November: Other NCAAB Games

[UCTitleTown]

Leg cramps are an issue for the dukies right now. Scheyer said needs to be addressed with trainers.

Flagg has a cramping problem. I hear Midol is great for cramps.

 

[CL82]

I seem to recall that Nantz was one of the first national guys to embrace UConn and atmosphere.

Love that Nantz?

 

[superjohn]

Alex and Liam in the starting lineup. After that it would have to be Ross or Stew. Who is the 5th? Solo, no. Meheny, no. Hassan, no. Johnson, no.
Abraham if he is a limited time bench player all year is not going to be brought into a Final 8 or higher game to guard Flagg.

Karaban, McNeeley, Ross, Stewart, Abraham.

We're better equipped than anyone to slow him down.

 

[JohnFSilver]

Karaban, McNeeley, Ross, Stewart, Abraham.

We're better equipped than anyone to slow him down.

Just make life difficult. Kid looks like a generational prospect. But, that doesn’t mean duke is good. It takes time to win at this level.

 

[Bazz2014]

Duke under scheyer is just never going to be a scary prospect, and watching them last night only confirmed that for me. Flagg, KK and Maluach are all incredibly talented and genuinely fun to watch, but as a team they seem soft, undisciplined and clearly lack any kind of veteran leadership despite the returners and transfer portal adds. All those things ladder up to the coach.

Scheyer has no idea how to put his teams in a position to win when they meet with any kind of resistance. His play calling (if you can even call it that) at the end was comically bad. The OOB play out of the last TO where they iso-d Flagg and he literally just had the rest of the team run in a circle was the type of thing you’d see in a made for TV Disney special. It was embarrassingly awful.

Individually, the freshman will absolutely get better as they get more college games under their belt. But I don’t think scheyer has any level of capability to help them develop to the point where duke as a TEAM will significantly improve. They will always be a sum of their parts.

They will win plenty based on talent alone, but without better coaching, UK just laid out the blueprint to beat them - and they did it with a VERY inferior level of talent than many of the teams Duke still has to play (Kansas, Auburn, UNC).

And with all that said, my greatest hope is that the AD is somehow convinced to keep scheyer around for another decade. Sinking the Duke brand would take a Herculean effort, but I truly believe that Scheyer is up to that task.

 

[jibsey]

Karaban, McNeeley, Ross, Stewart, Abraham.

We're better equipped than anyone to slow him down.

It’s difficult but I would love to see Abraham get some floor time just in case we need him for that type of situation. Who is more athletic, quick and strong Stew or Abraham?

 

[ec33]

Love that Nantz?

There is a narrow gap between "Nantz is working for the (Blue) Devil" and "love." I fall in there.

 

[Zonepress]

Flagg didn't come out at all in the 2nd half and probably wouldn't have in the 1st half without the foul trouble.

And the last 2 possessions? Yeah just give it to your star freshman who had 2 college games under his belt before last night and tell him to go make a play on his own.

Scheyer is a dope. Can't wait to see him fail as a head coach.

Lol was waiting for the announcers to make that comment but surprisingly it didn’t happen lol

 

[DogMania]

This is silly, coach K won 5 national championships.

Considering all the talent he had, I thought he should have won more. Imagine if JC had that type of talent who won 3 with much less heralded players? K probably had at least 5 or more 5* and Burger-AAs on his roster every year. He did turn Dook into a top program and won B2B NCs and I think has the most NCAA wins.

Dook is 5 for 11 when making it to the championship game. Not sure if all 11 were under K. UConn is 6 for 6. Just my opinion that all the 5*s, top seeds and preferential home games in NC (you can add UNC for getting the same IMO unfair home court advantage for decades) that he should have won more. It's not easy to win a championship, but not getting it done and getting bounced by lower seeds in most of their tournament losses seems to add some doubts.

 

[ctbro1999]

But the +/- on a player is only counted for when they are in. Sub in and you could be -2 if they just hit 2 free throws you had nothing to do with. I take +/- numbers with considerable salt.

Yeah, basing a player's game performance strictly on +/- numbers would be foolish. I mean some player could come in after a loose ball foul, comes in and 2 seconds after the ball is inbounded an opposing player across the court nails a 3. Then they steal the inbounds pass and drill another 3. Then the coach gets T'd up and the opposing team gets 2 FT's. Just subbed in player is -8 before he can even blink his eyes.

 

[Mister P]

 

[ctchamps]

Abraham handled him "well" for a guy that was greatly overmatched (showing a big heart and willingness to defend) and picked up a couple of early fouls.

Didn’t those fouls happen when he had to guard the Monteverde center?

 

[uconnfan68]

Only saw highlights, was Flagg well defended? 26/12 is pretty good.

His 3 turnovers/mistakes in the last minute sealed it for UK.

 

[ctchamps]

OK so Abraham will be part of the rotation if we play Duke? He’s buried on the bench. But I agree that we would need someone tall enough long enough and physical enough to do that.

I’ve been bullish on Ross and Abraham since watching full games of both players. They have very similar playing styles on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. They both play extremely hard and with determination.

So if Abraham was able to reduce Flagg’s offensive output it stands to reason that Ross could as well.

 

[caw]

Watching Kentucky play now for someone who can actually coach is kinda scary. Like Kentucky might actually be a tough out now. Pope is actually a really good coach and will still be able to pull top players, but guys who actually want to play in college too, which is likely better for them in the long run than the Cal scheme.

Pope has been a darn good offensive coach for a few years now. His issues were always on the defensive end and being a tad too 3 reliant because of talent. Not sure about his defensive coaching but talent alone should improve what he is coaching as he gets better athletes. It will be interesting to see how he does with more freshmen on the roster next year. He has a very old team this year. Their top 9 has six fifth years and one senior.

Brea - 5th year
Oweh - 3rd year
Carr - 5th year
Williams - 5th year
Butler - 5th year
Robinson - 5th year
Almonor - 4th year
Garrison - 2nd year
Krissa - 5th year

That is a lot to replace next year and they will be a load younger if only because COVID grad transfers will basically be done. They do have three top 35 kids committed though.


A lot of interesting comments I've seen about Flagg are about how he has a ton of stuff offensively but doesn't have "spots" and moves to get to those spots. That is one of the things Hurley's offense is very good at; knowing a players spots on the floor and getting them shots from there.

 

[Orc]

Im enjoying watching the Cuse meltdown so early in the season. They are horrendous again this year and likely wont see any postseason. Karma serves them right for trashing Uconn during our bad years in the AAC.

 

[Scott2Tate]

6>5

How quickly some forget that just 2 years ago, we had 4 to their 5 (god I hate that you are making me defend Duke’s status as an excellent basketball program historically. I feel dirty now…lol)

 

[Hurleyman216]

I saw the second half. Biggest thing I noticed was he plays at one speed. Good rebounding.
Once he learns how to change speeds and hesitations, he'll he fine. He could get to any point on the floor he wanted to get to with the ball.

Except sometimes he got there and the ball had already been stripped out of his hands.

 

[uh-no]

Except sometimes he got there and the ball had already been stripped out of his hands.

he needs to play under control...he was a black hole last night....2 AST, 19 FGA.
From a duke fan perspective, it must be a bit concerning that the offensive play has collapsed so quickly to be dependentant on just two people....especially two who did not play particularly efficiently. Kneuppel shot like trash, sure, but was still only 4-12 inside the arc, which isn't great.

I think they'll be better in a few months....but they appeared exactly what you'd expect...a bunch of talented players with nigh little organization....certainly not greater than the sum of their parts.

 

[GoConn]

Mark Pope is a pretty good coach

 

[MilliniumPrince]

Who guards him?

J Stew will put him in a locker. He will still score 25, but it won't be very efficient. No one at this level can stop him. But you can make him freeze out his teammates.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Flagg committed to a Duke team that no longer exists.

The sad part is he probably regrets his choice.

 

[TheChamps990411]

This Duke team will play a lot better as the season progresses.

Agreed. And then Scheyer will lead them nowhere. He will get outcoached when it matters most. Id take Hubert Davis in a heartbeat over him.

 

[uh-no]

The sad part is he probably regrets his choice.

i doubt it.