Did you miss me? Sorry for not posting for over a week. I’ve been on vacation and away from the Internet. I was able to see the Miami/Duke game because I was there. However, I tried to watch the Virginia/Duke game using my SlingBox on my Iphone, but it just looked like crap and had to give up about halfway through.
The week is over and I am back. So what just happened?
The Duke Blue Devils overcame a slow start to take down Georgia Tech, 79-57. While it wasn’t always pretty, the Blue Devils improved to 25-2 on the season, 12-1 in the ACC.
BALANCE, BABY
It has really been the theme of this Duke team over the last few weeks since the St. John’s loss. Of course Nolan Smith is going to almost always be the leading scorer and you can almost guarantee that Kyle Singler will be second (that’s what seniors do), the fact is a variety of players are starting to step up. They are:
- Seth Curry’s brother told him he was standing around too much. Since that conversation, the Liberty transfer has really become a solid third option. While he’s not a superior ball-handler, he can do just enough to make you respect it. His breakout game was obviously at home against North Carolina where he finished with 22, but his most important game had to be his 16-point performance against Miami.
As it is well documented on this site, Curry has struggled to shoot outside of Cameron. Against the Hurricanes, Nolan Smith went out with an eye injury, but it was Curry who allowed Duke to cruise without the senior for a period of time.
Also, this isn’t just about scoring. The coaching staff has been trying hard to relieve Nolan Smith of some of his point guard duties. Of course Ty Thornton has played his part, but more and more Curry is bringing the ball up and getting Duke into their offense. Over his last six games, he has 23 assists to just seven turnovers.
- For a while now, I think we all were just hoping the Mason Plumlee could turn into a Brian Zoubek…meaning: a big man who can simply defend and rebound, forget about scoring. For a while now, he’s been doing a great job as a Zoubek-clone averaging 10.2 rebounds in ACC play. However, lately he’s starting to show some offensive game.
Now he hasn’t really been able to create a back to the basket move, but what Mason does do and do well is receive the ball just outside the paint, turns and does a running hook to the middle. Now that sounds a bit one-dimensional and it is, but he is capable of doing it from both sides of the court. Overall over his last six games, Mason has hit a stunning 27 of 38 shots from the field.
- Now Ryan Kelly’s numbers aren’t going to blow anyone away. Since his 20-point breakout performance against Wake Forest, he’s only averaged just under seven points per game. However, what I do like about his game is the fact that he’s getting his points from inside the paint. Since that Wake game, Kelly has made 22 shots, but only four have been three.
The fact is, he has not developed into a three-point whiz. Sure he’s hitting 41-percent from downtown this year, but it’s a bit fluky. He’s been a streaky shooter and he’s been cold more often than hot this year. He hovers overs forty percent because when he’s hot, he’s smoking.
Like so many Duke players, he’s starting to under his role on this team. At 6’10, starting at the power forward spot, he needs to have an inside presence. So many of his points now come off of offensive put backs or off of fast breaks that develop from steals at the top of the guy.
In his four baskets against Georgia Tech, two came off offensive tip ins, a third was a great pass from Nolan when Kelly was left alone and the fourth was an end of game dunk on a fast break (thanks to a steal).
SINGLER STRUGGLES
Overall, Kyle Singler’s numbers were solid. He produced 15 points and nine boards. That’s not a bad night. Of course he struggled with the percentage (5-14 overall), failing to hit a three from deep for the second straight game.
This of course came off a 1-5 performance against Virginia (arguable Singler’s worst game ever at Duke).
The coaching staff made a concentrated effort to get him going early, but it didn’t seem to work. Yet, if I was you, I wouldn’t stress too much over it.
The fact is, both Virginia and Georgia Tech run four-guard offenses and Singler’s style in this current Duke offense doesn’t work well against four-guard sets. Let me explain.
Kyle’s offense right now consist of him sitting under the basket. He’s given a double screen by Duke’s big men, which he can then pick one to run around. Once he makes his decision, he curls around and receives the ball on the curl. He has five options; a short curl which gives him either a mid-range jumper or he can drive in deep towards the basket. If the big man doubles down, then he can unload it to the open big. He can also kick it back out if an opponent’s guard comes over to help. Finally, he can curl out further and hit a three.
More times than not, Singler will go for the mid-range jumper. The beauty of this system is that it forces a bigger smaller forward to continually run through, around or under screens of Duke’s big men. Based on what that defender does, Singler can pick his poison.
However, when you’re facing a four-guard opponent, then they can simply just rotate off. If the man guarding Singler falls behind on the curl, then the man guarding the power forward (or Duke’s third guard, depending on who’s on the court) will rotate onto Singler, while the man who was trailing will slide under the power forward. Confused?
The problem in the Virginia game (at least from what I was able to see) was that Duke and Singler never adjusted to this. Against Georgia Tech, Singler did find success when he either played power forward (where his size mattered) or when Smith sat with two fouls and Singler actually had more ball control up top on the corners.
PSHYCO-T
Listen, I’m not one to bitch about fouls. Every team gets bad calls during games. That’s the nature of basketball where so many fouls are subjective. I’m also suspect about coaches getting technical fouls to motivate their teams.
Tonight though, it certainly seemed to help.
After back-to-back questionable bad calls went against Duke, Coach K had had enough and was T’d up quickly. The Yellow Jackets made four-straight free throws to take a 18-13 lead. That happened around the 10-minute mark in the first half. Twenty-basketball minutes later, Duke would be wrapping up a 54-22 run.
Of course the run started right after the technical when Duke ran off seven of the next nine points (re-taking the lead). They then ended the half on a 9-0 run. They started the second half on a 27-9 run that turned a somewhat close game into a blowout.
Also, don’t overlook the fact that Duke wouldn’t be whistled for another foul for 12 full minutes after the technical (for the record, Tech would receive five foul calls in that time span).
INTENSITY
At halftime, the coaching staff basically said that this Duke team struggled with Georgia Tech’s intensity. It’s fair enough point. Duke always gets everyone’s best shot. However, at some point, we need to be the intense team coming out of the gate. Come tournament time, you let a 8-seed or a 4/5-seed get off to a hot start, you might not catch back up. Just go back and watch that St. John’s game to understand my point.
This Duke team needs to do a better job coming out after the tip-off. Let’s pretend the first four minutes are the most important of minutes of the game.
ARE WE #1?
Who is to say? The voters will more than likely put Duke one, although a five-spot jump is pretty big. Either way, it’s not going to be anonymous. Five or six teams will probably receive a first-place vote.
I’m only saying they will jump up because voters tend to vote with the attitude of “what have you done for me lately.” Of the top five, Duke has the longest winning streak, thus they’ll probably move ahead.
Personally, it doesn’t really matter. As long as Duke is top-four (which they will be), then we’re in the conversation for a number one seed and THAT matters.
