MBB: Duke 76, Pitt 47 Post-game Thread

CDu said:
I mean, he hasn’t been very good this year. By BPM, he hasn’t been in a tie with Gillis for the lowest among the regulars.

Whether or not he is very good (relatively speaking of course) is unknown at this point. His level of play to this point suggests he is playing like a fringe rotation guy.

Hopefully that changes moving forward. I really want to see him do well as he chose Duke and has chosen to stay at Duke despite a smaller role as a freshman. But at the moment I am not seeing a massive argument that his detractors are wrong.
Click to expand...
I'm in the wait and see camp. I've seen too many flashes of talent to write the kid off. And clearly Jon saw enough in his game to start him at PG this season.
 
SkyBrickey said:
I'm in the wait and see camp. I've seen too many flashes of talent to write the kid off. And clearly Jon saw enough in his game to start him at PG this season.
Click to expand...
I’m curious about this. I wonder if Caleb was promised the role in order to get him to come back to Duke. He seems to be the least equipped.

Or maybe it was just part of the master plan to move Tyrese to the 2.
 
SkyBrickey said:
Love Kedsy but I would love 40% from 3 from Foster even more!

Worth noting that Gillis on the season is still 18 points off his 3 point shooting % from last season - much more of a year over year slump than Foster. The truth is both should be between last year and this year so far, and will hopefully regress to the mean.
Click to expand...
Gillis may be a 40% 3P shooter over his career, but he also shot 35% as a freshman and a junior. New team, new school, new role gives him an early pass in my book. Plus the whole Duke plays a lot better when he's on the court thingy.
 
kshepinthehouse said:
I’m curious about this. I wonder if Caleb was promised the role in order to get him to come back to Duke. He seems to be the least equipped.

Or maybe it was just part of the master plan to move Tyrese to the 2.
Click to expand...
I'm guessing it may be the latter. Jon mentioned narrowing Tyrese's responsibilities in an early interview.
 
kshepinthehouse said:
I’m curious about this. I wonder if Caleb was promised the role in order to get him to come back to Duke. He seems to be the least equipped.

Or maybe it was just part of the master plan to move Tyrese to the 2.
Click to expand...
I mean he was the MVP of CTC. He's had his moments. I think it's a combination of him underperforming but also Sion really over performing. Caleb wasn't great as a starter early in the year but he's been worse coming off the bench. Seems like a lot of it is mental.
 
I won
SkyBrickey said:
I'm in the wait and see camp. I've seen too many flashes of talent to write the kid off. And clearly Jon saw enough in his game to start him at PG this season.
Click to expand...

I wonder how much of that was a combination of being deferential to a 5-star recruit who chose to return despite having been (perhaps unexpectedly) a backup and with wanting a “PG” to start to allow Proctor to play off ball and focus on his role as the primary perimeter defender. Possible that Foster really did outplay James, but given what we have seen in games it seems unlikely. Hopefully Foster really was balling in summer though.
 
SkyBrickey said:
I'm in the wait and see camp. I've seen too many flashes of talent to write the kid off. And clearly Jon saw enough in his game to start him at PG this season.
Click to expand...

Can't someone acknowledge his struggles while not writing him off? Jon seems to have done as much, given his recent playing time patterns.

Caleb may well yet turn out to be a good player. He's just not playing well, on balance, this year - and certainly hasn't taken the leap we were all hoping for. That's not a prison sentence against the kid. He just has work to do.

- Chillin
 
ChillinDuke said:
Can't someone acknowledge his struggles while not writing him off? Jon seems to have done as much, given his recent playing time patterns.

Caleb may well yet turn out to be a good player. He's just not playing well, on balance, this year - and certainly hasn't taken the leap we were all hoping for. That's not a prison sentence against the kid. He just has work to do.

- Chillin
Click to expand...
You and I are in full agreement. Like I typed above: "Yes, he's played poorly. We all want him to play better."
 
CDu said:
I won

I wonder how much of that was a combination of being deferential to a 5-star recruit who chose to return despite having been (perhaps unexpectedly) a backup and with wanting a “PG” to start to allow Proctor to play off ball and focus on his role as the primary perimeter defender. Possible that Foster really did outplay James, but given what we have seen in games it seems unlikely. Hopefully Foster really was balling in summer though.
Click to expand...

I think if Foster were playing his very best ball, James would still be outplaying him.

James has been playing spectacularly. Last 5 games: 8ppg, 57%2pt, 44%3pt, 5.4reb, 4.3ast, and outstanding defense. And Proctor continues to have an All ACC type season. Foster is playing a distant third to these two guys right now.
 
Haven't read the whole thread, but man, that was nice. It was great to be in Cameron for that one. Cooper's dunk was a jaw-dropping moment on the level of some of Zion's greatest hits. And the "our house" cheer at the end had a little more oomph under the circumstances.

Also, inject this straight into my veins. 11 straight stops to close out the game. X certainly marks the spot with this team.

1736373492450.png
 
SkyBrickey said:
I think if Foster were playing his very best ball, James would still be outplaying him.

James has been playing spectacularly. Last 5 games: 8ppg, 57%2pt, 44%3pt, 5.4reb, 4.3ast, and outstanding defense. And Proctor continues to have an All ACC type season. Foster is playing a distant third to these two guys right now.
Click to expand...

I agree with this. I don't see a clear path for Foster to regain a starting spot. At the moment (as evidenced by the substitution patterns in 3 of the last 4 games in which Evans came in first), Foster's competition appears to be Evans. Or, rather, Foster's role has been trimmed to that of strictly the third PG, with Evans taking on the primary backup SG/SF role. Proctor's role is pretty defined (shooter/slasher and primary perimeter defender), and James has continued his progression from last year into an impact player for this team. It would take an injury and/or James falling off from the level of play he had both this year and last year for Foster to seem to have a shot at regaining the starting spot. James just does so much more (rebounds, passes, defends) on top of his very efficient scoring that it's hard to see a path for Foster to overtake him.
 
SkyBrickey said:
I'm not sure Jon will be experimenting a lot more with lineup combinations. Last night, for I think the first time, Jon had a very simple formula. Brown for Maluach. Gillis rests Flagg. Evans rests Knueppel. Foster rests Evans and Proctor. This may be the plan going forward - it allows everyone to really lock in on roles, assignments, teammates.
Click to expand...
I agree, but can't we have some fun the next time we are up 30 at the half?
 
Namtilal said:
I agree, but can't we have some fun the next time we are up 30 at the half?
Click to expand...
Oh, we'll see the Harris and Ngongba and more mix-and-match lineups later in games if we keep having blowouts. I think last night was a pretty unique circumstance where Scheyer was sending a message. Especially as only 2 of the 4 bench guys were at all effective last night, he wasn't taking any chances and wanted to stomp Pitt.
 
CDu said:
I agree with this. I don't see a clear path for Foster to regain a starting spot. At the moment (as evidenced by the substitution patterns in 3 of the last 4 games in which Evans came in first), Foster's competition appears to be Evans. Or, rather, Foster's role has been trimmed to that of strictly the third PG, with Evans taking on the primary backup SG/SF role. Proctor's role is pretty defined (shooter/slasher and primary perimeter defender), and James has continued his progression from last year into an impact player for this team. It would take an injury and/or James falling off from the level of play he had both this year and last year for Foster to seem to have a shot at regaining the starting spot. James just does so much more (rebounds, passes, defends) on top of his very efficient scoring that it's hard to see a path for Foster to overtake him.
Click to expand...

Last night at least, Gillis subbed for Flagg, Evans subbed for Kon, and Caleb subbed for James/Proctor. This may or may not be the pattern going forward, but it would make sense that Jon is starting to limit his roster combinations to maximize reps of certain guys playing together.
 
Namtilal said:
I agree, but can't we have some fun the next time we are up 30 at the half?
Click to expand...
Yeah, we'll see the guys in blowouts, but during competitive stretches, we may stop seeing much of certain combinations together like Flagg-Gillis and Kon-Evans. I expect Jon to start dialing in the rotation - it may have started last night...
 
UrinalCake said:
With 8 minutes remaining Pitt cut the deficit to 11 after we had committed two consecutive turnovers leading to layups on the other end. The game was still somewhat in doubt, and Jon called a timeout and put the starters back in. I didn't interpret the substitution pattern as "leaving the starters in to send a message" as much as "we're not going to give them any chance at coming back."
Click to expand...
This is what I saw as well. And to the bolded point, they did not score a single point after that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top