I've been to probably 80 Duke games in my life (ACC tourny, NCAA games, road venues) but last night was my first real game visit to Cameron. My reactions to seeing this year's team in person:
1. Warms my heart to know most (if not all) of these guys will, in theory, be back next year. I love that fact!!
2. I love the depth and the energy of the roster.
3. My concern should probably be with the offense but I think Carey is developing, Trey will continue to gain offensive confidence, Hurt has an incredibly high ceiling on offense, and the rest will make more shots as we go along......I think?
4. My concern is the defense (believe it or not). I love the old school overplay defense as much as anyone but I fear asking average defenders to overpay the ball 30 feet from the basket could get expensive. Teams are scoring at will in the paint, not because of dominant post play, but from layups off constant dribble drive penetration imo. We are literally in rotation every possession off penetration and we either create a turnover or give up a layup or wide open three. I gotta have faith but that is my biggest concern with this group. Get a handle on that and we could be a real problem come March.
5. The overall experience was awesome.....now I want to see an ACC game there.
1. Warms my heart to know most (if not all) of these guys will, in theory, be back next year. I love that fact!!
2. I love the depth and the energy of the roster.
3. My concern should probably be with the offense but I think Carey is developing, Trey will continue to gain offensive confidence, Hurt has an incredibly high ceiling on offense, and the rest will make more shots as we go along......I think?
4. My concern is the defense (believe it or not). I love the old school overplay defense as much as anyone but I fear asking average defenders to overpay the ball 30 feet from the basket could get expensive. Teams are scoring at will in the paint, not because of dominant post play, but from layups off constant dribble drive penetration imo. We are literally in rotation every possession off penetration and we either create a turnover or give up a layup or wide open three. I gotta have faith but that is my biggest concern with this group. Get a handle on that and we could be a real problem come March.
5. The overall experience was awesome.....now I want to see an ACC game there.
