***DUKE VS SYRACUSE OFFICIAL GAMEDAY THREAD***
- Thread starter krzyzewskiville
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Just finished the game holy cow what a crap game by Grayson! Thanks pal for killing us especially that last shot he threw up stupid stupid stupid!
I don't know if I'd say our guys do it all the time but but I do agree that some of our guys whine that they got fouled quite a bit. I just don't think I've ever seen a player crying for a foul every time he went back on defense like Gillon did tonight. I can recall at least 4-5 times that he grabbed his arm saying that was a foul after he was already back on the defensive end of the court.
Our shooting was horrid and our second half D did not exist. That's why we lost. OFC
We have sputtered most of the season it seems, we sputter when we win and sputter when we lose. We've won a few we could have easily lost and lost a few we could have won. Just not a dominating team and very few great performances as a team this season. We've had some great individual games by some of the guys that have carried us this season but nothing is ever consistent with this team. The 7 game win streak was awesome but I'm pretty dissapointed tonight.
WI#1 I am curious as to what you mean when you say Duke will be just fine? Do you mean by seasons end or next game or what?
Shooting 30 threes a game routinely scares me into thinking 2014 could happen again in tourney.
And there isn't a team who couldn't beat them!
I said earlier this afternoon I thought Frank and Matt had to hit a few for us to win. That didn't happen 
. Grayson was off tonight for sure, really off. That didn't help. Still, it took a buzzer beater off the glass to sink us.
I'm not going to armchair QB this. Tough loss, but I'll move on. Three games left. Tough games every one of them. Win 2 of 3 or 3 of 3 and we are in a good place, and all is right with the world.
Go Duke!
Alan
. Grayson was off tonight for sure, really off. That didn't help. Still, it took a buzzer beater off the glass to sink us. I'm not going to armchair QB this. Tough loss, but I'll move on. Three games left. Tough games every one of them. Win 2 of 3 or 3 of 3 and we are in a good place, and all is right with the world.
Go Duke!
Alan
Terrible shot by Grayson up 2. He can't explain that one at all. It wasn't a 2 for 1 or anything. That UNC shot (which was a bad shot that just so happened to go in) went to his head and now he wants to put the dagger in everyone. When your shot is off and you have two teammates playing well, you get the ball to one of them. I rather Tatum take that final shot because of his length. I haven't seen anyone bother his shot yet. It's all good though.
Once again Coach K didn't use the bench. He just can't handle too much talent. Poor Chance, Javin and Marques can't even get a minute. If I was Javin and Chase I would transfer. It's not even about winning every game at this point. It's about getting players minutes and experience because you WILL NEED one of them in the tourney if you expect to win it all. These next two games we need to play 9 players honestly. Work the big lineup and see what it can do. Defensively it actually won't be bad because Amile is multiple on defense. I'm not a big fan of the small ball thing unless you ABSOLUTELY have to. We will be better defensively with the big lineup. That half against Miami was the best defense we has played all year and we played big. The reason small ball worked for us last time is because we had a dominate post scorer and needed spacing. Plus Justise Winslow was just a beast on defense. We don't have a dominant scorer on the inside. People actually want us to throw it inside.
But hey Coach K is the greatest. He should see this. Can't fall into the trends. Tatum will never play the 4 again once he leave Duke. So let him play the 3 and cause a matchup problem there
Once again Coach K didn't use the bench. He just can't handle too much talent. Poor Chance, Javin and Marques can't even get a minute. If I was Javin and Chase I would transfer. It's not even about winning every game at this point. It's about getting players minutes and experience because you WILL NEED one of them in the tourney if you expect to win it all. These next two games we need to play 9 players honestly. Work the big lineup and see what it can do. Defensively it actually won't be bad because Amile is multiple on defense. I'm not a big fan of the small ball thing unless you ABSOLUTELY have to. We will be better defensively with the big lineup. That half against Miami was the best defense we has played all year and we played big. The reason small ball worked for us last time is because we had a dominate post scorer and needed spacing. Plus Justise Winslow was just a beast on defense. We don't have a dominant scorer on the inside. People actually want us to throw it inside.
But hey Coach K is the greatest. He should see this. Can't fall into the trends. Tatum will never play the 4 again once he leave Duke. So let him play the 3 and cause a matchup problem there
There is some serious talent on the bench..... K righted the ship by slimming the rotation way down. I was afraid we would get stuck in this groove. I'm all about trust in K but I just can't see this rotation making it the long haul. Not to mention Allen is extremely limited right now. We should have rested him tonight.
I said Duke is just fine in a generic way. I have my concerns but in the end not near enough to give up on this team. Winning the Acc was thrown out a while back for me. It's all about getting better which I thought we were until tonight. K needs to figure out how we're going to generate more easy baskets, and more free throws.
I said Duke is just fine in a generic way. I have my concerns but in the end not near enough to give up on this team. Winning the Acc was thrown out a while back for me. It's all about getting better which I thought we were until tonight. K needs to figure out how we're going to generate more easy baskets, and more free throws.
He needs to break out of that small ball game. At some point he will have to go big. Our best half of defense this year was with a traditional lineup. Amile can guard on the perimeter so it wouldn't be a mismatch defensively. The problem on defense is when they switch and if amile gets beat a guard is the last line of defense. That's why there are so many u contested layups. I always hated small ball. That works only if you have a big that can score or that 4 man is more of a defender. Like justise.
Also congrats to Kansas for taking care of business en route to winning their 13th straight national championship
Very good point on slimming the rotation. Things got better when it was slimmed down. The core Players figured out their roles and how to play together. And you are correct duke/k got stuck in this groove. Bolden (or jeter if bolden is a problem) and Giles have shown enough to get at least 25 minutes total. And should have been worked in much more by now. Plus Jackson needs about 20 a game barring foul trouble.
I will add I don't think this fixed dukes defensive issues but it could help. Dukes defensive issues probably needs some serious discussion and adjustments amongst the staff. And probably would not be fixed overnight.
This. 6-deep , zero defense and live/die by the 3 ain't gonna get it. Giles ( top recruit in the country , right? ) can only play spot minutes? Bolden ( projected OAD ) can only play a couple of minutes in the 1st halves of games and none in the 2nd? Javin and Chase? Which schools do they transfer to? Seriously. NONE of those guys will be here next season. Neither will Tatum Jefferson Luke and maybe Grayson. The only reason I say maybe on him is because he's been so awful that Kennard has passed 'im on all the mock drafts I've seen. I don't get it. K has coached the Olympic teams. He's able to utilize rosters with a lotta players. 6 players? Really? Depth was supposed to be a strength of this squad. Grayson Jackson and Kennard all playing with 4 fouls. Cuse bigs posting up Duke's guards...a lot. All that while Bolden Giles Jeter Javin sit. Forget a run for the ACC title. The NCAA's? I'm gonna catch grief for this but this is a Sweet 16 team at best. Duke's been shooting well lately and it's masked the awful defense and the lack of depth. The UVa win looks less impressive by the game. Wake damn-near beat Duke at CIS. There are no more wins on Duke's slate. Only home game is FSU and Miami UL and unx on the road. Anyone see any wins there? Hello? Bueller? I don't.
If anybody on the bench could help our Defense it might be Jeter. Big might I know. It's our help defenders getting to the spot late, and late double teams. I wouldn't want to know how many points Collins and Cuse put up in the paint against our guards. That's coaching. No idea how we didn't address this issue after Wake destroyed us exactly the same way. We can talk all day about what's wrong but if we have a healthy Allen wete talking about the final four right now I'm sure. We've looked great when he's on, not so much when he has nights like tonight.
Wow DJ, I think your over reacting a bit!! First off yes we're gonna win a few more. Thankfully we don't play Louisville again by the way. We need to get out of Miami with a win, but then I see a Revenge statement win vs FSU followed by an all out war in Chapel Hill..... where we have a pretty damn good track record. How can we give up so quick. I think some credit is due to Cuse, which would ease some of your folks pain.
I give credit where it is due. We blew 4 or 5 fast break opportunities in the first half just on our own stupid decisions. That's 8-10 points we gave them right there. Secondly, we have a Swiss cheese defense, that a 3rd grader with some quickness could penetrate. That's on both the players and coaching staff for either not caring and/or fighting and not making adjustments. We just gave Gillon the lane on 5 or 6 possessions. You can't be a one dimensional team and expect to win big games. These guys are still having lapses that they shouldn't be this late in the season. You'd think by now they would have learned from all the close games and not going for the juggular. Just my opinion. We weren't outplayed in this game. Duke lost it, Cuse didn't win it. Duke has become an easy team to scout and prepare for...beat your guy off the dribble and make them play away from the basket.
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I cannot disagree with anything you are saying. I say we go 1-2 in the next 3 and get bounced fairly quickly in the ACC tournament. Everyone will say "at least we can rest and heal", then what usually happens to us is after a long time off is we come out flat and struggle in the first half.
The injury excuse is getting old for me. Most of the good teams have dealt with injuries, I just dont think we have adjusted well and utilized the bench to cut down on some of the minutes for the guys who are injured.
The 3 not playing are Bolden, Jack and Javin; Chase seems to be out for the year. None of those guys are quick enough decision makers to have saved us last night. Syracuse made two wild bank shots and we were stone cold and taking only long threes. Bolden would've been lost out there. Amile Harry and Tatum played very well. It was our guards who sucked and K played all 4 of them. There's nothing else we could've done substitution wise. This lineup won us 7 straight, but when we shoot poorly and blow 5 transition baskets, we risk a loss.
If you're being honest with yourself, Bolden hasn't played enough to be given an honest and fair assessment.
I'd like him to have a few extra minutes to build confidence and because he chose Duke over other good programs. I still have a fair assessment though. Bolden moves around slowly with low awareness. He had one game where hedged very well against Miami, but he left the roll man wide open which Tatum rotated down on, leaving the wing three wide open. Syracuse would've eaten that up. Bolden is almost useless against good passing teams and gums up the offense. Harry is a much better option at this point.
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