MBB: Duke 91, St. Johns 61 Post-Game Thread

[NYBri]

I guess you answered your own question as to why he's just "some guy," obviously one who doesn't do any research. The sports reporting industry is mostly pathetic. They should all be like Tony Romo, or at least strive to be.

OT, Romo delivered some great calls in that snorefest. 😎

[uh_no]

I thought Bolden did a really nice job in hedging/trapping on Ponds whenever St John's tried to run a screen to get Jones off of Ponds. Bolden's help whenever Jones needed it was a huge boost to what was a terrific effort by Jones. Bolden's play since conference play started has been generally fantastic: 23.7 mpg, 7.4 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 2 bpg.

Oh I agree that bolden's overall game has been great...but i still see that he gets caught out on that high double...it really makes the rest of the defense scramble and lead to several open shots early in the game last week.

K from the post-game presser:

“Our guys played a really outstanding defensive game against an explosive offensive team. Just a really good job, and they kept it up for a full 40 minutes. Tre
[Jones]’s pressure on the ball was outstanding, but our two big guys did a great job of defending the ball screen. We changed our method of what we were doing
about 10 minutes into the game into what we call a “high ice.” Marques [Bolden] has been moving his feet since Christmas break. He’s playing so well. It was
beautiful what he was doing..."

I am praising Bolden as much as I can because I really did write the kid off after Canada. I didn't think it would ever click for him, but it really has.

St. Johns scored 21 points on their first 13 possessions, and after that they made an adjustment, as K said, and the defense was fantastic. I'll disagree that it was "really good" for the first 8 mnutes when the johnnies put up 21 points in 13 possessions...

I'd have to go to the film to know for sure, but bolden was very aggressive early on, committing hard to the double very early on the screen. St. John's would either find bolden's man for an easy basket, or RJ would get down on the rotation, leaving his guy open for a three. I'll also agree that bolden was extremely effective on the ICE...far more so than the switch or the double.

[COYS]

Yes, when we trapped/blitzed in the early portion of the game, SJU was able to make enough plays behind the trap (with a 4-on-3 advantage) to keep the game close.

When we modified to a more conservative "high ice," SJU couldn't score to keep up. I was glad to hear Coach K use that term because I've always wondered what Duke calls that technique -- the guard keeps Ponds from using the screen ("ice") but what Marques does on those plays, I've always called a "lateral contain."

Anyways, props to Marques. I, too, was a major doubter after Canada.

Side note: Coach K really seems to have embraced an adaptability on defending ball screens that he didn't have earlier in his career. Prior to the 2013 season, hedge-and-recover seemed to be the only thing he really wanted from his bigs unless we were switching screens. Since then, we've gotten a few different versions of icing screens, some occasional hedging, a lot of switching, etc. Maybe it's the defensive prowess of the personnel or maybe it's a slight tweak in K's coaching, or perhaps it's a combination of the two, but this year's team has an ability to switch strategies mid-game like no other that I can remember. And unlike other some other recent teams who have gone through a couple different strategies because the initial plan was a dumpster fire on defense, this team seems to be able to switch strategies and maintain a high level of defense no matter what. The only exceptions are, of course, the Gonzaga game, which came before the team had fully embraced it's defense-first identity, and the games when some combination of Zion, Cam, and Tre were out.

Anyway, it has been fun to enjoy a season in which Duke isn't working hard to find the ONE defensive strategy that will work for the team, but instead able to adapt on the fly, even mid-game, and employ different strategies to strangle all sorts of opposing offenses. I never fully bought into the idea that K's OAD teams were necessarily bad on defense (and I don't want to open up that can of worms, again), but I took K's comments over the past few years to heart that he had to distill his defensive principles into simpler forms to connect with younger teams. This team, however, seems to be a dramatic exception. Not only are the kids really good at defense, but they are good at playing a lot of different types of defense.

[UrinalCake]

Maybe it's the defensive prowess of the personnel or maybe it's a slight tweak in K's coaching, or perhaps it's a combination of the two, but this year's team has an ability to switch strategies mid-game like no other that I can remember.

Also don't overlook the time K spent with the National team, working alongside Boeheim, Popovich, etc. I think he learned a lot from them and even from the players themselves.

Totally agree that K has simplified his defensive strategies to accommodate the OAD's. Not that his players aren't intelligent, but he no longer has the luxury of guys who play together for years and learn the system as well as each others' tendencies like UVA. And of course, it certainly helps when you have elite, long, versatile athletes at every position. It helps even more when those guys just naturally love to play defense which certain players just have in their makeup while others don't.

[Troublemaker]

Side note: Coach K really seems to have embraced an adaptability on defending ball screens that he didn't have earlier in his career. Prior to the 2013 season, hedge-and-recover seemed to be the only thing he really wanted from his bigs unless we were switching screens. Since then, we've gotten a few different versions of icing screens, some occasional hedging, a lot of switching, etc. Maybe it's the defensive prowess of the personnel or maybe it's a slight tweak in K's coaching, or perhaps it's a combination of the two, but this year's team has an ability to switch strategies mid-game like no other that I can remember. And unlike other some other recent teams who have gone through a couple different strategies because the initial plan was a dumpster fire on defense, this team seems to be able to switch strategies and maintain a high level of defense no matter what. The only exceptions are, of course, the Gonzaga game, which came before the team had fully embraced it's defense-first identity, and the games when some combination of Zion, Cam, and Tre were out.

Anyway, it has been fun to enjoy a season in which Duke isn't working hard to find the ONE defensive strategy that will work for the team, but instead able to adapt on the fly, even mid-game, and employ different strategies to strangle all sorts of opposing offenses. I never fully bought into the idea that K's OAD teams were necessarily bad on defense (and I don't want to open up that can of worms, again), but I took K's comments over the past few years to heart that he had to distill his defensive principles into simpler forms to connect with younger teams. This team, however, seems to be a dramatic exception. Not only are the kids really good at defense, but they are good at playing a lot of different types of defense.

Great points.

Just as an example, Duke has sometimes done deep drops of the big men that we've hardly seen before in previous seasons. We're now fully flexible on how we defend ball screens. We can hedge or trap out to halfcourt, we can "high ice" around the 3-pt line, or we can drop the big men back when appropriate. Coach K's had a fabulous season coaching m2m defense with this bunch.

[Kfanarmy]

I don’t think it’s particularly useful, relevant, or logical to compare a Duke player’s shooting stats in 2019 to players in 1952, 1962, and 1963.

Congratulations?

[MChambers]

Also don't overlook the time K spent with the National team, working alongside Boeheim, Popovich, etc. I think he learned a lot from them and even from the players themselves.

Totally agree that K has simplified his defensive strategies to accommodate the OAD's. Not that his players aren't intelligent, but he no longer has the luxury of guys who play together for years and learn the system as well as each others' tendencies like UVA. And of course, it certainly helps when you have elite, long, versatile athletes at every position. It helps even more when those guys just naturally love to play defense which certain players just have in their makeup while others don't.

I think I remember K giving credit to Nate McMillan when Duke started icing.

[CDu]

I think I remember K giving credit to Nate McMillan when Duke started icing.

I would have guessed Tom Thibodeau, but could have been McMillan.

[MChambers]

I would have guessed Tom Thibodeau, but could have been McMillan.

Thibodeau is reportedly a great defensive coach, but McMillan was on the national team staff before him.

[CDu]

Thibodeau is reportedly a great defensive coach, but McMillan was on the national team staff before him.

Yes, but Thibodeau is the guy who brought "ice" to prominence in the NBA (during his coaching stint with the Bulls). And I believe we didn't start using the "ice" defense until after Thibodeau was a part of the USMNT coaching staff. That's a fairly new contribution to Coach K's repertoire.