Official game day thread- THE final four- Duke vs Houston
- Thread starter pisgah101
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I will sleep but will feel like crap in the morning. I won't watch Monday. I really don't care.
I know. Sorry man. We should have ******** won that game.
Just read we had a 98% chance of winning with 8 minutes left.
We were up 9 with 2:05 left. How does this happen?
Did Lucas leaving early matter? Considering we gave up 10 points in the last minute it's a fair question.
Just read we had a 98% chance of winning with 8 minutes left.
We were up 9 with 2:05 left. How does this happen?
Did Lucas leaving early matter? Considering we gave up 10 points in the last minute it's a fair question.
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I don't know but this is a top tier painful loss that I will never get over. Ever.
Dude. I haven't read what everyone has said about Proctor. But a) fans get angry and frustrated like anyone else. And a board like this is a way to express one's frustrations as well as observations. Better than doing it some other way.
Lighten up.
And, b) Stating the reality that Proctor had a bad game and, frankly, did not perform when Duke needed him to, and expected him to, the most is not "trashing" him. It's a fact. He shot terribly from 3, missing every one (0-4) and they were open 3s, after shooting 41% in the season. And he went 3-5 from the line, but most crucially one of those misses was the front end of a one-and-one. His FT shooting has inexplicably gone from 87% as a freshman (1.7 of 1.9 per game) to 68% as s Jr. (1.3 of 1.9 per game). It's disappointing. If no one cared about that and wasn't frustrated then they wouldn't be a passionate fan.
I feel bad for him, he's been a good team player, but there's no sugar coating the fact that he did not show up offensively in this game the way Duke needed and expected him to. He makes his FTs, or even goes 5-6 including both in the 1 & 1, and shoots 1 of 4 (25%) from 3, we win the game.
Talking about him playing bad is one thing but they're are loads of people trashing him everywhere. And Jon too.
The officiating was good most of that game. But I disagree with the foul on Flagg. Bottom line is we should not have been in that position that a call like that would impact us. I'd rather lose by 30 than lose a 6 point lead with a minute left. Ugh.... That one hurt.
Whether you’re a troll or not, yes our boys choked. Played more than good enough to win the first 30 minutes, up double digits.
But the saying is true, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.
There was no call on James being slammed to the floor, incidental contact on clearing out for a rebound gave Gillis a BS tech, our guys being mugged at the rim, Houston holding our guys on the inbounds and getting away with it, and Flagg's over-the-back call are just some of the egregious calls/no calls in that final 8:17. Duke made mistakes. Still, both things can be true, and they are.
I am still gutted. I mentioned 2004 and 1999 as other difficult losses. 86 was also. 2004 though, we were not the favorite. So it did not sting to near this degree. Even though I think we got robbed in 04.
But this game. With a 9 point lead. And we really were the better team most of the game. I think that this and 99 will go down as the most painful losses. This one hurts much more now.
Just devastating as a fan.
I’d rather lose by 20. But man. So many plays I can’t get out of my head. Both Sion and Proctor dribbling the ball off their knees out of bounds late. Not guarding their guards on the perimeter late. Missing open 3s. Sometimes passing in open 3s.
Even though we rebuilt the lead a bit, the inadvertent flagrant 1 on Gillis was a big turning point. We were up 59-45. They hit a 3 and then we gave them 3 more off that F1. 59-51 and they had belief. You could see it and feel it. He just had to keep his arm down it would have been fine.
I thought Scheyer coached an excellent first half. He’s a great coach and has been great all season. But I think he got tight in the second half just like the team. The two things I’d like to have back from a coaching standpoint:
1) not playing the bench in the second half - esp. Ngongba in the second half. He adds physicality and length. But also was an offensive threat. Malik played really well but we could have used a bigger body at times. I also thought Foster could have gotten minutes in the second and should have rested Flagg some and the rest of the unit just a couple more minutes.
2) Apparently we have no inbounds plays. Other than run a couple of different ways and try to get open. I loved what Florida did in the first game. Lining everyone up out of bounds. And it worked. And the only people it seemed he wanted receiving the inbounds were Copper and Kon. Let Maluach get it. Let Flagg in bounds the ball as a) he’s taller and b) he’s our best passer. Have a play where you in bound it and pass it back to him right away. Gotta have more variety and cover more bases there. We just were not prepared.
I still can’t get over this. Beyond devastating. I hate being a sports fan sometimes. The agony of defeat is too much. I won’t watch Monday.
But this game. With a 9 point lead. And we really were the better team most of the game. I think that this and 99 will go down as the most painful losses. This one hurts much more now.
Just devastating as a fan.
I’d rather lose by 20. But man. So many plays I can’t get out of my head. Both Sion and Proctor dribbling the ball off their knees out of bounds late. Not guarding their guards on the perimeter late. Missing open 3s. Sometimes passing in open 3s.
Even though we rebuilt the lead a bit, the inadvertent flagrant 1 on Gillis was a big turning point. We were up 59-45. They hit a 3 and then we gave them 3 more off that F1. 59-51 and they had belief. You could see it and feel it. He just had to keep his arm down it would have been fine.
I thought Scheyer coached an excellent first half. He’s a great coach and has been great all season. But I think he got tight in the second half just like the team. The two things I’d like to have back from a coaching standpoint:
1) not playing the bench in the second half - esp. Ngongba in the second half. He adds physicality and length. But also was an offensive threat. Malik played really well but we could have used a bigger body at times. I also thought Foster could have gotten minutes in the second and should have rested Flagg some and the rest of the unit just a couple more minutes.
2) Apparently we have no inbounds plays. Other than run a couple of different ways and try to get open. I loved what Florida did in the first game. Lining everyone up out of bounds. And it worked. And the only people it seemed he wanted receiving the inbounds were Copper and Kon. Let Maluach get it. Let Flagg in bounds the ball as a) he’s taller and b) he’s our best passer. Have a play where you in bound it and pass it back to him right away. Gotta have more variety and cover more bases there. We just were not prepared.
I still can’t get over this. Beyond devastating. I hate being a sports fan sometimes. The agony of defeat is too much. I won’t watch Monday.
Going in to the tournament and going into the final four I thought Florida was the likely favorite / winner when I put on my objective hat.
But 37 minutes into this game I was thinking, “We can beat Florida. They are not as physical or athletic.” But we simply could not get there.
It would have been nice to have a guard who could score. Kon sort of was that but he could not really create his own shot or get open much. Probably needed to find a way to get a few more 3s from him.
Their D was great.
But we still should have wan the **** game.
But 37 minutes into this game I was thinking, “We can beat Florida. They are not as physical or athletic.” But we simply could not get there.
It would have been nice to have a guard who could score. Kon sort of was that but he could not really create his own shot or get open much. Probably needed to find a way to get a few more 3s from him.
Their D was great.
But we still should have wan the **** game.
Agree bleed. I wasn’t happy with some of the calls, and no calls, but Kon disappeared down the stretch, and Sion/Proctor were a combined 5-17 with only 2 assists.
This one really hurts because this team was so much fun to watch, and Monday night would have been epic.
Kon definitely should've hunted for his shot more. I think, on offense, we were too unselfish at times. Passing up shots that guys should've taken. If we could go back and replay that final 2 minutes again Duke wins it probably 99 out of 100 times. Everything had to go right for them and wrong for us, and it did. Losing a game like this in San Antonio again sucks too. I can't imagine how the coaches, players, and their families feel.
I would have rather been blown out by 30 than to lose like that. That was tough.
I told myself after the game last night I would avoid social media and this board. I went on a long run this morning to try to clear my head. End of the day….that really stung to lose being up 14 at the 8 minute mark. We just imploded. 😞
I felt like the officiating was pretty good up until final 5 minutes or so. They were being consistent and allowing the teams to play. You can’t make that call on cooper when you allow holds on inbounds or over the back all game on both sides.
But again Duke lost because they lost their rhythm offesively and struggled to make enough key plays in the final few minutes.
I was fine until James slammed to the floor, followed by the Gillis call. I told my girlfriend right then that I thought we were going to lose this game. Honestly, when Flagg hit the 3 to put us up 9, I felt like maybe we could hold on, but then everything fell to pieces.
The worst call was the foul on Cooper on the rebound but we may have lost anyway. You can't lose up 9 with little over 2 min to play. After Proctor got the ball across half court he could have given up the ball but chose to keep it to get fouled. I would have rather have anybody on the team at the line but him. Just bad call on Cooper on the rebound he did nothing wrong.
It was tipped to a Houston player so we need to let that one go. Maybe everyone stopped playing at the whistle and a Duke player may could have corralled it but Cooper didn’t have control of it
Boeheim pointed this out Accn postgame and everyone seemed to agree.
Heart breaking season ending for the team . But like many have said , you have to play the entire 40 minutes.
Was an amazing season for these young men.
Now it’s the off season and time to reflect .
Was an amazing season for these young men.
Now it’s the off season and time to reflect .
Proctor hurt us on the 1 and 1 one’s. Coach Sampson said all I hear is Duke this and Duke that. Just heart broken. Duke was up the majority of the game. It was handed to Houston. I believed this was our best chance for #6. Who knows what the future holds now.
Yes we came apart the last couple minutes, but to say we handed it to them is unfair to our opponent. They outrebounded us the entire game, their 62% ft shooter made his- ours didn’t, and Sheyer seemed somehow surprised by the pressure on the inbounds. My biggest beef with the refs was the holding on the inbounds the last min. If a player’s grabbing/ holding you have a right to discard their hand, but our guys were justifiably concerned about being called for a push off at that point
You may be better off. You don’t want the dreams I had. Pretty dark brother Like you said I can’t imagine what the players and their families are going through. Coaches too, but they’ll have other teams, maybe not ever this good of a chance though.
This wasn’t just a bunch of great players thrown together. It was more than just the sum of its parts, and the team chemistry was off the charts.
This is a loss that will follow all these guys forever. And it sucks. We will never hear the end of it and it will never go away. Living in cheater country makes it ten times worse. Especially since 80% of the roster will be gone and this group will never get another shot at it.
This loss and the Caleb Love shot loss will never ever go away😢
The only thing comparable to me is 86 with only Amaker coming back the next year. Ferry was a role player in 86. 04, 90, and 99 had a few or most of the guys back. I know 90 was a beat down but they could redeem themselves the very next year. 86 will always be the worst to me because they helped build the program and it was their time to get that first ship
I was so little that it didn't register with me at the time. Though '88, '89, and '90 killed me as a kid. I cried all night after the '90 massacre in the championship. As a little bugger, I wore my fandom just as loud and proud. The kids in elementary school were pretty cruel, and then we won back-to-back, so it shut them up for a little bit.
That’s two Final Fours where the team with superior guards sent Duke home. Duke may be getting awesome NBA caliber forwards and bigs but the guards haven’t been good enough in either National Semi-Finals. Houston deserves a ton of credit for hitting all those three’s. They seized the moment and I think they will win Monday.
You win Championships with great guards. It’s already tough enough when the other teams guards are 23 years old or whatever.
Duke needs to shift strategy even more toward the portal.
That is my feeling this morning. It's not that we lost; it was how we lost. If we make any one of 10 plays in the last few minutes we win. It was a perfect storm of everything going wrong at the worst time. Watching the last 8 minutes it is hard to argue that we didn't panic or play not to lose. Shame because this team was so good all year under some big lights. Still a very good year by our team but a disappointing way to go out.
Yep, they should spend big money for a legit PG and SG in the portal next year.
I can't believe it, and I will never get over it. This is one of the top three worst losses in Duke history. We've had some gutwrenching tourney exits since last winning in '15. Will it ever cease?
Coach Sampson indirectly mocked the ACC. We could have put 80 on them without the absurd drought.
This is from a guy who built his program while in the gritty American Athletic Conference. Isn’t it their first year in the Big 12?
At some point this week, someone may have been christophero, called him a crybaby and I thought that’s a little harsh. After watching him on the Sideline and post game Spot On.
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