MBB: Duke 88, BC 49 Post-Game Thread

[BandAlum83]

We are now #1 Ken Pom

[mr. synellinden]

We are now #1 Ken Pom

By a fairly wide margin as far as KenPom goes.

[BandAlum83]

By a fairly wide margin as far as KenPom goes.

Indeed!

[UrinalCake]

Next time an announcer starts the game by saying three point shooting is a weakness of Duke, I may throw my phone through my TV. So many of these yahoos obviously haven’t watched this Duke team and are still grasping at straws from last year. So frustrating...

To be fair, we were 2-16 from three in our last game after missing our first 10 or so in a row. For the season we are shooting 33.9%, certainly a big improvement over last season but still only good for 154th among all teams.

[tteettimes]

To be fair, we were 2-16 from three in our last game after missing our first 10 or so in a row. For the season we are shooting 33.9%, certainly a big improvement over last season but still only good for 154th among all teams.

None of that means anything unless Kedsey verifies it

Happy New Year

[miramar]

K’s presser is interesting. This decade has been his best ever as Duke’s coach including the early exits from the NCAA. He also had some nice words about Derryck Thornton. Good kid, smart, nice family, wished he had stayed at Duke. K is a class act...

After all the nonsense that Uncle Trainer had to say about Coach K (basically calling him a liar) it's good to see that he had nice things to say about Thornton. I expect that Derryck now realizes that he would have been better off staying at Duke, and I think that he would have made a real contribution to the team.

[Kedsy]

I'll take a 39 point win in an ACC game any day of the year.

OFFENSE

Possessions: 73.8 (with Tre back, we got our fastest paced game since Michigan State)
oRtg: 1.19 (1.26 adjusted; very good)
eFG%: 60.3% (strong; our 4th best eFG of the season)
3pt%: 42.9% (nice)
2pt%: 57.5% (good)
%threes: 41.2% (way too high, but if you're shooting 43%, might as well keep taking them)
FT rate: 13.2% (really bad)
OR%: 38.2% (good)
TO%: 20.3% (not so good; interesting that we turned it over a lot less when Tre was out, but probably a bit of a fluke, since Tre had 10 assists against just 1 turnover)
a/to: 1.33:1 (pretty good)
%assisted: 57.1%
fast break pts: 11 (12.5% of points; I'd like better)

DEFENSE

dRtg: 0.66 (BC has a bad offense, but our adjusted dRtg of 0.71 is still outstanding)
eFG%: 36.3% (fabulous; third straight game under 44%)
3pt%: 16.7% (excellent)
2pt%: 40.9% (very good; third straight game under 41%)
%threes: 29.0% (solid; this has been our strength all year)
FT rate: 14.9% (excellent)
DR%: 70.5% (acceptable)
TO%: 25.8% (very strong, though at #263 in the nation, BC isn't known for holding onto the ball)
a/to: 0.42:1 (very good)
%assisted: 38.1%
stl%: 12.2% (good)
blk%: 11.3% (15.9% of 2pt shots) (also good)
fast break pts: 6 (12.2% of points; fifth straight game allowing 6 or fewer fast break points)


I wasn't able to see the game, thanks to Comcast and the ACCN, but statistically this looks like a total beatdown, on both sides of the ball, against Pomeroy's #143 team. Our offensive FT rate was anemic, and we turned it over too much, but our shooting made up for it and we did everything well on defense.

[Kedsy]

I think the rotation is sort of taking shape. Javin and Carey switch off at the 5 with Carey getting 25-30 of the minutes.

FWIW, Vernon has only exceeded 25 minutes in four games this season. He averages 23.6 mpg. So "25 to 30" is a bit of a stretch.

[UrinalCake]

I expect that Derryck now realizes that he would have been better off staying at Duke, and I think that he would have made a real contribution to the team.

I don’t know that was can say this for sure. Had he stayed at Duke he would have competed for minutes against Frank Jackson, Trevon Duval, and Tre Jones (assuming his presence didn’t affect their commitments). Based on his play at USC, it’s debatable how much of a role he would have carved out. One might argue that he would have developed better/faster under K, but I suspect he feels that getting more playing time against a lower level of competition was the right move for him.

[arnie]

I don’t know that was can say this for sure. Had he stayed at Duke he would have competed for minutes against Frank Jackson, Trevon Duval, and Tre Jones (assuming his presence didn’t affect their commitments). Based on his play at USC, it’s debatable how much of a role he would have carved out. One might argue that he would have developed better/faster under K, but I suspect he feels that getting more playing time against a lower level of competition was the right move for him.

Except he would have played for a team that mattered. He doesn’t appear headed to the NBA and had he stayed, I doubt Duval signs on. Anyway, we will never find out, but would be interesting to hear his uncles’s thoughts now.

[MChambers]

I wasn't able to see the game, thanks to Comcast and the ACCN, but statistically this looks like a total beatdown, on both sides of the ball, against Pomeroy's #143 team. Our offensive FT rate was anemic, and we turned it over too much, but our shooting made up for it and we did everything well on defense.

Take it from one who watched: it was a total beatdown. One of those games against a weak ACC opponent where Duke's defense is so effective that the other team looks scared when they cross half court and pretty soon the ball is bouncing loose and Duke is streaking out on a fast break. It was like old good times!

Hurt's shooting was eye opening, as was Vernon's defense down low.

[budwom]

biggest surprise of the night for me was learning BC has two ACC wins (Wake, ND). Duke played very very well. BC looked inept.

[loran16]

Wendell's 3 from the corner looked smooth as did his FTs. I wonder if the reason he doesn't shoot many threes in games is he doesn't make many in practice.

If Wendell was to add a 3 pointer, It'd open a lot more for this team. He's not a particularly efficient two point shooter either incidentally, though the Free throw #s (72%) are good.

But well, last night's 3 makes just seven he's attempted all year, despite having the ball in his hands a lot when he's on the floor. It's clearly not a shot he feels that comfortable with, occasionally wide open looks like last night notwithstanding.

[jv001]

If Wendell was to add a 3 pointer, It'd open a lot more for this team. He's not a particularly efficient two point shooter either incidentally, though the Free throw #s (72%) are good.

But well, last night's 3 makes just seven he's attempted all year, despite having the ball in his hands a lot when he's on the floor. It's clearly not a shot he feels that comfortable with, occasionally wide open looks like last night notwithstanding.

Wendell actually looked surprised and had a sneaky grin on his face after the made 3. It seems he misses a lot of shots around the basket which brings his 2% down.
GoDuke!

[TKG]

In the post game press conference , I loved the way K took on the “you haven’t won the regular season title since blah, blah, blah.”

“Which would you rather win?”

“ I am sure my record on Tuesday’s isn’t good...”

Classic K, address these weak narratives head on with facts. Notice the questioner didn’t follow up.

[sagegrouse]

I don’t know that was can say this for sure. Had he stayed at Duke he would have competed for minutes against Frank Jackson, Trevon Duval, and Tre Jones (assuming his presence didn’t affect their commitments). Based on his play at USC, it’s debatable how much of a role he would have carved out. One might argue that he would have developed better/faster under K, but I suspect he feels that getting more playing time against a lower level of competition was the right move for him.

The Derryck story, related here years ago, is that when his friends took him to the airport to fly home after freshman year and after his announced transfer, he said he didn't want to leave Duke, but he had to -- implying family pressure. His supposed "uncle," Mark Edwards was the most vocal after his departure. In his one year at Duke, he started 20 of 36 games and averaged 26 minutes per game and 7 PPG. I suspect he would have stayed ahead of Frank Jackson, who arrived the next season, and continued to improve as a player..

[weezie]

The alumni band played very well, too.

For such a blowout of a game, the joint kept rocking.

[duke2x]

This is not a vintage ACC in 2020. Bart Torvik has BC as #14 just ahead of GT and not that far ahead of Brown and Wofford. Only Louisville, FSU, NCSU, and UVA are in his top 50.

Even though I got two nervous emails to buy tickets about 2:00PM yesterday, Duke says it was a sellout. I already had tickets.

Congrats to Hurt on a great run in the first half. I'm not sure we're going to get a reliable scorer other than Carey for the rest of the year, but we have a bunch of different guys capable of adding 15-20 on any given night.

[Dr. Rosenrosen]

In the post game press conference , I loved the way K took on the “you haven’t won the regular season title since blah, blah, blah.”

“Which would you rather win?”

“ I am sure my record on Tuesday’s isn’t good...”

Classic K, address these weak narratives head on with facts. Notice the questioner didn’t follow up.

Yeah, I think he was too busy putting himself back together.

[Steven43]

In the post game press conference , I loved the way K took on the “you haven’t won the regular season title since blah, blah, blah.”

“Which would you rather win?”

I apologize for not getting what perhaps should be obvious, but I’m not sure what Coach K meant by that quote. Could you shed a little light on it? Thanks.