Official game day thread- Duke vs George Mason
- Thread starter pisgah101
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Just not sure two games in a row with Dukes lowest scoring half’s is the thing to make any fan get out and shout . Especially against Word and George Mason. ( 28 and 25). Think it’s time to play some sort of offense .
Kon is in a shooting slump and is Dukes rotation locked up now ? No Harris yet Flag played most the game against George Mason .
Kon is in a shooting slump and is Dukes rotation locked up now ? No Harris yet Flag played most the game against George Mason .
Whatever happens to Harris, hope it doesn't affect us with the Paul VI pipeline especially with Smith in the 2026 class.
I’ll say it again, I like Cooper. The kid plays hard. I just think we rely too much on him on offense. Kon has to shoot better, but he doesn’t need to be benched as a starter. He does so many things well. On Evans? He’s a great weapon off the bench.
We need better out of our guards too. There’s no reason Maluach can’t get a few easy dunks.
We need better out of our guards too. There’s no reason Maluach can’t get a few easy dunks.
It makes sense. The half court offense plays like the 246th fastest tempo in the nation too. They take forever to do anything and most of the time we barely have 1-2 guys in motion. Our offense is so simple it’s easy to guard imo
Foster is playing himself out of the 6th men position. No idea what's going on with him lately
He’s borderline unplayable right now. I just don’t get why he gets more pt than evans and kon has such a long leash to throw bricks up the whole game. Evans deserves more time
So much for shooting fewer threes. 
In the end it was 33%, but for the first 30 minutes it was 20ish. Why shoot 27 of them when they aren't going in and we have big men inside??
I agree that our guard play seems to be regressing. We do not seem to have any guard who can penetrate and dish, and when they are not hitting threes, many of them open looks at home (BTW), it's not a good look. I do think we see Foster slide down into the 8-9 spot on the bench. I wonder if he's still feeling the effects of his injury? Kon definitely is in a slump, and yes, I agree he gets a very long leash. He plays hard and does good things on the floor, but it sure would be nice if he starting hitting shots at a better clip.
Anyway, a 20 point win. Next!
In the end it was 33%, but for the first 30 minutes it was 20ish. Why shoot 27 of them when they aren't going in and we have big men inside??I agree that our guard play seems to be regressing. We do not seem to have any guard who can penetrate and dish, and when they are not hitting threes, many of them open looks at home (BTW), it's not a good look. I do think we see Foster slide down into the 8-9 spot on the bench. I wonder if he's still feeling the effects of his injury? Kon definitely is in a slump, and yes, I agree he gets a very long leash. He plays hard and does good things on the floor, but it sure would be nice if he starting hitting shots at a better clip.
Anyway, a 20 point win. Next!
Yeah, Kon needs to shoot better, and our guards need to get their feet in the lane more. But, I think our offensive struggles are more due to Cooper. I'm not blaming him, but I am blaming him, if that makes sense. When he's on the court, which is 97% of the time, it's like the others look to him first, and if he's not available, then they'll go to another teammate. I'm sorry, but his offense isn't anything to brag about. His defense and rebounding are though.
The sample size is small, but go back to the Louisville game. Think we had a 2 point lead, with roughly 10 or so minutes left in the game. He picked up his 4th foul, went to the bench, yet suddenly the lead grew to double figures. I think that's because the ball moved better. It's as if each guy on the court were looking at all their options.
This falls on Jon.
The sample size is small, but go back to the Louisville game. Think we had a 2 point lead, with roughly 10 or so minutes left in the game. He picked up his 4th foul, went to the bench, yet suddenly the lead grew to double figures. I think that's because the ball moved better. It's as if each guy on the court were looking at all their options.
This falls on Jon.
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Not sure why some folks keep labeling Evans as being better coming off the bench. Just because thats been his role, doesn’t mean it’s best for him to remain there. I could see if those ahead of him were playing in such a way that it warrants it but this is not exactly a 1999 situation with Corey Maggette coming off the bench.
Duke’s last three games have been brutal offensively. Maybe it’s the breaks between games, Finals or whatever. But they need to figure this out because they aren’t playing good ball right now. Thankfully the competition has been down and they have one heck of a good defense. Still time to fix this and right the ship but can’t afford any letdowns in ACC play. Onto GT this weekend. Hopefully Coach Scheyer has some tough practices scheduled because they need it.
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On the plus side, our toe therapy is an early front-runner for the Most Improved award.
Totally agree. Foster brings you nothing off the bench. At least Kon will get in there with his hustle and battle for rebounds. Think Jon said in the postgame conference that he's got the teams best assist to turnover ratio.
I'm ok with Kon starting and having Evans first off the bench for the firepower.
I haven't watched many Cheater games this year but sounds like they have the same problem as us
Our offense is just painful to watch. Someone said it earlier, but we really lack a quick guard who can get into the lane and put pressure on the defense. Right now, Flagg is our only threat to drive the ball to the hoop. With that said, our defense is elite because we are huge everywhere since we don't have a little quick jitter-bug type guard. So it is what it is.
I watched closely when Maluach was in, and he doesn't even put his hands up when he's down in the post. Not sure if this is being coached or if he's just that unconfident in himself. This is part of the reason for our poor offense, along with missing wide open shots. And Foster, my god, he looked like he didn't even want to be there last night.
I'm not sure if Evans should start or not. But what I do know is our offense is really bad with our starting unit and he seems like instant offense. Jon played Kon 24 minutes last night and Evans 15. I think it should be more 20/20. The ACC is weak, and we need to be almost perfect, however I think Jon SHOULD experiment with Evans in the starting 5 during one of our easier home games (BC, VT, most of the ACC really). Lets give it a look at least.
Also, I love Maliq Brown.
I watched closely when Maluach was in, and he doesn't even put his hands up when he's down in the post. Not sure if this is being coached or if he's just that unconfident in himself. This is part of the reason for our poor offense, along with missing wide open shots. And Foster, my god, he looked like he didn't even want to be there last night.
I'm not sure if Evans should start or not. But what I do know is our offense is really bad with our starting unit and he seems like instant offense. Jon played Kon 24 minutes last night and Evans 15. I think it should be more 20/20. The ACC is weak, and we need to be almost perfect, however I think Jon SHOULD experiment with Evans in the starting 5 during one of our easier home games (BC, VT, most of the ACC really). Lets give it a look at least.
Also, I love Maliq Brown.
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Combo guards can work if you have Smith and Scheyer but our guards are very poor at getting assists unless its a lob to Mal.
I guess I’m with everyone else on Evans, he needs at least 15 mpg.
But, I do wonder what he can do besides jack up 3s?
We’ve not seen him drive the ball and he’s taken 44 shots, 40 of them 3s.
Can he finish at the rim? Can he make 15 footers?
Who knows…
But, I do wonder what he can do besides jack up 3s?
We’ve not seen him drive the ball and he’s taken 44 shots, 40 of them 3s.
Can he finish at the rim? Can he make 15 footers?
Who knows…
I forgot to add, I predict Foster will be somewhere else next year.
He’s just not very good, he wasn’t very good last year either to be honest.
If he was improving it might be different but he’s not, he may not be as good as last season. 😬
He’s just not very good, he wasn’t very good last year either to be honest.
If he was improving it might be different but he’s not, he may not be as good as last season. 😬
We need to keep at least one of Foster/Harris. A new backcourt would be scary, assuming Proctor leaves. I assumed Foster is still recovering from injury and will be back.
He is shooting 50% from three, and some of those have been really difficult attempts so that's super impressive. His scouting profile labels him as a "3 dimension scorer" so we will see, I do think his slender frame makes it hard for him to finish through contact. He's also labeled as a "disruptive defender due to his length" but he often looks out of position on defense.
I think him and Kon should be getting around a 20 minute each split (a few minutes more depending on who has the hot hand.) Kon definitely understands defense better and is rarely caught out of position, but he lacks the length and athleticism of Evans. So I'd say RIGHT NOW Kon is a better defender but Evans has much more upside if he can just get the fundamentals down, being on the court will help this of course. The good teams we have played (mainly Auburn and Kansas) clearly had a game plan to constantly attack Kon, and it mostly worked.
Long story short, just having the threat of Evans on offense should open up lanes inside for our guards and wings which we desperately need. Teams are currently not respecting us from the outside.
Yeah, I think we're being a little too critical of Foster. Maybe he's still having some issues with his foot? from the offseason. He was doing a decent job last season before he got hurt. Other than Evans, and maybe Proctor, no one is shooting the ball well.
Don't get me wrong, I like Jon's ability to recruit, and believe he has a sharp mind for the game. I think our main issue offensively is that Cooper is too much of our focus. It's like we have to get the ball to him every time down court. Yeah, he is our best player, but in my opinion, we don't look to be very balanced. To argue this, maybe he's trying to do too much because no one else is hitting shots. But he misses more than his fair share too.
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I did mention this summer that Foster missed all that time and we should get a portal pg, but no one listens to me ha. Maybe he will round into form. Maybe.
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