MOTM: Duke vs. Florida State

[91_92_01_10_15]

OK. I'll post it if no one else will. My vote goes to Miles with the best Roland Rating for the game:

http://statsheet.com/mcb/games/2011/...-66/plus_minus

[jv001]

I'll vote for Tyler this time as I failed to do so last game. Can't bring myself to vote for any of the starters. Go Duke!

[PADukeMom]

I vote for Jon Schyer. He looked like the best Duke player out there even though he was sitting in the stands.
While I predicted this as our first loss of the season I was really surprised to see that no one was able to adjust their game when the 3's weren't falling. Rebounding is a serious issue with this team that needs to be addressed very soon.
FSU just plain blew out socks off.

[DukieInBrasil]

My vote goes to Kyle's 2nd half performance.

my vote would not go to Mason, despite the 14 boards, which is very impressive, simply b/c the FSU post players routinely scored on him and his weak D forced the guards to sag off more allowing FSU more open looks. We must be able to play better interior D if we are to become a championship caliber team. Mason alone isn't the answer, and if Miles is only deemed sufficient to play for 6 minutes then I don't see where our interior D is gonna come from. Ryan is a decent defender, especially from the weak side or when his man is away from the block. Together, the 3 of them could be adequate to provide a solid interior presence. They weren't against FSU and I'm pretty sure that everybody is gonna try to replicate that.

[superdave]

I voted for Seth because he was the only Duke player bold enough to drive the lane over and over, which in my opinion if they had all done it, would have gotten FSU in foul trouble and opened up more offensive looks for us.

[jv001]

I voted for Seth because he was the only Duke player bold enough to drive the lane over and over, which in my opinion if they had all done it, would have gotten FSU in foul trouble and opened up more offensive looks for us.

Nolan did drive the lane several times and had the ball knocked loose, as did Andre on a couple of occasions. I agree that Seth did it better by the shot fake and subsequent drive into the lane. Andre really looks scared to handle the ball and is struggling on defense now. Someone mentioned his facial expression not being a good one. I have to agree he just doesn't have a confident look about him. Go Duke!

[superdave]

Nolan did drive the lane several times and had the ball knocked loose, as did Andre on a couple of occasions. I agree that Seth did it better by the shot fake and subsequent drive into the lane. Andre really looks scared to handle the ball and is struggling on defense now. Someone mentioned his facial expression not being a good one. I have to agree he just doesn't have a confident look about him. Go Duke!

I mentioned this in the post game thread, but I thought FSU's game plan for Nolan's drives was a good one (and similar to that of the Terps the other night). But Nolan's a senior - he's got to adjust.

I also noticed Andre was not willing to put the ball on the floor against this good D. That will come, maybe not this year though.

[JasonEvans]

There really should be a None Of The Above option

I think I am going to vote for Seth.

-Jason

[ncexnyc]

Kyle had a horrid first half, but at least he got it going in the second and posted some really decent numbers.

[NSDukeFan]

I mentioned this in the post game thread, but I thought FSU's game plan for Nolan's drives was a good one (and similar to that of the Terps the other night). But Nolan's a senior - he's got to adjust.

I also noticed Andre was not willing to put the ball on the floor against this good D. That will come, maybe not this year though.

I don't think Andre's problem was willingness to put the ball on the floor, but that he had it stripped from him a couple of times.

[ScreechTDX1847]

I don't think Andre's problem was willingness to put the ball on the floor, but that he had it stripped from him a couple of times.

Andre's unwillingness to put the ball on the floor (which I noticed as well) and having had the ball stripped are not unrelated. Same thing with Seth.

FSU played harder.

[uh_no]

Is there a way to vote for the other team as the player of the game?

[devildeac]

Abstain because I can't give Kyle 1/2 a vote for the 1/2 he played well and kept us from getting beat by 10+ and 1/2 a vote for Mason for his 14 boards because if he doesn't grab these, we also probably get beat by 10+.

[BlueandWhite]

Is there a way to vote for the other team as the player of the game?

The award goes to the Florida State team. They simply played better -- in particular, defended MUCH better -- and they deserved to win last night. There absolutely should be no "MOTM" for Duke last night, there were none deserving of this vote.

Next play -- how'd you like to be at Duke's practices this week? UVA is going to be absolutely demolished on Saturday at Cameron.

[Lord Ash]

Come on now, folks, let's not get cranky... a bunch of Duke guys played last night, and SOMEONE was, to you, the best of our boys. So... who was the best, even if it was ultimately a losing effort?

[cameroncrazy3104]

the man of the match for florida state should definitely be the lid on top of our rim

[superdave]

the man of the match for florida state should definitely be the lid on top of our rim

Derwin Kitchen
22 pts, 10 boards (as a G), 3 assists, 3 steals.

And he hit a real nice baseline floater at the end that haunted me like the ghost of Sean Singletery.

[CBDUKE]

I vote for Jon Schyer. He looked like the best Duke player out there even though he was sitting in the stands.
While I predicted this as our first loss of the season I was really surprised to see that no one was able to adjust their game when the 3's weren't falling. Rebounding is a serious issue with this team that needs to be addressed very soon.
FSU just plain blew out socks off.

According to the stats I saw, we outrebounded FSU. I voted for Kyle because he brought us back into the game in the second half.

[jipops]

I went with Nolan. Everyone seems to forget that the kid is being forced to play out of position for most likely the remainder of the season and he is doing it quite well. No one is being asked to do more for the team so far this year than Nolan.

Despite such a rough outing against an extremely tough defense on the road he still put up double figure points with 5 assists and 6 steals. On an evening when our defense was so suspect in the 2nd half against a poor offensive team, Nolan's steals do stand out. Kyle did some nice work on the boards but he had way too many turnovers and actually seemed to be out-fought on too many occasions.

[DukieinSoCal]

[QUOTE=jipops;464544]I went with Nolan. Everyone seems to forget that the kid is being forced to play out of position for most likely the remainder of the season and he is doing it quite well. No one is being asked to do more for the team so far this year than Nolan.
QUOTE]

It's true that Nolan has been asked to do a lot and play out of position. I never question his heart or his effort, but he still needs to play better for this team to succeed. As a senior, he needs to be smarter about when to push the ball, when to drive, shoot, etc. He's had a brilliant season to date, but there have been stretches when he tries to do everything on his own.

I specifically remember a drive last night when he got to the rim and had Kyle wide open, coming from his left, and instead of dishing, tried an acrobatic layup over an FSU big. Another instance I recall was when he tried to drive on 2-3 FSU guys with no other teammates in the paint or ready to shoot and he lost the ball.

I've noticed these kinds of plays in previous games, but we've been able to get away with it until now. For us to become a great team without Kyrie, Nolan's going to have to step up his game. I think he's certainly capable and hopefully will learn from these missteps.