Duke defeated UNC Greensboro tonight 75-48 holding the Spartans to only 8 points over the last 11 minutes of the game. First, I watched the game on ACC Select and it's quite apparent that their latest budget didn't get passed. Look, I'm not complaining since the channel gave me an opportunity to see my Blue Devils live but can I get a get a booth where the announcers have reached puberty?
Second, and more importantly, tonight's game should be a foreshadowing of what we will see from the Blue Devils this year: at times, flashes of brilliance both offensively and defensively and at times, lacadasical and inconsistent. Despite foul trouble for Josh McRoberts, Duke played a tremendous first half whether it was brilliant passing or high defensive intensity but for the first part of the second half, the Blue Devils played uninspired and became complacent, which is very unusual for a Coach K-led team. At one point, the Spartans, who couldn't throw the ball into the Atlantic Ocean in the first half, cut a once seemingly insurmountable lead to 13 but Coach K called a timeout with about 10 minutes left and then the defensive intensity returned to form.
Like the Columbia game, I love the distribution of minutes. Ten Blue Devils played double-digit minutes. When is the last time you've seen that from Duke? Usually, depth is the achilles heel for Duke but with so much inexperience and talent this year, Coach K seems determined to finally use his bench. David McClure was an absolute man amongst boys tonight with 11 points, 9 rebounds and a unfathomable 7 steals and to be honest, it seemed like more. He was all over the place and if he continues to play like this coming back from an awful knee injury, Duke will be much better than most experts think. DeMarcus Nelson also had a tremendous all-around game with 11 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 steals. He, along with McClure, set the defensive tone immediately.
Another positive for the Blue Devils is the contributions they are getting from their four highly-tauted freshmen, specifically Brian Zoubek and Jon Sheyer. Zoubek had a game-high 17 points but I was more impressed with Sheyer and how he ran the team with Greg Paulus seeing limited action because of his nagging foot injury. Overall, I liked the performance from the Blue Devils and one thing is for sure, this team will be fun to watch this year. Next up is Air Force in the CBE Semifinal.
2 comments:
yo dude im good friends with one of the broadcasters and they all do a better job than u could ever do!!!so just stick to the commentary about the game.thanks
I also watched the ACC Select Cable 13 broadcast and let's be fair here. Although they might have finished puberty, let's be honest here - the laughing by the guy in the blue shirt during the pre-game to the point where they had to cut off his mic was pretty poor. I mean he was laughing at his partner who had the initial jitters.
Now, I'm not saying I could do a better job and heck, I think they are hysterical (although their commentary is somewhat forced at times and their basketball knowledge is questionable at times).
On the game, the inconsistency is the missing piece that the Dukies had from last year. However, the athleticism is exciting - the McRoberts passing, Nelson's drives to the hoops and Henderson's throw down were all incredible.
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