Duke 87, Cal 52 Post Game thread

[weezie]

Especially enjoyed the Duke Cheer Squad of RJ, Bagley, and Giles.

Enthusiastic and loud.

[budwom]

Carey is proving to be a fair amount more agile and skilled in the paint than his recruiting profile (by many) made him out to be...

[MChambers]

I asked the question after seeing him the first time at CTC and I’ll ask it again now. Is Vernon Elton Brand with a jump shot? He’s not quite as long or bouncy as Wendell Carter. But he’s stronger with better inside footwork and maybe softer hands. Reminds me most of Elton Brand. And agreed. He’s a much better defender and rebounder than advertised.

Maybe, but Elton was so quick for a big man. I don't see Vernon as that quick.

[jv001]

It appeared Dan Dakich had been told to reign in his dislike for Duke last night. He was actually giving Duke high praise, from the players to the coaching staff. He kept going on and on about how good Wendell would be by years end. For the first time listening to him, I can say he did an ok job. However he did say he thought Coach K's grandson should be in the game and take a shot the first time he touched the ball. I thought he was redshirting.

As for the game, once again our defense was outstanding. I loved the way our guys contested every pass and every shot. It helped to have an active shot blocker down low in Mr. Carey. About Vernon, this was one of the best games I've seen from a Duke big guy. Inside and outside Vernon was a force. Tre with 8 assists and zero turnovers was great but so was his defense. Tonight will be very different against a big G-Town team that seems to be able to get in the lane. Hoping we can stay out of foul trouble.

GoDuke!

[Nrrrrvous]

Moore’s best game. Great to see him coming on.

That wrap-around pass to Carey for the slam was beautiful!

[Billy Dat]

Like Tre having a breakout offensive game against Georgia State, Vernon's big breakout is proof that we have at least a couple of guys who can carry (get it) us on the offensive end. Per K:

“He’s the focal point of our offense right now,” Krzyzewski said. “He's making passes, he can put the ball on the floor. He's playing through contact, has a good touch.”

What an epic all around game for the big fella.

I was very surprised at Wendell getting the start, as others have said, he really must have been showing out in practice. I thought he played well after a shaky start, the whole team had a rough first 10 minutes as K furiously subbed guys in around Tre and Vernon looking for something to click. It was the first time all 4 freshmen started with Tre.

The defense was excellent overall, but I did think we got lucky at the beginning when we botched a bunch of switches and Cal just wasn't able to recognize it and hit guys who were wide open either on the perimeter or rolling to the hoop. Hurt was the culprit a bunch of times, and he seems like he's struggling. With Vernon's emergence, he doesn't really seem like he knows where to be. In the early part of the year, including exhibitions, it seemed like he would be the guy operating out of the high post but that whole space is now Careyland so he is still looking for an offensive identity. I am curious to see how the staff adjusts to Carey's emergence vis-a-vis Hurt's role.

Wendell started where I thought Jack would start and that was probably the right move. Jack is a rugged defender, rebounder and shot blocker and his only offense is a feet set, kick out 3. I really don't want him shooting anything else unless it's a put back. Cassius is just tough, and I love the work he and Jack do crashing the boards, and Hurt was pretty active on the offensive glass, too.

AOC looked lost. His yam was monstrous, but when the game was tight, so was he. You figure Javin is firmly established as Vernon's back-up and his PT will purely depend on Vernon's foul trouble. That leaves AOC and Baker fighting for 8th man minutes, unless one of them can make a case for Jack or Hurt to sit.

Good win, Cal is not good, but they were one of the country's best 3 point shooting teams coming in and, per Kedsy's stats, we really limited their looks and conversion.

It's also nice to see that 3 point % creeping up, especially for Tre.

It's always great to see Duke at MSG. K has a photo permanently displayed on the outside of the stadium, on the 31st street side nearly the player's entrance, right next to pics of Garden heroes Brian Leetch, Clyde Frazier, etc. I snapped this post-game on my way to my car.

K at MSG.jpg

[HereBeforeCoachK]

Love that we ripped an unbeaten team badly.

Love that our defense is really becoming something...

Love 10 players over 10 minutes, no one over 25 minutes.

Hate hate hate the greys....its like it's not really Duke somehow....

[UrinalCake]

One of the announcers brought up Karl Anthony Towns as a comp for Carey. I’d never thought of that, but it’s not bad. I think Towns was more raw during his season in college, but in terms of versatile bigs who can go inside and out it does make sense.

One of my favorite plays of the night was when Stanley had the ball on the wing and fed it to Carey in the post. Carey kicked it right back out, and Stanley immediately fed it to him again and he hit a short hook shot. Such great unselfishness by both players. Feeding the post has never been something that Duke teams are particularly good at. The problem then exacerbates because when the bigs do get the ball in the post, they are reluctant to pass the ball out even if the shot isn’t there because they feel like they won’t get it back. So seeing those two share the ball like that was awesome.

[CameronBlue]

Love that we ripped an unbeaten team badly.

Love that our defense is really becoming something...

Love 10 players over 10 minutes, no one over 25 minutes.

Hate hate hate the greys...its like it's not really Duke somehow...

looked like they were pre-stained with sweat. My wife commented that the team looked like they had been rummaging around in a dumpster. kept turning up the brightness on my TV. Perhaps the worst unis Duke has tossed out there.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

looked like they were pre-stained with sweat. My wife commented that the team looked like they had been rummaging around in a dumpster. kept turning up the brightness on my TV. Perhaps the worst unis Duke has tossed out there.

Giving them the benefit of the doubt...they probably look okay up close...but on TV they are horrible...you're right, they just look dirty dingy on TV. The blue does not pop. The gold piping is just a distraction somehow...you can't really see it on TV, but you know something is out of kilter.

[DukieInBrasil]

Wendell started where I thought Jack would start and that was probably the right move. Jack is a rugged defender, rebounder and shot blocker and his only offense is a feet set, kick out 3. I really don't want him shooting anything else unless it's a put back. Cassius is just tough, and I love the work he and Jack do crashing the boards, and Hurt was pretty active on the offensive glass, too.

AOC looked lost. His yam was monstrous, but when the game was tight, so was he. You figure Javin is firmly established as Vernon's back-up and his PT will purely depend on Vernon's foul trouble. That leaves AOC and Baker fighting for 8th man minutes, unless one of them can make a case for Jack or Hurt to sit.
]

good observations in general, just wanted to focus on these 2. Jack's 3pt shooting has been somewhat erratic so far this year, but i remain hopeful that he settles in and can hit 1 or 2 per game. If he ends up shooting about 33%, then his utility on the court expands greatly b/c he's a ferocious rebounder and solid defender. There was a sequence in the 1st half where Jack tried a spinning semi sorta hook shot (?) in the lane that he either lost the handle on or otherwise was just a terrible shot and never looked like it had a chance to go in. Not sure what the issue was, but it was just fugly. Hope to never see that again. Oboards, down-low dump offs or kick-out 3s, those are things Jack can do on offense.

I'm not a coach so i don't know how to approach AOC's situation, but it seems like he could benefit from running around more thru screens to get open 3s. Maybe he's not good at anything but set catch n shoot situations, and Oboard dunks. Regardless, nobody seems to have unlocked a way to use him effectively on offense.

[ChillinDuke]

I'm buying in to this team more and more each game. For a lot of reasons, not least of which is the balance.

A game like that from Carey removes any doubt of what he's capable of. And that's immediately more than I expected entering this season. Tre already had one of those, but I expected that entering this season. Cassius has shown flashes and consistently so, if not putting together a fully complete game (although Colorado St was a good one). Wendell has underwhelmed but is noticeably improving - and improving in the Jayson Tatum way, not the Cam Reddish way - the ball isn't sticking as much, he's not pounding it into the floor, and his decision making is becoming zippier - I'm going to keep watching this. AOC is fading but his aggressiveness is notable - would anyone be shocked to see 20 from him one of these days? You may not count on it, but that's the beauty. Jack is the consummate glue guy. Joey is hitting some shots, which is important in his push for playing time. And I haven't even touched on Matthew Hurt who is fading at the moment, but who would count him out going forward? The only negative I have thus far is Javin - who is surprisingly not clicking.

This doesn't feel like a team that can be shut down by focusing on one or two guys. And that's very exciting.

- Chillin

[golfinesquire]

I'm buying in to this team more and more each game. For a lot of reasons, not least of which is the balance.

A game like that from Carey removes any doubt of what he's capable of. And that's immediately more than I expected entering this season. Tre already had one of those, but I expected that entering this season. Cassius has shown flashes and consistently so, if not putting together a fully complete game (although Colorado St was a good one). Wendell has underwhelmed but is noticeably improving - and improving in the Jayson Tatum way, not the Cam Reddish way - the ball isn't sticking as much, he's not pounding it into the floor, and his decision making is becoming zippier - I'm going to keep watching this. AOC is fading but his aggressiveness is notable - would anyone be shocked to see 20 from him one of these days? You may not count on it, but that's the beauty. Jack is the consummate glue guy. Joey is hitting some shots, which is important in his push for playing time. And I haven't even touched on Matthew Hurt who is fading at the moment, but who would count him out going forward? The only negative I have thus far is Javin - who is surprisingly not clicking.

This doesn't feel like a team that can be shut down by focusing on one or two guys. And that's very exciting.

- Chillin

I loved the way Carey played last night too but I am tempering my enthusiasm. Cal was badly overmatched and this is so early in the season that teams are not game-planning or don't have the necessary data to game plan their opponents well. One thing that I am really impressed with is how intelligent Carey is. He is picking up a post offense and reading what the defense has to give him better than most freshman and he is doing the same on defense. Now if only AOC could get his head screwed on right.

[Indoor66]

I just watched the game and don't understand the complaints about Dakitch. His comments were on point, relevant and well said. What else do you want?

[golfinesquire]

I just watched the game and don't understand the complaints about Dakitch. His comments were on point, relevant and well said. What else do you want?

I can't remember which one of them kept saying "old school Duke team" but after the fifteenth time I heard that, I was ready to hit the mute button.

[SouthernDukie]

I just watched the game and don't understand the complaints about Dakitch. His comments were on point, relevant and well said. What else do you want?

I agree. He was fine last night. No complaints from me. Not sure but what I'd rather here that version of Dakitch last night over Bilas or Elmore or any one of many other commentators out there today.

[Music man55]

Agree with the comment about Dakitch. Couldn't believe he was actually saying positive things about Duke. Anyway, great game from Carey. He is better at this stage of the season than I thought he might be. Keep it going big guy! Wendell played his best game so far and overall the defense is really clicking right now. Hope we can take down the Hoyas' tonight. Go Blue devils!

[jwillfan]

One of my favorite plays of the night was when Stanley had the ball on the wing and fed it to Carey in the post. Carey kicked it right back out, and Stanley immediately fed it to him again and he hit a short hook shot. Such great unselfishness by both players. Feeding the post has never been something that Duke teams are particularly good at. The problem then exacerbates because when the bigs do get the ball in the post, they are reluctant to pass the ball out even if the shot isn’t there because they feel like they won’t get it back. So seeing those two share the ball like that was awesome.

This play? https://twitter.com/i/status/1197859062345547776

[kAzE]

I think he's what Wendell Carter would have been if Bagley hadn't decided to come to Duke at the last minute.

I'm not ready to go there just yet. I think Vernon is more skilled offensively. He has better touch with his jump shot, and on his post hooks/fades (although almost exclusively with his left hand), but Wendell was a better post defender and help defender than Vernon has been thus far. He was also I think a better overall athlete. This is not a knock on Vernon. Vernon was excellent on defense this game, but I think we are selling Wendell short. True, the 2017-18 Duke team was not a great defensive team (at first), but I think that had much more to do with Marvin Bagley than Wendell Carter.

Wendell was really, really good at going straight up with two hands to contest shots in the paint without fouling. Maybe the best Duke freshman big I've ever seen at contesting shots without fouling. And yet, somehow he still fouled out of that Kansas game because of some extremely questionable calls. Sigh.

[robed deity]

This play? https://twitter.com/i/status/1197859062345547776

Haha hilarious. Saw this on Ben Swain's Twitter. Excellent follow, btw.