***Post Game Thread - KANSAS***

[Laettner15]

i know I'm a no body on this board... but my perspective on this game... I am damn proud of this team!!! They just played a top 10 team in the country without 3 of their best players and took that team to the last possession! I don't think many teams would even be in this type of game! Foul trouble, fatigue, it didn't matter... this team fought their tails off! I don't care what anyone says, I am damn proud of this team!

 

[Guy Smiley]

Luke and Grayson started to figure it out on the offensive end late in the game, and Frank came up big. I thought Amile and Chase battled as well as they could. We just came up one possession short. This team will be scary good when they get healthy. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to watching them scrap!

 

[Laettner15]

Luke and Grayson started to figure it out on the offensive end late in the game, and Frank came up big. I thought Amile and Chase battled as well as they could. We just came up one possession short. This team will be scary good when they get healthy. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to watching them scrap!

Totally agree with you... the loss stings a little as we always want duke to win!... But reinforcements are coming!

 

[OldasdirtDevil]

You're not a nobody, Laettner15, you're a very good poster. You don't need 10,000+ posts to be relevant. Great thread & post!

OFC

 

[twdukefan]

Long season ahead of us and probably a few more losses. We all must have to think big picture and how this team is faring in March and hopefully April. At this point it's about learning from mistakes and moving on, with the hope that some guys come back to help out the squad

 

[dukehokie]

A Duke player. We can point at faults, but we don't need a whole tread dedicated to bashing one of our guys, especially one that actually played more consistent than anyone else we had tonight. Team loss.

 

[gottagonow]

A Duke player. We can point at faults, but we don't need a whole tread dedicated to bashing one of our guys, especially one that actually played more consistent than anyone else we had tonight. Team loss.

There are many that talk crap about Matt but when his 3 ball is going in its hard to not love his game. To me, everything he does well is a pleasant surprise and thats ok.

 

[dukehokie]

Yep and we've hammered it home in the game thread, but @2 skerz 3 decided we needed another thread on it and I decided we didn't.

 

[Wall2Boogie]

im not here to gloat at all you guys played a hell of a game and almost pulled it out. I thought for sure after(believe it was jones) hit that 3 to tie it I thought for sure you would win in overtime. It's scary to think you were missing Tatum Giles and bolden. Had they played, it would of been a completely different outcome not to mention you were playing the 3rd ranked to in the nation. You guys are going to be very good when healthy. Good luck the rest of the yr unless we end up playing you guys of course

 

[duhondukie]

i really enjoy this board but at what point are we going to quit blaming this loss on the fact that we have 3 lottery picks sitting out. I agree those 3 kids are really good but one of them hasn't played a real game of basketball in 2 years.
We had 2 seniors and the pre-season player of the year on the floor and could not get it done.
Both teams shot very poorly from the line and the game had no flow due to all the fouls called.
I am just getting tired of all the injury talk and about how things will be different. We are what we are right now and that is 2-1 with a game to played Saturday with the 6/7 guys that are able to play.

 

[HuffyJB]

With the level of talent they have in street clothes, it is hard not to acknowledge that. I wouldn't call it excuse making. Most of the comments have been closer to "Duke was really gritty tonight - imagine how good they'll be when they add three more NBA players."

 

[duhondukie]

I guess I am not necessarily talking about this board in general, but if you even glance at twitter that is all you see. Maybe "excuses" is the wrong word.

 

[BD Warrior]

You put three lottery picks into that game and it's not even close. I'm not making any excuses because we lost to a very good team and had our chance to win without those guys.

 

[peterjurkinsquirtsroywilliams]

I'm not worried one bit! A 100% Duke wins this game by 15+.

 

[RanDEVILman]

I feel like the excuses or whatever are warranted. You are right, there are some very good players on this team without those 3, but Duke is not the #1 team in the nation without those 3. We need at least 2 of the 3 to be healthy and in the flow before we are #1 good. Without them we are similar to last year, maybe a little tougher with Amile healthy, but ultimately one or 2 guns short of the top 10.

 

[Dukesince90]

I've always liked and pulled hard for Matt. He seems like such a good teammate and person. His game also reminds me of mine when I played, minus the shooting, defense, and rebounding. I was good at diving on the floor (falling).

 

[dukehokie]

And it's not just that we have 3 lottery picks on the bench. It's about what those guys offer.

Tatum is a shot maker against all sorts of defense and he's actually a sneakily decent defender. Jackson wouldn't have had it so easy last night because he'd be defending and going up against somebody who could guard him relatively closely.

Giles is a rebounder and keeps defenses from helping off with his excellent positioning. He's got nice footwork down low and hits free throws.

Bolden would've negated Azubuike. He's a big body that has scoring skill down low. And he's an excellent rebounder and would have provided a defensive presence in help on those drives.

Who knows, had we had our normal bigs, I bet Amile doesn't foul out and I bet he guards Mason on that last play. K likes to put tall defenders on last second shots.

 

[Laettner]

No excuses, we lost and had experienced players on the floor who didn't get the job done. Next game!

 

[BluePhil]

In the last five minutes our three frosh would stand up and rip off tearaway suits, get in the game, and lead us to a ten point victory?

 

[Get Nasty]

I actually never was too high or low during or after the game. The only thing that really had my blood boiling was the turnovers.

Some views:
- I feel like Amile is being asked to do too much. The way K has shrunk his bench and with injuries we don't have any other options, but Amile is not a play maker and he's trying to be right now (7 turnovers). There is no excuse for a 5th yr senior (especially a big) to have 7 turnovers and ONLY 4 Rebounds. Amile did a lot of really good things in the game, but those come typically when he's not the focus.

- Grayson is forcing a bit too much. It looks like he's trying to get 20 points rather than take what the D gives and create for your teammates. He looked kind of sickly last night in the face.

- Huge game for Chase. Not because he played great, I don't think he did. But it was a huge improvement and he didn't at all look like he didn't belong. His strength has to be FT shooting, he can't go 5-10. He also ONLY had 4 rebounds. 8 rebounds out of Chase and Amile is tough. He played solid D but flopped a bit too much and I think that caused a few dumb cheap fouls.

- Luke was awesome on offense but is by far our worst defender. He gives that look like "Yo why wasn't anyone there to help me out after I just let my guy blow by me straight to the basket". Last year luke really really struggled with consistency, this year on offense he's been a constant play and shot maker.

- Frank had a rough first half but I think played awesome in the last 10-15 minutes. Shot looked really good, hit huge clutch 3's and all his FTs. I thought his D was good other than he had some tick tack fouls and I think he was put in a bad high ball screen situation a lot with amile and chase in foul trouble and they didn't really hedge because of it.

-Matt played a solid game, good but not great D. Solid rebounding. Quick guys he will struggle with but it was better than last year. Shot really good from 3 so that was awesome! He struggled big time putting the ball on the deck and didn't try much because of it. My biggest complaint is him at PG. I really think it should be luke and Frank. Frank needs to gain the experience as he had a brutal turnover in the 2nd half.

-Javin played awesome for 10 seconds and contested a shot. It's painful that he couldn't give 10 minutes of hustle and D with all of our foul trouble.

In the end, defense allowed too much penetration but that was somewhat expected. What wasn't expected was how poorly we rebounded and the amount of turnovers. Rebounding and turnovers to me are things you can control with effort and focus. That's my biggest disappointment.

Getting Tatum back helps the play making and puts Amile in a much more comfortable role. Getting Bolden and Giles back secures the interior D and rebounding and makes us dynamic in the post.

The issue that hasn't been solved or won't be solved by the 3 frosh is consistency at the PG spot. Again, i'll say it, but I think we need Luke and Frank to run the show and lets go!

 

[duhondukie]

This is not a Grayson Allen bashing post. Does anyone else feel that he has lost some of the "edge" he has played with. Except for 1 play in the 2nd game of the year he just doesn't seem to be playing with the "fire" we are used to seeing. I wonder if all the "hate" he received last year is making him take a step back and not be himself.
Just wondered if you guys have seen the same thing.

 

[BluePhil]

I hardly think talking about how hard our kids fought in the game while acknowledging the adversity of playing undermanned without those three players is making excuses. I do not see excuses on this board (generally).

 

[BluePhil]

No.

 

[Baller224]

No, shots just aren't falling right now for him. He didn't play well last night, but he's the least of my concerns.

 

[dbav]

That would have been amazing, haha.

 

[BluePhil]

Rebounding was a result of basically having one big on the floor at a time for much of the game. That was a rotation issue. The rebounds were spread around decently showing a team mentality for rebounding at this juncture.

Defense was tough for the team. With the rotation (we can debate if K should have stolen a couple of minutes with Javin/Vrank etc) we played and the tight whistle we had no foulds to give. While I agree that Luke is not our best defender that factored in as well.

I thought we adjusted decently well but most the penetration was in the second half when our six were already getting in foul trouble.

 

[dbav]

This may be over thinking it, but his freshman year he could play with a lot more abandon because he wasn't expected to be a huge impact guy that year. He was terrific in the NC game because there was no pressure on him, he just had to go out and play.

I think he is struggling a bit with the transition from that to being the guy everyone is now looking to. I think he has the drive and the temperament to be that leader, but it is an adjustment. Take that with the fact that there were important pieces missing from the team he thought he would have and it can cause problems.

It looks to me like he has been "trying" too hard in all of our games, although it doesn't show as much against the first 2 opponents. I also think that it is due to pressure he is putting on himself. In my opinion, he just has to calm down a bit, realize he doesn't have to do everything, and he'll be back where we expect him to be. I just think he is putting a lot of pressure on himself in these big games, at least that is what it looks like to me.

 

[dbav]

We lost. We had a chance to win and did not. I certainly can see the point that is made regarding the missing players, and I think it is very reasonable to suspect the game may have played out differently with those players. I think it's more excitement about when they get back than excuses.

 

[Laettner]

Jax's three to tie it was an onions, double order moment! Big time for a frosh to hit that shot. Recall when Singler hit game tying three vs Pitt in Garden as frosh & said this kid is a stud.

 

[ioliva]

It looks to me like he has been "trying" too hard in all of our games, although it doesn't show as much against the first 2 opponents. I also think that it is due to pressure he is putting on himself. In my opinion, he just has to calm down a bit, realize he doesn't have to do everything, and he'll be back where we expect him to be. I just think he is putting a lot of pressure on himself in these big games, at least that is what it looks like to me.

This. you can tell whn it's a big name like KU or Kentucky he just tries way too hard. He forces a lot.

 

[TheDude1]

I can get pretty worked up over losses... but this one, I just shrugged, grinned, thought "That was close!" and turned off the TV.

I feel like these games, with so many guys out... they matter, but they don't MATTER. You know? Like... we stuck with a team that will contend for a title without three of our top four guys, including most of our interior D, which will be huge in helping to stop drives. We only ran six deep, and our guys just got exhausted.

Anyway else feeling that way right now? I just can't get worked up over this loss; the boys played a hard game and almost came away with a win that should NEVER have happened. Right now is just about getting guys reps, getting them in situations to get experience... a loss is fine; it grinds the gears of the guys who played and annoys the guys who didn't.

I haven't been so NOT upset at a game since the 102-100 Duke/UNC game.

 

[Laettner]

Every loss bothers me but this isn't a late season poorly played game so keeping it in perspective.

 

[2 skerz 3]

Yep and we've hammered it home in the game thread, but @2 skerz 3 decided we needed another thread on it and I decided we didn't.

Ahh, the ole I don't agree with the post so I will delete it. It's okay and actually healthy to have differing viewpoints. Don't abuse your power because you don't agree with someone's point or comment.

 

[Laettner]

Grayson is quiet kid who said he didn't like the attention last year. Now he's pre-season NPOY, lot of attention on him & needs to settle in.

 

[Showenuff]

Can we start combining silly little threads like this into other silly little threads so we don't have so many silly little threads? Excuses? Dude, it's just a fact we lost by 1 bucket with 3 of our top players out, that's not a damn excuse, it's reality.

 

[TheDude1]

Yeah, it isn't "excuses," which seems to imply "not valid."

What, if ALL of our guys were hurt except the walk ons, and we rightfully said "Damn, we lost, but hey, we were playing all walk ons," you would say "NO EXCUSES!!!"

Come on now. Acknowledging reality is just acknowledging reality.

 

[Get Nasty]

Rebounding was a result of basically having one big on the floor at a time for much of the game. That was a rotation issue. The rebounds were spread around decently showing a team mentality for rebounding at this juncture.

Defense was tough for the team. With the rotation (we can debate if K should have stolen a couple of minutes with Javin/Vrank etc) we played and the tight whistle we had no foulds to give. While I agree that Luke is not our best defender that factored in as well.

I thought we adjusted decently well but most the penetration was in the second half when our six were already getting in foul trouble.

Kansas as well played with a small line up. There big Azubuke (spelling) and others just dominated the paint especially rebounding. Amile just can't play the 5 against a team with a descent center.

 

[spike05rk]

We saw last night K played a six man rotation. We also know K only likes to play 6 to 7 guys with any regularity maybe 8 in a crunch. So once Giles, Tatum and Bolen start playing who sits? I just don't see K playing 9 guys each game.

 

[Get Nasty]

We saw last night K played a six man rotation. We also know K only likes to play 6 to 7 guys with any regularity maybe 8 in a crunch. So once Giles, Tatum and Bolen start playing who sits? I just don't see K playing 9 guys each game.

I see 9 playing, with Giles being worked the slowest back in. Everyone is playing way way way too many minutes for ACC play. Chase should be in the 15-20. Amile should be around 25 minutes. Grayson should be closer to 30. I see Tatum closer to 30, but Bolden in the 15-20 then Giles working back up to 15-20.

 

[hart2chesson]

We saw last night K played a six man rotation. We also know K only likes to play 6 to 7 guys with any regularity maybe 8 in a crunch. So once Giles, Tatum and Bolen start playing who sits? I just don't see K playing 9 guys each game.

True....Personally was hoping for more Javin last nite...

OFC