Gordio Posted March 3, 2014 Posted March 3, 2014 Got to say that Virginia was impressive. They are big and strong and played that way. The refs let both teams play, and they out-physicaled us on defense, and just hit a lot of shots. I think the home court helped them too. Lot of energy. Our offensive issues will get better when a Grant gets healthy. Cooney and Gbinije showed flashes, and I am convinced we will see cooney get out of his funk. I liked Roberson in garbage time. I think this team is still a solid 1 or 2 in the east. I have been saying this for a while that Virginia is the best team in this league. I don't think Syracuse falls past the 2 line & my guess is they will still be sent to Buffalo for the first weekend. I guess in the grand scheme of things it really does not matter if you are on the one line or the two line. You still got a pretty easy game the first game & in the 2nd game your going to face a team that is capable of beating you. Espn is saying Kansas should jump them for #1 seed for some reason. Kansas has 7 losses but I know Lunardi's reasoning is they have played the toughest schedule. I don't care who you play, 7 losses is too much for a 1 seed. Kansas gets the 2 in the midwest with Witchita as the 1. That would be a fun elite 8 matchup. I have been saying this for a while that Virginia is the best team in this league. I don't think Syracuse falls past the 2 line & my guess is they will still be sent to Buffalo for the first weekend. I guess in the grand scheme of things it really does not matter if you are on the one line or the two line. You still got a pretty easy game the first game & in the 2nd game your going to face a team that is capable of beating you. Kansas has 7 losses but I know Lunardi's reasoning is they have played the toughest schedule. I don't care who you play, 7 losses is too much for a 1 seed. Kansas gets the 2 in the midwest with Witchita as the 1. That would be a fun elite 8 matchup. Right now with 1 week left in the regular season & then the conference tournaments Arizona, Witchita & Florida are locked in @ the 1's even if they lose in their conference tournaments. The last one is going to go to the winner of the ACC Tourney if Duke, Virginia or Syracuse win it & if some other team happens to win the tourney like UNC(playing as good as anybody in that conference) I could see Wisconsin grabbing the last #1 if they win their tourney.
The Poojer Posted March 4, 2014 Posted March 4, 2014 ]Jim Boeheim says "we'll probably start Roberson if Grant can't go. We need Mike Gbinije's versatility off the bench."[/b]
Miyagi-Do Karate Posted March 4, 2014 Posted March 4, 2014 Re Roberson, let the Roberson Fan Club rejoice!!! I will be curious to see him with extended minutes.
The Poojer Posted March 4, 2014 Posted March 4, 2014 I know they have to play CJ and BMK tonight, but I'd love to see CJ get some serious rest leading up to the tourney, if he and Grant can be healthy and Roberson gets some playing time, we will be well poised for the real season
LB3 Posted March 4, 2014 Posted March 4, 2014 (edited) Re Roberson, let the Roberson Fan Club rejoice!!! I will be curious to see him with extended minutes. Yippee!!! My prediction is if Roberson gets 15 minutes, he'll get around 7 points, 5 boards. He's gonna show that he can be trusted. Edited March 4, 2014 by KikoSeeBallKikoGetBall
The Poojer Posted March 4, 2014 Posted March 4, 2014 looks like they are shutting grant down for at least the regular season...time for roberson to shine
Andrew Son Posted March 5, 2014 Posted March 5, 2014 This isn't even a top 25 team at this point... Terrible
Andrew Son Posted March 5, 2014 Posted March 5, 2014 Wire to wire home loss on senior night to a four win GT team... Add that to a home loss to a two win BC team. I wonder if duke has ever had two home losses in a season to teams with a similar record. In my opinion the season is over, grant's 11 points 7 rebounds is not saving this.
LB3 Posted March 5, 2014 Posted March 5, 2014 (edited) Grant absolutely helps. I'm not willing to call a season over because of one of the worst teamwide shooting slumps I've ever seen. Plus, it's still just 4 losses. It also looks worse because when our coach only goes 7 deep all season long, the reserves aren't really ready. Shocker. I'm a big Roberson fan, but he definitely looked like a kid playing his first real minutes of the season. They also don't really have the ability to use Gbinije as a spark when Cooney is terrible like he is three out of every four games because Gbinije's already played most of the game. With a healthy Grant: Title contender Without a healthy Grant: Possible first round upset contender. Edited March 5, 2014 by KikoSeeBallKikoGetBall
Maury Ballstein Posted March 5, 2014 Posted March 5, 2014 Make no doubt about it this team is reeling hard. GT was very very bad. I'd be surprised to see them in the sweet 16 at this rate. Gonna have to bounce back hard at ACC tourney, another tough loss there and it's a wrap.
BuffOrange Posted March 5, 2014 Posted March 5, 2014 Wire to wire home loss on senior night to a four win GT team... Add that to a home loss to a two win BC team. I wonder if duke has ever had two home losses in a season to teams with a similar record. In my opinion the season is over, grant's 11 points 7 rebounds is not saving this. Yep. Even if Grant makes the difference tonight in a narrow victory - a team who barely salvages a split vs two pathetic teams in their last 2 home games is going where exactly? What a dumpster fire. Maybe after 5 months we should come up with an offensive set other than the "Conney/Fair off a double screen" just for giggles? Nah.
LB3 Posted March 5, 2014 Posted March 5, 2014 (edited) Yep. Even if Grant makes the difference tonight in a narrow victory - a team who barely salvages a split vs two pathetic teams in their last 2 home games is going where exactly? Are you really just adding Grants average points to the score to come to this conclusion? As if the entire complexion of the whole game wouldn't change if he was in there. If Grant plays, we win going away. Let's not acknowledge the cumulative effect on the game that his length, rebounding, scoring and familiarity at his defensive spot in the zone brings. I do agree that Boeheim is incapable of devising an offense though. Edited March 5, 2014 by KikoSeeBallKikoGetBall
Andrew Son Posted March 5, 2014 Posted March 5, 2014 Are you really just adding Grants average points to the score to come to this conclusion? As if the entire complexion of the whole game wouldn't change if he was in there. If Grant plays, we win going away. Let's not acknowledge the cumulative effect on the game that his length, rebounding, scoring and familiarity at his defensive spot in the zone brings. I do agree that Boeheim is incapable of devising an offense though. I don't remember much "winning going away" when grant was in there.
Miyagi-Do Karate Posted March 5, 2014 Posted March 5, 2014 I do agree that Boeheim is incapable of devising an offense though. They just run cooney and fair on screens on the baseline, and if that doesn't work, picks (with no rolls). It's pretty stagnant. I think not having Grant hurt us more on the boards and defense. Our issues on offense stem from guys being unable to hit open jumpers, or create anything off the dribble. As I think about it, we don't really have anyone that can just go iso and break his guy down. Fair doesn't have the handle to do it effectively against good defenders. Ennis doesn't often finish well. This is a team crying out for a guy like a Dion Waiters. Obviously disappointed. Probably the toughest loss of the year.
LB3 Posted March 5, 2014 Posted March 5, 2014 (edited) I don't remember much "winning going away" when grant was in there. Gotcha. I'm in board with you now. Let's just burn our SU gear and not watch anymore games this year. That'll show em. Team - Won by: California - 11 Indiana - 17 Villanova - 16 Va Tech - 20 UNC - 12 BC - 10 Miami - 12 WF - 10 Clemson - 13 And then we started playing good teams like Pitt & Duke and then we lost Grant. Edited March 5, 2014 by KikoSeeBallKikoGetBall
BuffOrange Posted March 5, 2014 Posted March 5, 2014 (edited) Are you really just adding Grants average points to the score to come to this conclusion? As if the entire complexion of the whole game wouldn't change if he was in there. If Grant plays, we win going away. Let's not acknowledge the cumulative effect on the game that his length, rebounding, scoring and familiarity at his defensive spot in the zone brings. I do agree that Boeheim is incapable of devising an offense though. I don't remember much "winning going away" when grant was in there. Right, like the home games vs ACC powerhouses BC, Miami & NC St. Merely adding his avg pts, which of course I wasn't doing - is no more naive than pretending the final 5pt margin was an accurate representation of the game. A double digit margin for this team this year which plays at one of the slowest paces in the country is like a 20pt deficit for your father's Orangemen. It only got as close as it did 'cause GT took some bad/hurried shots & missed the front end of some 1&1s. Basically their best NC St impression but the lead was too significant to blow. I think I'm being generous just by assuming the W. Edited March 5, 2014 by BuffOrange
LB3 Posted March 5, 2014 Posted March 5, 2014 (edited) It only got as close as it did 'cause GT took some bad/hurried shots & missed the front end of some 1&1s. Basically their best NC St impression but the lead was too significant to blow. I think I'm being generous just by assuming the W. So let's just acknowledge their 6 missed free throws that kept it close (15-21) but not mention Cuse's 9 missed free throws (7-16) that kept the lead as wide as it was. Also, their hurried shots were, for the most part, Cuse's defenses fault. I do fully agree we are not a very strong offensive team but ignoring our missed opportunities while giving theirs as examples of how you were being generous assuming the W is weak IMO. Edit: Whether we agree on my winning going away comment or not, my main contention is if we have Grant and Keita (if only for his 5 fouls) fully healthy heading into the tournament, I'd put us as one of the favorites to win it all. Even with how bad they've played lately with Grant and Keita nicked up. I'm not as off put by what's obviously a slump as some on here. Edited March 5, 2014 by KikoSeeBallKikoGetBall
BuffOrange Posted March 5, 2014 Posted March 5, 2014 So let's just acknowledge their 6 missed free throws that kept it close (15-21) but not mention Cuse's 9 missed free throws (7-16) that kept the lead as wide as it was. Also, their hurried shots were, for the most part, Cuse's defenses fault. I do fully agree we are not a very strong offensive team but ignoring our missed opportunities while giving theirs as examples of how you were being generous assuming the W is weak IMO. Edit: Whether we agree on my winning going away comment or not, my main contention is if we have Grant and Keita (if only for his 5 fouls) fully healthy heading into the tournament, I'd put us as one of the favorites to win it all. Even with how bad they've played lately with Grant and Keita nicked up. I'm not as off put by what's obviously a slump as some on here. I don't know why you're taking a "what would've happened w/ Grant" discussion and weaving in a "which team is better" layer. Obviously some fluke, unsustainable stuff has to happen for any basketball team to lose to an inferior team at home. I think that goes w/out saying. In this case it's a crappy 3pt shooter in Golden making a few or Ennis/Cooney/Fair missing FT's or whatever... I'm "ignoring" that stuff because I don't think Grant being in uniform really changes those things. Of course he would've made a difference elsewhere. I also think the above fluke stuff can be a valid excuse for getting upset by a mediocre NIT quality team (especially on the road). But not garbage teams at home. No National Champion in the last 12+ years has lost to a team as bad as BC anywhere, much less at home. I'm afraid to check if any champion has two home losses this bad. I seriously doubt it.
Recommended Posts