MBB: Duke 79, Syracuse 59 Post Game Thread

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Mark came to Duke as a bit of a project- and once Johnson left he got a little more playing time. He has much to work on but he has excellent hands up top and is an elite shot blocker. I think he could be a better rebounder if he did not go for blocks all the time. Williams can be a force by just doing a few things well.

"Can be a force?"

Tough crowd.

[killerleft]

Francis?!? Francis?!? Did you just call me Francis?!? OK, now I'm pissed.

I retract it, then. It occurs to me it should have been Phrancis, anyway.

[Indoor66]

I retract it, then. It occurs to me it should have been Phrancis, anyway.

Actually it would have beem Phranciss3.

[FerryFor50]

Relaxing game to watch. Outcome was never really in question, though the turnovers in the first half that helped Cuse get within 1 didn't make me happy. Luckily that was corrected very quickly and Duke never really looked back.

Now, I'll revisit my pre-game thoughts to see if I was on target or way off base.

Syracuse, if I recall, was always where Alex O'Connell would go relatively bonkers. He scored 16, 20 and 11 in the games after his freshman season. But O'Connell was a bit more dynamic than Baker is. Baker hasn't really played against Syracuse, so maybe this is the year. But I think it might be a bigger game for Jeremy Roach - especially if Keels is out. Roach combines the ability to shoot and drive, whereas Baker is mostly a spot up shooter with a pretty slow release, which is bad against a zone IMO. I suspect we'll see Baker camping out in the corners and hopefully he can hit a few open looks.

Baker had a decent game - 11 points on 4-8 shooting. Surprisingly, only 2 of those 8 shots were from deep. Baker is really evolving his game a bit to be less one-dimensional. Now, he's not going to consistently create his own shot, but he does make good use of the head fake to get himself an open lane.

Roach, as I predicted, had a better game than Baker overall. 9 assists to just 1 turnover. But his shooting percentages... ew. Hopefully he can get more consistent. He's shooting just 38% from the field overall.

This will be a game where we'll need Banchero to hit some of those midrange shots to keep the zone honest. Having him and Griffin at the free throw line and in the corners/dunker spot on the floor is likely what we'll see - similar to how Rodney Hood/Jabari Parker were used against Syracuse.

Banchero did indeed play the middle and dunker spot, but he was hesitant at times. He *did* start to do a better job of finding the open guys in the corner, but he didn't dominate as much as I thought he would. Did rebound well.

Griffin played mostly the corner spot and didn't flash to the middle much (Moore seemed to do that in lieu of Banchero). But Griffin shot very well and has become a problem for opposing defenses. They can't collapse on Banchero and Williams as much because Griffin and Baker are legitimate outside threats that need to be accounted for.

I do think if Keels sits, we'll miss him, because that's one less player to break them down off the dribble. Hopefully Moore gets his feet back under him on his drives, because we'll need to make the zone react to get outside shooters open.

Moore did indeed seem to get his feet back under him. Struggled shooting outside early (missed his first 3 or 4 three point attempts) but finished 3-7 from 3 and had just one turnover while providing great defense, helped rebound and stayed under control. Granted, it helps that Syracuse didn't have anyone to speed Wendell up on offense, but it was prom

Duke's passing this season has very good, so we might also be able to break down the zone with lobs and ball movement. Luckily, the Cuse defense stinks this year.

Duke did indeed break down the zone with lobs and ball movement (25 assists on 30 made FGs!), but I think they tried to force the lobs a bit too much when they weren't there. I noticed the corner shooter was almost always open and should have gotten the pass a bit more often rather than a lob attempt or a forced shot in the middle.

This game will be a real test of if Duke's 3-point defense is as good as the stats say. Syracuse averages about 24 three point attempts per game and hits 38% of them.

Test passed, IMO. Syracuse did get a number of open looks at first glance, but that was more of a product of guys like Girard and the Boeheims just jacking it up as soon as it hit their hands rather than a defensive breakdown. Those weren't great shots and Duke did a good job of speeding them up and making them feel the pressure was coming and that the shot they took was going to be the best look they'd get. Maybe a bit of hero ball at times by Girard, but the only way that would have been an issue is if they caught fire. They did not.

Duke is a bad matchup for Syracuse, so that helped impact the final score. Did find it funny that Boeheim left his starters in the last 4 minutes while K was playing his bench warmers. Guess Boeheim wanted a better looking final score.