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***DUKE VS BOSTON COLLEGE OFFICIAL GAMEDAY THREAD***

I wish we had a D i forum members or someone who could tell me why we do this and that in our offensive sets but I don't think we do. If we do would someone please step up and explain a few things. I don't even know that we run an offense anymore or even if most teams do or not. Im not sure even Coach K can tell us why Bagley has the green light to shoot behind the arc anytime he wants or why Duval does either or why we continue to watch players driving to the basket at will against us. I would like to know why when have two huge and talented bigs in the game why we don't get the ball to them each possession. Is it because its easier to pass it around for a 3 than take the chance of a turnover trying to get it inside to Carter or Bags unless they are outside the arc waiting for the ball. I am pretty confident and sure we have the most talented rotation in college basketball but not by a huge margin. Pretty much each and every team we play has the ability to beat us unless we bring our A or at least our B game each time out. Losing was inevitable with the miracle comebacks that we've endured the last two or three weeks. The only thing not ordinary about BC's play today was how well they shot the 3 and the tough shots they made. This doesn't bode well for us in ACC play and on the road especially and those saying we will only have a couple of loses might want to reconsider.
 
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I agree mostly. But defense has been very inconsistent the last 10-15 years outside a few seasons. Now it is a youth thing but that hasn’t been the case every year.
Truth be told, blaming the players is taking the "don't put no blame on the Coach" route. We haven't been a good defensive team for the most part since he started landing the one and dones. That's a fact, yet we land some serious athletes.
I'm gonna say this again: K's defensive system can't be learned in 6-7 months. Yet he won't adjust his man to man. And I don't want to read any garbage that our guards are too slow or too big to stay in front, or I'm ripping K. Our lack of d is mostly on him. No kid can stay in front of a good ball handler unless the lanes are closed. We leave gaps that 2 sumo wrestlers could get through. I would like to see more of a defensive approach similar to the one Virginia plays. They play that off ball 16 foot from basket and the lane is more congested. We are in guys faces 20-25 feet from the basket, even if they don't have the ball, or we are way too slow to react when the ball gets kicked out. I think we will get better though, if not we will be the laughing stock this year, cause we have what 3-4 lottery picks?
 
We have flaws on both side of the floor. Obviously defense, but we still take far too many bad shots as well. Any jumper by Duval is a bad shot, any pull up 3 by Bagley is a bad shot. Not finding a way to get the ball into the post is inexcusable.

Defensively there is no pride no hustle no fight. We have the ability to play defense we see it in spurts usually when we are down late and need to. Until we start fighting form opening tip to final whistle we aren’t going to sniff our potential.
These fixable things would have prevented a loss today. With our sporadic play we'll feel like this some more this season I'm afraid.
 
Isn't it amazing how we can go from the greatest thing since canned beer to the worst team in the universe in just one game? Cmon fellas, MOST of us even mentioned we'd lose a couple games that would be total head scratchers. 4 freshmen. First ACC road game. Still learning. They got smoking hot from 3. It happens. It won't be our last loss, we will be fine. Take a deep breath, K is gonna work on it, still have plenty of weapons to get it done.
 
Truth be told, blaming the players is taking the "don't put no blame on the Coach" route. We haven't been a good defensive team for the most part since he started landing the one and dones. That's a fact, yet we land some serious athletes.
I'm gonna say this again: K's defensive system can't be learned in 6-7 months. Yet he won't adjust his man to man. And I don't want to read any garbage that our guards are too slow or too big to stay in front, or I'm ripping K. Our lack of d is mostly on him. No kid can stay in front of a good ball handler unless the lanes are closed. We leave gaps that 2 sumo wrestlers could get through. I would like to see more of a defensive approach similar to the one Virginia plays. They play that off ball 16 foot from basket and the lane is more congested. We are in guys faces 20-25 feet from the basket, even if they don't have the ball, or we are way too slow to react when the ball gets kicked out. I think we will get better though, if not we will be the laughing stock this year, cause we have what 3-4 lottery picks?
we will have 4 or 5 lotto picks.
 
I wish we had a D i forum member or someone who could tell me why we do this and that in our offensive sets but I don't think we do. If we do would someone please step up and explain a few things. I don't even know that we run an offense anymore or even if most teams do or not. Im not sure even Coach K can tell us why Bagley has the green light to shoot behind the arc anytime he wants or why Duval does either or why we continue to watch players driving to the basket at will against us. I would like to know why when have two huge and talented bigs in the game why we don't get the ball to them each possession. Is it because its easier to pass it around for a 3 than take the chance of a turnover trying to get it inside to Carter or Bags. I am pretty confident and sure we have the most talented rotation in college basketball but not by a huge margin. Pretty much each and every team we play has the ability to beat us unless we bring our A or at least our B game each time out. Losing was inevitable with the miracle comebacks that we've endured the last two or three weeks. The only thing not ordinary about BC's play today was how well they shot the 3 and the tough shots they made. This doesn't bode well for us in ACC play and on the road especially and those saying we will only have a couple of loses might want to reconsider.

Today I think this team panicked....and Grayson as much as anyone. He took some really bad shots. Then others followed him. It’s the first time all season I’ve seen us resort to playing like that. Someone said Grayson tried playing hero ball....well, he wasn’t the only one. We got away offensively from what we had done the first 11 games. You never want to have to learn from a loss, but you must when they happen.
 
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Isn't it amazing how we can go from the greatest thing since canned beer to the worst team in the universe in just one game? Cmon fellas, MOST of us even mentioned we'd lose a couple games that would be total head scratchers. 4 freshmen. First ACC road game. Still learning. They got smoking hot from 3. It happens. It won't be our last loss, we will be fine. Take a deep breath, K is gonna work on it, still have plenty of weapons to get it done.
Show its because we are delighted when we win and pissed when we lose. Very pissed when we don't play to our abilities. I've already heard the TV guys talking about why Vnova is the best out there, Yesterday it was us and next week it will be someone else.
 
Didn’t see the presser..but twitter had K saying “we are not deep”...did anyone see this? Or can put it in context?
 
Today I think this team panicked....and Grayson as much as anyone. He took some really bad shots. Then others followed him. It’s the first time all season I’ve seen us resort to playing like that. Someone said Grayson tried playing hero ball....well, he wasn’t the only one. We got away offensively from what we had done the first 11 games. You never want to have to learn from a loss, but you must when they happen.

The offense has looked great this year with regards to making extra passes and not forcing things In iso. Not worried about it going forward. Despite playing ugly offense today and shooting poorly duke score 85. If they play anything resembling defense they win by 10+. Other blue bloods wish they could score that much shooting and playing poorly. Defense Has been the problem and solution in duke’s early exits and national titles the past 10+ years.

I rarely think Seth greenburg is right but he was right last year when he said duke struggles In the tourney because they don’t play consistent defense. I hope this team figures it out like the 2015 team did in terms of defense.
 
Truth be told, blaming the players is taking the "don't put no blame on the Coach" route. We haven't been a good defensive team for the most part since he started landing the one and dones. That's a fact, yet we land some serious athletes.
I'm gonna say this again: K's defensive system can't be learned in 6-7 months. Yet he won't adjust his man to man. And I don't want to read any garbage that our guards are too slow or too big to stay in front, or I'm ripping K. Our lack of d is mostly on him. No kid can stay in front of a good ball handler unless the lanes are closed. We leave gaps that 2 sumo wrestlers could get through. I would like to see more of a defensive approach similar to the one Virginia plays. They play that off ball 16 foot from basket and the lane is more congested. We are in guys faces 20-25 feet from the basket, even if they don't have the ball, or we are way too slow to react when the ball gets kicked out. I think we will get better though, if not we will be the laughing stock this year, cause we have what 3-4 lottery picks?

Kids still have to buy-in, regardless. That took almost three months in 2015. Hell, posters here thought we wouldn’t make the tournament prior to the road game at Louisville that season.

K isn’t above reproach. But it’s a bit sinister to question his overall scheme as a message board poster. I mean, I understand “player A should get more time or why did we go zone there instead of man,” but flat out saying and/or insinuating the best coach in the history of the game is wrong with the scheme that has made him the best is, I don’t know....laughable?

Yes, we need to improve or it’s going to be another potential ‘long’ season. But let’s see now over the break if the players can buy-in a bit, too.
 
Didn’t see the presser..but twitter had K saying “we are not deep”...did anyone see this? Or can put it in context?

I cringed a little. Didn’t think he had to say that.

He was talking about this not being a good defensive team, partly because they haven’t practiced much. He then said we’re young, we’re talented, but not as deep.....causing a different dynamic of how to play defense.
 
Isn't it amazing how we can go from the greatest thing since canned beer to the worst team in the universe in just one game? Cmon fellas, MOST of us even mentioned we'd lose a couple games that would be total head scratchers. 4 freshmen. First ACC road game. Still learning. They got smoking hot from 3. It happens. It won't be our last loss, we will be fine. Take a deep breath, K is gonna work on it, still have plenty of weapons to get it done.
Finally some perspective.We were never going undefeated this year.If go back and look BC was hitting contested hard shots.It was their day.Losing this game means nothing except that they will realize that you you have to be prepared because everyone is going to bring their A game when they play us.The reaction to this like last year when many were calling for Jason To be benched
 
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I missed the game due to work. I'm one who thought we would only lose 1 game in conference play due to the tremendous talent this team has. As Show said, we're awfully young and played in a hostile environment with a team shooting lights out. This will be a big learning experience and we will become a better team especially come March.
 
This will be a great learning experience. These kids now know they're not invincible and that they have to match everyone's best shot. I'm haooy it happened and hoping it will spark a renewed dedication to the details.

They'll get some rest soon and regroup. Then it will be back to business. I have confidence.

A loss always sucks, but at least my Yankees got Stanton for almost nothing today, so it's not a total lost weekend. :)
 
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This will be a great learning experience. These kids now know they're not invincible and that they have to match everyone's best shot. I'm haooy it happened and hoping it will spark a renewed dedication to the details.

They'll get some rest soon and regroup. Then it will be back to business. I have confidence.

A loss always sucks, but at least my Yankees got Stanton for almost nothing today, so it's not a total lost weekend. :)

And it’s Saturday. So we can drink.

(I say that for pretty much every day.)
 
Duke is deep it’s just playing deep like most have said on defense.

If Wendell buys into what he said at the beginning of the season then this team will learn that you can’t let teams shoot threes and have wide open lay ins.

It’s a good learning point but it doesn’t look like they’ve learned to put it all together from the first couple of close games.

On to the next.
 
I stay away from post game just to calm down a little. Well I guess it's safe to say we know what kind of offensive our opposition will run on us the rest of the year and that's raining 3's from everywhere and tons of the. So far our offense has been able counter that but not today and it very well may happen some more. You can say we contested the 3 today some but how in the world were they in position to get that many off. I understand that most freshman and sophs to a degree in today's game haven't a clue about defense. I'm just old school and I can't help it. Hoping our offensive talent is good enough to carry us. OFC
 
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No loss is a blessing. OFC
Especially not to a lower tier ACC team. This team could become a lot worse or grow from this loss.
The depth comment someone said K made has me at cause for concern.
 
Just getting off work so I didn't get to watch. March is a long way away and our youngsters will only get better, and so will our chemistry. We knew we would lose a few. Grayson and Bagley leading the charge in March, I like our chances.
 
No loss is a blessing. OFC

Trust me I'm just as upset, but it proved to the freshmen that they aren't invincible. I think they needed that. Maybe, we did too. This gives K more credibility when he preaches the need for defensive effort.

IDK, maybe I'm just trying to find a positive to calm myself down after a loss.
 
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No loss is a blessing. OFC
I never like to lose but If a loss occurs it is better early than late.When you lose it gives you the sense of fear that imo every athlete needs in order to give that edge that championship teams need
 
It sucks! I’m pretty annoyed by the loss, but better days are ahead of us! We will be fine!

Let’s Go Duke!
 
I just looked at the box score. 19 shots total between Bagley and Carter is not good. I think the total should be around 30 every game. We must ride these two horses if we're going to win it all. I also noticed Carter didn't have any fouls. That tells me he must have been really focused on not getting into foul trouble. If that's the case, he won't be playing at his best if he's worried about his fouls.
 
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It’s the players.

I’m not too worried about this game. Boston college shot lights out in the first half. However are we really going to continue blaming the players about our defense? Our defense has been known to be terrible for about a decade. Regardless of the freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors we have had. 2015 stunk at defense too but Winslow was so good he was able to mask it. At what point are the coaches to blame for repeatedly poor defense? Maybe the players aren’t buying in but who recruited them? Most of the freshman we recruit are known to be defensive liabilities. Most of the guys on our bench have never been given a chance to show what they can do and frankly never seem to develop. They also almost never get play time either. Coach k came out today saying we’re not deep. Who’s fault is that? This has been the consistent story line about our team for years. The staff just hasn’t prioritized developing defense or a bench in the past few years. It’s been all about star power and offense. That’s just the way duke basketball plays now. At least that’s the way I see it
 
I’m not too worried about this game. Boston college shot lights out in the first half. However are we really going to continue blaming the players about our defense? Our defense has been known to be terrible for about a decade. Regardless of the freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors we have had. 2015 stunk at defense too but Winslow was so good he was able to mask it. At what point are the coaches to blame for repeatedly poor defense? Maybe the players aren’t buying in but who recruited them? Most of the freshman we recruit are known to be defensive liabilities. Most of the guys on our bench have never been given a chance to show what they can do and frankly never seem to develop. They also almost never get play time either. Coach k came out today saying we’re not deep. Who’s fault is that? This has been the consistent story line about our team for years. The staff just hasn’t prioritized developing defense or a bench in the past few years. It’s been all about star power and offense. That’s just the way duke basketball plays now. At least that’s the way I see it
The 2015team defense was considered bad until late in the year
 
Didn’t see the presser..but twitter had K saying “we are not deep”...did anyone see this? Or can put it in context?

This made me cringe. Maybe it was a contextual statement but it didn't seem so ( having watched it a few times). We should be deep...we have the players and the athletes to be deep...no matter what end we are playing. I hope this is not a forewarning of a shorter bench as the conference season begins. Depth is key. I hope we use ours.
 
Kids still have to buy-in, regardless. That took almost three months in 2015. Hell, posters here thought we wouldn’t make the tournament prior to the road game at Louisville that season.

K isn’t above reproach. But it’s a bit sinister to question his overall scheme as a message board poster. I mean, I understand “player A should get more time or why did we go zone there instead of man,” but flat out saying and/or insinuating the best coach in the history of the game is wrong with the scheme that has made him the best is, I don’t know....laughable?

Yes, we need to improve or it’s going to be another potential ‘long’ season. But let’s see now over the break if the players can buy-in a bit, too.
First off, we will be fine I think. You flat blamed the players for the lack of defense played, I disagree. It's ok that some on here never question the man, but our lack of d lies more on him. I think K has a hard time fully accepting that his style of defense is almost too hard to run effectively with 4 starting freshmen, and it's not like today is the first game where we played weak defense. As a whole, Duke hasn't been known for defense since what, 2010?
I agree with you on one part, let's hope they use the break to shore up that side of the ball.
 
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First off, we will be fine I think. You flat blamed the players for the lack of defense played, I disagree. It's ok that some on here never question the man, but our lack of d lies more on him. I think K has a hard time fully accepting that his style of defense is almost too hard to run effectively with 4 starting freshmen, and it's not like today is the first game where we played weak defense. As a whole, Duke hasn't been known for defense since what, 2010?
I agree with you on one part, let's hope they use the break to shore up that side of the ball.

Great defense needs 100% buy in from the 5 on the court AND a leader willing to hold whoever misses an assignment or gets beaten accountable...5 dysfunctions of a team ( a business book) applies to basketball too...you much have trust, you have to embrace conflict within the team, you have to commit and be accountable for your defensive play and last - all of the players have to care about the number of points given up.... our great defensive teams applied these principles together....our teams lately do not so we are a mediocre defensive team. It takes time to build these traits. Coach K is a great teacher of these principles so lets hope the kids embrace his teaching
 
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Great defense needs 100% buy in from the 5 on the court AND a leader willing to hold whoever misses an assignment or gets beaten accountable...5 dysfunctions of a team ( a business book) applies to basketball too...you much have trust, you have to embrace conflict within the team, you have to commit and be accountable for your defensive play and last - all of the players have to care about the number of points given up.... our great defensive teams applied these principles together....our teams lately do not so we are a mediocre defensive team. It takes time to build these traits. Coach K is a great teacher of these principles so lets hope the kids embrace his teaching
I don’t know if we will become a good defensive team but it is much too early to say that we won’t either
 
I hope it’s not to early that K starts saying seven is enough either.

We should be able to go atleast 8 deep and that’s with the other three coming off the bench being no more defense liability then the rest.

This team needs to put their foot down on defense plain and simple
 
Tough loss....bc shot lights out....although many were contested.....#nextgame
 
Agreed on the part of Duke’s defense needs to get significantly better. In addition, everyone needs to relax Coach K and staff will have the guys ready by March to make a run barring any serious injury to our Blue Devils starting 5.
 
And wasn't our uni's awesome today. I wonder if we will wear them every time we are away from home. OFC
 
I blame Coach K, Grayson and Trevon for this lost. Moreso Grayson because of how he kept forcing shots when he clearly wasn’t on. He played too much hero ball. I blame Tre for not getting the ball to the bigs down the stretch. And I blame Coach all for not making them get the bigs the ball down the stretch. He has to call their numbers. I believe the big men should lead the team in attempts. And I’m not really concerned about the defense. We have a team full of freshmen that’s coming from AAU. We know they aren’t learning anything there. Guarding the pick in roll in college is a new beast. So be patient with them.
 
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