Mike Petrik
Member
Must respectfully disagree. Thompson earned an *.There’s no asterisk. Cooper stands alone.
Must respectfully disagree. Thompson earned an *.There’s no asterisk. Cooper stands alone.
It seems you and I agree on this. I think Caleb should get about as many minutes as Patrick Ngongba. Well, I may reconsider that if Maliq is out for a while. I'll say Harris instead. I think the Caleb experiment should come to an end. His defense is no better than Isaiah's. If Isaiah is fouled, he has a much better chance of making FTs. No matter how hard I root for him game in and game out, he's not getting any better. Maybe Caleb will read my post, and he'll have another good game. Like when I compared him to Alex O'Connell.I've yet to weigh in on this issue, so I'll reiterate my simple point from yesterday's chat: Why Foster, but not Evans, in the 2nd half?
As documented here our starting guards were having a rough night shooting. We had Foster in both the 1st half and 2nd half continuing to regress. We had our 6th man out with injury. So why not give Evans at least a couple of minutes in that 2nd half (before the improbable comeback)?
Unlike others, I'm not arguing that Evans eat up Kon's minutes. I'm not advocating that he's playing great and deserves minutes that any of the starters, nor bench guard Gillis, should be getting. Defenses have been keying on him and as of now he's been unable to adjust. But my one question is why Foster, but not Evans at all, in the 2nd half?
NOTE: Not buying the defense argument because, to my eyes, Caleb wasn't doing a great job on that end either yesterday.
Totally agree with your analysis during our opening run. It felt like the refs decided that ND could not compete with our intense level of defense. Particularly egregious was the foul call on K2. They showed the replay in Cameron and it showed conclusively that there was no contact at all on the play.Most of my thoughts have been said already but I will say this... while they helped us plenty as well, the refs helped ND settle into this game and kept them in it in crucial moments. I'm not one to blame the refs usually but thought this was a pretty horrible performance watching in the stadium. After that 14-0 run it felt like they almost felt bad for ND and called 2 soft touch fouls that eventually lead to a shooting foul on a Burton pullup. Getting on the board seemed to give ND confidence and soon they started draining three after three. Without those whistles I think that initial run could've gone on a good while longer, ND were getting zero good shots off and looked devoid of confidence. Just not how games should be reffed, I see this often where teams get pity whistles while down big and then end up making it a game and maybe even winning. Maybe the ACC shouldn't be taking in officials who were kicked out of the NBA.
Either way Duke should have dealt with it better but the constant whistles in the second half especially were horrific. The inconsistency was even worse as touch fouls were getting called but Khaman was constantly getting hacked with no calls.
That push call on Gillis also might be one of the worst calls I've ever seen.
And they’ve had our game circled on the calendar since the first day of practice.this is why going undefeated in conference play (even in a very down ACC) is so unlikely. Teams get hot, shots go in, it's basketball.
After the last corner 3 by Allocco (to cut it to 5?) you could clearly lip read Jon saying to stop over helping in the huddle. That play, they definitely did.While I think Duke's defense was better than the numbers showed, Jon mentioned in his post-game that Duke was overhelping. I think this was a factor, especially when Burton was driving. Trust in the Man Man, dudes.
I also have a question for our resident ref. I noticed a lot of late whistles yesterday and a ton of contact on Khaman's lobs. It seems that the refs would only blow the whistle if the shot didn't fall. Is there guidance on lobs to only whistle if the shot doesn't fall?
Devil's advocate. We played a mid-tier ACC team that was scorching hot from 3 and they still couldn't beat us. I would bet the house that no other ACC team shoots 58% from 3 against our defense.this is why going undefeated in conference play (even in a very down ACC) is so unlikely. Teams get hot, shots go in, it's basketball.
Serious question...do we WANT to be undefeated? I want to win every game, for sure. But I always feel a little uneasy about teams carrying a huge win streak into the tournament.Devil's advocate. We played a mid-tier ACC team that was scorching hot from 3 and they still couldn't beat us. I would bet the house that no other ACC team shoots 58% from 3 against our defense.
I think we've only got 4 ACC games left that are losable. @Wake, Clemson, 2xUNC.
I believe the computers are still predicting we drop 1 and go 19-1 in conference.
It's a great question. Jon seemed happy in the presser yesterday that we got tested with the late game pressure. Some were pointing out that he didn't use his timeouts almost as if he wanted a tight game at the end.Serious question...do we WANT to be undefeated? I want to win every game, for sure. But I always feel a little uneasy about teams carrying a huge win streak into the tournament.
I mentioned in the live chat that I was happy we faced some end-of-game pressure, even though I wasn't thrilled that our inattentiveness got us in that situation. It's a mixed bag, honestly. You can learn from wins too. I do suspect that players, especially young players, pay closer attention after losses. It could be a question of how much our older players can keep the team on track and focused during practices, meetings, etc.It's a great question. Jon seemed happy in the presser yesterday that we got tested with the late game pressure. Some were pointing out that he didn't use his timeouts almost as if he wanted a tight game at the end.
I'd really like to sweep UNC and win the ACC tourney. Not the worst thing if we drop another game. Still easily get the #1 seed.
Serious answer. Yes. And undefeated in the ACCT and NCAAT. That is what I want.Serious question...do we WANT to be undefeated? I want to win every game, for sure. But I always feel a little uneasy about teams carrying a huge win streak into the tournament.
If I come across a Micah Shrewsberry presser, I'll add it to the thread later.
Coach Shrewsberry comments here: https://goduke.com/documents/2025/1/11/Duke_vs_Notre_Dame_Opponent_Coach.pdf
Isn't that a coaching issue to deal with? IMO, Jon is probably, easily up to that task.The problem is learning the wrong lesson from a game like this. “We are so good we can take our foot off the pedal and still win with the other team playing it’s absolute best”