Lurkingdukedog
Member
They did a lot of one on one isolation ending with a fall away jumper (that hit frequently). Credit to them, I thought they made a lot of tough, contested shots.
MBB: Duke 96, Maine 62 Post Game Thread
- Thread starter -jk
- Start date
Lurkingdukedog
Member
Totally concur with this statement. The transfers are really going to help in a big way this year.
Nice to see the team in real action. Despite not having a superlative shooting game and committing too many turnovers, the team still won by more than the projected margin. So that's good. There were contributions up and down the roster, which is also good. And we stayed healthy (I'm not concerned about a cramp), so that's good.
That said, if I have one concern with this team (and really this is probably the ONLY concern I have), it's that our guards may be susceptible to quicker opponents. Foster and Proctor are tall, but not terribly quick, and we don't have a quicker option on the roster. The defense had trouble staying in front of their man last night, and against a better opponent that might be a problem. That, and Proctor and Foster combining for 3 assists and 3 turnovers isn't a great line for your two primary guards.
Still, there's a TON of talent and versatility on the roster. Knueppel looks like the real deal, and made a few wow plays (that rebound theft and taking it end to end was crazy). He is going to pad the assist stats of all his teammates thanks to his shooting ability. Flagg is of course terrific. Gillis, Brown, and James did their thing as solid vets. And even in a shaky night Foster and Proctor were double-digit scorers. Maluach had a shaky night, as Maine's quickness appeared to give him problems. Still, he had 6, 6, and 3 blocks in 18 minutes.
The team still has plenty of room to grow, and that's impressive as they just won by 34 points. Very excited for the season.
That said, if I have one concern with this team (and really this is probably the ONLY concern I have), it's that our guards may be susceptible to quicker opponents. Foster and Proctor are tall, but not terribly quick, and we don't have a quicker option on the roster. The defense had trouble staying in front of their man last night, and against a better opponent that might be a problem. That, and Proctor and Foster combining for 3 assists and 3 turnovers isn't a great line for your two primary guards.
Still, there's a TON of talent and versatility on the roster. Knueppel looks like the real deal, and made a few wow plays (that rebound theft and taking it end to end was crazy). He is going to pad the assist stats of all his teammates thanks to his shooting ability. Flagg is of course terrific. Gillis, Brown, and James did their thing as solid vets. And even in a shaky night Foster and Proctor were double-digit scorers. Maluach had a shaky night, as Maine's quickness appeared to give him problems. Still, he had 6, 6, and 3 blocks in 18 minutes.
The team still has plenty of room to grow, and that's impressive as they just won by 34 points. Very excited for the season.
MChambers
Member
Yes, the announcers and even Seth Greenberg have talked about that. I’m a bit surprised by the move and wouldn’t be shocked if at some point Proctor became more of an initiator. But I give Scheyer credit for trying it.
In the second half, I noticed that on defense Kon often was matched on a small Maine guard at the top of the key. It seemed to be a matchup Duke wanted, surprisingly. I’m not sure if this was a halftime adjustment.
Lurkingdukedog
Member
I think that when the guys/the team play at a high level, that demoralizes opponents as much as any arrogance would. Personally, I could go for fewer displays of emotion versus just getting the job done and moving on to the "next play".
30+ point win and they played nowhere near their best....definitely a sign of an elite team.
If I had to nitpick......I'm worried that Cooper's frame will limit him when facing/defending stronger players. He seemed flustered at times that he wasn't able to drive at will and I felt he started settling for jump shots which he didn't make at a high rate.
On the other hand.....Sion should be taking it hard to the basket every trip. I could easily see him ending up in the starting lineup or at least getting starter's minutes.
If I had to nitpick......I'm worried that Cooper's frame will limit him when facing/defending stronger players. He seemed flustered at times that he wasn't able to drive at will and I felt he started settling for jump shots which he didn't make at a high rate.
On the other hand.....Sion should be taking it hard to the basket every trip. I could easily see him ending up in the starting lineup or at least getting starter's minutes.
Good first official W.
-We definitely pushed the pace, 76 possession game
-We definitely shot a lot of 3s, 46% of our shots
I am with those who have posited that we won't have a true PG this year. Jon is empowering many guys, as we attempt to play faster, to grab and go and see if we can get an advantage. Tyrese, Caleb, Cooper, Sion, Kon are but a few of the guys who will look to do this. Maliq's passing stood out to me, too. The dude was threading some needles, similar to what Man Man was doing against Arizona State. Between those two and Cooper, we have some really excellent passing from the bigs, perhaps a signature of the nascent Scheyer era?
I love when these three come in. I am calling them "The Uncs", and will continue to try and make Uncs happen. All 3 are effective in different ways. Pokey Brown and his magic hands, Sion flying around, sometimes slashing, and looking confident from 3. Mason also flying around, always being around the ball, and spacing/relocating for 3s. We are like a blur of 6'6"-6'9" bodies out there.
I can't wait to see how this all looks against Kentucky.
-We definitely pushed the pace, 76 possession game
-We definitely shot a lot of 3s, 46% of our shots
I am with those who have posited that we won't have a true PG this year. Jon is empowering many guys, as we attempt to play faster, to grab and go and see if we can get an advantage. Tyrese, Caleb, Cooper, Sion, Kon are but a few of the guys who will look to do this. Maliq's passing stood out to me, too. The dude was threading some needles, similar to what Man Man was doing against Arizona State. Between those two and Cooper, we have some really excellent passing from the bigs, perhaps a signature of the nascent Scheyer era?
I love when these three come in. I am calling them "The Uncs", and will continue to try and make Uncs happen. All 3 are effective in different ways. Pokey Brown and his magic hands, Sion flying around, sometimes slashing, and looking confident from 3. Mason also flying around, always being around the ball, and spacing/relocating for 3s. We are like a blur of 6'6"-6'9" bodies out there.
Yeah, our rotations seems pretty solid, even for early season. Will Flagg and Man Man be intimidating enough at the rim, and the rotations crisp enough, to be able to mitigate quick guards who can penetrate? Definitely a good question.
I can't wait to see how this all looks against Kentucky.
jjasper0729
Member
Agreed.
This also goes back to the lack of blocks by Duke. Maine did a lot of fade away/fall away jumpers that were high rainbows to get it over the length. Many of those inexplicably went in.
Cooper seems pretty demonstrative and those Khaman blocks and deep Kon triples would seem to be pretty demoralizing IMO.
The Metrics
Nice way to start the season! It's obviously way too early to take much meaning out of the adjusted oRtg and dRtg, but the unadjusted stats are still meaningful.
OFFENSE
Possessions: 73.5 (a decent pace)
oRtg: 130.6 (123.5 adjusted; would be the #1 offense nationally, though again way too early to truly assess adjusted ratings)
eFG%: 64.3% (outstanding)
3pt%: 37.5% (solid)
2pt%: 70.6% (outstanding)
%threes: 46.0% (really high, especially as we were so much more effective on 2s last night)
FT rate: 31.7% (mediocre)
OR%: 35.5% (solid)
TO%: 17.7% (not great)
a/to: 1.31 (not great)
%assisted: 48.6% (solid)
fast break pts: 18 (solid)
DEFENSE
dRtg: 94.8 (84.3 adjusted; would be #1, though still too early to say much about that)
eFG%: 39.5% (excellent)
3pt%: 21.4% (excellent)
2pt%: 41.9% (solid)
%threes: 24.6% (solid)
FT rate: 31.6% (mediocre)
DR%: 80.6% (outstanding)
TO%: 19.0% (excellent)
a/to: 0.29 (outstanding)
%assisted: 19.0% (excellent)
stl%: 13.6% (solid)
blk%: 7.0% (2pt shots) (middling)
fast break pts: 9 (decent)
Aside from turnovers, we played an excellent all-around game. Defensively we overwhelmed them. Just a very solid way to start the season!
Nice way to start the season! It's obviously way too early to take much meaning out of the adjusted oRtg and dRtg, but the unadjusted stats are still meaningful.
OFFENSE
Possessions: 73.5 (a decent pace)
oRtg: 130.6 (123.5 adjusted; would be the #1 offense nationally, though again way too early to truly assess adjusted ratings)
eFG%: 64.3% (outstanding)
3pt%: 37.5% (solid)
2pt%: 70.6% (outstanding)
%threes: 46.0% (really high, especially as we were so much more effective on 2s last night)
FT rate: 31.7% (mediocre)
OR%: 35.5% (solid)
TO%: 17.7% (not great)
a/to: 1.31 (not great)
%assisted: 48.6% (solid)
fast break pts: 18 (solid)
DEFENSE
dRtg: 94.8 (84.3 adjusted; would be #1, though still too early to say much about that)
eFG%: 39.5% (excellent)
3pt%: 21.4% (excellent)
2pt%: 41.9% (solid)
%threes: 24.6% (solid)
FT rate: 31.6% (mediocre)
DR%: 80.6% (outstanding)
TO%: 19.0% (excellent)
a/to: 0.29 (outstanding)
%assisted: 19.0% (excellent)
stl%: 13.6% (solid)
blk%: 7.0% (2pt shots) (middling)
fast break pts: 9 (decent)
Aside from turnovers, we played an excellent all-around game. Defensively we overwhelmed them. Just a very solid way to start the season!
Edouble
Member
Dunleavy and Battier?
With regard to arrogance, I find those two to be the antithesis of JJ, which was the point of my post/thoughts.
Could we settle on "The Unks" with a nod to Coach K? Because it looks like you are referring to them as our cheating rivals down the street.
MChambers
Member
It was great when Kon said he might have settled a bit on a couple of his early shots, some heat checks, and Sion said that if anyone has earned a few heat checks, it's Kon.
sagegrouse
Member
What's a "heat check?" Thanks.
sagegrouse
Member
Don't know the right label, but Sion, Mason and Maliq are "spring-loaded" when they enter the game -- as in "Whoosh!!"
brevity
Member
Pretty sure it's what Dwyane Wade used to get in the mail from his employer every two weeks.
I don't use the term, but I think a heat check is when someone has a lingering green light to take an iffy shot because they've played well so far. Like, "Is my hot hand still hot? Let's do a heat check and find out."
James and Gillis are too good to sit on the bench and only provide occasional rest for Proctor and Foster. Brown too as the center. This is a great “problem” to have. Very excited about this year’s team.
The Cooper/Kon pairing reminds me a little bit of the Shav/JJ pairing in a specific way. Going into the 2002-3 season, Shav was the most coveted prize in that recruiting class and JJ was in his shadow. That's where the comparisons end as I believe Cooper is already performing at a level Shav never reached BUT Triple Kneuppel is kind of like the JJ presence, vaulting himself from relatively obscurity to a major role on the team very early.
MChambers
Member
Cooper, in his postgame interview, said some very interesting things, including how emotional this game was for him, playing against Maine. He also said this:
When asked if he makes a conscious effort to get more rebounds and assists when his shot isn’t falling:
“I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s intentional. It’s just something that’s always been a part of my game, just trying to impact [the game] in a lot of different ways, whether it’s making the right play, finding an open teammate, rebounding, whatever it is. It’s something that our team, in general, has been priding ourselves on. Outside of the shots, only about six percent of the game is making or missing shots. So just priding ourselves around the 94 percent that doesn’t revolve around shots – rebounding, playing good defense, playing with energy, those types of thing that we can control. That’s been huge for us and a big focus for us, just trying to impact the game in any way possible.”
So making shots is only 6% of winning? Where does this stat come from?
When asked if he makes a conscious effort to get more rebounds and assists when his shot isn’t falling:
“I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s intentional. It’s just something that’s always been a part of my game, just trying to impact [the game] in a lot of different ways, whether it’s making the right play, finding an open teammate, rebounding, whatever it is. It’s something that our team, in general, has been priding ourselves on. Outside of the shots, only about six percent of the game is making or missing shots. So just priding ourselves around the 94 percent that doesn’t revolve around shots – rebounding, playing good defense, playing with energy, those types of thing that we can control. That’s been huge for us and a big focus for us, just trying to impact the game in any way possible.”
So making shots is only 6% of winning? Where does this stat come from?