MBB: Duke 59, Clemson 72 - Post-Game Thread

[dukebluesincebirth]

So frustrating... No defense, no rebounding. What does this team do well? No zone in the 2nd half? No mp3 at all? Embarrassing.

[wsb3]

I was really excited pre season about this team. I wasn't banking on them cutting down the nets but I did not think it out of the question. But with the athleticism I thought it would be a fun team to watch despite the lack of any post play, but they are exhausting to watch.

The way we finished the first half was crucial. I believe we got up by 10 and before you could blink it was 5. Maybe it is the lack of leadership I don't know but we do not play well at crucial times. We melted in the last ten minutes.

That is as civil as I can be at the moment and I am going in the garage and hit the heavy bag until my attitude improves.

[DBFAN]

This team should be out of the top 25. Game plans are horrible, Parker looks tired all the time, the one person who does score, Hood, barely sees the ball in the 2nd half. The officiating seems quite content on not giving us the same calls, 2 times out players who had the ball get hit in the face and nothing called. Every time Mcdaniels got touched it was a foul. There is a major discrepancy in the way we are allowed to play, vs how the other team is allowed. 5 mins to go Clemson, who is as physical as any other team is in the double bonus, we haven't even made it to the single bonus. Congrats ACC this is officially becoming the Big East. All of that crap about more touch fouls beig called is garbage. You can't expect kids to keep fighting in a hostile environment when they are being manhandled physically

[Matches]

We've known all season that this team was a work in progress.

I have to say, though, that by this point in the season I would've hoped to see more progress. We don't look much better than we did in November.

There's still time but it's becoming increasingly obvious that we have a long way yet to go.

[BlueDevilBrowns]

Place your post game thoughts here.

We're a bubble team unless we improve.

A team with good individual parts that don't fit together.

A defensive scheme that doesn't fit our personnel.

An offense that's completely reliant on jump shooting.

K and staff have a lot of work to do.

[dukelifer]

-- This was not the same Clemson team that lost -- badly -- to FSU two nights ago.

Or the one that will lose the next game. Mark it fown. You beat Duke you get on Sports Center. You beat Wake you may make your school paper. Teams come to play against Duke. This team has not learned to match that intensity.

[Cameron]

It's over might not actually be hyperbole this time.

Obviously, I say that in jest, but we just aren't as good as we thought. That much is clear. We just got beat by 13 by a team that, despite being utterly inferior talent-wise, simply wanted to win the game more. And that has happened twice in the last three games for us. That is scary.

I thought Rodney had another excellent game offensively. He has 74 points in his last three. The kid has really stepped up his game while the majority of the team has regressed.

Other than that, there's not much positive to say, so I'll leave it at that.

[CameronBlue]

we are getting out rebounded badly.
Is Marshall Plumlee that bad he can't give us atleast 5 mins in the post? I am perplexed at his development after 2.5 years.

It's amusing that MP3s name keeps popping up in conversation because it seems apparent that K has no plan that requires a substantive contribution from Plumlee this year. It's just the strategy he prefers with this team, nothing against Plumlee. We can divert the conversation and discuss earning minutes in practice or faulting Plumlee for a missed assignment here or there but K is not going to play him if he feels it will only marginally improve the team's chances...or not at all ..and it's his prerogative of course it's K's vision for the team and no one should doubt that in MCBB K is a visionary. It is almost comical to see Parker wailing away on defense against Clemson's bigs however but barring a change of strategy we'll see more of that for the rest of the year as we have to date. At present the trajectory of this team is not good. Hopefully it will change

[Chicago 1995]

We've known all season that this team was a work in progress.

I have to say, though, that by this point in the season I would've hoped to see more progress. We don't look much better than we did in November.

There's still time but it's becoming increasingly obvious that we have a long way yet to go.

If anything, we're regressing, not progressing.

[dukelifer]

We're a bubble team unless we improve.

A team with good individual parts that don't fit together.

A defensive scheme that doesn't fit our personnel.

An offense that's completely reliant on jump shooting.

K and staff have a lot of work to do.

K will need to earn his money. This is a coaching issue. There is a mismatch of talent and style.

[DukeDevil]

maybe this is a strategy to get as many teams into the tourney as possible?...maybe?

[Clay Feet POF]

I'm not sure what we can say that won't be destructively negative. That's how bad the last two Saturday's have been.

I kid, mostly.

We have to change the rotation and the defensive approach, and we have to find something offensively that works other than jumpshooting.

In other words, we need a mulligan on the season. The season up to this point has been, more or less, a complete and utter miss and we've got to start over from scratch.

Watching this game I kept thinking what Bill Walton's commentary would be.

[miramar]

41-22. Ouch.

[Dukeface88]

Is anyone else tired of the whole "panic with ten minutes left, go 1 on 1 every possession, lose" thing, or is it just me? The offensive system worked great earlier this year; the players just needs to trust that the team offense will work when the game gets close instead of freaking out and trying to win the game individually.

[Chicago 1995]

It's amusing that MP3s name keeps popping up in conversation because it seems apparent that K has no plan that requires a substantive contribution from Plumlee this year. It's just the strategy he prefers with this team, nothing against Plumlee. We can divert the conversation and discuss earning minutes in practice or faulting Plumlee for a missed assignment here or there but K is not going to play him if he feels it will only marginally improve the team's chances...or not at all ..and it's his prerogative of course it's K's vision for the team and no one should doubt that in MCBB K is a visionary. It is almost comical to see Parker wailing away on defense against Clemson's bigs however but barring a change of strategy we'll see more of that for the rest of the year as we have to date. At present the trajectory of this team is not good. Hopefully it will change

Would it matter at this point if we were worse with MP3 on the floor? We lose to ND and Clemson by 10 more points, maybe? Does that matter?

[Kfanarmy]

so a recommendation would be to quit rejoicing in other people losing while the team is playing. It's Karma biting you in the backside when Duke all of a sudden goes cold.

The team went ice cold in the second half...and it gave Clemson a lot of chances to get the ball down quickly, they basically spanked Duke in the last 10...Duke had open perimeter shots but couldn't hit anything.

Offensively, they still absolutely refuse to pass within the interior, so a big with good initial position simply kills anything they try to do inside.
On defense, the 1st half was decent, second half was atrocious largely because Clemson was breaking them down and there is NO INTERIOR presence...no one big enough to alter a shot. When Duke's players are both smaller and out of position, I don't get not playing Marshall. Even if he gets out of position, he still has size...I just don't get it. Make the commitment now to let him grow in game situations, so he can develop. The guys out there now are not going to get any bigger and he's just as likely to improve defensively as they are.

Duke still wins this game if they don't go cold, but they can't win when the outside shot isn't working against average teams.

[FerryFor50]

Is anyone else tired of the whole "panic with ten minutes left, go 1 on 1 every possession, lose" thing, or is it just me? The offensive system worked great earlier this year; the players just needs to trust that the team offense will work when the game gets close instead of freaking out and trying to win the game individually.

Yep. The defense isn't good, so when you start playing poorly on offense, snowball effect.

[Saratoga2]

Drastically out-rebounded. Zero rebounds for Rodney seemed odd. Andre got 6 so he produced in that way anyway.
Out toughed
Offense sputtered in 2nd half

What can be done to help?

Could a lineup with Jabari at the 3 and Rodney at the 2 and with Amile at the 4 and Marshall at the 5 work? At this point, something drastic needs to be attempted.

[Bay Area Duke Fan]

I thought Rodney had another excellent game offensively. He has 74 points in his last three. The kid has really stepped up his game while the majority of the team has regressed.

If only he could play defense ...

[Matches]

41-22. Ouch.

Lack of composure down the stretch was a big factor in that margin being so large.

As soon as we got behind I felt like the game was over. I rarely feel that way about a Duke team, even playing on the road. We're just missing something.