MBB: Duke 83, St. John's 76 Post Game Thread

[Bob Green]

The five freshmen were a tough out. Discuss the game here.

[JBDuke]

Put your post-game thoughts here.

[Tucknut]

Harkless doesn't shake hands with Coach K. Classy guy...

[Bob Green]

Harkless doesn't shake hands with Coach K. Classy guy...

I didn't notice that, but I did see him slam the ball off the court in frustration as time expired. Perhaps the young man has some anger management issues which need worked through.

[DukeBlueHeart4]

St. John's did exactly what they needed to do in the second half. They weren't quite as foul happy, got tougher on the boards, and seriously limited our ability to go inside to Mason. We made some silly errors throughout the game. In the future I think we need to focus on controlling the ball a little better, helping on defense, and not letting ourselves get rattled when the shots don't fall.

[Duvall]

Harkless doesn't shake hands with Coach K. Classy guy...

I don't think that's true. He definitely didn't blow Krzyzewski off.

[Bluedog]

Harkless doesn't shake hands with Coach K. Classy guy...

He shook his hand. I just watched it again on slow motion. Put his hand out, just couldn't see the actually exchange since a camera was blocking their hands.

Overall, disappointing that we let a 22-point slip away and had to knock down free throws to get the victory. But a win is a win, I suppose. It's been good to see Mason be a force the past couple of game. We really need to exploit those mismatches and try to get him more touches in the post. Austin's aggressiveness on getting to the rack is great and he has some nice finishes, but the decisions in transition perhaps could improve. Curry's stroke has been off lately; I thought we settled for too many 3s this game when we clearly had the advantage on the interior. Our defense again was not very good; especially help side D. We're lucky they shot poorly from 3 for the majority of the game; they were 1-11 before going on a 4-9 streak. Our offense shows some promise for sure and we have the capacity to be a really good team, but our defensive struggles continued unfortunately. I personally like have Miles in the lineup as he has shown some good defensive skills and doesn't back down. Kelly just doesn't have the strength of Miles in my opinion, although Kelly certainly brings some positives on the offensive end. We obviously need to improve our defense if we want to be a Final Four contender.

[SupaDave]

The team had a total of 15 assists. Not bad at all. I think if this team can tighten up their execution then K would let them loose.

30 and 13 from Harkless is a beast move. He had his mind made up but one man can't beat 5 and Duke played as a team today.

[_Gary]

I didn't notice that, but I did see him slam the ball off the court in frustration as time expired. Perhaps the young man has some anger management issues which need worked through.

It's funny you put it that way, Bob, because that is literally what my daughter said when he slammed the ball down.

[RoyalBlue08]

I can't remember hearing K that negative on the radio after a win. I also couldn't agree more. Sometimes team can be proud of how they fought after a loss, but the lack of effort for Duke in large stretches today was disheartening. I hope the guys can use this as motivation to increase their focus and toughness going forward. I have a feeling they are in for a tough week of practice.

[BlueDGal]

coach k just spoke to bob Harris. He was very unhappy with the last 10 min....I've never heard him sound like that. He was almost whispering....very, very upset.

[DesertDevil]

I didn't notice that, but I did see him slam the ball off the court in frustration as time expired. Perhaps the young man has some anger management issues which need worked through.

Meh, seen worse reactions. I'll give the kid a bit of slack on this one. He played his butt off trying to bring his team back & they came up short.

[RockyMtDevil]

We almost got Bootsied by Harckless

[NM Duke Fan]

He shook his hand. I just watched it again on slow motion. Put his hand out, just couldn't see the actually exchange since a camera was blocking their hands.

Overall, disappointing that we let a 22-point slip away and had to knock down free throws to get the victory. But a win is a win, I suppose. It's been good to see Mason be a force the past couple of game. We really need to exploit those mismatches and try to get him more touches in the post. Austin's aggressiveness on getting to the rack is great and he has some nice finishes, but the decisions in transition perhaps could improve. Curry's stroke has been off lately; I thought we settled for too many 3s this game when we clearly had the advantage on the interior. Our defense again was not very good; especially help side D. We're lucky they shot poorly from 3 for the majority of the game; they were 1-11 before going on a 4-9 streak. Our offense shows some promise for sure and we have the capacity to be a really good team, but our defensive struggles continued unfortunately. I personally like have Miles in the lineup as he has shown some good defensive skills and doesn't back down. Kelly just doesn't have the strength of Miles in my opinion, although Kelly certainly brings some positives on the offensive end. We obviously need to improve our defense if we want to be a Final Four contender.

In preseason I mentioned that defense by the guards was my biggest concern, and that hasn't changed. Regarding your last sentence, I would say that we obviously need to improve our defense if we want to make it into the sweet sixteen.

[Bluealum]

coach k just spoke to bob Harris. He was very unhappy with the last 10 min....I've never heard him sound like that. He was almost whispering....very, very upset.

There are three guys on this team that appear to show up in every game. They may struggle or be off, but you can see a fire in them.

Mason Plumlee
Austin Rivers
Tyler Thornton

I salute those guys for bringing the energy. The crowd and the rest of the guys are just hit and miss this year so far. That more than anything has got to be frustrating for Coach K.

[diveonthefloor]

A whole lot to criticize in this win.

Horrible ball handling. Poor freshman decisions. Leaky perimeter defense.
Mediocre (or worse) foul shooting.

K probably has heartburn thinking about the dumb mistakes from a relatively listless team on the last ten minutes.

Good think it's still January.

[stixof96]

this team better get real or they will be blown out when march comes....you can penetrate the lane in a wheel chair against this defense......it's that bad....total lack of effort going down the stretch today....coach k needs to go to the whip with this bunch...

[Duvall]

A whole lot to criticize in this win.

Horrible ball handling. Poor freshman decisions. Leaky perimeter defense.
Mediocre (or worse) foul shooting.

Hey!





Free throw shooting was fine (76.2%)

[marinbobbyduhon]

There are three guys on this team that appear to show up in every game. They may struggle or be off, but you can see a fire in them.

Mason Plumlee
Austin Rivers
Tyler Thornton

I salute those guys for bringing the energy. The crowd and the rest of the guys are just hit and miss this year so far. That more than anything has got to be frustrating for Coach K.

Do you have some kind of meter attached to your monitor that let's you know when a player has shown up for the game? I would like to get one of those, if you do.

I don't think every player physically shows you the fire within. I think that Seth is one of those guys who is there every game. Miles and Ryan, too.

Now the team defense isn't what I would hope it to be, but I am sure that Coach K is working hard for them to get it.

[KandG]

coach k just spoke to bob Harris. He was very unhappy with the last 10 min....I've never heard him sound like that. He was almost whispering....very, very upset.

Such a frustrating team to watch this year, especially since returning from Maui. There are obviously years that are rebuilding years, or years where there's more ups and downs because of the mix of young guys and veterans. Or there's just a glaring hole once in a while (no big man, no PG). But this is such a sub-optimal mix of talent (shooting guards that aren't physical enough, only one elite shot creator with wild ups and downs who's learning on the fly, bigs that play hard but make questionable decisions of their own, bad perimeter defense, etc etc) that they seem a certainty to go out in the first weekend of the tournament.

I love every player, love their effort, love to see them develop. But they keep blowing leads, keep experiencing facepalm moments, allow just about any overmatched team a chance. I wonder whether they'll eventually take the next step forward, or whether that happens next year. Most of the second half today was just awful.