2019 2K Sports Classic: Duke vs Cal, Texas vs Georgetown

[MChambers]

There does seem to have been a recent drop off in posting activity on DBR. Have those tired of one-and-done roster turnover thrown in the towel? Is message board culture a big fat "Ok Boomer" to the reddit loving youth?

I think the lack of enthusiasm might be because folks have seen our team, don't see a well oiled machine, and write off our chances at a Final Four. But, they are missing the fact that the entire country is down this year. We may be a weak #1 based on historical standards, but we are firmly in the mix as of this writing. Our relatively weak offense is still, currently, a top 10 Ken Pom offense, with all caveats about early season Ken Pom ratings.

Speaking only for myself, I'm definitely less invested in this team than in recent years, and far less invested than in teams in 1990s.

Part of it is definitely the roster turnover. Part is that, as you say, this team isn't a well-oiled machine.

I certainly agree that the entire country is down this year. But that just means that there are more teams that are almost unbearable to watch. The quality of college basketball has declined a lot in recent years. And the style of play for many teams resembles a visit to the dentist (I'm thinking of you, UVA).

Maybe my enthusiasm will grow as the season goes on.

[UrinalCake]

Interesting to me that for several years now we’ve had people say that bringing in wholesale OAD’s makes them feel less connected to the team. But now that we have a roster with a little bit of carryover, less elite individual talent and more team play, the complaint is that we aren’t as talented.

[flyingdutchdevil]

Interesting to me that for several years now we’ve had people say that bringing in wholesale OAD’s makes them feel less connected to the team. But now that we have a roster with a little bit of carryover, less elite individual talent and more team play, the complaint is that we aren’t as talented.

I don't know about the "carry over". We still start three frosh, a sophomore, and a junior who played less than the sophomore. Our "veterans" are said junior, 2 defensive-minded bigs who can't score, and a bunch of wings/guards who can't score.

This is still a freshman dominated team. I blame the lack of games on "normal" cable. I've watched 1 full game thus far; the ACCN has made it more difficult (but I can't blame ESPN; putting Duke games on the ACCN is a great way to make money. Go capitalism!).

[mark34]

You beat me to it. After a number of years of seeing practically every game, either on TV or on the interwebs, I feel shut out this year as a Comcast customer without access to ACCN. It's pretty sad, really, when you consider how many others are in the same boat.

It's well past time to ditch cable TV. YouTubeTV is, IMHO, the best bet. It does a great job of catching sports with unlimited "DVR". ACCN has been great on it (besides the first half of the last game).

[jimsumner]

Last year's team might have peaked in its first game. This year's team has a very real chance to get better and better and better.

Not sure why that wouldn't be a cool story to follow eludes me.

[DukieInKansas]

Interesting to me that for several years now we’ve had people say that bringing in wholesale OAD’s makes them feel less connected to the team. But now that we have a roster with a little bit of carryover, less elite individual talent and more team play, the complaint is that we aren’t as talented.

I'm really enjoying this year's team because, from my inexperienced/unknowledgable eye, we might not lose as many young players to the NBA. I'm so excited that Tre Jones is back and I hope we have a couple of this year's freshman class coming back next year.

Last year's team might have peaked in its first game. This year's team has a very real chance to get better and better and better.

Not sure why that wouldn't be a cool story to follow eludes me.

Yep, I'm going to enjoy watching this team learn and grow. Of course, I did pull the trigger and go to Spectrum from TWC legacy so I get to see the games. Interestingly enough, I was trying to find the KU game the other day and couldn't find it on TV - they are a 45 minute drive from my house.

[DavidBenAkiva]

Last year's team might have peaked in its first game. This year's team has a very real chance to get better and better and better.

Not sure why that wouldn't be a cool story to follow eludes me.

Counterpoint - the period between the two Virginia games was the pinnacle for Duke last year. They were nearly flawless in their execution and focus against UVA on two occasions. They looked head and shoulders above everyone else for that time. Then came the Zion injury against UNC and the team didn't quite recover.

[SkyBrickey]

Last year's team might have peaked in its first game. This year's team has a very real chance to get better and better and better.

Not sure why that wouldn't be a cool story to follow eludes me.

Amen.

A commitment to defense, willingness to share the ball, balanced scoring, and an offense that is rough but has a tantalizingly high ceiling.

What’s not to love?

And we aren’t talking about the 22nd ranked team in the country. We are #1!

If we eliminate some sloppy turnovers and improve our 3 point shooting, part of which is shot selection, a lot of fans are going to pile on this bandwagon.

[UrinalCake]

I don't know about the "carry over". We still start three frosh, a sophomore, and a junior who played less than the sophomore... This is still a freshman dominated team.

I’m not saying we’re a mid-major, but the heart of our team is a sophomore who everybody knows very well, and we’re getting plenty of contributions from upperclassmen. That’s a lot different from starting four freshmen and playing almost no bench, as we’ve done the past two seasons. We don’t have to learn the whole team, we only need to learn like 60% of the team.

As for the ACCN, I agree that’s a real bummer that a number of fans don’t get it. On the positive side, the ratings for women’s volleyball have skyrocketed!

[ChillinDuke]

There should probably be a separate thread for "What's Your Interest Level in Duke this year?" But I'll give my $0.02 here for now.

Even I feel slightly less invested than I have in years past. I'm not exactly sure why. But I think a bit of it has to do with the new rule in CA, the Wiseman suspension and how Penny handled it, Jay Bilas' neverending soapbox rhetoric wearing me down, and just this general feeling that the game as I've known it for years is slowly slipping away from cultural relevance. I want to watch sports, not hear about how players should game the system to sit out and/or get paid. Like many things, it's gotten more political in the last few years and I'm just starting to wear down. Unfortunately, the avenues to simply watch a game while at the same time feeling connected to the world seem to have dramatically shrunk. Commentators and talking heads weigh in on every possible angle - often seemingly just trying to be as outrageous as possible. And watching a game on mute just feels like I've gone into hiding an addiction only to emerge 2 hours later.

Maybe I'm just hedging for the eventual day that the whole system just blows up. I dunno. Maybe I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. But one thing's for sure, it has very little to do with the actual team, outside of the Zion hangover.

- Chillin

[hallcity]

Don’t tell me jock itch is doing our game!

[Bluedog]

I'm excited that a game is finally on ESPN2! Yay! (Of course I watched the Kansas game as well.)

[dukelion]

Texas and Georgetown are pretty good teams....either will give us all we can handle.

Can see why Coleman was high on Duke's list....kid is a baller.

[Utley]

Utley in the house (or Garden anyway) ).

[rocketeli]

When I was a kid I was a "Fever Pitch" type of Duke fan...listened to all the games on the radio, kept stats, and never lost hope that we would win all our games and all the players would be All-Americans. My interest in Duke basketball peaked in 1978. But I'm fairly interested in this year's team. Lot's of intriguing questions, gritty defense, story lines on individual players...and I could not care less if the fair weather, WalMart, only satisfied with a championship fans blow away in a puff of smoke.
FYI I found a magic thing called a mute button on my TV a few years ago, and now I am never troubled by annoying, ratchet-jawed, uniformed announcers. Give it a try! You'll be glad you did.

[dukelion]

I think it's a great topic and I think I agree with it -- I find myself less enthusiastic towards Duke because last year's team was the most fun I've had watching a sports team in my entire life, and was the most curhsingly gross I've ever felt after a loss. Emotional fatigue after back-to-back heartbreakers in the Elite-8 while memories of Grayson Allen's spectacular one-man-show in 2015 against Wisconsin is starting to fade away.

It's all relative, of course. I watch every game, on the edge of my seat. I yelled when they beat Kansas, and I'm sure I'll curse when they suffer their first loss. I'll definitely sweat bullets when we play Carolina and I'll definitely get overly emotional when we pull out big wins. But it just feels... different. It feels like being with your smokeshow of your girlfriend who broke your heart two years in a row. She's absolutely gorgeous and she promises to never break your heart again, but you know she probably will.

This sums up how I feel as well.....last few years were absolutely epic.

But this year's team has a ton of potential....I would even say even more so than last year's squad....I just think we have to get to know them a bit before I crank my emotions to eleven again...but pretty sure it'll happen soon enough.

[slower]

But this year's team has a ton of potential...I would even say even more so than last year's squad...

I'm sorry, but I can't let that pass unchallenged. That is pure nonsense.

[weezie]

...On the positive side, the ratings for women’s volleyball have skyrocketed!

U Cake with the badumpdump cymbal crash. lol

[dukelion]

I'm sorry, but I can't let that pass unchallenged. That is pure nonsense.

I call this the Zion effect....meaning his brilliance blinded some to the many shortcomings of last years team (i.e. shooting, rebounding, depth).

We should have lost to UCF in round 2 for crying out loud. But I'm not surprised that many will canonize them as one of the best Duke teams ever while the results certainly don't support that.

And this also proves my point why enthusiasm is down this year....some (many?) can't let go of last year's disappointment.

[DukieInBrasil]

I'm sorry, but I can't let that pass unchallenged. That is pure nonsense.

talent is different from potential. I'd be interested in knowing the perspective that generated the original comment, but i suspect i might agree with you. Hindsight is 20/20 and all, and it was common knowledge throughout the season that we were a poor 3pt shooting team. But this year's team is too, or at least it's too early to tell whether it'll be better considering that after 4 games the 3FG% is exactly the same as last year's team. This year's team might be better defensively, but last year's team was no slouch. I'm having a hard time thinking of something about this year's team that is so different from last year's team such that the potential is greater. This year's team has a bit more experience, and in particular has a So. PG who is stellar.
Perhaps the thing that undid some of last year's team's potential was the lack of diversity on offense? We didn't really have an low-block player and we couldn't shoot so that made it a lot easier for teams to defend us. And when teams figured out that they could foul Zion with impunity it put a further limit on the team's potential. This year's team could have greater diversity on offense. We've already seen that Carey can play down low pretty well, and that Hurt has the potential to score at all levels. I'd be hesitant to stake much to the claim that this team has more potential based on the offense we've seen thus far this year vs what we saw last year. However, if Tre figures out how to grow from Pebbles to Stones, as he did vs GA St., then that might change the whole equation!!!