I didn’t really miss him this year until the Kansas game. He was the missing piece that would have put us over the top in the E8. Still appreciate everyone else though.
Frank Jackson
- Thread starter Duke=Boom!
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Duval drove the lane the best he had all year against Kansas. I more so missed Kennard. Duke couldn’t hit water if they fell out of a boat the second weekend. Could you imagine if you add a shooter like Luke to that squad. Shew...
Duval was our best player vs Kansas
- 20 Pts (Bagley with 16)
- 6 Assists (Grayson with 4)
- 2 of 6 from 3Point (Grayson 2/9 and Trent 2/10)
I will always remember and respect Duval for the switch he flipped in the NCAA Tournament. Based on the clips & notes I've seen of our incoming Freshman PG Tre Jones, we will be missing Duval's defense
As poster above noted with Kennard. We needed Grayson to shoot better and for O'Connell to contribute more than 2 minutes [empty stat line]
- 20 Pts (Bagley with 16)
- 6 Assists (Grayson with 4)
- 2 of 6 from 3Point (Grayson 2/9 and Trent 2/10)
I will always remember and respect Duval for the switch he flipped in the NCAA Tournament. Based on the clips & notes I've seen of our incoming Freshman PG Tre Jones, we will be missing Duval's defense
As poster above noted with Kennard. We needed Grayson to shoot better and for O'Connell to contribute more than 2 minutes [empty stat line]
I missed a redshirt junior Jabari Parker, just returned from his Mormon mission.
I was thinking this would suggest Frank for our next assistant coach
Kennard is the exact player we could have used in the tournament. Makes it rain from outside, great free throw shooter, and clutch as clutch can be.
We needed Grayson to be Grayson this year. For whatever reason, he wasnt. He was really hot from 3 to start the year and played great when Bagley was out. If Grayson shoots like he is capable of, if he has the year expected of him, we beat Kansas, probably sweep UNC, and are most likely in the FF with 33+ wins. We had what we needed. Not blaming Grayson. He played his tail off. He just shot much worse than he was capable of in most of our losses.
His sophomore year there was no question he was our star and he thrived in that role. There were many times during his other 3 years here that he seemed -- seemed, I say -- hesitant, as if he was unsure of his role.
As a frosh, that was to be expected, and his high points were connected to a nothing-to-lose, balls-to-the-wall, IDGAML vibe. Injuries his junior year plus Luke's emergence and later, Jayson's, made his role uncertain and led to some shakiness. While similar this year, there were times when he deferred to almost everyone. I particularly noticed it in situations where in years past he would have driven to the hoop, but was instead passing to Trevon to do the exact same thing. I got the feeling this year that he saw the team's greatest potential being dependent on more talented players (all the other starters are ahead of where he was as a freshman and have way higher projections for their pro careers).
Yep - had Grayson shot the way he's capable of shooting, even just one or two more threes, Duke is surely in the FF.
I don't think Frank Jackson would have done anything for this team.
But, with Grayson as cold as he was, Luke Kennard (whom I mentioned in a post a couple of days ago) would have been ideal to have back on the team. He's got maturity; great shooting touch; can drive. He'd have been perfect for this team.
I don't think Frank Jackson would have done anything for this team.
But, with Grayson as cold as he was, Luke Kennard (whom I mentioned in a post a couple of days ago) would have been ideal to have back on the team. He's got maturity; great shooting touch; can drive. He'd have been perfect for this team.
Agree with that. But when he did assert himself, when he took good shots within the offense, I expected every one to go down, even when he was having a bad shooting game. Every time he stepped to the line I thought he would knick them down. At huge moments he didnt.. He still shot well from the line, just not great like he was capable of. Instead of shooting 85 to 90% from the line, I think he was in the low 80s. Still will always be one of my all time favorites.
Well done.
Equally well done.
Luke seems like the more obvious answer to me. That said, it was also pretty obvious that Luke should have made the decision he did last season....and that was to go to the NBA. Frank, on the other hand, jumped the gun, IMO. So realistically speaking, I think he was the player who should/could have been here. I love Trevon, but I think last year at this time it would have been the easy choice to prefer Frank over Trevon on this roster.
I always rathered Luke Kennard returning over Grayson. I wanted Grayson to leave last year. The Grayson act was just getting old. Trevon would’ve been better had he played with a Luke Kennard. That’s a true sniper and he was much more efficient than Grayson inside the arc. Luke would’ve been perfect for this team.
I think a lot of people here underestimate Grayson assists, leadership, and other intangibles. And, we are assuming this year's version of Frank, Luke, etc would have been better than the previous year's version. Well, if this year's Grayson was better than Soph Grayson (discounted last year due to injuries), we are in the FF and have 3 losses total, or less.
Only thing kept us from moving on was leaving them wide open for the game tying 3 when we had 2 fouls to give or should have went to Man to Man to make it harder to shoot the 3. We didn't need nobody else that chose to leave early for the NBA
Oh yea Coach K definitely get the absolute most blame for this game. He overcoached. Switching to 3-2 for no reason and that 1-3-1.
I disagree on the man-to-man defense. This was a zone team. It's what they did best. We allowed 70 points or more twice the last 13 games of the season. Against UNC in the ACCT (74) and Kansas (72) on Sunday. Our defense is what turned our season around.
I do agree with fouling, though. We had those two fouls to give....I would have liked seeing us use them. For one, they're there to give. And second, I think it prohibits Kansas from getting into their offensive set/flow as easily.
Hindsight is always 20/20. If Mychuyluik (sp) misses that three we're having a different conversation right now....or if Grayson makes that last second shot. Or, had we rebounded better. We just didn't play a particularly well and that's the reason we lost.
If we are speaking just about the outcome of this year Frank wouldn't have helped IMHO. Duval played a great E8 game. Yes he had a bad turnover late, but he kept us in the game in the first half. We came a couple bad plays, tough calls, lousy rolls of being at the FF right now.
In this wild, what if, rub the magic lamp scenario to save the 2018 season I agree Luke would have been the one who could have helped most to cover for Trent and possibly Allen when they were struggling and to get us some points when we were in a scoring slump.
And I absolutely agree that Luke went to the NBA at the right time for him.
In this wild, what if, rub the magic lamp scenario to save the 2018 season I agree Luke would have been the one who could have helped most to cover for Trent and possibly Allen when they were struggling and to get us some points when we were in a scoring slump.
And I absolutely agree that Luke went to the NBA at the right time for him.
Yeah, I think the rebounding is being overshadowed by their 3 and Grayson's shot. I remember seeing a stat that Kansas was something like 314th in rebounding. I don't remember exactly, but we were outrebounded by what. 15 or something like that? Even if we still lose the rebound margin, but it's only a difference of say 5, I believe we win and it doesn't even come down to the last minute
Luke was a good one, for sure. People forget though how terrible he was in our 2 tournament games last year.
The problem with people is someone else is always better, or would have made a difference. The only thing I will say about this coming team is we will probably wish we had one of our bigs back.
Maybe one. But I think bolden can be the big man. He will play the Azubuike role for us. We will play just like Kansas this year but with better players at each position. More driving and less three point shooting though. We literally can take turns with 3 people on the elbow isolation play and run it all game.
My wife looked over at me on Sunday during the game and said, "these guys just can't get stops." I knew what she was saying, but it wasn't getting stops that was our issue....it was giving them second-chance opportunities over and over. So, yes, I agree....rebounding was the most glaring thing that stood out to me.
Hopefully Bolden will make that much less of an issue. I think he's capable. Azibuke isn't as good as Bagley. But he has a game this weekend. I don't think Bolden has to be a star, or average 15-10. He just needs to be active on defense and good enough that he's not completely ignored on offense. I think this team has a chance to be even better offensively than the guys we just finished watching .....we also still have to see what EJ does.
Good point. And people also have short memories....Luke struggled to guard a light post.
Yeah Luke probably would have been fine in the zone.Yes, but in our magic carpet pipe dream Luke could have been hidden the zone!
The only guy that really hurt me when he declared last year was Frank. Didn’t help that he did it at the last possible second too.
But think about it...he wouldn't have played this year anyway. So we didn't really lose anything
I hear ya. I’m not dwelling on it. Just hated how he announced he was leaving at the last second. It’s like we were so close to him actually coming back.
And then yeah he gets hurt again and then also supposedly Trevon doesn’t come here if Frank stays.
Frank would have helped us tremendously, but then Duval may not have come. To quote Remember the Titans, this young team needed to "leave no doubt." Letting a good experienced team like Kansas hang around is a recipe for being sent home, and leads to "if this shot went in or this had happened, then we would have won." Still much better than a second round loss to RI or a sweet 16 loss to Syracuse, which almost happened.
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Kyrie and Tyus still had 3 years of eligibility this year. Even one of them would have made a big difference.
If I'm not mistaken, he originally committed to Miss. St. I recall lots of teams interested at first but many backed off for off the court concerns.
If that's all incorrect, I apologize, haha.
Coach K messed this game up by messing with the zone at the beginning of the half. It was working perfectly fine in the first half. He was overthinking and trying to be a step ahead of a move Self never made
I don’t think there’s much reason to make Coach K the scapegoat here. If anything, go after Roger Ayers.
We should have never given up that 3 at the end of regulation... hell Newman looked like Ray Allen all game shooting from the corner spot...dude dropped 32 on us... now that hurts! I'm still proud of these team for making the elite 8... none of my Duke hater friends could talk crap after we lost because their teams had long returned to their respective campuses...
Bingo. Regardless of Wendell’s foul call (I thought it was a good call), poor shooting, poor rebounding or a disappearing cast of characters in big moments, that game was still lost by letting Malik Newman recreate his Ballislife mixtape. One less open corner three in regulation and we win that game. Close games are rarely won and lost in one instance. And this was no different.
This team should have never been out rebounded by 11 period. Carter being in foul trouble certainly didn't help. Bagley being double teamed every time he got the ball definitely threw him off.
I would have liked to have seen Trent or Grayson making the entry pass on the same side as Bagley, that way they would have left an open shooter if they were going to double Bagley in the paint.
Duval got Bagley the ball in the lane, and every time, they doubled Bagley leaving Duval open. They were giving him that open three every time.
This loss upset me more than any other in many many years. Once the game went into overtime, I knew it was over. I knew Kansas' experienced guards were going to take over.
I would have liked to have seen Trent or Grayson making the entry pass on the same side as Bagley, that way they would have left an open shooter if they were going to double Bagley in the paint.
Duval got Bagley the ball in the lane, and every time, they doubled Bagley leaving Duval open. They were giving him that open three every time.
This loss upset me more than any other in many many years. Once the game went into overtime, I knew it was over. I knew Kansas' experienced guards were going to take over.