UNOFFICIAL OFFICIAL GAMEDAY THREAD

[Hurley22]

Look the team isn't going to shoot too well from 3 this year. On the other hand it is an athletic deep team that will find other ways to beat teams. Will the other teams crowd the lane like last year? Maybe, but I hope our ball movement is better and we take the 10 footers that are available instead of insisting on driving into the crowd every time..

See I think that 3 point shooting definitely needs to be better than last year. We had the athletes to overcome that a lot of times, but this year I don't know if we will be able to do that. Who really knows though, maybe we will be a good offensive rebounding team again.

 

[mo.st.dukie]

It's just a little alarming because it's so unusual for Duke to struggle in exhibition play. The only times it has happened over the last 15 years were seasons that we ended up being pretty mediocre. Of course that doesn't mean that this group will definitely suffer the same fate but it certainly doesn't bode well for a Coach K team in the 21st Century to have that much of a struggle with a Division II team. Same thing goes for if we barely beat a mid-major by 1 point at home (i.e. Vermont)

 

[Mpm277]

It's just a little alarming because it's so unusual for Duke to struggle in exhibition play. The only times it has happened over the last 15 years were seasons that we ended up being pretty mediocre. Of course that doesn't mean that this group will definitely suffer the same fate but it certainly doesn't bode well for a Coach K team in the 21st Century to have that much of a struggle with a Division II team. Same thing goes for if we barely beat a mid-major by 1 point at home (i.e. Vermont)

Something something step off the ledge something something noble gatekeeping

 

[Fourteen44]

I just left a meeting at UNC and I wore Duke socks. I feel nauseous and need a shower. Wish I could post pic of the socks here.

@skysdad i couldn’t find Roy so he could turn me down.

 

[skysdad]

I have been one who has said since we wrapped up our recruiting class a couple months ago that we will have a chance to be better this year than last year. I know it’s not a popular opinion but my reasoning is that we’ll have to work as a team and (hopefully) actually run an offense. I don’t usually get on K about anything and i usually always support his decisions but last year i admit i was a little disappointed in his decision on offense. I get that we had two freakishly good players and that we didn’t have much shooting but i still felt like there should’ve been more plays called. It felt like it was just Zion and Rj isolation the whole game. And i mean it worked a lot but eventually you’re gonna need offense from other players. I didn’t really feel like K looked to provide that. So that’s one reason why i felt like this could be a better year. K knows he doesn’t have a guy who is just gonna dominate so he should be looking to runs some plays to provide some offense. I think this team will take awhile to get it all together but i still believe they can be a very good team come March. I just feel like not having a “go to guy” might possibly be a good thing in ways.

Welcome to the board. Have fun. OFC

 

[sheyduke]

Look the team isn't going to shoot too well from 3 this year. On the other hand it is an athletic deep team that will find other ways to beat teams. Will the other teams crowd the lane like last year? Maybe, but I hope our ball movement is better and we take the 10 footers that are available instead of insisting on driving into the crowd every time..

I actually think the shooting will be better but like you said, will teams pack the paint on Duke and sag off shooters my answer would have to be yes at this point.

Hurt, Alex, Baker, Moore, Tre, Stanley and Carey will have to shoot better from the perimeter to open up driving lanes and inside baskets to complement the ball movement.

Positive is I don’t think we see Carey get three cheap fouls real quick after the first exhibition.

Oh and white is gonna have to find his stroke from three again because his was way off on the one he tried.

 

[BOOGIEMAN1914]

have not watched yet, but to have only given up 36 points w/ 9 minutes left in the game aint shabby....shots will fall and that end game defense sould get better as well

 

[Fourteen44]

have not watched yet, but to have only given up 36 points w/ 9 minutes left in the game aint shabby....shots will fall and that end game defense sould get better as well

And the opponent was nailing a bunch of contested 3’s....

 

[christophero]

Hard to say if the shooting will improve. None of the returning guys shoot that well barring a big improvement from last year, and none of the new guys except Hurt are known for their outside shooting. We may have to be a defensive, driving to the hoop team. Hopefully the shooting gets better.

 

[BOOGIEMAN1914]

And the opponent was nailing a bunch of contested 3’s....

was that part of the late game run?

 

[DukeRulesBasketball]

have not watched yet, but to have only given up 36 points w/ 9 minutes left in the game aint shabby....shots will fall and that end game defense sould get better as well

If at times, shots don’t fall, we might have to pull a UVA and muck the game up a bit.

 

[dachampishere2]

Play hard defense. Actually run an offense. Don’t start Jack White. Don’t play Tre, Goldwire and Javin at the same time. It’s a recipe for disaster on offense. Defense would be solid but we would not score at all

 

[AlanInNJ]

If at times, shots don’t fall, we might have to pull a UVA and muck the game up a bit.

Funny, I was about to post the same thing. K will have a plan. He will assess and adapt and find a way to get the best out of this squad. The pieces have a very different look this year than in any recent year.

With that said, even marginal three point shooting will make life easier for us I think. And Tre's leadership will be key IMHO.

 

[jwill133]

Duke was 327th in 3 point shooting last year. If we are anywhere in the ballpark of that bad this year, it's gonna be a long season, 10+ losses.

The 2018 team was 69th.
2017 was 53rd. Thank you Luke Kennard.
2016 was 23rd, and we still weren't that great of a team.
2015 was 25th.

We don't have a guy who is gonna walk in the gym and score 20 points no matter what like years past.
I think we HAVE to be top 100. Top 50 and we could be a title contender. The tournament last year was a glorified 3 point shooting contest at times.

 

[Liftee]

So I googled 3 point percentages among college teams last year. The only team in the top 50 percentage teams that was also a top ranked team was Michigan State at 37.8%. There may have been 3 others in the top 100 3 pt. percentage that were ranked in the top 20. There was a 5% difference between let's say 100th and Duke at 334th. Which means to me that even a slight improvement, let's say one more per game, could get Duke into the top 100. Here it is:

https://www.teamrankings.com/ncaa-basketball/stat/three-point-pct

 

[chov1125]

We have a chance to be a much more balanced team than last year. More talented? Nope, not even close. But throw that aside because we all saw how teams defend the college game when offenses are one dimensional. We had not 1 but 2 guys last year that are more talented in just naturally scoring the ball than I’ve ever seen at this level. But we were entirely one dimensional and it eventually caught up with us. This year we don’t have a Zion or RJ. We don’t have a guy that is just head and shoulders naturally better than the college athlete. But we have a balanced team. If the work gets put in, we can still do great things. If it doesn’t, we may be in for a rough year. I can honestly see this year going a multitude of different directions.

I am not yet worried about shooting. Sometimes athletes need time to adjust to a current level of play before they get comfortable and the shots start falling. You could have given the team last year 1000 games and they weren’t going to be a good shooting team. This year, we’ll see.

 

[mo.st.dukie]

After the NWMU game Coach K said "we are not a very good shooting team, we're a very average shooting team"

Average would still be better than last year though, so there's that.

 

[sheyduke]

Goldwire was in with Tre not just for defense but to allow Tre to show more of a scorers mentality which he will need to display this year to raise his draft stock. Everyone knows he’s a good point guard.

As far as the shooting goes, Moore’s shot looked good but him and White were either shooting it short or over shooting the basket.

Stanley just needs a little more lift in his shot, Hurt, well I don’t think K was really wanting him to shoot as much as put in work in the paint but he can shoot it .

The only other two players Duke needs their shots to fall is Alex and Joey.

 

[HuffyJB]

After the NWMU game Coach K said "we are not a very good shooting team, we're a very average shooting team"

Average would still be better than last year though, so there's that.

That quote is a little worrisome. Last year's team was a downright bad shooting team, but as Chov said they could weather it because they had two exceptionally gifted scorers with NBA bodies and skills. This year's team has some quality pieces, but definitely no guys like that. Shooting the ball is going to be at even more of a premium this year.

 

[christophero]

The score was a bit misleading. Yeah we let them back in but they hit what seemed like 5 or 6 straight 3's. We'll just need to work on late game focus when we have a lead. We're still a young team all things considered.

 

[Willcampbell]

How 'bout we get over it and move on to tonight's game?