Get Well Soon, Jerryd Bayless!

(Dec 29) Memphis – Arizona game going on right now, and after a great start, Arizona has flattened out. 18-31. As Dozier steps up for an easy three. 20-34. How much, is Jerryd Bayless crying inside?

He's Arizona’s point guard and leading scorer, and he’s currently sitting at the tail end of the bench, looking . . actually, very sharp. Bayless is wearing a black suit and blue tie, with a single earring on his left ear. But – the worst, worst thing in the world is for a world-class player like Bayless to have to sit out a big game, all because of an accident that just had to occur one day before. They land in Memphis, they see their friends, they practice – and boom, he’s hurt. He’s played every game all season, and suddenly he can’t move his knee. It just kills you. And it kills you even more, to see those keen eyes, look out with an expression that cannot be expressed. He cannot tell the world how sorry he is, how much he would give to be able to play right now. To be on the same court as Derrick Rose? To be able to lead his team to victory? That’s all he wants. That’s all he’s thought about since weeks and weeks ago.

As the game ends, Jerryd is walking glumly towards the line, ready to shake hands, ready to get the hell outta here. A potential blockbuster road win – gone. Before the game – oh! How he had fantasized! How he was gonna take the game to Rose, to have it be a showdown in the Heartland, the two top 10 guards pushing tempo and dictating pace and dishing out the superlatives while shooting right in each other’s faces all night! How much fun would that have been??? He’s heard the accolades for Rose, and he couldn’t wait, couldn’t wait to get out of the desert and into the limelight that will be shining on Memphis, on this perfect team that supposedly had all the talent to go all the way, undefeated, earning the overall #1 seed, and basically sleepwalk through the first rounds of the NCAAs while the rest of them slugged it out tooth and claw with their major-conference foes. UCLA? USC? Washington State? Yeah, all those were still waiting for him, but now, tonight, it was about Memphis. It was about youth and athleticism and redemption, about turning this program around that got ousted in the first 2 games of the post-season while Memphis went to double Elite Eights. We’re gonna be right there with you, bud. Heh, I hear you’re practicing how to stop me in your Friday session. Well, we’re practicing the same thing – how to stop Derrick Rose. Yo, Derrick! Can we play Madden in your souped-up 11-bedroom mansion after practice is over?

But now . . now was the worst. 2 hours of sitting stock-still in a chair at the end of the bench, forced to watch as Memphis slowly tore his Arizona team apart. They did well in the beginning – good ol’ Chase Budinger putting on a show. But oh . . the seams unraveled almost immediately afterwards. You can’t win road games without your starting point guard – you just can’t. Take a good look at Pitt. And how in the world did Wisconsin do it? Against, supposedly, the deadliest backcourt in the country in #9 Texas? Two ranked teams go into foreign territory without their starting point guards, for all or half the game . . and neither survives. #6 Pitt gets blown out by Dayton. And #17 Arizona . . well, did they ever have a chance?

Back to the line: Derrick has come up, taking both of his hands, leaning in so nobody else could hear – “You would’ve beaten me tonight. I had 6 turnovers! What would you have done to me?” He smiled, his award-winning smile. Jerryd couldn’t help but laugh. You would’ve made me have 6 turnovers, bro, he thought. But it would’ve gone down to the wire. It definitely would have. “You played a great game,” he said, wistfully, half-heartedly, grinning. “We should do it again sometime. Maybe in the NCAA final.” Derrick’s eyes lit up. “Oh yeah. Hell yeah.” People were shouting congratulations, and Derrick turned around momentarily. Then he turned back. “When do you leave?” “Tomorrow morning.” “Early?” “Yeah . . you know how it is.” “Right, right . . call me, ok?” “Sure.” “Hope you get better.” “Thanks.”

Then – redemption, the words he so longed to hear: “It just wasn’t the same without you. It would’ve been a ballgame, man.”

Oklahoma at West Virginia 2OT – the Play of the Year

Wow . . Blake Griffin! I had no idea.

8:20, they’re down 7 – and it is the play of the year. No doubt. My jaw is on the floor. And this is a freshman?? The ball is loose, 3 guys fly onto the floor after it, Griffin goes after it just a little harder than all the others, grabs it, dribbles it, keeps it alive, and then scrambles back up, quick as a cat, has only one goal and that is to go straight to the basket, goes right around his man, completely ignores him, charges up, sees daylight, then suddenly – sees a guy standing right there trying to draw a charge! – changes direction, changes the trajectory of his powerful, 243 lb body, and then acrobatically, magically, somehow propels his way up to the side/back of the goal and lay it in even as he’s falling out of bounds. HOW ‘BOUT THAT! And he doesn’t even acknowledge it, running round the other end and jogging away, but oh, it swells in him, he knows that was a terrific play, and to the birds that are booing him – he runs all the way down to the other end of the court and reaches up high for the rim with one hand before turning back to the timeout that’s been called. You’re booing him?? C’mon! This guy is something special.

If one film reviewer described the 5 minute, single-camera tracking shot across Dunkirk in Atonement as Scene of the Year . . then, I nominate this one, this heady, spectacular play, for Play of the Year. I don’t think anyone else could’ve matched the wits, heart, or body control that Blake Griffin showed on that play right there. And congrats on being named the Big 12 Player of the Week! You totally deserve it.

Several terrific games were on tap this Saturday (Dec 29), and this is the one that I am glued to. To see Griffin – manhandled, pushed around, double-teamed, raked across the face – and his fortitude, how much he wants to win! It is his engine, that powers this Sooners team. And he knows it. 13:03 to go in the second half, PG Austin Johnson misses a runner and Griffin is in the middle of 3 yellow shirts jostling for that rebound, grabs it, fights it up, can’t get it to go, fights up for it again, gets pushed down to the floor on one knee, which is jammed behind another player’s leg, but he doesn’t care, doesn’t dare move – all he wants to do is find an open teammate to pass the ball to, and save this possession. He doesn’t give a damn about himself. From amongst 3 yellow shirts towering over him – he finds his man – and only when he finally passes it out does he succumb to the pain and falls onto the floor. Oh, that leg hurts. It hurts bad. He’s flat on his back, laid out on the hardwood, his eyes closed as he tries to will it away, push it away, wish it away. Not now. C’mon, not now. I know it’s hurt but . . just let me play. Let it not be anything serious.

They help him sit up. He stretches his hamstring, testing it. Then he’s up, walking to the bench. 30 seconds later, he’s on the floor again. 11:34, he grabs a loose ball, and even as he’s running for it, he sees another player flying at him, hands out – and the guy hits him hard in the face even as Griffin tries to shield himself after securing the ball. Damn! He falls to one knee on the floor, still holding the ball – but his pain is so much that he almost offers the ball as a sacrifice – like, here, God, take it, just take it, what the hell do you want me to do? He goes to the bench again, this time for some cotton to stop his bleeding. 1 minute later, he’s back in, giving a hurray to Longar Longar to sink his FTs.

OOOOOHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! “Bob Huggin’s team doesn’t have an answer for him!” He sure doesn’t, LEN! Not one! Johnson is dribbling the ball, or more like desperately trying not to lose it between 2 sticky defenders Velcro-strapping themselves to him, the ball bounces wildly along, low to the ground, too low – but Griffin is running strongly to his left side, calling for it – and Johnson somehow controls it long enough to flip it up to him, high – and Griffin just grabs it out of midair and slams that home! What a JAM! Oh, he just meets that ball so perfectly and delivers it undeniably into the rim, saying emphatically “There! THAT’S where you belong, and don’t you forget it!” And as his momentum carries him spinning round the rim hard before he comes back down, the WVU team retreats. They’ve got no answer. 5:11.

The score is tied 60-60, 3:05 left . . and Longar Longar, who is purportedly a bad free throw shooter . . now steps up to the line and shoots both FT with just about the loveliest pure arc you’ve ever seen. 64-64, 0:39 to go. The senior, David GodBold, who’s played every minute so far, gets the ball with 7, 6, 5 seconds left to shoot, and he bulls his way to the goal, he must, there is no other way, and as he falls down/is fouled/loses it, he somehow tosses it up in the vicinity of the goal, and it hits the rim. Foul! 2 shots? 1 and 1? They rule it 1 and 1. He steps up to the line, and calmly, steadily, eyes the basket . . dribbles . . and shoots. First one, good! Second one, good! 66-64! And then WVU, showing equal grit and determination, grabs a key, key rebound with about 3 seconds left and tosses in a put-back – its GOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 66-66! OVERTIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2:36 left in OT, down 5, 66-71, and Griffin travels. Ohhhhh . . the crowd is just seething with happiness. They are going to tear his heart out. When that whistle blew – Blake just gave up that ball and turned to walk the other way – but when they pull in a close-up of him, you can see he’s just biting his lip, trying not to scream. You are kidding me. We’re down 5 points. Half of the precious 5 minutes of OT is gone. And you’re gonna call a travel on me now? We didn’t come this far, to lose! I can’t bloody give it up!

And Oklahoma is done. I am sure of it. In overtime, the home team gets an undeniable advantage. Everyone is tired. But because WVU can feed off that energy from their crowd, they must be feeling like Supermen out there. They can do this. And for the first 3 minutes, it is simply too much for OU. Suddenly, WVU is beating them to the rebounds, to the passes. They are making every goal, while OU can’t get it near the basket. Ah, but thank God for GodBold! Thank God for the senior! He cuts to the basket and lays it in so quick, then happily catches the ball as it comes through the net and hands it back to the defender who has fallen on his butt, saying “here ya go”.

70-73. 32 seconds left. What do they do? Len and Patrick are arguing over whether to play hard-nosed D or foul. They agree on playing hard-nosed D. They don’t get the memo to Jeff Capel in time, though, who decides to foul. So they foul a 90% FT shooter from WVU. Nice. But OH – HE MISSES! Griffin rebound! Johnson tearing upcourt with the ball! They’re going for the 2! STOLEN!!! Ball in the air – STOLEN BACK!!!!!! Sooners have it again! Ball loose again – out of bounds. Phew! Back to OU! 16 ticks left. We need a 3. Backcourt scare . . ball moved to Crocker – their best 3 point shooter – OH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s pure! It’s good! It’s a TIE GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!! 73-73. 6.6 seconds left. They inbound . . races it up . . falls down! Griffin grabs it, sends it the hell outta there – and the buzzer! Rifle shot! DOUBLE OT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As I gather my breath . . I now think OU can win it. I want them to win it. All game long, they’ve fought back, always seemingly a play away from being 10 down but somehow coming back and coming back, until their rebounds and their toughness and their sheer will to compete has negated the horrific 20 turnovers and 13 missed free throws. And I am almost in tears as Griffin fouls out. He just looks sooooo disappointed. As he walks back towards the bench – he sees his coach kneeling by the sidelines and he just puts his hands out, like, “I’m sorry, coach. I really am.” 5 fouls. Gone. The fans are waving him deviously goodbye. He just wants to either scream and shout or cry – or both – reaching up inexplicably with his hands-turned-fists to squeeze something, anything– but he only grasps air.

Was that even a foul? “Freshman mistake,” the announcers shake their head, but I have flashbacks of when Singler fouled out of the Illinois game. He was just trying to set a screen for his PG and got pushed into another defender by Randle. Foul? Same here . . it looked like Griffin was just trying to keep his defendee in front of him, and got pushed into another guy. Really? Foul?

But the Sooners refuse to fold. And I really starting to like that little guy, Johnson. He looks so slight, and slightly suspect, with those missing/buck teeth and goatee – and he must weigh what, 160 lbs? But he finds people. And man, can he hit a 3 to lift up his team. From being 4 down in double OT to suddenly just 1 – like it ain’t nothing! Longar hits both FT again! 78-77! We have the LEAD!! Oh, and a 3 point play! This is where a strong frontline helps you in OT. You can just pound it inside, again and again, until the other team has no answer except to foul or allow it. I’m not a huge fan of their uniforms, though. Gray? Not a flattering color.

Wow . . what a game. 88-82 is the final score, Oklahoma. You can fire all the rifle shoots you want, man, but Oklahoma walks out with a win over a ranked opponent for the second game in a row. How cool is this team? Blake Griffin is definitely a prize freshman in a year of super froshs that needs more ink! Longar Longar is the best name ever. And Jeff Capel – nice to see that he’s doing well, and beating a very respectable Big East opponent, 5 feet away from their home campus! Both teams, really, went all out to make it a whale of a game, but OU showed its resilience at the end. Down 7 in the first OT? And being walled in by that deafening noise? No problem. Down 4 in the 2nd OT? And 3 players hitting the 48 minute mark, while losing their star power forward? No problem. That, is the heart of a Sooner. Great, great win, and a fantastic way to close out 2007 heading into Big 12 conference play.

Duke vs Pittsburgh OT - epic showdown in the Garden!

(Dec 20) Two UNDEFEATED teams steps into the ring – someone is gonna go down tonight!!! In one corner is Duke, winner of the Maui championship, slayer of two top-20 ranked teams. In the other corner is Pitt, who’s beaten . . well, let’s see. Exactly who have they beaten? Never-heard-of Duquesne by 5, a stone’s throw away from home? Pac-10 second-tier Washington, who pushed a runner right through their defense, at the buzzer, and Pitt needed a friendly zebra-stripe to waive it off? But consider this: an unchallenged challenger may be the worst, outside of a truly marquee challenger, because you don’t know what their holes are. You don’t know if they’ve been playing at their level, or way below, and will only call upon that extra gear when you suddenly come up to them and look them in the eye. Will it beat Duke? I don’t think so. But it’ll be a whale of a game to find out!

Lance is in! (ankle sprained a few days ago) Ugh – Paulus loses the ball while dribbling around Blair, and Blair just grabs that thing and starts breaking to the other end, with only one thing in mind – dunk it – dunk it hard – make a statement! But Gerald is fast on his tail, streaking up to him, overtaking him – and he goes up high, blocking that thing – whistle? Foul? Whatever. Blair smiles as he goes to the FT line. Never seen that before! Must be because Pitt has 3 turnovers already in a hurry – I would laugh about that too!

Way to go GERALD!!!! Blazes right into the lane, leans right to avoid an oncoming defender, and takes that ball up strong to the hoop for an emphatic two! But seconds later, he gets a little too aggressive and picks up his 2nd foul, offensive charge while trying to push the ball up too fast. He sits. They’ve read the scouting reports on Nelson and Henderson, and figured hey, if we don’t have the athletes to stop them, we’ll just stand in front of them. Singler! Dribbling right into Young and then elevating to shoot over him, using the glass. Then slipping past him to grab a runner in the lane and posting up. But what’s this with Pitt trying to send a message? Twice now, they’ve tried to power-slam the ball through the rim, as if trying to scare us? Nice try, but you might want to pick up the 2 points first, and worry about the message part later, bud. Out of the media timeout – Kyle with a nice layup inside the paint! Caught them completely asleep!

What is wrong is Greg Paulus????? First turnover I can understand, sure – but this one? Where he tentatively pushes the ball inside to absolutely no one, certainly none I could see, that would’ve been wearing a Duke jersey? Hmm? Wow. Of course, they grab that puppy like a loose pack of change and race it to the other end for a quick deuce, and we have a nice, 9-9 tie. C’mon, Greg, remember that the opposing PG, though he sure looks burly, is only 5’10” – shorter than you! Hmm? Greg comes out and gets treated for what looks like a bleeding cut on the cheek. Hello, Nolan!

Nelson with a three!!!!!! Thank you, Nelson, to break that tie. OH!!!!!!!!!!!! What the – ??? Scheyer has the ball, on the perimeter – and gets the hell knocked out of him from behind, goes sprawling to the floor, the ball of course goes loose, and they have an uncontested layup. HEY!!!!!!!!!!!! Scheyer does not look very happy . . no call . . some boos. Oh, he gets fouled on a 3 point shot! 3 freebies!! Or, 2 is ok as well. This is amazing – I don’t think I’ve seen Duke lose that many balls – and here we lose another one, with Nolan being called for the foul for trying to get it back. Gerald is back! And he promptly makes his presence felt by pulling up for a jumper. It snuggles in! Life is too short to sit on the bench with 2 fouls, huh, Gerald? They show a replay of how Greg got his nasty-looking cut – by way of Singler? Awww. They were both defending Blair, and Singler caught him in the face with an elbow. Gerald stuffed by Brown! Paulus comes back in – eager to prove himself. Duke with 8 TO already???? Singler pulls up on the arc and fires off a three – clang. But Scheyer is so alert that he’s dashed into the paint anticipating the miss – good job! – and grabs the rebound, trying to put it back up while being surrounded by an avalanche of dark-blue shirts. Block! By Blair! Scheyer looks annoyed, but puts his hands up, saying hey, that’s our ball still. That’s all that matters. 7 seconds! I’m yelling at Paulus – there’s 7 seconds left and you’re peace and quiet all the way out 30 feet from the basket! But he knows what he’s doing – and finally gets what he wanted – Thomas breaking out all alone in the paint – and he promptly gets fouled to boot. Nice. Oh, another nice Lance move in the paint, to get the basket and one! Thanks Lance for coming back from your injury so quick! 19-13 all of a sudden, 7:46 to go.

Oh, Paulus with a TRIPLE!!!! We break through 20!!! It’s been an uphill battle, but we’re seeing some daylight, baby!!! Hail to Greg!!! Oh, someone needs a timeout! 22-13.

They obviously emphasized coming out of the timeout to get the ball to Blair, so yep, there they are, getting it to him. But Thomas and Singler are all over him, vehement that he work for his two points, if even that, and Blair tries to turn but Thomas is right on his left, and Singler is right in front of him, not giving an inch, dauntless, not giving a hoot that this dude is 265 and being recruited for football season. You’re not bloody getting past me. And Blair, instead of trying to pass out, keeps bulling, keeps trying to force the issue – and, there it is – whistle – foul. Give up the rock, baby. I think you’ve had it for long enough!

Ha! Hilarious! They’re back down, Singler is guarding Blair, falls down trying to draw an offensive foul, gets no call, about to get up, and I brace myself for an easy Pittsburgh two – but no! Lance strips him of the ball, so that it looks like Blair flips the ball down to a sitting Singler, who looks quite amused and appreciative but quickly flips the prize back to Paulus for safekeeping, who races it to the other end. Now that’s the definition of landing right in his lap! Oh no – another Paulus turnover – miscommunication between Greg and Kyle, who thought Greg was going to shoot. Pitt gets another quick one – and I’m amused that everything Pitt has gotten has been in transition, while Duke has not been pushing tempo or running or really getting great looks from spreading the floor.

Then Gerald gets the steal, and so silky smoothly converts the goal, avoiding the double team flying at him with no qualms at all, clutching the ball in his arms, laying it up, and turning to run off pretty much without even a backwards glance, just knowing its gone in. Awesome. Meanwhile, Taylor and Nolan are changing into every kind of comfortable sitting position they can find along the sidelines, watching the game avidly and wondering when they can get some sleeping bags and potato chips over here or something? Other end – Young runs right into Singler and over him and just topples over right on top of him – turnover #14. King for three! 31-15! Oh, he’s so happy! The place goes nuts! It’s not even a contest! 3:52 left.

WOW! King with a monster bounce pass to Nelson about 20 feet away, cutting backdoor to get wide open on the left side and just so easily lays it up. WHAT A FEED! Next play, Nolan gets into the lane and sends a great pass to Zoubek, and I’m getting ready for a deuce . . but he loses it???? Awwww! That was right on your doorstep! A pass that high, could only be corralled by you! Thank god on the other end, they are bricking everything they can when not turning it over. Pitt is starting to look whipped. They don’t know how to play, all of a sudden – they sure as hell haven’t been pushed quite like this. Sure, they are grabbing every kind of board ever . . but that really can’t help you if you can’t hit it for your life.

Uh . . terrible, terrible endgame for the first half. What the hell was that? Nelson, as always, gets 1 of 2 FT . . Duke fouls a rebounder, who makes 2 for Pitt . . Paulus turns it over . . Duke loses Blair for a second on the other end who promptly rings in 2 . . and then Scheyer hikes up an off-balance shot to beat the clock, to no avail. 34-22 halftime.

Second half: Gerald with a crazy drive under the basket for a dunk – missed! – gets the ball back – and Nelson turns it over. But Coach K is not happy – neither am I – and he calls a timeout to let his team have it. He is very animated, yelling, throwing up his hands, rattling Nelson’s arm to show how aggressive Pitt was playing them and how they were letting it happen. Nelson lowers his head . . I got it . . I got it, coach. Wojo, too, throws an arm for emphasis.

Back on the court: Singler with a BEAUTIFUL PASS to Lance for the stuff! Lucky Lance! But wow, what vision – Kyle, immediately upon getting the ball, knows Blair is on his back and he’s attracted a double team, and quickly turns to find an open teammate. Perfect, under-the-arm pass around Blair for delivery. Faster than the eye can see but when they show the replay, you just sit back and whistle at that ingenuity. Marvelous. Eagle-eyed. Great, great vision.

Hmm . . is Kyle hurt? He’s wiping his eye/cheek after a Pitt basket on the baseline, dropping the ball to the floor, looking like he got a cut or something . . oh, but of course they’ll rather talk about Cutliffe? (new football coach) Fine . . can you also, perhaps, narrate this ballgame I’m supposedly watching? Henderson goes to the line and clanks both FT – we are possibly 1% on FT tonight – but why say anything about that? No! Let’s keep talking about football! Grrrr . . . Singler with his 3rd foul, sits down. 13:38.

Okay, I have to say something right now – can we F***ING teach Lance/Z how to rebound, so that we don’t have Kyle Singler being WWF tackled/slammed/shoved every freakin’ game? Singler and Blair are tangling for the rebound, he’s got position over Blair, so what does Blair do? Whatever he thinks he can get away with, which is to tackle Kyle around his chest with a burly forearm and pull him down hard with him as he goes to the floor, then dropping him, so that Kyle hits the hardwood floor with a smack, on the back of his head, and rolls off in pain. Jesus! God damn – WTF??? Kyle covers his face for a second, stunned, dazed, hoping and praying nothing’s broken. Intentional foul. Of course. Thank you. 2 shots and the ball. 10:06.

So you would think, that with that swing, and then Singler coming right back to score a layup, that Duke would coast, wouldn’t you? 48-38! But no. Within about a minute – from 9:15 to 8:16, Pitt rattles off 9 unanswered points, and suddenly, at 48-47, it’s a ballgame. And we’ve got no answer. We’ve forgotten how to play. Now, it is Duke who’s lost their swagger. Kyle and Gerald are taking all the shots, and nobody else is stepping up. Scheyer misses everything he touches. Nelson gets fouled every single time, and then he botches every single FT handed to him. Paulus is looking beat. I mean, just beat, bewildered, not capable of playing with the big boys. How many turnovers has he got? And now Pitt is stronger – they are struttin’ – they are flashing out for transition points, hitting three’s when it counts, getting the lockdown D.

6:10 . . Blair and Singler shares a joke? “What does it take to knock that smile off his face?” Jay Bilas wonders. Ugh, maybe cuz he knows something – namely, that they can win. Duke has no idea how to beat Pitt’s pressure. They call 2 sets, cannot get a shooter free, and then takes a wild three to completely blow their 35 second shot clock. Offensive weapons, ay? We’ve got none! We will proceed to go without a single field goal for a good 4, 5 minutes! While they reel off 12 straight! Sigh. Nelson is playing both smart and dumb – flopping on Blair to force him his 3rd foul, offensive – then double-teaming to let Henderson get the block, ripping that rebound and racing with it – then, reaching out with his arm to push off to create space for his shot, cuz he does not want to go to the foul line – and whistle. Offensive foul. His 4th. He goes to the bench.

And immediately, Singler follows suit. And this is where I become completely scared of Pitt. Blair gets the 2nd offensive rebound in a tangle of players under the basket for Pitt, goes up, and I can’t see it, but apparently Singler fouled him. I thought it was Lance Thomas, who put his hands up, but what do I know, watching from home, right? Poor guy. No one else will help him out, this Blair is just a beast on the glass, and LT has helped some, but it’s mostly been him against the bear the whole night, tussling it out, and there’s only so much you can do when you have a 45 lb disadvantage from him. 5:28, Duke huddles after the whistle – and my heart sinks. Kyle is shaking his head in defeat in that huddle – like he can’t believe it – he can’t believe it, because it’s not like he’s putting a body on him, he’s not even aggressively defending him, he knows his worth to his ballclub – but he’s being called for the slightest thing, barely grazing his fingertips playing the kind of foul-free defense he has patented – and it’s just not working. He can’t get rebounds. He can’t box out. He can’t, even, apparently, box out a smaller guy in Sam Young who has repeatedly spun out or muscled his way out of the second slot on the FT sideline to beat him to the basket, and this time, as Blair misses his 2nd FT, he does, going up to grab that rebound and beating every Dukie to it, forcing intense mayhem once more until the whistle is called and I just pray it is not Singler. It is not. It is LT.

Well. Coach K is not taking any chances. He immediately sends in fresh bodies McClure and King, and pulls Singler and Thomas out of there. But back to what I was saying: Kyle Singler has no answer for DeJuan Blair in the paint.

He’s not Josh.

A junior Josh, 6’10”, 240 lbs, would’ve done the work on Blair. Shut him down. Thrown down a couple dunks. Shown them who’s boss. A freshman Singler? I love the kid, I do – but he cannot be our only answer to a quality big because he’s not that strong. He’s smart, he’s keen, he’s efficient – but he’s not dominant. And this game – when it gets down to two Goliaths duking it out – you can’t just look at the name on your jersey. You gotta bring it. And as much as we should’ve trampled them on paper – in reality, this is still a young, untested team. And about to play the worst second half ever known to man.

For about 1 minute, just long enough for Nolan to miss a hook and McClure to get fouled and miss the first of 2 FT, Kyle, Gerald, and Nelson are on the bench looking stone-faced, knowing the work they have cut out for them. Intrepid reporter Jay Bilas, meanwhile, is reiterating how this current lineup on the floor is basically trash. King, McClure, Nolan, Scheyer, and Paulus are “not going to get to the rim” against Pitt. Gone are the euphemisms about how deep Duke’s bench is. Gone are the magic that Paulus and Nolan created in the Michigan game when they played for the first time together. Gone is the gushing about Duke’s bench being a top 25 team by itself. It is not. We’re right back to where we were a month ago in the Marquette game – and it’s like the last several games have not occurred at all. Oh, it was great having Taylor and Nolan break out against lesser teams, and lead in scoring. It was great to see Zoubek contributing, and working on his confidence, and learning about next play, in the Albany game. But you knew what was going to happen, right? When the chips are down, Coach K will look down his bench, and you know who he’ll call. Henderson. Singler. Nelson. And here they come – abandoning their towels and water to run to the scorer’s table, one by one, ready to finish out this game that has come down to the wire. Here they come. Here they come. McClure hasn’t even sized up his 2nd free throw yet, and they’re already being replaced. 4:37, Duke 49, Pitt 50.

Levance Fields scores, and it is now 49-52, Pitt. Game starting to get away from Duke. Singler calls for the ball. In 3 long strides, he’s taken the pass and gets up for what looks like an uncontested lay-up . . . that rims right out. You need to finish that up strong, Kyle. Even if Blair was lurking there looking to challenge you again. HENDERSON!!!!!! Taking Duke on his back. What hops! Stepping, slithering, dancing his way nimbly to the rim, he won’t take no for an answer! 51-52, and the whistles are blowing all over the place. Time-out! Time-out! Let’s talk this over! 2:51, both coaches seeing things that they do not like. Yes, once again they remind us that Singler has 4 fouls. My heart is pounding out of my chest already. Do we need to make it any worse?

Now Paulus is getting aggressive. Staying close to his man, knocking out at the ball to try to grab a steal or force a turnover for Duke. He gets one – but it stays with Pitt! Awww! He was already running the other way – so disappointed. Another timeout. Okay, just breathe. Breathe . . .

Levance Fields sure is fast. He’s lulling Paulus to sleep out there, here comes Blair with a screen, forces the switch, and Fields just runs right into/around Singler towards the basket, looking to either draw that 5th foul or get an easy look at the lay-up if he backs off. Thankfully, Paulus realizes his intentions and got around in time to foul him and stop his drive – and Singler, when he hears that whistle, just falls onto the floor on his butt, looking wide-eyed at the officials like “that better not be me”. Fields shoots 2. 51-54.

LORD ALMIGHTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HENDERSON!!!! “Athleticism trumping toughness on that PLAY!” the announcers roar. Jesus, what a sweeeeeet move! Paulus gives him the ball, he waits a little bit out on the perimeter, watching the right side just clear out for him – and as he starts his run, circling wide towards the right wing, Scheyer comes out to draw his man away – and suddenly, he’s motoring, it is WIDE OPEN for him, and he wastes no time, circling in from the right wing like a freight train, Blair thinks about stopping him but immediately backs off, completely blown, and Henderson can just do whatever the hell he wants – 360, tomahawk – complete carte-blanche – and he stuffs it! 53-54! 2:10 left.

After Sam Young answers, 53-56 – OOOOOOHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BIG TIME!!! SINGLER FOR 333333333333!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! “There is just answer after answer!” Bilas roars, enormously impressed. The crowd is on their feet! After that Sam Young basket, we come back upcourt, and Gerald is running the pack again, circling in sniffing for blood, and the defense this time collapses on him. But he is cool as a cucumber, instinctively sending out a no-look pass to Kyle Singler on the 3 point line, and he knocks one down as beautifully as anything I’ve ever seen. Thank you, Gerald, for the assist! And Kyle, so proud – teeth bared a little, tongue wagging, then breaking out into a wide grin upon seeing a congratulatory Scheyer jumping up to chest-thump him. 56-56, it is tied, 1:31 left.



But they’re not done! Sam Young, again, manages to slip away from Henderson just long enough to get the pass on the wing and send it up, and it’s good! Damn! 56-58. We go back upcourt, and the ball is in Henderson’s hands, again. It looks like they’re going to run the same play again? Henderson on the perimeter, circling out wide towards the right wing, as Scheyer comes out . . but this time, instead of attacking, Henderson just fakes right, then turns back around to his left and elevates up to shoot – a tough, high-arching 12 footer that sails in smoothly! How does he do that??? And make it look so easy? Tied again, 58-58, 0:56 left.

The place is just pure pandemonium. Everybody standing, willing their team on. Ramon is way off the perimeter, dribbling, Paulus is getting impatient, meanders over to the right wing, and I’m amazed how stone-still the Pitt players are standing, as if they don’t get all this noise, and then Paulus has knocked the ball loose but the refs whistle it back to Pitt possession. Awww! C’mon!! Paulus lets out a holler of frustration. Give me a steal, PLEASE! So here we go again . . some ball movement now . . kick out to Cook ALL ALONE on the 3 point line!!!! What happened there???? HE SHOOTS – – – !!!

OH! AN AIRBALL! DUKE BALL!!!! 16.6 seconds left. Timeout. And I’m thinking – should we be calling a timeout?? Let them set up a defensive stance? Let’s just play, put it in the hands of Henderson or Singler! C’MON!! We need to get something here . . anything.

Henderson – NO! – KYLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tip-in no good! He falls to the floor instead of going up strong, we miss, the buzzer sounds – and it becomes sudden death. 58-58. OH MY GOD. DAMN IT! GOD! SHIT!

Just as I had feared. We are not going to learn anything more out of a timeout other than give the ball to Henderson and then maybe hand off to Singler if he can’t get free, or have Singler go for the tip-in. Well, it got down to 16 seconds, long ball thrown out to Scheyer, so the clock starts at 12 for Henderson. 11, 10, and he’s circling to the right wing again but he finds 2 defenders draped on him like a cheap suit. He can’t shake free. Singler is calling emphatically for the ball, being guarded by little 6’0” Ramon, but Henderson is sure he can do it. He switches tactics, bulldozes through into the middle of the lane, gets bumped by Sam Young but forces up a difficult shot anyways, thinking Singler might possibly be Joey Dorsey or Damion James and can just clean up around the glass whenever an errant shot is tossed their way. Well, Singler tries. He’s not as close to the basket as he would like, so he pushes off on Ramon just a bit to get the rebound, but then Ramon is pushing him back as he tries to tip it in, and it goes up too soft as he’s falling back. It barely grazes the rim, and no one else has skied for that ball. Pitt pulls it down, sends it hurtling the other way. Overtime.

My God. My heart is thundering. Singler has 4 fouls. Nelson has 4. Lance is on the bench, so we have Henderson in the jumpball. And he gets it to Paulus – great! Here we go, the extra furlong, the test of champions. Nelson gets fouled. Oh, of course. I am praying for him. Misses the 1st. Makes the 2nd. Cook is down . .

Oh my God. Mike Cook is really hurting. It is too painful to watch. As he limps to the locker room . . get well soon, Mike. I give thanks that no Duke player got hurt. Yes, Paulus got cut up on his cheek. Yes, Scheyer got knocked down to the floor about 3x this evening (but still went hard to the glass looking for every kind of rebound – he’ll end the game with 12!) And yes, Singler always seems to get targeted for one, if not three, WWF-type moves under the basket, simply because the opposition thinks they can. But no one got hurt from anything that they can’t recover from, and that’s what I’m thankful for. Let’s close out this game, guys.

Defensive switch pits Paulus against Sam Young, and Singler looks over from the post from where he’s guarding Blair and thinks “oh god, I’m gonna have to come out and help”, and I’m thinking, why isn’t Nelson on Young? Why don’t we have someone else taller than 6’4” to help Singler out??? Young had missed the first point-blank shot, he won’t miss the second, and he hits. 59-60, Pitt leads. On the other end, after Henderson had missed his last shot – another difficult jumper in the lane, hotly contested – we now trust the ball to Nelson. And he starts making an attack – but the guy who’s guarding him flops on him – and Nelson’s thrown so off-balance that he loses the ball – no call – and Levance Fields beats everyone to the ball – but Paulus gets there just a step later and swipes the ball away – whistle! Foul! Oh, c’mon! Paulus is on his knees, he hasn’t even had chance to recover – and Bilas is praising him for fouling in exchange for an easy fastbreak deuce. I wouldn’t count out Henderson miraculously shot-blocking, but okay, you’re right. Fields, of course, knocks both ones down, making it 59-62. 3:01 left in OT.

Henderson – oh! Finally starting to look mortal. He’s missed his last 3 now – after taking a long jumper that he’s buried in this game before but now eludes him, hitting the back of the rim too strongly and bounces out to Pitt. They race it down, swings the ball around, and suddenly someone’s open along the baseline and Singler immediately switches over to help block out. Even with 4 fouls – he must’ve looked imposing enough on the smaller player to kick it back out – and it’s thrown right into the hands of Henderson, who immediately turns tail and starts motoring the other way. Ramon, feeling helpless, fouls him across the arm – but Henderson still gets the shot up – OH!!! A block from Gilbert Brown! What hops, huh? So Henderson gets a chance to go to the line – but his first FT misses terribly. He cannot believe it . . walks around to try to relocate his shot. And suddenly – is the air is out of Duke? Still down 59-62, 2:19 left, and our go-to scorer, whom Coach K entrusted the last shot to, having gone stone-cold?

He knocks down his 2nd, but Coach K is not taking any chances, and immediately sits him in favor of some fresh legs: McClure for defense and Nolan to replace Paulus. It is 60-62, and Pitt is so patient, running their set play and then finding Brown all alone, unguarded, on the left wing! Up goes the shot – sure to be a dagger – but it doesn’t hit! Nelson with the rebound! Phew! Can we get the ball to Nelson, now? Please?

OOOHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! NELSON!!! Hail to GOD! WHAT A MOVE! Just blazes to the basket, sheds his defender completely, doesn’t care who’s coming at him, takes on Blair one on one, takes the bump, and then finishes the play, using the glass in an acrobatic up-and-under to bank it in!! Blair is GONE! That’s 5 on him! And Gerald Henderson! Man, is that the sweeeeetest smile I’ve ever seen or what? Just all teeth and dimples, couldn’t be prouder. HUGE, HUGE play. And he makes the bonus free throw. 63-62, Duke! 1:36 left.

Man, Pitt’s just getting every rebound. They miss on the other end, but grabs the board, and sends it back out to Fields to run. He blazes to the hoop – but oh! Sweet whistle! Travel! Ball is turned over. Coach K is sending Paulus and Henderson out there again. We’ll run something, right? We’ll get a good shot? But no. Apparently, Coach K’s instructions out there for Greg was: run stallball. How else do you explain Paulus dribbling by his lonesome self out there, running the precious shot clock down . . while nobody else on the team even looked in the semblance of running a play? Oh, sure. Run the clock down to 16 seconds. Gratuitously use another timeout. Then in-bound the ball again – get it in the hands of Scheyer – and let it roll off to the opposition’s hands again. Smart. (rolls eyes)

Well, we need a stop here. And I gasp as Nelson, on Fields, takes his head fake and then completely loses him as he blazes to the net – and Singler switches over! NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He tries taking the charge – YES!!!!!!!!!!! HE GETS IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bodies flying everywhere, Scheyer neatly dives over him as he tries to help out, Greg gets the rebound and gets mauled over the back, but all eyes are on Singler, pumping his fist “YES!” as he hears the call – thank God! That was very borderline, and pure instinct – he wasn’t thinking about his 4 fouls, he wasn’t thinking about what it would mean if he fouled out – he was gonna step in and take the charge, no matter how dangerous – and deny that point guard the basket. Nelson looks over sheepishly – thanks, man. I owe you one. As everyone collectively lets out the big breath that they’d held.

0:36 seconds left, we are miraculously up by 1, and the shot clock is turned off. They must foul. They trap Scheyer along the sideline, and he twists enough to invite the foul – but no call. They know he’s 90% at the line. He sends a long pass to Henderson – who thankfully saves it with a nice tip to himself – and then he sends it immediately to Singler, who should’ve held onto it, instead of passing it off like a hot potato – but oh, he got fouled. Finally. Thank you, God, for sending Kyle Singler to the free throw line. “He’s a freshman in name only,” the announcers praise. Shhhhh. Quiet on the set. Let him size it up . . that mental toughness . . that Marquette game winner coming back to him . . he’s gonna to make it. For sure. Dribbles. Bends his knees. Shoots. RIMS OUT! Dear God! Second one . . ok, ok, take it easy . . dribbles . . shoots that high-arching shot – and before it even goes in, he’s gone. Is it in? It rolls . . just a little too strong . . and drops! Phew! 64-62.

But the last shot. It belongs to Pitt. And it’s a dead-aim three. BAM! Right in the face of Duke. 64-65. And there’s no time left! Singler throws it to Scheyer, who races it down, takes an awful, too quick, off-balance three with 4 seconds still left, no good, it bounces off, he gets it back! and again, falling down, he throws it back up, but it is too strong, and that’s it. 64-65. I am in shock.

It’s over. Duke is beaten. We are undefeated, no more. 10-1.

Post-game thoughts: You know . . watching the tape again . . I don’t get the sense anymore that we played an overwhelmingly bad game and didn’t care. That’s not true. Yes, we did not look like the Duke that we’d come to know – the beauty of the spread offense, the speed of the transition game, the rotation after rotation of sharpshooter coming in for sharpshooter. None of that really showed tonight, and that’s a credit to Pitt and their brawn. Even in the first half when we were clearly bothering them, we also let them bother us and not slam the door on them when we could have. I saw the lack of a killer instinct in the Davidson game . . and I saw it again here tonight. Up by 16 . . we let them come back to 12 just before the half . . and then the rebounding differential (39 to 53!) and the fouls really started to hurt us. Yes, we have Henderson and Singler – but they also have some playmakers in Fields and Young – and when it becomes about trading baskets, the FT misses catches up to you (54% - terrible) – and when the clock starts running down, every shot, and every point, becomes magnified. We definitely lacked some poise and smarts down the stretch . . but we also made some spectacular plays. It hurts the most, when it’s lost like this – by 1 point. But we will bounce back. We have the best 2, 3, and 4 in the country. We just need our 1 and 5 to step it up, big time. Paulus?? What happened to you tonight? And Lance? Please get well soon!

Which brings me to my main point. Sometimes, it takes a loss like this to finally admit to ourselves what we’d refused to admit: Kyle Singler is not a 5.

"I was on [Blair] all night," Singler said after the loss. "It was my responsibility. My fault.”

Oh, Kyle. It is not your fault. No one will come out and say it, but Kyle Singler did not sign up to play the 5 for Duke. We need him to, but that does not mean we should. Alas, we have no choice. And no, Gerald Henderson is not a forward. He, too, is effectively playing out of position, often taking the role of the 4, because of his athleticism. But neither are. I understand they are NBA-caliber players. But against good rebounding teams – this is what can happen. Zoubek, McClure, King, and Thomas, our other choices for the 4 and 5, played a total of 6, 8, 11, and 15 minutes each, respectively. Singler played 38. Yes, that is the combined total minutes of all our other 4 forwards and centers. Super. And unless we can figure this out, and find help for him, fast – no lineup magic, no, not even Nolan with Paulus – will solve this issue. This loss wasn’t a mistake. It wasn’t a giveaway. It was a legit breakdown in the face of a stifling, defensive rebounding team. Simply put, we met another club who’s as serious about defense as we are – and we couldn’t rise above it.

Oh, and I’m still trying to figure out how in the world Paulus managed to time-travel back to his mid-Jan breakdown last year, when he had more turnovers than assists and points combined. He again found his evil doppelganger tonight, handing out a grand total of 1 assist and hitting one basket while losing the ball 5x and getting 3 fouls. Oh, while the other PG went off for 21 points, 4 assists, and 2 steals. Grand, ain’t it? And if I hear the word “rebound” one more time, I’m going to smash something.

But I want to end this on a bright note: how much do I love Singler, Henderson, and Nelson? That trio is going to carry us far. In the last dying seconds, when it became 1 on 1 isolation plays, they gave us everything we could’ve asked for. Toughness. Heart. And they never backed down, not even when they were giving up 45 lbs, or nursing 4 fouls. Singler stepping up in front of a charging Fields to take that charge in OT was as big a play as Nelson, blazing his way to the goal, no holds barred, or Henderson, exploiting every weakness and mismatch against Pitt for his jumpers. I wouldn’t trade places with anyone else in the country right now. We can still go far; we just can’t let another team dictate what we do. Never again. You think John Thompson III is sleeping easy these days? You think Roy Williams is happy with his team’s latest effort against Nicholls State? You think John Calipari, Tom Izzo, and even Ben Howland, all FF coaches, don’t worry about their teams, don’t tinker here and there, and still see holes that they’ll need to patch up, somehow, some way or other? We can still win this war. We just need to earn our battle strips first.

Duke vs Albany – Game Blog

Let's get ready to RUMMMMMMMBBBBBBLEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Exams are finally OVER!!!! Duke greets Albany after 9 days of no action, and Nelson gets things started right away with a 3. Paulus hits one, watching it sail straight through the net, no iron - then Singler! That's the way to do it! Duke is SHARP!!!!! Ohhhhh, Albany travels. Upp! Carry. Ball STOLEN by Greg!!!! Who looks over his shoulder and sees so much wide open space behind him that he easily lays it up, blowing smoke off his trigger fingers. Second team is in - with Nelson staying on, Nolan, Scheyer, McClure!!, and King effectively playing the "5". No problemo! Nelson gets a 4 point play! Lovely to see them let us shoot a wide-open three, then put a body on us after the shot goes to get us a FT attempt. And Nelson knocks that one down like a pro. They get a nice 3 from the top of the key. Then Nolan comes down, trades a few passes with Nelson, gets the ball back, and rockets off the earth for a nice-looking 3, nodding back at them, saying "you wanna trade three's? We can do this all day." King with a steal!! Then got a little too excited bullying into the lane and got called for an offensive foul.

Boy, look at that pressure - look at that!! It does look like 5 on 7, huh? (hilarious Albany Times-Union article saying how the Albany coach made his team practice 5 vs 7 defenders to get a feel for the signature Duke pressure tonight) Unfortunately, Nolan gets called for the foul right at what would've been a 10 second call, and Coach K motions for him to calm down, settle down. On the next trip up-court, he looks to penetrate - circling the field, running by a screen - and then there he goes, dribbling, spinning, shedding his defender and stepping over him as he falls down only to meet another one flying at him, and neatly, so cool as a cucumber, dishes off to a waiting King who just leaps up for that jam. What a beautiful play! 23-9! 11:36 - isn't this way more fun than finals? If Pitt fans wanna come on our boards and post all hosts of scary stuff like "be very aware of Blair" - can they watch this game right here? Thanks. Beats me wasting my time typing a response back. A picture is worth 1,000 words, you know!

Hey, Albany is tightening up its defense. Z can't get anything going, so he's replaced by King. We run some plays but can't get any open looks, forcing Henderson to sort of toss one up over his shoulder, then the next time, Singler tries a low post move but partially has it blocked! On the other end, Ambrose dexterously tosses two in, and suddenly they've got momentum. Paulus says "enough with this!" and smoothly pulls out a three from his arsenal, knowing exactly what his club needs to grab the horn back. After the shot, they show a camera that stays on him - and it's amazing, no emotion whatsoever, he knows it's going in, and then instead of jubilation, he makes the "calm down" sign to his team, as if sternly reminding them "hey, no worries, I've got your back. I have experience from last year in scenarios such as this. I can shoot 52% from three!" 28-15, 7:35 left.

There goes KING!!!! For three!!!! A scramble for the rebound, guys falling to the floor, the ball bounces out like a jack rabbit, and Nolan grabs it - back to Duke! To Henderson, then to King - who wastes no time in launching that 3-ball to the hoop. In the space of about 6 seconds, we've turned around an opponent's possession into a 3 pointer! And you gotta love King - he was just standing there, silently willing Henderson to notice him - and the adrenaline off that loose ball was still so high that nobody could do anything but watch his shot rocket towards the goal. Hey, did anybody measure that thing? It was probably going 100mph! 34-15? 6 of 10 from beyond the arc? That's like 90% from two-land!!!

SCHEYER!!!!! Oh, Scheyer!!!! What a move! Nolan gives him a happy hug - what fearless determination! And one! We have our small lineup in there (King and McClure being the 4 and 5), Nolan tries to penetrate, and is met promptly by 2 Great Danes (so much fun to type that!). Scheyer runs out of his corner and says here, gimme that, and he heads into the lane, showing a nifty spin move that is quickly starting to be a trademark of just about every slasher into the paint (first patented by Singler? Illinois game?), sheds his defender right on cue, meets 2 other Albanyians in the lane, goes up zig-zaggedly, gets fouled, and tosses the ball up anyway, his eyes the whole time following through with his shot and his effort. It's IN!!!! And the plus-one instantly snuggles into his Midas hand to turn into a gold coin, as good as given, for the 3 point play. Very nice to offset the "his feet wasn't set" remark the announcers gave him earlier for his 1st shot attempt of the game. Everywhere you go, you see articles and discussions about Scheyer coming off the bench rather than starting, what a change that's been, from when he started all his games last year - but what I want to talk about is his new mentality to get into the lane. Granted, he's still working that out, but it's definitely an improvement over last year. Did you know DeMarcus Nelson was also the 3rd leading rebounder in his California HS days? No wonder he has such a nose for the ball! And I think he's teaching Scheyer a thing or two about how to find it! Boy, am I going to miss him when he's gone next year. 4:55.

WOW!!! Awesome, awesome play! A Great Dane loses the ball en route to the lane, handling the globe like he's wearing oven mitts, and quick as lightening, McClure has picked it off. To the fastbreak! He hits a streaking Scheyer ahead of him, who converges to the goal but sees a body flying at him, doesn't quite care to get body-slammed, and instinctively hands it off behind the back to a Dukie right there - Nolan! - who gladly goes up for the stuff. Scheyer looks back to see that everything is alright, and blinks nary an eye, like "heh, I do that stuff for breakfast." "He's in the Christmas spirit of giving!" the announcers applaud. Cute.

Hmm . . Z still looks the same, unfortunately. Picked up his 2nd foul before McClure blocked the shot he was supposed to, and goes to the bench in exchange for Singler. OH! McClure with the steal! Followed by Nelson! With a 3 despite a defender right in his face. Are we putting on a 3-pointer shooting clinic today? Followed by Singler with a defender right in his face, but he rises so high it doesn't matter, and of course I am softly calling out "No!" but no sooner does that leave my lips, the ball is already sailing in, smooth as anything, and now I will simply stop saying no to his three's. It's always like this - his first 2 are like warm-ups where he gets a feel for where the basket is, and then his 3rd and 4th are always good. I believe 7 Blue Devils have already demonstrated to us their love for the 3, including Paulus, King, Nelson, Henderson, Nolan, Scheyer, and now Singler. I think I just about named the entire roster. God DAMN!!!!!

Oh, and another STEAL to punctuate our dominance right before the half! Don't you forget it! The replay shows Nelson picking off that pass right on cue, streaking off immediately to the other end - and the guy he stole it from just kind of jogs up, already knowing that he is beat, not even trying to get back. Meanwhile - remember the last play when Scheyer dished to Nolan right behind him because there was about 3 Blue Devils right behind him, and only 1 defender in sight? Yeah. It's that kind of game. I love the hustle!

OH, NOLAN with the BLOCK!!!! Owww!! Scheyer is so amazed he bear-hugs the freshman right on the spot! And Nolan just kind of snarls - like, dude, get that weak-**** stuff outta my gym! And Paulus, running end to end in the last 6.3 seconds to try a tough layup against 3 defenders, but misses, in a great heady move that will come in handy someday.

Boy, they are talking up that Pittsburgh game to death, aren't they? Wonder what the big deal is? 57-31 halftime, as we attempt to dust off these feisty, ruthless, deceptively sized Great Danes.

Oh HOOO!!!!!! Gerald Henderson for the alley-oop!!! Do we know how to open the second half or what?? Their defenders just stood there flat-footed! In shock! Then - Nelson with the block? Amazing! And - a quick feed up to McClure, who can't quite corral it, loses it to an Albany kid, the ball careens loose - and right into the hands of a streaking Singler, who scoops it up with delight and lays it up strong for the deuce. What a sequence! If that's not the quickest way to put up 4 points, I don't know what is.

I love how Singler is basically using this game to work out every kind of offensive game he's got. He first started off with a couple three's, sending in a miss before hitting one late in the first half. He's also shown some low-post moves, catching the ball and turning to shoot, as well as mid-range jumpers, including one off a rebound, one a pull-up J on the wing, then finally hitting one from about 15 feet. He hasn't had a dunk yet. Can we try one of those next? As Paulus efficiently swishes another dead-aim 3. He cannot miss tonight!

Three after three! Looking to practice against a 2-3 zone that might break out any minute, huh guys? Awesome!! 14 of 20 at one point. Singler breaks away from the lane after another Taylor King dead-eye to say "why did I even bother tangling into the paint?" King hitting his free throws - nice. Because Nelson is not (7 of 13 for the night?).

Z is back for more, and is steadily looking better and better. I do love how simply having a taller guy on your side is an advantage (yes, I know - duh). Scheyer guns into the lane, finds to his disbelief that he's drawn 3 sharks to himself, and thankfully dishes off to Z, who comes charging into the lane to his comrade's rescue, raising his arm like a high flag to signal "land ho!" Scheyer gets the assist, and Z gets a basket and a foul! Next trip, he gets the pass, dribbles with his back into the paint, then switches to his right and up for the goal. Nice! Oh, Z with a clean block! Aww, c'mon! A foul?? On the replay - what, he maybe tapped the guy's arm coming down from that block? It was clean as a whistle! "Some big guys just look like they are committing a foul. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's because they are slower than the other guy, but they just look guilty whether they've committed the foul or not." Thanks, Len Elmore. So you're telling me this whole referee business is basically a sham? That it's not really about the truth, but the fuzzy perception of the truth? And that we have one guy who supposedly always looks guilty, while the other team across town has someone who always looks righteous (Hansborough)? Ugh. What a world.

We've hit the CENTURY MARK!!!! 100! On a Nelson free throw, natch.

Nice! Z showing his stuff! Paulus delivers the ball right to his doorstep, and he gives back a nice assist for Greg as he goes up to bank that one home. Next? Henderson tries to drive, faces 3 guys collapsing on him and gets his shot blocked, falls to the floor . . but Z is there to gather that into a putback! Nice! Next? Ooooh, a pileup for a loose ball . . McClure gets his hands on the rebound, 2 Great Danes jump him and Henderson comes in to help, and they have to tap their shirts to get them off the football scrimmage. Troy is curled up at the bottom, refusing to let up and give that ball back to Albany - hey, I had it first!

What a gritty effort and team play! Taylor has the ball, tosses it to McClure to hold it for a sec while he runs to his favorite spot along the 3-point line, gets it back and instantly fires one up - airball? But Scheyer on the opposite side is alert enough to tap it out long, where Jordan Davidson hustles to grab it for the offensive rebound. Then the bullet pass - to KING! For the running layup! Was that a backdoor cut?? Wow! It's 104-68, but there is no stallball in sight . . are we getting ready for some big dogs at the Garden in 3 days?? The Iron City Panthers? Yes, we are!!!

You know, watching them play - and the commentators, too, remarking that there is no let-up from this team, despite being up 40 - I'm thinking, why would you let up? Unless you're dead tired or something? I mean, this is a special, special team. Sure, you're used to it - but I'm not. I'm not used to winning my whole entire life. And when you find a team that does - when you can recognize the talent and the effort and the coaching that goes into that winning formula - it's like a little fairy dust being sprinkled and shared amongst you as all 5 hit the floor, as you square down to prepare for your opponent. There is that special twinkle in the air - that Duke magic. The gym is rocking . . the fans are chanting . . and there is simply, nothing else like it in the entire world. Why would you not play for every single minute of it? Cherish it? I know Nelson does. And as the cameramen finally realize what a non-contest this is, they start showing the camaraderie along the sidelines: Nelson coming off to a nice hand, hugs from Paulus and King. Scheyer sitting down after some heady moves, and playfully catching banter with Singler. Zoubek getting a nice congratulatory thump to the chest after he grabs a rebound and converts it into a put-back and a foul. Coach K, looking, for once, like he has no words to say to the officials - nice job, fellas! - as he looks on with comfort and pride from the bench. Take a snapshot, and send it to the Kodak guys. This was definitely a frame-worthy game.

Post-Game Quote from Brian Zoubek:
"Just once you throw yourself into the game - I might've been worried about points, I might've been worried about something in the first half - but once you just completely forget about that and not worry about it, things will just come to you and the game will come to you. That's what happened in the second half. I had a couple of bad plays in the first half, struggled a little bit and got out of my game. I was able to get back into the flow in the second half. I made a couple of plays and they led to more plays and points. I just can't worry about my performance in the first half because once the first half is over you just have to start over."

Dang - that's right. As I was watching ESPN SportsCenter, they were showing the presser with the new Michigan football coach, who was saying he doesn't watch a lot of cartoons, but he did watch the Lion King, where one scene had the monkey crack the lion over the head with his pogo-stick? I remember the scene. But I don't remember what was said along with it, the words that I, as a kid, forgot. They were:

lion: "Ow! Why did you do that for?" And the monkey responds, "It doesn't matter. It's in the past now."

Well . . how ‘bout that? Isn't that what Coach K always preaches - Next Play? Forget the mistake you just made - forget the turnover - forget the foul. Go on to your next play, because you have a chance to right the ship if you just concentrate and play with confidence and forget about what just happened 2 seconds ago. Often on Zoubek you'll see him grumbling a little bit to himself as he jogs back after another turnover, or an attempted block turned into a foul call. Just because the guy is 7'1", does not mean he has the ego and the aggressiveness to go with it. I'm glad that he showed the textbook definition of Next Play tonight. Way to go, Brian - we'll definitely need that against Pitt on Thursday!

Duke vs Michigan – Game Blog

Coming from the Illinois - Arizona endgame - where they are tied with mere seconds left - for once, I have to psyche myself up a little bit for Duke, and so the first couple of minutes are somewhat of a letdown. Turnover, after failed put-back, after turnover. Did anyone else notice, in the jump ball circle, two yellow shirts surrounding Kyle, one on each side, as if they've been told by their coach to never let him out of their sight, like bodyguards? Then, just a tick before the whistle, Kyle scoots in front of them both, and when the ball comes his way, he easily snatches it up, even though he's surrounded - giving Duke first possession. Very nice. Both teams are perhaps a little too anxious in the first couple minutes - it's ok, guys, just play. King comes in off the bench, and immediately contributes. Gets a nice put-back - then the three's start raining in! You wanna shoot three's? We'll shoot three's! Kyle tries one. Almost. Paulus pulls up 3 feet behind the 3 point line, a la King style, and easily fires one up - it's good! Then King, not to be outdone, pulls up on the left wing and shoots his now-familiar, quick-fire release with those long arms as if saluting the goal - it's good!!! King has 5!

McClure is in! Fantastic to see Coach K trusting King enough to leave him in the game and replace Kyle at the 4, where he puts up those long arms a la Singler style to go up 10 feet high - and the Michigan kid immediately loses heart and tosses the ball away. Wow, Henderson with a nice move!!! Zips right through the defense, doesn't think twice, goes up strong with that high knee pivot and just banks that one home! Oh wait - that was Nolan???? Damn! Double wow for you, then! Rivaling Henderson with that deuce! And here's Scheyer with a great 18 footer. Lovely to see him adding those to his repertoire, since he's definitely shooting less three's this season. The announcers are saying this game is this sloppy (combined 8 for 32 so far = 25%) b/c both teams haven't played for 5 days+. Practices are nice and all, but you need to get "game-sharp". Um, if Duke looks like this after 6 days off, what will they look like against Albany, with 8 days off? Or Cornell, with 17 days off?

Singler and Nelson are back - and Singler promptly rips down a fierce rebound. On the other end, he backs into the post, twists and puts up a strong ball off the glass, it bounces out, and he's right there, fighting to get his ball back and going up again, this time from the left side, staying with it this time to make sure it goes in. Then, next trip down, he gets the ball on the left wing, and he gets that look in his eye, that says "look out! I mean business!" - clears himself a path along the baseline, and scoops that ball in! A whistle! Oh no - offensive foul? Wha - ? I didn't see no offensive foul! Oh. Okay, yeah, its there on the replay. Hey guys, can you scoot over, and not crowd him when he shoots, so that I can see what the hell happened, and not be blocked by a thicket of yellow shirts? Thanks. Yeah, they flopped. That's 2 on Kyle. 10:30. Boy, he's collecting those fouls alarmingly fast, isn't he? Poor guy . . say hello to the bench for me.

Yes!!! "Gerald Henderson strikes for the first time!!" Finally, a shot goes down! I was actually really hoping Paulus would take it all the way to the wire, but then he turns around 180 degrees and throws a scary pass to someone on the FT line? This is a fast break, not a free for all! So Henderson just rises up on the 3 point arc like a coiled spring and says to hell with all this sloppiness. They show a box - Michigan so far is shooting 1 for 10 on two's and 2 for 8 on three's. Surprising - b/c they've actually gotten lots of good looks, but they're just not going down. And please don't show the box on Duke - it ain't much better. Thomas with a borderline two all the way out by the 3 point arc? What are we doing, LT?? That brought back shades of Josh last year, just amusedly taking a three cause he didn't feel like venturing inside to the post. Can we not put these Wolvies away? They're not being coached by Tommy Amaker this year, or anything like that. On the other end - Paulus drawing an offensive charge! Great piece of defending - I almost had a start when I realized we had a 6'1" PG all alone against the driving 6'5" Manny - but he stepped up just in time. Incidentally - is it just me, or is Michigan pushing the pace faster and finishing better than us? Our three's have been ok - but our two's have been somewhat iffy.

GREAT execution! I love our in-bounds plays! Paulus is doing the in-bounds, his teammates are running around, and he just sends the ball straight to the only guy not running around, Scheyer, who's in his magical spot on the 3 point arc and sends it straight up. Money! You know, with Scheyer's three's, I just have so much more confidence than King's - maybe cause I watched him a lot from last year. Loved to see him put in that dagger in about 3 seconds flat.

Interesting lineup we have on the floor - TWO point guards (Paulus and Nolan) with Nolan taking the 2 spot, Scheyer, Nelson, and King at the 5? Interesting! Paulus is really enjoying this luxury, aren't you, Greg? Keeping an eye on his charge on the perimeter, but also sneaking a glance back towards Nolan, who's giving his guard all kinds of trouble on the ball - what a team! But will we lack defensively when they try to hack into the paint? Let's see, here they come . . great rotation . . great footwork . . and then King stoutly holds his ground while Nelson comes in for the double team, effortlessly stripping the Michigan kid into completely losing the ball and handing it over, to which Nelson says "thank you!" Scoops it up. Sprinting 90mph down to the other side, where he pulls it up and sends it to Scheyer on the right. NICE!!!!!!!!!! Smith is ALL ALONE in the paint! Are they confused about defensive positions or what? He just turns around, yelling to Scheyer "look what I found!" And then Schey boy just whips the pass right to him and he lobs it in against the glass - textbook! Ah, if LT or Z could have more of those moments - but here, Nolan turns being small into an advantage! 25-14. "And Duke has awakened!!!" How many pieces can we put together on the floor? How many??? You wanna run? We'll run! We'll put in our Thoroughbreds against you! Look out, Michigan!

OOHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Is this Nolan's breakout game? Is it??? All season long people have raved about Singler, more recently people have praised King to the sky - and now, now, we have Nolan breaking out BIG against Michigan! How about his HOPS???????? Nelson is becoming the instigator now - I love that rush of adrenaline when he rips down that rebound and starts taking off to the other end, firing up his engine 90mph and scouting the court with all kinds of senior-laden laser vision. So spine-tangling - I love it!!!!! Then a blur just appears out of nowhere, streaking out from the right wing, blows right by his defender - Nelson sends him the sniper bullet - and he just takes that ball and becomes one with it, rising as it rises and slamming it into the net just as it wants to slam! NOLAN SMITH, ladies and gentlemen!! OHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The announcers cry. Finally, some pretty action! Finally, some beauty! And there's nothing more beautiful - pardon my prejudice, Taylor - than a fast ball taken hard right to the basket. And that meteoric rise - that fast - I've only seen from Gerald Henderson so far this year. And here is Nolan, arguing for that patent! Rust? What rust? I'm just getting started! I'm a firecracker off the bench!!!

"Michigan needs a bucket." Yeah? I would say so too. Cause suddenly, it's like they're playing a whole new ballclub - suddenly, the Duke signature pressure that I'd seen and loved in games past is on all cylinders. They try a layup by the basket, can't get it to fall, gets the ball back, tries again 2 feet away, and still can't get it to fall. It's like we've magnetized the ball towards Duke or something! Ha ha! Nah . . we're just pretty good. Another rebound ripped down, another long pass - to King, all the way out there by himself! And he just squares up and fires - you don't even need to try to get out there to defend him. A trey! Oh, no, a deuce - he had his feet on the three point line. The Duke bench is outscoring the entire Michigan squad by itself - 20 to 14!

Oh, Nolan! He can't miss! A long, gorgeous-looking three - and the lead is 32-14! The fans go nuts!! Michigan needs a timeout! The pandemonium is so great that I can't wipe this huge, silly grin off my face - we're too good! We're on fire! It should be criminally barred or something! How about that? Paulus is so happy for his freshman understudy that he jumps on him and swings his arm around his neck, ribbing in that insane cheer for him. Nolan - welcome to the club! Do you hear that noise? Do you hear those fans cheering and yelling? That's for you. That's all for you. For once, it's not for the tall, smooth-shooting, walking-on-air kid from Oregon. For once, it's not for the linebacker-built, quick-release, lefty sharpshooter from California. This time, it's for the quick, lean gunner from Maryland; it's for the kid with the tattoos and the sometimes deer-in-the-headlights look against Marquette, the kid who a few games back had more turnovers than assists, the kid who everybody said would usurp Paulus's minutes and replace him outright but hasn't since shown that explosiveness and that killer instinct yet. Well, he's got it now. He was just waiting for that prime moment when nobody wanted to step up, when nobody wanted to break out against a very mediocre Michigan club - naw, he wasn't waiting. He had it all along. A "catalyst", they're calling him tonight. A "thief". A playmaker - a game-changer - a firecracker. How many of those do we have stashed on the bench??? Can our bench be a top 25 team all by itself? Early in the season I didn't think so. Now, maybe I do. Maybe - maybe, we really are that good, that deep. Boy - "deep" is word we haven't heard in quite a while, huh? I think maybe that's the sexiest word I've heard all day!

Holy cow - my head's spinning from that sequence of events. Is the Michigan team as bewildered as I am? How unselfish, how crisp the ball movement, everybody knows where everybody is, and they just seem to be playing the game out on the blacktop by themselves, with no yellow shirts in the way, no one cheering them on - just boom, boom, boom! What great teamwork. Just . . wow. We didn't get a shot in - but that's almost beyond the point. Crisp passes in and out, Nolan misses a 3, King rises up high to grab that rebound, sends it out immediately to Nelson, who fires up a 3 - no good - another rebound being ripped down - then the passes go in and out - boom, boom - and Scheyer blazes into the lane, only to kick out to a wide open King, who fires - no good - the rebound comes off the weak side, and Scheyer is magically there! The ball is wrenched away by a Michigan kid - oh, whistle! Over the BACK! Scheyer just walks away with that cool look - like "heh, I told you so" - don't mess with me on those rebounds, man! Chest-bumps Nolan. Cause, if you send him to the FT line, you know he's money, right? Awesome. 3 attempts at 3's, and we get a foul and an automatic two on FT. This is too much fun! 2:18.

King leaves, McClure comes in - and immediately we look for him. He breaks off a screen right into the center, gathers the ball, and acrobatically goes up to the goal - it's in! 2 points for Troy! Is that his first two for the season? Boy, have I missed McClure - his body movement as he goes up for the ball is just incomparable to anyone else - it's so signature, so unique, so spry! They show a box for the freshmen scorers on both sides so far - King and Smith combining for 18 while Michigan's combine for 4. And Kyle Singler is still sitting on the bench! I'd almost forgotten about him! What a club! Can we unleash all 3 freshmen at the same time next half? See how much wreckage they can do?

Oh, CLASSIC! That's about the most beautiful endgame for the first half as I've ever seen all season. 16 seconds left. Paulus with the ball. Dribble, dribble, takin' it easy. We space out the court. Michigan's ready to defend. Then Paulus takes a nice detour en route to the paint, circling in, gaining speed and rising up on that knee to shoot - and they're ready to block it, they've converging in, flying towards him. Then - then he scoops the ball cross-country to Nelson on the wing! McClure is there with a solid immovable screen! And there, with 2 seconds left, Nelson calmly takes that ball and rises up to his full height, unleashing that puppy and watching it sail in, smooth as butter. KA-CHING! A three-ball to end the half and a perfect last 10 minutes. Is it a coincidence that our firepower came on full-bore when we went to a smaller lineup? With 2 veterans (Nelson and Paulus), a dead-eye and key rebounder (Scheyer), an athletic riser (Hendo), and a fast, quick, but much more in control combo guard (Nolan)? Remember his fast, 3 fouls in succession fiasco in the Wisconsin game? I think he's learned, Coach! He's learning, just like King! At this rate, if we can get LT and Z up to speed - it's gonna be look out, world! Our freshmen are kicking that learning curve right to the curb. 41-23 halftime.

Second half: Kyle's back. And there it is again - time and time - he's missed his first 2 three-pointers, but he stays with it, he knows he can knock them down, and that crisp ball movement is courtesy of Paulus, who just knows where he is and touch-passes it right to him, who fires away - and its good! Then another one from Hendo! And the teamwork there is so unselfish: Kyle gets the ball on the arc - will he shoot it? No - he passes it right off to Paulus - also on the arc. Will he shoot it? No - just as I was waiting for that three to launch, he passes it straight to a waiting Hendo, all alone along baseline - and BAM - he goes up for the jam! Nicely done! Oh, PAULUS! To Nelson for the THREE! How great was that transaction? He just circles so fearlessly into the paint, gets 2 guys to jump up to meet him, then whip-lashes the ball out to Nelson over his shoulder, who, again, calmly steps up and fires away. Beautiful stroke, Nelson! I am loving Paulus more and more in this game. Hey Greg - sorry about what I said earlier in the Davidson game when I was dissing you for Richards. Heehee - didn't mean that. We don't need you to hand out 10 assists per game, necessarily - you contribute far more than that. But those assists you're racking up today! For three-point shots! So lovely to see!

Oh, no. No, no, no. Kyle is on the floor after the whistle, putting his hands up to cover his face, and I know what the call was. Blocking foul. On Singler. 16:05, he picks up his 3rd. Poor kid just wants to play, ref! Let him play! Thank you, Coach K - no substitutions. Then he goes to the other end and immediately goes to work - life's too short to take a breather! And what a beautiful play! Hey, can we run more of these? King on the perimeter with the ball, just kind of holding it - and I'm thinking, what are you planning to do? But ah, but he has a plan - and as soon as Kyle shakes off his defender and glides into the paint, free as a bird - the ball slips out to him, and in one smooth motion, he takes it and lays it up strongly into the goal. Score! You've forgotten about me? You've built your entire gameplan around me! Well, here I am! I can play the 5. I can play the 4. I can play the high pick and roll that so enamored some of us in the Davidson game. Anything - just don't make me sit. Pretty please, with a cherry on top?

I can't stop smiling - this is too much fun! Nolan comes in - there it is, 3 freshmen on the floor - and he gets the ball out on the perimeter. After having seen Michigan go again and again into the paint, I'm begging him - don't take another 3 - take it right to them - and he agrees. He does a little hesitation dribble, daring his challengers to bite - then neatly splits his double team right down the middle, roars into the lane, seizess that ball, and goes up STRONG!! That's the way to do it, #2! Then Hendo with a turnaround jumper - "tough shot!" the announcers chide - but it's nothin' but net! Oh! What a big time gamer! He's running the fast break, sees King ahead of the pack and sends it straight to him, for the easy deuce! You gotta dunk that, Taylor! The bench is just on fire. What's that, 31 for the bench?

Hendo gets blocked, again? He can't believe it. Nobody blocks me! I block you! So the next trip down, he gets a little overly aggressive and hears that whistle blow - offensive foul. Aww. Hey, can you believe it? This is our 1st turnover since the 10:30 mark of the first half! Only 5 turnovers so far! Way to go, Duke! Yeah, cause the 20 turnovers against Davidson wasn't gonna cut it today, not with 6 days to chew it over. And a LOB to Lance Thomas! Aww, except he pulls it down and then goes back up for the layup. Still, very nice to see him on the boards. I think everyone's had a bucket, except for Z so far?

WOW!! NOLAN SMITH! How dexterous, how versatile, how quick is he??? Has he missed a shot today? He goes right into the lane, doesn't care a hoot about the ring of defenders collapsing on him, shows a beautiful little spin move to get rid of his defender, and goes right up to the goal for the basket. "He's showing us everything today!" The announcers crow. But he wasn't on the scouting report, coach! He sure as hell wasn't - I looked during halftime!

So here is Z coming in for his chance to put some points on the board. Hey, it's not a party without Z, right? And boy, is he determined to contribute. His first trip down, he grabs a pass, turns, sees with surprise that his defender has flopped shamelessly to the ground - and hesitates for just a second, as if to say "what? I barely moved!" - then continues with his original purpose and just lays that puppy into the basket. Second trip down, he again takes a nice pass, looks a bit swarmed and overwhelmed for a moment, dribbles it out, goes up, loses it, then goes after it, determined, refusing to let up, chasing that ball and battling for it all the way to the floor, falling right on top of the Michigan player, digging it up, miraculously getting it into the hands of Scheyer, who takes no hesitation and goes up right to the wire, only to be mauled for the foul! What a heart in your throat sequence of events there! Coach K calls Z over for some pointers, as Scheyer all but breaks out into a dance on the FT line - I mean, professionally sinks 1 of 2 freebies.

How about Paulus! Calling out his own number and going up confidently for that three. It's almost like a merry-go-round with this team - you've got 2? Ok. You've got 2? Ok. It's mine turn now. I know I can sink this. And the ball shoots like an arrow to the target - nothing but net. Then, on the defensive end - Paulus harasses his player so much that the ball is fumbled loose, and Nelson, as sharp as a hawk, just scoops that ball up and takes off to the other end, slamming that sucker into the net for an emphatic two. Oh ho, NELSON!!!!!!!!!!!!! How good did that feel? No one got back! No one even tried running with him because it would've been such a lost cause. It's so deliriously loud in the arena that the announcers can't even get a word out! Oh, someone needs a timeout! Someone can't take any more of this Duke domination without a drink! As I pop another cold one to celebrate. 72-45. 8:38 to play.

And now its Nelson's turn again. He dribbles, dribbles, watching what's going on in front of him with such delicious coolness - then starts his attack, dribbling out around his defender, around another defender, hey you can take me out 25 feet and I won't care - I will just circle in right here, go all the way around the right side, come up here, and bang! Pop one in. Great poise, great confidence, and the authoritative bucket. He is starting to dish them out, too - as he sends one to Kyle Singler from the high post, and all Kyle has to do is lay it up - it's that simple! Oh, but a foul! The ball rolls around the outer rim before popping back out - to the consternation of DeMarcus, who lost that assist, and Kyle, who could care less about the foul, and more about the shot not going in from about 1 foot away.

"3E. Unflappable. Power-Aid." What the hell is power-aid? As the announcers try for some acute observations as he shoots his FTs. You mean like Cool-Aid, except tastes better, and with an extra oomph to pack you up 10 lbs? I don't necessarily want Kyle to pack on more pounds - though I understand he'll need it for the NBA. Ugh . . let's not utter that word right now, k? And what does 3E stand for? "Everything, is Effective and Efficient." Oh, nice one there, partner. Except can you not spell it out like an airplane seat number? Some of us have taken enough travel for work, thanks. How about E powered to the 3? Or, Triple E? Yeah, not much of a nickname potential there.

WHAT????? Taylor!!!! You're 3 feet away from the basket, and you kick it out to Scheyer on the wing? It'll be good if he can make the three . . no - but KING!!! With the put-back! WOW! Some kind of confidence, huh? Oh, what a beautiful play. 80-50. He blazes out to a fast break, grabs a streaking ball thrown out in front of him, but looses the handle to his Michigan defender who steals it away. My bad, my bad, he says. Then on D he stays right with his man, rising up as he rises up to shoot, partially deflects that ball so it becomes an airball easily collectible by Nolan, and he's already running off to the other end, finding his sweet spot and firing up with no one in sight, and its goooooooood!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Taylor King for three! Oh, but he's not done! After Michigan answers with a three of its own, King gets that competitive look in his eye, comes up on the set defense and takes one look at the goal, then - almost turns sideways, and just pops it up - done! "EFFORTLESS!" The announcers proceed to pick their jaws up from the floor. There's another E! E for Effortless! 89-59.

Z is looking spry! The last few minutes, he really shows them what a 7 footer can do. And then it's final. 95-67. And that's how the game is played.

Post-game thoughts: I love how we never went to stallball late in the second half, even when we had a comfortable 30 point lead. Instead, we cleared our bench, and let everyone work on their shots. That's the advantage of these games - work and execute well in the first half, so you can take somewhat of a breather in the second half, but still not let up, and concentrate more on spreading the ball around and getting everyone involved. There were definitely some trips down at the end when we wanted to get the ball in to Zoubek, so he can leave us with that lasting image of him picking up the pass on the interior and going confidently into his shot. Boy, Scheyer is a workhorse, isn't he? Outlasted everyone today with 29 minutes coming off the bench. And he never let up either, taking a great runner into the lane in the last minute or so. Paulus with 6 assists! And no turnovers! Today was definitely the day that our two point/combo guards showed everyone that the Duke PG spot is no longer vulnerable. Look out, Maynor - what you did to us last March, with a tired Paulus being hounded all 40 minutes of the game - will never happen to us again. Not with a healthy Paulus - and never, ever, when Nolan's rollin'!!!!

#8 Texas at #2 UCLA - what an end game!

It's down to the last 19 seconds. The place is fever pitch. Texas vs UCLA, #8 vs #2, and its only the two of them on the floor, only the two of them can settle this. The score is tied. The clock is ticking. Augustin. Collison. Augustin with the ball, dribbling, dribbling, eyeing the basket but Collison is right there with him, hungry as a wolf, the two of them playing that one-on-one, struttin' schoolyard game down the court - Augustin dribbling forward, bulling his way inch by inch, feet by feet - Collison so reluctantly yielding, stepping backwards, hands out and eyes straight on him, ready for anything. The shot-clock is counting down. 17, 16, 15 . . there's no one else on their teams. They're it. The two star point guards. Desperation rising from both sides. The UCLA students are going wild - jumping, screaming, pleading. Please, Collison - please, whatever you do, whatever you have left, you've got to stop that kid. And Augustin is dribbling, dribbling, his body so low to the ground that he seems intent on burrowing a hole through the floorpane in order to escape this bulldog. But he can't. He dribbles one too many and the ball seems to get away from him. He's falling onto the floor! There's no time left! No one to help him! It's gonna be a turnover! A steal! Then - then! - a shot goes up - a wild hope - and out of nowhere, a blur just SLAMS that ball into the net! Damion JAMES!!! Texas wins!

OHHHHHH!!!!! There's NO TIME LEFT!!!!!! 8 seconds! 7! 6! Collison trots down the lane, but he's hurrying, hurrying, he can't get there fast enough, he tries to bull through but finds an iron wall of orange shirts. He must kick it out. Mbah a Moute, shedding a defender on the arc, puts up a 3 pointer. But it's no good. Even while it's in the air, we all know it's no good. And as the buzzer sounds - the ball careens past the hoop, glazes slightly on the left outer rim, and sails safely away. End game. Texas WON!!!!! IN Pauley Pavilion! My God!!!! 63-61. They've killed off Tennessee, then-#4. Now they've killed off UCLA, #2.

What a shot. What a shot at the end. Augustin hitting the floor, knowing there was no hope in hell for him, just wildly tossing up that ball that might somehow make it to the rim - and then BAM! James comes in and just slams that sucker back where it belongs. To Texas. #1 in the land. Making a case for themselves, loud and clear. What a night. Right in front of Denzel Washington too! Hey Denzel! What drama, huh? Can anything else even come close to the high-stakes that is college hoops? TEX-XAAAAAAAAAS! Can you even imagine what they would be with Durant back?

Duke vs Davidson – Game Blog

Not sure what's wrong . . Davidson looks like an Energizer bunny, VERY intent on stopping Duke - and Duke is letting them. They're not as aggressive - they look a bit miffed that Davidson is playing them that hard - like, dude, this ain't the Final Four - and 3 turnovers??? Off walks? Then an offensive charge by Nolan? Ugh. Only Nelson's 3 ball is keeping them in the game. Oh good, Scheyer's in. And King comes in with a nice round of applause. Paulus looks beat by Richards? Wow.

We're locked at 10-10, and Singler comes right in and says "no thank you" to that nonsense. Planting himself on the 3 point line, he waits til his defender wanders off, then grabs the ball from Paulus, takes one look at the basket, and makes his dash in, neatly sidestepping 3 defenders who suddenly collapse on him, protecting the ball for 1, 2 steps and then he's up and lays it so softly in the goal, just enough to make sure its going in before backing off and running immediately off on D. What an efficient player. Because, wow, Davidson's got some intense, man-to-man pressure defense - they look like Duke!

Curry picks up his 2nd foul (offensive charge drawn by Paulus) with the score tied 17-17 at 8:39 - and he sits. And almost immediately, the tide turns. I almost forgot how good Duke can be - and suddenly we're up by 10. It's as if the Davidson team completely loses gas - Paulus with a 3, Scheyer with a STEAL and a driving layup! Oh! Davidson timeout! Even Coach K is a little pleasantly surprised - gazing up speechlessly at the cheering Duke fans in the stands, suddenly come alive for their team, and just smiles ever so slightly. Not a bad team, huh, K? Had me worried there for a little while . . its such an early morning game (noon on Sat), that I think Duke at times was surprised and a little bemused at how tough Davidson was playing them, and was even waiting a little til their strength could asset itself. When it didn't . . well, my heart began beating louder and louder, wondering when we'll wake up and take it to them, shred their fearlessness and drive to the hoop. We just needed some buckets to go down - and now, here we come. Here we come!!!

A scramble for the ball - at least 3 Duke players try to grab it, but it bounces off like a scolded dog! Kyle is the last one to try to corral it, can't, and gets up slapping the floor in frustration, shaking his head even going into the timeout. How HIGH does G jump??? WOW! Kyle's out - 6:37. He tried taking a charge, and got called for the block - he has his head down and hands on his hips as he walks to the FT sideline, knowing he's going out. 2 fouls.

DAAAAAAMN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Look at THAT!!! G jumps up like a coiled spring to blast that ball OUTTA THERE! That must've been above the rim! Nice!! Scheyer with a wide open 3! Oh, that's good! Foul the 3 point shooter! Nice job, Scheyer. "What a luxury to have a McDonalds All-American coming off the bench to provide that kind of points, huh?" the announcers re: Scheyer. "Well, they have 8 of them." And I have a question for one of them right now. Taylor????? You're a SHOOTER! What's wrong with your FT??? "It's too close for him - he needs to step back and shoot it from just inside the top of the key," they joke. Yeah right. Both his FT bounce out long - and on the second one he grabs his own rebound and immediately lets fly another 3. Bounces out. C'mon, King. Stop tossing them up unless you mean it! Think about it for a sec!

Curry is amazing. Their guards are on par with Duke's, it seems - I haven't seen Nelson try to drive, or even Henderson beyond a few. Most of our points have come from the 3. But what a difference Curry makes on his team, huh? He sat out with 2 fouls, the team falls apart, and then he comes right back in and rights the ship. You know, I think . . I think . . that Richards is beating Paulus on the PG showdown. Can you believe it? Richards ain't no Gatorade Player of the Year, or two-sport top recruit, or was even on the Duke radar - yet he's dishing it out like a cunning little runner that I'm not seeing from Paulus. 43-32 halftime.

Second half: Oh classic. Paulus immediately gets the ball stolen away from him, leaving Kyle to defend against Curry all by himself in the paint - and a CHARGE! He pumps his fist - yes!!!! That's immediately 3 on Curry! Oh GOD!!!! Curry with a running 3 - just pulls up and shoots it - Singler can't get to him in time, just running 2 steps ahead of him - and it bombs right in. Bang! To hear that roar go up - wild cheers, red shirts everywhere - Davidson is suddenly within 3! And Duke can't get a shot in if it was fed to them. Kyle with a walk? Kyle with a good looking 3 - but it bounces out. Paulus with a wild, unset 3 - airball. C'MON!!!!! What's wrong, Duke? This is the Bobcats arena that's going to be used for the ACC tournament! You can't walk out of here with a tentative game! 43-40. This is exactly what I feared. A cold night from Kyle and Taylor, Nelson is quiet, and suddenly we look toothless.

Kyle goes up for the 3 again - and I'm yelling - No!! NO!!! And smooth as butter, it sails in - what a big bucket! Breaks the game apart again, 49-40. Then he grabs a rebound, runs full steam down court, I thought he'll take it hard all the way - but he dishes off to Paulus for an uncontested 3 - it doesn't go. But the next play, he grabs another rebound and runs down, throwing up a high-arching lob to Nelson along the baseline - who says "fun idea but no thank you", grabs it, comes down to earth, and calmly lays it up off the glass.

HENDERSON!!!! What a block! Jiueeee-jiueeee-jiueeee!! OH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Offensive foul on Curry - his FOURTH!!!! 11:58 to go. It's done. It's over. You charge like that and you can kiss the game goodbye. You can't do that against Duke. Gerald HENDERSON ain't having no cold night! A LOB!!!!! Then a fierce rebound, taking it down all the way, just knifes through the defense and gets in all the way to the goal, laying it up as easy as candy. Davidson needs a timeout. I'm looking at G - and I'm thinking - how can you, Bob McKillop, get a timeout and try to explain what just happened? Or how to counter it? You just can't.

Damn . . watching Curry just pull up and take Kyle off the dribble is stunning. That kid can shoot. There was a time in the first half when he had Kyle right in his face and 2 others, and he shot a 3 like nobody's business. They won't go away, will they? And damn, they're quick. They have a very balanced attack - in and out. Running their pick and roll off Curry is like opening a bank - just watch the money pouring in. C'mon, guys. He's got 4 fouls - attack him!

Kyle is showing his worth. And my god, he's worth gold. He's guarding on the perimeter, sees the ball go inside to Lovedale with a mismatch against Paulus, and runs in to defend and goes up high for the block, and just misses. Then on the other end, he sprints to the loose ball in the corner, beating Thomas who's closer than him in trying to save it, and crashes hard into the bench - but his eye is following only the ball, interested in only seeing if it got to Paulus safely - alas, it didn't. He's got 6 stitches above his eye and 2 on his chin from the Wisconsin game . . wow. And he took that high-arching shot from the 3 point line that gave Duke another boost. He's sooo good with keeping with his shot and keeping faith, even though he's missed his first 3 three-pointers.

Uh oh. 70-61, 3:21 to go, and Duke plays stallball? Oh God. What are we doing playing stallball??? G with a palming violation. Nelson can't hit it. They go twice to Sander cutting from Curry - and boom, they're back in 70-65. C'mon!!!! Show some killer instinct! Earn that #4 power ranking!

WOW!!! JESUS CHRIST! Curry just shoots that 3 like clockwork, it doesn't matter if Kyle is right in his gill, he knows they need a 3 and he just puts it up like it's second nature. Thank god for Paulus's fadeaway jumper - did that remind anyone else of JJ Redick? And it's always a safe bet to put the ball in the hands of Scheyer for the last free throws. 77-73 with 6.5 seconds. 79-73 final. Phewwww. I can finally relax now.

Post-game thoughts: What is it, about Davidson, that can push Carolina and now Duke to such heights??? I thought off the Wisconsin game, we were unbeatable - not only unbeatable, but we'll run opponents off the floor; we'll blow you right out of the gym in the first half. But that's not the case here. They matched us, intensity for intensity, pressure for pressure, three for three - and maybe it's because we didn't match up to them enough. I'm not saying we disrespected them - not at all. They ran their game to a T, while we ran on slightly tired legs - 6 games in 12 days, with only 2 days of practice between the Wisconsin game and this one. It's just that . . we beat them last year by 28, and now this year, with a vastly improved team - we can only beat them by 6? With all the horses, running as hard as they can?

But oh, what a game. At the beginning of the broadcast, they said that Davidson scheduling UNC, Duke, UCLA, and NC State was a "recipe for disaster". Well, I don't think so. I think they're very smart. They've proven that they can run with us - they know they can run with us now - and this is the best way to get to the NCAAs - knowing that you've taken on the best in the land, 2 potential #1 seeds, right? And a #2 seed in Duke? And ACC picked 3rd NC State right there. Bravo. How, exactly, did Western Michigan beat them by 7? Did Davidosn just play their best game against us, and not care a dime against little ole W.Mich? Huh. Quite surprising, no? We needed a double double from Kyle to even get past these kids. And some heroics in the endgame by one Greg Paulus that will be the talk of the town for a while. Thank you, Greg - that completely erases what I'd said about you earlier.

And how many times did we trade three's? Kyle with a high-arching shot off the left wing - everyone celebrates - and then they fire one up as sure as hickory from the same left wing on their side, quieting the jubilation. Then, end game: Paulus, running on the 3 point line to meet the pass, tosses one up as quickly as gunfire - and hits. It's GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH, what a SHOT!!!! That puts the game entirely out of reach for them, right? But NO!!! Curry comes right down the lane in the next 5 seconds and pops one up like nobody's biz - no fear, no thinking whatsoever, just second nature - and dang, an answering 3! It's down to a 4 point differential again. Then - then - a wild scramble, it looked like, on the offensive end for Duke to get a shot off - a pressured Nelson in the 3-second area finds a running Paulus, once again, who is falling out of bounds as he hoists up the shot - and its good! It's GOLDEN!!!! Oh my! What a shot! "Experince wins!" the announcers yell. No - experience does not win. Grit wins. Determination wins. Paulus knew we needed a bucket, and he was gonna ring one in, no matter where he was, no matter who was in his face, no matter if there was only 3 seconds left on the shot-clock in a suddenly intense, mad dash to the finish wire.

So Paulus saves the day. Wow. This entirely makes up for your lack of endgame in the Marquette contest, where you basically threw the ball away and had to have Kyle come all the way out to try to catch it, to the consternation of 3 defenders! Gerald, too, is clutch - how refreshing is it, to have 3 or 4 players on the floor who can hit free throws, and not have to pray for good luck? Great endgame, guys. Let's take a day off, then regroup. Did you like the Bobcats arena? I hope you did, because this is where you'll play the ACC tourney come March.