bullcity gamer said:

Valid Points Conor. I’m not in the know by any means at all. Just from observing from the outside I could have seen a scenario where

Proctor
Foster
Mitchell
Flagg
Maluach
Brown
James
Knuppueul
Evans

All suit up for the Blue Devils, but if Mitchell would have returned maybe Duke doesn’t land Knup or Evans. It’s neither here nor there so it’s a moot point.

You are right though, it’s a hard ask to ask a 2 year starter to have their minutes reduced because more talent is coming in.

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Mac9192 said:

Agree. We have very little low post game. If we would utilize it a little, the opportunities open up for our shooters too.
I know Maluach is raw, but it’s hard to not think lob attempts are there for him if we’d look to do that a little more.

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ConorONeill said:

Haha yeah man!

I *think* Mark's dad's comments were more personal and honestly, religious-focused, than it had to do with Mark's on-court usage. I think the distance was hard on Mark's family, which is why he's back in the mid-west this season.

Any time you've got a 5-star, top-25 player who isn't one-and-done after two seasons, he's got to think he's going to be recruited over. Which is what Duke did by bringing in Cooper. So then, you can't expect Mark to stick around and go from starting, playing 27-30 minutes per game, to a bench role.

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sheyduke said:

But he’s only caught like five or rather been thrown five or six . And we wouldn’t know if he does or doesn’t . Duke has not attempted to throw it in the post unless Flagg is there . We don’t even throw it into Brown down low . Last lob thrown was from Foster. I don’t believe Duke has anybody that can make the entry pass. Every lob he’s caught has been when he’s already around the basket .

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bullcity gamer said:

Flagg coming in I don’t think pushed Mitchell out the door. Mitchell could have stayed had he wanted to. If Mitchell stays, more than likely Gillis is not sought after.

Mitchell’s dad was unhappy with Duke’s usage of Mitchell, but Mark didn’t speak I’ll of Duke. Mark said he was grateful for Duke and loved Duke or something along those lines when an interviewer asked him about his dad’s comments.

Mitchell was never a #1 scoring option for Duke and he wasn’t going to be.

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ConorONeill said:

He was? Had nothing to do with Duke bringing in the future No. 1 pick who does everything better than Mitchell and plays the same role/position?

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DukeDallas9192011015 said:

I believe he has no low post game (currently) because we have yet to run a post up for him all season.
IMO him catching lobs is a product of us playing 5 out because it opens up the lane for him to come soaring in for a dunk.

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pinecreek said:

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.

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sheyduke said:

I’m having a hard time understanding how anyone can say he has no low post game when Duke plays five out . When he catches a lob ( very rarely thrown to him) he’s hit all except I think for one . If you look when he rebounds on offense he’s looking to lock out to open shooters . Teams know this and will exploit it . Proctor and Foster and Akon for that matter starting to drive more has opened up for easier three point shots . But if your just gonna jack up three’s and miss the easiest defensive plan would be to clog the lane to stop drives or slack off perimeter shooters until they hit shots . If Duke comes out and hits their three’s out the gate teams would have to be more spread on defense . I think one fix to the slow starts is for Duke to look in side or drive before starting to jack up three’s . When Duke started attacking last night instead of settling for three’s the offense opened up because Louisville couldn’t recover to shooters in time from trying to stop penetration.

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DukeDallas9192011015 said:

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.

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DukeDallas9192011015 said:

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.

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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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bullcity gamer said:

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.

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