Maryland Game Thoughts

[DukeDevilDeb]

Josh spent more time pouting than shooting last night. I agree that a Hurley-like video could do some good. And some of the shots he tried to take when he wasn't rush and had passing options... I just didn't get it. When he gets the ball, I cheer for a moment, then realize what's going to happen, and get sad.

We need a big man who is assertive and powerful. Josh is neither with the exception of a basket or two throughout the season.

This is one year when "Next game" and "Next season" will be a relief!

 

[willywoody]

I don't think we can use DN being sick as an excuse for his forcing terrible shots and no court vision. Unless, he has been sick all year.

that's pretty harsh. i'll agree nelson has forced too many shots in deep and has failed to find the open man when double or triple teamed more than i'd like to see all season long.

however, i made my original statement about his health with regards to his quickness which seemed off a step last night. he wasn't the only one who looked slow and i wondered if a few of the guys might have a cold or something.

 

[bhd28]

Josh spent more time pouting than shooting last night. I agree that a Hurley-like video could do some good. And some of the shots he tried to take when he wasn't rush and had passing options... I just didn't get it. When he gets the ball, I cheer for a moment, then realize what's going to happen, and get sad.

We need a big man who is assertive and powerful. Josh is neither with the exception of a basket or two throughout the season.

This is one year when "Next game" and "Next season" will be a relief!

It still surprises me how people feel that way about McRoberts. He shoots 50% from the field, has 3.5 assists per game with over 1.6 A/T ratio. Please let me know which other player on our team does better with the ball in his hands. And please use some sort of statistics... not just a "I know his percentage is low, but I feel better with XXX shooting" or "sure he makes some, but it looks like he throws it at the basket."

 

[Chard]

9. Enjoy the rest of the season with this team. Remember how hard they are trying to get better and how badly they want to win. Remember the struggles of this season and appreciate what its like to not be the best all the time. This season has been so much fun. The rewarding thing, I think for coaches and players is not alway the destination of the season, but the journey that makes up the season. This team is exponentially better than they were just 4 months ago. Appreciate that. Enjoy it. And soak up the remaining games... who knows how many there will be...?

I wish I could sticky this at the top of the boards. Great point. I'm really enjoying this group grow.

 

[Chard]

Josh spent more time pouting than shooting last night. I agree that a Hurley-like video could do some good. And some of the shots he tried to take when he wasn't rush and had passing options... I just didn't get it. When he gets the ball, I cheer for a moment, then realize what's going to happen, and get sad.

We need a big man who is assertive and powerful. Josh is neither with the exception of a basket or two throughout the season.

This is one year when "Next game" and "Next season" will be a relief!

I hope you didn't mean that last part. There may be some reading this right now that may not get to see next season. You should really be enjoying the growth of this team.

As for your first remark, I agree. I mentioned it on the interim board and I'll mention it again. Josh needs to keep his composure. Come to think of it, so do we. He is only 19, right? He'll mature and hopefully in a Duke uniform.

 

[dukelifer]

McRoberts

Josh is a great player- but he is frustrating as well. But that is what happens when you are not a finished product and he is not. For all his gifts and he has many- he struggles to score in certain situations because of poor fundamentals. We need him on the floor because what he does in every other aspect of the game is at a high level. It is frustrating that the shooting (other than rim rocking dunks) is not at the same level as his other gifts. usually it is the other way around. He needs to understand what he can and cannot do against certain teams. Poor shot selection can sometimes kill a team. Yesterday- certain shots were ill advised and you could tell that as hey were being taken. But - I for one- would not trade Josh for anyone. He is fun to watch- just would like him to adjust and use his strengths more.

 

[bhd28]

Josh is a great player- but he is frustrating as well. But that is what happens when you are not a finished product and he is not. For all his gifts and he has many- he struggles to score in certain situations because of poor fundamentals. We need him on the floor because what he does in every other aspect of the game is at a high level. It is frustrating that the shooting (other than rim rocking dunks) is not at the same level as his other gifts. usually it is the other way around. He needs to understand what he can and cannot do against certain teams. Poor shot selection can sometimes kill a team. Yesterday- certain shots were ill advised and you could tell that as hey were being taken. But - I for one- would not trade Josh for anyone. He is fun to watch- just would like him to adjust and use his strengths more.

IMHO... MUCH better critique of Josh. I agree with most everything you said... but that isn't why I thik it was better. It just bothers me when people say they cringe whenever one of our players has the ball. It is like saying... "I see a post by XXX and just get sick to my stomach because I know something stupid is about to be said." If that is the way you want to roll, so be it... but people will probably criticize you. I know it rubs me the wrong way

I was worried about Josh as soon as I heard about the back injury. Then he said at the beginning of the season that he had worked on his ball handling and passing a lot (because he couldn't have contact after the injury? Because of Greg's injury?). That made me worry more. Those are his strengths. Josh always says in interviews that he doesn't care what people think about him... that he just wants to help his team win. Hopefullyl he sees that for Duke to win, he needs to really work on his post offense (the passing and ball handling are there). He needs to work on his strength, drop-step, skill at sealing his opponent, hook, and a jumpshot (his shot now is a set-shot that would get blocked by most decent defenders). Most of all, he needs confidence. When he catches and reacts quickly, he is okay. When he goes slow and tries to make something develop, he looks like he is trying to not miss rather than just shooting. If he really wants to do whatever he can to help the team win, then he will stay and work really hard this summer. Hopefully he will stay... and stay healty... and stay motivated. If he does that... Greg continues to work on his defense and handle (plus a floater), and Jon works on his shooting... we could be scary next year. I will just enjoy this team (ups and downs) as much as possible along the way.

 

[Cavlaw]

While I sometimes cringe when I sense Nelson is going to force something, don't shortchange the kid.

As of yesterday's stats, he has the best field goal percentage on the team and 10th best in the ACC [Apologies on formatting - I tried to fix it somewhat after pasting it in, all stats from theacc.com]:

FIELD GOAL PCT (Min. 5.0 made per game)
## Player-Team Cl G FG FGA Pct
----------------------------------------------------
1.Brandan Wright-NC........FR 28 173 266 .650
2.Ben McCauley-ST..........SO 28 173 291 .595
3.Kyle Visser-WF........... SR 28 171 291 .588
4.Jared Dudley-BC.......... SR 25 165 284 .581
5.Tyler Hansbrough-NC.... SO 29 179 338 .530
6.Al Thornton-FS........... SR 29 194 373 .520
7.D.J. Strawberry-MD.......SR 30 165 331 .498
8.Toney Douglas-FS.........SO 24 120 245 .490
9.Thaddeus Young-GT...... FR 27 149 305 .489
10.DeMarcus Nelson-DU......JR 30 159 326 .488

He's also 17th in ppg (the highest of any Duke player).

As for Josh playing down low, I agree with the sentiment that he is a great defender but doesn't yet know his role on offense. It isn't his scoring that concerns me so much (though he's a bit of an enigma, hitting difficult shots from odd angles while missing some gimmies), but rather the smaller number of offensive rebounds because he plays so far away from the basket (which could lead to more points).

Take a look at the leaders in offense and defensive rebounds:

OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS
## Player-Team Cl G No. Avg/G
----------------------------------------------
1.Dwayne Collins-UM.......FR 29 93 3.21
2.Jared Dudley-BC..........SR 25 78 3.12
3.Al Thornton-FS...........SR 29 90 3.10
4.Tyler Hansbrough-NC...SO 29 87 3.00
5.Trevor Booker-CU........FR 29 84 2.90
6.Kyle Visser-WF...........SR 28 80 2.86
7.James Mays-CU.......... JR 29 82 2.83
8.Ekene Ibekwe-MD........SR 29 77 2.66
9.Ben McCauley-ST........SO 28 68 2.43
10.Thaddeus Young-GT....FR 27 64 2.37


DEFENSIVE REBOUNDS
## Player-Team Cl G No. Avg/G
----------------------------------------------
1.Brandon Costner-ST..... FR 28 166 5.93
2.Josh McRoberts-DU...... SO 30 176 5.87
3.Jared Dudley-BC.......... SR 25 138 5.52
4.James Gist-MD............ JR 30 149 4.97
5.Ekene Ibekwe-MD.........SR 29 140 4.83
6.Tyler Hansbrough-NC....SO 29 133 4.59
7.Brandan Wright-NC...... FR 28 122 4.36
Gavin Grant-ST........... JR 28 122 4.36
9.Jason Cain-VA............ SR 27 116 4.30
10.Kyle Visser-WF........... SR 28 120 4.29

Perhaps Josh is #11 and just off the list (and there are certainly some outliers on the offensive glass, like Thornton and Collins) but Josh is a dominant defensive rebounder, leading a Duke team that is #1 in the league in defensive rebounds.

On the offensive end he is not in the top ten, and Duke is 7th in the league, averaging about 6.5 fewer offensive rebounds than league leader UNC.

I don't know enough basketball to know whether the gain he gets in terms of assists and court vision by playing higher up helps the team more than playing lower would, so maybe someone could educate me there, but I also note that Duke has nobody in the top ten in either assists or assists/turnover, and ranks 8th in assists and 10th in assists/turnovers. It might also be that he clears out to allow our guards to drive, or the forwards to cut to the basket, something someone who knows more about the game might comment on.

I also believe that if we get a big man to play lower and get more of those offensive rebounds, said big man might be able to pick up a decent load of garbage points to help our offensive production.

As an aside, I know some of the stats are biased due to the unbalanced schedule, so I leave it to someone who knows the game better than I do to figure out the effect of that.

Also, it seemed to me that Josh volleyed a lot of rebounds last night, which either went Maryland's way or the terps outhustled our nearest guy. Did I imagine that, is it unusual, or have I been missing that tendency in other games.

To be clear, I'm not trying to knock Josh - I think he's a very good player (esp. on the defensive side), who can make really difficult shots, but it does appear like her could make some changes to his offensive game.

 

[dukelifer]

Nelson

IMHO Nelson has improved a ton. If the kid could hit his throws at 75% or better he would be among the league leaders in scoring. He needs to rebuild his free throw form this summer. Nelson also needs to work on shooting off the dribble and ball handling. I suspect he will. He has played the first season of his career healthy. That is a huge step for him. These guys are all getting better.

 

[bhd28]

IMHO Nelson has improved a ton. If the kid could hit his throws at 75% or better he would be among the league leaders in scoring. He needs to rebuild his free throw form this summer. Nelson also needs to work on shooting off the dribble and ball handling. I suspect he will. He has played the first season of his career healthy. That is a huge step for him. These guys are all getting better.

I do wonder how much they work with guys on their shooting form. I read something recently about Joe Johnson having to rebuild his shot going into the draft. A few of our guys need major work with their shooting form. Nelson comes to mind. Josh also... Josh has the same issue Joe Johnson had, he doesn't really have a jumpshot. It is more of a set-shot with a low release point. That could spell trouble at the next level. If Duke does a good job on working with those guys to improve those kind of things, it would likely help keep guys like Josh at Duke to work on their game rather than him going to the NBA to get that kind of help.

 

[tele]

I didn't see the game, just followed it online with playbyplay gametracker. So from that limited perspective here are a few thoughts: 1) Nelson provided much needed points early in the game when no one else seemed to be scoring much, later in the game maybe he tried to carry things a bit too much.

2) Duke seemed to be pushing the tempo from the get go, from the gametracker there seemed to be quite a few 7 second possessions. Couldn't really tell if they were good shots or not, but i was thinking just slow it down, why would you push the tempo against a longer, maybe quicker, maybe more athletic team? So why would you? Was wondering if Coach K was trying to change things up by playing to the turts strengths or get his team to play a bit differently before the chapel hill game and the tourneys.

3) I noticed after a number of timeouts that a duke play seemed to be run to result in a shot by Mcbob. Made me wonder if he was really the guy to go to each time since i don't remember him making any of them. Maybe that's how you learn. All in all there wasn't much offense generated from the big guys inside, were marylands bigs that much better?

4) what happened to McClure in the second half, didn't seem to be on the court much or in foul trouble, was he one of the players that was ailing?

5) Besides the general distastefulness of losing to the turts, this game may do some good getting ready for the next game and then the tourneys.

t

 

[mapei]

I just wrote three very eloquent paragraphs that were lost when my wireless connection went funky.

Summary: DeMarcus seems to be polarizing. I'm firmly with Jason and the other critics WRT his offense. I think he makes spectacular plays, but for both teams.

 

[DukeDevilDeb]

1. DeMarcus came out and hit three quick three's... they were vital. He then hit a 2 for 14 points in about 4 minutes... he quieted down after that. I love this kid, but he makes some very bad on-court decisions.

2. I'm not so sure we were playing up tempo on purpose. Early in the game when we were really hitting, that might have been true, but there was no doubt that K did NOT want to play to the Turtles' strengths. They got so many back doors and so many easy shots throughout... it was painful. It was especially so in the 5 minutes that followed our guys' run in the second half.

3. Josh was 5-13 in field goal attempts (0-1 in 3 pointers). Most of those misses were really pretty pathetic. He would take it to the basket, shoot two inches from the rim, and miss. Frankly, I thought this was his worst performance. Taking poor shots--combined with whining and pouting about not having fouls called--really put him in a poor light. I know that NBA drafts on potential, but I have a lot of difficulty seeing the #2 who played last night in the NBA right away.

4. I don't know what happened to Dave. He made some truly spectacular rebounds when he was in--two or three of them TRULY amazing. Yet his offensive production was non existant. He made 2 points, but he flubbed several free throws and other scoring options. I think Coach K was looking for someone to put some points on the board whose name wasn't Greg Paulus (especially in the second half.

5. In many ways, this was the worst game our guys have played this year, especially in comparison to their previous four games. We weren't talking on defense; we weren't scrambling for loose balls; we weren't getting into the passing lanes and creating steals; and we were handing the Turtles easy, easy shots on offense. For a team whose defense has been the object of praise from nearly everyone, their defense stank last night.

I really had some hope that they could win these last two games and get into the top four in the league. That hope has now been put to bed. We may still be able to beat UNC, but I doubt it.

That makes me, and all of us, really sad!

 

[Buckeye Devil]

Not a surprise to lose this game and the next one

This loss is not a surprise. Maryland is playing great ball right now and is a better, more experienced team, as much it pains me to admit it. Plus, I think that Maryland thrives on playing and whipping Duke. Penetration and quick- ness from the guard has typically played a key role when Duke loses this year and the turtles generally looked quicker in general. Add in the play and poor attitude of McRoberts and the loss makes sense. Scheyer just never seemed to get into the game either.

Paulus played well offensively and showed a willingness to take and make a shot when Duke needed a score. Henderson was great and needs some more PT. He is really the only player that can create his own shot and needs to do so more often. As for DeMarcus, he does get himself into jams quite often and doesn't seem to be able to do anything but put up a hopeless shot. Could it be that he is taking it upon himself to try to make something happen, even when it isn't there?

Don't be too hard on this team. After all they did win 4 in a row. And don't expect a different result on Sunday. It just doesn't seem to be in the cards this year. By the way, when was the last time Duke got swept by both UNC and Maryland?

 

[MulletMan]

Why?

We may still be able to beat UNC, but I doubt it.

That makes me, and all of us, really sad!

I'm sorry... did I miss something? Is UNC unbeatable? No. Is this DUKE-UNC? Yes. Can anything happen in these games? Yes. Does our defense, when played properly and well, cause tremendous problems for a Heels team that can't run the half court offense? Yes.

C'mon... have a little faith!