MBB: Duke 82, Davidson 69 Post-Game Thread

[pfrduke]

Discuss.

[Indoor66]

A tale of two half's. Go Duke - on to Maui.

Another thought - I hope they take down the 903/Kounting board in Cameron. Time to move on on that issue.

[davekay1971]

Mason is a different player this year. Nice game for Austin. Another test passed by this team: fighting through the emotional letdown against a well-coached team to get through number 904.

[Underdog5]

Happy for the W but this game and the Belmont game make me a little nervous about a potential match up with Memphis. This is going to be a fun team to watch develop.

[Bob Green]

Quinn Cook played solid down the stretch. He has all the requisite skill sets so I believe his court minutes will steadily increase over the season. His ball handling and free throw shooting will ensure he is in games at crunch time.

[Saratoga2]

I am interested in how people saw Andre's play tonight. Was the defense set up to stop him or did he just have an off night? It would seem a 6'4" guard out there would have given Duke a defensive advantage.

Clearly having Ryan off the court for much of the 1st have due to foul trouble had an impact on the game. He has a lot of value out there.

Better game by Miles although a lot of fouls.

Quinn looked very good when given a chance.

Foul shooting woes could bite us sometime in Maui.

I don't have much to add tonight but will read with interested what others are thinking.

[loldevilz]

Once again we started out slow, then in the second half we played some outstanding basketball for 10-15 minutes, and then we played some sloppy basketball to close the game. When we are playing well we are really good, but it seems like we don't play motivated a lot.

The most interesting thing for me was that the 3 point shot was almost never utilized. It was out entire offense last game, and this game, the Plumlees, and Rivers really led the offense. Its nice to see that we can win games multiple ways.

[arnie]

Quinn Cook played solid down the stretch. He has all the requisite skill sets so I believe his court minutes will steadily increase over the season. His ball handling and free throw shooting will ensure he is in games at crunch time.

Totally agree - think we'll play small a lot this year with Mason/Kelly and 4 guards. Cook is a player.

[Bob Green]

I am interested in how people saw Andre's play tonight. Was the defense set up to stop him or did he just have an off night?

IMO, ball handling is the issue. Dawkins looks much improved defensively, and he has always been a great shooter, but against quick teams that pressure the perimeter he is going to be at a disadvantage. I'd like to see him work the baseline a bit more to complement the corner J.

[J4Kop99]

Hey coach, dust off some of those old JJ plays and give Dawkins a few to run at the beginning of every game. If he gets going early that makes things a lot easier for the rest of the team.

--Good work, Mason. He is going to dominate most teams' bigs. Fun to watch a Duke offense that utilizes a big man. Coach has a big that he can trust down low on the offensive end... first time since Shelden. Also, Rivers looked good and under control for the most part. He was just playing too hard against MSU.

I don't know what has to happen for Miles to get going on a regular basis. He's not going to get a breakaway dunk every single game...

[delfrio]

Totally agree - think we'll play small a lot this year with Mason/Kelly and 4 guards. Cook is a player.

This might be jumping ahead a bit, because I have no idea if he can be truly dominant, but I'm already thinking of Cook as a solid 4-year player. He's got a good handle, 3-point shot, FTs, and he appears to enjoy getting after it on defense. And he seems vocal in the Nolan/Paulus/etc mold. We haven't seen much in terms of decision making while running a team yet, but I think he might have the most (unrecognized) upside on the team.

[uh_no]

Totally agree - think we'll play small a lot this year with Mason/Kelly and 4 guards. Cook is a player.

I think our lineups will be mostly dictated by defense. In the first half there were several times when our perimeter was porous, and if not for their missing some layups, the lead might have been 10+. It certainly improved in the second half, but has been a problem in each game we've played this year (for most values of the word "each"). Perhaps the 4 guard set is going to give us the best look, but I think we'll have a lot of trouble guarding the 3 this year, let alone putting a small guy on the opposing 4 as well. Teams like UNC and Uconn would eat us alive if we tried to put 4 guards on the floor.

[Indoor66]

I think our lineups will be mostly dictated by defense. In the first half there were several times when our perimeter was porous, and if not for their missing some layups, the lead might have been 10+. It certainly improved in the second half, but has been a problem in each game we've played this year (for most values of the word "each"). Perhaps the 4 guard set is going to give us the best look, but I think we'll have a lot of trouble guarding the 3 this year, let alone putting a small guy on the opposing 4 as well. Teams like UNC and Uconn would eat us alive if we tried to put 4 guards on the floor.

Is uCON on the schedule this year?

[uh_no]

Is uCON on the schedule this year?

They are not. That does not change the point that large teams would pose a problem for a 4 guard lineup, and there is a decent chance that we will be guaranteed to run into UNC twice this year...if not 3 teams, and if we want a shot to go deep, we'll have to figure out a way to stop all kinds of teams, some of who are doubtless going to be large enough to thoroughly exploit a 4 guard set.

[loldevilz]

The only time Duke will play a four guard lineup is in end-of-game situations because the Plumlee's are poor free throw shooters. Cook will be the best player in this class other than Rivers, but he is not good enough to keep Kelly or Mason out of the lineup. Both mean too much to this team on the defensive and offensive ends.

[MChambers]

I thought this would be a tough game, after 903, and it was, at least for a half. The Duke defense at the start of the second half was quite impressive, however. And how does Duke run away with a game without shooting many 3s?

Mason played another impressive game. He's really a dominant rebounder.

Rivers can take anyone off the dribble. Or so it seems. Not quite as good as Kyrie, but awfully good. (Can I wonder how anyone could have dealt with the two of them in the same backcourt?)

Curry had a very strong second half. He struggled with his shot early on, but really turned it around,

Cook played a lot in the second half. Clearly his best performance so far.

[NYC Duke Fan]

I know that it is only 3 games in but if Coach K is not going to play Murphy why not red shirt him ?

[DU82]

I know that it is only 3 games in but if Coach K is not going to play Murphy why not red shirt him ?

He played in two games...yes exhibition games, but it matters. He cannot be redshirted other than for a medical exception.

Repeating from other threads, he suffered a concussion in practice. They are holding him out because of that. I do not believe it is a season ending issue.

[MCFinARL]

IMO, ball handling is the issue. Dawkins looks much improved defensively, and he has always been a great shooter, but against quick teams that pressure the perimeter he is going to be at a disadvantage. I'd like to see him work the baseline a bit more to complement the corner J.

Yes, but--1) it didn't seem to me his teammates looked for Andre as much as they could have given his Michigan St. performance, especially after he hit that three in the first half; 2) Despite greatly improved defense and focus, it still seems Andre has less margin for error from the coaches than some other players, for whatever reason. He was immediately removed after his travel in the second half and never got back in the game.

I don't disagree that Andre is not the best ball handler among the guards, but he is not a primary ball handler anyway, and I'm not sure why a game like Michigan St. doesn't earn him a little more margin for error in the next game than he got here, given the number of errors of various types by other guards.

[gep]

I didn't see the first half, but the close score seems like the team has to get in to the "feel" and rhythm of the game. Then, something happens in the locker room, and the first half of the second half is great... they build up a good lead. Then, as everyone says, the last 5 minutes or so is "eventful". But thinking about it while watching this game, maybe Coach K is *teaching* the team how to play the last 5 minutes... stall ball, if you will... and win the game. I thought I saw Coach K standing and waving his arms alot directing while the guards had the ball near mid-court.