Discuss the game here.
Discuss the game here.
Bob Green
Bummer, needed that win. Had multiple chances with good lucks from 3 late but couldn't hit any of them. Foul calls at end of game on Hurt and JJ also huge (and hugely terrible calls). FT disparity killed us as well as being outrebounded/out toughed for loose balls I thought...Did show some fight though, just didn't execute when needed to down the stretch.
Hurt looked good (except for the fouling out part).
What a terrible loss. Just a crusher. And yes Ozzie we may be that bad.
Nothing incites bodily violence quicker than a Duke fan turning in your direction and saying 'scoreboard.'
Yes we are that bad. Playing close to mediocre teams repeatedly is not promising. We make so many incredibly bad plays on both sides of the ball (such as Goldwire shooting a 3 when game is on the wire). We are a soft team-watching rebounding is excruciating. (Wait til Unc). We have no leader. We have no inside game-and don’t even try to get the ball inside-thus we lose games by FTs. Our offense is a joke-running and dribbling 30 ft. from basket and passing up legitimate shots when we get them. We have one player perform in outstanding fashion such that any decent should win by 10; if he has just a good game we lose by 12 or more.
Agree with much of this post, but this tends to happen when the floor is unbalanced. It's just the way it is with no Carey, Boozer, Carter, Bagley, Zion, etc. available. We also have a defensive specialist at pg and another two guards that are accruing experience. Duke was due for a development year. It was gonna happen. UVA had a hiccup in 2017 with 7 losses in the ACC (similar situation), and you can see where they've vaulted.
We need taller guards to play that pressure man to man. Steward, Roach, and Goldwire (to a lesser degree) are getting bullied up top. And as others have mentioned, we need an alpha or two. We're just gonna have to get through this year and see what these experiences reap next November.
Can we really be as bad as we look?
Ozzie, your paradigm of optimism!
Go To Hell carolina, Go To Hell!
9F 9F 9F
https://ecogreen.greentechaffiliate.com
Disappointing but I do not believe Duke is as bad as they look. But I also think it won't be until next year until we see more consistently good performances from these players.
As I mentioned in the he thread, this is the sort of team that 35 years ago you could say "they will be great in two or three years."
Hurt is by far our best offensive weapon, but I struggle to think of a recent Duke team he would start on.
We don't excel at anything. We are bigger/faster/tougher than everyone. We don't have better shooters or rebounders. We don't get to the free throw line often, but that doesn't matter because we aren't very good shooting there either.
We may win some games. We could beat UNC a time or two. But this team doesn't have much to strut about this far.
Not really a bad team currently, but not yet good.
Team needs to stick together, listen to Coach K, and fight hard.
In the short run,
Roach has to play better
Hurt and Jalen Johnson have to stay out of foul trouble
Gotta figure out a way to rebound better
Whoa, this is taking being down on this team way too far. Our best player is *not* a bench player on recent teams. Let's just run through the recent teams.
2020 - Freshman Hurt actually started 22 games, and so I'm guessing this far superior sophomore version would start.
2019 - We would've had to rename Matt "Manna from Heaven" given his 47.3% 3-pt shooting. Yes, he would've bumped Bolden/DeLaurier from the starting lineup and given Zion and RJ more space to operate.
2018 - This one's interesting because of Wendell and Marvin. The key is that we were already playing zone, anyway, and so even though I'm not sure other coaches would do this, *I* would've started Hurt alongside those two on the backline and started Grayson and Gary up top in the zone, bumping Duval to the bench. (A lot depends on how happy you were with Duval's PG play. I wasn't that happy and would've preferred having three reliable shooters surrounding Wendell and Marvin instead).
2017 - This one's a tossup since Amile was also an undersized 5. I could see preferring Amile's better defense (although he wasn't a great defender at the 5, merely good), but I could also see playing the stretch 5 in Hurt so that Jayson, Grayson, and Frank could have more room to drive.
2016 - He would've started at PF, bumping the skinny frosh Ingram to SF. (The original plan before Amile got hurt). In smallball lineups, if that's what we preferred, he would've played over MP3, as much as I loved MP3's improvements his senior season.
I think Hurt is having a great season (even though he's not perfect, of course) and is being let down by his inconsistent teammates.
I agree, Hurt is not the problem and he would have gotten major minutes the past few years. He fouled out at the 1:50 mark. The last 2:07 minutes Duke scored 2 points, the last 1:30 minutes Duke scored no points. Someone else must pick up the slack. So far no one else has been consistent.
I’m somewhat puzzled by that thought because if recruiting goes as hoped there will be a new core of at least 3, maybe 4 , guys who will be expecting to get a majority of minutes. That assumes JJ and MH leave. In a way, they better leave or we will have a major traffic jam.
I’m thinking the transfer portal might be active again after this year.
This team has not figured out how to win- or impose their will. They cannot get separation from teams. They make very bad mistakes in critical moments. Hurt has been great but he does not make others better. This team is struggling and may or may not break out of this. You need guys that can will their teams to wins and I don’t know who that is on the team. Maybe Duke wins if Hurt is on the floor. Duke had great looks from 3. Baker has the yips - and that is really disappointing. Need a reliable outside shooter- and Duke has only Hurt.
Very similar to the Pitt game, staying in the game with hard play but doing just enough to lose. Story of most of the season, unfortunately.
Every time Duke made a run for a small lead, Louisville immediately came back. Again, fouling too much, turning the ball over *way* too much (JJ being the worst). Small signs of progress, but turnovers, getting out rebounded, and so few free throws means we’re making it way too hard on ourselves. Felt like Louisville controlled the game even though the lead switched hands numerous times: credit to Hurt for keeping us in it with his shooting and overall play.
Credit also to Goldwire for making several plays to keep us in it until the end when it looked like the game might slip out of our hands. K taking the team out of the zone earlier helped in this game (as opposed to Pitt where he waited too long).
Roach really struggled in both games this week and Brakefield unfortunately has regressed. That means everything was pretty much on the remaining starters and Goldwire, so Hurt’s foul trouble was even more damaging.
Not going to say it’s over, but a tournament team would have won at least one of this week’s games. Feels like the team is due for some luck given how hard they play and they will continue to improve, but it’s hard to see them improving to a level beyond the sum of their limitations.