Time to bench Duval?

[GillJET]

I'm not trying to be a jerk or be negative, but I'm thinking it might be time to bench Duval.
He is very inconsistent in a lot of areas. He doesn't give us shooting from either the 3 point line or free throw line. He doesn't do a great job of taking care of the ball either. When the season started spiraling out of control last year Coach K was willing to bench Allen. If I remember right, Allen did alright when coming off the bench last year. Duval could maybe bring some good energy and spark off the bench. He's kind of a wild card with his style of play and great athleticism.
Clearly we wouldn't bench either one of our amazing bigs Bagley and Carter. And we need the shooting of both Allen and Trent. I hate that we are at this point, but Duval's play has simply been underwhelming to me.

 

[denverexpat]

I'm not trying to be a jerk or be negative, but I'm thinking it might be time to bench Duval.
He is very inconsistent in a lot of areas. He doesn't give us shooting from either the 3 point line or free throw line. He doesn't do a great job of taking care of the ball either. When the season started spiraling out of control last year Coach K was willing to bench Allen. If I remember right, Allen did alright when coming off the bench last year. Duval could maybe bring some good energy and spark off the bench. He's kind of a wild card with his style of play and great athleticism.
Clearly we wouldn't bench either one of our amazing bigs Bagley and Carter. And we need the shooting of both Allen and Trent. I hate that we are at this point, but Duval's play has simply been underwhelming to me.

He's average...doesnt shoot well, TO/assists is about .500 .....not sure what else needs to be said. 9pts from you PT guard and 5 assists isnt exactly lighting it up. Problem is depth at the position....where do we go? AOC? Goldwire? they havent been developed to step in. You dont win a NT without a good PG...just saying

 

[DBM0828]

I love his intensity, but if you bench him, Allen moves to PG. IMO Allen does worse when he is running the offense. Unless you start Goldwire, so Allen can stay off the ball, and on a wing, I believe Duval continues to start... His shooting is a weak spot for this offense. I love his playmaking skills, attacking ability, free throw shooting, and defense, but down the stretch, IF we need scoring, I'm not sure if I want him on the floor... but who else do you bring in though?

 

[Dattier]

they havent been developed

They haven't developed.

It's like bringing Kyrie back: The only way we win the national championship is if he plays and plays well, and he can't play well unless he plays.

 

[DukeDenver]

I’d just give Goldwire and AOC 10-15 minutes with Trent/Carter/Bags as a first step. Grayson and Tre have not played well in ACC games. If Gold/AOC can outplay the starters, then we can have this conversation. This is like when Nolan took over for Paulus times 2.

 

[IPSYCHOSIS]

No, as bad as he’s played . He’s our chance to win it all.

 

[HeLooks2MuchLikeDave]

Duval is our point guard. Get used to it. There are no scenarios where we are better without him. We just need to hope he plays his best in March.

 

[K-oach Q]

Way to late to do anything with him now....if you where going to bench him it needed to happen some time ago...we just have to hope he gets better with the ball from here on out...it’s going to be our only hope...behavior modification time has come and gone.....

 

[DukeDenver]

Duval is our point guard. Get used to it. There are no scenarios where we are better without him. We just need to hope he plays his best in March.

No one is saying kick him off the team. There may be scenarios where Goldwire or AOC gets more out of the other 4 guys on the floor than Tre can. That's not a preposterous claim. Duval is more of a 1st option attacker and scorer. That one play where he drove into 3 guys and found Trent in the corner is really what we need more of. He just doesn't know when to defer like that. Trouble is also we're starting 5 first option scorers and the chemistry is off and the defense is pretty horrible. UNC had no inside game yesterday. All we had to do is rotate to the open man most of the time. We seem incapable of doing that. That part isn't on any one guy.

 

[Jared3000310]

Benching Duval would be a mistake imo. He is what he is, he's gonna make some amazing plays and he is going to have stupid turnovers. He needs to play and develop. The problem is he can't stay on the floor due to fouls.

 

[tedmon23]

I haven't look at the minutes from the game, but it seemed like he and Carter were on the bench more this game than any of the previous. I'm assuming Coach K wants to make changes to the starting lineup, but maybe he is afraid of benching these freshmen and what it would do to them mentally. I know people will say he has done it in years past, but that was usually when they would be back for their sophomore year and he would be able to build them back up over the summer. Times have changed, bench them now and risk them just checking out completely because their ego or entourage gets in their head and convinces them that this should not be happening.
One player that doesn't get much love here and usually bashed is Bolden. The kid had a tough reality check for his freshman year along with being hurt. I don't know how close he was to taking the easy way out and transferring out, but he didn't. Now this year, he has another injury, not getting a lot of playing time, but I feel the last couple games his potential is coming through and he is the only player that gives a 100% on the defensive end. I appreciate the effort he is putting forth.

 

[CRAZIE4LIFE]

Dude played great in the first half. He still got pulled out a lot while Grayson didn't get a breather.

 

[acc hoops]

Dude played great in the first half. He still got pulled out a lot while Grayson didn't get a breather.

No reason not to rest Allen .Do what they do in the pros .Take him out before a TV timeout and let him get some rest and advice from assistant coaches.

 

[DukeDenver]

I just want to know what Duval’s reaction is to watching his own film. Maybe he does see his mistakes and tries to correct. Only the inner circle can judge him fairly.

 

[VaBlueDevil33]

Duval is our point guard. Get used to it. There are no scenarios where we are better without him. We just need to hope he plays his best in March.

Why when someone says a player should be benched so people take it as sitting entire game? I mean he is going to play obviously but maybe bringing him off bench may not be a bad thing...I mean AOC is pretty good offensively but bad defensively...but he isn't much

 

[ticket2ride04]

I’ll take the counter stance and say keep playing him. He’s been better than expected. And what I mean by that is PG is probably the hardest position to learn and be great at from day one. He’s better than most any frosh PG I can remember not named Dennis Smith Jr. Correct, but he’s leading the ACC in assists, correct?

He’s super talented but it just takes more time at the PG spot, much like it does the QB spot. I got into an argument before the season with a couple of posters who claimed Duval would neutralize Berry. In a few years, for sure, but not at the moment. It takes time and reps. It also helps a PG to play with other experienced players.

 

[ioliva]

I'm not trying to be a jerk or be negative, but I'm thinking it might be time to bench Duval.
He is very inconsistent in a lot of areas. He doesn't give us shooting from either the 3 point line or free throw line. He doesn't do a great job of taking care of the ball either. When the season started spiraling out of control last year Coach K was willing to bench Allen. If I remember right, Allen did alright when coming off the bench last year. Duval could maybe bring some good energy and spark off the bench. He's kind of a wild card with his style of play and great athleticism.
Clearly we wouldn't bench either one of our amazing bigs Bagley and Carter. And we need the shooting of both Allen and Trent. I hate that we are at this point, but Duval's play has simply been underwhelming to me.

Duval is leading assists in ACC play
We need the shooting of allen? he was 3-9 yesterday. There were quite a few times I wish he hadn't shot.
Both Duval and Allen had very similar stat lines yesterday. Duval struggling is okay to me. He's a freshman he's going to make Freshman mistakes. Allen has been just as awful if not more awful at times and people want him to shoot more? Allen's gotta play like the senior he is and be a dependable leader. I saw a little of it yesterday and then he reverted back with some ugly shots at the end. Duval struggled yesterday and has been a little more lately but Allen is the guy who needs to step up. There's no reason, that we know, for him to be shooting such a horrible percentage and for him to stop taking ugly shots.

 

[tedmon23]

After hearing about the retweet of his dunk before leaving the locker room last night, it will be interesting to see if there is any repercussion from that. I am on board if he doesn't start/play the next game.

 

[dachampishere2]

Let’s stop this bench Duval nonsense. He’s young and trying to play a role that he’s never played before against good, experienced competition almost every night. He had the same stat line as Grayson pretty much but people want him to be benched. Y’all need to stop. Grayson can’t score anymore. He’s the one that was supposed to put us over the top but he hasn’t done anything. With Duval we need to just stop calling plays and let him do what he do. He’s not a selfish guy so put him in the pick and roll and let him do his thing. We put Grayson at the 1 and he doesn’t attack at all. I don’t recall him hardly ever attacking the basket after a pick. He always retreat. Duval actually attack the defense out of picks. Now we have to tell Duval make sure the big men get a good amount of touches but Duval is at his best when he can just attack. Duval is averaging 11-6. What do y’all want him to average? 11-6 isn’t bad when u have 3 and a possible scorers on the floor with you

 

[christophero]

I don't think benching Duval is the answer but I do think more minutes for AOC and Goldwire could help Duval and Allen. I had a thought after I stopped stewing after the loss. Coach k is all in on the freshman. He's doing what Cal does; throwing them in the deep end so they can learn on the job and be battle tested by tourney time. This will result in some losses. Hopefully this strategy works. It's high risk high reward.

 

[Mac9192]

It is time to start Goldwire. We need a pass first point guard, and one that their main objective is to get the others involved. Duval is killing us. His decision making is terrible, and that's putting it mildly. The hustle is there, the kid to me looks like he's never had any one coach him in the half court game. The worst thing that could have happened to him was making that dunk, it has nothing to do with the "supposed" tweet.
As much as I love Grayson, my patience with him is wearing thin. I might bench him as well, but for the reason that he needs to be more aggressive. 24 games into the season and he has gone south with his scoring. We need him so bad, and last night he scores 1 measly point in the 2nd half. He has lost his mojo, and it's possible he needs a jolt.
I think our passing is bad. It's like we come down and have one option. The ball doesn't move quickly around, which hurts our open looks.
We have multiple problems right now. The other thing that is a concern is our matchups defensively. K has a team that is unlike any other he's ever had. We have no true small forward, it's either a guard out there or a big. Roy won the coaching battle last night. Sorry. Whatever he said at halftime worked, because his guys came out and kicked our kids a**e* in the 2nd half.

 

[dachampishere2]

It is time to start Goldwire. We need a pass first point guard, and one that their main objective is to get the others involved. Duval is killing us. His decision making is terrible, and that's putting it mildly. The hustle is there, the kid to me looks like he's never had any one coach him in the half court game. The worst thing that could have happened to him was making that dunk, it has nothing to do with the "supposed" tweet.
As much as I love Grayson, my patience with him is wearing thin. I might bench him as well, but for the reason that he needs to be more aggressive. 24 games into the season and he has gone south with his scoring. We need him so bad, and last night he scores 1 measly point in the 2nd half. He has lost his mojo, and it's possible he needs a jolt.
I think our passing is bad. It's like we come down and have one option. The ball doesn't move quickly around, which hurts our open looks.
We have multiple problems right now. The other thing that is a concern is our matchups defensively. K has a team that is unlike any other he's ever had. We have no true small forward, it's either a guard out there or a big. Roy won the coaching battle last night. Sorry. Whatever he said at halftime worked, because his guys came out and kicked our kids a**e* in the 2nd half.

Start Goldwire?! Really? Hahahahaha. Classic overreaction. What we need to do is let Trevon be him and do his thing at points in the game like (Lord help me) Calipari did with Andrew Harrison in 2014. Once he let him be himself that team took off. He stopped calling plays and it ended up working. Have you noticed when we play great coach K always says “I stopped calling plays and just let the players go”. That may be the only way to best coach freshmen. Don’t let them run wild all game without play calls but let them be who they are.

 

[Mac9192]

Start Goldwire?! Really? Hahahahaha. Classic overreaction. What we need to do is let Trevon be him and do his thing at points in the game like (Lord help me) Calipari did with Andrew Harrison in 2014. Once he let him be himself that team took off. He stopped calling plays and it ended up working. Have you noticed when we play great coach K always says “I stopped calling plays and just let the players go”. That may be the only way to best coach freshmen. Don’t let them run wild all game without play calls but let them be who they are.

What you're not grasping is we have plenty of scoring options. Duval's decision making is terrible at best. We've played 24 games, it's obvious thru these 24 games that Duval is not good at running the offense. It's not an overreaction, I waited until now to say this, and I'm serious. We need a pass first point guard, not one wanting to make Sports Center top plays.
We also need more out of Grayson, but I'm not sure that will happen. We have too many cooks in the kitchen, and Grayson, for whatever reason, doesn't do well with multiple studs. The 2015-16 season he was awesome, but he and Ingram were all Duke had offensively. Last season and this season he doesn't know whether to be aggressive or defer, and he's choosing to defer. That's not what he or Duke needs.

 

[dachampishere2]

What you're not grasping is we have plenty of scoring options. Duval's decision making is terrible at best. We've played 24 games, it's obvious thru these 24 games that Duval is not good at running the offense. It's not an overreaction, I waited until now to say this, and I'm serious. We need a pass first point guard, not one wanting to make Sports Center top plays.
We also need more out of Grayson, but I'm not sure that will happen. We have too many cooks in the kitchen, and Grayson, for whatever reason, doesn't do well with multiple studs. The 2015-16 season he was awesome, but he and Ingram were all Duke had offensively. Last season and this season he doesn't know whether to be aggressive or defer, and he's choosing to defer. That's not what he or Duke needs.

Dude averages 11-6 and you want more hahaha. Cut it out. Sound like you want Chris Paul.

 

[jwill133]

Duval is a pass first point guard capable of getting into the lane and making plays. The decision making needs to improve, he makes great interior passes, his issue is when he gets to the lane, he struggles to find 3 pt shooters.

Goldwire for 5-10 min a game is the answer, because it means Grayson doesn't need to run PG. If we want any chance at a national title, we gotta ride Duval, the Harrison twins 2014 comparison is a good one, you think UK makes the title game if Cal gave up on them??

 

[Mac9192]

Dude averages 11-6 and you want more hahaha. Cut it out. Sound like you want Chris Paul.

He's a train wreck right now. I want a point guard that looks for his teammates first. If he was better, K wouldn't be benching him during the games. An overreaction would be after 10-15 games, not 24. It's February, not December. I'm sorry you don't grasp this. If you're happy with Duval's ability as our point guard, you don't understand basketball. He has tons of athletic ability, but is horrible at half court.

 

[K-oach Q]

He would be really good if he would just do three things...and I’m hopeful it’s still to come...

1) Take care of the ball first and foremost...it’s his show to run...own it!

2) Play exceptional defense! This should be his bread and butter...he could create havoc that leads to plays for him offensively....both in scoring and assisting..

3) Break down the defense and create...don’t turn the ball over...don’t be flashy..put the defense on its heels and get the others going...

If he did these...we would be a different team...

 

[jwill133]

One thing is for sure, we have NOBODY else who can split a double team like Duval can. Our first couple of possesions, he was NASTY whenever they tried to trap him. Just needs to figure out how to be more consistent.

Grayson on the other hand, when he gets trapped on a ball-screen.....yikes.
Ditto for Gary.

 

[dachampishere2]

He's a train wreck right now. I want a point guard that looks for his teammates first. If he was better, K wouldn't be benching him during the games. An overreaction would be after 10-15 games, not 24. It's February, not December. I'm sorry you don't grasp this. If you're happy with Duval's ability as our point guard, you don't understand basketball. He has tons of athletic ability, but is horrible at half court.

You show me 3 of those pass first point guards in college basketball. I’ll be waiting. He’s a 2 to 1 assist to turnover right now. He’s a freshman that came in as an attack first point guard learning to be a facilitator. What you’re looking for is a 4 year starting point guard that knows his role and has been playing it for years. You’re not going to get that. You need to wake up. Joel berry was worse than Trevon as a freshman. You have to think about these things son. You want a pass first, 3 point shooting, lockdown defender point guard. When you find one of those please let me know. I’ll take the leading assist man in the ACC who is a freshman and still learning how to become a point guard. Because I’ve seen him take over games and be the reason we won. So yea

 

[Duke1783]

You show me 3 of those pass first point guards in college basketball. I’ll be waiting. He’s a 2 to 1 assist to turnover right now. He’s a freshman that came in as an attack first point guard learning to be a facilitator. What you’re looking for is a 4 year starting point guard that knows his role and has been playing it for years. You’re not going to get that. You need to wake up. Joel berry was worse than Trevon as a freshman. You have to think about these things son. You want a pass first, 3 point shooting, lockdown defender point guard. When you find one of those please let me know. I’ll take the leading assist man in the ACC who is a freshman and still learning how to become a point guard. Because I’ve seen him take over games and be the reason we won. So yea

Berry is a 4 year player. Trevon is gonna after this year. That is vexing for a lot of us. I’m ok with recruiting great players. Everyone wants them but none of them ever stay past a year. Frank Jackson is a great example. Dude could have been amazing this year but instead becomes a 2nd round pick

 

[GillJET]

My answer would be O’Connell for Duval. I’m not saying this is the long term solution necessarily. And I’m definitely not saying if we do this all of a sudden we never lose again. But we gotta make a change. We can’t keep trotting out this same starting 5 and expect a much better result. This team needs a shakeup.

 

[Mac9192]

My answer would be O’Connell for Duval. I’m not saying this is the long term solution necessarily. And I’m definitely not saying if we do this all of a sudden we never lose again. But we gotta make a change. We can’t keep trotting out this same starting 5 and expect a much better result. This team needs a shakeup.

Duval as of now, can't lead this team the way it is. The only way he would be better is if the spacing was better. That's not going to happen with multiple bigs in the game at the same time.
Duval needs to be benched, and possibly Grayson. Anyone who can't see that Duval is hurting us doesn't know difference between basketball and bowling.

 

[jwill133]

Our starting 5 needs to stay the way it is. All of our losses (minus UVA) we have built a double digit lead early in the game, this is all due to the starting five. The issue is not the starting five, "theoretically" the pieces should fit: point guard, 2 shooters, 2 bigs. Up until last night, getting no bench contributions was a big issue.

Our rotation should be 8. The starting 5, Bolden being the big-man reserve, with Alex being the wing reserve. Goldwire should give us 10 solid minutes of ball security a game. Grayson should never play 40 minutes a game again.

 

[dachampishere2]

My answer would be O’Connell for Duval. I’m not saying this is the long term solution necessarily. And I’m definitely not saying if we do this all of a sudden we never lose again. But we gotta make a change. We can’t keep trotting out this same starting 5 and expect a much better result. This team needs a shakeup.

Why Duval? Why not Grayson? Grayson is a senior and not giving us much of nothing. I saw Duval take over Virginia game for about 5 minutes. Grayson had 1 point in the second half last night. Maybe we should start the fab 5

 

[Swervin_Irvin_Duke]

idc, im ride or die with Duval. The whole team for that matter, we just gotta get better at what we already do.

 

[Dattier]

Our rotation should be 8. The starting 5, Bolden being the big-man reserve, with Alex being the wing reserve. Goldwire should give us 10 solid minutes of ball security a game. Grayson should never play 40 minutes a game again.

What's up w/ Javin? Is he still gimpy?

 

[sheyduke]

Start Goldwire?! Really? Hahahahaha. Classic overreaction. What we need to do is let Trevon be him and do his thing at points in the game like (Lord help me) Calipari did with Andrew Harrison in 2014. Once he let him be himself that team took off. He stopped calling plays and it ended up working. Have you noticed when we play great coach K always says “I stopped calling plays and just let the players go”. That may be the only way to best coach freshmen. Don’t let them run wild all game without play calls but let them be who they are.

But the problem is, this team is playing their game! All except Allen is is not buying into team ball.
I agree with letting Duval do his thing as long as he keeps his assist total. Bagley looked good in the first half, rebounding scoring dishing assist but got away from it in the second. One could even argue most Duvals turnovers come when he stops doing what got him so highly rated. Attacking and scoring

 

[DukeDenver]

Duval is considered a pro prospect because he has a unique ability to dribble right by people and you saw the dunk. His wingspan, hand size and vert are insane. He isn't a good shooter yet. He isn't a good game manager yet. In time he can learn those things, and likely will be great. For right now we don't need that many insane drives or dunks. With the front court we have, Duval's skillset is redundant for the most part. We are getting just as many turnovers and bad closeouts out of him as we are getting highlight plays. It's not his fault, there's just one ball and no one else in the starting lineup is trying to set anyone else up. The only point guard I saw was some high low action between the bigs.

Moving forward, K has to decide which of the starters to pull out to get some more game management in there. Duval can come in for 20 minutes and basically be Russell Westbrook. Let him play to his skillset. Why not start Goldwire to set up the other 4 guys; then bring in Duval, AOC, White, Javin and Bolden and let Duval go nuts? The starting 5 we have now isn't working well as a unit. Spread the studs out a little and let's go 10 deep.

 

[DukeDenver]

Start Goldwire?! Really? Hahahahaha. Classic overreaction. What we need to do is let Trevon be him and do his thing at points in the game like (Lord help me) Calipari did with Andrew Harrison in 2014. Once he let him be himself that team took off. He stopped calling plays and it ended up working. Have you noticed when we play great coach K always says “I stopped calling plays and just let the players go”. That may be the only way to best coach freshmen. Don’t let them run wild all game without play calls but let them be who they are.

Letting Duval go nuts is a good idea, but why waste Bagley and Carter's time while that's happening? Duval would be better with true role players/finishers by his side.

 

[jwill133]

What's up w/ Javin? Is he still gimpy?

I believe he is supposed to be back into form. I'm not too sure, whatever the case is, Javin has given us absolutely nothing the past few weeks. It's also tough to play Javin whenver Duval is on the floor because that means there is 2 guys who don't need to be guarded outside of the paint.

I didn't include Javin strictly because last night Bolden showed that he is more than capable of being a force off the bench as our back-up big, and Javin just doesn't have the offense to be a back-up wing.