5 thoughts...
1. Geez... that was... awful. My actual 5 thoughts would be turnovers, didn't come to compete, lack of poise, turnovers (for emphasis) and turnovers (again, for more emphasis). But I'll take a mulligan on my first thought, and start over...
1. Outrebounded both offensively and defensively. That's lack of effort against a much small smaller team.
2. Flip had... wait for it... zero FTs. Ugh... Proctor played young, very young. He was so jittery. I'm positive the staff will make sure he learns from his experience, but it's up to him to show up better mentally.
3. Gotta say something positive. It's easy to find something good when everything else seemed so bad. But Lively played decently. Co-leading the team in this game in points is fool's gold. But 5 blocks, and he only had 2 fouls. Sure, he wasn't perfect. But he should get an award this game - he had 0 turnovers.
4. Not trying to make excuses, but the starters played so many minutes on Saturday. And with the quick turnaround and travel, it could be that they were tired. Not jumping strong out of the gate may have doomed them to have weary legs. This is why I think it's important that Whitehead comes back again and can take up some minutes. I do think Duke needs him in order to advance past the first weekend in the NCAAs. No one else on this team seems to have the potential to step it up and do what it takes to help the team win (please someone else surprise me!).
5. It was always a distinct possibility that Duke could lose at Miami, so the loss itself does not upset me. Like many of you, it's how they lost. Fraschilla is no sage by saying that's what happens with young teams. But it's now all about the next play. How will they respond at UVA? I'm guessing practice won't be so easy tomorrow and Wednesday.
9F
I will never talk about That Game. GTHC.