MBB: Duke 72, KU 75 Post-game Thread

This has been my point from the beginning of the season. I’m so tired of the “we’ll get better with time, yada, yada…” With the current state of the ACC, Duke has to schedule big non-conference games at the beginning of the season, and they have to win them. Gotta be ready to play at a high level from the jump, like Kansas has been. They were clearly the better team: stronger, tougher, better shooters, better defense, better coaching. The 1 seed is gone at this point. If we win every game from now until March we have a shot at a 2 or 3. Lose a few games, we’re a 4. My expectations have officially been lowered for this season, and the story is already sounding all too familiar. Young Duke players and young Duke coach outplayed and out coached by more experienced guys in critical moments. Lots of talent that will be awesome in a few years— when they’re in the NBA. Another run to the Sweet 16, Elite 8! Yay.
While I do feel like the opportunities for big wins are passing us by, a 2 to 4 loss Duke team is more than likely an easy 1 seed. My concerns are less about our potential seeding and moreso around can we fix the problems to end up as a 2 to 4 loss Duke team. If the offense doesn't figure it out, no matter how good our defense is, we won't meet the goals we set at the beginning of the season.
 
Lots of posts in this thread read that way. Some actually made me laugh out loud. Maybe I could understand it if we got destroyed, but we didn't.

We are six games into the season with two returning players and with three freshmen playing half our minutes. We've had people declare that Flagg should literally never have the ball in his hands down the stretch, that Kon simply cannot shoot at this level, plus a laundry list of things that Scheyer is getting wrong. Oh, and apparently losing to Kansas is a bad loss.

Any loss to Kansas stings. But sometimes ... and hear me out here ... teams bringing in six new players take more than six games to come together. It's November. There are plenty of positive signs, and there is plenty of time for this team to learn from their mistakes, and to correct them or otherwise make adjustments.
Sure you can make adjustments, but you have to win the early non conference games for seeding in March. We see it happen every year. The ACC is weak, which for a team like Duke means they have to beat a couple of quality teams to start the season. We’ve failed at that, and now won’t get the favorable seed to make a final four run. This is why people are so upset. It’s frustrating.
 
I do not think a 1 seed is out of the question. We still have Auburn and two UNC matchups coming up. We play Pittsburgh who is Kempom #16, Illinois who is Kenpom #21, and Clemson who is Kenpom #23. All in all, there are 9 ACC teams in the top 75. If we do well against this slate, while also dominating the ACC, a #1 seed is very much in play. I will admit the Kentucky loss hurt our chances a bit, moreso than this Kansas loss.
 
I'm just gonna go out on a limb here and state that, if we win every game for the rest of the season, not only will we be a 1 seed, we will be the #1 overall seed. If math serves me correctly, that would put us at 32-2 lol. A shot at a 2 or a 3? Lol.

Some of you just need to take a deep breath and step back a little here and relax.
Sorry, but I’ve seen it happen too many times in past years to just take it easy with early season losses. It’s unfortunate and maybe unfair that we get penalized for conference being weak, but it happens every year. You HAVE to win these games. And we know we’ll lose some more games, we’re won’t go 32-2. And we’ll end up a 3 or 4 seed.
 
Sure you can make adjustments, but you have to win the early non conference games for seeding in March. We see it happen every year. The ACC is weak, which for a team like Duke means they have to beat a couple of quality teams to start the season. We’ve failed at that, and now won’t get the favorable seed to make a final four run. This is why people are so upset. It’s frustrating.
It is still possible to get a 1 seed. Unquestionably so. If we win out, we'll be a 1 seed, and most likely the #1 overall seed. I would imagine that if we beat Auburn and wind up with 4 losses or fewer this year, we'll be a 1 seed. Maybe even with 5 losses. But, obviously, the path to a 1 seed just got MUCH more difficult. There is no longer really any margin for error.
 
Sorry, but I’ve seen it happen too many times in past years to just take it easy with early season losses. It’s unfortunate and maybe unfair that we get penalized for conference being weak, but it happens every year. You HAVE to win these games. And we know we’ll lose some more games, we’re won’t go 32-2. And we’ll end up a 3 or 4 seed.

That may very well be true. It will be very difficult to get a 1 seed. But what you said in the previous post (which drew the response you are replying to here) was "if we win out, we'll maybe be a 2 or 3." Which is not correct. There will not be 4 teams (much less 8) with a resume to top a 32-2 record in a major conference.
 
The problem is he’s hot against bad teams and cold against good teams.
Against Kentucky he looked rushed and was missing well-defended shots. Against Kansas he missed some good, in rhythm looks he should have made. He shot well (from three) against Arizona.

The shot selection can improve. Maybe the pressure or the venue rattled him. But we’ll need him to keep taking the good shots.
 
Sorry, but I’ve seen it happen too many times in past years to just take it easy with early season losses. It’s unfortunate and maybe unfair that we get penalized for conference being weak, but it happens every year. You HAVE to win these games. And we know we’ll lose some more games, we’re won’t go 32-2. And we’ll end up a 3 or 4 seed.
While I do agree that the perception behind the ACC being weak punishes us, I think there are more Q1 chances on our schedule than last year. Of course the NET rankings are fluid and we won't see the first official NET rankings until next month, if you use Kenpom's rankings, it looks to me that we have at least 9 more Q1 opportunities. Again, I know this is fluid...but my point is we have more opportunities.
 
That may very well be true. It will be very difficult to get a 1 seed. But what you said in the previous post (which drew the response you are replying to here) was "if we win out, we'll maybe be a 2 or 3." Which is not correct. There will not be 4 teams (much less 8) with a resume to top a 32-2 record in a major conference.
In 2024, UNC got a 1 with a 28-6 record. The other 1s all had 3 losses coming in.

In 2023, Purdue got a 1 with a 29-5 record, and Kansas with a 28-6 record.

Not only will there not be four 32-2 teams this year, there haven’t been four such teams over the last two seasons combined.

If history is a guide, we still have a shot at a 1 seed if we lose to Auburn and drop 2-3 ACC games. But that would depend on how other teams perform (and we’d need to win against the better teams in the ACC).
 
While I do agree that the perception behind the ACC being weak punishes us, I think there are more Q1 chances on our schedule than last year. Of course the NET rankings are fluid and we won't see the first official NET rankings until next month, if you use Kenpom's rankings, it looks to me that we have at least 9 more Q1 opportunities. Again, I know this is fluid...but my point is we have more opportunities.
Maybe so, but when it comes to March, Gonzaga will get their now automatic bid as #1 in the west. Kansas is looking strong and undefeated for #1 in the Midwest. That leaves two #1 slots available, and I haven’t seen auburn but lots of folks are saying they look really strong. If we don’t beat them in Cameron, not likely we’d get #1 in the South.
That leaves us fighting the field for the last #1.

I was thrilled to have more Q1 opportunities on the schedule this year because that’s really the only chance we have at a 1 seed. But you have to win these games!

Also, maybe im over-emphasizing the need for a 1 seed to make a deep run, but I just feel like these younger, inexperienced Duke teams need all the advantages they can get. Otherwise they get worn down or roughed up in an early round matchup and can’t advance.
 
Against Kentucky he looked rushed and was missing well-defended shots. Against Kansas he missed some good, in rhythm looks he should have made. He shot well (from three) against Arizona.

The shot selection can improve. Maybe the pressure or the venue rattled him. But we’ll need him to keep taking the good shots.
I disagree strongly with your statement that Kon looked rushed against KY. I rewatched that game paying particular attention to all of our 3 point shots. With the exception of one shot that got partially blocked his shots were open and in rhythm.
 
I'm just gonna go out on a limb here and state that, if we win every game for the rest of the season, not only will we be a 1 seed, we will be the #1 overall seed. If math serves me correctly, that would put us at 32-2 lol. A shot at a 2 or a 3? Lol.

Some of you just need to take a deep breath and step back a little here and relax.
Good luck on that last part, ain't gonna happen unfortunately.
 
Kansas 75, Duke 72 (recap, box score, highlights, presser)

Duke men's basketball dropped a back-and-forth matchup with top-ranked Kansas, 75-72, on Tuesday night inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. The Blue Devils were led by Tyrese Proctor, who scored 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc.

Proctor was joined by three teammates in double-figures, as Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel and Sion James scored 13, 11 and 10, respectively. Knueppel finished the contest with a career-high eight assists and Maliq Brown led the defensive effort with a season-high four steals...

The Blue Devils got 23 bench points, the fourth time in six games that Duke has finished with at least 20 points from their bench. Kansas out-rebounded the Blue Devils, 31-25, marking the first time this season that Duke finished with a negative margin on the glass...

The Blue Devils shot 50% from the field (24-of-48), converting on at least half of their shots for the first time since the season-opener versus Maine. Duke's 42.3% shooting from behind the arc is the team's second-best percentage from distance this season (44.7% vs. Army).




If you don't feel like watching the presser, GoDuke has a PDF of postgame Scheyer quotes that's worth a read.

“We focused, the whole summer, on being our best in March. That doesn’t mean we want to sacrifice winning in November. Every game, we’ve been coming in to win. That’s what we can do, and should do. Tonight was no different. But I think if you ask our guys, this road trip in particular, the lessons we’ll have learned from this is going to make us stronger. To be in this environment – [Dajuan] Harris Jr. and [KJ] Adams, in particular, how many games have they been in like this? I think it showed. Their poise down the stretch. Their toughness. It’s a big-time college basketball game, both ways. For our freshmen, to learn and grow from this, is going to be off the charts. You can’t simulate this in practice.”
 
This Duke team fights like hell, I like their toughness! However, our biggest problem looks like we just don’t have a playmaking point guard that create in critical moments of the game! That may just be our Achilles heel this season! I do know one thing, handing the ball to Flagg or Kon in the closing seconds ain’t getting it done! Having a player that CAN get them set up for a final shot is lacking. Tyrese snd Brown were tough as nails most of the night. This team is a work in progress, if they remain healthy, they can get there in February. They just need to learn how to finish!
 
I know we will be vastly different in March. We really need Proctor and Foster to improve. Just not a dynamic playmaking guard at the moment. James can handle the ball and is tough and we played through Kon tonight, but gonna be hard to win a chip without better play from Foster and Proctor. I know Proctor had 15 but they combined for 2 assists.
I agree that they need to improve, but in their defense, it is hard to get assists when Kon and Coop are initiating so much of the offense at the top of the key. You can’t get assists if you are not touching the ball.
 
That may very well be true. It will be very difficult to get a 1 seed. But what you said in the previous post (which drew the response you are replying to here) was "if we win out, we'll maybe be a 2 or 3." Which is not correct. There will not be 4 teams (much less 8) with a resume to top a 32-2 record in a major conference.
Yeah. #1 seeds are very very rarely lost in November.
 
“You’re never as bad as you are after a loss and never as good as you are after a win” should be changed to “We aren’t as bad as our board pessimists make us out to be but aren’t as good as our board optimists believe either.”

As for me I think that as long as we continue to live in an “Eternal November” (i.e constantly turning over a very young team reliant on underclassmen) we have a ceiling in today’s portal era. A high ceiling, but not as high as most of us would want.
 
After some negativity last night, a quick shout-out to Maliq Brown. What a great performance. Incredible asset for this team going forward. He cements our tough, pestering defensive identity. And I'd rather have that piece figured out at this point with the offense trailing than the other way around.
 
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