MBB: Duke 82, unc 69 - Postgame Thread

KandG said:
I liked this game for the challenge it provided in terms of simulating tournament conditions which would bring adversity. Not just Cooper’s first half foul trouble (and all three fouls, frankly, were not smart, as his coach said, the sign of someone who was much too wired), but Maliq also got two quick fouls (probably from rust).

Without Coop and Maliq, we just blew a tire in the first half, because our offense went from a 60 point pace in the half to less composed and more frantic shots, and bad defense in transition and at the rim that allowed UNC to get back in it. Credit to UNC for how hard and aggressively they played to stay in it and then get out to a lead in the second half.

Barring some freakish outcomes (beyond the otherworldly shotmaking on jump shots from UNC) like an early fourth foul on Cooper, I never really *worried* we would lose this game though. As many have said, Scheyer should get full credit for making adjustments to UNC’s high pressure and overplaying our handoffs —sending Kon on more backcuts, using different types of off ball screens, and bringing in Foster (over Gillis and Evans) to have more ball handling on the floor. This blunted UNC’s pressure and gave Coop and Kon more of a runway and ability to exploit mismatches.

(I appreciated Coach Jon in the postgame openly acknowledging that Foster might have had reason to be ticked off after sitting the final home game, but it only speaks that much more to his coaching ability that Foster practiced so hard and delivered so capably when his number was called)

UNC’s strategy on offense, as spectacular as it looked when they got on a roll, never felt sustainable. It reminded me of a lower seeded tennis player going for winners on every shot, playing above their heads, and running out of gas in the third or fourth set of a five set match. (Indeed, RJ having to leave the game for cramps was an indication of how much he had to overextend himself to keep his team in the game)

Enough can’t be said about holding UNC to ten points in the final 12:48, a masterful stretch of defense — keep in mind that those ten points were two Lubin layups (the last in garbage time), and the other six points were open threes from Cadeau and Trimble, 30 percent shooters who we wanted taking the shots. UNC basically never got a good look from anyone capable of hurting us (apart from an open RJ three attempt off a busted play that might have been our only defensive breakdown, but which fortunately for us missed).

Finally, my favorite visual from the game might have been Evans and Gillis with the wild three point celebrations after Maliq’s threes — two players who got bypassed in the second half but were fully pulling for their teammates. Special group in terms of their togetherness, no question.
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NEVER!!!!!
 
CrazyNotCrazie said:
My kids get very into the games (they were raised right) and on the way to the two games we have attended in the last year I have told them they cant cry if we lose because they could end up on tv as “crying Duke fan.”

The two games we have been to were James Madison in the tournament last year and Illinois this year so my speech was completely unnecessary!
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Similarly, I taught my kid (just about to graduate from Duke! :eek: ) to never do a surrender cobra! TV eye candy...

-jk
 
Ggallagher said:
Speaking of Duke parents, I'd love to hear something from/about Jon's parents. They've had a twenty-year journey through Duke basketball unlike any other parents.

How about it Jason, Donald? I'd listen to that podcast. Well, I listen to all of them anyway, but they would be fascinating.
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@JasonEvans This sounds like a perfect podcast for this summer after we've earned our sixth banner
 
Dr. Maturin said:
On the one hand, no amount of dancing on their grave will ever be enough.

On the other hand, god bless people who care this much. It's what the sport is all about.
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A friend of mine said in a sober moment (sometimes rare) "sports are great because they give the chance to care a WHOLE lot about something that deep down we all know doesn't really matter that much."
 
AGDukesky said:
Cooper is in the air. You can’t get set after the offensive player leaves the floor. Withers did a little shuffle and moved both feet after Cooper was elevating. It was really obvious to me on the replay.
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you don't have to have your feet set; you just need to have vertical space/position established. it was imo a good call; 50/50 at worst. otherwise i can't imagine scheyer wouldn't have protested, a lot.

rookie mistake by cooper, but i don't think having him in the game was a coaching mistake. he needs to learn how to play in that situation and value his third foul, or lack thereof, over the two points. judging by his second half performance, i'd argue that he failed the pop quiz, but learned the lesson.
 
BandAlum83 said:
I said to Mrs BandAlum at about this time that it is looking like UNC knows it’s over. Ever gracious, she replied “I think they’re just tired”
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I think she was totally correct. It takes a ton out of a team to fight back from a huge deficit (that's one of the reasons why it is good never to get into a huge deficit). And Davis is only 6' tall -- he was carrying a huge load and once we stopped him. . . . .
 
JayWill said:
"The obsession with Foster is bizarre. He is utterly inconsequential
to the team at this point." I debated whether to bring up this gem from a relatively recent thread, but decided to do it, without attribution, and without editorial comment. I think it speaks for itself.
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If he gets in and plays well, great!
If he doesn't, we still roll.
(inconsequential, we win either way)
 
CrazyNotCrazie said:
My kids get very into the games (they were raised right) and on the way to the two games we have attended in the last year I have told them they cant cry if we lose because they could end up on tv as “crying Duke fan.”

The two games we have been to were James Madison in the tournament last year and Illinois this year so my speech was completely unnecessary!
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I'm an adult and I could still run the risk of showing up on TV as "crying Duke fan." LOL! So I actually have a lot of compassion for that poor UNC fan. I would 100% have cried right in the stands if it was Duke lost and it wouldn't have been as composed of a cry as she had.
 
kmmk said:
I'm an adult and I could still run the risk of showing up on TV as "crying Duke fan." LOL! So I actually have a lot of compassion for that poor UNC fan. I would 100% have cried right in the stands if it was Duke lost and it wouldn't have been as composed of a cry as she had.
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I got into it with a cameraman after the '86 championship game He wanted a closeup of sad me in the stands. After a few rounds of "don't put your camera in my face; don't touch my camera" he moved on a couple rows.

-jk
 
Dr. Maturin said:
DDMF! GTHC! How sweep it is!

- Tactics - I mentioned in the pregame how Hubert made good adjustments in those 2022 games. I thought he did as well last night. Their bigger lineup was much more competitive defensively, with Withers doing a decent job on Cooper and Powell being physical on our wings off the ball (with dubious legality, but hey, we're going to see that every game from now on). Also, where has this UNC ball pressure been all year?!?! They are 308th in forcing turnovers, but they were really on us last night. You have to wonder what that staff has been doing defensively all year.
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I think all you have to do is look at how gassed they were in the last ten minutes, to understand why they haven't applied that sort of ball pressure all year.
 
Absolutely true story:

Down 59-55 I turned to Mrs. BandAlum and said we need one of our 10-0, 15-2 kind of runs.

About 1 1/2 Gametime minutes later Maliq hits Kon with a sweet pass for a layup, and I say I think that’s an 8-0 run right there! And the broadcast confirms with a graphic. A moment later, Caleb hits a pretty layup for 10-0!

Fist Bump time!

We trade baskets and I say “a three here seals the 15-2 run, and the most likely candidate, Maliq, caps off the 15-2 run.

Another fist bump.

Game effectively over.

We all do our bit. Shout out to the seventh men all around the world willing their team to victory from home sofas, to barstools, to watch parties.

We are all a part of this visctory!
 
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