Pat Ngongba "out indefinitely," in a boot

SkyBrickey said:
Azz, I'm screenshotting this post for posterity. I know you're disappointed about Pat, but this is silly. Maliq was always playing more than 10mpg at the 5. Plenty of folks have even speculated Maliq could start ahead of Khaman early in the year.

Houston had the #1 defense in the country playing a 6-7 and 6-8 frontcourt. But it's going to go badly for Duke if we play a 6-8 all-ACC first team defender with a 7-foot wingspan for more than 10 minutes at the 5? Really??

I'm confident Scheyer didn't share this opinion when he made Maliq our #1 target big transfer knowing that Pat may or may not be recovered and ready to play this season. Jon assembled EXACTLY the team he wanted.
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Yep. Brown was always coming in to play the 5 spot and given what happened to Pat he will play a lot. Guys mature so Brown may be better this year than last year. Flag and Gillis will split the 4 man spot and Flagg and Kon will take the majority at the 3.
 
DBKilby said:
Yep. Brown was always coming in to play the 5 spot and given what happened to Pat he will play a lot. Guys mature so Brown may be better this year than last year. Flag and Gillis will split the 4 man spot and Flagg and Kon will take the majority at the 3.
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DB, I abandoned the 3 vs 4 debate. It was too much of a food fight on here and it doesn't really matter.

I'm sticking with the following. The offense will be designed around Cooper and he will play at least 90% of his minutes with a PG, a C and two shooters. I don't expect Cooper's role on offense to change at all based on who those two shooters are in the game...
 
Seems like the indefinite is becoming finite. Duke MBB's social media posted pics from a Wednesday practice that was semi-open to the public.

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At the Arizona St. game Patrick Nbongba was in uniform warmups and walking without a boot. During warmups he stood on the foul lane (not line) and got loose balls and passed them to outside shooters. He did not "move around" and did not take any shots, but he seemed to move/walk without limping.
 
Good he may be the 11th man but we will need him to play big minutes at times this year. You don't know what type of foul trouble Brown or Maluach will get in.
 
JGDUKE2008 said:
Good he may be the 11th man but we will need him to play big minutes at times this year. You don't know what type of foul trouble Brown or Maluach will get in.
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Exactly, it’s great to have a third big just in case. (And as I type that sentence I am having triggering flashbacks to the 2004 UConn game. Oof)

I’ll add, it’s great if Pat can get at least a small amount of experience (and practice time) for the sake of next year, where he may be the most natural center on the roster.
 
JGDUKE2008 said:
Good he may be the 11th man but we will need him to play big minutes at times this year. You don't know what type of foul trouble Brown or Maluach will get in.
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when you read that in an Italian mobster voice, it sounds pretty sinister...
"Hey, that's a nice frontcourt rotation ya got there, it'd be a real shame if somethin' should happen to it..."
 
DukieTiger said:
Exactly, it’s great to have a third big just in case. (And as I type that sentence I am having triggering flashbacks to the 2004 UConn game. Oof)

I’ll add, it’s great if Pat can get at least a small amount of experience (and practice time) for the sake of next year, where he may be the most natural center on the roster.
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Pat missed basically all of last season and quite a bit of time this preseason. He really needs time on the court for his development, so I'm very happy that he's back, at least in practice.
 
MChambers said:
Pat missed basically all of last season and quite a bit of time this preseason. He really needs time on the court for his development, so I'm very happy that he's back, at least in practice.
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There has been a lot of talk about how competitive practices are. I, for one, love that as I think that one of the benefits of a deep team is how that benefits everyone's development (leaving aside the minutes played in games). Pat's availability is a big deal to me for Khaman's development. Working against Maliq is one type of challenge: a smaller but excellent defender. Going against Pat provides another challenge: going against another 7 -footer. I think both are important.
 
Travis said:
There has been a lot of talk about how competitive practices are. I, for one, love that as I think that one of the benefits of a deep team is how that benefits everyone's development (leaving aside the minutes played in games). Pat's availability is a big deal to me for Khaman's development. Working against Maliq is one type of challenge: a smaller but excellent defender. Going against Pat provides another challenge: going against another 7 -footer. I think both are important.
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Right. And having Pat back also gives Scheyer a chance to use Khaman and Maliq on the same side during practice scrimmages.
 
I am very happy for Pat. I am unsure why everyone is slotting him into the 11th-man role. We haven't seen him play, and Evans and Harris aren't setting the world afire.
 
He gives us a very different look as a traditional post guy versus Maluach who isn't a scorer except on lobs/rim runs and Brown who is a garbage bucket kind of guy. Defensively as others have stated he is also a different type of player and will be useful against the DJ Burns's of the world. Overall it will just be great to have one more tool in the toolbox. He seems like a great kid who picked Duke even though we were also pursuing Bidunga and Maluach, he has fought through injuries and I'm sure he's excited to get out there on the court with his brothers.
 
azzefkram said:
I am very happy for Pat. I am unsure why everyone is slotting him into the 11th-man role. We haven't seen him play, and Evans and Harris aren't setting the world afire.
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I don't think we can yet project him in any real role. He's barely been in practice. Comparing Evans and Harris to Ngongba in terms of team role just doesn't make sense. We'll play Ngongba if and only if we need an extra big man, a role neither of those other guys can play. It's like saying an extra plumber is going to displace an extra doctor. You might want them both, but you need them to do completely different jobs.
 
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