Scrimmage Video (June 2024)

mph said:
I don’t understand how folks are making such confident predictions based on a short, heavily edited video from a single scrimmage 4 months before we play our first game. This time last year a lot of people were predicting TJ Power as our 5th starter.
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I'm in your camp. I've seen too many predictions in the past based on pre-season videos that didn't come true. Power being the most recent. I think Foster is going to be a terrific player this season at the 2 guard with some minutes backing up Proctor at the point. I think it's possible K2 might get minutes there as well. However, it's too soon to make that assumption. I know Flagg has the potential to be a very special player, but I want to see him in action before I anoint him POY. I'm anxious to see is how Coach Scheyer distributes minutes to the freshmen not named Flagg and do we play at a faster tempo this season.

GoDuke!
 
I guess the one thing we can take from a scrimmage like this is how people look and move. K2 passed that test, Maluach may or may not have, Foster is moving well, and Brown isn't as huge as say, James is. That is useful information but not determinative information.
 
My recollection is that Power didn't show much in last year's scrimmage videos. But Schutt was routinely knocking down threes in every session. Ryan Young even knocked down some outside shots. I agree that we can't glean much from the videos at least in terms of shooting percentages, but I do like seeing our guards attack the rim and finish, and hearing that Brown gets a lot of deflections.
 
trinity79 said:
I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of James at the 3 and Brown at the 4, because I think the James/Brown 3-4 combo will be the hardest working tandem in CBB.
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I see what you did there and I feel good about the James/Brown combo too. Those two really get up on D. If Khaman likes living in America, I feel like Duke gonna have to get a brand new bag for the trip to the Alamodome.
 
As fun as it was to whet my appetite on the scrimmage video, I actually think it was more important seeing the players nominate Maliq as the best defender. The scrimmage videos only show highlight-reel defense, and that's just a pretty rare animal. You don't see the workaday stuff that is much more important in games. It was also noteworthy that Maliq mostly played the 4 in the video. Granted, it's practice, and an early one at that, but to me that says something about how the coaches are thinking. We'll see if that continues through the summer, or if later we see more Maliq playing as the only true big man on his side.

Keep the vids coming, Duke!
 
So I just watched the footage again for a writeup on the front page (to be posted shortly), but wanted to post this nugget that I don't think has been explicitly discussed: Maliq and Khaman were playing together on the white team with Tyrese and Caleb. While many around here have been skeptical of pairing those two together for long periods, it seems that Jon is at least testing that out early in the offseason...
 
scottdude8 said:
So I just watched the footage again for a writeup on the front page (to be posted shortly), but wanted to post this nugget that I don't think has been explicitly discussed: Maliq and Khaman were playing together on the white team with Tyrese and Caleb. While many around here have been skeptical of pairing those two together for long periods, it seems that Jon is at least testing that out early in the offseason...
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That might be meaningful. Or it might just be that of the 10 healthy rotation-caliber players we have (i.e., with Harris out with injury), 4 are in the PF/C category (Maluach, Ngongba, Brown, Flagg). So for a typical scrimmage, they have to split them up somehow.
 
CDu said:
That might be meaningful. Or it might just be that of the 10 healthy rotation-caliber players we have (i.e., with Harris out with injury), 4 are in the PF/C category (Maluach, Ngongba, Brown, Flagg). So for a typical scrimmage, they have to split them up somehow.
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Good point. Since Ngongba and Maluach can't play the 4, that puts Brown there with those 10 guys on the floor.

I've always believed that for the 8-10mpg when Cooper is on the bench, we'd see Brown at the 4 and Maluach at the 5. I'm just very skeptical that we'll see Flagg-Brown-Maluach all on the floor together much, if at all.
 
scottdude8 said:
So I just watched the footage again for a writeup on the front page (to be posted shortly), but wanted to post this nugget that I don't think has been explicitly discussed: Maliq and Khaman were playing together on the white team with Tyrese and Caleb. While many around here have been skeptical of pairing those two together for long periods, it seems that Jon is at least testing that out early in the offseason...
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Here's the link to the full piece. I also dive into what we might be able to surmise from Sion and Kon's performances, and what Maliq did that wasn't included in the "highlights."
CDu said:
That might be meaningful. Or it might just be that of the 10 healthy rotation-caliber players we have (i.e., with Harris out with injury), 4 are in the PF/C category (Maluach, Ngongba, Brown, Flagg). So for a typical scrimmage, they have to split them up somehow.
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SkyBrickey said:
Good point. Since Ngongba and Maluach can't play the 4, that puts Brown there with those 10 guys on the floor.

I've always believed that for the 8-10mpg when Cooper is on the bench, we'd see Brown at the 4 and Maluach at the 5. I'm just very skeptical that we'll see Flagg-Brown-Maluach all on the floor together much, if at all.
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This is certainly a viable explanation, and it was hard to tell where this scrimmage fell on the scale of "A team vs B team" to "Two evenly matched teams"... it was certainly somewhere in the middle considering that our starting backcourt was intact and coupled with our likely starting center, but Cooper was on the other side. That said, if Jon's expectation was to have the fifth starter (alongside Tyrese, Caleb, Cooper and Khaman) be more wing than big it would make sense for him to start getting some data on how that would work, especially given the limited time we have Khaman this summer.

I know I've been in the minority thinking that Maliq will start and/or that he and Khaman will play alongside each other (and with Cooper at the 3) for significant minutes, and I'm coming around to Jason's perspective that Sion may earn the fifth starter's role. But I still think Maliq's role is going to be more than just Cooper and Khaman's backup based on his CV in ACC play, not to mention the fact that he's being universally lauded for his defensive acumen. It's just June 27, but if I had to bet now I'd still say we see a Flagg/Brown/Maluach frontcourt for at least 10 mpg on average, and that that group will be the starting frontcourt at least a couple times this season.
 
SkyBrickey said:
I'm just very skeptical that we'll see Flagg-Brown-Maluach all on the floor together much, if at all.
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I have a surprise for you on the next pod.

i-have-spies-everywhere.jpg
 
scottdude8 said:
Here's the link to the full piece. I also dive into what we might be able to surmise from Sion and Kon's performances, and what Maliq did that wasn't included in the "highlights."
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I agree that Maluach's offense is ahead of his defense, as you said in the excellent piece. I thought that was true in the BAL as well. He is surprisingly comfortable with the ball, both handling and shooting. His defense will improve, but I expect he'll commit some bad fouls early in the season.
 
To get Flagg, Brown and Maluach all on the court together (a devastating defensive lineup) for 10mpg, Jon will have to decide does he just slot Brown into that second shooter spot where Gillis/K2/James/Evans will play? Or will he have completely different offensive sets just for Cooper plus two bigs?

If it's the former, Brown has to force the defense to respect him from 3 or else the lane will get clogged for Flagg/Maluach to operate.

If it's the latter, then you've got to invest in installing and executing those sets vs always operating in a Cooper plus PG/C plus two shooters offense.

When you lay out the rotation, if you give Flagg-Brown-Maluach time on the court together, then one of two things has to happen. Either you have minutes when only one of the 3 is on the court - not a good thing I'd argue. Or that trio averages more than 27mpg each which will cut into available minutes for our wing players. So that's the flip side of trying to buy time together for those three vs allowing them to split the 80mpg at the 4/5.
 
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