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Keep playing Goldwire and Duke is an easy out in NCAAs

If anyone thinks K isn't going to give Goldwire substantial minutes then they haven't watched Duke very long. Goldwire is the exact kind of player K absolutely loves - a scrappy, tough, balls-to-the-wall effort defensive guard who can't score.

Goldwire is great story but look on his face inside one minute last nite was alarming. Wake doesn’t press hard.
 
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It's very easy to have seemingly superior "opinions" when one has the benefit of 20:20 post-game hindsight. In K's defense, he has no such advantage during the game.

Two timeouts left in last 30 secs and we eat them? Young team which gets knocked back easily, gotta save timeouts & settle them down. That’s basic coaching!
 
Wake hit 113 because all Dukes foul trouble. Goldwire and Tre had four Stanley had three and Moore had four I think which caused Dukes defense to back off and Childress to have less strain on offense.

Hurt isn’t the answer he started the beginning of the season .

This team simply needs one of Alex or Baker to step up and Alex is my vote to start with Tre, Moore, Stanley and Carey and Goldwire come off the bench not only to protect Tre from picking up fouls but for breathers.
 
Why is it that we never seem to have any quality depth at PG? Starting a player whose only skills seem to be as a defensive pest allows opponents to guard our other 4 with five players. We were SOOO lucky that Jones did not enter the draft last year. Without him we might have been battling the CHEATS at the bottom of the league.
 
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Why is it that we never seem to have any quality depth at PG? Starting a player whose only skills seem to be as a defensive pest allows opponents to guard our other 4 with five players. We were SOOO lucky that Jones did not enter the draft last year. Without him we might have been battling the CHEATS at the bottom of the league.
Lol no. The Cheats wouldn’t have been great regardless but they’ve had an absolute ass load of injuries. Without Tre we’d probably be sitting at 19-9 or 20-8
 
Lol no. The Cheats wouldn’t have been great regardless but they’ve had an absolute ass load of injuries. Without Tre we’d probably be sitting at 19-9 or 20-8
And we would have had Boogie Ellis on this team.. not that he would have gave us anywhere close to what Tre does, but it would be at least a little depth compared to nothing.
 
I love the way everyone seems to have an answer about who needs to play and who doesn’t. I don’t usually have anything negative to say about any particular player but I think it’s a glaring problem but yet is so obvious that we do not have an upperclassman who has the ability to run this team like Coach k desires. Not all the time mind you but our ball handling and shooting are hardly ever consistently good. We struggle almost every game to catch up from the hole we’ve dug and the point deficit we’ve built. I hate to sound so negative but this team has really disappointed me with their poor play and we just need better consistency or we are dead in the water.
 
I think at this time of year your best talent needs the most minutes on the floor. “Best talent” does not include Jordan.
Then who? Who can you name that needs to start over Goldwire if Duke is playing to win?

Hurt , Alex. Or Baker can not defend athletic sg’s or sf’s or even pf’s.

I don’t get it so Goldwire was the only player to have turn overs and not make a basket in the last five minutes? Not one Duke player could stop Childress not one.

For 39 minute he had zero points for the last eleven he had what 16? That means he averaged a point per minute on the court in overtime
 
Jordan plays defense all the time ..who do you start in his place? Hmmmm

Joey or Alex who are huge defensive liabilities that will have one decent offensive game out of 10 games? No thanks

Javin? Nothing needs to be said here...I'll pass on him too

Jack? Maybe but can't score and average defense...no thanks

Justin? One decent game don't mean he's starter material...no thanks

Leave Jordan starter...maybe reduce minutes some but his defense has earned this right
 
23-5 isn’t that good when we’ve played 4 good teams this year. Only one of our losses was sorta acceptable (Louisville), the other 4 have been complete head scratchers. We get on mid majors like Gonzaga, SDSU and others for their weak schedules, ours hasn’t been very good this season either.
A big part of the reason that our schedule has been weak this season is because the ACC has been so weak this season. Most years there would be 5, 6 and maybe even 7 ACC teams ranked in the top 25 but this season there are only 3 ACC teams ranked in the top 25 and we’re 1-1 against the other 2 ACC teams that are ranked in the top 25 and even though we’ve only played 4 ranked teams this season, we are 3-1 against those teams.
 
A big part of the reason that our schedule has been weak this season is because the ACC has been so weak this season. Most years there would be 5, 6 and maybe even 7 ACC teams ranked in the top 25 but this season there are only 3 ACC teams ranked in the top 25 and we’re 1-1 against the other 2 ACC teams that are ranked in the top 25 and even though we’ve only played 4 ranked teams this season, we are 3-1 against those teams.
Yeah, we’re 3-1 against the top 25, which means we have 4 losses to unranked teams. Not good. I understand the ACC is down, which means we should have a better record in conference than last year when the ACC had 3 one seeds and the best player in the country missed what, 8 games to end the season? Instead we’re on pace the finish slightly below last season.
 
These next few games I would play at least nine and work on a regular rotation. Even if we lose a few it will be worth it to build some confidence. Before the ACC tournament in 2010 k brought the plumlees off the bench at the first tv timeout and did it most games throughout the tournament and the ncaa. Players are better with regular rotation.
 
Jordan plays defense all the time ..who do you start in his place? Hmmmm

Joey or Alex who are huge defensive liabilities that will have one decent offensive game out of 10 games? No thanks

Javin? Nothing needs to be said here...I'll pass on him too

Jack? Maybe but can't score and average defense...no thanks

Justin? One decent game don't mean he's starter material...no thanks

Leave Jordan starter...maybe reduce minutes some but his defense has earned this right

And here is the real problem with this team and getting far in the tourney imo. its a team of role players.if everyone is clicking then they look good. problem is everyone does not click all the time and at the same time. this is not an overreaction on my part I have felt this way throughout the season. throw in hurt and Moores inconsistency then you have 6 players of your "deep10 rotation" that you just dont know what you are going to get night in and night out. the talent just isn't there this year. besides Tre or Carey, who would have played/started on our other teams in the past few years (maybe cash?) hopefully they find a way to get some more consistency when it really counts.
 
What I'd do and emphasize down the stretch....which probably wouldn't work so this is for fun and I'll trust K.
1. Play Alex more but......don't ask him to overplay the ball. Tell him to give a step and try to contain his guy.
2. Play Jordan less but respect the awesome story he is and get him his 12-15 minutes 5-6 of which will be giving Trey a breather.
3. Play Hurt at the 5 anytime Vernon takes a break and double in the post every time his guy catches the ball. I think he gains confidence if opposing 5's are guarding him moving forward.
4. God bless Javin and Jack.....they both seem like great kids but they just can not seem to produce. I can't justify not giving Robinson a shot at the leftover minutes in the post.
5. Something has to change on ball screen defense. Hurt failing to 'show hard' on ball screens late crushed us....especially the 3 to put it into OT.
6. Carey HAS TO eliminate the pointless offensive fouls where he just obviously gets frustrated and throws somebody.....we gotta have him available late.
 
And here is the real problem with this team and getting far in the tourney imo. its a team of role players.if everyone is clicking then they look good. problem is everyone does not click all the time and at the same time. this is not an overreaction on my part I have felt this way throughout the season. throw in hurt and Moores inconsistency then you have 6 players of your "deep10 rotation" that you just dont know what you are going to get night in and night out. the talent just isn't there this year. besides Tre or Carey, who would have played/started on our other teams in the past few years (maybe cash?) hopefully they find a way to get some more consistency when it really counts.

We knew before the season we weren't gonna have that superstar
 
What I'd do and emphasize down the stretch....which probably wouldn't work so this is for fun and I'll trust K.
1. Play Alex more but......don't ask him to overplay the ball. Tell him to give a step and try to contain his guy.
2. Play Jordan less but respect the awesome story he is and get him his 12-15 minutes 5-6 of which will be giving Trey a breather.
3. Play Hurt at the 5 anytime Vernon takes a break and double in the post every time his guy catches the ball. I think he gains confidence if opposing 5's are guarding him moving forward.
4. God bless Javin and Jack.....they both seem like great kids but they just can not seem to produce. I can't justify not giving Robinson a shot at the leftover minutes in the post.
5. Something has to change on ball screen defense. Hurt failing to 'show hard' on ball screens late crushed us....especially the 3 to put it into OT.
6. Carey HAS TO eliminate the pointless offensive fouls where he just obviously gets frustrated and throws somebody.....we gotta have him available late.

Not bad. I’ll counter.

I like your answer on one. I’d like to see Alex play more too....I’m just not sure it amounts to much.

To your second point, I agree Jordan needs to play less. I won’t give a specific number because I that number changes on a game-by-game basis, but the average isn’t more than 20/game.

Matthew is physically challenged playing the five at this level. As much as I want that to be the answer, I don’t think it is for this season.

I’ve tried to stay positive with Javin, but I’m starting to think this is just one of those situations where he is who he is, unfortunately. With Jack, I’m not sure he’s the consistent threat some feel, but I do feel as though he’s capable of helping this team in some capacity most nights.

Don’t even get me started on five. I agree totally.

I think Vernon needs to just eliminate silly fouls in general. He picks up careless ones on both ends of the court....and the silly, stupid ticky-tack ones, too.
 
Sounds like we are pretty close on our thoughts. Just for the record.....I agree that Hurt isn't physically ready to defend 5's. With that said......we could double down to help him and rotate on the kickout. I think his confidence rises when he can take his guy off the bounce which opens his 3 and that rarely happens when he is matched against a 4. As for Alex.....I have no idea what his ceiling is because I feel he has spent his entire career looking over his shoulder. He tends to get the hook quickly and often times justifiably so but.....I think his ceiling would be high if given consistent minutes every game and not required to pressure the ball to the extent Trey is.
 
Neither Goldwire nor Javin have developed

This is possibly the most inaccurate thing I’ve read on this board.. Javin, ok.. but to say Goldwire hasn’t developed is insanity.. the kid was barely a top 400 three star recruit.. he may not be worthy of the starter minutes he’s getting now, but he has made leaps in development over the last 2 seasons.
 
This is possibly the most inaccurate thing I’ve read on this board.. Javin, ok.. but to say Goldwire hasn’t developed is insanity.. the kid was barely a top 400 three star recruit.. he may not be worthy of the starter minutes he’s getting now, but he has made leaps in development over the last 2 seasons.
I agree, I think it’s completely ignorant to say that Goldwire hasn’t improved any at all during his time at Duke.
 
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Jordan has been a pretty remarkable story. I’d agree he’s playing more minutes than he should (IMO), but I don’t think he’s deserving of all the backlash he’s getting, either. Last night he was awful at the end of regulation, but he’s not the reason we lost.
Jordan has mostly been great and has come huge for us in games dating back to last year against Louisville. What this team really needs is Vernon and Tre to stay out of foul trouble, and when it comes to winning time they just have to be the ones to just go and get a win. Tre showed he’s capable of doing it against UNC, he just need to bring that every night.
 
Goldwire is a lot like Matt Jones was for us, just that Jordan came less heralded. Both, imo, are great to have on a team. He's the least of our problems though. It's almost everyone else that is the issue.
Vernon and Tre are our 2 best players. But they need A LOT of help. My hope is that K continues to play guys a good bit. The 2nd half of the Wake game he bordered on his old ways. These guys need to see the court a good bit. We have too many guys that look great then disappear. Stanley is one. He looks awesome, then looks lost. There isn't a single kid on this team that we can't say that about.
I'm in the minority here, but Alex, even being bad defensively, in more court time imo, becomes more of a weapon for us. This is a team where you just keep playing kids, with the hope that one or 2 contribute when we need it.
 
First off let me say I love goldwires game, toughness and his heart. He is somewhat limited on the offensive end and we suffer in the half court with him out there versus alex, stanley, or basically any other guard or wing. When goldwire played 15 mins or less a game he could come in and play balls to wall on defense and be a absolute pest. With him playing 25-30 mins he has to conserve energy and isnt the threat defensively he was with limited mins being the in your face relentless defender. I know i dont know it all but I feel very strongly about this going forward.
 
What I'd do and emphasize down the stretch....which probably wouldn't work so this is for fun and I'll trust K.
1. Play Alex more but......don't ask him to overplay the ball. Tell him to give a step and try to contain his guy.
2. Play Jordan less but respect the awesome story he is and get him his 12-15 minutes 5-6 of which will be giving Trey a breather.
3. Play Hurt at the 5 anytime Vernon takes a break and double in the post every time his guy catches the ball. I think he gains confidence if opposing 5's are guarding him moving forward.
4. God bless Javin and Jack.....they both seem like great kids but they just can not seem to produce. I can't justify not giving Robinson a shot at the leftover minutes in the post.
5. Something has to change on ball screen defense. Hurt failing to 'show hard' on ball screens late crushed us....especially the 3 to put it into OT.


#5 - Our hedge and recover on HBS is flat out atrocious.
- We chase over the top and never fight through screen.
- Bigs hedge is even with the screen instead of pushing the ball handler east/west.
- Bigs remain flat footed leaving a driving lane or roll from screener wide open. It's not hard to teach
 
I can't think of a Duke player whose has been praised or critisized more than Jordan. One game he's the reason we won and the next game he's a waste of a scholorship. He will never be one of the top 50 NBA players of all time but he's one of us. He's part of the brotherhood. Everytime he plays he leaves it on the court . He has missed some big shots. He has made some big shots. He plays good defense and knows how important it is and knows for the most part that his D gets him his PT. His game has improved every year since he came to Duke. Isn't that the goal of every player that comes to Duke? He has a role on this team and understands it better than any other player on the team. He coud have transferred after his freshman year and w e would not have even given it a second thought. I'm grateful he chose Duke and even more grateful he stayed . I honestly do not know where we would be without him this year in his support role behind Tre. If Jordan had left and Tre had went down this year we may be in last place in the ACC. OFC
 
I can't fault Goldwire for the losing plays he made at Wake Forest, we lose to FSU by 10 if Goldwire doesn't have the game of his life.

Personally I think he needs to play less. I think part of a reason for our slow starts is Goldwire is on the floor, and the beginning of games are played in the half-court, our half-court offense with Goldwire playing is too easy to defend.

I'd prefer him to come off the bench and when he comes in we immediately press full-court. Play him in a role like he had last year except triple the minutes.
 
Why is it that we never seem to have any quality depth at PG? Starting a player whose only skills seem to be as a defensive pest allows opponents to guard our other 4 with five players. We were SOOO lucky that Jones did not enter the draft last year. Without him we might have been battling the CHEATS at the bottom of the league.
On the topic of Jones, do you fellas expect him to return for his Junior season?
 
Why is it that we never seem to have any quality depth at PG? Starting a player whose only skills seem to be as a defensive pest allows opponents to guard our other 4 with five players. We were SOOO lucky that Jones did not enter the draft last year. Without him we might have been battling the CHEATS at the bottom of the league.
RJ Hampton was coming until Tre decided to come back. Hampton then decided to go overseas and is gonna be a top 20 draft pick. Boogie Ellis also probably stays with his commitment knowing he would be in a battle for a starting job.

Would we have been as good as without Tre? Probably not. But with RJ Hampton, we would have been a better 3-point shooting team at least.

UNC has a better chance of winning the title this year than the chances are of Tre coming back.
 
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I can't fault Goldwire for the losing plays he made at Wake Forest, we lose to FSU by 10 if Goldwire doesn't have the game of his life.

Personally I think he needs to play less. I think part of a reason for our slow starts is Goldwire is on the floor, and the beginning of games are played in the half-court, our half-court offense with Goldwire playing is too easy to defend.

I'd prefer him to come off the bench and when he comes in we immediately press full-court. Play him in a role like he had last year except triple the minutes.
We have had some really slow starts and i do think having two guys like he and Tre as your starting backcourt probably contributes to this. Tre isn’t a great shooter to begin with, so you have two smaller guards who don’t space the floor, it hurts. Obviously we all cringe when he’s on the floor with any combo of Jav, Jack, bc it’s essentially 2 holes on offense. So, i think we all agree, less minutes but he’s certainly not the reason we lost to wake, he was a huge reason for some of our wins, but pairing him long stretches with some of these guys really hurts our production.
 
We have had some really slow starts and i do think having two guys like he and Tre as your starting backcourt probably contributes to this. Tre isn’t a great shooter to begin with, so you have two smaller guards who don’t space the floor, it hurts. Obviously we all cringe when he’s on the floor with any combo of Jav, Jack, bc it’s essentially 2 holes on offense. So, i think we all agree, less minutes but he’s certainly not the reason we lost to wake, he was a huge reason for some of our wins, but pairing him long stretches with some of these guys really hurts our production.
I’m still trying to figure out when Jack has become this huge liability on offense this year. He has been shooting the ball good in ACC play. Especially before he got benched. He had been shooting very well. Javin can’t do anything right on offense consistently. He has butter fingers half the time. Jack actually is respected at the 3 point line
 
I like Jordan and he has legitimately helped this team a lot, so I live with this. This game was more than just him.

I like Jordan and he has been good for his skill set most of the year, my only thought is by having Jordan come off the bench, he can give Tre and breather, he's looked exhausted at the end of the last few games. Against Wake in OT, he looked like he had trouble lifting his arms to shoot.

That is my only reason to have Jordan come off the bench. I do like what Moore can give us, but I have to agree that he makes some crazy questionable dribbling, especially trying to break the traps.
 
All they had to do is call a foul when he got tackled, and we wouldn’t hate him so much...
You’re talking about the play in the corner where he turned it over Arendt you? I was a bit surprised that s foul wasn’t called there considering he stumbled backwards while being double teamed. Watching it on tv madd it a bit hard to tell if he was fouled or not but with the way he stumbled backwards I find it at least a little hard to believe that he wasn’t fouled there.
 
I have no idea why Goldwire was out there in an obvious foul situation (up 3 with 30 seconds left.) He is a terrible FT shooter, has no confidence, and clearly doesn't wanna go to the line. That was on K. Goldwire panicked TWICE with the ball because he didn't want to get fouled. Go back and watch the last 2 turnovers he had (it's painful) but he tries to get rid of the ball and he loses it before he can pass (mainly due to fouls not called.)

K did this same crap with Duval, we lost the game at VT (a big game BTW that cost us a 1 seed that year). For some reason had us inbound the ball to Duval, they foul him, he clanks the front end of a 1and1 and then we lose on the final play.

Goldwire is not that great of a ball handler compared to the others. I don't think he should be out there when a team is fouling. Tre, Alex, Cassius, Wendell, Jack...there is your "they are gonna foul us" line-up.
 
I have no idea why Goldwire was out there in an obvious foul situation (up 3 with 30 seconds left.) He is a terrible FT shooter, has no confidence, and clearly doesn't wanna go to the line. That was on K. Goldwire panicked TWICE with the ball because he didn't want to get fouled. Go back and watch the last 2 turnovers he had (it's painful) but he tries to get rid of the ball and he loses it before he can pass (mainly due to fouls not called.)

K did this same crap with Duval, we lost the game at VT (a big game BTW that cost us a 1 seed that year). For some reason had us inbound the ball to Duval, they foul him, he clanks the front end of a 1and1 and then we lose on the final play.

Goldwire is not that great of a ball handler compared to the others. I don't think he should be out there when a team is fouling. Tre, Alex, Cassius, Wendell, Jack...there is your "they are gonna foul us" line-up.

He is a better ball handler than Moore is.. And it's not really close
 
You’re talking about the play in the corner where he turned it over Arendt you? I was a bit surprised that s foul wasn’t called there considering he stumbled backwards while being double teamed. Watching it on tv madd it a bit hard to tell if he was fouled or not but with the way he stumbled backwards I find it at least a little hard to believe that he wasn’t fouled there.

he was Goldberg speared, which led to the turnover. If it was the other way around it would of made ESPN’s front page, and all of Kentucky’s fans would of been irate!
 
He is a better ball handler than Moore is.. And it's not really close
He is nowhere near as good of a foul shooter though. Give Moore the ball with 30 seconds left and he is strong enough with the ball to get fouled.

Moore does have ball-handling issues, no doubt, but in an obvious foul situation, you just gotta be strong and wait for the foul, I trust Moore to do that. Moore's turnover in that game was when they were trapping without fouling, big difference.
 
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