Perspective

[drion97]

The announcers said once again in this game that this is the youngest Duke team in 60 years. I've heard that many times before, but it's good to keep in mind how lucky we are that a 'rebuilding year' can have us being a 6 seed. Previous years we've been able to reload without rebuilding, but come on-- would you rather be UCONN? or Arizona?

Josh or no Josh next year, I'm excited to not be a young/scared team, but an angry, veteran, strong team.

[grossbus]

we will still be young next year, with or without josh.

[Oriole Way]

The announcers said once again in this game that this is the youngest Duke team in 60 years. I've heard that many times before, but it's good to keep in mind how lucky we are that a 'rebuilding year' can have us being a 6 seed. Previous years we've been able to reload without rebuilding, but come on-- would you rather be UCONN? or Arizona?

Josh or no Josh next year, I'm excited to not be a young/scared team, but an angry, veteran, strong team.

I don't like the youth excuse; as grossbus pointed out, we'll still be young.

More importantly, college basketball is different this day and age. Every team is younger than it would have been ten years ago thanks to the NBA, sophomores are basically like the seniors and juniors of the past.

[YmoBeThere]

... sophomores are basically like the seniors and juniors of the past.

Except that the juniors and seniors had 1-3 years of age and experience. I agree that this excuse can be used by just about everyone at some point.

[Constantstrain 81]

I am a high school principal. My basketball team had a lot of seniors, but they had not had a great deal of success the previous year (2 wins). We beat a strong (4A) team in the first game. We were not expected to win, the other team overlooked them, the other team was almost embarassed to lose to us. We couldn't miss at the end of the game. There are many psychological factors involved in that win. Several more wins and the factors were different. The team expected to win (and the shots got harder). Some of the players were from a successful JV team the year before, but the varsity game is faster and bigger. Anyway, it was fascinating to watch the coach work through the dynamics of expectations and emotions. I can't imagine what it would have been like if we had everyone pumped up to beat us because our previous teams had dominated the league for ten years.

Anytime we look at this team and our expectations, remember all of those "X" factors. Our young players weren't trying to build a reputation. They were trying to live up to one. Trust me, there is a difference.

Great job, guys.

[Bay Area Duke Fan]

Both UNC and Texas have teams as young as Duke. But Duke has more HS AAs. It appears that having McD AAs doesn't mean success in college. Our HS AAs are clearly not as talented as others.

Or was the disappointing 2006-7 season a result of poor coaching? Was Coach K too busy coaching Team USA and doing commercials?

Tonight's loss was the worst of the year. This team beat Georgetown in December. What causes a team to regress during the season? Young teams are supposed to improve as the season moves on.

What happened?

[Jim3k]

Check the FTs, the 3 pt. pct and the turnovers v. assist ratio. This team could have overcome the last, but the first two are really the killers.

Oh. The defense could have been a little better, too. But FTs and 3pt pct are the real culprits here.

[devildownunder]

Both UNC and Texas have teams as young as Duke. But Duke has more HS AAs. It appears that having McD AAs doesn't mean success in college. Our HS AAs are clearly not as talented as others.

Or was the disappointing 2006-7 season a result of poor coaching? Was Coach K too busy coaching Team USA and doing commercials?

Tonight's loss was the worst of the year. This team beat Georgetown in December. What causes a team to regress during the season? Young teams are supposed to improve as the season moves on.

What happened?

I criticise coach K's decisions on this board all the time but I think it goes way over the line to suggest that he wasn't all there for this group. When you look at how he handled the team this year -- all the changes to the O and the D, playing so many lineups, etc. -- there just is no good evidence that he neglected this Duke team. And since that is a deadly serious charge, in my book, you'd better be darned sure you have good evidence to levy it before you post it in a public forum.

[RepoMan]

If anyone says "next play" . . .


I'll poke my eyes out

[MarkD83]

I'll agree that Coach K gave his all for the team.

However, I believe that Coah K looked a little fatigued near the end of this year. Last year he spent alot of emotional energy on JJ and Shelden's senior season. He went right from that to trying to put together an Olympic team and win the world championships. He then came into this year and had no emotional or physical rest because the team was so young. My memory of this was the energy he exerted at the end of the G'town game in Cameron. Toward the end of the year I did not see that same emotional energy.

This is not a criticism just an observation. Here's to hoping he gets some rest for a few months. He'll need it because he will be back into the cycle of coaching the PanAm team and then back to Duke.