MBB: Duke 78, California 57 - Postgame Thread

[DukieInBrasil]

Even though I don't think he made a shot, I thought this was Slim's best floor game otherwise. We was energetic on defense and in going after loose balls, and I did think he made some nice passes on O.

I noticed something similar. Only one of his shots wasn't a "good" shot, they just didn't go down. I noticed that his exertion is more effective than it used to be. Being alert on offense and defense, he's getting better, even if he didn't score.

When Broome went down Auburn didn't miss a beat. Can't say the same for us if Flagg went down.

Flagg's shooting has improved dramatically, incredibly impressive.

yeah, i don't think this team would win w/o Cooper.

That was a sleepy, low energy game at times. Winning by 20 without having your best stuff certainly something. On the plus side, Cooper and Tyrese were great. If Proctor can maintain his recent form while the rest of the team gets back on track, we'll have something cooking.

I have to say, there were quite a few strugglers out there. Some of it was just shots not falling (Kon and Slim), but others just didn't have it tonight. Good night for it, I suppose.

The most interesting part of the game was our defensive tactics. Tonight, we switched far less often, and used a hedge and recover approach on ball screens. The result was far fewer easy shots found the basket. We did give up a lot of 3s, but thankfully they didn't hit them until late.

2 of their first 3 made shots were 3s

5 thoughts...

2. A lot of criticism about Maluach lately on this board. Well, he got a double-double with 3 assists. Not too shabby. I was thinking during the game that we see Flagg perform game-in/game-out. So do we then expect the other freshmen to do the same? Flagg is special, and sometimes maybe people overlook that freshman can be freshmen. Maluach has only been playing ball for 5 years. To expect him to consistently dominate every game seems harsh to me. Even other great freshmen centers like Okafor, Bagley, Carey, etc. didn't have it each and every game. Even Ferry played like a freshman sometimes when he was a freshman.

4. What to say about Foster? I'm rooting hard for the kid, but he's not turning the corner. Those were some bad turnovers. I'm sure he will get into meaningful games later in the season. But unless a miracle turnaround occurs, his place as 4th or 5th man off the bench is about right these days. I hope I'm proven wrong. Duke really could use him to be some kind of scoring threat by driving. Brown and Ngongba aren't offensive threats. And Evans and Gillis are shooters, not drivers. The bench scoring was minimal this game. It needs to pick up.

All of the centers you listed averaged at least twice as much scoring as Khaman, so they're in a different class. As you said, great Fr. centers. Khaman is not a great one, he's good, sometimes even very good, but not great. As for the other bolded part, the less i say about Foster, the better...

 

[Lurkingdukedog]

Has Maluach always worn shoes of that lighter shade of blue? Cant we get him a pair in a better color?.

My spouse noted the same thing: "Aren't those the wrong color blue????"

 

[gumbomoop]

Cal's not Boston College or Miami, they're right next to Georgia Tech in NET, a team that just beat Louisville and Clemson. They're also only 10 spots behind State, which should put last night's win in perspective when contrasted against the slog that was the too-competitive State game..

Just to clarify by updating —

After last night’s games, GT and NCSt swapped NET places, and Cal moved up just a bit.

GT — 129 ——> 117
NCSt — 118 ——> 129
Cal — 128 ——> 126

 

[ClemmonsDevil]

Just to clarify by updating —

After last night’s games, GT and NCSt swapped NET places, and Cal moved up just a bit.

GT — 129 ——> 117
NCSt — 118 ——> 129
Cal — 128 ——> 126

Yeah I thought Cal competed last night. And I thought they had some legitimate dudes. They don't shoot well but they've got some guys that can play. I thought they're starting five was pretty talented.

 

[Dr. Maturin]

2 of their first 3 made shots were 3s

I think Cal was something like 3/17 from 3 at one point, before ending the game 7/23. In any case, I thought we gave up more open looks from 3 than I'd like. Cal is a bad shooting team, so I guess we decided to live with those shots.

 

[bigperm13]

Did he say everyone was feeling better? Or is it still lingering?

They are finally all getting over it.

 

[Billy Dat]

Do you think Man Man from 3 is a good watch or a mal watch?

 

[fathippo]

Comfortable win, as expected. Scheyer had the luxury to try different lineups during a game. Proctor looks like one player that has avoided illness; he is playing his best ball lately. Cooper looks healthy again. I know the stats won't back it up but I though Evans had a good game. He's improving with more earned playing time. He can be a good defender with his length and athleticism, although I don't think he can be really good until he gets stronger. It always feels like he is one shot away from being on a hot streak.

The defense does need to be tightened up, Cal had a number of open shots. They just missed them. I know we had one last night, but we seem to have gotten away from looking for lobs to Khaman on drives. Looked to me like there were a number of opportunities during the game when Sissoko had to help a bit and would have had to at least foul Khaman. I trust the coaching staff, it's just an observation.

 

[ClemmonsDevil]

Do you think Man Man from 3 is a good watch or a mal watch?

Reported.

 

[wavedukefan70s]

About how I thought it would go. A comfortable win .

 

[JosephReidBooks]

Do you think Man Man from 3 is a good watch or a mal watch?

I was honestly hoping the Crazies would develop a unique cheer for Khaman this year, like we've seen in the past for Hurley, Battier, Zoubek, etc. I was hoping for "Un-Khaman" because he's so unique, or "Maluach THIS!" when he does something big.

 

[g111m1c]

Boring is right! I’m glad we beat Cal as expected but Boeheim sounded bored/underwhelmed the entire game too which was contagious

I think I like listening to Boeheim. We are in an age of TV and Internet personalities and trying to being overly performative and using flowery language and word salad (I won’t bloviate about how we we had to articulate with intention the modalities with which we serve athletes at key moments in their spiritual and commercial journeys while at Nike. Like that.)

Boeheim? He brandishes no bullcrap.

 

[Music man55]

Good bounceback! Flagg seemed to be mostly recovered and glad to see Mason back. Tyrese is playing great, please keep it up. Boeheim is a boring comentator, almost put me to sleep! Let’s go beat Stanford, welcome Jalen back!

 

[g111m1c]

I mostly agree that it doesn’t change the perception, but I’m pretty sure our Kenpom number got worse. If Evans is 1 for 4 and Cal doesn’t hit a prayer banked 3 we win by 27.

I just bugs me that I care. Not much, but enough to notice.

I agree. No more 3 pt shots for ManMan. And we need to clean up execution in the last five minutes of blowouts, even if deep bench is in. They prepare all week, and they should honor that by running through, not to, the finish line for each game, esp the bench (who should have fresher legs and something to prove).

A 31 point win may have put us ahead of Auburn in KenPom.

 

[Billy Dat]

I think I like listening to Boeheim. We are in an age of TV and Internet personalities and trying to being overly performative and using flowery language and word salad (I won’t bloviate about how we we had to articulate with intention the modalities with which we serve athletes at key moments in their spiritual and commercial journeys while at Nike. Like that.)

Boeheim? He brandishes no bullcrap.

I am actually entertained by his complete disregard for being entertaining, but the dude was coaching until 2 years ago...the best example he could pull for a guy following his shot was....John Bagley, whose college career ended 40+ years ago?!?!?

 

[g111m1c]

I was honestly hoping the Crazies would develop a unique cheer for Khaman this year, like we've seen in the past for Hurley, Battier, Zoubek, etc. I was hoping for "Un-Khaman" because he's so unique, or "Maluach THIS!" when he does something big.

I don’t really hear the Cameron Crazies doing much interesting or new. Feels like they’re down to just 3-4 cheers this year. Still the best fans in American sports (have recently watched games on TV at Clemson and Auburn, and while this fans will get loud for a few moments throughout games, their student sections are mostly “stand and clap after a bucket and get a bit louder after a dunk” types. We’re better, but we seem to depend more on prop comedy than the intensely clever cheers of the past.

Bring back “boink boink pass shot.” Get rid of the always dull “here we go, Devils, here we go.” Add a little bass to the timbre, esp after a big shot.

Get off my lawn.

 

[gaap]

When Broome went down Auburn didn't miss a beat. Can't say the same for us if Flagg went down.

Flagg's shooting has improved dramatically, incredibly impressive.

Meh. Broome missed a home game (Miss. St.) and an away game against #12 team in SEC (Georgia).

 

[CDu]

Metrics

That wasn't fun. But it happens. Some concerning things arose in this one. Some positives as well. Obviously you never want to lose, but we played a good team to the wire on their home floor. The win would be preferable, but it's not the end of the world. The biggest downer was that the defense looked bad for one of the few times all season. And while the offense was pretty good, it wasn't quite good enough to overcome a bad night for the defense.

OFFENSE:
Possessions: 65.6 (a very slow pace, but actually ever so slightly above our average)
oRtg: 118.9 (117.1 adjusted; would be #40 nationally)
eFG%: 54.3% (decent)
3pt%: 36.0% (decent)
2pt%: 54.5% (decent)
%threes: 43.1% (a bit high, but lower than our average)
FT rate: 32.8% (bad, but right about our average)
OR%: 35.3% (solid)
TO%: 15.2% (quite good)
a/to: 1.2 (middling)
fast break pts: 6 (low)

DEFENSE:
dRtg: 86.9 (84.5 adjusted; would be #1 in the country)
eFG%: 41.2% (excellent)
3pt%: 30.4% (solid)
2pt%: 38.2% (excellent)
%threes: 40.3% (normal)
FT rate: 26.3% (very good)
DR%: 78.5% (excellent)
TO%: 16.8% (poor)
a/to: 0.8 (very good)
stl%: 9.1% (middling)
blk%: 2.9% (2pt shots) (poor)
fast break pts: 8 (okay)

We won all four of the "four factors", although the turnover rate was basically a wash. Still, we won the shooting and rebounding convincingly, so it's no surprise we won comfortably. Torvik felt the game "ended" with over 5 minutes left and a 23-pt lead, which is what you want to see after a tough loss.

Great bounceback game for Maluach, who had been struggling the previous few weeks. On the short list for best games of his season so far, and his 4th double-double of the year (with a 3 mixed in!). Flagg was again outstanding, as was Proctor. Clunkers from some other guys, but getting Maluach going again was pretty important. Glad to see it happen, and how!

Just need to keep rolling along at this point. 6 more ACC games and the neutral site game against Illinois. Let's win 'em all!

 

[SavDukeGrad]

I hope everyone saw the view of Cooper’s reverse dunk from under the basket. You could see, in the background, Madsen run onto the floor to call timeout. He looked to be at the center circle!

 

[Edouble]

Metrics

That wasn't fun. But it happens. Some concerning things arose in this one. Some positives as well. Obviously you never want to lose, but we played a good team to the wire on their home floor. The win would be preferable, but it's not the end of the world. The biggest downer was that the defense looked bad for one of the few times all season. And while the offense was pretty good, it wasn't quite good enough to overcome a bad night for the defense.

You are my favorite poster, CDu, but some cut and paste violations happening here.