I’m soo tired of Jay Bilas & his need to point out where he thinks the refs make a call that benefits Duke. I watched several games today & nobody goes back & shows replays of multiple individual fouls to make a point like Nilas does. It really takes away from the game & emphasizes something & helps to create controversy. I wish espn would take him off of Duke games (I know that won’t happen)
What a great win for the team today!!
GO DUKE!
Bennett's presser if interested
http://www.virginiasportstv.com/mensbasketball/2KNO
UVA players presser if interested
http://www.virginiasportstv.com/mensbasketball/2KPe
ADVANCED STATS
Possessions: 63.1 (believe it or not that's four possessions faster than Virginia's adjusted season average)
OFFENSE
oRtg: 1.28 (our adjusted oRtg was 1.46, which is simply astonishing)
eFG%: 72.2% (unfirgginbelievable; our best eFG% of the season, by a lot (2nd best was 65.4%, against Stetson))
3pt%: 61.9% (who says we can't shoot the three?)
2pt%: 54.2% (not our best, but not bad, and when you're a three-point shooting team like Duke, you can definitely live with this number )
%threes: 46.7% (way too high, but when you got it, flaunt it)
FT rate: 51.1% (huge, but also inflated by UVa fouling at the end of the game)
OR%: 36.4% (good, not great)
TO%: 23.8% (this is horrendous, but it's really the only thing we did poorly on offense)
a/to: 1.2:1
%assisted: 69.2% (our highest assist% of the season, which is crazy since the first UVa game was by far our lowest assist% of the season (23.1%); I guess having Tre made a difference, huh?)
fast break pts: 17 (21.0% of our points; coming into this game, we'd had 4 games under 11% out of our last 5, and hadn't been over 20% since, you guessed it, the last Virginia game)
DEFENSE
dRtg: 1.12 (adjusted that's 0.95, not great but it's still below 1 point per possession; considering the outcome, we'll take it)
eFG%: 55.0% (poor)
3pt%: 41.7% (not good)
2pt%: 50.0% (also not good)
%threes: 40.0%
FT rate: 11.7% (really good; 5th straight game under 20% for a top 15 team in this stat)
DR%: 54.8% (very poor)
TO%: 22.2% (amazing, against the team with the 5th lowest turnover rate in the country)
a/to: 1.07:1 (broke a 16 game streak of forcing our opponents to have equal or more turnovers than assists; though UVa only had one more assist than turnover, so not so bad)
%assisted: 53.6%
fast break pts: 0 (0.0% of their points; impossible to get any better than this in this stat)
block%: 8.3%; 13.9% of 2-point shots (another solid performance for the #1 block% team in the nation)
steal%: 19.0% (huge game for the #1 steal% team in the nation)
It's impossible to overstate how amazing our offense was against Virginia this evening. Defense was a mixed bag, possibly more bad than good, but it was enough for a double-digit win over the #3 team in the country in their house, so it would be churlish to complain.
After the game I managed to get down into the tunnels under jpj to pop out near the bus. Bilas walked by intent on his phone and I just managed a "Hey Jay, go get 'em" innocuous hello. He blew me off and that's the second time this season. He did it in Toronto, too.,
You've been warned Jay. Not nice to ignore someone in Duke blue who's only saying hello.
Nothing incites bodily violence quicker than a Duke fan turning in your direction and saying 'scoreboard.'
Aoc ok? Saw he didn’t get minutes?
maybe the only thing he thinks he might have been wrong about was playing basketball...delaying the dissemination of his knowledge to the world by several years. (I don't care for bilas much, in case that wasn't clear...he lost my last shred of respect for him after the Grayson incidents)
April 1
Officially tired of Ralph Sampson. Stick a fork in him already, he's boring. Brogdon was a much purer player and better person.
Calling it.
Nothing incites bodily violence quicker than a Duke fan turning in your direction and saying 'scoreboard.'
No problem. I knew Jay back in the day, so I chuckle when his ‘80s personality peeks out. He can be holier than thou sometimes, but I think he is trying to call the game as he sees it. Example: Zion. I think he has noted in the past that Zion is sometimes called for fouls because people just bounce off of him - and sometimes doesn’t get calls because refs figure he can withstand the contact. Bilas thought Zion got away with one when Clark went flying trying to take a charge. That was probably a charge. But it was good to see Zion get the benefit of a contact call - as it doesn’t happen enough.
I never step away from a Duke TV win or loss mad about what Jay Bilas said. So that’s a huge step up from Billy Packer or Len Elmore.
I did write that they'd still be quite good and meant it because of Guy, Huff, and mostly Bennett. OTOH, and hate to go there, most seem to forget that the main reason UVA lost in tourney last year, in a most un-UVA line way, was that Hunter was out. That kid is remarkable, and will be a huge loss. And the more I see Jerome I almost feel the same way. Of course they could keep both and be a dominant #1 going into the season and likely still have Jerome and be potential top-5 again. Anyways, lots left to play this year and I hope y'all win the rest (especially this Monday!) except against us 2 more times. And agreed that this Bennett fellow is a keeper, as the constant that seems to stir that drink year after year.
Outstanding game by Duke! UVA is a tremendous dance partner. So fun to watch Duke and UVA go at it. I won’t be surprised to see a third and perhaps even a fourth Duke/UVA meeting this year.
A few thoughts:
1. How good is Tre Jones? WOW! He is incredibly special. Hoping for a Duke Blue Planet highlighting the Jones Brothers hitting big shots at John Paul Jones Arena.
2. This Duke team is amazing at turning great defense into soul crushing points off turnovers.
3. I am sure they don’t mind, but Coach K and his staff are not getting nearly enough credit for their work with this team. The cohesion and overall play on both ends of the floor has been remarkable for any team — let alone such a young team.
4. RJ and Zion are transcendent players but in any other year Cam would be getting a lot more hype and credit for being a huge difference making player. I don’t watch the NBA much, but it would be fun to see these three link up again after free agency.
5. Our role players are tough-minded and getting better.
6. I am a big fan of the UVA Program. With or without Hunter and/or Jerome next year, they are going to be right back at the top of the ACC Standings. Kudos to Coach Bennett, his staff, and their players. They do it right.