Definitely a good barometer for where we are. I thought we largely played even with VT overall, and that feels about right for where we are. Yes, they pulled away late, and yes they led big early. But I think the game was closer than the 7-point spread. Still, I agree with uh_no that this is relatively accurate reflection of where we are. And at the moment, that's a team that is on the bubble. We haven't played well so far this year, and our results are very much in line with that.
That being said, I do think there are reasons for hope. First, it's still a young team, and we've suffered from lack of games to this point to work through things. Second, we've been missing our most talented player for almost the entire season. Finally, some of our key young players are starting to show signs of comfort.
The positives:
1. Jeremy Roach had a terrific game. He finally showed the downhill game that he was known for in high school. It was easily his strongest showing as a scorer. After looking very tentative for his first 3 games, he has strung together 5 games of double-digit scoring, with averages of 14.6 ppg and 52% from the field. I thought he did a decent job of driving and kicking, unfortunately the shooter was too often Goldwire. That deflated his assist total. But if anything I'd like to see Roach get even more aggressive.
2. Hurt continued his dominant offensive play, and was strong on the defensive glass. I'll take 20 and 11 on 50% shooting any day. He's such a weapon on offense.
3. Seeing Johnson return to the court, even briefly, is a great sign. Hopefully he's back to full go next week against Pitt.
4. Goldwire continued to be an absolute menace on defense, with 4 steals. As Roach and Steward continue to assert themselves, he should settle into a nice role as a defensive playmaker.
5. Moore played a much more controlled game, not forcing mistakes on offense, and contributed with some strong rebounding numbers for a second straight game.
6. Baker really gave it his all on defense, with 3 blocks including a really nice chase-down block of a fast break layup attempt.
7. The team didn't give up, and fought back to make it a tight game until the final minutes.
The negatives:
1. The defense still needs to improve, although it was at least a step in the right direction. Hopefully the return of Johnson will help on that end.
2. The awful start yet again, which put us in a huge hole. You can't give a team an 18 point lead (down 36-18 at the nadir) and expect to win. That we clawed back to within 1 was impressive, but it was such an uphill battle from that awful start.
3. After a really nice 4 game stretch from MSU through ND, Brakefield seems to have lost his shooting touch.
4. After a sting of really solid games offensively, Goldwire had a clunker tonight. His 0-5 from the floor combined with the 0-4 from 3 for Brakefield and Moore was essentially the difference.
5. A bit of a rough game for Steward as well. His 3pt shooting continues to be a bit of a concern. For a player noted as a shooter coming out of high school, he's at just 31.1% from 3. Overall he's still a clear plus for his rebounding and ability to score in traffic. But we really need him to be a shooter on this team. He went 2-8 from 3 last night, so not quite good enough. Especially when combined with the 0-6 from 3 from Goldwire/Moore/Brakefield.
6. The biggest negative I had for Roach is that he was too 3pt happy. Unlike Steward, 3pt shooting was not a strength for him coming into college. I like that he's being more assertive, but 3pt shooting is not a strength for him. So taking 7 3s in a game is probably a losing strategy when you are a 30.8% shooter and not known as a shooter coming in.
The other:
1. Williams returned to the bench and a spot role. And, honestly, that's probably for the best for now. He doesn't appear to be quite ready to make an impact at the ACC level. Hopefully next year goes better for him as he gets a bit stronger and hopefully a bit more fluid.
2. The lineup last night was a bit closer to what I'd expect moving forward, with the exception that Johnson will return to the starting lineup and Brakefield will drop to the ~15-20 mpg level, and one of Moore and Baker will drop to the 5-10 mpg level.
We said a month or more ago that this team would be unlike typical Duke teams in that it would require a lot of development. Most of the time, we've had a clear identity and either enough experience or superior talent that we could make it work from day one. This team isn't stacked with talent and is light on experience. And to add to that, we've been playing without our best player for about half of the season. So the results to this point have been lackluster. But the good news is that there is room for growth, and there are reasons for optimism that growth can occur. It is unfortunate that COVID has robbed the team of so much of their development opportunity (both practice and games), but hopefully over the next several weeks they can find their form.