Posted On: January 24, 2013 By: Cliff Comments: (1)

It was a ugly night on Wednesday for Duke has they got dominated in every facet of the game against Miami. The team fell behind early and seemed to lack emotion and the desire to play which you rarely see out of a Coach K team. The team sure didn’t play up to the #1 ranking as they lost to the Hurricanes 90-63.

Yeah, a Duke team gave up 90 points to a Miami team. The game was terrible to watch due to the style of play and lack of energy on the court. It almost seemed that the guys didn’t even want to play defense. They were slow getting back on defense and when you aren’t making wide open jump shots on the other end things are going to get out of hand just as they did. Duke’s ncaa basketball odds surely took a hit and they could possibly be looking at a two or three seed in the tournament as I expect them to drop at least one more conference game.

I understand that Ryan Kelly being out hurts the team on both ends of the court, but damnit someone needs to step up. The offense isn’t being ran correctly or in flow. Quinn has to do a better job of managing the half court offense and guys need to block out and grab an offensive rebound to get second chance points. None of that was happening last night.

Will the guys respond better on Saturday against Maryland? I sure hope so or things are going to be UGLY for at least a couple more week.

@JustDukeCom

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Category: Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Game Notes

Posted On: January 8, 2013 By: Cliff Comments: (1)

For the third game in a row, Duke got off to a very slow start against Clemson. What I don’t like about these slow starts is that they are happening at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Are the guys not coming out motivated enough? Will they show up on the road and play down to the competition? These are questions that plenty of Duke fans are asking themselves tonight.

One other thing that I didn’t care for tonight as I watched the game was Mason Plumlee down on the block against Devin Booker. Mason seemed to rush his shots and even had a couple of his shots blocked by Booker on back to back shots. What happens if Duke plays a against a dominating big man that won’t back down? Hopefully the guards will be knocking down shots if that happens. I do have to give Mason credit, he did grab 13 rebounds.

The bright spot of the night was Quinn Cook who torched the Tigers for 27 points. Cook controlled the ball well on offense and knocked down his shots unlike the previous game where he went 0-11. Cook is growing up and playing very good ball.

Up next is a game against NC State on Saturday. The guys will need to come out and play good ball right from the opening tip if they want to remain unbeaten and run their record up to 16-0 and 3-0 in conference play. My guess is that it happens and Plumlee will have a big game!

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Category: Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Game Notes