MBB: Duke 75, Boston College 50 Post Game Thread

[Billy Dat]

K quotes about team still seeking consistency of high-level performance:

"I was really pleased we got a big working margin, but I'm still worried," Krzyzewski said. "I want us to look good all the time. We got a little sloppy there for a minute and then our kids picked it up again. It's not point differential or anything. Whoever's playing, I want them to be sharp."

"They're a good group. We're just not some type of juggernaut," he said. "We'll have spurts of really good defense. Our rebounding has gotten better. Until today, we were taking really good care of the ball."

[Rudy]

Funniest play of the game was the inbounds by Austin (think it was Austin - I watch on a pretty lousy feed to the pc). Would not have been nearly so funny in a close game.
That was hilarious. I was surprised the announcers and replay guys didn't spend more time on it, since by that time they were struggling to find things to say. Sometimes good teams play sloppy against bad teams because the good players aren't forced to focus quite as well. Ugly game to watch but little to really worry about. On the other hand, sometimes a bad team can unintentionally lull a good one into bad play and then catch fire on shooting percentage to bag a win. Pretty late in the second half we were only 15 points up. Still, good to see Andre miss a couple of long shots and still bounce back to hit several.

[RockyMtDevil]

We showed a great deal of maturity tonight. The first 15 minutes were pretty brutal to watch, but even though our offense was sluggish, we didn't allow that to affect our defense and communication. I was very pleased to see so many of the guys being vocal tonight, especially Seth, Austin and Dre. That's a huge step forward. Dre's defense was superb at times and I love how Austin is just commanding the ball and taking over, while still getting others involved.

One Huge problem continues to be our inability to finish on the break. We either force things (Cook), or we pass the ball to the wrong guy (Thornton to Miles) or we lack proper spacing in order to weaken the defense. Just a strange thing that these guys have struggled with the open court all year.

Regardless, Miles did an outstanding job with the ball screen and then the run at the rim tonight, he was aggressive on both ends of the court. I think it is safe to say he has equalled if not surpassed Zoubs final stretch of his Sr. year. Miles has an X factor that unfortunately Zoubs never had from an athletic perspective. He, too, is playing with a great deal of confidance.

Gbinije played very well in his limited minutes, though maybe I am the only one, does it not look like he is sad out there? Maybe that's his personality, but he didn't seem emotionally into it. His body language appeared to express frustration. I know it was mop up minutes, but he came in and obviously made an impact on defense, and his knifing dunk was something nobody else could have done. He played very well and hopefully we'll see more, not sure what is keeping him on the bench, especially with Kelly's inability to guard and Hairston's limitations on offense.

Mason had a ho hum night, though I don't believe we continued to try and feed him the ball once they packed their defense in.

Also, BC is horrible, poor guys, they are just awful. They would finish near the bottom of the Patriot league...

[rsvman]

Good win against a very bad team.

My main concern is that Mason seems to be going somewhat downhill over the past few games. Earlier in the season it seemed he had a lot more finesse on those baby jump hooks. Now it looks as though he's just trying to push he way into the paint to toss up a knuckleball. I hope we can see a little more Jabbar and a lot less Kendrick Perkins out of Mason going forward.

[HDB]

We showed a great deal of maturity tonight. The first 15 minutes were pretty brutal to watch, but even though our offense was sluggish, we didn't allow that to affect our defense and communication. I was very pleased to see so many of the guys being vocal tonight, especially Seth, Austin and Dre. That's a huge step forward. Dre's defense was superb at times and I love how Austin is just commanding the ball and taking over, while still getting others involved.

One Huge problem continues to be our inability to finish on the break. We either force things (Cook), or we pass the ball to the wrong guy (Thornton to Miles) or we lack proper spacing in order to weaken the defense. Just a strange thing that these guys have struggled with the open court all year.

Regardless, Miles did an outstanding job with the ball screen and then the run at the rim tonight, he was aggressive on both ends of the court. I think it is safe to say he has equalled if not surpassed Zoubs final stretch of his Sr. year. Miles has an X factor that unfortunately Zoubs never had from an athletic perspective. He, too, is playing with a great deal of confidance.

Gbinije played very well in his limited minutes, though maybe I am the only one, does it not look like he is sad out there? Maybe that's his personality, but he didn't seem emotionally into it. His body language appeared to express frustration. I know it was mop up minutes, but he came in and obviously made an impact on defense, and his knifing dunk was something nobody else could have done. He played very well and hopefully we'll see more, not sure what is keeping him on the bench, especially with Kelly's inability to guard and Hairston's limitations on offense.

Mason had a ho hum night, though I don't believe we continued to try and feed him the ball once they packed their defense in.

Also, BC is horrible, poor guys, they are just awful. They would finish near the bottom of the Patriot league...

How in the world did FSU lose to BC?

[CoachJ10]

That first half was one of the worst displays of basketball I've seen in some time. But Duke came out focused and intent on putting BC away in the second half and that I really enjoyed seeing.

BC is just bad. At one point mid way to late in the second half Duke had more rebounds than BC had points. I'm really liking Austin Rivers and Seth Curry coming to the top as the go to scorers with the ball. Would like to see Mason start playing more consistently down the stretch. Foul trouble hurt him tonight but seeing as Duke was so much bigger in the post than BC it would have been nice to see him post a double double. Miles was at least one missed free throw away from doing that. Quinn had a nice game in limited minutes and it was nice to see Mike Gbinije get in the game and play limited bue solid minutes and contribute. Any road win is a good road win and it is nice for a game not to have to come down to the wire or require a major comeback. My heart can't take that anymore. On to Florida State. Big game ahead.

This BC squad is really bad. How in the world did they beat FSU?

[BluDvlsN1]

Just some thoughts on the status quo!

The benefit of Hindsight,giving us 20/20 vision, oddly the Mauii tourney was a preview of the season to come! Lots of offensive talent, defensive concerns exposed, young team cohesion issues to work out, a competive team with a will to win someway/anyway evidenced !

The following is nameless on purpose!
Here we are in late February, having seen multiple starting lineup adjustments for varying reasons,! Some individuals adjust to the challenge and step up their individual and team consistency, some others get anxious in trying to "right their own ship" and overplay in their minutes and not let the game unfold and come to them! Hence some intermittent sloppy play we're unaccustomed to seeing at this point in the season!

So, we're 23-4 and we had for all intents and purposes, a televised scrimmage last night, to help us prepare for the long stretch run!
(plagiarizing"devildeac" ) We have (f$u )thursday, and we all know it's an important game, I don't believe that fact will be lost on either the staff or the team!
Using last night as a preparation for thursday as always gives the guys things to work on! Some more than others!

I'm sure the team is going to continue to try to improve the nuances of the game and prepare for each opponent, I think we're sure of that fact, but is anything really significanly different going to materialize at this point! Unlikely!

K,has been showing us the way since the Miami game in taking the focus off the negatives and focusing on the positives of the team and their will to win!
He's done it the only way a leader really can do it, by example!

I don't know why, but the lyrics of " Love the one your with" keep coming back to me and seem somehow to apply!(lol)

For the most part we're all strong DUKE supporters and have been for years, save some competitors and guests that come come by!

For all of our spirit, for all of the history we have to draw on, wins and buzzer beaters!! This young team needs our unqualified support, maybe similar to 2010! They have some pretty significant accomplishments to draw on for their own motivation!

They're going to give us their best effort, let's give them ours, in the best DUKE fashion and help them accomplish the most they're capable of!
The one huge intangible is" that will to win", it's inherent, not taught!

So going forward it's probably not going to be about HOW, just HOW MANY!

Just one guys opinion!

[DukieInBrasil]

One Huge problem continues to be our inability to finish on the break. We either force things (Cook), or we pass the ball to the wrong guy (Thornton to Miles) or we lack proper spacing in order to weaken the defense. Just a strange thing that these guys have struggled with the open court all year.

Regardless, Miles did an outstanding job with the ball screen and then the run at the rim tonight, he was aggressive on both ends of the court. I think it is safe to say he has equalled if not surpassed Zoubs final stretch of his Sr. year. Miles has an X factor that unfortunately Zoubs never had from an athletic perspective. He, too, is playing with a great deal of confidance.

Gbinije played very well in his limited minutes, though maybe I am the only one, does it not look like he is sad out there? Maybe that's his personality, but he didn't seem emotionally into it. His body language appeared to express frustration. I know it was mop up minutes, but he came in and obviously made an impact on defense, and his knifing dunk was something nobody else could have done. He played very well and hopefully we'll see more, not sure what is keeping him on the bench, especially with Kelly's inability to guard and Hairston's limitations on offense.

Re: Gbinije, absolutely not. The kid is just kinda raw offensively. It looks to me more like he's trying to figure out what he is being asked to do, and how to accomplish that. Silent G, Kelly and Hairston all play different roles and looking at them as competing for minutes is flawed. Sure, Kelly can't guard SFs, but then again he's a PF. Hairston certainly has limitations on O, but (s)G has shown that he does too.
Re: Miles, again, no. I agree that his athleticism certainly could allow him to surpass what Z did, but he has not surpassed what Z did nor is it safe to say that he has. It won't be safe to say that until April.

To me it really looks like Rivers and Curry are really starting to click together, especially when Dawkins is paired with them. IMO, Thornton's presence really chokes the offense when paired with R&C. TT was really hitting those open 3s for a while, which compensated for his offensive limitations otherwise, but he's gone cold lately. Also, he just gets shredded on D cuz he's always trying to get up in the opponents grill and they just blow by him routinely. He can still create havoc, but not when guarding a dribbling ball-handler. Once the ball stops, he can really create problems with tips/strips/steals/held-balls, but he does a much better job as a help defender or if he would just back off and prevent blow-by penetration.

[-jk]

Don't look now, but our KenPom defensive eff has moved up to 65th! Still among the worst of his top 20, though.

The KP stat I find interesting is "luck" - which (if I understand it correctly) is his measure of error. A team that performs better than expected overall is considered "lucky". We've been lucky all season. It seems unlikely out O is much better than rated, so perhaps our D is not quite as bad as his system paints it.

-jk

[UrinalCake]

Marshall was also credited for one rebound. Must have had him confused with one of the other twins.

Brothers, not twins. Would have been one heck of a labor for Mrs. Plumlee to have twins/triplets born three years apart.

[RockyMtDevil]

Much has been made about Miles filling the Zoubek role on the national championship team, and while that is a fair comparison, we don't as yet have the full body of work. However, there are some comparisons that can be made, even if the teams and dates don't match perfectly.

1. Up until this date in the season, Zoubek had only accumulated 116 points compared to Miles current 176 points.
2. During Zoubeks last 7 games, all starts, he averaged 7 points and 11 Boards
For Miles last 8 games, 3 starts, he has averaged 6 points but only 7.5 Boards

3. Zoub's highest point total came against Maryland in his first start: (16) and his highest Rebounds came that same day with (17) in a wonderful second half route.
Miles high point total since 1/21 is (13) and his high similarly comes in the same game with (22) Rebounds.

4. Zoubs obviously finished the year strong, at least in our memories, but statistically, he only managed to average (6 points) and a strong (9 Boards) per game in his final 9 postseason games. I don't believe it is to much to think that Miles can eclipse those numbers if given the nod and minutes at the 5...

[jimsumner]

Brothers, not twins. Would have been one heck of a labor for Mrs. Plumlee to have twins/triplets born three years apart.

I believe this is a sly reference to a reporter (ESPN?) who referred to the Plumlees as triplets earlier in the season.

[Saratoga2]

A nice chance to catch our breath as the homestretch begins.

A few thoughts:

Seth Curry can't have the ball in his hands enough or shoot enough as far as I am concerned. I know he's not a great athlete but his game has a real maturity and he just has a priceless basketball savvy.

I liked Mike G's time tonight too - he's been inconsistent, so its foolish to jump to conclusions, but experimenting with more time with him could be one of the most largest upside moves left to us.

Mason seems to have hit the wall. We've asked a lot of him and he's delivered big time all year long - but BC is a team he should have just owned and yet he seemed to have nothing in the tank- foul trouble notwithstanding.

Andre's game seems to be developing some real maturity. I like what I am seeing on defense and I like the 2 point shooting. Its like the light bulb has gone off. Let's hope that continues - it clearly raises our bar.

Seth is a very good scoring guard but he did have 6 turnovers last night. I don't think he should be placed in situations where he has to handle the ball under pressure, as the PG for instance.

[devildeac]

Brothers, not twins. Would have been one heck of a labor for Mrs. Plumlee to have twins/triplets born three years apart.

Dang, I gotta stop listening to those whack jobs calling our games. I coulda sworn several weeks ago that one of them referred to Miles and Mason as twins. Several others also commented on that here and/or in chat. (And yes, I do know that they are not twins/triplets as I bet Mrs. Plumlee is also cuz that would indeed be one historically long labor.)

[Jim3k]

Brothers, not twins. Would have been one heck of a labor for Mrs. Plumlee to have twins/triplets born three years apart.

Check your irony meter.

[Kedsy]

Austin, Seth, and Andre combined for 17 rebounds (7 for Austin, 5 for each of the other two), which is great to see.

On Pomeroy, our offense dropped from 1st to 4th but as someone else noted our defense is now up to 65th. It's possible that, despite Pomeroy's attempts to adjust for the strength of competition, our brutal early schedule has unfairly depressed our rating. Having said that, this clearly isn't a stellar defensive team, but maybe we're really a 30s or 40s type defense, rather than an 80s or 90s.

Gbinje looked great. He stayed with their point after a switch and did not allow him to beat him to the lane. He later had a nice drive and finish. I really like his defense and athleticism. I would much rather Michael get the minutes than Hairston. Hairston does not have the length nor the athleticism to finish at the rim.

I don't think we can draw any reasonable conclusions from Michael's six minutes of garbage time against an overmatched opponent. He's taking steps toward being a productive player, but it's much more likely to come in future seasons than in the near-term.

[devildeac]

I believe this is a sly reference to a reporter (ESPN?) who referred to the Plumlees as triplets earlier in the season.

Thank you Jim for the supporting evidence. I did not think that several (many?) of us here had misheard that. I can't remember though whether I heard it as twins referring to Miles and Mason or the ~21 feet of Plumlee/Plumli as triplets.

[MCFinARL]

Thank you Jim for the supporting evidence. I did not think that several (many?) of us here had misheard that. I can't remember though whether I heard it as twins referring to Miles and Mason or the ~21 feet of Plumlee/Plumli as triplets.

Someone definitely referred to them as twins on an earlier gamecast, can't remember which one. Don't think I have ever heard a "triplets" reference that wasn't deliberately facetious.

[CDu]

On Pomeroy, our offense dropped from 1st to 4th but as someone else noted our defense is now up to 65th. It's possible that, despite Pomeroy's attempts to adjust for the strength of competition, our brutal early schedule has unfairly depressed our rating. Having said that, this clearly isn't a stellar defensive team, but maybe we're really a 30s or 40s type defense, rather than an 80s or 90s.

Well, I don't think it's the early season schedule that unfairly depressed our rating. After the OSU game I think we were in the #20-40 range in defensive efficiency according to Pomeroy (can't remember exactly where, but it was in that range). We actually played pretty good defense during the roughest part of our schedule with the exception of the OSU game.

Instead, I think it was the 76 we allowed St. John's (#136 in offensive efficiency), the 76 we allowed to FSU (#109), and the 73 we allowed to Wake (#205) all at home and the 74 we allowed to Ga Tech (#192) that deflated our defensive rating. The 80 we gave up to Washington (#82) and the 70 we gave up to Western Michigan (#168) didn't help our rating either.

That said, I do think we're more capable defensively than a #90-100 ranking would suggest. And I suspect we'll end up better than our current ranking of #65 defensively by season's end. At least I certainly hope so.

[ncexnyc]

I don't think we can draw any reasonable conclusions from Michael's six minutes of garbage time against an overmatched opponent. He's taking steps toward being a productive player, but it's much more likely to come in future seasons than in the near-term.

I really wish I could disagree with your assessment of Silent G, but you're right. I've noticed that when he does manage to get into the game, you'll see someone always motioning for him to go somewhere else. He just hasn't adjusted to this level as of yet.

He's got the physical tools of a 3 we so desperately need, but his game just isn't there yet.

Another player who isn't quite there is Josh, however he's really close. He's been getting himself into a number different positive positions around the basket on both the offensive and defensive end of the court, but he's just a tad off. On offense he's doing a great job of bulling his way to the basket, but his put backs are a bit rushed. On the defensive end he's getting to a spot a tad late, which has resulted in some close blocking fouls. This all sounds very much like Lance Thomas, who was often described on this board as having spastic energy. We can only hope Josh turns out just as well as Lance did.