MBB: Duke 60, VPI 56 ACCT Post-Game Thread

[Billy Dat]

And don't be surprised if they make it to the final weekend either... This season, moreso than many in recent memory, appears to be a crapshoot (aside from Kentucky). Don't fall to one of the classic blunders of history:

1. Never make definitive predictions about the NCAA tournament,
2. Never get involved in a land war in southeast Asia,
3. Never go against a Sicilian when death is on the line!

4. Never get less than twelve hours sleep
5. Never play cards with a guy who has the same first name as a city
6. Never get involved with a woman with a tattoo of a dagger on her body.

Now you stick to that, and everything else is cream cheese.

[devildeac]

we better hope for a friday game next week...and hopefully a game we don't have to exert too much in...or else that second round (god willing) will be mighty tough.

Greensboro is a Friday/Sunday region so that's good news.

This is another point that K mentioned/stressed/hoped for last PM in his post-game. As I mentioned somewhere else here, he said Ryan was responding well, he thought we would likely be a #2 seed and be playing in G'boro on Friday night and that Ryan would be ready for next week-end.

[Papa John]

4. Never get less than twelve hours sleep
5. Never play cards with a guy who has the same first name as a city
6. Never get involved with a woman with a tattoo of a dagger on her body.

Now you stick to that, and everything else is cream cheese.

Ha! Wow! Touché! What other movie-referenced rule sets can we use to flesh out this list? We could compile and present them to the board as the 15... 10! 10 commandments!

[devildeac]

I saw a friend had posted this elsewhere and found it amusing:

http://www.thekeyplay.com/content/20...ces-seth-bingo

[Papa John]

I saw a friend had posted this elsewhere and found it amusing:

http://www.thekeyplay.com/content/20...ces-seth-bingo

Aw, man... Wish I had that last night! Could have gotten bingo countless times (particularly given how much screen-time ESPN gave him... At one point, they had a split-screen between the game action and Seth, which was quite annoying to those of us interested in actually watching the game at hand [which, I presume, was everyone in the audience]).

[arnie]

Agreed - I was actually able to get both games, so as soon as I saw Elmore and Patrick were on ESPN, I flipped over*.


*Actually I had to miss the first 30 minutes, so I DVR'd both channels to make sure one of them wasn't blacked out. Of course that meant I couldn't record Jeopardy! tonight =(

I did exactly the same as soon as I heard Patrick's dreaded voice. Can't imagine anyone would have done the opposite.

[Papa John]

I did exactly the same as soon as I heard Patrick's dreaded voice. Can't imagine anyone would have done the opposite.

At one point last night, Hairston hit a 10-foot baseline jumper and Patrick excitedly said he had hit a 3-pointer, you don't see that every day... Then, moments later, he noted, "oh, it seems they only credited him with a 2-pointer." further evidence of the erosion of Patrick's mind, as there was absolutely no way a non-blind, sane individual could have possibly mistaken the shot in question for a trey. ESPN's production value in general for college basketball has been descending like a mudslide in recent years...

[CDu]

I've said it before, this offense does not seem to be designed for inside scoring by the bigs.

Yeah, it's a weakness on this team. Dawkins and Kelly are good at feeding the post. Everyone else stinks at it. Thornton might be good at it, but his man is usually sagging off him to cheat on the big, so it's not available. Rivers and Curry are looking to score first, second, and third, so they frequently miss the window to feed the post. And then they aren't typically good at that pass on top of that.

Tyler was left alone behind the three line. He didn't need to stay there after a catch. Dribbling under control inside the line to a high percentage shooting spot (preferrably a bank shot) was an option. If an inside player begins to close, passing angles open up with Duke's bigs not plying a man down.

Totally agree here. It seemed like Thornton was in a hurry to take that wide open shot. He had SOOOOO much time and space, that he absolutely could have driven until forced to do something different. Or at the very least gotten himself composed to take the 3. I'm sure, as you said, that it was part of the gameplan for him to shoot if open. But given how badly he was shooting outside of the corners, I think he should have tried something else.

I was really, really impressed with Harrison. He seemed to be the only guy on either team to show his joy at being out there. I think that he'll do much better with foul trouble in the next game. I think that this was the first game he has played in which his foul count was an issue--in other games, if he could not stop em, he had fouls to use. I think that he'll play with the mindset of a crucial big in a three man rotation from here on out.

Totally agree here as well, but his name is Hairston - not Harrison. We should get our guys' names right.

[CDu]

At one point last night, Hairston hit a 10-foot baseline jumper and Patrick excitedly said he had hit a 3-pointer, you don't see that every day... Then, moments later, he noted, "oh, it seems they only credited him with a 2-pointer." further evidence of the erosion of Patrick's mind, as there was absolutely no way a non-blind, sane individual could have possibly mistaken the shot in question for a trey. ESPN's production value in general for college basketball has been descending like a mudslide in recent years...

In fairness, that was an 18-20-footer. Still easily 2+ feet inside the 3-pt line and obviously not a 3-ball. But it wasn't a 10-footer.

[CDu]

Ha! Wow! Touché! What other movie-referenced rule sets can we use to flesh out this list? We could compile and present them to the board as the 15... 10! 10 commandments!

There are plenty of gems here:
http://redstaplerchronicles.com/100-...es-to-live-by/

I recommend the ones from the Gremlins, Fight Club, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Ghostbusters, Bull Durham, and Wedding Crashers.

[CDu]

Although we did play Andre at PF for a 6 minute stretch in the first half. It didn't work out so well score-wise (they outscored us by one point in the six minutes -- our 2 point lead shrunk to a 1 point lead), but if Andre's shots had gone down, the four-guard look might have been successful.

Yeah, I had the overall strategy right (we stuck to our guns for 35 minutes), but I was wrong about the 3-5 fill-in minutes whenever a Plumlee was in foul trouble and Hairston needed rest. Coach K went with Dawkins at the 4 for a good 5 minutes in the first half after Plumlee's 2nd foul instead of Gbinije. We were a bit fortunate defensively (Mason got a couple of big help-side blocks as VT tried to post up a guard) and unfortunate offensively (missing open 3s). The 4-guard lineup definitely didn't hurt us much against VT. We were able to push tempo and VT was a bit sloppy in their ballhandling and transition defense

If we get a similar foul bind today, it will be interesting to see whether Coach K goes back to the small lineup again. FSU is much better defensively (making it a bit less likely that we'll get wide open 3s or good transition chances) and their bigs are much better at posting up (VT's bigs outside of Raines were either perimeter-guys like Eddie and Finney-Smith or just terrible players like Barksdale).

Hopefully we don't get in foul trouble early like we did against VT. But if we do and Coach K decides to go small, hopefully it works at least as well as it did last night.

[Duke76]

Seth the Angry came up with a very god defensive game plan that was well executed. Somehow, Rivers and Curry were really pinched coming off high screens, more effectively than is usual. When the ball went inside, there were three defenders present. That had to be confusing to Mason and Miles, who were all but dared to shoot from say 10-12 feet--they seemed to have nothing else.

I've said it before, this offense does not seem to be designed for inside scoring by the bigs. Making entry passes coming off a high screen, several steps outside the three line, well, let's just say that getting it to Mason or Miles in a good spot with good timing is extremely problematic. You can't expect aneffective entry passes in that circumstance. Tyler was left alone behind the three line. He didn't need to stay there after a catch. Dribbling under control inside the line to a high percentage shooting spot (preferrably a bank shot) was an option. If an inside player begins to close, passing angles open up with Duke's bigs not plying a man down. If no challenge is made, Tyler shoots a high percentage shot, not a three when he was not hitting. I think that the only re4aswon that Tyler stayed behind the three line and shot when open was because he was instructed to. I'm in no position to second guess that call.

Given VT's defense, I think that this was a good win for Duke, especially without Ryan. I was really, really impressed with Harrison. He seemed to be the only guy on either team to show his joy at being out there. I think that he'll do much better with foul trouble in the next game. I think that this was the first game he has played in which his foul count was an issue--in other games, if he could not stop em, he had fouls to use. I think that he'll play with the mindset of a crucial big in a three man rotation from here on out.

Finally, it's time I think to "let the big dog eat." If teams are going to play Rivers and Curry so tough, and it seems certain that they will, Dawkins needs to get it going and his teammates need to do what they must to make that happen. They need to be Dawkins' Harry, to let Dawkins' know that they have his back, that, come what may, "we in [this battle]t shall be remembered--we few, we happy few, we band of brothers; for he to-day that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother."

Will it work? Who knows, but seems like a plan to me. And, Miles, do remember to smile and relax; Harry did, they all did, and look how it turned out for them.

Have a great game!

Who is Greybeard talking about above "Harry" as is "Harry Potter" or someone else...sorry for being obtuse here??

[moonpie23]

Even if we win the tournament in my opinion we will not get a 1 seed. I think that no matter UNC has locked it up. If by some ridiculous moment, the committee did do it, we would be the weakest number 1 seed in recent years.

I have posted previously that I think that Coach K has done a fabulous job this year, but this is not a championship team by any stretch of the imagination. As I have said, do not be surprised if Duke does not get out of the first weekend of the Tournament.

thanks debbie...very uplifting...

you know...i don't think you have to bother telling anyone you're from new york city...

[oldnavy]

In fairness, that was an 18-20-footer. Still easily 2+ feet inside the 3-pt line and obviously not a 3-ball. But it wasn't a 10-footer.

It was about 12 cinder blocks out, so any fool would know that it wasn't a three pointer which are 14.65439 cinder blocks... come on man!!

Loved the Seth spy cam shots... I find it just fascinating to watch someone else watch basketball. At times I will find myself looking at my dog sitting on the couch watching the game to see his reaction rather than actually watching the game...

PLEASE ESPN give us more of the non-basktball action during the games. I would love to watch security guys that watch the crowd sometimes as well so we can watch someone who is watching the people that watch the game, how cool would that be!!

[Devilsfan]

Did some previous poster help compose "the power of positive thinking" or is that poster merely a motivational writer? I would rather defy my eyes and believe in the saying "that's why they play the game". True except for Austin, we aren't going to win any beauty contests, but this is basketball not a beauty pageant.

[gumbomoop]

Who is Greybeard talking about above "Harry" as is "Harry Potter" or someone else...sorry for being obtuse here??

Hairston.

[DukeDevilDeb]

In fairness, that was an 18-20-footer. Still easily 2+ feet inside the 3-pt line and obviously not a 3-ball. But it wasn't a 10-footer.

You are right. It was definitely not a 10-footer but was well inside the 3-point line. What Patrick actually said after he blurted out "Hairston's three really helps" was "Oh, it appears they changed it to a 2!" Not, "I goofed" but I was right and the officials were wrong in changing the call.

I truly wish I were in Durham this weekend. I don't know whom I like less: Patrick or Elmore... If Patrick said one more time "Duke has been EGREGIOUS from three!" I don't know what I would have done, but it would have been ugly! As if viewers didn't see that our 3-ball wasn't falling.

Here's to a victory today against FSU!

[LamJones]

thanks debbie...very uplifting...

you know...i don't think you have to bother telling anyone you're from new york city...

Debbie, I agree with you. This board is filled with homers who get way too emotional when opinions tip a bit to the negative side of the scale. Having said that, they often make great betting partners in March! That is, if you can do the unthinkable and somehow reconcile using your head instead of your heart...

I, too, don't think Duke makes it out of the first weekend. I hope I'm wrong. We'll have to wait and see.

The good news is that Mason, thus far, hasn't had the kind of season to justify leaving school early, so next year's team should be very solid. Hopefully, Austin stays. Again we should know more in a month and talk about it then.

[Wheat/"/"/"]

Realistically, if Duke continues to play like the Va. tech game...the post season will come down to two words, "borrowed time".

[greybeard]

at least a couple of times, Mason was the recipient of entry passes that got by him...one of which was a near perfect pass from AR; Mason looked like he was trying to grab it with a couple of bricks...I think he left 6 points on the court by not getting ahold of the ball...a win is a win however.

Greenberg said, "we wanted to make Thorton beat us." They did. Mason got off 6 shots, and made 4. One of the makes came immediately after a time out off an intricate play that ended with a lob over the rim which Miles caught behind the defense and threw down.. If you get a less than ideal pass, have been jammed all game, and maybe look too soon for an opening that probably wasn't there, not catching it is predictable and not a reflection of "brick hands." Seth shut down the inside game, that's the reason that Mason got only 6 shots.

From what I saw, when the ball was even approaching a position from which an entry pass could have been made, Mason was quickly double teamed by two inside defenders who not only impeded a pass even being thrown but also formed a wedge that prevented a catch and quick move to a scoring position if one was and cleanly got through. There also was a guard dropping down to prevent Mason from even thinking about bouncing the ball to maneuver to a better spot after a catch. The same was true of how Miles was defended inside. I think Seth had devised what we used to call a "bastard defense"--man with zone principles, that varied depending upon who had the ball and where, and that had five guys guarding four. Brick hands? Six shots? From where and in what circumstance? We saw different games.