Clint Eastwood's Team Evals as of 12/03/15

[Showenuff]

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

The Good. The freshmen are noticibly gaining that shooters confidence. Brandon Ingram looks to have heard the call, and he answered. I'm not talking about his scoring. He played different. I watched the game two more times this morning, his entire body language, totally different, his hands are always ready, he moved with urgency, quickness. It made me so damn happy I can't even begin to tell you. Luke is making fantastic decisions as well. Amiles defense is legendary. Rebounding has become his mission and now , even his offense is great. He gives all he's got every second HES out there. Marshall , he's just way better this year and playing strong. That oop he threw down had me cheering loudly! Grayson. Um, wow. Yes he had a rough night vs UK but all that seemed to do was ignite a fire and it's been blazing ever since. Grayson is amazing. I have this thing in my mind that only prays we get to play UK again. He's going to remember that last meeting, trust me. Very satisfying seeing Crean have his ass handed to him, I really can not stand the guy. Loved Dickie V yelling BLOWOUT CITY! Hahaha! It's really cool to see what K is teaching starting to come to the surface with this team, I'm extremely optimistic now. I mentioned at the start of this season we looked to be a team that would be slow and sloppy out if the gate but after a batch of games under their belts, could be great. I think we're on the way.

The Bad We can't stop a layup . It's absolutely killing me. I think our defense is getting better, it's just that one spot directly under the basket that seems to kill us. Yes we destroyed IU , but what would it be like had we stopped that plethora of unimpeded lay ups ? I think we are on the way though. The D slowly improves.

The Ugly. Our PG situation. It's just not solidified yet and it bothers me greatly. DT has flashes but makes way to many poor decisions still. I'm just hoping he's there soon, we need him. Right now he telegraphs his passes way to loudly. Right now, I actually prefer Matt , but that's not what I want.

Credits Overall, super happy with our team. And Ingrams new energetic style excited the hell out of me. Just a few more tweaks and K has done it again.

 

[skysdad]

That's the longest post I can ever remember you doing Show. Did you wife's anniversary inspire this? OFC

 

[Get Nasty]

Good post. Couple points on stopping the layup.

- We are going to get penetrated on all day vs teams with a good pg unless thornton picks it up on his help D and offense allowing him to be our point guard.
- Matt's lack of quickness is getting exploited trying to cover a PG.
- Plumlee is great on D when he doesn't have to face a big that drives or help out on someone driving. He has poor instincts and timing helping out and timing his jump when someone drives the lane. He's very athletic, but a slow powerful jumper if that make sense? So again duke is without any help defensive shot blocking

I'm really confused by Luke's shooting, I really thought he was going to be a great shooter but I have doubts. Not because he's missing shots but because of how poorly he's missing shots. He's throwing up so major bricks and not even coming close. For example Matt has become a really good three point shooter but because of his release and the fact he doesn't really jump on his shot he has to be wide open and more of a catch and shoot. When he's set and square and has time, he's money, when he's moving or tightly guarded, no chance. Luke is a baller but I'm confused by his shooting.


Even with luke's shooting I think our best lineup right now is

Matt, Grayson, Luke, Brandon, Amile..... You see this lineup a lot late in the first halves and 2nd halves of games


I hope with improvements come March our best lineup down the stretch of games is

Thornton, grayson, matt, brandon, amile ...... I'm not holding my breath though. I think Thornton is going to need a full off season to understand how to be a duke pg.

 

[pisgah101]

I liked how we looked this game with the Utah St game we can deff see this team making great strides. We held a GREAT offensive team to 74 while winning by 20 I think the D held its on last night

 

[BlueDevils725]

We just have inconsistent players and that's what I'm scared of come March, we could show up and win by 50, or run into a hot team and be ran out of the gym, I know it's really early but after 7 or 8 games you'd think they'd be more consistent, they've played the best team in the country and now a decent Indiana team, they know what pressure feels like. Ingram finally having a good game was fantastic, but can he keep it up? Kennards shooting is flat and Thornton looks like a lost puppy in the rain. Oh well, I was proud of them last night regardless.

 

[timo0402]

We just have inconsistent players and that's what I'm scared of come March, we could show up and win by 50, or run into a hot team and be ran out of the gym, I know it's really early but after 7 or 8 games you'd think they'd be more consistent, they've played the best team in the country and now a decent Indiana team, they know what pressure feels like. Ingram finally having a good game was fantastic, but can he keep it up? Kennards shooting is flat and Thornton looks like a lost puppy in the rain. Oh well, I was proud of them last night regardless.

Pretty much disagree with the entire post. We have 4 guys we know what we're getting- Amile, Matt, Marshall and Grayson (in that order of knowing what you're getting). I put Grayson there 4th because his role is more volatile than the other 3- he's asked to be the primary scorer and if we need a bucket he's our go-to guy. But he's becoming extremely consistent and more importantly efficient. The four freshmen, UNDERSTANDABLY are going to be inconsistent. Slowly but surely that should change. They'll each have their good and bad moments- but of all of them i think Luke and then DT are becoming more consistent- if you're judging Luke just by his shot dropping, you're missing a lot of other good things he's doing. DT isn't a lost puppy- he's learning his way- he did a lot of good things last night, which was improved over the last game he played.

 

[dukiejay]

There were going to be growing pains with this team. And they will continue.

I agree with the consensus on Thornton. We need him to be good. Right now he's not ready to be where we need him. Can he get there by March? Maybe....but I think it's less likely. He might be our best option in some games, but I worry about the consistent play as whole more.

Grayson is an All-American candidate and will have a chance to be ACC Player of the Year. He's good.

I love Amile....his defense, his aggressiveness, rebounding and looking to score. Like so many other before him, he's molded himself into a really nice player as a senior.

Marshall is better than I thought. He was never going to be Mason, but I worried he was slated to be another 10-12mpg guy this season. He's more than that.

Matt does what's asked of him. He knows he's not a natural point guard, but he's the best we have right now while Thornton learns and grows. Matt is also a great leader.

Ingram was great last night. I'm hoping this was the kind of game he needed. We all knew he was capable, but I think BI was a little down on himself and maybe forcing a tad. Not last night, though. It may have been one of those games where the switch finally flips and now he's the player we thought he could be going forward.

Still not worried about Luke. True, he did miss some pretty bad last night, but that's the first time I recall it all season. At MSG against VCU and Georgetown I thought every one was going down. Kennard will find it.

This is going to be a very fun team to watch on some nights, and then the next maybe not so much. But as a whole continued improvement will give us a shot come March. That's all I ask for.

 

[Showenuff]

Agreed timo.

 

[dukehokie]

Great write up Show!

I'm really confused by Luke's shooting, I really thought he was going to be a great shooter but I have doubts. Not because he's missing shots but because of how poorly he's missing shots. He's throwing up so major bricks and not even coming close.


Even with luke's shooting I think our best lineup right now

Thornton, grayson, matt, brandon, amile ...... I'm not holding my breath though. I think Thornton is going to need a full off season to understand how to be a duke pg.

A couple of observations:

I think Luke will be fine. Put a shooter on a weight training program and watch his shot change. I'm not worried as his shot mechanics are fine. The muscle memory has to return.

In my opinion, our best lineup by March will be Derryck, Grayson, Matt, Amile and Marshall with Brandon subbing any position at wing or forward.

I think the "problems" with Derryck aren't things that can't be worked through. He's a different player from what we saw with Tyus, but he's extremely dangerous in his own way. He's more of a scoring guard than a true set up guy. Once he figures out his niche with this team, things will look very nice and fluid. Should be around the first UNC game.

 

[BlueDevils725]

Pretty much disagree with the entire post. We have 4 guys we know what we're getting- Amile, Matt, Marshall and Grayson (in that order of knowing what you're getting). I put Grayson there 4th because his role is more volatile than the other 3- he's asked to be the primary scorer and if we need a bucket he's our go-to guy. But he's becoming extremely consistent and more importantly efficient. The four freshmen, UNDERSTANDABLY are going to be inconsistent. Slowly but surely that should change. They'll each have their good and bad moments- but of all of them i think Luke and then DT are becoming more consistent- if you're judging Luke just by his shot dropping, you're missing a lot of other good things he's doing. DT isn't a lost puppy- he's learning his way- he did a lot of good things last night, which was improved over the last game he played.

I'm not talking about our upper class men, I'm really impressed by them, I'm talking about our younger guys, and while sometimes it may be seen as understandable, not too sure about that, too many big time freshmen jump right into the college scene and dominate, Jamal Murray comes to mind, kid is just landing shots like crazy. I get what you're saying about Thornton to a degree, but he's making more mistakes than any guard I've seen us have in years, his passing game is borderline abysmal, yeah they could come together and start playing amazingly, but i need more than one game of kennard and Ingram to show me what they are about, because they looked like they didn't belong there against UK, I hate kentucky but living here in Lexington I discuss stuff with friends that are fans and we've gone through the replay of the game and their guards made ours look like idiots, it was embarrassing. I just hope they can find what they need to find before big time ACC games or Miami and UNC will run layup drills on us.

 

[OldasdirtDevil]

I feel great! Sure, our D is not where we would like it yet...but even with the team we had last year our defense wasn't that great until toward the end of the season...and actually it was in the tourney when the D really clamped down.

If I remember correctly DJ posted some Kenpom ratings about last year's defense and how historically if we didn't get into the 50 range we wouldn't have much of a chance at winning a championship. It was a concern at the time. But our guys continued to improve and made great strides. I don't know if this team is capable of being as good as last year defensively, but I expect defensive improvement as the season goes along.

Per Kenpom Duke, this season, is the #1 adjusted offensive efficient team in the country, and believe it or not the #36th adjusted defensive efficient team. Kentucky is #13th offensively, and #1 defensively. UNC is #4 offensively & 25 defensively.
It's early so much can change, good or bad, but I think, at this stage, that Duke is in pretty good shape considering all things. As I said before, I'm happy...for now!

Here's the Kenpom link:

http://kenpom.com/index.php
OFC

 

[timo0402]

I'm not talking about our upper class men, I'm really impressed by them, I'm talking about our younger guys, and while sometimes it may be seen as understandable, not too sure about that, too many big time freshmen jump right into the college scene and dominate, Jamal Murray comes to mind, kid is just landing shots like crazy. I get what you're saying about Thornton to a degree, but he's making more mistakes than any guard I've seen us have in years, his passing game is borderline abysmal, yeah they could come together and start playing amazingly, but i need more than one game of kennard and Ingram to show me what they are about, because they looked like they didn't belong there against UK, I hate kentucky but living here in Lexington I discuss stuff with friends that are fans and we've gone through the replay of the game and their guards made ours look like idiots, it was embarrassing. I just hope they can find what they need to find before big time ACC games or Miami and UNC will run layup drills on us.

Let's take a look at player A and B:
A- 32.7mpg; 15.0ppg; 42% FG; 32% 3pt; 4.3rb; 3.1ast; 0blk; 1.3st; 3.1TO
B- 25.5mpg; 12.5ppg; 44% FG; 32% 3pt; 4.0rb; 1.6 ast; 1.blk, 1.1st; 1.6TO

A- J. Murray from UK
B- B. Ingram from Duke

In 7min less per game he basically averages nearly the same thing minus one single basket. Let's pump the breaks on the UK slopfest for just a second. They pounded us in that game, no question. But let's not use that as an excuse to just start throwing out a bunch of generalities out there that every other freshman out there that is hyped are world beaters. Secondly, and more importantly, let each kid run their own race. Each team is different, and each role is different. Murray is being asked to be the main scorer on that team, Brandon is not. And while yes, Murray and his team got the better of Duke and their team in the THIRD game of the season, i think it hardly tells the whole story. Give me a break.

 

[LTDukeFan]

So am I the only one freaking because Amile led last night with 8 assists?

 

[gottagonow]

Back to what Show said about us allowing so many layups he not alone in his thinking. In the second half it looked like K told them not to guard the lane, let them score all the layups they wanted. Other than that (which is horrible) I thought we played really well.

 

[barkingpumpkin]

We just have inconsistent players and that's what I'm scared of come March, we could show up and win by 50, or run into a hot team and be ran out of the gym, I know it's really early but after 7 or 8 games you'd think they'd be more consistent, they've played the best team in the country and now a decent Indiana team, they know what pressure feels like. Ingram finally having a good game was fantastic, but can he keep it up? Kennards shooting is flat and Thornton looks like a lost puppy in the rain. Oh well, I was proud of them last night regardless.

I'm not surprised at all by the lack of consistency; in fact, the same points were made about last year's team. Most college teams are inconsistent. And about 99 percent of them historically could be run out of the gym by a hot shooting team. That's the nature of the sport.

 

[Showenuff]

I think we have some fans that want to base the entire season on the Kentucky game, sorry if this sounds harsh , but that's frigging stupid. Kentucky made us look stupid? Yep, one game. NC State made us look stupid. Remember how that one turned out? If you don't , I'll refresh your memory. It ended with loud applause and lots of confetti. We weren't ready for UK, not THIS time. I drool for another shot.

 

[dukehokie]

The fact that we're still talking about Kentucky is crazy to me too, Show. It's not like that was Duke's only test. Have we not seen how quickly this team is evolving. Yes UK happened, but by no means is it the measuring stick this should be based on. How many teams have lost an early season big matchup and moved on to greatness? Happens every year.

I'm not saying forget about, because obviously the team didn't. You don't have to list many examples beyond Grayson for that. But the team has learned and I guarantee Kentucky is not brought up in the huddles at all, let alone nearly as much as it's brought up here.

 

[kingbluedevil]

Duke will lose some more games this year but in the end they will have another chance for a championship. I agree with Jay Bilas that last year it was pretty obvious who the best 3 or 4 teams were. I'd like to add that Kennard is doing so many things well that his shot is the least worry on this team. When he is in the game the opponent can't leave him to double someone because of his reputation as a shooter.