***DUKE VS SYRACUSE OFFICIAL GAMEDAY THREAD***

[Get Nasty]

Prior to landing Okafor, Duke had long been saddled with a rep for doing poorly with big men. While Miles Plumlee made the NBA based on his athletic potential, he was never the man at Duke, and it took Mason until his senior year to be the man. Ryan Kelly wasn't a true down-low big. Zoubek had a great half season at the right time; McRoberts left in what was perceived to be a huff. It has been since Shelden Williams that Duke had had a true post player excel, and he was a 4-year college player who never amounted to much in the pros.

Okafor committed to Duke and showed we can use big men as our offensive focus, but by the time that played out, this season's freshman class had made their choices. According to one recruiting site, we offered Diamond Stone, Henry Ellenson, and Caleb Swanigan (news to me on the first two). There were academic concerns about Stone and the other 2 both chose places close to home.

What else was the staff supposed to do? Jeter is a top 20 recruit who isn't ready to help a lot this season. Amile is injured. Obi hasn't earned PT and Vrank wasn't expected to be ready this season. Why does a 3-game losing streak with signs of more to come have to mean someone screwed up? Don't these things just happen sometimes? Someone dared drop "PC" on me yesterday when I took someone to task for a post; well, I'd say this tantruming need to point fingers is a better example of whiny entitlement and coddling: No one can just accept that things don't always go their way. They have to blame someone. It's comparable to how litigious society has become. The way some people are reacting here reminds me of how 10-year-olds struggle to accept that losing means going home in March.

Amile Jefferson and every other big at every other school aren't walking through that door. This is our team. Dance with who brung ya.

For me the writing was on the wall 2 years ago in the okafor class that he was a one and done. So i know it's not major but you would have thought we'd push harder for 2 centers that year instead of 2 centers this year. Maybe duke did push as hard and just flat out missed.

This is a weird year for me because every other year Duke has struggled and didn't look like a championship caliber team I would be frustrated because so and so wasn't playing and so and so was playing. Not this year. To your point, the people playing right now are the only ones capable of playing any quality minutes. I think that's pretty clear to all. You can debate why that's the case but the hand has been dealt.

I will make one point, i'm not a duke Historian before about '85 but it was said this 3 game skid to unranked teams hasn't happened in over 50 years, so i would say the reaction by many is justified.

It will be interesting to see if K keeps recruiting classes like last year and next year with multiple one and done potential players. I think that's the way he's going to have to go to not have depth concerns like this year.

 

[pisgah101]

We did bring two centers in that year..

 

[Get Nasty]

We did bring two centers in that year..

You really counting Obi? Looking at his Rice stats as a frosh you had hope, watching him play as a frosh you scratched your head.

 

[skysdad]

There's not really much to say. Duke just isn't very good. I think many of us knew that, relatively-speaking, this wasn't going to be a great Duke team. That said, I wasn't anticipating this. It's a struggle right now....and while we miss Amile, that's not the only thing to blame here.

Right now we aren't very good fans either. Strange isn't it. When we are playing well we are great fans. It's not going well right now for us so we seem to be setting ourselves up for a THR or RR type melt down. Yes it's tough to be on this losing streak. I personally can't remember so a long stretch of playing poorly but it seems some how things always get better. We are only human and we love our basketball team so we vent out our frustrations on this public board. Beyond a doubt the team feels frustrated as does the coaching staff. We may be to the point where we are going to stay in this regression pattern or start next game in turning around our season. I as a Duke fan can do my part in being the best Duke fan I can be . OFC

 

[Get Nasty]

Grass is green opinion.Before the game I thought defensive rebounding and 3p% are keys (pretty obvious vs Cuse)......... you tell me luke and matt go 2-20 and syracuse eats us alive on the offensive boards and shoots great from 3 I would have thought we lose by 10-20 only because it was at home. We're in it until the last minute so this team does have players. That's different than previous years where we've struggled, you didn't see as much talent on the court. This team does have some extremely talented players. Just lacking depth, a duke ready PG, and Post D/Rebounding. Not fixing any of those soon, so we have to start shooting better and driving more.

 

[dukiejay]

....and driving more.

This is actually what has me most frustrated. And it started in the Clemson game. We've actually negated our biggest advantage of taking the ball to the basket and drawing fouls.

What's funny is, last night Matt, who I love, seemed to be the most eager to try and get the ball in the paint off the bounce. And no offense to him, but that's not his game. Luke let his early shooting woes deflate him entirely. For the first time in a month, he had the deer-in-headlights freshman look we see often. And Brandon? Here's a kid who hasn't been afraid to mix it up and actually has played stronger than he's looked all season long....until last night again.

This team obviously has deficiencies, but when we're doing the things we do well we're able to mask them some....that hasn't been the case the last seven days.

K's five fingers mantra of making a fist has never been more needed.

 

[pisgah101]

You really counting Obi? Looking at his Rice stats as a frosh you had hope, watching him play as a frosh you scratched your head.

You have to count him lol he was brought in to play after Oak left to give us him, Plumlee, Amile, jeter in the post... In theory they did EXACTLY what most are complaining about. It happens lol not everyone in Elton Brand

 

[crazyduke3]

Thought our boys tried really hard last night but they just didn't win. I'll take it every day (we'll not the no win par). Hang in there fellows this year will have more ups to come.

 

[Smythe13]

Maybe this will help..

http://www.fayobserver.com/blogs/sp...cle_0cbee8be-bb22-11e5-82df-93a21e04257b.html

Actually it didn't help. This is a very superficial view of a subject that goes deeper. Like I said in my original post, K recruited and signed a transfer who now had/has knee issues and a top 15 recruit who is not yet at ACC caliber player. A 4-5 year big was also recruited and signed. It seems that K was looking ahead and filled the void but sometimes things happen and some kids are not ready. This is a young & gutty team. They are learning the hard way and maybe it will pay off. A few plays here and there and they could be at the top of the ACC. Then, an article mentioning Stillman White on an underdeveloped team that had 4 NBA first rounders, won nothing, and went 2-3 against Duke, would not have been written. Go Duke

 

[K-oach Q]

It helps understand...I'm not saying K is wrong how he likes to run his team, but this year it's backfired.

Simply..he does not like to fill all the scholarships and or fill them with guys that can play immediately. And players transfer because he runs a tight rotation and they want to play. That isn't going to change in today's culture. It leaves us about eight players any given year that can actually contribute. Factor that it with OAD..a transfer here or there that wants PT and in the case of this year an injury to a significant piece...well then there is nothing there to take its place.

Maybe in a year or two guys like Vrank will be a welcome addition and we will all look back how he was a good get and how well the staff developed him...but for this years team that philosophy has backfired because we have No bench.

It just helps put into perspective how we got into the situation of only having six guys...it's a self inflicted wound due to philosophy. I not saying it's right or wrong..I think K's track record would answer that, but for this year it has cost us.

I would consider it an anomaly this year...we've pretty much experienced Murphy's Law for this season.

 

[Dattier]

It helps understand...I'm not saying K is wrong how he likes to run his team, but this year it's backfired.

Simply..he does not like to fill all the scholarships and or fill them with guys that can play immediately...it's a self inflicted wound due to philosophy. I not saying it's right or wrong..

Seems to me like you're saying it's wrong. Can't things just not go your way sometimes w/o it being a retroactive indictment of your philosophy?

Teams that play 10 deep tighten their rotation come March. Maybe the top 3 are fresher for having more subs throughout the season, maybe they can't handle the extra minutes. If Duke plays 8, maybe they're used to it and roll, maybe they wear down or can't compensate an injury.

Nobody plays 13 deep. Why fill those spots with guys who aren't going to play? It's not like Duke is going to be short on new guys. It's also not as if K regularly has rosters w/ only 8 guys on it, either. These are the number of recruited scholarship players (including redshirts and mid-year departures, but not Justin Robinson) we've started each of the last ten seasons with (including this year):
2016: 10
2015: 11
2014: 11
2013: 12
2012: 12
2011: 10
2010: 11
2009: 12
2008: 11
2007: 9
Think about who the last eligible guy on the bench was. In 2010, for example, with Olek Czyz gone after the first semester and Seth Curry sitting out his transfer season, I'd say Ryan Kelly was the last of 9 eligible scholarship players. He became really valuable in subsequent seasons, but he wasn't able to get regular minutes as a freshman. The next year, we only had 10 guys. I'd say Josh Hairston was the last of them. We lost 3 guys and brought in 5 the next year. If the 2011 team had 3 more guys on it and they all stayed, we don't have room for all of Austin Rivers, Marshall Plumlee, and Quinn Cook.