Friction. said:

Considering stats against UK, AZ, KU, Aub, and UL in the first 6 minutes:

Opponents 3FG%: 76% on 21 attempts.

And appears to be consistent. UK was 5/5, UL 3/4, KU 3/4, Auburn 3/4 and AZ 2/4.

For reference, Duke 3FG% in the first 6 minutes if you take Tyrese out of the equation: 25%

My $0.02 - we are testing/falling in love with the 3 ball too early and for whatever weird reason our opponents are catching fire until about the first media timeout.

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We seem to be chasing instead of guarding shooters in the first half/first part of first half. I don't understand why we do that.

Anyway - I think there are times when other teams have a fast start which gives us the appearance of a slow start. Lot of teams come out with a lot of energy because they are playing Duke (mostly the lower tier of Division 1 teams), and Duke plays without fouling during the storm and grinds the team down.

Now that is not always but it is a factor IMO.

I think part of it is playing Maluach, which let me be clear, we need Maluach to be a title contender. However, he currently has no low post game and teams don't guard him past the foul line. It results in the lane being totally clogged and we then are forced to settle for 3 pointers.

Defensively we are fine and it's too small of a sample size to say our defense is a problem the first few minutes of these games, just have been a bit unlucky.
I don't know if Jon is to blame for this or if we can point to starting 3 freshman as the cause for this, but this can't keep happening. Once the game gets into a flow, we are always the better team.

Mark Mitchell is 6'9 and athletic with long arms, it makes sense that he was a 5 star recruit. At times, he was an ELITE defender for us, but at times it also seemed like he didn't have that fire in him. His shot is ugly, but if he had a good looking 3 point shot, he would have been an NBA player after his freshman year.

I have nothing but respect for him, and I hope he does well this year and in his pro career. He was a frustrating player at times (especially last year) but he wore DUKE across his chest proudly and had a fairly successful 2 years here: we beat Tennessee in the tournament his freshman year had he played IMO.

Considering stats against UK, AZ, KU, Aub, and UL in the first 6 minutes:

Opponents 3FG%: 76% on 21 attempts.

And appears to be consistent. UK was 5/5, UL 3/4, KU 3/4, Auburn 3/4 and AZ 2/4.

For reference, Duke 3FG% in the first 6 minutes if you take Tyrese out of the equation: 25%

My $0.02 - we are testing/falling in love with the 3 ball too early and for whatever weird reason our opponents are catching fire until about the first media timeout.

kingbluedevil said:

Looked up his stats for this year 12.8 points a game around 5 rebounds and shooting 48 percent

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Mitchell is playing well, but he average 11.6 PPG, 6 rebounds and shot 54% from the field last season. He is playing a few less minutes per game, but he's putting up similar numbers. I do think a change in scenery was good for him.

But I'm happy with the transfers in, they are a better fit for this team.

ioliva said:

Just wanted to make an appreciation post.

Damn can this kid make plays. Blocks, deflections, rebounding, defense. He’s always there to clean things up. When the whistle blows, you’ll see him with a put back or block…. Doesn’t show up but it definitely helps. And we get him for two years ? We need to develop his offense, dude can be an nba guy with his defense. I just want to see this kid succeed he deserves it.

Best defender since battier?

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Huge pick up from the transfer portal.

BOOM Jude Hall a 6'4'' WR from SC commits for the 26 class
5.7 rating on rivals. the big receiver we need

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Mac9192 said:

I don’t mean to throw shade at Mitchell, but he was spastic, and had an awful shot. Not sure how he was so highly rated.

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Looked up his stats for this year 12.8 points a game around 5 rebounds and shooting 48 percent

I don’t mean to throw shade at Mitchell, but he was spastic, and had an awful shot. Not sure how he was so highly rated.

Shey, yeah I would say he did. Mitchell was a 3 and like Flip both of those guys were tasked with playing out of position last season because Duke didn’t have a legitimate 5 man so Mitchell had to play the 4 and Flip had to play the 5.

I was at the game in South Bend last season when Mitchell carried Duke to a win.

per Manny's press conference we will be involved but as he said ''more of a sniper'' approach which to me means fewer kids

bullcity gamer said:

I would say Mitchell was willing to do what was needed for the team. Ultimately he was persuaded by his father to leave Duke.

Mitchell was aggressive for Duke while he played for The Blue Devils.

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Was he really though? He barely wanted to mix it up inside which is where he did his most damage .

I think the transfers in/out this past offseason have worked well for Duke's sake, Blakes is putting up real numbers at Stanford which is pretty shocking. But I think it was best for Mitchell to not be on this team, he would have killed our spacing and Brown does all of the little things better. TJ Power is now being brought off the bench for UVA. Schutt is scoring some for a bad VT team, but he is a major defensive liability. Stewart is starting for OSU but not putting up much number wise.

Scheyer hit a home run with Brown and James IMO. Gillis we will see, I wouldn't be shocked if by the end of the year that all his minutes go to Evans, but he's still a valuable part of the team.

I would say Mitchell was willing to do what was needed for the team. Ultimately he was persuaded by his father to leave Duke.

Mitchell was aggressive for Duke while he played for The Blue Devils.

Are we expected to be active in the portal this year?

christophero said:

Brown>Mitchell, Stewart and Power combined.

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Maturity. Maliq wants to play his position. Sean was the only one willing to do what was needed for the team.

First kid to the portal. LB Carter Wyatt announces.

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Brown is an absolute gem defensively. He got Dickinson so frustrated in the Kansas game that Dickinson kicked him in the head out of retaliation. He's also a perfect foil to Mal, Mal has the size/length/potential whereas Brown has just about everything else.

Brown has to be the favorite for ACC D Poy, right???

I was there along with many other Duke fans. By the end of the game it was all Duke chants. I thought we did a good job of weathering the storm of three's early on and didn't panic. Our defense is elite, and should keep us in every game no matter how off we are from 3.

I thought the biggest play of the game was when Cooper went out with 4 fouls, Kon's man fell down and he hit a wide open 3, that got everything going, and then it was the Maliq Brown show. I can't say enough good things about Brown, but we was AWESOME again last night.

The slow starts need to stop though. Should Jon consider starting Brown over Mal?? I don't have the answers, but that was a great win as we now get 1 gimme game and then can rest up some.

Cooper out the players

christophero said:

Watching the 10 minute highlights.
1. Want to know why teams hit 3's against us? They have room. You give a Div. 1 player 5 feet and they can hit it. Holding your hand up does not effect them. need to tighten that up.
2. Proctor being very aggressive with the ball, in a good way.
3. Mal looks a little lost out there; esp. on D.
4. I was watching Gillis. He denied his man the ball, then slid over, blocked a shot, and led to a Kon lay up. Kid is smart and solid.
5. Big play with Cooper getting the steal, then getting the 2nd foul on their big man.
6. Sion with some big boy plays. My goodness. That dunk down the lane.
7. My dad the coach would love Brown. Every play he makes is a positive. Creates havoc defensively. Gets guys out of rhythm.
8. Flagg taking over. He has guard skills.
9. Kon had a solid game after the early misses. Made some crafty passes.
10. I'm seeing a mean streak in Flagg I didn't see earlier. Very nice on some tough finishes.
We took their best shot and won by double digits. Good job team.

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1. Yes, too often (first half - much better in second) we were chasing shooters instead of guarding them.
2. You know, I felt like we had more turnovers watching the game than the stat-line reveals). I thought Proctor was being too aggressive and losing the ball. Obviously it did not happen as I thought it did during play.
3. Not a good matchup for him - he has been better. Kudos to John for recognizing this..
4. Looking forward to his growth.
5. Yes
6. Glad we did more of this in 2nd half. With a depleted 7 man rotation we needed to shove it down their throats.
and make them guard us on drives (IMO).
7. Favorite player right now.
8. Him sitting was good for us. Got the team playing more instead of waiting. That said he is great and as the team plays more togehter they will get into better sync. Feel like we are still testing lineups at this point.
9. I think we get too caught up in groaning when he misses in this slump after his hot start, but he makes so many other positive plays.
10. I hate to say he had some timidity in his start because he really didn't but you can see change in him as he adjusts even more to the college game.

bullcity gamer said:

Chris it’s always possible with teams who covet defensive prowess, but he can still improve on the offensive end.

Brown returns for his senior year, He and Foster are Co-Captains.

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Brown's defense is magnificent, but there's definitely room to improve on FT shooting (33.3%) and turnover rate (35.4%).

bleediteveryday30 said:

Our defense in the second half won us this game.

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Seemed like Louisville missing the same shots they hit in the first half was the key. Duke shot no better from 3 so they finally quit doing it. Might be the key in all the road games.