Duke Thoughts...

[Cusefan0307]

Chris Bell has started 44 games in his career. Started 44. All of them. His TS% is less than 51% for his career and it's 48.5% this year. That's awful. He barely does anything other than shoot. If he's not making threes, it's over.

Here's the problem: We have three guys this year under 50% TS that play. That is awful. Benny is under 51%.

Bell is a problem, period, end of story. But so are others. I'm just using Bell as an example.

The team is incomplete. We're really flawed from a roster standpoint because of whatever reason and it's going to take some time to fix this.

The best players we have are: Judah... then Maliq... then there are a few guys that will sporadically be good most likely against inferior competition. The last group, let's be honest, if we were a legit team, aren't playing.

If we're rolling JT and Bell together in our starting lineup, we're not a serious team.

I may be crazy and biased because he’s my favorite player, but I won’t be surprised if Maliq is our best player by the end of the year.

 

[MikeSU02]

I may be crazy and biased because he’s my favorite player, but I won’t be surprised if Maliq is our best player by the end of the year.

You're looking at the president of the Maliq Brown Fan Club, here. He's my favorite player. He reminds me of the CJ Fairs, Josh Paces, etc.

His bball IQ is the highest on the team and I don't think it's particularly close. If he were two inches taller, I am positive he'd be a first round pick.

Good example even last night: he had trouble finishing at the rim... then he dunked the ball about four times after that. Why? Because he knew he had to go up strong (and I'm sure the coaches told him to).

He's also the second-best passer on the team, easily.

 

[M2MPrinciples]

Bell's been off going back to the Georgetown game and seems to get rattled pretty easily. If his shot's not falling he brings nothing to the table.

I know Quadir fell back to earth last night but there's a better argument for swapping him in for Bell than swapping Brown in for McLeod.

 

[Funk Doc]

Agree. Very disappointing result, but among all the awfulness that there have been at times this year, I am happy to see some progress on this team. I like the trajectory this program is on, and I actually have hope for the future. Prior to this season, I definitely did not. I'm actually looking forward to the next couple years when Red can get a team full of "his" players and run his style. Even though we are a very flawed and inconsistent team, it certainly is a much better product to watch, than the last few years.

 

[Red Holzman]

OK with allowing Cope to be Cope, b/c I like the splash plays and think he's going to drown less often as his game develops while attempting them.

 

[Red Holzman]

Judah seems to play for the cameras while focusing on how his NBA audition is going.
He'd be better served following Maliq's example, making good reads and letting the game come to him.

 

[shandeezy7]

Any team that shoots 75% from the field and 100% from three in the second half is going to steamroll their opponent

A major reason they had those crazy shooting numbers is because we kept handing the ball over to them for 3 on 1 (or several times, 3 on 0) breaks the other way. Pretty easy to shoot 75% from the field when a large amount of those shots are layups/dunks or wide open threes in transition.

 

[two3zone]

I may be crazy and biased because he’s my favorite player, but I won’t be surprised if Maliq is our best player by the end of the year.

I’m not sure he isn’t now.

 

[jdubs30]

Chris Bell has started 44 games in his career. Started 44. All of them. His TS% is less than 51% for his career and it's 48.5% this year. That's awful. He barely does anything other than shoot. If he's not making threes, it's over.

Here's the problem: We have three guys this year under 50% TS that play. That is awful. Benny is under 51%.

Bell is a problem, period, end of story. But so are others. I'm just using Bell as an example.

The team is incomplete. We're really flawed from a roster standpoint because of whatever reason and it's going to take some time to fix this.

The best players we have are: Judah... then Maliq... then there are a few guys that will sporadically be good most likely against inferior competition. The last group, let's be honest, if we were a legit team, aren't playing.

If we're rolling JT and Bell together in our starting lineup, we're not a serious team.

Bell has been beyond bad. He is one of the worst rebounders in the county. He doesn’t pass the ball. He’s lazy on defense and gets pushed around way too easily. He’s 4/26 from 3 vs top 100 teams this year. He’s a 6ft 7 wing and has attempted 7 FTs all year and hasn’t had one dunk. I have no idea why gets any PT at this point - if he was making shots I’d get it but since that Cornell game on 12/5, he’s 2/12 from 3

 

[two3zone]

Bell has been beyond bad. He is one of the worst rebounders in the county. He doesn’t pass the ball. He’s lazy on defense and gets pushed around way too easily. He’s 4/26 from 3 vs top 100 teams this year. He’s a 6ft 7 wing and has attempted 7 FTs all year and hasn’t had one dunk.

He may be the worst forward we’ve ever started.

 

[Cuse181]

Any team that shoots 75% from the field and 100% from three in the second half is going to steamroll their opponent

That didn’t happen by accident. Bad defense leading to wide open 3s easy passing lanes.

 

[Newhouser]

Any team that shoots 75% from the field and 100% from three in the second half is going to steamroll their opponent

Agreed - I think in hindsight Red should have pressed or done anything to disrupt Duke's flow - they were just stepping into wide open 3's and draining them.

Getting the pace a bit more helter skelter may have also helped our O as we basically turned into drive and chuck and we are not good enough to do that.

 

[Newhouser]

Bell has been beyond bad. He is one of the worst rebounders in the county. He doesn’t pass the ball. He’s lazy on defense and gets pushed around way too easily. He’s 4/26 from 3 vs top 100 teams this year. He’s a 6ft 7 wing and has attempted 7 FTs all year and hasn’t had one dunk. I have no idea why gets any PT at this point - if he was making shots I’d get it but since that Cornell game on 12/5, he’s 2/12 from 3

but his on court demeanor and attitude is top notch

 

[AZOrange]

Q? He can dribble and pass. He did both at times just last night. His shooting is not great.

He is easily stripped when dribbling and seems to have stone hands. He had a couple nice easy passes but really had some bad ones.

 

[NorSyr66]

My favorite play was when the Duke player slid across the floor with the ball in front of the ref and our bench, everyone on the bench made the travel motion, the ref swallowed the whistle, and the ball went the other way for a three.

At that point, Duke was only up by 2 or 3, and that started the run.

Duke obviously made the shots.

But the lack of whistle there didn't help.

I tend to agree with you but I am just not sure that was a travel or not. I just do not understand the rules well enough to know whether or not that is a travel. Fegardless, it was a back breaker ...(as well as a ball breaker!!).

 

[DoctahLexus]

I swear everything with Bell was better 4 or 5 games ago. Not just shooting, but 1v1 defense, hustle, and limiting dumb mistakes were also much better. His problems used to look limited to the boards but now he has a slew of others. This skid he has been on is killing us and last night was just about the most horrific 11 mins of bball you could possibly play. No hustle, the dumbest turnovers imaginable, reaching in and leaving his feet on D, and perhaps worst of all, seemingly scared to shoot it, the one thing we really have put faith in him to do.

But the reason Red still plays Taylor and Bell even when they play like hot garbage is because he knows that a lineup where the best shooter is Benny Williams is not sustainable for half court offense. If a guy drives in the Mintz JJ Cope Bennny Brown lineup, they are only going to be able to kick it out to a guy who wants to do the same damn thing. And that is what happened last night! The guy who would drive would kick it out, then that guy who got the ball would drive again, and over and over and over until the clock started to run down and someone forced something contested. They knew nobody wanted to shoot and just packed the middle. It just does not work unless you are able to get some points in chaos mode with press and transition, but that will not work against talented disciplined teams.

One of our main problems is still the complete lack of chemistry between Judah and JJ as the starting backcourt. That is then put on steroids if the other two forwards are also guys who would rather dribble and drive than shoot it. Only reason Bell ever saw the court again after those first couple terrible runs. Hoping he goes on a run of making quick release contested shots from range again is as likely as any of our other options on O to work, as sad and crazy as that sounds. But if he is playing like a total idiot in all other non-shooting areas, then you have to leave him on the bench. Wish Red had gone full JB with him after those fouls and TOs in the first half.

 

[Hopkins16]

It's frustrating for us watching these games and seeing players continually make boneheaded plays, being one dimensional etc. Those of us who are old timers from the Pearl era through the Ennis/Fair teams are used to high level talent that can compete any night with any team. Since then, it's been years of mediocrity with a few bright spots. I've said this before and I'll say it again, it will take time for us to be an elite program again. We are asking role players with limited skills like Bell, Taylor, and Q to do more than they should. They are forced into playing larger roles and their upside even by year 4 is not high.

Q is forced into being our best player off the bench and play a lot of minutes. I give Red credit for instilling confidence into Q. He would not get off the bench much under Coach Boehiem. The 3s he is putting up would get him a quick hook under Coach B. One thing about Q's missed threes are that they hit the rim and are close to falling. That says he needs to practice 3s more and continue to work on his form and release with Gerry.

If Freeman and Choppa comes in as advertised and Westry comes back healthy and ready to play, this will be a much better team, even if Judah goes pro. With the additions, Bell and Taylor can settle in with limited roles. We will still need to politely find a way to move on from the too many developmental centers who no longer fit in the plan to play man to man.
In order to compete with the top ACC teams and the top teams we play out of conference, we will need to be able to recruit at least 2 to 3 four or five star player each year as the top teams do (Duke seems to get one at every position each year).

 

[NorSyr66]

I believe freeman is more of a power 4 than a stretch 3. Yes on the guards but at least we have more who can help out there.

This is a big off-season for red. Needs to have the talk with several players.

The "talk with several players" is key. Need to complement that with some upfront portal work. Definitely need to free up the jam of 4 ineffective centers. One key will be whether or not Westerly can get healthy enough to contribute. Red's off-season decisions will be huge in determining whether we get better next year.

 

[SoBristol]

He may be the worst forward we’ve ever started.

Maybe. Bell may also be the one of the bunch (Bell, Taylor, Williams) who will make the most improvement over his career. Not to say he can contribute much now, but he can shoot, has made moves on occasion, and hustles as a perimeter defender.

In a game like last night, people need to remember that Duke has had top 5 recruiting classes, back to back. The talent gap vs SU is huge. They have do-everything guards, bigs who have talent -- and we have Brown & Mintz.

 

[tbonezone]

lottery pick kelly kapowski went to the bench about midway 1st half scoreless. dukies donuts deep.
second half was a set up for disaster. and then the roof fell in. watch how duke or any good team moves the ball around the perimeter . they're probing for weaknesses. cuse has 2 ball handlers out top just looking for lanes or hunting off balance jumpers and praying for a whistle. we ain't climbing the ladder til everybody on this team gets on the same page and works smarter. clearly red was frazzled and not dazzled by what he saw last night. lotta season left to get this right.

 

[DoctahLexus]

Maybe. Bell may also be the one of the bunch (Bell, Taylor, Williams) who will make the most improvement over his career. Not to say he can contribute much now, but he can shoot, has made moves on occasion, and hustles as a perimeter defender.

In a game like last night, people need to remember that Duke has had top 5 recruiting classes, back to back. The talent gap vs SU is huge. They have do-everything guards, bigs who have talent -- and we have Brown & Mintz.

He has hustled at times but it is not a word I would ever use to describe his performance last night. Staggering amount of dumb errors and low effort plays in hardly any minutes. If he has the attitude he had last night then he should be glued to the bench no matter what his potential is as a shooter. Players trying to improve and get minutes cannot melt down like that. The tough opponent does not explain all his actions last night. And I have defended the guy a lot

 

[shandeezy7]

The "talk with several players" is key. Need to complement that with some upfront portal work. Definitely need to free up the jam of 4 ineffective centers. One key will be whether or not Westerly can get healthy enough to contribute. Red's off-season decisions will be huge in determining whether we get better next year.

Unfortunately, "the talk" that coaches had last year was with a guy now scoring 16 ppg on 46% from three for a top 20 team while our best three point shooters last night were our center and a guy shooting 15% from three for his career.

 

[NorSyr66]

Bell has been beyond bad. He is one of the worst rebounders in the county. He doesn’t pass the ball. He’s lazy on defense and gets pushed around way too easily. He’s 4/26 from 3 vs top 100 teams this year. He’s a 6ft 7 wing and has attempted 7 FTs all year and hasn’t had one dunk. I have no idea why gets any PT at this point - if he was making shots I’d get it but since that Cornell game on 12/5, he’s 2/12 from

Unfortunately, "the talk" that coaches had last year was with a guy now scoring 16 ppg on 46% from three for a top 20 team while our best three point shooters last night were our center and a guy shooting 15% from three for his career.

Understand where you are coming from and agree he is having a good year on a team where he is an excellent fit. However there was no way he would have started on this squad with Red's plans going forward. Yes, we are missing Westerly and possibly he could get some play after Judah and JJ but I see Copeland as a better fit on this years team. He did a good job for SU over his 4 years here.

 

[Madbiker]

We are not going to beat top 20 teams on the road. We just don't have enough talent to match up with those teams especially at the forward spots. Our best chance to get a meaningful resume enhancing win will be UNC and Clemson in the Dome. If we can get a couple of guys having a hot game and maybe the opposition doesn't shoot it great that night we can pull off a win. Meanwhile just beat the middle of the pack and lower teams to pile up enough wins to be in consideration and avoid any bad loses.

 

[orangecuse]

Yes and any team that allows that to happen is not playing good individual or team defense. If we can’t consistently shoot we really need to lock down on defense and that’s not happening against quality opponents.

Cuse!

I couldn't agree more with this sentiment.

Defense is 99.9% will/grit/effort/mindset, etc. You can't let struggles on the O side bleed into the aforementioned. Otherwise, what ensues is exactly what transpired yesterday early in the 2nd half of a two point game, a quick 13-2 eruption/run taking it to a 13 point deficit in a heartbeat. Game over.