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Official Gameday Thread- Game 3 Duke vs Kansas

Please everyone you have to remember Lively is still favoring his lower calf . He did what he was brought into do. He played defense and ran the court. He was always said to need work on the offensive end. Whitehead is going to be the same when he comes back . Limited while he continues to mesh at the college level.

It was a good learning experience for all. Duke only lost by five when in the first half I couldn’t even tell if Duke knew how to pass and score .
 
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Yeah if there is one thing Young is good at its leaving that pivot foot down.
I wasn’t even a fan of Young but after watching him play he’s good for ten to 15 minutes. After that in a high stakes games his non athleticism becomes an exploiting point for teams .
 
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I don't know what this means, but this is the least upset I've been about a Duke loss in eons. My expectations are lower, which is okay. I just want to see growth, defense and team play.
 
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Same...this is the least I've known about a Duke team in probably a decade...who is new, who is a transfer etc...and only 2 returning players..one of which played very little last season....with that background, I was not as vested as usual when playing a top team so the result was disappointing but not the usual annoyance and frustration. Maybe its because I'm older or maybe its that CBB isnt the same to me as it used to be....probably a combo of both. I hope this team gets better but it looks an awful lot like the last 5 or so we have had.
 
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I was at the game last night up close. Here were my observations.

The 2022 State Farm Champions Classic delivered last night.

Game 1: Heck of a Double OT Thriller between Michigan State and Kentucky

Game 2: Not the outcome I wanted between Duke and Kansas, but another thrilling game between these two Blue Bloods.

Negatives:

1) Duke’s offense needs some work
2) Duke’s game management and poor defensive effort in the last 4 minutes of the game
3) Too many turnovers

Positives:

1. Duke’s defense is way ahead this early in the season compared to recent Duke teams
2. Duke’s depth is going to be one of their strongest assets this season
3. Dariq Whitehead still has not suited up for the Blue Devils, once he does, Duke will gain another offensive weapon
4. The front court is probably the most talented and biggest in college basketball
5. The team has bought into Coach Scheyer and you can tell they enjoy playing for him, Duke made the right hire
6. Lively is still getting accustomed to playing college basketball, he will be really good after getting a few more games under his belt
7. Proctor started getting is offensive arsenal going in the 2nd half
8. Glad Jeremy Roach returned to lead this team, he has gotten stronger and better

Duke fans, I think the potential for this team is really good to great. The versatility and combination of different lineups they will be able to utilize is incredible. Enjoy the growth and development of this team throughout the next 5 months. We have a good team.

Duke could not contain Grady Dick the last 4 minutes of the game. Some Kansas fans said to me last night after the game, “see you guys in March or April”. I think it’s very possible we see Round II in late March or early April.
 
Maybe maybe not, but he shot a lot in the tourney last year and we don’t get to the FF w/o it

10 shots against Michigan State, 11 shots against Texas Tech, 8 shots against Arkansas (ranging from 15-20% of total team shots).

I didn't say he shouldn't shoot at all.

8-10 shots a game is fine. 17 shots (little over 25% of total team shots against Kansas) is a bit too much IMO, especially when they clearly aren't falling, and even more when that's coupled with 1 assist.

He's a point guard. And because he's not an uber-elite scoring point guard, like Jay Williams was for us, he needs to be more of a distributor and less of a shooter.
 
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We reminded me of one of our "almost" teams. Like the Jabari team . A team with some holes. We were scrappy but seemed like we didn't have all the pieces. Which makes sense as no Whitehead and Lively is just finding his legs.
 
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I was at the game last night up close. Here were my observations.

The 2022 State Farm Champions Classic delivered last night.

Game 1: Heck of a Double OT Thriller between Michigan State and Kentucky

Game 2: Not the outcome I wanted between Duke and Kansas, but another thrilling game between these two Blue Bloods.

Negatives:

1) Duke’s offense needs some work
2) Duke’s game management and poor defensive effort in the last 4 minutes of the game
3) Too many turnovers

Positives:

1. Duke’s defense is way ahead this early in the season compared to recent Duke teams
2. Duke’s depth is going to be one of their strongest assets this season
3. Dariq Whitehead still has not suited up for the Blue Devils, once he does, Duke will gain another offensive weapon
4. The front court is probably the most talented and biggest in college basketball
5. The team has bought into Coach Scheyer and you can tell they enjoy playing for him, Duke made the right hire
6. Lively is still getting accustomed to playing college basketball, he will be really good after getting a few more games under his belt
7. Proctor started getting is offensive arsenal going in the 2nd half
8. Glad Jeremy Roach returned to lead this team, he has gotten stronger and better

Duke fans, I think the potential for this team is really good to great. The versatility and combination of different lineups they will be able to utilize is incredible. Enjoy the growth and development of this team throughout the next 5 months. We have a good team.

Duke could not contain Grady Dick the last 4 minutes of the game. Some Kansas fans said to me last night after the game, “see you guys in March or April”. I think it’s very possible we see Round II in late March or early April.


These are really good comments. I agree with all of them.

I'm very happy with the way the team responds to Scheyer. I had the feeling at the beginning they were overwhelmed by the situation and not used to having to play that hard. They got up to speed fairly quickly. This is a good group and Scheyer will figure out who plays best together when he gets DQ back.
 
Possibly. We didn't stop Kansas when it counted. But Lively and Whitehead should improve that. We need all hands on deck. And no more injuries please.
 
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UK, KU, UNC got sone key players back. Duke list all but one. Until they return more starters will be tough to get back to Final 4.
 
UK, KU, UNC got sone key players back. Duke list all but one. Until they return more starters will be tough to get back to Final 4.
Lol. It won’t be hard it just takes time and Scheyer has assembled a good mixture .

Fans we need to remember. Mitchell and Flip were looked at by some to possibly return for year two ( Flip unlikely now) . If Duke makes anything past the sweet 16 these kids aren’t returning .
 
Mitchell and Flip are both likely one and done. If we get one back I'll be over the moon. But after the first few games we might need more than Young and Reeves next year. None of our guys looks like obvious one and dones right now. Maybe Flip. Whitehead should be.
 
He is Chris. He started off hot in the 1st half, became a liability in the later part of the 1st half and didn’t re enter the game until the final media timeout of the game when he went on his scoring spree and had a couple steals to propel Kansas. He had 7 points in the 1st half and 7 points in the 2nd half. The kid is a good 3 point shooter and is athletic. He can fill the Braun void for the Jayhawks.

Relax guys and gals, our Blue Devils are fine. We also have 3 guards who can run the offense in Roach, Proctor, and Blakes.

Unc has looked anything but a juggernaut in their first 3 games against lesser competition and they returned 4 starters & 7 players from last season’s national runner up team.

Kentucky still has Calipari coaching them, he is a horrible X’s and O’s Coach. Toppin was a no show last night. Wheeler is a non factor if he’s not getting to the rim. Big O is a force on the boards for them but they have no feasible back up for him.

Kansas, I think with Self coaching them will have a very good chance to get back to the Final 4. They are athletic and returning Wilson and Harris Jr. for them was really huge.

Duke returned Roach and has a good mixture of transfers who are upper classmen and freshmen. Once Whitehead returns Duke will be 9 deep. Enjoy the process Duke Nation, I know I will be.
 
Chris, I took a look around the stadium last night and I thought to myself “yeah that person looks like a Kentucky fan” lol!! BigBoohoo Nation cleared the stadium after they lost. One of my friends who went to the game with me kept annoying Kentucky fans around us by saying throughout their game, “I’m getting Saint Peter’s Vibes!!!” To the point one Kentucky fan finally piped up and said, “will you shut up already!!” Hahaha. Kentucky May never play another game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse because they are 0-2 there in the last 8 months haha.
 
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Gonzaga at Texas tonight. And Gonzaga Kentucky Sunday. That's a tough week stretch for Gonzaga, with MSU last week. I realize their conference is bad. Texas &M is ranked 17th. Coleman is averaging 13 and 9.
 
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Mitchell and Flip are both likely one and done. If we get one back I'll be over the moon. But after the first few games we might need more than Young and Reeves next year. None of our guys looks like obvious one and dones right now. Maybe Flip. Whitehead should be.


That's what gets me. After the game I thought to myself that there is not one player on Duke who is ready to be on an NBA roster. Proctor, Lively and Mitchell are not nearly ready to leave. Yet they will all leave.
 
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I'm not worried but it really wasn't a great game for us. I really liked the effort and fight, but the charges, turnovers, and poor shooting were hard to watch at times. That said, we could've won the game and we didn't play well, plus the refs were just terrible (I will happily be that guy). They were awful, and mostly in Kansas favor. We are going to be seeing bad flop calls all year that mess the game up, and that one against Proctor was horrendous. He should've been shooting 3 FTs, instead they get one plus the ball. I could point out a lot of other calls, but rant over.

I appreciate how we fought to get in the game and definitely could have won. We need Whitehead bad. He will help tremendously, and should be the guy for us, letting others fall into complimentary roles. Looking forward to that.
 
Guess what they are all gone . Not here , moved on . It’s three games in and we are sitting here like these fresh are going to play like this all season. Don’t look for Whitehead to come back and go full bore killer mode either.
He’s one guy . Dukes offensive issue is they need to move the ball way more or teams will simply focus on primary scorers( Roach, Whitehead, Flip) . It’s a long season and this very young Duke team just took the national Champions to the wire . Duke hits two threes it’s game over. I don’t want to see this team come March if I’m an opponent and all we have to do is fix a couple things on defense and work on the offense three games in with one star recruit out and another still banged up .
 
We had 6 charging fouls in the first half alone. I've never seen a Duke team do that. One would think that our kids would know better. Why and how did it happen? Referreeing, coaching? Very concerning. Grandison was awful. 2nd half defense was the only bright spot. OFC
 
Guess what they are all gone . Not here , moved on . It’s three games in and we are sitting here like these fresh are going to play like this all season. Don’t look for Whitehead to come back and go full bore killer mode either.
He’s one guy . Dukes offensive issue is they need to move the ball way more or teams will simply focus on primary scorers( Roach, Whitehead, Flip) . It’s a long season and this very young Duke team just took the national Champions to the wire . Duke hits two threes it’s game over. I don’t want to see this team come March if I’m an opponent and all we have to do is fix a couple things on defense and work on the offense three games in with one star recruit out and another still banged up .

YES!!!! I actually liked what we saw against Kansas.. first half sucked, ref’s sucked, but Jon has shown early on he makes halftime adjustments, we’ve been quite a bit better every second half of the year so far.. these young guys don’t quit either and play D!! You can just see our potential and how we can (will) improve over this season.. I guarantee you in one month if we had to play Kansas again we’d win.. nobody looks impressive so far this year, including the teams that returned EVERYBODY. We’re in a good spot with one (good) loss even though I hate saying any L is good, but one to the defending champ in Nov won’t carry much weight when it comes to seeding. The ACC looks like trash and is there for the taking. Let’s do it GO DUKE
 
Not an ideal outcome, but with such a young team, and one dealing with injuries to two of our top recruits, I think we did fine. There is plenty of room for growth. Yes, we looked lousy in the first half, and yes, we couldn't close out the game with a 5 point lead with 2 minutes remaining. However, we showed some grit coming back and taking the lead, and we hung tough with a legit top 10, maybe top 5, defending national championship team. IMHO we had lots of guys on the floor in their first prime time, big game, and there was a lot of forcing things and jitters. Let's get that out of the in November and find our stride in ACC play.

I have said it many times here. I love to see us win these early season games against the bluebloods as much as any one else. And we have won quite a few in recent years. But at the end of the day, I would rather us win the big games in March and April.

The sky isn't falling. Duke will be formidable!
 
We didn't take the defending national champions to the wire. Most of those guys have moved on. We took a decent Kansas team, who most on here (myself included) said we would beat, to the wire. Kansas had 2 rotation guys out. We need to be better and I think we will. Lively is no where near 100 percent, and Whitehead will soon be back. Whitehead has been out since the summer, so he may take a while to round into form. Once that happens, we should be good. Until then, buckle up. I'm not worried, but I have lower expectations, which is fine. Just having Lively 100 percent will make a big difference. And Proctor should improve, as Roach can't do it by himself. It was a good experience for our young team, who need to grow up fast.
 
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There is a lot of areas for improvement and that includes Roach . He’s got to get his assist up.

I think to many people expect Jon to do what Davis did last year and are trying to measure Jons success by that and it can’t happen.

Jon got one player back who played under K and the rest are new that’s why I’ve always said my thoughts for the season was making the tourney. Not many first year coaches even do that. One thing different this season though is the defense looks good and can only get better.
 
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Agree with pretty much all these comments but wanted to add...games like this come down to the last 3-5 minutes. I feel like even if we had 'riq and a healthy Lively and they had that dude they were missing, it would be close going into the final minutes since both teams were wanting it. Even if we were up by 8 going into the last media TO, Kansas would amp it up even more. Just the way it is.

So then it becomes game management and getting the highest probability of getting points. Seemed like our goal was to just find the Gradey mismatch and try to exploit it instead of running our own stuff (Mitchell's TO and Roach's missed pull up 3). Jon said it best in his presser...trying to find out where guys need and like the ball or something like that. Also, i'm sure someone mentioned it but only 3 fouls going into the final few minutes means we had an opportunity to be real aggressive (or maybe not, debatable i guess).

I think this will be the common theme throughout the year. We'll be really good defensively but will need to figure out stuff to run near the end of games that yield the best results. It will change next year with the amount of shooters coming in, but this year I can see us in a lot of tight games down the stretch. We seem to be a really good FT shooting team which will be a big help. So in that regard, this game was great for the team and Jon.
 
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