Is this team similar to 2006 Team

[duhondukie]

Do you guys find this team similar to the 2006 team that went 22-11? That team really struggled to shoot the ball and had average to below average guard play.
Now those Freshman Scheyer, Thomas, and Zoubek ended up winning the national championship so it wasn't all bad.
Last year I brought my son to a game at Cameron for the first time and he was able to meet Justice Winslow. You talk about a class act. My son and I were walking around Cameron and we noticed Justice just kind of hanging out. My 9 year old went up to him and asked him for a picture, Justice said I will be right back I have to run in the locker room. At that point I told my son it's ok buddy I think he is pretty busy {as I did not think he was coming back out) but 2 minutes later he came out and talked to him for about 10 minutes. What a great experience.
If you guys could help me with posting pictures from my phone on here I certainly would. Thanks

 

[CRAZIE4LIFE]

If Thornton starts to get it, which he showed a few good signs last night, and the guys find their range, this team will be really good.

 

[duhondukie]

If Thornton starts to get it, which he showed a few good signs last night, and the guys find their range, this team will be really good.

I don't disagree Crazie, at times without Thorton out there we were starting offense from beyond the 3 point like.

 

[Laettner]

We'll be fine, the frosh & Grayson were not ready for that stage in Nov. K now has their attention & the teaching begins. Friday nite will be interesting to see how we play. I'm betting the team is ultra agressive with better fundamentals.

 

[BluePhil]

1 Game

 

[duhondukie]

With Smart out at VCU are they still applying pressure defensively for 90 feet?

 

[JCColsCane]

Supposedly, they are still playing the same pressure game(VCU). Now, back to the original question, I think too much is being made of 1 game. It's really too early to compare this team to any other teams. Duke got beat by the better team last night.
School is now in session, with Coach K as the instructor. Maybe we can compare later, after final exams!
Go Duke!!


JC-OFC

 

[aah555]

Yes, I don't see the parallels. I saw a team that made far too many mistakes on both ends of the floor and got absolutely horrific games from its two most talented players. Ingram and Allen may have been a bit overhyped, but they're not going to go 3 for 17 on a regular basis.

The problem with 06-07 (and to a lesser extent 07-08) was not execution. It was talent. I never really felt as if there was a big talent difference between the two teams last night. You're not going to win if you're giving away 17 pts. on mostly unforced turnovers by recklessly driving into the lane the way Allen was doing, repeatedly screwing up defensive assignments (particularly in transition), and missing a ton of FTs -- including a number of front-end of 1 and 1s. For instance, Murray scored 5 points where nobody switched onto him when he had the ball. Plumlee twice gave up layups in transition b/c he was out of position. A lot of what we struggled with last night was correctable. If we get anywhere near the production we got out of our 3 veterans on a going-forward basis (48 points & 25 boards), we're going to be fine in the long run I think. Our freshman + Grayson are not going to play that badly all season.

IMO, UNC's going to be a bear for us with the group we have. But, beyond them, not really all that impressed by what I saw out of UK, Kansas, and Maryland last night -- i.e., the best of the rest. We're clearly a work in progress. But most of what we struggled with last night is correctable with better execution + better poise (which will hopefully come with more experience). In a down year in college basketball -- which I think this year is -- I think we have enough natural ability to do something in March if we can get our own act together.

 

[dbav]

Seriously, we are 3 games into the season...3 games.

 

[Crank_it_loud]

Duke guards were absolutely overwhelmed or disinterested, and they missed a bunch of FT's, still only losing by the margin that they did. I am not concerned too much. DT gets comfortable, watch out. And once he does, I have no hesitation meeting UK in the tourney. None at all.

 

[DukeDenver]

VCU is not very good, just big. They don't have the speed of a typical VCU team. Their big guys are terrible on offense.

They play on emotion. They have no system. We will get open looks all night. Also, we can't let them piss our guys off. They play bully ball at times.

 

[jibip]

I think the comparison is fair, but I do expect this team to fair better in the tourney that the 06-07 team. This is very much a building year IMO. These freshmen are not last year's freshmen, and we need to respect that. Maybe Ingram is a OAD, the rest are not. Last night our two main offensive threats didn't have it - Allen and Ingram. Give UK credit they outplayed Duke. They found weaknesses and exploited them.

I do believe this year will end better than the 06-07 team, but be patient with this team, b/c it's going to be building a foundation for next year when top talent does arrive and gives us an excellent chance at National Championship #6.

 

[dukiejay]

Yes, I don't see the parallels.

I agreed with pretty much your entire post, but wholeheartedly agree with your first line.

Being that last night was a huge preseason game in front of a large national audience people are going to draw initial knee-jerk reactions. I understand that.

But Grayson and Brandon aren't going to have games like that every night out, and if what people saw last night leads them to believe that's this Duke team in a nutshell then good. I know better. But I also know there's going to be struggles as this team learns and grows. Patience is a virtue this season.

We've waited seven months for Duke basketball to return. We're coming off a 5th national championship that saw us lose over 70% of our scoring. Don't let one game ruin it for you. Everyone, and I mean everyone, should have expected growing pains. Hell, last year's team, with all their talent, made us want to pull our hair out at times.

 

[pisgah101]

Grayson alone is more talented then that team at the time lol ok maybe not really but that was a rough year with 0 potential . Obviously that freshman class became great but it toil time

 

[chov1125]

There are good matchups and bad matchups. In addition to what everyone has said it can also be said that Kentucky is not a great matchup for us similar to Miami never being a good matchup for us. The teams that are ultra quick that spread us out and get into the lane with dribble penetration have generally fared pretty decent against Duke teams. We couldn't keep them out of the lane which pushed our help defense out of position and tip your cap to them they executed quite well. Normally Duke is the team that starts the year in prime position to win these marquee matchups early on. Last night it was clear that Duke is the team that must grow a lot before March whereas Kentucky is simply executing better right now.

 

[Dattier]

Duke guards were absolutely overwhelmed or disinterested...

Disinterested? What do you mean?

The problem with 06-07 (and to a lesser extent 07-08) was not execution. It was talent. I never really felt as if there was a big talent difference between the two teams last night...

Liked your whole post, but wanted to focus on this. We were much less talented then, and really young, and we started 17-3. We've looked shakier earlier so far, but with a much higher ceiling and signs we're moving that way despite last night's execution.

 

[HuffyJB]

Yes, I don't see the parallels. I saw a team that made far too many mistakes on both ends of the floor and got absolutely horrific games from its two most talented players. Ingram and Allen may have been a bit overhyped, but they're not going to go 3 for 17 on a regular basis.

The problem with 06-07 (and to a lesser extent 07-08) was not execution. It was talent. I never really felt as if there was a big talent difference between the two teams last night. You're not going to win if you're giving away 17 pts. on mostly unforced turnovers by recklessly driving into the lane the way Allen was doing, repeatedly screwing up defensive assignments (particularly in transition), and missing a ton of FTs -- including a number of front-end of 1 and 1s. For instance, Murray scored 5 points where nobody switched onto him when he had the ball. Plumlee twice gave up layups in transition b/c he was out of position. A lot of what we struggled with last night was correctable. If we get anywhere near the production we got out of our 3 veterans on a going-forward basis (48 points & 25 boards), we're going to be fine in the long run I think. Our freshman + Grayson are not going to play that badly all season.

IMO, UNC's going to be a bear for us with the group we have. But, beyond them, not really all that impressed by what I saw out of UK, Kansas, and Maryland last night -- i.e., the best of the rest. We're clearly a work in progress. But most of what we struggled with last night is correctable with better execution + better poise (which will hopefully come with more experience). In a down year in college basketball -- which I think this year is -- I think we have enough natural ability to do something in March if we can get our own act together.

Good post and I agree with almost all. The only area where I might disagree is in regards to UNC. I think UK's guards are much more athletic and quicker and more explosive than UNC's, and I think that was problematic for us on both ends of the floor last night. Maybe I'm wrong there, but I don't know that Paige, Berry, Britt and co. can muster the NBA-level explosiveness UK's group can.

 

[DukeRulesBasketball]

Do you guys find this team similar to the 2006 team that went 22-11? That team really struggled to shoot the ball and had average to below average guard play.
Now those Freshman Scheyer, Thomas, and Zoubek ended up winning the national championship so it wasn't all bad.
Last year I brought my son to a game at Cameron for the first time and he was able to meet Justice Winslow. You talk about a class act. My son and I were walking around Cameron and we noticed Justice just kind of hanging out. My 9 year old went up to him and asked him for a picture, Justice said I will be right back I have to run in the locker room. At that point I told my son it's ok buddy I think he is pretty busy {as I did not think he was coming back out) but 2 minutes later he came out and talked to him for about 10 minutes. What a great experience.
If you guys could help me with posting pictures from my phone on here I certainly would. Thanks

Noooooo!!! I want to forget that season. Makes me happy to play VCU this Friday thinking about it!!

 

[Crank_it_loud]

Disinterested? What do you mean?


Liked your whole post, but wanted to focus on this. We were much less talented then, and really young, and we started 17-3. We've looked shakier earlier so far, but with a much higher ceiling and signs we're moving that way despite last night's execution.

Here, let me help:

- having or feeling no interest in something.

That's exactly how they looked/appeared last evening, maybe not the entire game, but definitely good portions of it.

 

[Dattier]

Here, let me help:

- having or feeling no interest in something.

That's exactly how they looked/appeared last evening, maybe not the entire game, but definitely good portions of it.

Don't be that guy. You know very well I don't need a word defined for me.

Who? When? You know Brandon just has natural stoner's eyes, right? Who was "disinterested"?

 

[Crank_it_loud]

Don't be that guy. You know very well I don't need a word defined for me.

Who? When? You know Brandon just has natural stoner's eyes, right? Who was "disinterested"?

Not being that guy, just clarifying for you. Don't be that guy that gets overly sensitive to a response, and then tries to be funny at the end. And no, I don't know you, so relax.

Really? I had no idea why Brandon's nickname was Sleepy!! It was painfully obvious that some of the guards were going through the motions. Disinterested is a word I'd use to describe it; don't say it doesn't happen during games because it does. They're still kids.

 

[pisgah101]

I don't really think crank was being "that guy" but I do agree with what he's saying.. A lot of the time I didn't think they seemed interested in the game either

 

[Crank_it_loud]

Thanks pisgah; there were plenty of variables at play on Tuesday night, and that's part of what I saw. I was a collegiate athlete so I know (along with others here I'm sure) it's possible, even in the biggest games and under the brightest lights. I still have a ton of confidence in this group, however. I'm actually really excited as I feel the bigs can hang with anyone this year, so once the guards come around, look out.

 

[pisgah101]

Agree 100% crank.

 

[chov1125]

I understand what you are saying Crank but I think disinterested is the wrong word. I am not sure there is a perfect word to describe what you are referring to but I think it was more frustration than anything. They are freshman, they have had success at every level they have ever played at. It is not uncommon for freshman to get frustrated and as a result get down on themselves which comes off as disinterested. IMO it is just a lack of maturity which can and will be corrected. We as fans see it all the time. When a veteran gets frustrated they learn to fight back and compete even harder. When a freshman gets frustrated it is easier for them to feel sorry for themselves and shut down. If any of that makes any sense.

 

[johnl1219_]

Thanks pisgah; there were plenty of variables at play on Tuesday night, and that's part of what I saw. I was a collegiate athlete so I know (along with others here I'm sure) it's possible, even in the biggest games and under the brightest lights. I still have a ton of confidence in this group, however. I'm actually really excited as I feel the bigs can hang with anyone this year, so once the guards come around, look out.

To me it looked like there was little to no sense of urgency. I also thought there was more thinking than reacting with guys like Allen, Ingram and Thornton. Sometimes thinking too much instead of just paying, gets guys in their head too much.

It looked like Marshall, Amile and Matt all played with confidence.

 

[skysdad]

I kind o think this team can be like the team of 2010 with a little more experience. OCF

 

[Crank_it_loud]

Thanks Chov and John. Sense-of-urgency may be the better phrase in this case. I definitely saw the frustration as well, but these guys will adjust, and I truly believe will be a very, very good team by March. As I stated elsewhere - bring UK on come March. I'd expect a different result (not something I've said with other early losses with Duke teams - see Parkers team as example).

 

[mo.st.dukie]

The 2007 team (2006 was the J.J and Shelden show) had trouble breaking 60 against Holy Cross. This team is much more talented, much quicker, more athletic, and bigger

 

[HuffyJB]

It seems that Ingram just sort of has that look (hence the nickname Sleepy). Tracy McGrady was saddled with that during his playing days. I also had that impression of Al-Farouq Aminu when he was at Wake. That look might create an inaccurate perception among fans. He is obviously still learning as far as assertiveness and being opportunistic, but his biggest problem the other night was no rhythm whatsoever due to foul trouble.

 

[Dattier]

It was painfully obvious that some of the guards were going through the motions. Disinterested is a word I'd use to describe it; don't say it doesn't happen during games because it does. They're still kids.

Again, who?

 

[Dattier]

I understand what you are saying Crank but I think disinterested is the wrong word. I am not sure there is a perfect word to describe what you are referring to but I think it was more frustration than anything. They are freshman, they have had success at every level they have ever played at. It is not uncommon for freshman to get frustrated and as a result get down on themselves which comes off as disinterested. IMO it is just a lack of maturity which can and will be corrected. We as fans see it all the time. When a veteran gets frustrated they learn to fight back and compete even harder. When a freshman gets frustrated it is easier for them to feel sorry for themselves and shut down. If any of that makes any sense.

That's much clearer. Thank you. I agree that Grayson and Brandon in particular let some frustration show. "Disinterested" is indeed the wrong word.

 

[Crank_it_loud]

That's much clearer. Thank you. I agree that Grayson and Brandon in particular let some frustration show. "Disinterested" is indeed the wrong word.

It's the wrong word for you, but I will still utilize it as one of the traits in this scenario. I heard about you; you're one of the guys who likes to debate every little thing here that you disagree with (before my time). It's going to drive you crazy, but I am not wasting my time, or anyone else's for that matter. And yes, you already answered your last question to me above. Have a great night

 

[Dattier]

I hate the word "utilize," too, by the way.

I heard about you; you're one of the guys who likes to debate every little thing here that you disagree with (before my time).

I'm not sure why you're coming at me with this, after coming at me with "Don't be that guy that gets overly sensitive to a response, and then tries to be funny at the end. And no, I don't know you, so relax." I didn't respond to any of that the first time, and I'm not coming back at you regarding either quote here.

 

[dukehokie]

It's the wrong word for you, but I will still utilize it as one of the traits in this scenario. I heard about you; you're one of the guys who likes to debate every little thing here that you disagree with (before my time). It's going to drive you crazy, but I am not wasting my time, or anyone else's for that matter. And yes, you already answered your last question to me above. Have a great night

I'll debate the disinterested word. With our guards, even Matt early on, it felt less disinterested and more "deer in the headlights". Either way, the enthusiasm wasn't there like others were saying.

Sometimes it doesn't come down to athleticism or lack there of and more of an attitude. UK guys always have that attitude that they can do what they want to who they want. Last year Tyus, Justise and Jah had that feel. Next year, Harry and Jayson carry that swagger. The other night, our guys lacked that feel. If I want to see anything improve, I want to see that borderline disrespectful swagger that some of these guys come in with. I obviously don't want our players acting like punks on the court, but you can see it with certain players (Justise especially). That champions swagger has to be learned with this team.

 

[Dattier]

...the enthusiasm wasn't there like Crank and Dat were saying.

Wasn't me.

 

[dukehokie]

Wasn't me.

FIFY

 

[Crank_it_loud]

Dattier, I am sorry you hate the word utilize. I like it myself, but I guess we can't agree on everything. No worries, I stand by my statement, and respect yours, so no worries.

DH I really cant disagree with you, and I absolutely agree with the "borderline disrespectful" comment. I hope these guys pick that mentality up, soon.

 

[Dad2ze]

Do you guys find this team similar to the 2006 team that went 22-11? That team really struggled to shoot the ball and had average to below average guard play.
Now those Freshman Scheyer, Thomas, and Zoubek ended up winning the national championship so it wasn't all bad.
Last year I brought my son to a game at Cameron for the first time and he was able to meet Justice Winslow. You talk about a class act. My son and I were walking around Cameron and we noticed Justice just kind of hanging out. My 9 year old went up to him and asked him for a picture, Justice said I will be right back I have to run in the locker room. At that point I told my son it's ok buddy I think he is pretty busy {as I did not think he was coming back out) but 2 minutes later he came out and talked to him for about 10 minutes. What a great experience.
If you guys could help me with posting pictures from my phone on here I certainly would. Thanks

There is a thread On here that OldAsDirt started that is pretty simple to upload pics. After he explained it, I found it to be very easy

 

[ScottB59]

This team reminds me more of the 2013-14 team. Good scorers, no rim protection and poor perimeter defense. I sure hope it doesn't lead to a first round exit!