Fun!

[mgtr]

A couple more things I enjoy --
Seeing Paulus overjoyed when Smith makes a great play
Seeing Scheyer and Singler doing all the little Basketball things that don't show up on the stat sheet, but lead to wins.

I have been high on this team since well before the season started, and they have surpassed my expectations. Clemson and FSU were excellent teams for us to play. Wouldn't we love to have the Pittsburgh game back now? But, that loss may have toughened us up, and it looks as though everybody (maybe even Coach K) learned something from the loss.
To paraphrase a recent President when he left office -- this may not be the best team Duke has had, but no team has had more fun playing the game. And that enjoyment most definitely been passed on to the fans.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

I live with the ol' professor who is the eternal pessimist!

Ima, I think your husband and I need to sit down and have a heart to heart some day. Do y'all go to the games together?

[pamtar]

Much fun indeed!

There is no better sport in the world than college basketball, and no better team to pull for than Duke.

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

I live with the ol' professor who is the eternal pessimist!

"We'll never make it without an inside presence!"
"Our free throw shooting will kill us!"
"We're not signing any recruits!"

I wonder if he's in the same department as my former brother-in-law. Sounds just like him!

[Madrasdukie]

I think that the following News and Observer article about Nelson in reference to a post-game exchange between him and Paulus, is in line with the great team chemistry we have this year.

Link to the article:
http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/story/891871.html



Quote from the News and Observer article:

As the players left the floor, Paulus, a former captain, put his arm around Nelson, the current captain, and praised him for his performance.

Paulus, who made two key steals late in the game that turned into four of Duke's 29 fastbreak points, then apologized. He tried to say he had let the team down in the first half. As he said it, Nelson shook his head.

"He tried to apologize but I wouldn't let him," Nelson said. "I told him, 'It's basketball.' He came out in the second half and play extremely well. I wouldn't let him apologize."

[Delaware]

I love the Aretha reference! Hope others got it.

[SilkyJ]

But the boards seem to illustrate a similar phenomenon to what we do in my history seminars: "I really liked this book...now, here are two hours of discussion of what was wrong with it."

Well there is always room for improvement...this team has the chance to compete for a title with a little more improvment, imho.

On the flip side, Jumbo is playing the role of rosy sunshine. Given that alone, it's clear that the apocalypse is coming and the sky is falling.

wait, what did you say about Patrick Yates

Jumbo said: It takes about three seconds to see how much more these guys enjoy playing with each other than last season.


I agree with all of the reasons you've stated but mostly with this one above. It's awesome to see the fun the team is having: the chest bumping after a huge play (Singler and Scheyer), the charged-up smile Kyle and Nolan exchanged after Nolan had just played some swarming defense, the impish smile Gerald has when he's complimented, Nelson talking with the other players, Taylor King jumping up-and-down by the bench...it really is awesome.

True that. I love seeing King's enthusiasm. Would love to see him play a lil more too...

On a separate, but related note, Bill Simmons (popular ESPN Page 2 columnist) wrote a recent article on Chemistry in the NBA and its importance for becoming a winning team, and he even said there has been a concerted effort by many GMs to focus on chemistry and the character of the guys you bring in to your team. He went on to "document" how it had worked for lots of teams. I think we are seeing the effects as well. Its hard to quantify how much better we are playing b/c the guys actually like each other, but I think its definitely helping...friggin mcbob...

Yes, but it's Little Miss Sunshine as stern schoolmarm: "Anybody I catch not having fun is getting his knuckles rapped."

that made me laugh.

[Jumbo]

On the flip side, Jumbo is playing the role of rosy sunshine. Given that alone, it's clear that the apocalypse is coming and the sky is falling.

Seriously, though, this is fun.

Since when am I Mr. Negative?

[Ima Facultiwyfe]

Ima, I think your husband and I need to sit down and have a heart to heart some day. Do y'all go to the games together?

Yep we do drive over there together, have the usual debate about whether to park where we can get out the quickest (I think that's a guy thing.) vs. getting closer to the front door of Cameron (my thing)...but we rarely SIT together!

He's been known to grab my shirt tail and sit me back down unceremoniously when I yell at the refs (which I consider my job), so I usually sit with my rowdy daughter or "Crazy Hopeful" grandson. We jump up and down and yell "OH Baby" from our seats in the rafters and we leave Grumpy to sit in our one remote seat down low by himself.

Don't get me wrong....he loves our guys just as much as I do. He's just a hard driving perfectionist who worries about EVERYthing ALL the time!!! Definitely not a smeller of roses, bless his heart!

Love, Ima

[dukepsy1963]

Don't get me wrong....he loves our guys just as much as I do. He's just a hard driving perfectionist who worries about EVERYthing ALL the time!!! Definitely not a smeller of roses, bless his heart!

Love, Ima

Ima..
Sounds like hubby is a Type A. He needs to work toward becoming a type D (Duke above all other concerns) and DBR lover. We'll loosen him up; get him to sign in....

[RPS]

Jumbo -- What you say is both correct and appreciated. The Clemson game was downright terrific and illustrative of your points. VT and the Twerps next. I'd add that Duke football is at its highest point in many years now too. We have to start playing games and actually winning some of them, of course, but I'm thrilled with the strides we have made already there too.