***DUKE VS NORTH CAROLINA OFFICIAL GAMEDAY THREAD***
- Thread starter krzyzewskiville
- Start date
And they both know that they need one another. How many other teams have a guaranteed high profile home game, every single year? For two weeks of the season, the entire hoops world revolves around Duke v UNC. It is good for both programs.
He can crow, they got the win...but sayin' something like Zion didn't make a difference is stupid, and shows what an idiot he is.
OFC
This. I can guarantee with Zion on him Luke would’ve had 15 points max. And i feel like I’m being generous. I just know as i was watched Luke put those shots up with jack not being quick enough Zion would’ve packed him so many times. I just think that would’ve been a match up nightmare for Luke maye
Nothing would have come easy for Maye around the basket with Zion in there. Maye is excellent, but I've seen what happens to him when an athletic guy is on him in the post...and it's not pretty.
OFC
Shouldnt he be somewhere bleeding with hanztravel
I THOUGHT WE ALREADY DECIDED THIS!! WHY DIDN’T ANYONE TELL ME?
Hahahahaha please really be you
Exactly. And on defense there’s no way he could’ve stayed with him
Losing Zion at the very beginning of this game knocked us back and we never recovered. Anyone thinking it’s not a different game with Zion in is a fool. Watching the first minute of this game was like a scene from the Twilight zone. I pray Zion gets some payback on UNC senior night. Please let this be a game or two type injury. Please.
It’s not. Google image search. I’m much uglier.
Gosh it’s frustrating to be so excited for a game for like a whole week just thinking about what Zion is going to do to them and then with in 33 seconds of the game you realize that’s not gonna happen and yeah we’re not winning. Can’t imagine what the team and Zion felt because as a fan it hurt
My bad. People were talking about it at the game so I freaked out when I saw it but it turned out to be a parody account
As good as Maye? Yes, I acknowledge that. Maye is much better than those guys. But is it fair to say that Maye is a bit of an anomaly? Especially at a program like UNC? I mean, wasn’t Scheyer ranked by Rivals in the 70s?
Maye was really, really good before tonight. Most recognized that a long time ago.
DeLaurier was a 4 star recruit and Maye was either a 3 star or a 4 star recruit (I’m not sure) but Bolden was a 5 star recruit. So Bolden wasn’t in the same group as DeLaurier or Maye.
Yeah. Umm......Question? In all the talk about this guy or that guy not playing well, why is Alex not being mentioned? Jav, Jack, and Tre aren't great on O, but they at least give us something on D, or the boards. Alex doesn't defend, doesn't rebound, and now can't do anything on O.
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Jeez, it was 4 on 5, and sometimes 3 on five tonight. Jav and Bolden did a few things. Jack was non-existent, and AOC was a huge negative.
I don’t think anyone anticipated what we’re seeing out of Alex. He’s been the biggest disappointment so far, IMO. Even the game against Syracuse where he showed some offensive firepower, he couldn’t defend and had careless turnovers. I didn’t think scoring 10/game was a total long shot coming into the year. I was wrong by a mile.
Right there with you. I said before the season that AOC would deserve more time than he would get because the guys ahead of him were just that good. Instead, AOC has been a complete waste on offense. He was OK in the Syracuse game because he had time to get in the flow of the game. But we needed a heater off the bench, a kid that could come in and start making shots immediately.
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More concerning, we need AOC to be an All Conference level performer next year. I sort of expected it, frankly. Not first team necessarily, but we need him to be one of the best 20 or so players in the ACC next year. At the bare minimum, we need him to be a good scorer next year.
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And I thought that was a cert to happen next year.
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Now? I am worried about next year. Really, really, worried.
Looking at the box score, what sticks out tic me the most is that Barrett/Reddish scored 60 of Duke’s points while the rest of the rest of our team only scored 12 points but on the flip side Maye/Johnson scored 56 of UNC’s points while the rest of their team scored 32 points. We need more production from other players especially if Zion misses several games while he recovers from his injury. It’s not going to be easy while Zion is out but our season is far from over like some posters were posting during the game after Zion got injured. Cam stepped up big time after Zion got injured. We need other players to step up like that until Zion can return because RJ and Cam can’t do it by themselves.
I get what you’re saying, definitely. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I think it’s hard to assess that the issue is failure to develop. You COULD be right on the money. But, when you take the best offensive and defensive player (who plays 30 minutes) out of the game — everything changes. Defensive assignments are different, offense is thrown for a loop. Even if Zion isn’t scoring, the defensive attention that he receives opens things for everyone else.
Guys like O’Connell and Goldwire NEED more playing time — Not because they’re better than our starters, but because in situations like this or foul trouble that requires their usage, they need experience. Chemistry. Practice is great and all, but being on the floor in real situations with your brothers is what bonds the chemistry.
Jack is a whole entire mess right now. I really feel for him. Like I just said above in a response to Mac — The lack of chemistry really hurt us. Alex, JG are both very talented players. They just have no chemistry with the team because they never play. We have TALENTED depth - it’s just underutilized and not “game ready”
One thing that I would like to see Jack do more of is drive to the basket when his 3 isn’t falling. Cam struggled with his 3 point shot for awhile but one thing I’ve noticed about him lately is that he’s been driving to the basket more and I think that it’s helped him with his shot because since he’s been driving to the basket more here lately it seems like his 3 point shot has been falling more consistently. So IMO driving to the basket might help him get his 3 point shot back.
I’m going to stick my neck out for Alex. What did he do wrong in this game? He was on Williams or Robinson the whole game, I don’t have the box score pulled up but I know they didn’t do much, if anything. I don’t recall him turning the ball over. Yes, he took and missed 3 shots on offense, good shot selections. That makes him disappointing? Alex can shoot, it just didn’t happen tonight. Against ‘Cuse — couple of bad TOs but him and Zion are the only reason our offense had a pulse. Defensively, he did choose to gamble the passing lanes. But to be fair - our defense is #1 in the nation at collecting steals because Tre’s on-ball pressure makes us play the passing lanes. So in practice, they are defensively taught to gamble that. (Of course considering Tre’s absence some IQ to play tighter off-ball D would of been better.)
I’m not arguing that Alex is a good defender. He doesn’t have the speed, disclipine or foot-work to guard anyone speedy (as we saw last year) but he’s capable of guarding the 2 or 3 given that it’s not an explosive player. He does have a good reaction speed though so I really don’t think he’d suffer our defense as horribly as some may think if Tre is still in and pressuring the ball.
Ultimately — He hasn’t gotten much of an opportunity this year to play “real” minutes. Syracuse and tonight, he’s thrown onto the floor with a team whose gameplan has just been trashed. Not having Tre or Zion changes everything. Practice doesn’t build in-game trust, communication and chemistry. Otherwise, majority of his minutes this year have been junk minutes. 3 minutes here, 3 minutes there so ‘X’ starter gets a breather. Last 8 minutes of a blowout game with Vrank, JG and JRob.
Not making a case for him to play 20mpg but I think he should have received more utilization this year. Definitely doesn’t deserve backlash IMO though.
This is a key point, imo. Outside of RJ and Cam with Zion out, there is no one to contribute points. Tre has the potential to be an offensive weapon and we've seen him utilizing a floater at times this season. But who else on this team is an actual offensive threat in the half court? RJ and Cam can't do it alone. And in a set half court offense, we essentially can't score anyway.
I will never make another joke or negative comment about Roy....ever....What he said was pretty classy
I usually refrain from posting right away after a loss because emotions get the best of us.
UNC played harder then us and deserved that win no doubt (pains me to say but it’s the truth). Now if Zion plays, it’s a different game. UNC still might have won the game but it gets played out much differently. There is no asterisk on this win for UNC... they played harder... they played there style... they won. Duke had chances to change the tide of the game but it is so demoralizing when you get steals to build momentum and give it right back. They are killers and you won’t win doing that.
Now the big thing I am looking to see (besides the obvious Zion injury timeframe) is how this team responds. This team could sit back and feel sorry for themselves and just coast through the rest of the season or they can band together, fight, and make the right adjustments moving forward (with or without Zion). Players need to step up... K and the staff will get this team up and get this team motivated. This stretch of 6-7 games was one of the toughest stretches we have seen as duke fans, and lets be honest... we were not going to run the table after that Cuse loss. This is s wake up call and this team needs too and will respond.
Adjustments will be made and this team will be better in the long run after this.
UNC played harder then us and deserved that win no doubt (pains me to say but it’s the truth). Now if Zion plays, it’s a different game. UNC still might have won the game but it gets played out much differently. There is no asterisk on this win for UNC... they played harder... they played there style... they won. Duke had chances to change the tide of the game but it is so demoralizing when you get steals to build momentum and give it right back. They are killers and you won’t win doing that.
Now the big thing I am looking to see (besides the obvious Zion injury timeframe) is how this team responds. This team could sit back and feel sorry for themselves and just coast through the rest of the season or they can band together, fight, and make the right adjustments moving forward (with or without Zion). Players need to step up... K and the staff will get this team up and get this team motivated. This stretch of 6-7 games was one of the toughest stretches we have seen as duke fans, and lets be honest... we were not going to run the table after that Cuse loss. This is s wake up call and this team needs too and will respond.
Adjustments will be made and this team will be better in the long run after this.
Totally agree with this take. Whether Zion plays again or not, this absolutely forces the role players to get out of their shells and man the f— up. Outside of RJ and Cam last night and at times Javin, the competition level was low. Take tactics aside, the guys didn’t compete like normal. Even going back to Louisville, the role players have been less than competitive in the time given.
Until Jack can figure things out, maybe JRob gets a chance again? He proved last year he could play effective minutes. This wouldn’t be the first time a little used reserve got major minutes at the end of a season.
Now that the dust has settled, I’ll give my two cents.
First off, a wish a full recovery to Zion and hope he’s alright. You never wish for anyone to be injured ever and that whole shoe sequence was the most bizarre thing I’ve ever seen.
That aside, there’s no doubt it made an impact on the game. However, you still have a top squad even without Zion. If you had told me Carolina would make two 3’s and commit 15 turnovers and win the game I would have recommended you for the nut house. The biggest factors were of course, Cam Johnson and Luke Maye dominating inside. And the other was that our D did enough to limit the other Duke players and cause 20 turnovers of our own. We rebounded well enough, pushed the tempo, played hard, and came away with a W.
In any case, the next few weeks will be interesting, from the severity of the injury to the final game in chapel hill and I fully expect that game to be a dog fight.
First off, a wish a full recovery to Zion and hope he’s alright. You never wish for anyone to be injured ever and that whole shoe sequence was the most bizarre thing I’ve ever seen.
That aside, there’s no doubt it made an impact on the game. However, you still have a top squad even without Zion. If you had told me Carolina would make two 3’s and commit 15 turnovers and win the game I would have recommended you for the nut house. The biggest factors were of course, Cam Johnson and Luke Maye dominating inside. And the other was that our D did enough to limit the other Duke players and cause 20 turnovers of our own. We rebounded well enough, pushed the tempo, played hard, and came away with a W.
In any case, the next few weeks will be interesting, from the severity of the injury to the final game in chapel hill and I fully expect that game to be a dog fight.
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Dust hasn’t settled. Your comments weren’t all that bad but you can still see yourself on out. Just my two cents.
