***DUKE VS WAKE FOREST OFFICIAL GAMEDAY THREAD***

[BlueDevilStop]

Game recap, five observations, and player of the game. There was a never a doubt in this one.

Duke Dominates Throughout, Soundly Beats Wake Forest |

Wake Forest managed to keep up with Duke for the first seven minutes of the game. After the opening few minutes, Duke resembled the team that soundly beat NC State days prior. With the game tied at eight a piece, Jaemyn Brakefield sparked Duke with a personal 7-3 run to put Duke ahead 15-11...

bluedevilstop.com

 

[BlueDevilStop]

Absolutely loved the defense tonight. Can't wait to see how they look against Virginia, who will obviously be significantly tougher. That game will tell us everything we need to know about where this team is defensively.

 

[WI#1Dukie22]

No Koach Q tonight??? Super surprising lol. If he can’t rag on K and Duke he’s got nothing to say. Him and 25 others gonna have a loonnngg end of the season- and no I’m not overreacting to 2 wins. Duke has been close all year- things look to have clicked now. We have K - color me 100000% not surprised.
Go Duke

 

[Mac9192]

Effort was great, and the ball movement was too. Build off this game, because Saturday will be tough, especially considering they got waxed in their last one.

 

[christophero]

I was not at all nervous about this game. I had a strong feeling we would win and play well. Great 2 game stretch...now let's make a statement!

 

[bleediteveryday30]

No Koach Q tonight??? Super surprising lol. If he can’t rag on K and Duke he’s got nothing to say. Him and 25 others gonna have a loonnngg end of the season- and no I’m not overreacting to 2 wins. Duke has been close all year- things look to have clicked now. We have K - color me 100000% not surprised.
Go Duke

Be careful, that's our future coach you're talking about In all seriousness, what a great win tonight. This team is building for the future and I love it. Win or lose these kids deserve our support because they're giving it their all.

 

[hart2chesson]

Would like to see us play crisp and harder than we’ve played all season. Whatever happens, i can live with.

My man its as if our boys heard you!!! Lol....OFC

 

[hart2chesson]

We needed these past two games so bad. Friggin wendells mistake at unc is that much more frustrating but finally we look like a real duke squad. Kudos to the staff. I can be highly critical of them but have no problem giving credit when they do good also

ioliva I want to second your props to our coaching staff. Really MARVELOUS adjustments they've made these past two games! OFC

 

[AlanInNJ]

Great game all around. Hurt is on another level right now. I love the momentum we are carrying into the weekend.

It's hard to look at the ACC standings and see how close we are/were to being in the top 4 had a few bounces gone our way. We still have a chance. Let's get it done.

 

[Quavarius]

Proud of the way the guys have improved. The Virginia game will tell us more about if the improvements are valid or our opponents were subpar. But, we win when we make shots and turn the ball over less. If that continues, we will be tough to beat!

 

[christophero]

As someone said on another board "Virginia is a different kettle of fish." That would be a huge season changing win for us.

 

[K-oach Q]

No Koach Q tonight??? Super surprising lol. If he can’t rag on K and Duke he’s got nothing to say. Him and 25 others gonna have a loonnngg end of the season- and no I’m not overreacting to 2 wins. Duke has been close all year- things look to have clicked now. We have K - color me 100000% not surprised.
Go Duke

My wife’s father just passed from covid...I haven’t hardly chimed in but in snippets few games now...

Seasons been over for weeks now...

But carry on as an asshole....

 

[K-oach Q]

Be careful, that's our future coach you're talking about In all seriousness, what a great win tonight. This team is building for the future and I love it. Win or lose these kids deserve our support because they're giving it their all.

Duke just beat a 6-10 team and and 8-9 team for some perspective.

They clearly are playing better however.

 

[bleediteveryday30]

Duke just beat a 6-10 team and and 8-9 team for some perspective.

They clearly are playing better however.

I'm aware of their records. For perspective, we played like hot garbage against an even worse Miami team and lost to them on the road. For all the adversity this team has faced on and off the court we should celebrate them finally seeing their hard work translate to the court. Nobody is saying they're a national title contender or even making the tournament, for that matter. Some of us are just supporting this group and taking it a game at a time. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[bleediteveryday30]

My wife’s father just passed from covid...I haven’t hardly chimed in but in snippets few games now...

Seasons been over for weeks now...

But carry on as an asshole....

Sorry for your loss. Covid sucks. My mom's childhood best friend died from it a few months back. He was a relatively healthy 60 year old man.

 

[hart2chesson]

As someone said on another board "Virginia is a different kettle of fish." That would be a huge season changing win for us.

They're sharks....OFC

 

[christophero]

Beating Virginia would get us back in the discussion. Go 4-1 after that and win a few games in the ACC tournament and we could make it.

 

[bleediteveryday30]

Beating Virginia would get us back in the discussion. Go 4-1 after that and win a few games in the ACC tournament and we could make it.

Chris, I think there are just 4 games left after UVA, if I am not mistaken. Cuse, Louisville, GT, and the holes. I do agree with your analysis though. Can't afford to lose to UVA. That's the signature win this team would need if they find themselves on the bubble come selection show Sunday.

 

[christophero]

I went to St. John's. Thus my math.

 

[bleediteveryday30]

I went to St. John's. Thus my math.

You're good my dude. I just don't want to come off like I am correcting everyone. I'm certainly not one to be doing such things. I muck things up all the time, haha

 

[kwyjibos13]

Beating Virginia would get us back in the discussion. Go 4-1 after that and win a few games in the ACC tournament and we could make it.

We need to beat UVA and go 4-1, but in my estimation, if we do that, we are in unless we have an embarrasing acc tournament loss (i.e. the year VT under Seth Greenberg in 09-10 missed out of ncaas, with the nail in the coffin being a second loss to the worst team in the league in the acc tournament). Couple of things...

1. Let us call a duck a duck: we are Duke. Do not tell me teams do not get a push to be in the tournament because of name (see, the year Zona made the sweet 16 as a 12, the year Zona made the tournament as a 9 and loss to Seton Hall in the first round where the winner played Duke, and the year UCLA beat SMU as a 12 seed when at best, UCLA should have been a play-in).

2. We had what, 5 games cancelled? If we go 4-1 in that stretch, which we would have most likely, how different would the argument look at 13-9?

3. It is hard to justify a road loss at a power 5 as a bad loss. You could argue last year's home loss to SFA was worst than at Miami.

4. There are a lot of teams with WTF losses.

5. Other than vs Illinois, a top 4-seeded team imho, there is no blowout losses. Very few teams can say that...

 

[kwyjibos13]

Plus, it is clear the committee takes into account the team you are going into the tournament. That is why I was so disappointed about last season because with Robinson playing, I really felt Duke was going to have a strong ACC tournament, nab a two, and be a force in the tournament.

And if Duke goes 4-1 the rest of the regular season, picks up a 5-8 seed in the ACC tournament, make the semis (so 2-1), lose a very competitive game in the semis, Duke is 8-2 in their last 10. Do not tell me the committee really does not look at how you are playing going into the tournament. Regardless of winning the dang thing, you cannot convince me UCONN deserved to go from a bubble team to a 3 seed in 2011. So contrary to what they say, the committee puts a lot of emphasis on the conference tournament.

 

[dachampishere2]

Y’all seriously think we will go 4-1 during this final stretch? 3-2 at the very very best. We need to let the kids play and get them ready for next year.

 

[christophero]

We need to win tomm. If we do we'll have won 3 in a row, including a top 10 win. Why not?
(of course Virginia is a huge test)

 

[Liftee]

The nice thing is we still have control over our destiny. Even if we lose to UVA, we win out and win at least 2 games in the ACC tournament.

We are discounting the impact of the rule the NCAA is instituting about teams staying in a bubble for something like a week before the Tournament. I can see some teams blowing it because their players don't stay disciplined. There could be some openings. Like with bowl games this year where 4 or 5 win teams got in because there weren't enough 6 win teams.