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Official game day thread- Duke vs Seattle U

Mal needs the minutes but can the guards find him down low. I can say at least six times Mal has been wide open and the guards simply aren’t looking for him . He did play the least amount of minutes last night of all starters (15) and still had nine points .

Quick point on Evans . He did have nine points to go along with two fouls and two turnovers in 18 minutes of play . No assist, no rebounds ) . He was 2-7 from 3 at 28.6 percent shooting . And one for two on free throws. Dukes entire guard line up outside of Kon on offense and Sion on defense can really do better .
 
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Mal needs the minutes but can the guards find him down low. I can say at least six times Mal has been wide open and the guards simply aren’t looking for him . He did play the least amount of minutes last night of all starters (15) and still had nine points .

Quick point on Evans . He did have nine points to go along with two fouls and two turnovers in 18 minutes of play . No assist, no rebounds ) . He was 2-7 from 3 at 28.6 percent shooting . And one for two on free throws. Dukes entire guard line up outside of Kon on offense and Sion on defense can really do better .
Evans had 2 steals but 2-7 is better than 0-8 that Kon had game before. I think we wear out Kon playing 37 minutes as a freshman and getting Evans experience is only going to help in March
 
Evans had 2 steals but 2-7 is better than 0-8 that Kon had game before. I think we wear out Kon playing 37 minutes as a freshman and getting Evans experience is only going to help in March
But Kon also has to learn to be more than a shooter which he was in the Kansas game . If you make each of these players one dimensional they become easier to guard. Evans is getting experience I just think there is a reason you build key players now . I agree Evans should be getting some minutes. I’d like to see how he does if he gets in against Auburn . Don’t see him having two steals in the stat column .
 
No offense to Gillis, but he hasn’t done much. Nor has Foster. And Kon doesn’t need to play 37 minutes, so that should open up some opportunity for Evans.
I’m not sure Gillis has done nothing . He is rebounding and when he did come in for Purdue it was mainly to defend and shoot the three. I agree with there being no need for Kon to play 37 minutes of 40. But I’m not sure any of the starters see top 25 teams outside of UNC when it gets into conference play so I would think the strategy is let them see adversity early because you have plenty of time to build your bench in conference play . I see big Pat getting a couple minutes every game after Auburn to build his confidence as well .
 
No offense to Gillis, but he hasn’t done much. Nor has Foster. And Kon doesn’t need to play 37 minutes, so that should open up some opportunity for Evans.
Gillis, like everyone not named Proctor, isn't hitting his open shots. Kid was a 46% 3pt shooter last year, he didn't forget how to shoot in the offseason. The whole team is still feeling their roles out. Once open shots start dropping for all these kids, look out.

Between getting comfortable in their roles, knocking down open shots and the toughness that playing these games against really talented, experienced and physically mature teams will give them, this team may be really special come March.

Taking some lumps in November/December isn't necessarily a bad thing.
 
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A lot are forgetting too that Gillis had Edey down low who was their main scoring threat and required a double team most the time leaving a lot of players open . This is why I continue to say we need at least one of the front court players to get their offensive game going especially ones not named Flag.
 
I agree Shey. And as a related matter, i think Flagg is being asked to do too much scoring at crunch time, and the Kansas and Kentucky games are Exhibits A and B. While a big scorer in HS, what drew raves was his ability to lift his teammates by putting them in a position to score. The staff seems to be telling the team “get it to Cooper and get out of the way”. His teammates are all guys who through their careers were asked to be “the man” when their team needed a big bucket, but the coaches don’t seem to have confidence that they’re capable of doing that at this level.
 
I agree Shey. And as a related matter, i think Flagg is being asked to do too much scoring at crunch time, and the Kansas and Kentucky games are Exhibits A and B. While a big scorer in HS, what drew raves was his ability to lift his teammates by putting them in a position to score. The staff seems to be telling the team “get it to Cooper and get out of the way”. His teammates are all guys who through their careers were asked to be “the man” when their team needed a big bucket, but the coaches don’t seem to have confidence that they’re capable of doing that at this level.
Or if their name isn’t Kon. It’s not hard at this point of the season to see who Duke’s two main players are . I’d like to see them tell Brown to be more assertive and Mal. Get the inside game going and loosen up the perimeter more . Right now if shots aren’t falling it’s easy for opposing teams to say ,” shots aren’t falling pack the lane and double team . Let Mal go up and get fouled or Brown. I don’t think right now when Cooper Drives the lane any team really worries about him kicking it out once he gets infront of the free throw line . This is where our front court needs to get open for the dish down low .
 
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A lot are forgetting too that Gillis had Edey down low who was their main scoring threat and required a double team most the time leaving a lot of players open . This is why I continue to say we need at least one of the front court players to get their offensive game going especially ones not named Flag.
I live in Indiana and cannot stand Purdue however you are exactly right. On a lot of Gillis' three's the past few seasons, he had time to go out to lunch before his shot, due to Edey.
However, I'm not sure we have a low post guy (minus Flagg) who is ever going to command a double team this season. Mal brings a lot to the table (rim protection, lob dunks, rebounding) but he is nowhere close to being a dominant post scorer. Brown is an elite defender, any offense he brings is a plus. Big Pat is at least a year away.

Gillis is getting good looks, so his percentages should get better, but he better start making them soon or else he could be cut out the rotation.
 
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I'd like for Duke to start the games going inside, driving or whatever and then it opens up for threes. No pressure on defense shooting threes and can't draw fouls either
Agree. We may not have a dominant inside man, but ball movement and driving into the lane opens up multiple opportunities.
 
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Agree. We may not have a dominant inside man, but ball movement and driving into the lane opens up multiple opportunities.
And this also would play to Foster and Flags strengths . I think we all agree Mal has a lot of growth ahead of him but when he’s open down low he needs the ball. His passing is good so he can kick out but nine times out of ten teams can live with Mal getting two points instead of guards getting three so the majority of the time as long as he don’t stay at the top of the key he is open .
 
Evans had 2 steals but 2-7 is better than 0-8 that Kon had game before. I think we wear out Kon playing 37 minutes as a freshman and getting Evans experience is only going to help in March
For the record, Evans had 0 steals in that game. The 2s in the box score were for fouls and turnovers.
 
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I'd like for Duke to start the games going inside, driving or whatever and then it opens up for threes. No pressure on defense shooting threes and can't draw fouls either
I agree as well. I don’t get why the tallest team in the country is so 3 happy, especially the way we have been shooting. We have to be able to get some mismatches in the paint.
 
I’ve never been one to do it but rewatching games is helpful.. I’m not worried about this team..
 
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