***DUKE VS PITT OFFICIAL GAMEDAY THREAD***

[QC Dukie]

A two handed bounce or chest pass might work better than just rolling the ball out there. Anything could happen. Some fan could run out and steal the ball and leave with it. OFC

I hear there’s no defense for the dribble drive or pick n roll.

Right Ipsy??

 

[Buzzooka Joe]

I hope Moore coming back gets the team back playing like they were before his injury.

 

[jwill133]

Shoutout to Vernon for playing 35 minutes last night, that has to be a career high right?? We needed every single one of them.
Vernon's endurance and Hurt getting stronger are 2 of the biggest keys for us to get to April.

Joey was bad last night, but I still like his aggression in hunting his shot. Alex looks like he's out of the rotation. If there was ever a game for him to regain his confidence, it's Syracuse right? I think K gives him one more chance to make his mark on this team, and I think that final chance is Saturday. If it goes bad, I don't think Alex plays anymore once Wendell is back.

 

[skysdad]

I hear there’s no defense for the dribble drive or pick n roll.

Right Ipsy??

That depends on what side you pick and what you do with it once you roll it. There are several options there. OFC

 

[HuffyJB]

Athletic wings could be the death of this Duke team. SFA, Clemson, and Louisville all had them. The Toney guy last night destroyed us too.

What does Duke do about that?

 

[skysdad]

Shoutout to Vernon for playing 35 minutes last night, that has to be a career high right?? We needed every single one of them.
Vernon's endurance and Hurt getting stronger are 2 of the biggest keys for us to get to April.

Joey was bad last night, but I still like his aggression in hunting his shot. Alex looks like he's out of the rotation. If there was ever a game for him to regain his confidence, it's Syracuse right? I think K gives him one more chance to make his mark on this team, and I think that final chance is Saturday. If it goes bad, I don't think Alex plays anymore once Wendell is back.

Vernon was the boss man last night. I thought Joey rushed his shot . I really feel for Alex. It seems he just can't get anything going. I wish he could get in sinc. We really need him. OFC

 

[jwill133]

What does Duke do about that?

Wendell is the answer. He fits the bill perfectly: he's super strong, can move his feet, and is a good athlete himself. He's got a long way to go offensively, and I'm not sure how much he will play these upcoming weeks, but he must become our Justise Winslow.

 

[AlanInNJ]

What does Duke do about that?

I agree with Jwill, that Moore will help cover ONE athletic wing on the opposing team, but at times this season when our defense looked bad we are getting shredded by being spread out and giving up a layup/dunk line. Teams are making backdoor cut after backdoor cut until one of our defenders is a little too slow, and bang, an easy bucket. I wonder what percentage of layups we are giving this year?

How does Duke stop this from happening?

Note - I am not bashing, we are a very good team. We have shown moments of excellence and grit, and I still believe we are among a group of 12 or so teams that can win it all.

 

[QC Dukie]

Any word if Wendell will play Saturday? I thought I heard the BC game. I could be wrong.

 

[GTHC_ GTH!]

Wendell coming back is key. It’s thrown the minutes off for others. Like Goldwire. He’s playing too many minutes right now. I know he hit those three threes in the first half, but we are basically 4 on 5 in offense. Goldwire is perfect coming off the bench for 5 minute spurts to give energy and defense. Wendells return makes us a better defensive team. And the bench guys can go back to filling minutes as needed not for being needed

 

[HuffyJB]

I hope that is the case because what was once Duke's primary advantage IMO - quality depth - has not really shown through in recent games. AOC is having his struggles, Baker is having some issues with his shot, Javin is what he is, etc. Duke looked their best when they were rotating those 9 or 10 guys and staying fresh while wearing people down a little, but in the throws of conference play that hasn't been the case. Can Duke get back to that?

 

[DukefanKY]

My time was too valuable to post during the game last night, but reading back through this thread? Smdh. As Show said, some need to get a different hobby.

It’s ok! We are just grateful that you carve out a few minutes of your valuable time to grace us with your presence!!

 

[dachampishere2]

And there’s too many of them that are only here when we are losing!

Uhhhhhh ok. Glad you got that off your chest.

 

[dachampishere2]

Sounds good to me. Or K could just roll the ball out there.

Don’t encourage him to do that. Then we definitely won’t win the title. When we actually run somewhat of an offense, we have a better chance to win. We literally lost with ZION! Even Cal won with AD. Last year will haunt Coach K forever

 

[VaBlueDevil33]

Glad I stayed off the board for this one with comments like this - yikes

So we are playing better than earlier this year?

 

[Fourteen44]

So we are playing better than earlier this year?

Again, yikes. According to your question here, they must play worse every game, every year.

 

[VaBlueDevil33]

Again, yikes. According to your question here, they must play worse every game, every year.

Sorry but I'm gonna argue with you about it...you don't agree with what I said....so be it...that's your right to do so...again sorry I said something you don't agree with

 

[dukiejay]

Sorry but I'm gonna argue with you about it...you don't agree with what I said....so be it...that's your right to do so...again sorry I said something you don't agree with

I think it's the fact you're kind of a one-trick-pony....that's why you get flak. You were nowhere to be found last night until things started to look bad. You're just incredibly predictable. That's all.

Now....are we better than we were a month ago? Definitely debatable. We're in a bit of a funk. Find me a Duke team that doesn't go through them....it's a part of growing. Trust me, I'd like it to be easy all the time, too, but that's hardly realistic. If anybody thought this team, of all Duke teams, wasn't going to experience some growing pains then they just don't know a lot about basketball. We're beatable and need to play well in the ACC....whether the conference is down or not.

 

[dukiejay]

Here's my take, for what it's worth....

-We need more out of Joey and/or AOC. It's frustrating when one is struggling, but I think it's fair to say that it's going to be hard for this team to reach their goals if both continue down their current road. And it's possible it's one of those situations where it's one of them one night, and another the next. But again, it has to be one of them.

-Javin. I lose more faith every game, and I hate that. As much as I love Vernon, last night can not be the norm and him having to play 35 minutes. That's hard on big men. Javin needs to be able to give a dozen minutes/night with defense, length and athleticism....some nights, in case of foul trouble, we'll need more.

-Hopefully getting Wendell back gives this team a little shot in the arm. I don't think we're 'struggling' because he's not in the lineup, though. It's been a learning curve for him, too....I'm more disappointed in the fact that he's lost development time than anything else.

-Jordan Goldwire has really played outstanding. That said, I'm not sure we can be at our best with him playing 30+ minutes/game. Not a knock on the kid, it's just a reality, IMO. And that's why it's so important that kids like Joey and Alex provide something.

 

[chov1125]

The last couple of years we have had a lot of slashers, but very few shooters. This year I would kill for an RJ or Zion. And not just because they are incredibly talented, but because they fully balance this team. We have some shooters, we have a post and we have a facilitator. We don’t have, at least up to this point, the alpha male slasher that you can go to in crunch time and say go, score. Our offense goes in spurts when Vern gets going, or we get offensive boards or get hot from 3. But we also have lapses in part because we don’t have that guy who says I am coming at you and I’m either going to score or get fouled or both.

Defensively we have to start adjusting to what is consistently being thrown at us. Maybe we don’t have to be so aggressive with our denials that we are susceptible to getting backdoored. Maybe we don’t need to help off and double every driver coming off a ball screen. Maybe we don’t need to flail at layups when we have no chance of blocking it and in doing so leaving a wide open guy for the easy put back. We are still much better in our core defense than some of our more recent teams. But we need to study film and adjust to what is being thrown at us. From Clemson on, it feels pretty similar in what is consistently working against us.

 

[chov1125]

But yea, the sky is not falling. We may not be the most talented Duke team ever, but we are still top tier compared to what is out there this year. But the margin is razor thin and we need to move forward. If we do not improve between now and March you could easily see a first weekend elimination. But I am also confident that if we do, we have enough to cut down the nets. Just be patient with this group, we are still very young.

 

[VaBlueDevil33]

I think it's the fact you're kind of a one-trick-pony....that's why you get flak. You were nowhere to be found last night until things started to look bad. You're just incredibly predictable. That's all.

Now....are we better than we were a month ago? Definitely debatable. We're in a bit of a funk. Find me a Duke team that doesn't go through them....it's a part of growing. Trust me, I'd like it to be easy all the time, too, but that's hardly realistic. If anybody thought this team, of all Duke teams, wasn't going to experience some growing pains then they just don't know a lot about basketball. We're beatable and need to play well in the ACC....whether the conference is down or not.

Sorry I didn't have my phone available for the first part of the game is why I wasn't here early...I watched entire game like I do 99.9% of the time

I just think there is something wrong with this team right now...but just my opinion....now I think they can get hot at any time and go on a run..but something is missing right now. .I hope it's Moore but we will see

 

[skysdad]

Here's my take, for what it's worth....

-We need more out of Joey and/or AOC. It's frustrating when one is struggling, but I think it's fair to say that it's going to be hard for this team to reach their goals if both continue down their current road. And it's possible it's one of those situations where it's one of them one night, and another the next. But again, it has to be one of them.

-Javin. I lose more faith every game, and I hate that. As much as I love Vernon, last night can not be the norm and him having to play 35 minutes. That's hard on big men. Javin needs to be able to give a dozen minutes/night with defense, length and athleticism....some nights, in case of foul trouble, we'll need more.

-Hopefully getting Wendell back gives this team a little shot in the arm. I don't think we're 'struggling' because he's not in the lineup, though. It's been a learning curve for him, too....I'm more disappointed in the fact that he's lost development time than anything else.

-Jordan Goldwire has really played outstanding. That said, I'm not sure we can be at our best with him playing 30+ minutes/game. Not a knock on the kid, it's just a reality, IMO. And that's why it's so important that kids like Joey and Alex provide something.

If Joey could get consistant and Alex just could get us something like a rebound , steal or just a bucket every now and then it would help a lot. I was really liking thev9 man rotation but when Coach K uses that players have to contribute something instead of putting up goose eggs. I think Joey will eventually be a reliable player for us. With Javin you just don't ever know. As far as Alex goes I am concerned about his place in Duke history. I had hopes of him being kind of like Nolan who really struggled rarly in his career and we all know how he ended up. I feel Alex really loves Duke but he has to be feeling disappointed in the way his 1st three years have been. I pull hatd for him when he is in but lately it doesn't take long for him to make pretty bad decisions. Not one person can say Coach K hasn't been patient as fair to him. OFC

 

[topps coach]

One thing for sure if the announcers were right about Pitt bringing in quality bigs next year they will be a load in the future

 

[BOOGIEMAN1914]

in Javin's defense, he isnt a primary scorer and he isnt taking and missing a ton of shots and wasting possessions for us....when he does attempt a shot, he generally scores, just limited opportunities imo.......he does need to get grittier and nastier and be a voice and leader, we have seen it