MBB: Duke 59, Miami 81 Post-Game Thread

[kshepinthehouse]

1. We're lucky that Louisville was worse than anybody expected. There were plenty of games you could feature tonight: UVA-Syracuse (last week's Monday), UVA-VT, FSU-Miami (based on preseason). Nielsen sweeps, the real culprit here, allows Duke to have 2 Monday games without the slot after Duke-UNC.

2. As noted before, Miami's defense is good when they get their hands on the ball before the shot. Hang on to the ball, and they are worse than their 100+ rating on kenpom.

3. The #4 seed is all you need for the ACC Tournament. I could see us winning the entire stretch from ND through NCSU. It's a bunch of home games where Duke can be 20+ points better and only Syracuse on the road.

That Syracuse game is going to be tougher than you may think.

[jipops]

I disagree - Miami is not a bad defensive team. Perhaps not a great defense team, but not bad. Yes Duke’s guards played poorly tonight but much of the reason was due to Miami’s intensity and team effort on D - credit to them.

Statistically, for a power conference school, they are a bad defensive team. Before tonight’s win they were somewhere around 110 nationally on kenpom. After tonight’s win that has bumped up to 103, still pretty bad.

Now this certainly comes into play if your guards can take care of the ball and your guys can make shots around the rim, neither of which Duke was capable of doing tonight.

[Hancock 4 Duke]

I don’t think our roster and our players’ respective skill sets are conducive to having a successful year. Should we have some more highlight games, I’ll gladly cherish them, but my expectations drop lower and lower with every game. I’d like to at least see some progress, though.

[kako]

Every deficiency the team had was highlighted tonight including coaching. I’ll never stop supporting them but this team is no final 4 or even an Elite 8 team. Not even close.

Is that your bar? Sorry, but this seems so entitled...

I think it's obvious that this team has been no lock to make the FF or E8 since December. Sure, they can and I'm positive will make the tournament. And once they do, anything can happen. But realistically if this team can make the 2nd weekend, it will be a major accomplishment given the coaching change, the lack of returning players and the injuries. I personally will count this as a very successful season if they do.

9F

[kshepinthehouse]

Mitchell’s lack of athleticism and having to play the three is a pretty big problem. He had so much trouble getting his shot up on drives or on shots near the basket. He seems to have very little lift.

[mike88]

You’re wrong. There is a very small sample of multiple one and done teams. Those teams have done very well overall. Certainly way better than any reasonable sample of more experienced teams. The analysis has been posted here by others multiple times.

At this point in the evolution of college basketball, its not a choice between traditional "one and done" players (straight out of high school) or "players who can be recruited to stay 4 years" - the new route to success is recruiting 22 or 23 year old players with multiple years of experience who have demonstrated they can win at other competitive programs- that's what's working for Miami and many other schools - we have done OK in that regard, but we really needed to get another experienced guard who could handle the ball and shoot decently, and we didn't - and good teams are making us pay

[tommy]

Mitchell’s lack of athleticism and having to play the three is a pretty big problem. He had so much trouble getting his shot up on drives or on shots near the basket. He seems to have very little lift.

Which is why some of us have been pretty down on his chances to be a successful NBA player (well, that plus his shooting form), and why declaring for the draft would probably be a big mistake for him.

[Furniture]

I have to say though that, at the beginning of the game. With a bit of luck a couple of the balls could have fallen and It could easily have been 6-6 instead of 10-1. Big score difference but the roll of the ball didn’t go Dukes way either.

[heyman25]

Along with Rick Barry Carlos Boozer was apparently there with his 2 sons. Hope this game did not put doubts in his sons heads.

[mkirsh]

On the plus side, this might push our win in Cameron up to a Q1 win… 😂

But for real, not much one can do but shake it off and hope that a team with more rest and more prep will be better focused and better prepared. I doubt UVa will pressure the ball the way Miami did (aside from Clark), because that isn’t their system. But they will make life difficult in the paint of course.

I don’t know. UVA does often blitz ball screens, and attacking that was one of the many things we did poorly tonight. Roach did have a nice split early in the game (but missed the layup), but for the rest of the games the guards shrunk and couldn’t hit a wide open big under the basket. I’m certain we will see more of that Saturday and will have to be much much better to be competitive.

[Billy Dat]

Along with Rick Barry Carlos Boozer was apparently there with his 2 sons. Hope this game did not put doubts in his sons heads.

Most kids that good, especially one as highly ranked as Cameron, upon seeing a team getting smoked are thinking, "If I was out there, it would be different."

[jipops]

3. The #4 seed is all you need for the ACC Tournament. I could see us winning the entire stretch from ND through NCSU. It's a bunch of home games where Duke can be 20+ points better and only Syracuse on the road.

I think we can realistically finish 13-7 in the conference. Maybe 12-8. I don’t think the former is going to get us a 4 seed. But that’s ok. At this point I just want us to get in the ncaaT. And barring some major meltdown over the next 3 weeks, we’re on solid footing there.

I’m counting on uva and unc being 2 losses coming up. The NC State game at home is the huge toss up - which I really did not see coming. I thought they would have folded for the season by now.

[dukelifer]

Along with Rick Barry Carlos Boozer was apparently there with his 2 sons. Hope this game did not put doubts in his sons heads.

Wow. His kids are 1.5 years from graduating.

[dukelifer]

I don’t think our roster and our players’ respective skill sets are conducive to having a successful year. Should we have some more highlight games, I’ll gladly cherish them, but my expectations drop lower and lower with every game. I’d like to at least see some progress, though.

So your expectations dropped after UNC? Strange.

[gofurman]

Not fun to watch the late game dunk and 3s. Really must have been very important to Larranaga

Eh. Nothing against Larranaga. I mean he didn’t tell us to suck on D and who wouldn’t elevate for a nasty slam in a sellout game. And that was a nasty slam! I harbor no resentment towards Miami. Nothing dirty there. And hey, kudos to them. And at about 3/4 minutes they slowed up

It’s not like Miami cheated at basketball for 20 years and has books written about it…. Lol

[Hancock 4 Duke]

So your expectations dropped after UNC? Strange.

Duke/UNC will almost always be a great game, regardless of how good either team is. Just the nature of the game.

[jipops]

Mitchell’s lack of athleticism and having to play the three is a pretty big problem. He had so much trouble getting his shot up on drives or on shots near the basket. He seems to have very little lift.

I still really like Mark as a player. Yes, he’s got some limitations but as you alluded he’s also playing out of position on offense. I do think he’s a pretty good athlete. He mostly lacks the upper body strength to play through contact and in a crowd. He has shown a lot more lift on the rare occasions he’s had an open path to the rim.

He’s the one guy I have my hopes up being back next year (maybe naive). Everyone else I’m certain are gone (except Blakes) that are currently in the rotation. I do see a scenario where Mark can fit in his more natural position along side Stewart and Mgbako. If he can add some strength in the offseason and work on that shooting form a bit, I think we could see a significant change in production. That’s all my hope at least.

[dukelifer]

I think we can realistically finish 13-7 in the conference. Maybe 12-8. I don’t think the former is going to get us a 4 seed. But that’s ok. At this point I just want us to get in the ncaaT. And barring some major meltdown over the next 3 weeks, we’re on solid footing there.

I’m counting on uva and unc being 2 losses coming up. The NC State game at home is the huge toss up - which I really did not see coming. I thought they would have folded for the season by now.

Well we know they will fold in at least one more game- that is a given

[UrinalCake]

Mitchell’s lack of athleticism and having to play the three is a pretty big problem. He had so much trouble getting his shot up on drives or on shots near the basket. He seems to have very little lift.

He’s good at straight line driving to the basket and occasionally posting up over smaller players. He doesn’t pass the ball at all and he doesn’t read the defense. He often dribbles right into a packed lane without thinking about it, and he holds the ball far away from his body which just invites turnovers. I do think he’s better suited to play the 4 but our roster construction doesn’t allow it.

[dukelifer]

Duke/UNC will almost always be a great game, regardless of how good either team is. Just the nature of the game.

But you saw no growth in the players.