***DUKE VS CLEMSON OFFICIAL GAMEDAY THREAD***

chov1125

All-Conference
Oct 15, 2008
3,044
1,826
73
You can list our mistakes as follows;

1. Didn’t take care of the ball.
2. Didn’t stay disciplined on defense.
3. Didn’t make free throws.

Did I miss any? I will say it, I hate when K shrinks his bench in a close game. I know Alex played a putrid first half and Matthew didn’t match up well. But pressing almost the entire second while playing a rotation of 5-6 is a recipe for wearing down late. I think we wore down late and the home court crowd helped Clemson make enough plays/shots late.
 

DukeDenver

All-American
Nov 21, 2010
8,249
8,451
0
Clemson endowment = $800 million.
70th best university in the country.
Great football program. Mediocre basketball program.
 

dukehokie

All-American
Jun 27, 2005
19,624
6,220
0
Clemson missed just as many free throws....

I’ll live with it. Good growing experience. Missed Wendell and Joey. Just get healthy and get some rest.

I’m bummed it happened on ESPN so the whole world could watch. Wish that one was ACC+ lol

They did. They outplayed us simple as that, but this is 3 straight games around 50% from the line.

It only concerns me, because for Clemson, the ceiling is making the tournament. Duke’s ceiling is title, but not at 50% from the line.
 

WI#1Dukie22

All-Conference
Jan 17, 2008
3,900
1,004
0
When we retook the lead in the second half, Carey missed like 5 fts in a row that would have extended lead. Clemson made a 3, tied it back up and the crowd and team got back in it. That completely changed the final 8 minutes. I think he makes just 3 of those and we win.
This sums it all up!!! Make 2, it’s a 2 Possession game, great odds K guides then to a win. Clemson played well, we did not. It happens. Sat is a must win
 
Oct 3, 2012
1,401
873
0
There's that saying I hate so much. We will not be ok if we dont play better.

It’s January. We will be ok... think back on our last two national championship teams... they had games during the season where they didn’t play to their potential. Every season has highs and lows. We’ve seen this team play awesome basketball this year.. it’s not all erased with one bad performance.
 

Mpm277

All-Conference
Nov 23, 2010
7,445
2,669
0
Eh I've seen people calling us the best team in the nation. Hopefully this brings some back down to earth a bit.
 
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BlueDaveil

Senior
Nov 25, 2017
541
704
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You can list our mistakes as follows;

1. Didn’t take care of the ball.
2. Didn’t stay disciplined on defense.
3. Didn’t make free throws.

Did I miss any? I will say it, I hate when K shrinks his bench in a close game. I know Alex played a putrid first half and Matthew didn’t match up well. But pressing almost the entire second while playing a rotation of 5-6 is a recipe for wearing down late. I think we wore down late and the home court crowd helped Clemson make enough plays/shots late.
4. Missed about 6 point blank shots at the basket
 

retiredsoldier

All-American
Mar 10, 2012
3,609
5,125
0
If I didn't learn anything else up to this point of 17 games, I learned that Alex is the new 2019-2020 Duval/Grayson and now Moore has the majority vote that he is needed on the floor and not the bench lol. Duke will be just fine, I have faith and confidence. We are not unbeatable or an easy out. Just need to get everybody back and fine-tune this machine and hit the road. Let's Go Duke!
 

gottagonow

All-Conference
Apr 14, 2010
4,838
2,739
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Eh I've seen people calling us the best team in the nation. Hopefully this brings some back down to earth a bit.
Thats about the only positive that can come out of this awful game on our fans and the teams part. I knew our heard we getting a little to large and an explosion was due.
 
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dukehokie

All-American
Jun 27, 2005
19,624
6,220
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What made you feel this way?
Just curious because there is no way I could have predicted this one as a loss.
What were you seeing?

Clemson thrives in a system where if they turn the ball over, it doesn’t necessarily stop what they do. Combine that with the fact that they spread teams with good bigs out in the 5 out with Simms, our free throw issues, their momentum and our injuries and it seemed likely.

Also Brownell diagnoses film better than 98% of coaches in college. He’s a very prepared coach.
 
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retiredsoldier

All-American
Mar 10, 2012
3,609
5,125
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We are the best team in the nation. Tonight we played like crap and our opponent played balls out. It’s January. Next.
 

Mac9192

Heisman
Jan 25, 2017
9,133
12,945
107
After the first half Alex and Matthew had, K didn’t trust them. I understand why he didn’t, but the flip side was the team K had out there in the 2nd half was not a scoring bunch. Cassius also had 4 fouls, which made him play matador defense. Add to it probably tired legs. They spent a lot of energy out there.
Hope we learn from this. Yeah we could have used Wendell and maybe Joey, but the lack of toughness by Alex and Matthew made K win or lose with them as spectators. Not sure why Alex is the way he is, but Matthew needed to play like his size. He didn’t.
 

gottagonow

All-Conference
Apr 14, 2010
4,838
2,739
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It’s January. We will be ok... think back on our last two national championship teams... they had games during the season where they didn’t play to their potential. Every season has highs and lows. We’ve seen this team play awesome basketball this year.. it’s not all erased with one bad performance.
Lville Crazie you are 100% correct I hope.
 
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retiredsoldier

All-American
Mar 10, 2012
3,609
5,125
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Clemson thrives in a system where if they turn the ball over, it doesn’t necessarily stop what they do. Combine that with the fact that they spread teams with good bigs out in the 5 out with Simms, our free throw issues, their momentum and our injuries and it seemed likely.

Also Brownell diagnoses film better than 98% of coaches in college. He’s a very prepared coach.
 
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retiredsoldier

All-American
Mar 10, 2012
3,609
5,125
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It’s January. We will be ok... think back on our last two national championship teams... they had games during the season where they didn’t play to their potential. Every season has highs and lows. We’ve seen this team play awesome basketball this year.. it’s not all erased with one bad performance.
Man, what an awesome post. You got me fired up!!!!!
 

retiredsoldier

All-American
Mar 10, 2012
3,609
5,125
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I have a crazy feeling, that K instead of tearing them down, will motivate the heck out of Alex and Matt before the game Sat. He didn't have to get on them tonight. By leaving them on the bench said enough, while they watched their tired teammates try to mount a comeback.
I expect to see the team come out with an attitude. Something just wasn't right tonight with all the unforced turnovers at the beginning. The perfect storm happened.
 

denverexpat

All-Conference
Feb 1, 2006
4,456
3,172
93
When short-handed its hard to have players disappear and not contribute...unfortunately we had that tonight and could not get a bigger performance from another source....but we did let 2 players pretty much beat us and didnt adjust that on the defensive end...we could or should have made someone else on clemson show up
 

dukiejay

Heisman
Mar 2, 2005
11,293
16,311
0
Tough night that I didn’t see coming. It felt like we were down 10 points or more all evening....even when we took the lead.

- Looking for a way to beat this Duke team? Spread them out. But give Clemson credit....their bigs are made for that style.

- Free throws. They’re pretty alarming. We saw how last year it hurt us....looks like a bad re-run.

- I really love Jordan Goldwire....but man. He makes every layup interesting. Bad, bad misses tonight. I know Alex struggled and Matthew was a matchup nightmare, but I would have rather seen more of those two.

- Speaking of Alex, ugh. I want it so bad for that kid. Just when I start to think the lightbulb is starting to come on, he does what he did tonight in that first half. He makes some game-changing plays, unfortunately it’s on both sides.

I never think losses are a good thing, but they can certainly be helpful long term. That’s what we have to hope.

But it’s scary to think that two of the issues aren’t likely to change much....and that’s guarding when a team plays like tonight and free throws. Those two items usually fall under who you are, and right now I just think this is a very mediocre FT shooting team and a group that is going to struggle defending teams like Clemson.
 

DiehardDukeFan4Life

All-Conference
Jan 20, 2011
5,963
3,524
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Other than missed free throws and turnovers being the biggest reason that we lost tonight. Two plays that I think were momentum killers were two layups that Goldwire. Let me be clear that I’m not attacking him because I love having him on the team because he’s a key player with how good he is on defense but he missed two layups that changed things at the time that they happened. Of the two that I’m talking about, the first one was at the end of the first half and yeah I know the clock was running down but it was a layup that he shouldn’t have missed and you could tell by his reaction afterwards that he knew that he shouldn’t have missed it and the other one was a wide open layup that he missed when there was no one around him, again I’m not attacking him because he’s a very important part of the team but those two missed layups (both pretty wide open) changed things but more than anything the missed free throws and turnovers were the reason that we lost along with Clemson playing pretty good tonight.
 

WI#1Dukie22

All-Conference
Jan 17, 2008
3,900
1,004
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Tough night that I didn’t see coming. It felt like we were down 10 points or more all evening....even when we took the lead.

- Looking for a way to beat this Duke team? Spread them out. But give Clemson credit....their bigs are made for that style.

- Free throws. They’re pretty alarming. We saw how last year it hurt us....looks like a bad re-run.

- I really love Jordan Goldwire....but man. He makes every layup interesting. Bad, bad misses tonight. I know Alex struggled and Matthew was a matchup nightmare, but I would have rather seen more of those two.

- Speaking of Alex, ugh. I want it so bad for that kid. Just when I start to think the lightbulb is starting to come on, he does what he did tonight in that first half. He makes some game-changing plays, unfortunately it’s on both sides.

I never think losses are a good thing, but they can certainly be helpful long term. That’s what we have to hope.

But it’s scary to think that two of the issues aren’t likely to change much....and that’s guarding when a team plays like tonight and free throws. Those two items usually fall under who you are, and right now I just think this is a very mediocre FT shooting team and a group that is going to struggle defending teams like Clemson.

pretty much my thoughts. The free throws just absolutely drive me insane. I thought K lacked adjustment in a few areas. The overplay killed us, like it does a few times a year. Also I sticking with Stanley on that Mack kid. Stanley was a no contest all night- needed to find somebody else. Easy answer would be Moore I guess hopefully in the near future. I don’t take much from this, assuming we come out dialed Sat
 

WI#1Dukie22

All-Conference
Jan 17, 2008
3,900
1,004
0
Tough night that I didn’t see coming. It felt like we were down 10 points or more all evening....even when we took the lead.

- Looking for a way to beat this Duke team? Spread them out. But give Clemson credit....their bigs are made for that style.

- Free throws. They’re pretty alarming. We saw how last year it hurt us....looks like a bad re-run.

- I really love Jordan Goldwire....but man. He makes every layup interesting. Bad, bad misses tonight. I know Alex struggled and Matthew was a matchup nightmare, but I would have rather seen more of those two.

- Speaking of Alex, ugh. I want it so bad for that kid. Just when I start to think the lightbulb is starting to come on, he does what he did tonight in that first half. He makes some game-changing plays, unfortunately it’s on both sides.

I never think losses are a good thing, but they can certainly be helpful long term. That’s what we have to hope.

But it’s scary to think that two of the issues aren’t likely to change much....and that’s guarding when a team plays like tonight and free throws. Those two items usually fall under who you are, and right now I just think this is a very mediocre FT shooting team and a group that is going to struggle defending teams like Clemson.

pretty much my thoughts. The free throws just absolutely drive me insane. I thought K lacked adjustment in a few areas. The overplay killed us, like it does a few times a year. Also I sticking with Stanley on that Mack kid. Stanley was a no contest all night- needed to find somebody else. Easy answer would be Moore I guess hopefully in the near future. I don’t take much from this, assuming we come out dialed Sat
 
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