MBB: Duke 75, Syracuse 65 Post-Game Thread

[JBDuke]

Put your post-game thoughts here.

[scottdude8]

My thoughts on tonight:

—I thought Coach K might start AOC tonight to spread the floor, and boy was that a great choice. His performance is a great sign for this team moving forward, obviously. I was more surprised to see Javin start over Marques: as well as Javin played defensively, Marques has superior hands offensively, and might have finished more fo those lobs that went through Javin’s hands. I wonder if this means Marques was under the weather.

—I’m flabbergasted that K would burn Joey’s redshirt only to play a handful of minutes in this game. I have to think there’s more to that story that’s going to be coming, either having to do with Zion’s injury or with why Jack didn’t play today. I have no inside information so I won’t speculate.

—Coach K made an absolutely BRILLIANT adjustment coming out of the half that went a bit under the radar, and that was having Tre flash to then high post rather than R.J. Tre is obviously much more comfortable with that shot, and once he made a few of those the zone started to collapse in (which corresponded nicely with when AOC got hot from deep). Once that was established, R.J. was able to do more work in there as well. When Tre was up top, he was so reticent to shoot that the top of the zone could sag down and prevent R.J. from getting to that spot. For those who often are frustrated by the lack of half-time adjustments, this was a perfect example of one that changed then game. If you can’t beat the zone by shooting over it, you have to beat it by getting the ball into then high paint and collapsing the zone. The first 5 minutes of the second half were an absolute CLINIC on how to do that and the effects it can have.

—The most conspicuous impact of Zion’s absence, in my mind, was the number of turnovers we had. There were a half-dozen lobs that normally would’ve gone to Zion and could’ve been thrown over the zone, that instead had to be more modest when headed toward Marques or Javin. Those are great passes when Zion is playing, and awful passes otherwise. If Zion is out on the longer side of things, the team will have to mentally adjust to this absence accordingly.

—If R.J. plays like he did today, we can win tough games without Zion. Period.

—No one should undervalue this win. Any victory against the 2-3 is a challenge considering you have to gameplan specifically for that defense in a way totally different than every other game. Having to do so following a UNC hangover and with all the Zion drama makes this even more impressive. All that, and doing it on the road in the dome? A big win no matter how you slice it.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Making our shots makes all the difference! LGD GTHc!

[Native]

1. I thought the game was won when we swapped Bolden for Javin when Javin picked up his fourth. Syracuse is the tallest team in the country, and I thought having Bolden down low really helped negate that advantage. Immediate impact in rebounding the ball.
2. What more is there to say about RJ’s game? Fantastic performance and he’s really gotten more efficient when scoring the rock.
3. I want to hear K’s reasoning for burning Baker’s redshirt for five minutes of game play. Also wonder why Jack didn’t play.
4. Take a bow, AOC. Hopefully his shooting continues — he had a great second half.

[MChambers]

I don’t think “burning” Baker’s redshirt is a big deal. If he’s as talented as reported, he’ll be gone in four years, or sooner. I think Jim Sumner said as much in an earlier post.

[duke4ever19]

Okay, so Mr. Baker is officially not redshirting. Will it be a good decision in retrospect? I guess we shall see.

[DukieInBrasil]

Great performance from RJ, an absolute shame that he didn't shoot more FTs.
Duke doesn't win this game with AOC though. Being able to hit some 3s totally changed the energy of the team.
Great FT shooting from the team tonight, like 86%.
31% from 3 actually lifted our season average!!!!
Our 2-headed Center grabbed 15 rebs and scored 9 points. Plus some blocked shots. Very not shabby!
Super pleased with this win, down 5 at the half and really strangled SYR down the stretch.

[CDu]

I don’t think “burning” Baker’s redshirt is a big deal. If he’s as talented as reported, he’ll be gone in four years, or sooner. I think Jim Sumner said as much in an earlier post.

Yes, but at the same time he hadn’t played at all this year. They were clearly planning on redshirting him. The timing is odd. I hope it has more to do with White’s absence than Zion’s.

[uh_no]

Baker, White, Zion, Alex. yeesh.

[scottdude8]

Yes, but at the same time he hadn’t played at all this year. They were clearly planning on redshirting him. The timing is odd. I hope it has more to do with White’s absence than Zion’s.

If we post different variations of this thought enough times we might will it into existence. Let's just hope there was a bug going through the locker room that hit Jack hard.

I'm waiting on pins and needles for the report from the post-game presser. It should be very interesting.

[duketaylor]

Awesome win!! AOC had a great game as did Barrett. Game was sloppy at times, for sure, but this is an excellent win. I think we'll see Zion next weekend. So at VT will be very tough. Just glad for this win.

[Troublemaker]

So, we don't suck without Zion.

How about Hero Balls' pass fake before draining that cold-blooded 3? Biggest shot of the game.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

Okay, so Mr. Baker is officially not redshirting. Will it be a good decision in retrospect? I guess we shall see.

Agreed....that's the once maybe kinda sorta bothersome negative about tonight's fabulous win....and it's no where near clear that doing it tonight...versus doing it six weeks ago....versus not doing it....is the right move. Time will tell....

[rocketeli]

Yes, but at the same time he hadn’t played at all this year. They were clearly planning on redshirting him. The timing is odd. I hope it has more to do with White’s absence than Zion’s.

maybe he was scorching the nets in practice and more than willing to play. We really are desperate for some more, or rather some more accurate outside shooting.

[SCMatt33]

That was a much better played 2nd half. They still took nearly half of their shots from three, but it was a lot less forced than in the first half. Outside of the middle segment from 12 to 8 in the first, many of threes were coming off of swinging the ball around and not penetrating or making the zone move. That issue was largely solved in the second and a much higher percentage of the threes came off of movement and penetration, even if the ultimate shot wasn’t off of one of those passes. It made the shots more open and also helped open up the offensive boards for some of the misses. The only thing that wasn’t great was the defensive glass, but some that is subbing OConnell for Zion, but there was a great effort on the defensive boards in the last 8 minutes to help pull away

[HereBeforeCoachK]

So, we don't suck without Zion.

How about Hero Balls' pass fake before draining that cold-blooded 3? Biggest shot of the game.

Funny, COLD BLOODED ala Laettner was my immediate thought.

[heyman25]

Barrett was superb. O'Connell was outstanding.
Reddish? What do the NBA scouts see in Cam. He is 6'8 but it was O'Connell that hit shots.
Happy for the win. Marques Bolden gave us a huge lift. Our rebounding was terrible until Marques started playing.

Great win, but this team can close games better. Dumb passes late in the game are unacceptable. Coach K made some half time adjustments that got us the win.

[mph]

—I’m flabbergasted that K would burn Joey’s redshirt only to play a handful of minutes in this game. I have to think there’s more to that story that’s going to be coming, either having to do with Zion’s injury or with why Jack didn’t play today. I have no inside information so I won’t speculate.

Yes. It’s hard to make sense of burning the redshirt without there being a reason beyond Baker’s ability to fill in for a short-term Zion injury. The most encouraging explanation would be Baker playing and shooting well in practice and K deciding that we need another shooter for the post-season run. But that seems like a bit of stretch this late in the season.

[proelitedota]

We needed to take the open 3s with confidence. Hitting even 30% means we win games because our defense is reliable.

With Zion we can shoot 10% and still win.

[heyman25]

Glad White did not play . He has no confidence and perhaps this bench sitting will get him back to December Jack.