Official gameday thread- Duke vs Cal

[sheyduke]

The missed free throws drive me crazy to no end!!! One of the commentators hit the nail on the head last night, "Duke is too good of a team to have the deficiency of leaving points at the charity stripe." The commentator is right, it's the little things that matter in the post season. Duke simply needs to BE BETTER at converting at the free throw line!!!

A lot of Solid Points made by everyone on here. Duke's calling card this season is it's Team Defense.

Hope Foster/Cayden/Sarr are Ready 2 Defend Stanford's Point Guard on Saturday Afternoon, because he carved up the tar holes last night. Also, Duke HAS TO be ready to Defend Well against the 3 point shot on Saturday. The Cardinal made 16 3s against the cheats last night.

And a lot of the three’s were difficult shot they were hitting . Their pg was impressive.

 

[The Only Blue]

Anyone know what's going on with Caleb? Started game but Cayden then started second half but was quickly subbed out after getting his fourth foul early in the second half. Caleb then played the rest of the game despite us being up 15 the last 3 or so minutes left. Surprised no one in the press has asked him about it or did I miss it? He didn't play much vs SMU as well.

 

[DukeFromNYC33]

Anyone know what's going on with Caleb? Started game but Cayden then started second half but was quickly subbed out after getting his fourth foul early in the second half. Caleb then played the rest of the game despite us being up 15 the last 3 or so minutes left. Surprised no one in the press has asked him about it or did I miss it? He didn't play much vs SMU as well.

I assumed in the SMU game he was sick as seems like everyone has had the flu lately. He seemed fine last night and had a few nice 2nd half drives so IDK. It’s frustrating because the UL game was the best game of his career.

And the FT shooting is a problem. We’re actually worse than the #’s say because we miss so many front end 1n1’s…more than any Duke team I can ever remember.

 

[The Only Blue]

I assumed in the SMU game he was sick as seems like everyone has had the flu lately. He seemed fine last night and had a few nice 2nd half drives so IDK. It’s frustrating because the UL game was the best game of his career.

And the FT shooting is a problem. We’re actually worse than the #’s say because we miss so many front end 1n1’s…more than any Duke team I can ever remember.

Yeah lol. This whole season been confusing

 

[christophero]

I agree this team could make a deep run or get bounced the first weekend. We don't look like the same team recently. But we keep winning.

 

[denverexpat]

Might just be me being an old curmudgeon but the style of BB we play is terrible. We cannot post entry, in fact we rarely post up so post entry isn't always on, we cannot penetrate off the bounce effectively nor consistently...we tend to perimeter pass around the D until time runs down and then hoist up a 3. While this may be effective against inferior talent, if we play like this in March and run into an efficient mid-major with older players we are going to be in trouble. There were times we needed to run a set play to get a shot when Cal had some momentum and we just didn't...we won this one by getting our own missed shot rebounds and getting hot late from 3....a win is a win but there are lots of weaknesses in this team

 

[sheyduke]

Might just be me being an old curmudgeon but the style of BB we play is terrible. We cannot post entry, in fact we rarely post up so post entry isn't always on, we cannot penetrate off the bounce effectively nor consistently...we tend to perimeter pass around the D until time runs down and then hoist up a 3. While this may be effective against inferior talent, if we play like this in March and run into an efficient mid-major with older players we are going to be in trouble. There were times we needed to run a set play to get a shot when Cal had some momentum and we just didn't...we won this one by getting our own missed shot rebounds and getting hot late from 3....a win is a win but there are lots of weaknesses in this team

I really think until Big Pat or another player hits constant shots , the post entry will continue to be guarded by opposing teams .
I think teams are ok with Cameron bringing the ball in from the perimeter partly due because it’s 50/50 you can draw an offensive foul on him . If Foster and others can continue to get into the lane this will open up the interior pass from the perimeter .

 

[christophero]

I noticed a few games back the highlights were all of us making 3s or layups.

 

[denverexpat]

I really think until Big Pat or another player hits constant shots , the post entry will continue to be guarded by opposing teams .
I think teams are ok with Cameron bringing the ball in from the perimeter partly due because it’s 50/50 you can draw an offensive foul on him . If Foster and others can continue to get into the lane this will open up the interior pass from the perimeter .

Fair...but a lot of the time there is no post to post entry to...so no denial needed...i think its called a spread 5 or something...more of a pro style ..no defined position etc...I for one am not a fan of it for sure...give me a true center, a true PG and SG and a power forward etc...

 

[sheyduke]

Fair...but a lot of the time there is no post to post entry to...so no denial needed...i think its called a spread 5 or something...more of a pro style ..no defined position etc...I for one am not a fan of it for sure...give me a true center, a true PG and SG and a power forward etc...

I agree. The one thing this Duke team lacks is a true pg .

 

[denverexpat]

I agree. The one thing this Duke team lacks is a true pg .

Its seems to be the missing piece every year! although didn't we just get a new commit who is apparently a "true" pg?....we will have to wait and see since we've heard that before!

 

[Mac9192]

I agree. The one thing this Duke team lacks is a true pg .

The pg play, Ngongba, and one of our freshmen wings being more consistent, are the keys. I keep harping on Big Pat, but I wish he'd play with more of an edge to him.

We have plenty of things that seem to be wrong with this team, yet they are 16-1 with a resume not matched by many. A lot of that has got to be due to having Cam. He just gets it done.

Lot of time left in the season though, and we could go either way. If our defense becomes nasty? I think that makes us a serious contender.

 

[dukesince91]

We’re ranked #6 in the nation with one loss. I like where we’re at. I don’t think this team has even come close to its potential. Hopefully, we will see improvement from our Freshmen. I’m not that worried about Big Pat. He is slowly figuring things out. If I was rooting for the wrong team down the road, then I might be more concerned.

 

[JustAfanatic]

I’m not worried about Pat either.

 

[sheyduke]

I’m not either . I think his hand is really bothering him . Duke needs Cayden, Sarr and Nic to continue to improve . I get it , it’s kinda weird saying that and Duke has only lost one game . However I think many would agree we are one bad first half from taking another loss to a team Duke should not loose to.

 

[JimboSlice00]

Big Pat sometimes looks like he takes plays off but I agree, I don’t think he’s a big concern and he’s been solid.

I agree with everyone who says one of the freshman wings (Sarr or Nik) needs to take the next step, but I still say Cayden is the key to this teams ceiling. I’m a big fan of his and I think he’s going to be really good come March.

 

[sheyduke]

Big Pat sometimes looks like he takes plays off but I agree, I don’t think he’s a big concern and he’s been solid.

I agree with everyone who says one of the freshman wings (Sarr or Nik) needs to take the next step, but I still say Cayden is the key to this teams ceiling. I’m a big fan of his and I think he’s going to be really good come March.

Especially his floater. He just needs to read the court better .

 

[Anon1765948167]

Pat’s been really good. He can be frustrating like a lot of young bigs because takes plays off and can be passive. I liked how he took over the smu game. So he has that in him. I think he is playing harder now so there has been some foul issues. I personally think brown is a better fit around boozer. Brown plays the hustle/dirty work role well and the other big just needs to be that when boozer is around

 

[The Only Blue]

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