Duke 72, Kentucky 77 Post Game Thread

[Jeffrey]

Warren is a good example of GOATs with blind spots - he refused to invest in technology stocks for the longest time, said he didn't understand them. I'm guessing that failure to learn and stretch outside his comfort zone cost him tens of billions.

I’d guess Warren is much wealthier today because he stayed within his area of expertise (comfort zone). My comfort zone is the financial sector and I’ve substantially beat the S&P 500 focusing on what I know best. Please don’t misunderstand me, I’d no doubt be wealthier today if my comfort zone had been the technology sector.

You've undoubtedly heard of Clayton Christensen. He was on a Podcast years ago and described Coach K's short bench as an organizational failure, for the same reasons that have been mentioned by smart folks on this site over the years: fails to develop new talent, creates an over-reliance on starters, doesn't build a flexible and innovative team culture, etc.

I think my disappointment with Jon is that he doesn't seem to be learning and fixing his own blind spots fast enough given expectations at Duke.

I agree K’s short bench was an overall mistake. However, I think Jon wants to play 10, which is definitely not what I consider a short bench.

However, I think you’re really trying to address how K usually expected his star to go one-on-many at the end of a game. There’s probably no better example than the UConn game, agreed?

In the postgame last night, Jon correctly took the blame for not setting up his star prudently. I’d hope Jon knows the odds of one-on-many.

As far as K’s approach of frequently wearing out his best before the final two minutes, I think that was mostly a short bench result. Three games in, IMO, our freshman should be expected to be dehydrated and exhausted while adjusting to the Top 20 college game. No doubt, Cooper was clearly exhausted during the final two minutes when he made mistakes.

 

[heyman25]

Warren is a good example of GOATs with blind spots - he refused to invest in technology stocks for the longest time, said he didn't understand them. I'm guessing that failure to learn and stretch outside his comfort zone cost him tens of billions.

You've undoubtedly heard of Clayton Christensen. He was on a Podcast years ago and described Coach K's short bench as an organizational failure, for the same reasons that have been mentioned by smart folks on this site over the years: fails to develop new talent, creates an over-reliance on starters, doesn't build a flexible and innovative team culture, etc.

I think my disappointment with Jon is that he doesn't seem to be learning and fixing his own blind spots fast enough given expectations at Duke.

Kentucky game was an example of Clayton Christenson’s observation

 

[sagegrouse]

I'm getting tired of all the lessons our players and coaches need to learn...the past 3 years. Like, are we actually learning or just doing the same thing and hoping for a better result? A good offensive scheme is going to prioritize open looks for the other players over the star trying to do it himself. Every time. Why Jon hasn't figured this out and adapted is frustrating and concerning. Maybe it's because the coach he learned from never figured it out.

I'm trying ingredient to figure out if the best one-word response to your post is "heresy," "hubris" or something more personal.

 

[sagegrouse]

This thread belies the JFK statement: "Victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan."

 

[jv001]

I just finished playing catch up by reading the last 5 or 6 pages of this thread. Some good points.
tommy mentioned Caleb shooting a push shot and he's correct. Last season Caleb shot around 40% on low attempts and his percentage was greatly affected by his great game against Michigan State. He's also a poor FT shooter and it showed up on the miss of his first 1&1 in the loss. He was also a poor defender and doesn't seem to have improved this season. When the team has a poor defender (Caleb) and a below average defender (Kon) playing big minutes, team defense is not as good as it could be. I think Jon knew this and he was using Sion more. When Sion went out, team defense and offense went downhill. Let's hope Sion is not out for a long period. I don't like the idea of playing ASU and Kansas without all our players. Two things, 1) the Kentucky coach was not going to let Kon beat them with his 3-point shooting. K2 didn't get many open looks. However, to Kon's credit he did score inside a few times. I love his hustle and desire to win. 2) I hope the coaching staff has figured out the cramping stuff by now.

GoDuke!

GoDuke!

 

[chrishoke]

I wonder who will be the next to cramp up in a game. Kon? Maybe Evans if he plays a lot in place of Sion. Stay tuned.

 

[rifraf]

Did any of K's championships come during the era where getting the ball into your best player's hands involved giving it to them at the top of the key and just saying "go" while the rest of the team stood around like we saw the other night? Has any championship for any team come from that?

There are a lot of ways to get the ball into your best player's hands and I hope that no one is seriously suggesting that the isoball era is akin to offenses we saw in 2015, 2010 and the 90s? Because it sure feels like the last few years (going back into the end of the K era) our offense in crunch time collapses to our star or stars just trying to force through on raw talent.

K is and was the GOAT, but he would be the first to tell you he was not infallible.

 

[DukieTiger]

Warren is a good example of GOATs with blind spots - he refused to invest in technology stocks for the longest time, said he didn't understand them. I'm guessing that failure to learn and stretch outside his comfort zone cost him tens of billions.

You've undoubtedly heard of Clayton Christensen. He was on a Podcast years ago and described Coach K's short bench as an organizational failure, for the same reasons that have been mentioned by smart folks on this site over the years: fails to develop new talent, creates an over-reliance on starters, doesn't build a flexible and innovative team culture, etc.

I think my disappointment with Jon is that he doesn't seem to be learning and fixing his own blind spots fast enough given expectations at Duke.

The hazardous thing about proclaiming blind spots in others is that, of course, we tend to show our own blind spots in doing so.

 

[mkirsh]

Did any of K's championships come during the era where getting the ball into your best player's hands involved giving it to them at the top of the key and just saying "go" while the rest of the team stood around like we saw the other night? Has any championship for any team come from that?

There are a lot of ways to get the ball into your best player's hands and I hope that no one is seriously suggesting that the isoball era is akin to offenses we saw in 2015, 2010 and the 90s? Because it sure feels like the last few years (going back into the end of the K era) our offense in crunch time collapses to our star or stars just trying to force through on raw talent.

K is and was the GOAT, but he would be the first to tell you he was not infallible.

In 2015 K had Grayson Allen run the same play over and over against Wisconsin with pretty decent success

 

[SouthernDukie]

No word yet on Sion? Surely there has to be some news...

 

[camion]

The hazardous thing about proclaiming blind spots in others is that, of course, we tend to show our own blind spots in doing so.

What is your point? I don't see it.

 

[Chicago 1995]

So as I read through this thread, I’m quoting those comments that support a theme that emerged for me as I watched the game. In the first half, we moved the ball well and we barely turned the ball over.

As the game progressed, we stopped moving the ball. We played iso. We dribbled a lot, and the ball handler at any given time didn’t seem to be moving with purpose or with a plan, while most of our other players barely moved without the ball.

I think we’re at our best when we’re moving the ball a lot, dribbling less, and running offense. That approach also tends to wear down an opponent trying to defend against that passing and ball movement while actually preserving our energy.

Relatedly, I still have PTSD from all of Filipowski’s spin moves into the lane, especially as a PF. When Cooper did that near the end of the game, that PTSD was triggered.

Would love to see us move the ball more and dribble less. Not saying we need to go Bellarmine-level no dribble, but would love to dribble way less. I think having Procter run point could potentially improve this. I’m not convinced that Foster is ready for PG.

Apologies for the meandering post. Hope it makes at least some sense. Long day.

There's an article on the Athletic -- paywalled, so I'm not linking, but it's by CJ Moore -- that's a film review of the Champions Classic games, and his discussion on Duke is that we got "predictable" which I think is in line with what a lot of us, as you summarize in your post, are saying.

I think some of that was fatigue. Man Man and James getting hurt was a problem. But some of it is a recurring problem we've seen from Jon's offenses from time to time.

 

[SouthernDukie]

Unfortunately I think Sion will be out until January. And that's going to likely cost us another couple of games. Yes, he's that important to the team.

Of course, keep in mind that I'm DBR's resident pessimist.

 

[gaap]

I just finished playing catch up by reading the last 5 or 6 pages of this thread. Some good points.
tommy mentioned Caleb shooting a push shot and he's correct. Last season Caleb shot around 40% on low attempts and his percentage was greatly affected by his great game against Michigan State. He's also a poor FT shooter and it showed up on the miss of his first 1&1 in the loss. He was also a poor defender and doesn't seem to have improved this season. When the team has a poor defender (Caleb) and a below average defender (Kon) playing big minutes, team defense is not as good as it could be. I think Jon knew this and he was using Sion more. When Sion went out, team defense and offense went downhill. Let's hope Sion is not out for a long period. I don't like the idea of playing ASU and Kansas without all our players. Two things, 1) the Kentucky coach was not going to let Kon beat them with his 3-point shooting. K2 didn't get many open looks. However, to Kon's credit he did score inside a few times. I love his hustle and desire to win. 2) I hope the coaching staff has figured out the cramping stuff by now.

GoDuke!

GoDuke!

Yes, but Foster's percentage was also greatly affected by his 2-7 against Bucknell and his 1-6 against Queens.

 

[bluedevilwildcats]

The hazardous thing about proclaiming blind spots in others is that, of course, we tend to show our own blind spots in doing so.

Well pretty much by definition, we aren't going to call out blind spots in ourselves, so someone else has gotta do it. Personally don't subscribe to the ignorance is bliss approach.

I certainly don't know as much about basketball as Jon, but I probably do know more about building effective teams, having run marketing organizations from 15 to over 1,000 folks the past 20 years.

 

[Phredd3]

Of course, keep in mind that I'm DBR's resident pessimist.

Unfortunately, that's still the case.

 

[HouseH94]

Unfortunately I think Sion will be out until January. And that's going to likely cost us another couple of games. Yes, he's that important to the team.

Of course, keep in mind that I'm DBR's resident pessimist.

I'm optomistic based on the fact that after he went to the locker room, he came back out without any ice or immobilization on the shoulder and was making gentle shot motions with his arm. If he was seriously injured, would the medical staff allow this? No ice or sling? I'm guessing maybe a deep bruise.

 

[duke79]

While I would have preferred a Duke win, it was still fun to watch a competitive game against a very good opponent. Felt to me like watching an Elite 8 game with much lower stakes.

My biggest takeaway is that Kerr Kriisa would be the most despised player in the country if he played for Duke. I gotta assume that his awful mustache is a shoutout to former UK player Richie Farmer.

View attachment 18632

Speaker of Farmer, a quick Google search informed me that he went on to become the Commissioner of Agriculture in Kentucky. If Kentucky had a Farmer for Agriculture Commissioner, I have to think that sets things up for the Kentucky Department of Transportation to be led by Andrew Carr.

Are you sure that is not John Oates playing basketball, in between his concert gigs?

 

[chrishoke]

Well pretty much by definition, we aren't going to call out blind spots in ourselves, so someone else has gotta do it. Personally don't subscribe to the ignorance is bliss approach.

I certainly don't know as much about basketball as Jon, but I probably do know more about building effective teams, having run marketing organizations from 15 to over 1,000 folks the past 20 years.

Is lack of humility a blind spot?

 

[kAzE]

I haven't been able to post because I was traveling back from the game and was busy last night, but it sucked a lot more being in the actual crowd of drunk and demonstrative UK fans than being in a suite (Jason).

My immediate reactions to what happened in the last 5 minutes of the game were that we did look tired. I said in the moment when Sion got hurt, that I hope he can get back in this game because we needed his defense. Sure enough, the Kentucky guards got a couple of key buckets down the stretch that sealed it for them. Losing Khaman's rim protection also a major factor there. And with all the missed 3s, his offensive rebounding would have been nice.

As many have commented, I also did not like the offensive strategy of spamming Cooper isos. We scored 46 in the first half, why didn't we go back to Tyrese Proctor at least a little? He was playing really well and seemed to get iced out of the offense in the 2nd half. Run some off ball action to get him a couple of looks.

Frustrating loss. I obviously still think our team is way better than theirs, but we gotta get Sion back. I definitely think he's a guy who will close games for us if Caleb Foster is going to play like this.