Official game day thread- Duke vs Charlotte

[christophero]

It's a must win if we want a top 3 seed. Is it at MSG?
Looked it up it is. We do play well there.
Looked at our schedule I have us at 21-10 going into the ACC tournament.
(if we beat Baylor this could improve)

 

[Mac9192]

Teams focus on our best player, Flip, but he’s not good enough to carry the team. So we have to put the best four around him to open it up for him a little. Right now though, we don’t have 4. Roach has been good. McCain was yesterday, but he needs to be able to play similar to that moving forward. We can’t expect Blakes to go 5-5 with 15 points every game. Foster has to grow up quick. The same for Stewart and Power.

Mitchell is the player that is really hurting us. There is nothing smooth about his offensive game. He’s not finishing at the basket, in turn missing shots cause he isn’t being strong enough.
What’s worse though is his shot. It seems to be getting worse.

 

[bullcity gamer]

Agree Mac with we have to surround Flip with Duke’s best 4 to compliment him.

The game against Baylor is a Must Win for NCAA Tournament seeding purposes and i would be happy with a 2-2 record against the marquee matchups against Arizona, Michigan State, @ Arkansas, and against Baylor

 

[jamsession2]

Teams focus on our best player, Flip, but he’s not good enough to carry the team. So we have to put the best four around him to open it up for him a little. Right now though, we don’t have 4. Roach has been good. McCain was yesterday, but he needs to be able to play similar to that moving forward. We can’t expect Blakes to go 5-5 with 15 points every game. Foster has to grow up quick. The same for Stewart and Power.

Mitchell is the player that is really hurting us. There is nothing smooth about his offensive game. He’s not finishing at the basket, in turn missing shots cause he isn’t being strong enough.
What’s worse though is his shot. It seems to be getting worse.

It's not hard to focus on Flip when the other players don't stand out. Roach is and Flip are a great one - two punch, but guess what? They were last year as well. We've spent the last three years with three BIGS (Theo, PB and Williams), (Flip, Lively, Young), and (Flip, Young and Reeves/Stewart). Why haven't we used this year like the previous two? I would be the first to admit, Lively did not get me until late January.

Flip does not have to be the focus, he just needs to be Flip. It's the role of the other players. As you see, I did not include Mitchell. Why? He's a WF/SF/Slasher.

 

[christophero]

To my eye our 3 returning sophs look about the same and have not made a jump. But all 3 of them have had injuries; so that may be it. We just have horrible luck with injuries. Reeves has had several injuries. Flip has rolled his ankle twice.

 

[jeffrey236]

Thank you.

I would think the 30% rule would allow him to redshirt…..

But his injury has to be season-ending.

 

[hart2chesson]

I didn’t take much from the game outside the fact Duke played Charlotte . My take is ,

and Powers is improving in the defensive end but no one still looks for him when Duke goes iso .

And why is this? (No one looking for "Power when Duke goes iso.")?? I wish I knew or understood. It's a basic principal of hoops to go to your good shooters.

Is Jon not telling the team to go to TJ? Get this guy shots. We need another big scoring to take some load off Flip.

OFC

 

[sheyduke]

And why is this? (No one looking for "Power when Duke goes iso.")?? I wish I knew or understood. It's a basic principal of hoops to go to your good shooters.

Is Jon not telling the team to go to TJ? Get this guy shots. We need another big scoring to take some load off Flip.

OFC

I think it has more to do with Roach. McCain and Foster all going iso to the basket .
If I’m Power , I’m in their faces yelling . He’d shoot it until he started bricking shots .

 

[christophero]

I didn't realize Speedy Claxton is Hofstra's coach. Heck of a PG.

 

[bleediteveryday30]

I think Blakes has earned a green light if he’s open.

He has good form. I'm honestly surprised more of his open 3s don't go down. I love the kid. And his defensive intensity is everything you want from a Duke player. He's scrappy. Like I said in another thread, that kid is a dog. Reminds me of an old-school K guy.

 

[bleediteveryday30]

I didn't realize Speedy Claxton is Hofstra's coach. Heck of a PG.

Hofstra will be a tough one. They play fast, just like their coach. If there ever were a name that so aptly fit a person, it is his.

 

[JimboSlice00]

Hofstra is no mid major scrub.

 

[AlanInNJ]

To my eye our 3 returning sophs look about the same and have not made a jump. But all 3 of them have had injuries; so that may be it. We just have horrible luck with injuries. Reeves has had several injuries. Flip has rolled his ankle twice.

I agree Chris. I will mention, coming into the season, I was super high on Proctor. I was really expecting him to come out and have an ACC POY type season. He has not, he has struggled in the big games, and IMHO he looks like the player we saw Nov, Dec, Jan of last season. I think his injury is a huge setback. I think we need him fully healthy and playing very well by end of January, or it's going to be a tough slog.

 

[pisgah101]

Super busy weekend I just actually finished the game..

Thoughts-

-The crazies were much better

-we looked solid in the first half

-We looked terrible in the second half

-this one might strike some nerves but- Charlotte went on their run to cut it to 11 and we get some very favorable whistles to help us spread it back out.

-Mitchell needs to Sit

-Flip was better with no hips then 2, I honestly have never been so disappointed in a player as he and mitchell

-powers needs to start instead of the third guard and they need to run actual plays to get him shots!!

-We won nicely but it was Charlotte.. such a disappointing team

 

[christophero]

My expectations are down. Beat Hofstra, give Baylor a good battle, and build on that. We shot 10-15 against Charlottle from 3 which is great but we won't do that every game. Get Proctor back in a few weeks hopefully. A win over Baylor is the only thing that will make me feel better; we need to get the freshman up to speed by January.

 

[pisgah101]

My expectations are down. Beat Hofstra, give Baylor a good battle, and build on that. We shot 10-15 against Charlottle from 3 which is great but we won't do that every game. Get Proctor back in a few weeks hopefully. A win over Baylor is the only thing that will make me feel better; we need to get the freshman up to speed by January.

Agree with this!

 

[AlanInNJ]

A win against Baylor, as unlikely as it seems at this very moment would be a huge shot in the arm. A single digit loss would be respectable. A blowout loss would be devastating IMHO for the emotional balance of this team (and board).

 

[bleediteveryday30]

My expectations are down. Beat Hofstra, give Baylor a good battle, and build on that. We shot 10-15 against Charlottle from 3 which is great but we won't do that every game. Get Proctor back in a few weeks hopefully. A win over Baylor is the only thing that will make me feel better; we need to get the freshman up to speed by January.

I'd love to see Proctor back in December. Hopefully, he is progressing well, but I don't think you need to rush him back in December. As I said earlier in the thread and got laughed at but it doesn't make it any less true, in the worst case, he is out until mid-Jan into the beginning of Feb. Sounds like it will be closer to the end of December to mid-January, but we don't need to take a chance on rushing him back too quickly.

 

[Liftee]

I'd love to see Proctor back in December. Hopefully, he is progressing well, but I don't think you need to rush him back in December. As I said earlier in the thread and got laughed at but it doesn't make it any less true, in the worst case, he is out until mid-Jan into the beginning of Feb. Sounds like it will be closer to the end of December to mid-January, but we don't need to take a chance on rushing him back too quickly.

If it weren't for that darn 4th and 16 Proctor never would have hurt his ankle. Oh, wait, wrong thread...

 

[bleediteveryday30]

If it weren't for that darn 4th and 16 Proctor never would have hurt his ankle. Oh, wait, wrong thread...

Too soon.

 

[christophero]

Speedy Claxton played for Jay Wright at Hofstra. I grew up not far from Hofstra. Took a class there once.