played very hard and physical, yet we kept attacking and played extremely tight defense. It was hard to tell if our defense was jsut that good or if they were simply pressing too much in a big game. Either way, it was fun to watch. It's also nice to see such great rebounding. I'm not sure I can remember a Duke team that rebounded better than we are so far this year.

[miramar]

The refs couldn't figure out what an offensive foul was, among other things, but I think the crowd was even worse. Too much booing and of course the "Paulus sucks" when Greg was shooting FTs. Throwing things on the court was par for the course.

Everybody contributed in important ways. Gerald was only 1-8 from the field, but he had 9 boards and 5 assists. We have a solid 8-man rotation, but I hope to see bigger contributions from Williams and Plumlee.

[JDev]

The refs couldn't figure out what an offensive foul was

The play where G got the foul call as the player plowed into him and missed the dunk was a really bad call. If you wanted to show a player how to correctly take a charge, that would be a good play to watch. Yet they called it on G.

[_Gary]

Absolutely fantastic, hard fought win! Kyle and Jon brought it tonight, as did most of the rest of the supporting cast. Loved the toughness, especially in the second half when we had a lot of guys, especially Kyle, getting us some tough rebounds in traffic on both ends of the court. Each one seemed to be a dagger! Great, great game all the way around.

Nice Defense good game. Dont like Jon playing 38 minutes, and Kyle playing 35 minutes when we have a double digit lead the whole game.

Yes, this is the only negative I take out of the game. Dang, I just don't want to see us fall into a small 7 man rotation in the second half of every game that isn't a blow out. I know we actually played more than 7 in the second half, but the lion's share went to 7 after Zoub's left early in the half. I still say Marty earned minutes from the last outing and I don't know how putting him in for a few minutes in the first and second half over Elliot would have hurt. EW didn't do much, although admittedly he was only playing spot duty. I just hope we can get to a place where guys like Marty, Elliot and even Plumlee can get just a few minutes in in each half. I just firmly believe that will pay major, major dividends at the end of the year. The last thing I want to hear in March is that our guys are tired. I've heard that too much in the last 6 years. We have more than enough horses this year to make that a non-factor.

Go Duke!!!!

[Billy Dat]

I thought we played great in a big time atmosphere - another reason why these pre-conference true road games against tough competition are so much fun.

I am surprised that there isn't more effusive praise of Singler. As I have read on this board before, the guy is the first since Laettner to play with a snear (in the best sense of the word). He is so tough - that drive from triple threat when he dips the shoulder and goes straight for the rim is becoming a real signature move. His relentlessness of the glass, especially the offensive glass, is inspiring to watch. He scores on the move, from set positions, inside and out. He put the work in to add the extra bulk and he is using it to dominate people physically - seems like those hard knocks he took on the post last year were well worth it - he's one tough mother and likes to bang down low.

When we went spread, Scheyer was running the show. I think that tells you volumes about his role on the team and the respect the coaches must have for him. It's tempting to say that he has truly gifted basketball instincts - what aspect of his game is weak?

Because of the Scheyer/Singler dominance of the ball, especially in the last 10 minutes, G wasn't as involved. I thought I sensed some frustration from him when Scheyer wasn't looking for him on the alley-oop in the final 5 minutes. But, I thought he had a very solid all around game. The shot block from the weak side where he literally flies through the air is becoming a signature for him.

The possibilities of the Nolan/Paulus platoon look a lot brighter as Nolan gets more reps and Paulus gets healthy. Nolan needs to stay out of foul trouble, but he had some very nice drives (incl. that nifty spinning lay-up on the break), hit a 3, and played solid D. Paulus was shaky with the ball, but nailed a 3, had that nice lay-up+1 on the out of bounds play, etc.

This win reminds of Ewing's Senior Year when the team went into a hostile environment in East Lansing and blasted the Spartans. This game was closer, but it had that same feel of a resounding, big win.

The Scheyer/Singler duo indeed dominated.

[91devil]

I thought Gerald had one of the best games you'll ever see out of someone who shoots only 1-8 and scores only two points. He certainly didn't let his offensive struggles effect his play on the other end of the court. Well done.

Can you believe we outrebounded a Big-10 Team (admittedly a smaller and more finesse oriented Big-10 Team) by almost twenty boards?

I was a little surprised Purdue didn't play Johnson (the tall, lanky kid) and Calasan (the Serb who had a strong first half) a little more, although I guess one of them was always in the game.

[devildownunder]

This win reminds of Ewing's Senior Year when the team went into a hostile environment in East Lansing and blasted the Spartans. This game was closer, but it had that same feel of a resounding, big win.

The Scheyer/Singler duo indeed dominated.

...that was Ewing's junior year, at the start of the 2003-04 season. That team made it to the final four, let's hope it's a sign.


(and note to the powers that be, can we get rid of the sickeningly faded blue in some of the smilies? that's just wrong. can't believe I never noticed it before.)

[Cicero]

After the "Paulus sucks" chant, I'm wondering how long it will take for Singler to become the most hated current Duke player. He plays with the same kind of energy and tenacity that makes us loathe Hansblahblah, and he also has a certain swagger that reminds me of Redick and Laettner, among others. Plus he seems to get into it with opposing players on a fairly regular basis--not necessarily as the instigator, but he certainly doesn't back down. I love watching him play, and I think his energy helps the team as a whole.

[_Gary]

I am surprised that there isn't more effusive praise of Singler. As I have read on this board before, the guy is the first since Laettner to play with a snear (in the best sense of the word). He is so tough - that drive from triple threat when he dips the shoulder and goes straight for the rim is becoming a real signature move. His relentlessness of the glass, especially the offensive glass, is inspiring to watch. He scores on the move, from set positions, inside and out. He put the work in to add the extra bulk and he is using it to dominate people physically - seems like those hard knocks he took on the post last year were well worth it - he's one tough mother and likes to bang down low.

No question that Kyle is moving in that direction. It's still early to compare him to Christian, but he is certainly a candidate for that down the road if he keeps up the type of game we saw from him tonight. I just want to reserve a little bit of praise until I see how he does in March. I know he's much bigger and feels much better prepared for poundings, but I just want to see if he can have this kind of game in March. If he can, and shows no signs of wearing down, I think comparisons can begin in earnest. His heart and hustle, along with timely shots and boards, puts him into the equation.