MBB: Wake Forest 82, Duke 72 -- Post-Game Thread

[MaxAMillion]

The team doesn't appear to have much leadership or toughness. That is why they struggle to handle adversity. Funny,the teams in 2008 and 2009 suffered from some of the same problems. Of course a lot of those struggles went away in 2010. I really don't see how anything improves between now and the NCAA tournament.

[rsvman]

Kinda hard to win when you get out scored 23-6 over he last five minutes or so.

I can't figure what has happened to our shooting.

I think Dawkins deserved more burn tonight.

[dbowen]

Hard to be optimistic moving forward. If we don't win an ACC title or NCAA championship we are looking at a season with at least 9 losses. Pretty bad by our standards. No doubt Tyus Jones gets the nod next year. Quinn gas almost been a liability in the last 4 weeks. He cannot play strong with the ball.

Agreed. Let's hope so, because all he has done in the past few weeks is pound the ball into the ground and pass around the perimeter.

[snewman92]

Here would be my top 3:

--better decision-making by whoever is running the point
--quicker help-side defense
--more dribble penetration

I know folks are having a hard time finding an upside to this one--me, too. But I like what I saw from MP3 tonight and the fire from Jabari. I should hope we come out with an edge against the Holes.

[geraldsneighbor]

I like Quinn, but that play before the end of the first half epitomized the night and his last 4 weeks.

[OldSchool]

I wouldn't say it was lack of effort. Just a game with too many dumb mistakes. At times we have been able to bail ourselves out of dumb basketball with decent three-point shooting, but not tonight.

As an aside, it occurred to me listening to the announcers that I have never seen Laphonso Ellis and Greybeard in the same place at the same time.

[wgl1228]

Why do we jack up 3's with a lead and the best player in the country does not get the ball at the most important juncture of the game?

[FerryFor50]

I can't decide if this loss is worse than the ND loss. But it's close.

Neither team is in the top 351 in kenpom. They're both hovering around .500. I suppose this one is worse because it's come later in the year. Trap game perhaps?

Wake hung in there, but Duke had the game in the bag before Jabari picked up his 4th "foul" after Cavanaugh dropped like a sniper hit him while guarding the post. Didn't realize Jabari had such power!

The story of this game was bad defense and WFU shooting 34 free throws to Duke's 18. I don't recall Wake going inside that much more than Duke, but whatever. Most of the 3s came late in the game when they had to play catch up. Before that, they were working it inside and driving.

Hopefully they get it together for the UNC game. But a 2 seed in the ACC tourny is now a long shot and forget about a 1 seed in the NCAAs unless they win the ACC tourny and other teams falter.

[dalmatians98]

Expect to see a lot more 2-3 zone Saturday night -- and for the rest of post season play.

[ChillinDuke]

Inexplicable at times. We had a whole week.

I have no idea what brings out the scoring droughts late in the second halves of these games. Just no idea.

Certainly frustrating to see players like Parker, Hood, and Sulaimon unable to just carry games as a collective. That's high level talent, and they just disappeared late in the game.

Sigh. 1 seed is gone now. Win out for a 2, I reckon.

- Chillin

[cbnaylor]

I felt there were times when they played with heart. This team just doesn't do well when they go on a cold streak near the end of ball games. Reminded me of the lost that we had earlier in the year to ND. Instead of playing team ball, we try to play one on one ball and make stupid decisions.

[KandG]

I actually have some belief this team is capable of looking quite formidable in the tournament and making a good run. But it's going to require the flipping of a mental switch, because the talent is clearly there yet underachieves at such inopportune moments.

I know it's March, late in the season, long time off, etc. But the same problems that have reared their ugly head in other unsightly losses came up tonight. Wake looked like the more composed team, the team that wanted it more, etc. Duke had periods of solid execution followed by long stretches of abysmal flailing around. And the defense consistently got burned, allowed inside players to get too deep, moved glacially slow on rotations to the shooters, couldn't get offensive rebounds when they did force a miss, etc etc etc.

Foul trouble had nothing to do with officiating, and had everything to do with the team being slow to react and being unable to defend without fouling.

The box score I had access to didn't yield plus/minus numbers, but it sure seemed that Quinn Cook's number had to be atrocious, especially in the second half. His second half rushed dribble straight into two defenders, resulting in a turnover and Hood's fourth foul, was all too emblematic of his struggles this season. What a disappointment.

[slower]

I can't decide if this loss is worse than the ND loss. But it's close.

Neither team is in the top 351 in kenpom. They're both hovering around .500. I suppose this one is worse because it's come later in the year. Trap game perhaps?

Wake hung in there, but Duke had the game in the bag before Jabari picked up his 4th "foul" after Cavanaugh dropped like a sniper hit him while guarding the post. Didn't realize Jabari had such power!

The story of this game was bad defense and WFU shooting 34 free throws to Duke's 18. I don't recall Wake going inside that much more than Duke, but whatever. Most of the 3s came late in the game when they had to play catch up. Before that, they were working it inside and driving.

Hopefully they get it together for the UNC game. But a 2 seed in the ACC tourny is now a long shot and forget about a 1 seed in the NCAAs unless they win the ACC tourny and other teams falter.

At this point, we'd better hope we don't get embarrassed on Saturday.

[Highlander]

We blew a winnable game against an inferior opponent. Beginning and end of the game we were ice cold from the floor, which is becoming a trend. I had high hopes for our chances vs. Unc, but now I am less than confident we can pull it out.

1-2-2 and 1-3-1 seem to be our Achilles heel this year.

[Dukeface88]

Trap game perhaps?

I'm pretty sure it stops counting as a trap after you step in it the first time.

[FerryFor50]

Why do we jack up 3's with a lead and the best player in the country does not get the ball at the most important juncture of the game?

Because he left with 4 fouls at that juncture. Hard to throw it in to him without causing a turnover, since he's on the bench and all. Parker didn't check back in until around the 2-3 minute mark. By then, Wake had the lead and was on a roll.

[RaiderDevil]

I think they get cocky with a 5 point lead. Start playing like they are up 20 and in control.

[UrinalCake]

Why do we jack up 3's with a lead and the best player in the country does not get the ball at the most important juncture of the game?

Even when we made a half-hearted effort to get him the ball, our guards couldn't make a simple entry pass. He'd post up inside the zone and his defender would just hold his arm up and our guards would be flumoxxed. We either need to set some off-ball screens to get him open to receive the ball, or have him just come out beyond the three point line and get it. No excuse for how few touches he gets while we jack up threes.

[House G]

There is a reason why guys like Kyrie Irving and Jabari Parker go to the NBA after one year. It mystifies me how Parker becomes Osama Bin Laden in the last few minutes of some of these games. The offense needs to run through him. I guarantee you Creighton runs their offense through McDermott. We hit the panic button and start jacking up threes. Like I've said before, I want to go down with the ball in his Parker's hands.

[cruxer]

Unless there is a big change in consistency, I can't see us making a deep run at this point. We need Quinn to get his confidence back. We need to consistently get the ball inside against the zone and avoid hero ball. And we need to be able to post up without getting a cheap foul. Especially if it's Jabari's 4th. That foul sparked the wake run.