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Official game day thread- Duke vs AZ sweet 16

They can’t call a foul on the replay. But those announcers should have seen it and noted it anyway. It reflected their bias.
Yeh you’d have thought they’d have noticed the best player in the country getting pushed out of bounds. He got drilled in the back WWE style. Should have been a flagrant and they ignored it completely
 
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I agree the officiating was not good in the 2nd half. We got extremely lucky though that they didn't upgrade that foul on Ngongba. He didn't continue to hold after he took him down like the Arizona guy did to Kon, but, he pulled the guy down. He has to be smarter.
 
In a fairly reffed game, Duke wins by a minimum of 20. They kept Arizona in it in the first half and started their almost comeback with 3 straight whistles in the second half. No one will mention it in the media because it's Duke and K would have had the refs drawn and quartered, but it was obscene.
 
I agree the officiating was not good in the 2nd half. We got extremely lucky though that they didn't upgrade that foul on Ngongba. He didn't continue to hold after he took him down like the Arizona guy did to Kon, but, he pulled the guy down. He has to be smarter.
I agree he has to be smarter. But when the Arizona guy did it, the refs didn't call it and Arizona got a free And-1. Then they called it during the media timeout.
 
The bench didn't play great, or much. It's one game. Good minutes from Pat and Mason. Evans has been streaky. He's due for a hot streak.
Think Evans and Caleb are just match up dependent at this point. I could see Foster getting minutes to defend Sears. Evans has to be willing to shoot in the flow of the game vs shoot every time you touch it.
 
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I agree the officiating was not good in the 2nd half. We got extremely lucky though that they didn't upgrade that foul on Ngongba. He didn't continue to hold after he took him down like the Arizona guy did to Kon, but, he pulled the guy down. He has to be smarter.
Our guys went straight up on Love several drives with minimal contact and they blew the whistle anyway. If Big Mouth is going to the line anyway, I want that punk to earn it. Of course, that’s said with the benefit of hindsight. Most shouldn’t have been called anyway.
 
Samesies.
But I loved his postgame press conference. He thanks his teammates and coaches for sticking with him because "I went through a lot transferring from my other school... the relationships I've built over the course of my career, especially at Arizona..." 🤣
I heard a rumor that at Arizona he had to actually go to class, so that was an adjustment no doubt.
In his heart of hearts though you know he misses Bacot rebounding all his wild ass shots and kicking it back out to him for an even wilder one Like his patented twenty five ft fadeaway
 
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Good win last night. Saturday should be epic. I didn't expect Arizona to be that physical; but clearly the book on how to beat Duke is bully ball and driving to get our big guys in foul trouble. We should expect that from here on out; although Alabama is more of a run and gun team but they do have some beefy guys. Proctor sometimes gets hesitant in physical games but I expect him to play much better Saturday. Brown is not 100 percent or even close to it which is a bummer as he really makes us much more diverse on D. I think we can cut down the nets without a healthy Brown but I think the margin for error is much smaller. Cooper is going to play big minutes the rest of the way for obvious reasons.
 
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I wasn't able to watch it live, so I watched it this morning...Proctor didnt handle Love well at all...wasnt his best game. Flagg was just unplayable at times and carried us. We gave up a lot of points....the refs were decent up until the 10min mark in the second half...then every breath on a drive was foul on us....3 pt shooting and FT's were a massive boost to win. It was fun to watch knowing the score and we win! it would have been majorly nerve-wracking watching live, I bet!
 
I wasn't able to watch it live, so I watched it this morning...Proctor didnt handle Love well at all...wasnt his best game. Flagg was just unplayable at times and carried us. We gave up a lot of points....the refs were decent up until the 10min mark in the second half...then every breath on a drive was foul on us....3 pt shooting and FT's were a massive boost to win. It was fun to watch knowing the score and we win! it would have been majorly nerve-wracking watching live, I bet!
I thought Kon did a better job on Love. His length and strength helped.
 
I like our chances against anybody if we have our A game. Not sure we had it last night due to foul trouble, but still managed to lay 100 on Arizona. Proctor has too many moments where he disappears, almost playing too passive. He was 0-2 in the 2nd half, and shot no free throws for the game. Maybe I'm just being too hard on him though.

Preparing for Alabama is different than any other team out there. You almost have to dare them to shoot the two. They have multiple guys that can hit the three. But we have Cooper, they don't.
 
Good win last night. Saturday should be epic. I didn't expect Arizona to be that physical; but clearly the book on how to beat Duke is bully ball and driving to get our big guys in foul trouble. We should expect that from here on out; although Alabama is more of a run and gun team but they do have some beefy guys. Proctor sometimes gets hesitant in physical games but I expect him to play much better Saturday. Brown is not 100 percent or even close to it which is a bummer as he really makes us much more diverse on D. I think we can cut down the nets without a healthy Brown but I think the margin for error is much smaller. Cooper is going to play big minutes the rest of the way for obvious reasons.
It might be bully ball but the good news is that’s not Alabama at all.. if we are good enough to get to the final four and it’s against UK it’s not how they play either. UT and Houston both play that way but neither have the offense to complete the game against us even with bully ball
 
I think we played ok on Love. He hit some really tough shots that you just have to live with. It was almost like the way Edwards from Louisville played against us in the ACC tourney.
Agree overall. He hit some wild stuff but what do you expect from a 5th yr senior of his caliber. Love him or hate him (no pun intended) he has a insane ability to score when he’s on regardless of D
 
I like our chances against anybody if we have our A game. Not sure we had it last night due to foul trouble, but still managed to lay 100 on Arizona. Proctor has too many moments where he disappears, almost playing too passive. He was 0-2 in the 2nd half, and shot no free throws for the game. Maybe I'm just being too hard on him though.

Preparing for Alabama is different than any other team out there. You almost have to dare them to shoot the two. They have multiple guys that can hit the three. But we have Cooper, they don't.
Coop will probably be up against Nelson. We have to get Coop the ball and let him have space to drive on Nelson and hopefully pick up some fouls. Been a while since Coop played against someone who is taller than him. It'll be a good test for Coop.
 
Coop will probably be up against Nelson. We have to get Coop the ball and let him have space to drive on Nelson and hopefully pick up some fouls. Been a while since Coop played against someone who is taller than him. It'll be a good test for Coop.
I really like Nelson but I think Cooper takes his game away completely. Sears is the concern to me. Dude is quick!
 
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Rese didn’t have a great game, no doubt but the focus on him by some is odd. He was all world first two rounds and our other option is Foster- not really much of a choice. Rese has been damn good all year.

I think Rese will bounce back as his length will be needed to give bamas smaller guards trouble chucking up 50 3s.
He didn't have a good game against them inthe last game in November. Maybe he's so focused on trying to guard Love that it affected his offensive game? Hopefully he'll come around Saturday. We gotta find ways to get Sears in foul trouble with our height advantage on him.
 
Yeah I think Rese is fine. Love hit some insane shots with Rese's hand right in his face. Rese was also visibly frustrated (and rightfully so) with 2 touch fouls called on him guarding Love, fouls that haven't really been called all year.

I thought his first half stretch where I think he scored 7 straight (maybe 7 of our 9) when Arizona was leading was pretty big. He also only had 1 TO, Kon and Sion had 3 each.
 
I knew I shouldn't mentioned Proctor lol.
Nothing wrong with it. No one is focusing on him, just mentioning that he didn't have a good half on offense. He didn't, and it's more noticeable cause the game got tighter than we wanted. But no one is calling him names or anything, just merely stating what was a fact.

I hope he lights Bama up Saturday.
 
I agree the officiating was not good in the 2nd half. We got extremely lucky though that they didn't upgrade that foul on Ngongba. He didn't continue to hold after he took him down like the Arizona guy did to Kon, but, he pulled the guy down. He has to be smarter.
It was a fair no call considering az slammed kon on a worse play and there was no call at all. They also pushed coop twice to the floor when jumping for a rebound
 
It might be bully ball but the good news is that’s not Alabama at all.. if we are good enough to get to the final four and it’s against UK it’s not how they play either. UT and Houston both play that way but neither have the offense to complete the game against us even with bully ball
I don't think bully ball beats us in a fairly officiated game. I think the only way Duke loses is if they beat themselves or a team goes absolutely nuclear from 3 like Alabama did yesterday. The good news is, Alabama isn't statistically a good 3 point shooting team so hopefully lightning doesn't strike twice in one weekend.
 
I don't think bully ball beats us in a fairly officiated game. I think the only way Duke loses is if they beat themselves or a team goes absolutely nuclear from 3 like Alabama did yesterday. The good news is, Alabama isn't statistically a good 3 point shooting team so hopefully lightning doesn't strike twice in one weekend.
They’re 83rd in the country at about 35% Duke is in the top 20 at 38% so not much daylight in the rankings but a couple made shots worth 6 pts so it’s not insignificant
We need to play better perimeter D if we’re gonna pull it out. Bradley and Bryant had too many open looks last night
Nelson misses pt blank looks often so if he gets a step on Coop he needs to let Maluach or Pat clean it up. Tough d on Nelson is not worth Flagg getting in foul trouble esp if Cassell is back.
Alabama’s guards get twitchy if they don’t get their looks. Nelson getting ten or fifteen inside may be what the dr ordered if their guards aren’t draining threes
 
He didn't have a good game against them inthe last game in November. Maybe he's so focused on trying to guard Love that it affected his offensive game? Hopefully he'll come around Saturday. We gotta find ways to get Sears in foul trouble with our height advantage on him.
Another thing about Proctor...I remembered him saying in the interview after the Baylor game that his mom or parents were coming from Australia to watch him play if he made it to the sweet 16. If they did come, I'm sure it was really emotional to play in front of them. I'm sure it's been a long time since he's seen them in person and that might have affected his play as well on the offensive end
 
Bama was out of body yesterday from behind the arc, but I guess Duke shot it pretty well too! :) Still, I didn't understand why BYU wasn't guarding the 3 better when they shot 50 of them at over a 50% clip. Don't you take the 3 away in that case and make them go inside? Mix it up and play a zone or something? They hit some deep ones, but many were wide open looks from the line.

I like our chances Saturday, I just think we have Cooper AND too many other guys who can light it up on any given night. But if Bama continues that crazy hot shooting, it's gonna be a dog fight. Sears looked dominant last night, but he's also had some recent games where he struggled.
 
Bama was out of body yesterday from behind the arc, but I guess Duke shot it pretty well too! :) Still, I didn't understand why BYU wasn't guarding the 3 better when they shot 50 of them at over a 50% clip. Don't you take the 3 away in that case and make them go inside? Mix it up and play a zone or something? They hit some deep ones, but many were wide open looks from the line.

I like our chances Saturday, I just think we have Cooper AND too many other guys who can light it up on any given night. But if Bama continues that crazy hot shooting, it's gonna be a dog fight. Sears looked dominant last night, but he's also had some recent games where he struggled.
Agreed. As someone else mentioned, kind of happy they shot and made that many threes yesterday. Have to think that won’t happen again.
 
Parents coming to see you play is a new one on the excuses list.
(I am just messing with you Blue)
Lol. Just getting to find ways on the reason he was off. Could be just an off night... He's been so hot recently so it was bound to happen. Everything always come back to the mean eventually. Main thing is that we advanced and we have other players that are really good that can step up at anytime for us when a teammate is having an off night.
 
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