My Take

[sutomcat]

Another awful first half. And the second half was not much better.

It looked to me as though Q and AG played scared. AG got a little better as the game went on but both looked timid and intimidated. Q is just throwing up shots over his head blindly, always falling away from the basket. Can’t draw fouls that way. Avoids contact at all costs. Usually has great hands but is even struggling to hold on to balls the bounce right to him. He is a huge mess. Marek played okay but was again a total non factor on the boards, and got abused inside on defense.

JGIII had a horrific game. Dribbled a ball off his foot the first time he was pressured. Struggled to just catch the ball. He played like he had a splitting headache and wanted to go home.

Buddy and Kadary were the only guys who were assertive and looked confident. AG still leads the team in 3 point percentage in conference play with 39.7, but Buddy (and Kadary) are up to 37.5% and JGIII is 36.1.

Duke was smart. Coach K and company watched film and saw our weaknesses.

They made contact with our players when they had the ball. Lots of bumps, soft holds and shoves. The POS refs let them get away with it...they always do at that old barn. But it didn’t matter if they called every foul they committed. We came out flat, showed little urgency playing defense (Duke had a wide open 3 whenever they wanted) and with Duke extending their defense in our face even 25 feet from the basket, most of our players wouldn’t even look at the basket. This is the worst iso team JB has ever had. They made Duke look like a good defensive team. They are better with Williams at center but they aren’t that good.

It was a sad state of affairs and a very forgettable game. Might be best remembered as the game Kadary started the second half. I believe it was also the first game he played 30 minutes. Not sure if he won a starting job today. Maybe.

 

[DCUNITED13]

Duke shot 62% from the field in the 1st half. They were over 55% from 3 as well in the 1st half Not sure what we could have done differently there to be honest. I did think we could do better not allowing easy 2 pointers later in the game. We made a slight comeback, but Duke had decent ballhandlers and instead of dribbling they passed out of trouble on our press.

We ran into a buzzsaw offensive team. Lost my money line bet but at one point in the 1st half the spread went to SU +18.5. I jumped on that and nice to see Buddy help me out at the end with 2 nice 3 point buckets.

I do think that we need Joe and Buddy to be more consistent with "killer 3s" in the first half. They are capable to do that and if Joe can hit for 5-6 points in each half we would be a better team. Teams are pressuring us very high up the court leaving a lot of room down low. However, the initial quick pressure takes away any cuts by our forwards. We had significant number of easy buckets by Quincy and Marek cutting to the basket early in the season. Looks like scouting reports cut away our open passing lanes. Dribble penetration is now needed but our best dribble penetrator is Marek followed by Buddy. AG scares me when he attempts to go to the basket. He has a nice drop step though. Quincy has good fist step but needs to be closer to the basket when he makes that attack. I agree with sutomcat regarding Quincy needing to draw fouls to be effective.

We need a win against Georgia Tech. I think UNC is a Final 4 team. They are playing well and with a favorable draw they have a chance. For us we, have to go 3-2 in our last 5 (providing there is a makeup) games to get the NCAA nod.

 

[Col. Bleep]

Kadary isn't always on his game and can't win games by himself.
But he and Buddy seemed to be the only guys in the "big 6" who were never intimidated.
Kadary even hit the open 3 when Duke gave it to him.
He's the point guard.
There should be no issue.

As for this year...don't think 3-2 from here out will do it.
The Orange need to win out the next 3 (presuming a makeup game next week) and do some damage in the ACC tourney with at least 2 wins. 18-8 should do it. 17-9...probably not. 16-9...no.