| It's been a while folks, so let's get caught up
briefly.
The end of the regular season definitely had its
bumps and bruises (quite literally). After an 8-0 start in the ACC and a long winning
streak where Duke shut down some great opponents, they lost some tight games down the
stretch. It reminded me a bit of the late 80's, when Duke had some fine teams but simply
couldn't win them all against tough conference competition.
There was quite a bit of angst when Duke actually (horrors!) lost two in a
row, but bounced back nicely against Maryland in Cameron.
The losses to NCSU and Wake were against two powerful offensive ballclubs
that Duke couldn't shut down. The trend
during Duke's down stretch was a return to the shootout style of early in the season,
exacerbated in part to an excess of fouls by the team's big men. This was fine when Duke's shooters were on, but
less so when their opponents stretched the defense to the perimeter and forced Duke to
attack off the dribble. Good defensive teams
reduced Duke's guards to one-on-one players, and anyone who plays solid team defense can
defend this. A team that patiently looks to
attack an offense with good passes is hard to defend and wears out an opponent; a team
that uses a lot of one-on-one play can be stopped.
Duke's easy win over Maryland was keyed by a
return to the sound defensive principles and ball pressure that marked easy wins against
the likes of Texas and Michigan State. Valpo
proved to be an interesting diversion as their soft zone let Duke shoot a ton of open
three point shots...which everyone made. When
Shavlik Randolph, Shelden Williams AND Nick Horvath all hit threes in the same game, I
believe the Revelation of John refers to this event as the Sixth Sign. Duke took that little break and attacked Florida
State on their Senior Night. Duke's seniors
made some big plays of their own here--Chris Duhon hit some clutch threes, nailed all the
free throws down the stretch and drove past Tim Pickett for the layup that sealed the
deal. That was set up by Nick Horvath getting
a huge rebound with about a minute to go, allowing Duke to run the clock. That clinched a
regular season tie.
What followed was perhaps Duke's worst game
of the year, and exposed what has been a season-long difficulty. Georgia Tech is by far the most physical team in
the league and has been since Paul Hewitt started coaching them. With the Jackets, their bruising style is less
like a Stanford or Rick Barnes-type Clemson/Texas team that builds their program around
multiple and interchangeable big men who pound away in a low-post setting and more akin to
the UNC's women's basketball team: a quick and athletic squad that hits you in the chops
when you aren't looking and tries to get in your head.
Ever since Michael Isenhour a couple of years ago, Tech players have tried
to use a lot of extracurricular activity in an effort to throw Duke off their game. It hadn't worked up until their game in Cameron,
where Duke reacted badly to how the game was called. Furthermore, Luke Schenscher proved
rather dramatically that he's a force to be reckoned with if you don't take him seriously. He shut down both Luol Deng and Shelden Williams,
while their guards forced Duke into an unusual number of turnovers.
Duke regrouped once again against UNC behind a
brilliant showing by Deng and yet another gutty performance by Duhon. JJ Redick shot poorly but scored on a key drive
and got a game-clinching steal against his nemesis Rashad McCants. The ACC tourney came around with everyone
expecting tough matchups all around. Duke
slogged their way through a win over NIT-bound Virginia, thanks to Dan Ewing scoring big
from the perimeter and Shelden Williams dominating the weak Hoo post defense with a career
day. Duke got revenge against Tech with a
masterful second half where Williams dominated Schenscher and Duhon got the best of
Jarrett Jack. JJ Redick continued his
shooting slump and got into early foul trouble. Oddly,
the fouls were often coming at the offensive end. In
an effort to add some variety to his offensive game, he has been attacking the basket off
the dribble more often. The problem is that
he's using his off hand to ward off defenders a bit too obviously, and it winds getting
called against him more often than not. He
describes himself as a rhythm player, and that kind of early foul trouble really tends to
throw him off. Everyone knows what happened
in the ACC finals against Maryland. The Terps
looked unstoppable early on and then Duhon got hurt.
The team rallied around his injury and got closer and then took over the
game. Just when things looked well in hand,
everything went wrong for Duke and went right for the gutty young Maryland team. Shots that looked open off the dribble got
blocked. Players that hardly ever turn the
ball over were coughing it up. Many free
throws were missed. Dumb fouls were
committed. Shelden's last foul was towards
the end of regulation, and without him in the game, Duke had no chance of winning.
That loss certainly put the hoops experts of
the world off of Duke's scent in terms of NCAA picks.
Many a talking head proclaimed that Arizona would knock off Duke in the
second round. Even Lute Olsen was talking
trash about Duke prior to their game with Seton Hall.
Of course, his Arizona team didn't play a lick of defense against the
Pirates. They had a lead throughout most of
the game, but a close look at how that contest was played revealed that the Hall was
getting plenty of good looks at the basket--they just weren't hitting them. Once a couple of shots started to go down, Arizona
panicked and started chucking away instead of getting the ball into the post (where they
were effective in scoring). Seton Hall
chipped away at the 14 point deficit and played great defense down the stretch.
In Duke's opener, they crushed an
overmatched Alabama State team. This is what
was supposed to happen, but Duke still had to come out and do it. There were plenty of 16
seeds who were able to hang around for a bit before falling, and Duke wanted to make sure
that they took care of business here. The
Hornets actually kept pace with Duke for about six minutes.
Guard Malcolm Campbell was breaking ankles and getting all sorts of looks
from long range, and they also had a few guys crash the boards for some stickback slams. Ewing and Deng carried Duke early, as Luol found
Shelden & Dan for scores and had a stickback. Dan
had a three point play, pulled up for a three, and dished to Shelden for a dunk. The key player for Duke in terms of energy wound
up being Shavlik Randolph.
Shav has had his moments down the stretch,
occasionally getting a key rebound here or stickback there, but hasn't done a whole lot at
the offensive end. He even fell behind Nick
Horvath in the rotation for a few games. Coach
K has been patient with him and it paid off here. He
took the ball from the top of the key and drove right by his man for a layup. Then he
posted up his man and used a perfectly-executed dropstep for a score. Those two polished moves set him up for later in
the game, when Duke fed him the ball in the post over and over again. Alabama State had pulled within 20-12 in the game
when Duke went on the run and JJ Redick fed Shelden for a posterizing dunk on the break. That triggered an 13-2 run that put Duke up 33-14. Another interesting part of the run was Lee
Melchionni. Shelden was at the line and had
hit a free throw when it was noted that he had a cut on his arm. Lee came in for him and sank the free throw, and
then later finished in transition, all while playing solid defense. Duke kept pounding away down low and got a bunch
of free throws, a powerful Randolph rebound slam, and a Ewing steal. Alabama State did score the last 4 points of the
half, leaving Duke with a 21 point lead.
The first half was far from perfect. Duke turned the ball over 10 times and committed
10 team fouls. Deng, Williams, Melchionni and
Horvath all had 2 fouls, and Dockery had 3. Ewing
was smoking hot with 18 points and Shav had 13 with 6 rebounds. Redick was 0-4 from the field, continuing his cold
streak. He came out and took a 17' jumper to
start the second half, and that was all he needed. JJ
followed that up with 2 quick threes that he nailed as Duke started the half with a 12-0
run. That put them up 60-27 and made the rest
of the game academic. JJ went nuts in the
half, scoring all 14 of his points and tossing up perfect lobs to Deng & Randolph for
dunks. Duke stopped fouling, stopped turning
the ball over, and crushed ASU on the boards.
The game against the Hall would hinge on two
things: Shelden Williams staying out of foul trouble and Chris Duhon being able to contain
Andre Barrett. Barrett was recruited by Duke
once upon a time, while Andre Sweet transferred from Duke to the Hall. Barrett is a jet-quick guard who loves to pass and
has a deadly pull-up jumper. He dominated
Arizona's quick guards off the dribble. Coach
K knew that Seton Hall would be tired and a bit drained from their emotional victory, so
taking them out of the game as quickly as possible was a goal. Early on, JJ was absolutely on fire. He nailed a 15' jumper off a curl, a shot he often
misses. He nailed a three and then sank a
really tough 17' fadeaway jumper. After he
hit 3 free throws after being fouled, Deng got a long tipped rebound and tapped it
downcourt to Sean Dockery for a layup. That
gave Duke a 16-9 lead six minutes into the game.
Duhon had badly bruised ribs and couldn't
really drive the lane like he was accustomed to in the first game. In the second game, he had adjusted a bit to the
pain and set up Williams for a dropstep and got a tip-in. The Hall cut the lead to 20-15
but Duke went on an amazing 15-2 run, one of the best of the year. Redick was an early key, hitting 2 free throws and
finding Horvath inside for a floater. Then
Randolph came in and was once again a difference-maker.
He drove past Kelly Whitney for a layup, looking so much quicker than at any
time in his career. Shav then dished to Deng
for a three point play. After another Redick
fadeaway from 17', Shav again passed inside to Deng.
Duke got the ball back yet again, and Redick passed to Shav on the wing just
inside the three point line. Shav saw that he
had a clear lane, went up with one hand and jammed the ball in over Whitney. It was a spectacular posterization and the most
powerful move I've ever seen him make.
Duke seemed to have the game in hand with a
37-19 lead, but the Hall ran off a 9-0 run to get back in the game. Melchionni once again came in and dished to JJ on
the wing for a crucial late three after a Barrett three rolled in and out. With time running down in the half, JJ hit Luol
inside to give Duke a 42-28 halftime lead. The
game wasn't out of reach, but on sensed that the window for Seton Hall had closed. That was quickly borne out in the second half, as
Duke attacked Seton Hall inside. Redick
scored on a drive, Ewing found Deng posting up and Duhon hit Randolph posting up. A
Williams-to-Duhon give-and-go for a three point play gave Duke a 53-32 four minutes into
the half. After that, Seton Hall started to
get tired and sloppy, and the long parade to the foul line began. Duke went about seven minutes without a field goal
but still scored 12 points, keeping their lead between 19 and 22 points. The Hall collapsed towards the end as Duke
finished with a 12-3 run to make the final score look like more of a rout.
Duke met all of their goals as a team. They dominated the smaller Pirates on the boards
40-22; when the Devils rebound like this they are nearly impossible to beat. With Barrett at the helm, Duke didn't press much,
getting just 3 steals. But that was fine,
because Duke held the Hall to 42% from the field while hitting 54% themselves. Four players were in double figures while Randolph
had 8 points and 5 rebounds. Duhon somehow
managed 9 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Williams
had 13 and 11.
There are a lot of good teams no longer
playing, so it's not out of line to treasure this win.
At the same time, Illinois will be a formidable opponent with their imposing
trio of guards. Redick, Ewing, Dockery &
Duhon will have to play great defense and the bigs will need to do a great job of shutting
off passing lanes. With Duke's 7th
consecutive Sweet Sixteen appearance, the team is hoping to move on another round further.
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