2010-11 Inside Game

[YourLandlord]

Miles, Mason, and Ryan.

These are our only three players over 6'8".

Will we have inside depth problems next year? Will they be able to stay out of foul trouble?

I think they'll all have to improve massively defensively over this year for Duke to be a truly complete team.

[RoyalBlue08]

given the pile up in the backcourt, I think you will see 10 mins/game of Kyle at the 4.

[DeBlueDevil]

I think style of play will be a big factor with this. I do not believe we will rely on the half court offense quite as much with the amount of players we'll have that can create their own shot and create for others. Anyways, yes I think everyone will try to find one flaw with next yaers team and say we have lack of inside depth but last time i checked as my old bball coach used to say "you don't need height to rebound".

I think Mase will have a monster year inside and Miles won't be far behind. I believe Kyle helps tremendously with this as well. And we will have some athletic guys to throw in there as well. All in all I just don't think this will be a big problem.

[DukeBlueNV]

what is the likelyhood of kyle playing full-time at the four... it would be kinda doing him a disservice seeing how he played the three last year and will be in the nba. but to get the best players on the floor (irving, smith, curry, singler, plumlee) he would need to play the pf position. glad he's back but im guessing this relagates curry to the bench... but having so much talent it doesnt all fit on the floor is a good problem to have!

[ElSid]

this was a more interesting thread before we heard about kyle coming back.

now we have mason at 6-11, miles at 6-10, kyle at 6-8, kelly at 6-10, hairston at 6-8, and felix at 6-6. we could play smith, felix, singler, and two of the really tall guys if we needed to match up against a huge team like 2009-2010 gonzaga or FSU again.

I think that looks pretty good. Would love to see kelly pack on like 20 pounds of muscle and come out next year as more of a legit presence on the inside. he has really good defensive instincts down there.

[jimsumner]

Miles Plumlee, Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kelly can play the 5. Mason Plumlee, Ryan Kelly, Josh Hairston and Kyle Singler can play the 4, maybe even Carrick Felix.

I think Duke can adequately handle those 80 mpg.

[Big Pappa]

Miles, Mason, and Ryan.

These are our only three players over 6'8".

Will we have inside depth problems next year? Will they be able to stay out of foul trouble?

I think they'll all have to improve massively defensively over this year for Duke to be a truly complete team.

Kyle will obviously help with this but everything I've seen has Josh listed at 6'9" so he gives us added depth at the 4 and 5. A 4 person rotation was plenty to be dominate this past year.

[dukeballboy88]

with the depth at the guard position, k should press more wich in turn will lead to more turnovers and making it harder for the other team to run a half court offense. hopefully this will keep miles and mason out of foul trouble. thats the only concern i have is keeping them out of foul trouble.

[RainingThrees]

With Singler coming back I don't see Felix getting almost any pt. The Plumlees will start and we will play Kelly and a combination of Hairston/Singler at the 4 for a four man rotation with Singler occasionally playing the 4 if the matchup is there. If we run into foul trouble all we have to do is slide Singler to the 4 where we know he is comfortable.

[Wander]

To me, the biggest question mark for next year by a very wide margin is this: can the Plumlees stop fouling?

[Saratoga2]

Bigs usually don't play that many minutes due to foul issues and just the grind of big bodies banging inside. It is good to have Kelly behind the Plumlees and lets not forget Josh who is about the same size as Lance. Lance was able to play a lot at the 4 this past season and Josh will have that same opportunity. I still see Kyle as playing the majority of his time at the 3 but he does give us another weapon inside at the 4.

We have both Dawkins and Felix to back up the 3 and look to be a very deep team, with the ability to handle injuries, illnesses and foul issues better than most teams.

[Indoor66]

As to Plumlee's and fouling, experience tends to help fouling. Both should do less reaching and more foot movements and tend to cut down on fouling. It happened to Lance and Zou over the course of their careers, as well.

[cptnflash]

To me, the biggest question mark for next year by a very wide margin is this: can the Plumlees stop fouling?

Amen. With Kyle's return, the Plumlees become the key to next year's team. If they learn to defend without fouling, we'll be scary good.

[jipops]

Reiterating Big Pappa, it has been reported in the past that Hairston is up to 6-9 these days. We've still got a great deal of length in the front court especially with Kyle back. The Plumlees have to be a factor though. I really like what we started to see from Miles on defense but Mason still seemed to lose his man a lot or was late to react in rotation. But that's also just freshman stuff.

[COYS]

Reiterating Big Pappa, it has been reported in the past that Hairston is up to 6-9 these days. We've still got a great deal of length in the front court especially with Kyle back. The Plumlees have to be a factor though. I really like what we started to see from Miles on defense but Mason still seemed to lose his man a lot or was late to react in rotation. But that's also just freshman stuff.

The Plumlee's contributions in the halfcourt on both defense and offense will be key for next season. We'll be able to run and score some easy buckets, but this past year's team's execution in the halfcourt on both sides was impressive. Scheyer ran that show on offense and it will be up to Nolan and Kyrie (and possibly Seth) to keep it efficient. On the defensive side, Mason and Miles will be the guys who need to replace Lance and Brian's production. That's no simple task and they have a lot of work to do. I think their progression on the interior of the defensive end will go a long way toward determining how far we go. We won this year because we could beat tough, physical teams on both ends. We'll be able to run a lot of teams out of the gym, next year, but come tourney time we'll have to win a few grinders to return to the Final Four. I expect Mason and Miles to be up to the challenge.

[ElSid]

What competition is there in the ACC and in the NCAA in terms of front courts?

I'm thinking the ACC next season is going to be pretty thin in that regard with Favors, Lawal, Aminu, Davis, the FSU players (is Alabi gone yet?), and others all declaring. I'm not convinced Zeller or the Wears or Henson will be all that intimidating to the likes of the Plumlees.

Nationwide who will have the best back court? Ohio State maybe with their Freshman?

Purdue's players are declaring for the draft too, no? JaJuan Johnson?

Frankly I don't know if there's going to be enough front court talent or muscle next year to be able to exploit this "weakness" of Duke's. I'd be scared if we had to play DeMarcus Cousins, but I don't think a similar player will be playing. Am I wrong?

[hedevil]

Depending on matchups, I could see K going with one Plumlee at a time paired with either Kelly or Hairston at the 4. I know the Plumlees play well together but going with this strategy would give us ten fouls at the 5 from the Plumlees and would prevent Duke from having both Plumlees in simultaneous foul trouble. To me, having both Miles and Mason in foul trouble would be our weakest moment in any game.

[Bob Green]

Depending on matchups, I could see K going with one Plumlee at a time paired with either Kelly or Hairston at the 4. I know the Plumlees play well together but going with this strategy would give us ten fouls at the 5 from the Plumlees and would prevent Duke from having both Plumlees in simultaneous foul trouble. To me, having both Miles and Mason in foul trouble would be our weakest moment in any game.

I disagree with this approach as it seems to be playing not to lose instead of playing to win. Coach K will play to win and that means Miles and Mason Plumlee starting in the frontcourt and playing 20-25 minutes per game. Obviously, if either Plumlee gets into foul trouble, Coach K will have to make adjustments, which is fine because he is a master at in-game adjustments. The Plumlees both have a huge upside. Miles is tough and demonstrated the ability to knockdown the midrange jumper, while Mason is an incredible athlete who has the ability to get out and run, which will be an awesome skill when on the court alongside Irving and Smith. With a summer of hard work, Miles and Mason will both be improved players. For Duke to play up to their potential in 2010-11, the Plumlees need to play side-by-side.

[flyingdutchdevil]

To me, the biggest question mark for next year by a very wide margin is this: can the Plumlees stop fouling?

Take a look at LT and Zoubs - extremely foul prone for the better part of 3 years and then learned during their senior year.

Hopefully the Plumlee learning curve is a little quicker...

[Daniel tosh]

Josh airston is over 6'8",I remember reading an interview of him where he said he was a legit 6'9',and this was more than 6 months ago.