MBB: Duke 88, VaTech 65 Post-game Thread

We have a lot of weapons! Our defense is going to take us a long way! If Proctor can play this way from here on out, what a difference that’s going to make! Shout out to Gillis, James and Evans! And Flagg is showing why he is a special player! Keep it rollin’ devils!
 
One thing I was hoping for is Caleb's game to really emerge. Tonight was a good opportunity but it did not happen. Worse yet, VT when on runs twice in the first half when he was in. Rooting for a breakout soon.

Good game from Gillis. Would love for him to take his game to a level closer to last year's 6th MOY performance, operative word here being 'closer' as he's the 7th or 8th man in this rotation.

The way Jon is developing depth is unique. I just looked at the play-buy-play metrics and here are the line-up combos he used in the first half alone:
Flagg, Maluach, Proctor, James, Kon
Flagg, Brown, Proctor, Foster, Kon
Flagg, Brown, Evans, Foster, Kon
Gillis, Brown, Evans, Foster, James
Gillis, Maluach, Evans, Foster, James
Gillis, Ngongba, Proctor, Kon, James
Flagg, Ngongba, Proctor, Kon, James
Flagg, Brown, Proctor, Kon, Evans
Gillis, Brown, Proctor, Foster, Evans
Gillis, Maluach, Proctor, Foster, Evans
Gillis, Flagg, Proctor, Kon, James
Brown, Flagg, Proctor, Kon, James

I don't think there were any repeat line-ups in the first half, but maybe my eyes just aren't seeing them. We never got the starters back on the court together on the first half. I feel like this is being done on purpose beyond trying to find combos that click. How do you prepare for a team that plays this way? Was he tinkering so much because he was trying to find some offense due to the early drought? Patrick was brought in clearly because Kaman failed to hustle back on defense so maybe we saw him early when we normally wouldn't? Is this a way to keep kids, like Foster, engaged and ignoring calls from other teams tempting him to enter the portal due to losing his starting spot? It's probably a little "all of the above" because the second half saw much less rotation dynamism/chaos. But, watching this team there is a feeling of "who is out there now?" and it feels deliberate...because the opposition must be asking the same questions.

I quoted simplyluvin's post because it highlights two guys who are part of the great mass of supporting players. Caleb played 19 minutes in a game we won by 20+ and was a -1. Similarly, Gillis played 10 mins and was a -7. Not surprisingly, many of their common line-ups did not feature Flagg who was _+30. Right now, this team feel like it's Cooper and Proctor that are going to get 30 mpg, and Kon was in that group, but everyone else is going to get 10-30 depending on how they are playing, and it feels like s strategy supporting many diverse goals tied to both winning and player retention.

By Torvik’s adjusted defense metric, this was our worst defensive game this year. But it was our 3rd best offensive game of the season.

That really surprises me because it felt like the D was stout.

I remember having a debate about whether Proctor (or Ryan Young) would have more than one dunk all of last season. He had three in this game! Love to see him aggressively attacking the rim more over the last few games.

Proctor has been SO AWESOME this year, and him punching it on people yesterday got me really fired up!!!! I love those finishes because I think he's getting more confident in them and it will lead him to drive more.

love Brown and his game so much, but man, he does NOT look to shoot, even when the net is almost touching his head.

This is truly confounding because, when he looks to score, he seems to have an excellent touch and feel around the rim.

Other quickies:
-50% of our shots from 3 and a really slow tempo - those are consistent features of this squad that continued in this game.
-Cooper was magnificent. As brevity's post highlighted, Scheyer was glazing him like crazy in the post-game. I love the variety of the ways he was scoring. 6 assists led the team, it was also nice to see Proctor with 5.

Great win, we head to Dallas with a lot of momentum and, I hope, a mindset to send a message that we intend to destroy everyone we face in the conference, whether home or on the road.
 
The way Jon is developing depth is unique. I just looked at the play-buy-play metrics and here are the line-up combos he used in the first half alone:
Flagg, Maluach, Proctor, James, Kon
Flagg, Brown, Proctor, Foster, Kon
Flagg, Brown, Evans, Foster, Kon
Gillis, Brown, Evans, Foster, James
Gillis, Maluach, Evans, Foster, James
Gillis, Ngongba, Proctor, Kon, James
Flagg, Ngongba, Proctor, Kon, James
Flagg, Brown, Proctor, Kon, Evans
Gillis, Brown, Proctor, Foster, Evans
Gillis, Maluach, Proctor, Foster, Evans
Gillis, Flagg, Proctor, Kon, James
Brown, Flagg, Proctor, Kon, James

I don't think there were any repeat line-ups in the first half, but maybe my eyes just aren't seeing them. We never got the starters back on the court together on the first half. I feel like this is being done on purpose beyond trying to find combos that click. How do you prepare for a team that plays this way? Was he tinkering so much because he was trying to find some offense due to the early drought? Patrick was brought in clearly because Kaman failed to hustle back on defense so maybe we saw him early when we normally wouldn't? Is this a way to keep kids, like Foster, engaged and ignoring calls from other teams tempting him to enter the portal due to losing his starting spot? It's probably a little "all of the above" because the second half saw much less rotation dynamism/chaos. But, watching this team there is a feeling of "who is out there now?" and it feels deliberate...because the opposition must be asking the same questions.

I quoted simplyluvin's post because it highlights two guys who are part of the great mass of supporting players. Caleb played 19 minutes in a game we won by 20+ and was a -1. Similarly, Gillis played 10 mins and was a -7. Not surprisingly, many of their common line-ups did not feature Flagg who was _+30. Right now, this team feel like it's Cooper and Proctor that are going to get 30 mpg, and Kon was in that group, but everyone else is going to get 10-30 depending on how they are playing, and it feels like s strategy supporting many diverse goals tied to both winning and player retention.



That really surprises me because it felt like the D was stout.



Proctor has been SO AWESOME this year, and him punching it on people yesterday got me really fired up!!!! I love those finishes because I think he's getting more confident in them and it will lead him to drive more.



This is truly confounding because, when he looks to score, he seems to have an excellent touch and feel around the rim.

Other quickies:
-50% of our shots from 3 and a really slow tempo - those are consistent features of this squad that continued in this game.
-Cooper was magnificent. As brevity's post highlighted, Scheyer was glazing him like crazy in the post-game. I love the variety of the ways he was scoring. 6 assists led the team, it was also nice to see Proctor with 5.

Great win, we head to Dallas with a lot of momentum and, I hope, a mindset to send a message that we intend to destroy everyone we face in the conference, whether home or on the road.
Now you've got me fired up. Maybe let the team read your post. I think having Sion in the starting lineup makes Duke a tough team. This kid doesn't back down from anyone or anything. Cooper and Tyrese have the same qualities. It helps the team, wait on it, not get knocked back.

GoDuke!
 
Now you've got me fired up. Maybe let the team read your post. I think having Sion in the starting lineup makes Duke a tough team. This kid doesn't back down from anyone or anything. Cooper and Tyrese have the same qualities. It helps the team, wait on it, not get knocked back.

GoDuke!
Love me some Sion. Kind of a throwback, reminds me of T Hill in some ways. Hill was a lefty, but had a similar build, slashing ability and was also a defensive ace.
 
The good:

- I thought we ran great offense all game. The shots didn't fall early, but I thought we got good looks. We took 24 shots at the rim, 5 from midrange, and 29 from 3. That shot selection from 2 is gorgeous, and we hit 69% of them. I still think we take more 3s than I'd like. The long term growth of the offense, IMO, depends on turning a few of those 3s into shots at the rim.

- The defense, when we were locked in, was its normal self. We had a stretch of 6 stops in 7 possessions spanning the end of the 1st half and beginning of the second. The only VT make during that stretch was that bs 3 at the end of the half with Kon right in the face of the VT player.

- Slim is coming. We know about the shooting, but the other pieces will get there. He had his best floor game, with 2 assists and 4 rebounds. My eye test says his defense is getting better as well.

- Cooper finally had an uber-efficient offensive game. He's up to 50% from 2 and 76% from the line on the year.

- I love seeing Tyrese with the ball in his hands. He had 3 awesome dunks and 5 assists with 0 turnovers. I still think he's the best PG on the squad.


The bad:

- The defense, when we weren't locked in. We had a few lazy closeouts and some missed communications on screens/switches. It happens, and I'm not too worried. I am, however, a bit concerned about our 3 point defense. Opponents are attempting 40% of their shots from 3 this year; that's by far the highest 3PA% for any Duke team ever. This is a conscious trade-off, of course, and we are defending our paint exceedingly well. However, we are sure to get burned by this strategy at least occasionally. I wouldn't mind seeing us tweak this approach just a bit to allow fewer 3s- especially if the alternative is teams driving and shooting over Maluach.

- The defensive efficiency numbers don't look great. However, some of that was VT scoring 15 points on 8 possessions against our reserves. For the first 36 minutes, they scored on 50 points on 56 possessions, or .89 PPP.

- Caleb Foster looks a little lost out there. He is struggling to find his role on this team. We need him to become a solid role player.
 
Yeah, I'm hoping Coach Scheyer can break him of that reluctance. It's not the building;) -- Maliq shot 11-16 from the field with 26 points at Duke last January.
Watching Brown play all year, it's crazy to think he scored 26 against us last year. If they haven't yet, I wish the coaches would make him sit and watch that whole game and try to recall his mindset. It's definitely a mental thing...
 
I wonder how much of our slower pace this year is just that our defense is so tough and forces our opponents to go deep on the shot clock. Wonder if there’s some pace analytic on the assymetry between offensive and defensive pace.
 
I wonder how much of our slower pace this year is just that our defense is so tough and forces our opponents to go deep on the shot clock. Wonder if there’s some pace analytic on the assymetry between offensive and defensive pace.
It is. Somebody has access to it and may post it again. Our offense is not slow.
 
The good:

- I thought we ran great offense all game. The shots didn't fall early, but I thought we got good looks. We took 24 shots at the rim, 5 from midrange, and 29 from 3. That shot selection from 2 is gorgeous, and we hit 69% of them. I still think we take more 3s than I'd like. The long term growth of the offense, IMO, depends on turning a few of those 3s into shots at the rim.

- The defense, when we were locked in, was its normal self. We had a stretch of 6 stops in 7 possessions spanning the end of the 1st half and beginning of the second. The only VT make during that stretch was that bs 3 at the end of the half with Kon right in the face of the VT player.

- Slim is coming. We know about the shooting, but the other pieces will get there. He had his best floor game, with 2 assists and 4 rebounds. My eye test says his defense is getting better as well.

- Cooper finally had an uber-efficient offensive game. He's up to 50% from 2 and 76% from the line on the year.

- I love seeing Tyrese with the ball in his hands. He had 3 awesome dunks and 5 assists with 0 turnovers. I still think he's the best PG on the squad.


The bad:

- The defense, when we weren't locked in. We had a few lazy closeouts and some missed communications on screens/switches. It happens, and I'm not too worried. I am, however, a bit concerned about our 3 point defense. Opponents are attempting 40% of their shots from 3 this year; that's by far the highest 3PA% for any Duke team ever. This is a conscious trade-off, of course, and we are defending our paint exceedingly well. However, we are sure to get burned by this strategy at least occasionally. I wouldn't mind seeing us tweak this approach just a bit to allow fewer 3s- especially if the alternative is teams driving and shooting over Maluach.

- The defensive efficiency numbers don't look great. However, some of that was VT scoring 15 points on 8 possessions against our reserves. For the first 36 minutes, they scored on 50 points on 56 possessions, or .89 PPP.

- Caleb Foster looks a little lost out there. He is struggling to find his role on this team. We need him to become a solid role player.
It seemed like Ngongba lost his man on defense a lot. That must have dinged our defensive stats, but I think that's just the cost of giving developmental time to our bench. I hope they continue that, and use the games against Miami, BC, Syracuse, Cal, and Virginia for that too.

I wonder if the high percentage of three point attempts is because our defense is so good. There are so many possessions where the ball doesn't even make it inside the three point line until there are less than 10 seconds on the shot clock. At some point they have to shoot it from wherever they are.
 
I think Isaiah Evans has probably single handedly improved our offensive ranking on KenPom by at least 10 spots. There’s been several games now where the offense has been awful (but we’re still up big because of the defense), and he was able to come in during garbage time and hit 2-3 shots. This wasn’t one of those games, but he had a great shooting game again.

A troubling thing I noticed was that we had Tyrese bring the ball up even when Caleb Foster was in the game as well. Caleb was on the ball late in the game once the starters got subbed out, but that could be viewed as yet another demotion for Caleb. He just can’t find his role on this team.
 
I think Isaiah Evans has probably single handedly improved our offensive ranking on KenPom by at least 10 spots. There’s been several games now where the offense has been awful (but we’re still up big because of the defense), and he was able to come in during garbage time and hit 2-3 shots. This wasn’t one of those games, but he had a great shooting game again.

A troubling thing I noticed was that we had Tyrese bring the ball up even when Caleb Foster was in the game as well. Caleb was on the ball late in the game once the starters got subbed out, but that could be viewed as yet another demotion for Caleb. He just can’t find his role on this team.
Evans has been a revelation. I wasn't expecting this much good shooting from him so "early" in the season. He definitely boosted our offensive efficiency yesterday!

There was so much positive buzz for Caleb before the season started, much of which did not meet my eye test from last year. Still, I'm surprised that he has struggled so much. I didn't think he should have been the PG based on what we saw last year, but Jon clearly wanted Tyrese off the ball, which made Caleb the PG. Caleb is fine as a co-PG, but being lead PG while game pressure is on clearly rattles him. I don't have any insights really but I do hope he finds his footing and plays better from here on out.
 
There was so much positive buzz for Caleb before the season started, much of which did not meet my eye test from last year. Still, I'm surprised that he has struggled so much. I didn't think he should have been the PG based on what we saw last year, but Jon clearly wanted Tyrese off the ball, which made Caleb the PG. Caleb is fine as a co-PG, but being lead PG while game pressure is on clearly rattles him. I don't have any insights really but I do hope he finds his footing and plays better from here on out.
With both Cooper and Kon as playmakers the role of the PG is primarily to get the ball into the front court and then make an entry pass. Sion has done well with that for the first unit. I agree that Caleb has not found his niche yet.
 
With both Cooper and Kon as playmakers the role of the PG is primarily to get the ball into the front court and then make an entry pass. Sion has done well with that for the first unit. I agree that Caleb has not found his niche yet.
Yeah, Caleb is struggling in finishing his drives. Reverse layups he hit last year are not going in. Seems to me like mostly issues of confidence and comfort.
 
It seemed like Ngongba lost his man on defense a lot. That must have dinged our defensive stats, but I think that's just the cost of giving developmental time to our bench. I hope they continue that, and use the games against Miami, BC, Syracuse, Cal, and Virginia for that too.

I wonder if the high percentage of three point attempts is because our defense is so good. There are so many possessions where the ball doesn't even make it inside the three point line until there are less than 10 seconds on the shot clock. At some point they have to shoot it from wherever they are.
I think you're on to something. Two other excellent defensive teams, Houston and Tennessee also give up a ton of threes, even more than Duke.
 
Yeah, Caleb is struggling in finishing his drives. Reverse layups he hit last year are not going in. Seems to me like mostly issues of confidence and comfort.
I see it as a lack of situational awareness and focus. At least twice he has been out of bounds when recieivng a pass. He doesn't seem to be focused on the game.. Don't know why, but that is my impression.
 
I wonder how much of our slower pace this year is just that our defense is so tough and forces our opponents to go deep on the shot clock. Wonder if there’s some pace analytic on the assymetry between offensive and defensive pace.
KenPom reports average possession length on offense and defense. Duke’s average possession length on offense is 16.8 seconds. That ranks 109th in the country, so a little faster than average.

Duke’s average possession length on defense is 19 seconds. That is the 3rd longest in the country.

FWIW, Clemson is ranked 2nd in the county in average defensive possession length.
 
Evans has been a revelation. I wasn't expecting this much good shooting from him so "early" in the season. He definitely boosted our offensive efficiency yesterday!

There was so much positive buzz for Caleb before the season started, much of which did not meet my eye test from last year. Still, I'm surprised that he has struggled so much. I didn't think he should have been the PG based on what we saw last year, but Jon clearly wanted Tyrese off the ball, which made Caleb the PG. Caleb is fine as a co-PG, but being lead PG while game pressure is on clearly rattles him. I don't have any insights really but I do hope he finds his footing and plays better from here on out.

I don't know if it's neccessarily about being rattled in big games. We haven't seen him do it consistently even against the worst teams we've faced. I suppose it's possible that he's just in an extended slump, but on the other side of the coin, this could just be who he is. We didn't really get a chance to see what he was capable of last season in a low usage role before going out with the injury. Now we have much more data, with him in a starting role, and it's been pretty bad.

The #1 thing for me is: he just doesn't seem to have the explosiveness or a quick enough first step to beat above average defenders off the dribble. To be fair, we don't really have a guy who can do that, but it's a handy skill to have for someone like Caleb, who is actually pretty good at finding the open man when he does draw help on his drives.

But if he's unable to actually get into the paint in a scoring position, he doesn't offer much else. He doesn't have an in-between game to score when he can't get all the way to the rim like Kon or Tyrese. His 3 point shot has been off, and he's not an exceptional defender, so there doesn't seem to be a reason to play him over Isaiah Evans or Sion James, either.
 
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