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Message: [QUOTE="ottodaorange, post: 3741787, member: 567"] First of all, tonight I had the opportunity to actually SEE the game, thanks to ESPN. Except for a handful of games, I've relied on Matt Parks and Jimmy [S]S[/S]atalin for their observations, and it's not quite the same. From the beginning, we didn't seem to come out with fire in our bellies and this may have been the most important game of the year! They were fumbling the ball, poor ball movement and turnovers. Perhaps the most obvious was terrible defense. I don't want to single anyone out, be Joe Girard repeatedly seemed to be turning around as his man was shooting a wide open three. This improved somewhat in the second half, but it was the most glaring inadequacy. Duke was shooting lights out, but often a lot it has to do with wide open shots. Syracuse seemed to want to establish an inside game initially, and I think they passed up threes intentionally to try to get the ball inside. So shot selection, ball movement, and what seemed to be a question of confidence played a role. A much less factor was a couple of fouls not called. One was an obvious hack on Marek's arms attempting a shot. This all happened in the first half and I believe set the tone of the game. The second half was somewhat better and consequently we played them pretty much more even. But it was too late. I think JB should have removed Joe Girard much earlier and used Richmond. By the way, KR may have played his best game, eliminated freshman mistakes, especially the turnovers: 15 PTS (6-11, 1-1, 2-4), 5 REB, 3 ass., 1s ST, and 1 TO. That's the kind of line you like to see. JB has said consistently throughout his career that if you can't play defense, you're going to sit. The only exception that I can recall, off the top of my head, is John Wallace, who was a great offensive player. I think there are games where they have played well on defense, so the problem may well be consistency. The road ahead is difficult. We may have to win out or win the ACC tournament, if they have one, to make the big dance, if they have one. [/QUOTE]

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