I don't know Billy, from what I remember Duke has always played as tough a schedule as any BCS school. They've always played in the either the Maui Invitational, Great Alaska Shootout, or some other big tourney. They always play in the one of the several events they have at MSG, and the ACC/Big 10 challenge has been going on for a while now. I think it's just that all of Duke's games are magnified on ESPN so when they play some crappy school that they beat by 40 the highlights are shown, but when other schools do the same, they might not get shown.

I watch a ton of Duke games.  My wife went to Duke, but my brother went to Lehigh.  Maybe that balances my bias, but not really.   I'd venture to say that Rivers' inexperience was exposed.

All season long, with no true PG (both Thornton & Cook started getting more time at the point over Curry as the season progressed), plays were generally started with the ball being given to either Rivers or Curry on the left side about 6 feet back from the 3pt line.  Either Plumlee would come out to set a pick and the ball would be dribbled around to the top of the key and the Plumlee would move back to the post.

Lehigh double teamed the ball every single time the pick was set (especially Rivers); dropping whichever Plumlee until they got back to the paint.  To my eye the stunning thing was that the ball was never passed through the double team to the open Plumlee on a pick & roll!  I don't recall it happening once.  Mason can actually handle the ball and was 9 for 9 from the field in that game.  

I was screaming at the TV in disgust that the simple switch to running that same set for the pick & roll was never made.   That's my 2 cents.

Austin Rivers is not one to look pass first, to say the least, lol.

Posted by emy1013 on 3/19/2012 7:08:00 AM (view original):

Posted by kmasonbx on 3/19/2012 12:13:00 AM (view original):
Didn't read your whole post, because it was way too long billy, lol. But the first part about Duke not playing anybody, are you serious? They almost always play in some early season tournament which will always have other big names, they then always play the best or 2nd best Big 10 school, and then they always have 1 game in the Garden against a big name school. They played MSU, Mich, OSU, and Kansas in non conference play this season, and went 3-1, and that's not a beefed up version of their schedule, they always play a schedule of similar toughness. In total in NC play they played 8 teams that made the NT (Belmont, Temple, Colorado State and Davidson being the other 4 teams) and went 6-2 in those games.

That's those Duke hater blinders that you have on blending reality and perception.

Sorry Billy, but Mason's dead on the money with this one.

yeah emy, i have to give you guys this one. that is a hell of a list of teams to play in non conference, i cant denounce that! i really wonder how their SOS compares now to 5-10 years ago, if it was just the I HATE DUKE blinders (its written in caps and block letters, so they blot out a SIZABLE portion of reality) or if they have stepped up their non conf scheduling.

well, that kind of messes up my original theory. but i still maintain the part about (and suspect duke fans might agree - might even take it as a compliment!) coach K recruiting hard working kids, relatively of course, and being able to get consistency out of them especially early in the season, much better than the average bear. then, in turn, when a dramatically higher % of teams is having some of their best games of the year, duke's advantage there is much diminished - making them seem overrated - or i should say - MORE overrated than they really are :)

Posted by coach_billyg on 3/19/2012 1:11:00 PM (view original):

Posted by emy1013 on 3/19/2012 7:08:00 AM (view original):

Posted by kmasonbx on 3/19/2012 12:13:00 AM (view original):
Didn't read your whole post, because it was way too long billy, lol. But the first part about Duke not playing anybody, are you serious? They almost always play in some early season tournament which will always have other big names, they then always play the best or 2nd best Big 10 school, and then they always have 1 game in the Garden against a big name school. They played MSU, Mich, OSU, and Kansas in non conference play this season, and went 3-1, and that's not a beefed up version of their schedule, they always play a schedule of similar toughness. In total in NC play they played 8 teams that made the NT (Belmont, Temple, Colorado State and Davidson being the other 4 teams) and went 6-2 in those games.

That's those Duke hater blinders that you have on blending reality and perception.

Sorry Billy, but Mason's dead on the money with this one.

yeah emy, i have to give you guys this one. that is a hell of a list of teams to play in non conference, i cant denounce that! i really wonder how their SOS compares now to 5-10 years ago, if it was just the I HATE DUKE blinders (its written in caps and block letters, so they blot out a SIZABLE portion of reality) or if they have stepped up their non conf scheduling.

well, that kind of messes up my original theory. but i still maintain the part about (and suspect duke fans might agree - might even take it as a compliment!) coach K recruiting hard working kids, relatively of course, and being able to get consistency out of them especially early in the season, much better than the average bear. then, in turn, when a dramatically higher % of teams is having some of their best games of the year, duke's advantage there is much diminished - making them seem overrated - or i should say - MORE overrated than they really are :)

I agree with you on just about everything you said, except the non-conference part of the schedule.  Everything else is pretty much dead on.

Emy, why didn't you tell him if he doesn't agree with you, he's not "manning up" and then calling on the forum masses to support you? That's how you win a debate! Insult the guy, and when he chooses not to respond because of the personal attacks, call him a coward!

Posted by sublightd on 3/20/2012 12:45:00 AM (view original):
Emy, why didn't you tell him if he doesn't agree with you, he's not "manning up" and then calling on the forum masses to support you? That's how you win a debate! Insult the guy, and when he chooses not to respond because of the personal attacks, call him a coward!

Dude, let it go......