MBB: Duke 83, SF Austin 85 Post-Game Thread

[kAzE]

The book is out on Duke right now: pressure, bump, and bruise Tre Jones on the perimeter, use a second or even third defender if you have to, because Duke doesn’t have other great ball handling options. Georgetown did this to an extent, and SFA took it to an extreme.

Tre definitely looked winded down the stretch, and because of the way he was being defended, was making a lot of poor decisions all night. I give him a lot of credit, because he fought like hell, but it just wasn’t enough. You just can’t expect a guy to endure that kind of punishment on offense and still be the point of attack on defense for 45 minutes. It’s too much.

We’re going to have to figure something out to help relieve some of the pressure from him. I suspect it could mean a few extra minutes of Goldwire (in tandem with Jones), just give Tre a breather on offense here and there.

I hate to say it, but we really could have used Boogie Ellis on this team.

[WiJoe]

the entire coaching staff sits like mopes during most of the game. Explain that.

[heyman25]

Overtime offense was horrific. Two points (on a stickback). Three turnovers (check me on that). Two shot clock violations (is it just me or did it look like we were trying to run the clock out the last 10 minutes or so of the game?). Finally, I’m typically not one to criticize Jones (he’s one of my favorite players ever), but why aren’t we running the clock to get the last shot off, particularly when most of the important players on the other team are on the verge of fouling out? Very frustrating game to watch. We have a lot of work to do.

Damn that game ruined my night. I don't understand why their was not an effort to foul out some of the Stephen F Austin players. Shot clock violations in OT Fing awful. Could not set up Carey. Vern was a dreadful 4 for 11 on the foul line. Yep Duke did not deserve to win.

[moonpie23]

those guys brought the heat....they play like that against the next team and they win...and the next...and the next...those guys can do some damage...


we had some serious weak spots tonight, against a very focused, well-coached team....hats off to those guys....hope we don't play them again...lol

[left_hook_lacey]

To add insult to injury, we shot 40 free throws to their 17 and still lost. Let that sink in.

[azzefkram]

In the immortal words of Joe Girardi, it's not what you want. Duke looked pretty bad out there. SFA played tough and confident throughout. Go eat some turkey and play better on Friday.

[Devilwin]

Could say so many things, but will just take my hat off to Stephen F Austin. Hard nosed and never quit. It hurts, but kudos to those kids. They deserved it tonight. Duke has to learn and get better.

Kudoes to them, but they all looked 30 years old.We looked like first day of practice. Nothing good can come of getting your butt handed to you at home by a team like that. Tre was just awful, as was Stanley. They ought to be mortified. I just cannot see anything coming out of this but embarrassment. Getting punked all night inside.
Shooting fts like 10 year olds. Just an absolutely horrid performance all around. Rushing shots, poor decisions by our guards, especially Tre. No leadership..None..

[SCMatt33]

I think this is a good time to go back to something I said after Northwest Missouri State.

And that’s not to say these guys are underperforming either. There’s a real talent gap in the back court that Duke hasn’t seen in decades. Before you say “that’s a crazy exaggeration”, I did some research after thinking about it. Unless Joey Baker magically finds something and becomes a starter, Dukes back court will have two starters that meet the following description: either a 4 star freshman based on 247 composite or a player from any class who was outside the top 50 as a recruit. Not counting transfers (since they were recruited to Duke after showing they were better than their HS ranking) I couldn’t find a single season where Duke started two such players in the back court at the same time, and only 3 seasons where any such player started more than a small handful of games in the back court. They were 2007 (John Scheyer 4 star freshman started all but one game), 2012 (Tyler Thornton started 19 games as a not top 50 recruiting and Quinn Cook started 4 games as a 4 star freshman) and 2014 (Tyler Thornton started 25 games). That’s obviously not a good trend. It certainly doesn’t mean that this team is doomed to not win a game in tourney, but I do think it’s unfair to put expectations of hanging banners and being a top 5 ranking on this team based on talent alone, but those expectations are happening by default as you see from the preseason polls in both the league and nationally.

When looking at this team I still stand by the preseason expectations being completely unreasonable, and that only becomes doubly true when they reached number 1. Guys with similar ranking to Stanley and Moore are normally sitting on the bench mostly for at least half a year, and then it’s only the best ones who have forced their way into the rotation later on. Carey came in with a scouting report that highlighted some defensive and motor issues, which he’s done really admirably at outperforming but you saw the, tonight. Tre as a sophomore isn’t necessarily ready to be the superstar savior night in night out as a sophomore, but that’s what’s been put on him.

None of that is to say that you “should” lose to SFA, but if you made me bet before the season on either entering December as #1 or losing the non-con home win streak this year, I would have bet the latter. I certainly wouldn’t have picked this game, but that it happened at some point shouldn’t be a shock. Judge these guys for who they are, not the name and ranking on the scoreboard. By that standard, they did a great job to overachieve for a few weeks and pick up some wins that’ll really look good later on, but they all had a very collective down night that they can’t overcome with raw talent like some recent lottery pick laden teams.

[Reddevil]

It's over.

Good for those SFA kids. They showed a young Duke team what can happen in March, but it's only November. Good lessons and good tape to learn from. It's a journey. I like this team. They will be better for this.

[DUKIE V(A)]

A few thoughts:

1. Was surprised Carey did not play the entire OT. He was our best offensive player down the stretch.
2. Equally surprised that Tre shot so early at the end of regulation and OT. Easy to second guess after the result is known but that seems strange — especially since neither was a good look.
3. Our defensive court balance was poor throughout the game. Lots of free layups including on the last play.
4. Would love to see our guys shoot open 3s. We are hesitant.
5. Never fun to lose. I didn’t see this coming.

[gep]

I was wondering the same thing, but he did it at the end of regulation too so I assume it was the direction from K to give a chance for an offensive rebound. But, yeah, it's bad when you have the chance to take the last shot and somehow you lose on a layup at the other end. We are a good offensive rebounding team though, but I was thinking the same thing at the time. But, if we had hit some FTs and defended in the paint, it would have been a moot point.

Lots to learn from on this game at least...150 non-conference wins at home is over, unfortunately. Just BARELY enough time at the end for the layup. Stinks.

I'm not sure this is so important... to me, at least.

Could say so many things, but will just take my hat off to Stephen F Austin. Hard nosed and never quit. It hurts, but kudos to those kids. They deserved it tonight. Duke has to learn and get better.

It's over. Coach K and his staff will have a GREAT example to keep pounding into the guys...

Good for those SFA kids. They showed a young Duke team what can happen in March, but it's only November. Good lessons and good tape to learn from. It's a journey. I like this team. They will be better for this.

Yes... I'm glad this happened now, instead of the NCAA...

[rsvman]

The book is out on Duke right now: pressure, bump, and bruise Tre Jones on the perimeter, use a second or even third defender if you have to, because Duke doesn’t have other great ball handling options. Georgetown did this to an extent, and SFA took it to an extreme.

Tre definitely looked winded down the stretch, and because of the way he was being defended, was making a lot of poor decisions all night. I give him a lot of credit, because he fought like hell, but it just wasn’t enough. You just can’t expect a guy to endure that kind of punishment on offense and still be the point of attack on defense for 45 minutes. It’s too much.

We’re going to have to figure something out to help relieve some of the pressure from him. I suspect it could mean a few extra minutes of Goldwire (in tandem with Jones), just give Tre a breather on offense here and there...

I said it in the in-game thread and I'll say it again here. Backing the defense off would've paid dividends. Going zone for a few possessions, or even for a few minutes, might've also paid off. They weren't beating us from the outside, and our guys were wasting a lot of energy chasing them around the perimeter.

[Dukehk]

Not a great loss in terms of seeding for March.

However, its a good wakeup call for the team. We've played a pretty tough schedule to date and I'd rather we learn our lessons now and peak in March.

This team was never a #1 team in the country, at least this early in the season. It doesn't mean they don't have a chance at winning the title though. We can still grow and improve.

[AZLA]

Much respect for Bain. Classy coach. SFA played tough and focused. Duke looked winded and confused. They just assumed when the ball was on the floor SFA would call timeout. Great presence of mind to push the ball and not panic. The top ranked team carousel continues to turn and burn.

[dyedwab]

1) SFA deserved every moment of joy from that win. They earned it. They outplayed us by a lot

2) That said, they were the 263rd ranked team in KenPom coming off a 12 point loss to Rutgers. This is Duke's worst loss in my more than 30 years as a Duke fan. Look, I get it, there are other bad performances, etc. But the relative talent differential here - I mean its not like SFA and Duke are in the same ballpark re: recruiting - and that it was it home makes it worse.

3) Even when we built our 15 point lead, we weren't really playing well. Sloppy turnovers, and our defense was letting them get to the rim at will

4) Again, they were great. But we shouldn't lost to that team

5) For those saying, "we will learn from this". OK. I agree. But learn what?. I thought the effort we gave was great. Some of our decisionmaking was careless, so that could improve. We could hit some more FTS. But, I meI gean, what do we learn?

6) I gave up taking real joy in rivals' losses years ago, because no one will remember in a week that Evansville beat Kentucky at Rupp, but we'll here about SFA's win for the next 20 years. I'm just hoping we get a good run out of this team so that this doesn't become the most memorable moment of the season.

7) This team plays hard. May not always play well, but they play hard. That's a good quality

[CameronDuke]

24-40 from the line.

Give SFAU credit, they made winning plays to keep them in the game the majority of the 2nd half and obviously in OT. Their interior big to big passing impressed me. They were very physical on the glass and deserved to win.

Duke needs more from their seniors and I know they can give them more. I have faith they’ll show some leadership after learning from this one.

150 straight non-conference home wins - I think that record will stand for a long time, and may never be touched. Anyone know who holds the longest home non-conference winning streak now? Thanks to the HUNDREDS of Duke players, and many coaches, who helped that streak stand for so long. Think about it - we were all 19+ years younger when the streak started.

We’ll be fine. Crazy things happen in college basketball, and one of them happened tonight.

[dukelifer]

It's over.

Good for those SFA kids. They showed a young Duke team what can happen in March, but it's only November. Good lessons and good tape to learn from. It's a journey. I like this team. They will be better for this.

Just a lack of execution. The OT was very strange. In a game like this you need to get the ball to your best player and Carey did not get it. There will be some more and even worse losses for this team- but it is early. They will figure it out -well we can hope.

[DUKIE V(A)]

Oh my! Was the last play a summary of the game? Tre passes to Hurt underneath -- he bobbles it like a first-grader -- SFA guy grabs the ball but is lying on his back -- we stand around watching -- he passes out to Bain, thank you very much, who dribbles the length of the court and makes a layup at the buzzer.

Anyone else think Bain double dribbled on the break away?

Not trying to take away from SFA’s glory, but it seemed like they may have double dribbled.

[Furniture]

I started watching Duke in 2009 after my daughter got accepted there. This is the first time in ten years I have been blacked out and couldn’t find away around it. I asked in chat and got zero advice which pissed me off. Bottom line...the loss was bound to happen. Jinxed from the start.

[Bluedog]

2) That said, they were the 263rd ranked team in KenPom coming off a 12 point loss to Rutgers. This is Duke's worst loss in my more than 30 years as a Duke fan. Look, I get it, there are other bad performances, etc. But the relative talent differential here - I mean its not like SFA and Duke are in the same ballpark re: recruiting - and that it was it home makes it worse.

Hey, kenpom only gave us a 99.8% chance of winning this game.

Yeah, this possibly could have been the biggest upset in the last 30 years, not sure. At least it's in November.