MBB: Duke 72, KU 75 Post-game Thread

The way they lost this game and the Kentucky game are disappointing. Both very winnable games. To not even get a shot off in the final possessions in both games is tough. The Kon-Flagg pick and roll worked well but Duke is really going to struggle in these big games without their guards able to create offense.
 
Our youngness again. Came down to our two freshmen turning the ball over late. Need to learn and grow from this. We showed a lot of grit.

How do we get guys like Harris to come and stay at Duke? He’s such a great player.
 
We were swimming upstream all night after the slow start, fought hard to keep the score close but could never get over the hump and couldn't finish in closing time. Turnovers, free throw shooting, and rebounding will be the biggest things to work on. Kon shooting terribly in another big game obviously needs to change.

We have the pieces to go far in the tournament but there's a lot of work to do to get there. The offense still feels predictable and uncreative. Despite all that we had three good possessions to take the lead or tie in the final minute and just couldn't convert.

Brown had an incredible game, Proctor's shooting kept us in it, and Cooper learned to adjust to the double teams. A learning experience for sure that will hopefully pay dividends down the road.
 
I know that this thread is going to get ugly, fast. I’m mad too. I literally dropped to my knees when Kon’s shot rimmed out.

But I can’t help but be encouraged by this team’s toughness and resilience. I saw a lot of good adjustments in the second half, up until the last 30 seconds (which I imagine most of this thread will dissect). While the Dickinson call went our way, a LOT of others went against us… and I doubt Kon goes 0-8 from 3 again in his life.

This stings like heck right now, but I feel better about this young team right now than I have a lot of other young Duke teams that have had more wins in the non-conference. If these guys learn and use this as fuel, we’re gonna be fine.

Doesn’t mean this doesn’t suck.
 
Maliq Brown. Holy wanker on his defense.

Kon Knueppel. A bad night shooting the ball but what a playmaker with the ball.

Cooper is learning. This team is improving every game.
 
Missed far too many shots (including FTs), too many TOs, forgot how to rebound the last 5 minutes of the game, and plagued by some horrible officiating throughout yet still only lost by 3. This was a game they definitely could have and probably should have won. Learn from the mistakes and go forward. I think Evans needs some PT and someone has GOT to step up as a PG to win bigger things by years end.
 
This was better than UK. Result the same. But better.

The talking points about Kansas losing Dickinson are overstated. He was overly aggressive most of the game. I'm not sure they were clearly better with him tbh.

The problem is the refs calling those obvious make ups. Call what you call and then move on. I don't think it materially ultimately impacted what was a high level game throughout. But just call the flagrant one if you're gonna overstep to a flagrant two with the thought process you'll help to even it out. One or two of those next fouls were unneeded.

We played well enough. I thought Scheyer was better. I thought Coop was better but still not excellent late. Kon clearly an error leaving his feet there on the crucial late play - freshman needs to learn.

We are top tier. Just poor execution late and at various points. We will clean it up but we are top tier. That was a high level matchup and we were more than game.

- Chillin
 
Put me in the “it was a ‘good loss’” camp. Still I hate to lose.

I think tonight was a big revelation in three ways

1) kon is the teams primary play making guard
2) the boys can hang with the best
3) scheyer really need to work on end game situations
 
Rapid reaction:

  1. I think Kon now has to be our starting PG. He was our best distributor tonight. My question is whether he can distribute and score in the same game, or if doing one takes away too much energy from the other.
  2. We have got to figure out how to win in crunch time. Cooper does so much for us, but the ball unequivocally should not be in his hands for an iso play in the final seconds. (Shades of RJ Barrett, except Zion ain’t walking through that door.)
  3. This team showed a ton of grit and resilience to stay in it after Kansas came out hot. We need to finish the full 40 but props to the guys for hanging tough.
  4. Thought Tyrese, Khaman, Sion, and Maliq were standouts tonight.
  5. Getting pretty sick of losing to Kansas.
Next play.
 
goduke03861 said:
Everyone here lambasted the Kentucky post game thread that Jon would use that to do better the next occasion and he did the exact same thing again. Eventually you have to understand that there's no learning from it bc it's what he's going to keep doing.
Click to expand...
And what exactly is that? This final 5 minutes were very different.

This was the #1 team. A little perspective.
 
We lost the rebounding battle fairly decisively. Kon could have made just one three but let’s not complain about 3’s. Our overall percentage was great. Only things we screwed were turnovers and rebound. That’s youth.
 
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