Last night, Marquette defeated Duke 73-62 in the CBE Championship. Dominic James scored a game high 25 points to lead the Golden Eagles. Listen, we knew they weren't going undefeated this year but the loss still hurts. Dominic James looked like Dwayne Wade (circa 2003) out there and he single-handily dismantled the Blue Devil defense whether it was penetrating to the hoop or stepping out to hit the open jumper. Look, I knew James was a good player. I saw what he did to UCONN last year but I didn't think he was this good.
As for Duke, there are both positives and negatives. First, with the negatives, since the negatives outweighed the positives last night. Greg Paulus looks lost out there and it looks like he's regressed since last year. He's back to playing the matador defense and he's committing entirely way too many turnovers. Last night, he had six turnovers and only 2 assists. That is inexcusable and unacceptable. Every time Duke had a chance to gain some breathing room from Marquette, it seemed like Paulus turned the ball over and it led to a fast break the other way. Look, I'm not getting down on Paulus and I'm not looking for him to be benched but he needs to correct this problem sooner rather than later if the Blue Devils want to have a successful season. Second, the Blue Devils had two stretches during the game where they went scoreless for over five minutes. This is one of the areas that will continue to be a problem for Duke until they find a go-to scorer when they need a bucket (JJ, come back!!!).
In the loss, however, there were some positives. First, Josh McRoberts asserted himself on offense last night for the first time in his career. He demanded the ball so much last night that he began to force shots when they weren't there last night. As a Duke fan, I will deal with that though because we need him to be aggressive. Second, Lance Thomas looks like the real deal and was entirely worth the wait to get him. He's tremendous in the post, he grabs rebounds and last night, showed a lot of fight and toughness. Third, I know he's coming back from a serious knee injury but I want to see David McClure play more. Whenever he's out there, he may not fill up the stat sheet but he always has a positive impact whether it's hustling after a loose ball, drawing a charge, or grabbing an offensive rebound. Finally, DeMarcus Nelson looks awesome this year and if he can stay healthy, he will have a monster year. He scored 11 points in the first 5 minutes of the game and then for some reason, Duke didn't go back to him. Look for that to be a point of emphasis in practice this week leading up to not only the Davidson game but the two huge games next week against Indiana and Georgetown.
Next up for Duke is Davidson on Saturday night at Cameron and I will be there thanks to my amazing and beautiful girlfriend! Look for Duke to be refocused and win by about 18-25 points even though, this is not an automatic W by any means. Davidson has always been well-coached and experienced.
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