If anyone has watched the tournament no lead is safe. This team responded with everyone in the place against them. This team has never been in a game this meaningful with such a big halftime cushion. If you have not been there done that then you have no idea what to do next therefore the lead went away because they have not been in that moment. Anyway we won and many people on here said a first round exit was very possible (me included). LETS GO DUKE
Breathe
- Thread starter duhondukie
- Start date
The first time all year that I was really mad at our Duke team was the meltdown they had against ND. They mentally self-destructed. Today was the same type thing...but they played through the tremendous pressure and made enough plays to win. I'm not happy at how they let Yale get back into the game, but I'm very pleased that they were able to gut it out when it looked like they might fold completely. A big win for this Duke team, and I'm proud of them.
OFC
OFC
K switching to 1-3-1 zone was key & our guys hung tough when momentum switched. On to Anaheim!
Effectively blowing a 27-point lead is never good, but I suppose if nothing else it shows Duke can get out to that lead. I think the thing with young teams, as I remember particularly with the 2007 one, is that complacency begins to creep in. Especially with as big a lead as they had, it's easy to think your opponent will wilt, but Yale just didn't. Regardless, Duke found a way to win and they've earned the right to go to Anaheim to challenge Oregon/St Joe's
Let's see now. We're up so let's take a little time off the clock. Oops what has happened to the 27. It's now 4. All we wanted to do was save a little energy. What good is that energy if you lose. I say play all at until we can't play any more. I guarantee you that we will hold the lead better than just sitting on the friggin thing. OFC
I mean, I get what people are saying about stall ball, but we blew that lead because we turned the ball over, no defense (Yale scored at one point on eight straight possessions (definitely not the fault of stall ball)), and we couldn't make some shots we were making in the first half. Twice Brandon got all the way to the rim the last 10 minutes and inexplicitly missed. At one point, I didn't realize Grayson and Luke were on the floor. They disappeared. And Matt? He was awful today. His body just doesn't look right. He's gotten slower than slow. That ankle has to be bothering him.
On offense. I thought he did a great job keeping Mason from going nuts on D. We're just going to have to accept that Matt is at best a 4th option on O and if he's hitting things are gravy.
Overall a tough win. No lead is safe in the tournament, no matter the seed. Getting the lead is crucial cause if the game is close at all and Yale goes on a 15-0 run like they did, then you call it a career for Marshall. Instead, we got the pad and we play in Anaheim.
It only gets tougher from here though. Gotta get some consistency from Luke, Gray and Brandon.
Matt hasn't looked 100% since his ankle injury, particularly on offense, but his defense has fallen some, overall, too, despite a good showing vs Yale. He has also made some really bad decisions, which is something we can't afford for him to do. We need him out there for leadership, so bad turnovers and silly fouls are worse than his shot being off.
True, but at this stage of the season, I'm not sure anything is going to change. Therefore, for this team to advance Marshall has to keep playing like an Army Ranger and the triumvirate of Brandon, Grayson and Luke has to stay consistent. Hopefully Matt and Derryck get their shots to fall, that would be gravy.
Man, that second half was really hard to take. I must have had 2 or 3 Morphine & Sodas to get through it!!! Been a long time since I have seen a team implode like that. Just totally fell apart, seemed like nobody wanted the ball, nobody knew what to do, and everyone just stood around and watched Yale. What a gutsy performance by these kids to get their composure back in time to hold on.
I am sure we can all remember when even older teams have blown big leads under the same circumstances, and they could not keep from losing. This is still an extremely young team that is getting better every game, and I for one am very proud to be a Duke fan! Survive and advance.
Go Duke!!
JC-OFC
I am sure we can all remember when even older teams have blown big leads under the same circumstances, and they could not keep from losing. This is still an extremely young team that is getting better every game, and I for one am very proud to be a Duke fan! Survive and advance.
Go Duke!!
JC-OFC
Those morphine & sodas must have done a number on you. I'd say winning the game disqualifies this game from consideration as the greatest implosion of all time.
Yes, he'll get a little more rest and healing between now and our Sweet 16 game. Hopefully he'll contribute positively to our advancing to the Elite 8. He is unlikely to return to the Matt who was averaging 14.9 ppg through 14 games this season. He had 11 double-figure games at that point. In the 20 games he has played in since, he's scored in double-figures 7 times. (3 times in 10 games before the UNC game where he was hurt, so the slide started even before the injury.)
A lot of it may have to do with Brandon's emergence, and to a lesser degree, Luke's and Marshall's. We don't need Matt's scoring as much, and to his credit, he's cool with that. We do need smarter play than he has given us, though.
Another thing unlikely to change is Matt's starting role or PT. Derryck and Luke have taken turns playing like freshmen, and it does a world of good for whichever one is struggling to come off the bench. At this point we're dancing with who brung us this far.
Derryk has been quietly solid. He takes bad shots sometimes, but he controls the ball, and has few turnovers. If Matt can hit some threes for us, I think we are a tough out. Those two guys are the key. The media loves to talk about our lack of rebounding, but what about our fire power? Duke will be a tough out.
Like your thinking...I remember early in year Matt was almost DEADLY on that corner 3...hope he gets the mojo going...
Agree w/ everything except that Derryck and Matt are the key, other than in the way we need everyone to know his role and perform well. Part of why Matt's scoring fell off well before his injury was how much Brandon, Luke, and Marshall came on. Derryck's scoring has improved since he stopped pushing as badly. We don't need Matt to score or Derryck to drive the offense. In much bigger ways, Grayson and Brandon, and in a different way, Marshall are the keys. Grayson and Brandon have to score. Marshall has to play tough D w/o fouling and rebound. We've come to rely on Marshall's scoring more than Matt's, too, for that matter.
Our team ceiling depends much more on the performance of our best players than on role players, though it gets all complicated b/c it's not like anyone can play horribly.
True Datt! Its not like anyone "can play horribly." If Matt recovers from yesterday and just gives us decent minutes, a few timely hoops, boards and limits his tos it will be a boost!
OFC
And that last point in the main thing. We are who we are now. So like you said, with a little more healing, maybe he can regain some strength for a better base on his shots and maybe more confidence in his play which could reduce his turnovers.
A Matt that doesn't turn it over paired with a confident Derryck Thornton and Grayson and Brandon playing how they play equals Final Four. Something that seemed unlikely after Notre Dame.
I was saying Matt and DT are the keys because I see our big three hitting shots as a given. We can't win without big games from Grayson, Luke, and Brandon.
There are two ways to look at it. One is that we withstood an awesome Yale run. Another is that we had built such a HUGE lead it was just too much for them to overcome. I honestly believe it was the latter.
These threads are usually reserved for our first loss of the year and I find them annoying. Hey we are in the S16 and that's what's important. Enjoy these last games with Marshall fellows, he's a class act and a great MAN. We'll miss him when he's gone. Go duke!
These threads are usually reserved for our first loss of the year and I find them annoying. Hey we are in the S16 and that's what's important. Enjoy these last games with Marshall fellows, he's a class act and a great MAN. We'll miss him when he's gone. Go duke!
You find the post-loss threads encouraging people to keep things in perspective instead of panic annoying? I find the posts that lead to the need for such threads annoying.
We won a game against a team who beat the team many had picked to beat us. They are a good team and showed it. The first half counts toward the final score.
I agree with whomever thinks that DT and Matt are they key's to how deep this team goes. Grayson & Brandon HAVE to be stars, or else we have no chance from here on out.
However, if DT or Matt are to step up and one gives us around 15 points, that is huge. Beyond scoring though, it is crucial for DT to handle the ball and for Matt to play lockdown D.
Marshall is who he is, and his influence on the game seems to be matchup dependant (can dominate smaller teams, must give us "something" against bigger teams)
Luke can score 30 or 3 and I'm never surprised. He isn't being asked to dribble the ball all that much, or guard the other teams star.
However, if DT or Matt are to step up and one gives us around 15 points, that is huge. Beyond scoring though, it is crucial for DT to handle the ball and for Matt to play lockdown D.
Marshall is who he is, and his influence on the game seems to be matchup dependant (can dominate smaller teams, must give us "something" against bigger teams)
Luke can score 30 or 3 and I'm never surprised. He isn't being asked to dribble the ball all that much, or guard the other teams star.