After the destruction of the Blue Hose (lot's of bad jokes about this, some are here), the Blue Devils moved on to semi finals by beating the Georgia Southern Eagles, 97-54. This ended up being a blow out with Kyle Singler leading the way with 19 points and 8 rebounds. From my last post, the Blue Devils seemed to take an interest in rebounding the ball against the Eagles, and that helped fuel their offense. Elliott Williams led the team with 11 rebounds, which is great for a guard. I liked Lance Thomas' hustle and aggression, even if it was against a smaller team. He's got to do that each game, especially when it comes time to playing the big boys. The rest of the crew played well and I'm sure that Coach K was happy with this game. 
The Good: Other than the bigs on this team, the two guys that will have the most impact are Gerald Henderson (did you see the block of that dunk?) and Jon Scheyer. Henderson of course brings the athleticism that most Duke teams lack, and he has a decent enough stroke to score from pretty much anywhere on the court. Scheyer is,....well, I'm going to say this, special. This kid is tough, he has that 3 pointer, and he can get to the rim. He's a better version of, dare I say it, JJ Redick. He may not score as many points and hit as many shots as Redick did in his career at Duke, but he'll definitely be close. The Bad: Faster, more athletic wings are going to give the Blue Devils problems. If you watched this game, there were times that the Eagles had opportunities to score but just couldn't hit shots. That won't always happen when you get into ACC play. I know this team is growing as we watch them, but rebounding and lack of defensive speed on the wings could be a downfall of this team.
6 comments:
Coach K has got to be the greatest coach of all time. Not recruiter, coach. The talent on this team is inferior to most of the top 20 teams. But somehow coach K has managed to put together an effective style for this group of guys. Sweet 16 would be good for this team.
@ cjames30082
Coach K actually has some talent on this team. They just don't have the bigs. They got guards and wings out the a$$, but Zoubek isn't going to get it as your post presence. I can just see what happens to them when they play UNC if that 3 ball isn't dropping.
Man, are you nuts? I'm a Carolina fan and I hate them both, but Scheyer couldn't wash JJ Reddick draws!!!
JJ was a feared assassin who might go down as one of the best evar in the ACC. Does Scheyer ever START? Which guy got benched, him or Pawlus?
Either way, you shouldn't mention these guys in the same sentence.
CJames,
You're kidding right? Duke gets McDonalds All-Am's just like UNC goes. Coach K seems to be losing out on bigs lately. Maybe it's by design. He has a roster full of 6-4 to 6-8 guys, but no bigs. Still, they have talent.
Tell that to Maryland, a team of Arby's All-Ams. They would die to have Duke's recruits.
@ AB
Scheyer starts, Paulus (thank God) sits and comes off the bench. Scheyer is averaging 10 pts, 5 asts, and 4 rebs a game and he can do the one thing Redick couldn't do and that was put the ball on the floor and get to the rim. Watch him this year. Nolan Smith is going to surprise some too as he works on his jumper.
Coach K is missing out on the bigs cause they're all thinking "1 and Done" or at least showcase me to help me build my draft stock, while Coach K gets guys who want to learn his system. He's not getting the "NBA ready" (I use that term losely cause only a few of them are really ready) talent or size that the other top teams are getting.
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