MBB: Duke 99, Utah Valley 69 Post-Game Thread

[JBDuke]

Put your post-game thoughts here.

[DukeTrinity11]

True Point Guard? Check
Dominant Big Men? Check
Transcendent Talent? Check
Senior Captain Guard? Check

Duke should and I believe will be playing in April.

We"ll get out first real test against elite competitions Tuesday night against MSU.

[Billy Dat]

It’s hard to not get irrationally excited about this team.

We start 5 guys wbo are likely to be NBA players next year. Has that ever happened? Such talent this year.

[AGDukesky]

I love the make-up of this team! Experience is the only thing missing. Duval has been better than expected and all the freshmen give great effort on defense. Bagley is special but needs to make those FTs because he can live at the line. O’Connell has that it factor that reminds me of Grayson as a freshman. He could blowup like Kennard did as a sophomore but might have to wait till his junior year to get the playing time. Solid effort with a few too many offensive rebounds allowed.

[Bluedevil114]

It’s hard to not get irrationally excited about this team.

We start 5 guys wbo are likely to be NBA players next year. Has that ever happened? Such talent this year.

What is amazing is that this team will get better. Wow. Go Duke.

[MChambers]

The first 7-8 minutes, I was thinking that the lack of outside shooting and perimeter depth was a big problem. Then Goldwire and O’Connell came in and K switched to the zone and Duke got a few quick turnovers and easy scores and suddenly Duke had a big lead. Bagley and Carter are an amazing duo down low.

[DukieInKansas]

Grateful the post game presentation was streamed. So glad Uncle Terry and Tom Butters stuck with Coach K after the first three years.

[rickshawboycall911]

Alex Oconnell reminds me of a shorter,more explosive Dunleavy.
Jordan goldwire I like the way he runs the team.
Trent,Carter,Bagley have all been way better than I thought they would
Duval looks way slower than I thought he would be.
Marques Bolden. I want so badly for the kid to succeed maybe the way I wanted Zoubek or Chase Jeter to succeed. But like Chase Jeter , Marques has absolutely no court awareness out there. I have never seen such a huge kid play six inches shorter than he is. its just really frustrating to me.

[Devilwin]

I love the make-up of this team! Experience is the only thing missing. Duval has been better than expected and all the freshmen give great effort on defense. Bagley is special but needs to make those FTs because he can live at the line. O’Connell has that it factor that reminds me of Grayson as a freshman. He could blowup like Kennard did as a sophomore but might have to wait till his junior year to get the playing time. Solid effort with a few too many offensive rebounds allowed.

Well put. Bagley is awesome but his free throw shooting is atrocious. And we gotta stop all those cutters to the hoop. Otherwise, this team is scary good..

[slower]

The starting five are fantastic. No worries there. It's what happens after that that may get sticky against top-flight teams. But if we stay out of foul trouble, it's gonna be a fun ride this year. My initial concerns about Duval are a thing of the past.

However, Tuesday will tell us a lot.

[OZ]

I know two games do not tell the tale, but, Duval is going to be just fine.

[devilnfla]

Jordan goldwire I like the way he runs the team.



Duval looks way slower than I thought he would be.

Regarding the Goldwire comment....Really? What about his play in limited minutes makes you feel this?

And on Duval, what did you expect, the Flash? I think he's lightning quick.

[richardjackson199]

Nice lift from O'Connell when he subbed into the game. It wasn't a perfect game, but he's a willing passer and got us back to the ball-moving team who has been so lethally effective.

[DangerDevil]

Grateful the post game presentation was streamed. So glad Uncle Terry and Tom Butters stuck with Coach K after the first three years.

Agreed!

The best part of the game was seeing/hearing Coach K after the game.

Thank God he made it through the 1st 3 seasons!

[DukeFanSince1990]

Duval: 15 points, 12 assists, 1 turnover. Wow.

[mgtr]

Of course our experience on Tuesday might send us back to the drawing board. If not then I agree that our starting five is set. Beyond that I was looking at Bolden and DeLaurier, but Bolden needs more practice (and complete recovery from his illness. So then we look at Goldwire and O'Connell. Is Goldwire the best backup for Duval, or is Allen that guy. I would stick with Goldwire for awhile. I for sure believe that O'Connell will get real minutes, providing relief for both Trent and Allen. I would definitely put DeLaurier ahead of Bolden (not fair because Bolden has been ill,so we will wait a few weeks and see what develops).So, where do we fit in White and Vrank? I don't know.
If you are going to have problems in deciding who to play, the guys we have make the decisions interesting. Come on Michigan State -- lets see what more we can learn.

[TheOldBattleship]

The combo of size/length and athleticism that this team has makes it so difficult for teams to run offense against us. We really shrink the court on D outrageously well. It's a snowball effect thing, too. Having multiple guys who can just wall up and affect a shot at the back end makes it so much easier for Duval/Allen/Trent to push up on their men, which lets the rest of the backcourt play the first passing lanes, which forces floated skip passes, which our length and athleticism make it likely we get hands on. And then this team is just going to destroy people in transition, with so many guys who can handle and finish. Our floor is just so high, because you really have to be able to do more on offense than 90% of college teams are able to do to deal with us. I'm looking forward to getting an idea of where our ceiling is on Tuesday, when we play against a team that actually CAN do enough on offense to handle what we bring defensively. But if you're a mid-level team hoping to pick us off on a random night in January (as has happened off and on over the past few years with some of our other inexperienced teams), this is not the team you're looking for.

[MrPoon]

Duval: 15 points, 12 assists, 1 turnover. Wow.

Anyone following Jeff Goodman on twitter? I don’t. Can you confirm his anonymous scouts still saying Duval isn’t a first round talent? Sure small sample size but his sources seemed willing to conclude that after the Blue White game...

[Troublemaker]

Through two games, it's pretty much been a dream start for Duke. You could nitpick here and there, but basically everyone in the top-6 is either as-advertised or better-than-advertised (and we'll have to see about my projected 7th man Marques once he's over this strep throat).

Coach K himself has been as-advertised as well. So far we've been really pushing the ball in transition (as our totals have sailed comfortably over the Vegas line both games) and he's been willing to use the zone as appropriate, as it was today after Trevon and Grayson picked up 2 fouls each. He's probably played more of our bench than I might've expected as well (although, of course, the two games have been routs).

[jv001]

Alex Oconnell reminds me of a shorter,more explosive Dunleavy.
Jordan goldwire I like the way he runs the team.
Trent,Carter,Bagley have all been way better than I thought they would
Duval looks way slower than I thought he would be.
Marques Bolden. I want so badly for the kid to succeed maybe the way I wanted Zoubek or Chase Jeter to succeed. But like Chase Jeter , Marques has absolutely no court awareness out there. I have never seen such a huge kid play six inches shorter than he is. its just really frustrating to me.

Yeh, and Sandy Koufax and Nolan Ryan couldn't throw a baseball hard. He looks pretty quick to me. He may look slow to you because he's playing under control and I like that. GoDuke!