fidel
Member
Really great stuff! Thanks for sharing here! Loved your Carolina replay as well…
MBB: ACC Champs! Duke 73, 'Ville 62 - Postgame Thread
- Thread starter -jk
- Start date
I watched that interview and chuckled at his answer. Especially because his FTs occurred immediately after the now-infamous lane violation. He also said “I had already had my one miss of the game, so I knew I would make them.”
In the glory days of Duke defense, that wouldn't happen because the ball pressure by the double team was too intense to allow a pass. Last night, the glory days returned.
I love this defense, but I am worried that it is only the guys we have this year and next year we rebuild the d from the ground up. If we can keep some guys to return as veterans, we might be able to replicate this next year. Maliq is key, but Patrick, Caleb, and Isaiah all were exposed to a great defensive core and can help elevate their games and teach the youngins.
No matter what they do, Caleb and Isaiah need to work on their footwork on d. Caleb has improved a lot this season, but there is some room to improve still. Isaiah relies on length and athleticism on d, but his footwork often allows a defender past him.
Indoor66
Well-known member
Heels can hang a tied for third banner.
I thought putting in Gillis instead of Evans changed the game. When our big went out to double the ball handler, Gillis was able to drop down and cover the post, not allowing some of their passes that worked in the first half. Evans has improved on defense, but was still missing some assignments (at least two open threes they hit when he was out of position and didn’t recover.). I don’t think what Gillis added is in Isaiah’s wheelhouse…yet.
I pretty much assume that Jon has appreciated how well his roster construction has worked. Getting three grown men to augment the talented frosh was just what the doctor ordered. Need more of those guys for next year, though of course we get Brown back.
It seems we might get even bigger next year. We seem to be stockpiling 6'9" PF's who can fill multiple roles on the court. I am assuming it is intended to have them share the court with each other.
It is difficult to know that our next loss (or our 6th win from now) will be Sion's last game in a Duke jersey. He is one of the most thoroughly likeable and effective Duke players ever. Sometimes multiple games go by where it seems he doesn't make a single mistake. He's like a big, strong version of a Jones brother. We should call him Sion Stones as an honorific.
CameronBornAndBred
Well-known member
Great observation and thanks for bringing it up. In every interview I watched after the game, Scheyer called out the fans for how great they are. They were definitely heard and are appreciated!
BandAlum83
Member
I hope all the in-game chatters begging for CJS to pull him for IE hear this.
Each game has needed its own mix, and our young coach has proven to be a master mixologist!
Not only that, but he set up the bar at the start of the season with the most completely stocked bar I've ever seen in this establishment!
CameronBlue
Member
and you would be correct, at least from the talking heads I've sampled. It's most frequently Florida, then Auburn...and then it's, and Duke will get a #1 seed. Thirteen SEC teams are expected to receive bids and one prognosticator, Josh Pastner, former Memphis and GaTech coach is calling for 14 SEC teams.
BandAlum83
Member
ClemmonsDevil
Member
Lovely win last night! Also pretty glad Duke got Louisville, rather than Clemson. Louisville is a guard dominated team with serviceable bigs. Their big on little ball screen bothered Duke in the first half and the adjustment to use the Duke big to double was really hard on Louisville. I love Hepburn, but he's a little guard and there was simply no way he was going to be able to pick Duke apart with that double team. He can't see over it and it was a very aggressive double.
Louisville tried to counter by short rolling the center to the free throw line in the last 10 minutes of the second half, but their bigs aren't exactly made for that. Clemson's are. Duke was just letting the bigs go and assuming that Louisville didn't have the horses in the post to exploit the double. Which was correct.
You can make the case that Louisville should have countered by eschewing the big on little screen in favor of a guard on guard screen. But they didn't.
I want to see Clemson and Louisville make the Elite 8. Need to see some ACC representation.
Louisville tried to counter by short rolling the center to the free throw line in the last 10 minutes of the second half, but their bigs aren't exactly made for that. Clemson's are. Duke was just letting the bigs go and assuming that Louisville didn't have the horses in the post to exploit the double. Which was correct.
You can make the case that Louisville should have countered by eschewing the big on little screen in favor of a guard on guard screen. But they didn't.
I want to see Clemson and Louisville make the Elite 8. Need to see some ACC representation.
Just loving what this team has done all season, and the experience of winning three bruising games after the really dark first half of the Georgia Tech game has made a special season even more special, with the big tournament yet to come.
Just a few notes to add:
* Injuries or no injuries, our team is occasionally vulnerable to other teams getting hot or moving the ball crisply and catching us on back cuts or skip passes. Illinois got us early, Georgia Tech took it at us early, Louisville beat us a lot with baseline cuts targeting our big men in last night’s first half.
But we always manage to adjust and shut off the other team’s supply eventually, and we now know that it doesn’t have be Maliq and Coop, all ten players can contribute, whether it’s our young bigs trapping high or our beefy guards patrolling the back line.
* Said it in the UNC post game thread and I’ll say it again: the experience of this weekend for Man Man and Patrick can’t be overstated. Previously they got yanked quickly if they were making mistakes on defense. They learned so much in these three games, and showing out the way they did in the final was so awesome.
* Scheyer has been especially good at managing the players and credit to the guys for buying in. I thought to myself going into the second half that we needed one of Foster, Evans or Gillis to step up, that we couldn’t burden our best five to six guys given the stress of three straight games.
I wouldn’t have picked Gillis to step up given his struggles, but Jon recognized we needed his defense on the back line and needed to limit our turnovers, and the scheme Jon set up in the second half worked like a charm. (Evans and Foster didn’t do much in the second half, but I don’t doubt they’ll be ready in the tournament when Jon needs them)
* Edwards had some incredible shot making for Louisville in the second half — I’ve always liked his funky game dating back to his James Madison days — but I felt comfortable knowing he was very much doing an RJ Davis in Chapel Hill thing that couldn’t be sustained. Sure enough, once he started to falter, Louisville didn’t have a counter.
* As much as I hated it at the time, I now think that the near collapse against UNC will really serve us well in the tournament if we ever encounter another tense late game situation. We really hadn’t had any sphincter tightening moments once the team started to roll, and you can’t get much tenser than nearly blowing a huge lead against your rival.
* The disrespect and skepticism from opposing fan bases of other more lauded conferences (*cough* SEC schools *cough*) will also serve this team well. I remember how the 1999 team was so dominant that all the pundits were crowning us champions going into the Final Four and didn’t give opponents any respect. This group has a major chip on its shoulder and even more togetherness than that extremely formidable 99 team, they’ll show the rest of the country how good they really are in the coming weeks.
Just a few notes to add:
* Injuries or no injuries, our team is occasionally vulnerable to other teams getting hot or moving the ball crisply and catching us on back cuts or skip passes. Illinois got us early, Georgia Tech took it at us early, Louisville beat us a lot with baseline cuts targeting our big men in last night’s first half.
But we always manage to adjust and shut off the other team’s supply eventually, and we now know that it doesn’t have be Maliq and Coop, all ten players can contribute, whether it’s our young bigs trapping high or our beefy guards patrolling the back line.
* Said it in the UNC post game thread and I’ll say it again: the experience of this weekend for Man Man and Patrick can’t be overstated. Previously they got yanked quickly if they were making mistakes on defense. They learned so much in these three games, and showing out the way they did in the final was so awesome.
* Scheyer has been especially good at managing the players and credit to the guys for buying in. I thought to myself going into the second half that we needed one of Foster, Evans or Gillis to step up, that we couldn’t burden our best five to six guys given the stress of three straight games.
I wouldn’t have picked Gillis to step up given his struggles, but Jon recognized we needed his defense on the back line and needed to limit our turnovers, and the scheme Jon set up in the second half worked like a charm. (Evans and Foster didn’t do much in the second half, but I don’t doubt they’ll be ready in the tournament when Jon needs them)
* Edwards had some incredible shot making for Louisville in the second half — I’ve always liked his funky game dating back to his James Madison days — but I felt comfortable knowing he was very much doing an RJ Davis in Chapel Hill thing that couldn’t be sustained. Sure enough, once he started to falter, Louisville didn’t have a counter.
* As much as I hated it at the time, I now think that the near collapse against UNC will really serve us well in the tournament if we ever encounter another tense late game situation. We really hadn’t had any sphincter tightening moments once the team started to roll, and you can’t get much tenser than nearly blowing a huge lead against your rival.
* The disrespect and skepticism from opposing fan bases of other more lauded conferences (*cough* SEC schools *cough*) will also serve this team well. I remember how the 1999 team was so dominant that all the pundits were crowning us champions going into the Final Four and didn’t give opponents any respect. This group has a major chip on its shoulder and even more togetherness than that extremely formidable 99 team, they’ll show the rest of the country how good they really are in the coming weeks.
BandAlum83
Member
You know what, I leave the shadenfraude for others.
I don't spend any time or energy or phsycic capital on UNC. I just don't care.
The opposite of love isn't hate, its indifference!
ClemmonsDevil
Member
My post above is related to this.
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robed deity
Member
Those were two absolute dimes. I didn't know he had that in his game. He will make a lot of money soon.
A cool moment for Kon and his parents. A kid that people questioned why he was even going to Duke because they assumed he wouldn't start and would struggle for playing time. Naturally he has been overshadowed by the media playing with Cooper.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Congrats to ACC tournament MVP Kon Knueppel. <a href="https://t.co/Qo5joyUNmR">pic.twitter.com/Qo5joyUNmR</a></p>— Wayne Bumpass (@WayneBumpass) <a href=" ">March 16, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Congrats to ACC tournament MVP Kon Knueppel. <a href="https://t.co/Qo5joyUNmR">pic.twitter.com/Qo5joyUNmR</a></p>— Wayne Bumpass (@WayneBumpass) <a href=" ">March 16, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Bull City Proud
Member
Disagree, St John’s is better conditioned
sciencegeek
Member
Was it just me, or did anyone else see Gillis and Scheyer having an intense discussion after the game during celebrations?
ClemmonsDevil
Member
100%. I watch them if they play Duke. Don't spend a second worrying about them. I am always surprised by how much my Tar Heel buddies feel the need to weigh in on Duke. I think I watched 5 UNC games all year. I have watched way more Auburn and Alabama.