Duke is now the overall #1 Seed "ACC"ording to Espn........

[LineSkiCat14]

The first quote is just what I heard on ESPN radio. I think one guy was a knee-jerk reaction and the other just kind of laughed it off.

Yeah, Duke going to the F4 wouldn't shock me. It won't be hard to beat Oral Roberts, Tennessee Tech and Gonzaga.

 

[kyjeff1]

For me when Noah was at Florida and kicking our butt i disliked our teams and coaches for stinking so bad, i didnt really hate florida, i know im in the minority there. i also respected noah as being a good player, allen is the floppiest, whineiest, call getting guy ive seen in a while. not to mention he is tied with ted cruz(his father) and martin shkreli for the most punchable face in the world

So you were okay with Noah calling UK "the kiddy cats" in just about every interview?

 

[TruBluCatFan]

DUKE IS NOT NUMBER 1 THATS NOT TRUE YOU LIAR MORE ESPN BIASED TINFOIL HATS I HAVE HAD ENOUGHT!

I see what you did there.

 

[TruBluCatFan]

I meant from last season.They lost 4 starters from last year and then lost Jefferson this year (and now Jones). That's how you end up with no depth.

Didn't we lose all 5 starters?

 

[JC for 3]

....as long as Gracie keeps thinking he's 6'9 or better and can just keep driving the lane, regardless of what's in front of him, the dookies don't worry me in the slightest. They're primed for another ending by a Lehigh or Mercer- like team.

 

[miracle7s]

So you were okay with Noah calling UK "the kiddy cats" in just about every interview?

i mean it was childish, but i got it. we are UK so when we are terrible by our normal standards people will talk trash.

 

[SilentsAreGolden]

At this point K hoping to have enough players to suit up going forward. No word on Matt Jones but he was putting no weight on that foot leaving the stadium.

I slowed that play down and it looked like his foot made a right angle just above the ankle. Best case I would think would be a high ankle sprain, which is still not something you just snap back from. Good chance there's a break though.

 

[Neue Regel]

A horrible missed traveling call and a timeout are the difference in Duke being a top team and missing the tournament. Could, and arguably should, be at 8 losses right now, needing to practically win out to make the tournament.

A win is a win.. but not worried about them at all. Still think they get bounced early. Sub-100 ranked defense doesn't bode well, and if Jones misses time, they really won't be able to D up other teams.

I could point to some games Duke lost in the final seconds that they had chances to win and they could be 24-2 right now instead of 20-6. They lost to UTAH by 2 in Overtime with Allen playing with the Flu and looked to have that game under control at one point, they lost to Syracuse by 2 having one day to prepare for that zone-Sat/Mon game, they were up double digits on Clemson and lost by 5. Matt Jones had a critical 3 ball miss near the end of that game.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda, the bottom line is they got those wins. There were two games they didn't have a shot to win at the end so far this year. Kentucky and Miami. (both 11 point games)Duke could easily have only 2 losses right now.

 

[Neue Regel]

I slowed that play down and it looked like his foot made a right angle just above the ankle. Best case I would think would be a high ankle sprain, which is still not something you just snap back from. Good chance there's a break though.

That's what I was thinking. (high ankle) I haven't heard anything concrete yet.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

I could point to some games Duke lost in the final seconds that they had chances to win and they could be 24-2 right now instead of 20-6. They lost to UTAH by 2 in Overtime with Allen playing with the Flu and looked to have that game under control at one point, they lost to Syracuse by 2 having one day to prepare for that zone-Sat/Mon game, they were up double digits on Clemson and lost by 5. Matt Jones had a critical 3 ball miss near the end of that game.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda, the bottom line is they got those wins. There were two games they didn't have a shot to win at the end so far this year. Kentucky and Miami. (both 11 point games)Duke could easily have only 2 losses right now.

There's always games that are close. Duke has certainly lost a few they could have won. But not "should have" won. I mention those two games because it wasn't so much on a team's performance or lack there of. One was an absurd, non-subjective type call to end the game, the other was Roy's total coaching collapse. That's not including the should be T2 and ejection on Allen's trip in Louisville.

Really, I'm just guessing where Duke is among all teams. I'm not going to count Duke's "should have won" losses, just like I'm not going to count Kentucky's "should have won" losses to Auburn, Tenn and OSU. Duke and Kentucky earned those losses for playing crappy and being young. I'm not excusing Kentucky bad games and saying "Yep, they're only a 3 loss team". No, those were bad performances.

So yes, Duke has 6 losses, they came out on top at the end and those wins should rightfully keep them in the run for one of the top seeds. But, gun to my head, if I had to rank the top25 of who I think the best teams are, in my mind, Duke has 8 losses .. maybe even 9 losses. Not 6.

I do think there's a good chance they turned the corner just like Kentucky has. They've definitely improved, but have they really improved enough to beat those 3 teams? I don't know. UofL? Yeah. I'm just waiting to see them play a game that isn't marred in some fashion.

 

[Neue Regel]

There's always games that are close. Duke has certainly lost a few they could have won. But not "should have" won. I mention those two games because it wasn't so much on a team's performance or lack there of. One was an absurd, non-subjective type call to end the game, the other was Roy's total coaching collapse. That's not including the should be T2 and ejection on Allen's trip in Louisville.

Really, I'm just guessing where Duke is among all teams. I'm not going to count Duke's "should have won" losses, just like I'm not going to count Kentucky's "should have won" losses to Auburn, Tenn and OSU. Duke and Kentucky earned those losses for playing crappy and being young. I'm not excusing Kentucky bad games and saying "Yep, they're only a 3 loss team". No, those were bad performances.

So yes, Duke has 6 losses, they came out on top at the end and those wins should rightfully keep them in the run for one of the top seeds. But, gun to my head, if I had to rank the top25 of who I think the best teams are, in my mind, Duke has 8 losses .. maybe even 9 losses. Not 6.

I do think there's a good chance they turned the corner just like Kentucky has. They've definitely improved, but have they really improved enough to beat those 3 teams? I don't know. UofL? Yeah. I'm just waiting to see them play a game that isn't marred in some fashion.

Some fair remarks and I appreciate the dialogue. I would only say that regarding last night, even if Roy calls a TO, that doesn't guarantee them a W. Had he called one, you know that the directive would have been to somehow get it to Brice Johnson and Duke would have played the last play with that in mind. UNC's backcourt was 4-24 last night. That is a stunning statistic, especially when we are talking about a hyped senior guard like Paige. Paige had a helluva sophomore year on an average UNC team. He has hit many big shots for them over his career but man has he kind of hit the wall. Can we say that maybe this is a good example of what happens when players don't strike while the iron is hot? Tyus Jones was not going to have any higher stock after being MOP of the Reginal and Final Four. He had to go. Nobody is leaving Chapel Hill, and when they do (as juniors McAdoo and Tokoto did) they are pressured to stay by Roy. Players are just not getting better at UNC and freshmen are not stepping in and turning into star players over there. Hell not even uber hyped Harrison Barnes was OAD.

 

[.S&C.]

Dukes seed is irrelevant , they will be in a favorable bracket .

This. All day. People still don't get it. The elite brainiacs love the Duke school boy image and will place them in favorable positions every time. Half of more of their titles are completely unearned. It's a huge problem.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

Certainly, this was purely discussion and debate. No attacks at all.

That's true, no guaranteed win last night because of the TO. But man, if Roy plays to Duke's weakness and pound the ball.. could have been ugly. Paige is just bleh. Too small and weak, he's been exposed. Grayson looked like Hulk against him last night! lol.

I guess I'm just trying to figure out where I think they are.. still thiing around top30-20 TBH. I'd like to hear what UK wins you think were a little marred or maybe undeserved, either by bad officiating, bad coaching, or even some lucky-as-hell abnormal performances. My point is, I don't think there's any. Kentucky has earned every win, with no help from the refs or something severely out-of-the-norm happening, by generally beating teams soundly. All but two games have been won by double digits (just looked that up, Louisville and Miss St, absurd stat). Duke has had 6.

The only game I'd maybe include was Duke, actually.. I'd agree Duke was off their game a bit more than us, but I think Kentucky's defense caused that, and we had our own issues. Kentucky probably only wins that game 6 times out of 10.

I think I'm just still a bit skeptical of Duke's last 3-game performance. I could very well be wrong, probably am to some extent, but I still need to see more. All three of those games had very "wtf" moments.

 

[ThroughBlue]

Expect Duke in the cake walk out west.

 

[Aike]

@Neue Regel - real question here, and I'm not trying to bait you:

Does it bother you the way that Grayson Allen flops?

He didn't get away with that vs. UK, which was a large part of why we won so handily, imo.

 

[the stat man]

Hell I thought the Duke teams spends the first two weeks of the season practicing their flopping , and getting up and looking at the bench with their arms out stretched. It will be interesting to see when coach K retires if they still get that same treatment, I don't think they will , and it will drive the person who replaces him nuts !!

 

[ganner918]

Didn't we lose all 5 starters?

Christ, why is this so difficult. It's hard to replace that much departure, especially with injury. It's why we sucked in 2013. Sometimes you pull it off (we did this year), sometimes you don't. The question was how does Duke have so little depth. The answer is they graduated/lost to draft 4 starters and this year 2 starters are hurt.

 

[Neue Regel]

@Neue Regel - real question here, and I'm not trying to bait you:

Does it bother you the way that Grayson Allen flops?

He didn't get away with that vs. UK, which was a large part of why we won so handily, imo.

Grayson is who he is and when he has the ball he is a maniac, when he intends to drive he goes full throttle. I'm shocked he hasn't gotten hurt yet.

 

[Neue Regel]

Christ, why is this so difficult. It's hard to replace that much departure, especially with injury. It's why we sucked in 2013. Sometimes you pull it off (we did this year), sometimes you don't. The question was how does Duke have so little depth. The answer is they graduated/lost to draft 4 starters and this year 2 starters are hurt.

When I answered that question earlier I didn't mention the defections to the NBA from last year. Why? because that is becoming the new normal for the elite programs so in my mind the head coach should already be anticipating early NBA entry to begin with. It's kind of one of those "it goes without saying" type of things.

 

[Aike]

Grayson is who he is and when he has the ball he is a maniac, when he intends to drive he goes full throttle. I'm shocked he hasn't gotten hurt yet.

Fair enough. Do you think that throwing the head back, faking a foul stuff is taught or just picked up?

I've seen a couple of our guys do it at times, and I hate it.

 

[Neue Regel]

Fair enough. Do you think that throwing the head back, faking a foul stuff is taught or just picked up?

I've seen a couple of our guys do it at times, and I hate it.

I don't think it's uncommon for lots of players to try and sell a play in driving situations. How many times do we see throughout the NBA season or NCAA season some funny clip on you tube where someone tried to sell a foul and it came off embarrassingly bad.

 

[Blueaz]

After watching last night eight times out of ten all Grayson Allen has to do is tell the referees hey I am getting ready to drive to the basket. I am going to throw my head back a few times , flail my legs and arms , so please get ready to call a foul, oh and please ignore the walk that happens on the way to the basket , thanks

Signed
Grayson Allen

this is making me effin crazy

 

[KYtotheCore]

How the heck did K get such a thin bench? He was only playing 6 players before Jones got hurt. He has a gaggle of water boys over there....

Don't know, but what's weird is it was still enough to beat UNC.