Duke vs. Virginia

[Bob Green]

Will Coach Krzyzewski shake up the starting line-up? Perhaps we see Thornton start so Nolan Smith can move off ball. I definitely expect to see Mason Plumlee start. He grabbed 14 rebounds against FSU. The first game after a loss is always interesting so it will be fun to watch how the team responds. I expect Virginia is in for the consummate ass whooping. Can I say that here

[CameronBornAndBred]

Can I say that here

Fuck no!

[ArkieDukie]

Will Coach Krzyzewski shake up the starting line-up? Perhaps we see Thornton start so Nolan Smith can move off ball. I definitely expect to see Mason Plumlee start. He grabbed 14 rebounds against FSU. The first game after a loss is always interesting so it will be fun to watch how the team responds. I expect Virginia is in for the consummate ass whooping. Can I say that here

Glad to see that I'm thinking along the same lines as you, Bob. I was discussing the FSU game with someone today and speculated that we may see TT at the point for the next game. I'd like to see how that works out.

[Bob Green]

I was discussing the FSU game with someone today and speculated that we may see TT at the point for the next game. I'd like to see how that works out.

I'm anticipating Coach K shaking up the line-up and starting Thornton makes sense because it allows Nolan to move off ball, while sending a message to both Dawkins and Curry that they have to earn playing time. Ryan Kelly is 1-13 on 3-pointers over the past five games so he needs to back off a bit. Kelly is an excellent passer and I'd like to see him operate more as a high post distributor to see if we can generate some inside offense from Mason and Miles Plumlee.

Bob " " Green

[CameronBornAndBred]

If Thornton does start, when was the last time 2 freshmen started in the same year? I know it's never happened at point.

[DevilWearsPrada2.0]

Lets Go Duke!!!! Beat the Cavaliers or Yahoos, or Wahoos or Whatever they want to call themselves today..... Lets Go Duke!!!

[Bob Green]

Here are my final pregame thoughts (unless I decide to pontificate in pre-game chat) :

We need our interior players to step up their game against the Wahoos!

Mason Plumlee leads Duke in rebounds and is tied for fifth in the ACC at 8 per game (128 total rebounds). He had 14 against FSU with four being offensive. The main improvement we need to see is Mason being stronger with the ball and converting those offensive rebounds into points. I like everyone else desire to see more interior scoring.

Turning to blocked shots, once again Mason Plumlee leads Duke and is tenth in the ACC at 1.6 per game (26 total blocked shots).

http://www.theacc.com/sports/m-baskb.../confldrs.html

As long as Mason Plumlee continues to rebound and block shots he will see lots of playing time such as the 32 minutes he logged against FSU, 18 minutes against Maryland, and 25 minutes against Miami. That's 25 minutes per game in conference action.

Virginia is not a strong rebounding team as they are ranked #10 in the ACC in rebounding margin at +0.1. Duke is #6 at +3.1. Virginia does not have an individual player ranked in the Top 20 in rebounding. Of course, the raw rebounding numbers are skewed by tempo as Virginia plays a deliberate style, which results in less shots taken and less rebounds available.

So what's my point? In today's game, Mason Plumlee needs to have another strong game on the glass. Rebounding is an area we should be able to dominate the Cavaliers so it is something to keep an eye on during the game.

Turning to Miles Plumlee, he is averaging 18 minutes per game in ACC action after seeing only six minutes against Florida State. Miles' numbers are 5.4 points and 4.8 rebounds per game so he needs to dig deep inside himself and up his game. I believe Miles is our best interior defender as he is adept at rotating and cutting off the weakside baseline; however, he can't play defense while sitting on the bench so he obviously was doing something wrong in the limited action against FSU. He played 25 minutes against Maryland and 23 minutes against Miami so it would be nice to see him on the court against Virginia for 20+ minutes.

Ryan Kelly is 1-13 on 3-point attempts over the past five games. I would prefer to see Kelly shoot less from the perimeter and function as a high post distributor. Kelly is a talented passer and a guy who can feed the ball into the interior to Mason and Miles or hit an open shooter on the wing. Duke needs to make the extra pass to achieve better offensive flow and Kelly is a guy who can make that happen, but he can't make it happen by jacking up 3-pointers.

I'm not sure how much court time Josh Hairston will see today. Coming off a loss, Coach Krzyzewski may decide to shake things up or he may decide to stick with a tight rotation. Hairston brings high energy onto the court so if he gets an opportunity today he needs to take advantage by crashing the offensive glass. Hairston has demonstrated some offensive skills at times this year now he needs to demonstrate the ability to compete against ACC competition.

[captmojo]

Well, it took 25 minutes but maybe a shooting breakout has begun.

Nolan had some good drives which more than offset some sloppy ballhandling.
Andre needs about one full second to range his stroke. Range...direction he's got down pat.
Seth is trying too damn hard to create drives that don't prove to be available. His shooting eye needs a smidgen more than 'Dre.
Ryan had a good game.
Defenses are totally keying in on Kyle. Others have to step up.
Bob...Mason followed your orders.
Tyler is a project with promise.
Miles has to wake up.

Is that mini-slump over? It remains to be seen. If they put together two halves of the same game, in the fashion of today's second half...yes.

Virginia...good effort that ran out of gas and ran low of foul whistles against you. You have a great potential, just not this year.

[gadzooks]

If Nolan could just start the game pissed off, we'd be in high cotton.

[Ima Facultiwyfe]

When we get around to who did the bedeviling of the box score, I'll have to write in Carrawell and James. It was pretty clear during the warm up for the second half that they were burning the ears of each and every player, one by one, urging them to play strong and tough. I think they got through to 'em.
Love, Ima

[devildeac]

Well, it took 25 minutes but maybe a shooting breakout has begun.

Nolan had some good drives which more than offset some sloppy ballhandling.
Andre needs about one full second to range his stroke. Range...direction he's got down pat.
Seth is trying too damn hard to create drives that don't prove to be available. His shooting eye needs a smidgen more than 'Dre.
Ryan had a good game.
Defenses are totally keying in on Kyle. Others have to step up.
Bob...Mason followed your orders.
Tyler is a project with promise.
Miles has to wake up.

Is that mini-slump over? It remains to be seen. If they put together two halves of the same game, in the fashion of today's second half...yes.

Virginia...good effort that ran out of gas and ran low of foul whistles against you. You have a great potential, just not this year.

Tale of Two Halves by Charles Dickens, err Duke Blue Devils

I'm not sure I have seen many worse halves in many years of watching but this one ranks near the bottom. At least we played fairly solid D for about the 1st 15 minutes, then resorted to the matador D and leaving some shooters wide open. K commented on this is his post-game radio chat with Bob Harris. This carried over about 5 minutes into the 2nd half. We are not going to be able to do this against decent teams, especially on the road. K was pleased with the dirty work that Kyle, Mason and Seth did and amazed at Nolan's performance (though a 6:5 A:T ratio isn't gonna carry us far this year, no matter how bad the acc is).

Oh, and BTW, the refs were your standard acc inconsistent and craptastic. How the hell does uv a shoot more FT than us in Our House when we "get all the calls?"

[ArkieDukie]

I thought the defense looked a bit suspect. Ball movement seemed pretty awful, too. At some point in the second half, and I can't say exactly when, everything turned around. Defense picked it up a notch, and spacing on the floor improved on offense. So did ball movement. Whatever happened, I hope it continues. In one of the post-game articles, Coach K (or maybe even one of the players) said something about expecting to win. That would certainly explain recent performance. Let's hope the 2nd half comeback was a sign of a collective answer to the wakeup call.

[devildeac]

Damn clever and funny sign:

http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/for ... post465452