Duke at Maryland Game Blog - Earning Our Stripes

This is the game where Duke earned its #3 ranking. By far the most impressive performance yet. I mean - wow. I NEVER thought Duke would be consensus #3 in the country. Oh, I love it and crave it – but to see it in reality? To see it on the floor, backed up game after game, no matter what the competition? I'm just speechless. And unlike a lot of other teams that only got there based on “expectations” (like Indiana this past weekend – no way is it a #7 team, before or after the UConn game), Duke has earned its ranking. Climbing up from #13, to #9, to #7, to #5, to now – this team has just gotten better and better. We are 1 point away from being undefeated. And to think – that this is still, by no means, the best we can be yet. King is still not part of the rotation. LT is on and off. Paulus could be better. Z is still in his sweats. And Singler – we haven’t yet figured out how to get him more touches down low when there’s a good frontline, nor to get him to play aggressive defense for 40 minutes without fouling out.

But – how about Nelson! Henderson! And now, Nolan! What a breath of fresh air! And seeing Coach K getting the T during Maryland’s unstoppable run in the first half was both frustrating and revolutionary. I probably would’ve gotten 5 Ts if I’d been anywhere near the game action. But how his team responded out of that first half – down, for the first time in the entire season – and how he responded – calm, getting good things out of timeouts, taking the Paulus 4 fouls and Singler 5 fouls in stride, putting a smaller lineup on the floor when he went with Scheyer – he got his team to play a GREAT second half that is mind-bogglingly strong in the stats – 51 to 33!!! – and yet, made it seem like clockwork, like it was just part of the routine.

The announcers made one comment right: “Duke keeps playing.” They’d noted, time and again, that Maryland will go on great spurts, but can’t sustain that kind of excellence – “wealth”, they called it – for longer periods of time. The kind of periods that wins games. And for the second straight game, Duke took a 6 point lead and began slowing it down at the 5 minute mark, having stared down a larger opponent and knowing that it was done, that it didn’t have any 10-0 runs that Duke couldn’t answer. If that is the sign of the #3 team in the country – then we’ve earned it. With no legit 5? With only 2 upperclassmen in the starting lineup? (Memphis and Kansas both have 4) We’ve earned it in spades.

Oh, and what’s this about Maryland bringing in the best defensive stats of the ACC? Allowing 93 points . . at home? LOL! You got punk’D!!!

Game blog still to come . . damn audit busy season!?#&^@!

Duke vs Clemson – Statement Game! – Game Blog

The broadcast begins with a huge cheer from the Cameron Indoor crowd: Maryland has toppled mighty #1 Carolina – FINALLY someone steps up to the plate – on its home court!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 82-80!! Carolina looked at times like they didn’t know what hit’em, like they’re still waiting for someone to come in and pick up the pieces and fend off these sharp-beaked Terps. Um, Brandan Wright is off to the NBA now, guys. It’s just down to the 9 of you. And after escaping Clemson (90-88 2OT), after escaping Georgia Tech (83-82), the Heels finally run out of luck, despite the refs blindly handing them every single loose ball in the last 16 seconds. After Maryland takes the lead with a Gist falling-down, off-balance, left-handed layup, the Heels run down, miss, miss, MISS, then bats the ball out of bounds, and even with my slow untrained eyes I can see that its off the UNC player, but, guess what? UNC ball. Oh, sure. So they set up an in-bounds, try again, miss, then it goes out of bounds – and, why not? UNC ball. 1.7 seconds left. Hansbrough tries a Roy Hibbert three, fails miserably, and then it’s all over. MWAHAHAHAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (does the Danny Green dance)

In other news . . apparently USC was ripping #4 UCLA a new one out in Pauley Pavilion, but thanks to CBS’s insane policy of scheduling 2 “regional” games at the same time and of course shackling the Chicago region to the Big Ten portion of the duo – I get to watch the scores tick off on ESPN.com rather than the actual game. The end result? USC joins its co-conspirator in knocking off a top 5 league opponent despite being very questionable themselves (1-3 in league play coming in), and its not even close: 72-63. Hello, #3 spot in the polls for Duke!

But – oh s***, the first couple of minutes scare the hell out of me. We just saw UNC get beat. We just saw UCLA get beat. Both at home. And in comes Clemson, looking like a totally different team than the one I remembered seeing last year. They can’t miss! They are attacking the post, attacking the glass, circling inside like a swarm of sharks smelling our blood. We have no bigs to contain them, and they are grabbing every rebound, cleaning up around the basket like a cookie monster after crumbs. 2-6 in the flash of an eye. The crowd goes quiet. Then Singler, who is almost becoming Old Reliable these days, travels along the baseline, and gives the ball back???? Didn’t know it was even possible to travel out there??? Shoot. Henderson’s not making good decisions, a little too trigger-happy. And McClure? Why not take a wide-open shot? Especially when they are clearly not going to guard you, thinking we aim to play 4 on 5?

But Nelson. Boy. Having a senior really settles you, huh? Takes a tough, tough off-balance shot in traffic and finishes, despite falling down on his butt. Then Singler seals off his man, grabs the pass off the floor, looks like he may not have acted quick enough to go up for the deuce, but he does, up and under!! OH NICEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And a steal!! Suddenly Duke is clicking, finding its confidence again, and Henderson grabs a steal, which he sends to Scheyer, to Nolan, who steps back on the 3 point line to drain it. 9-8! Awesome!!! Love those transition threes! Off that energy, we trap and press, make their life difficult, and they miss a runner in the lane . . only to have Booker beat a forest of guys underneath and stick it right back. OH, that kills.

But Nolan is already thinking ahead. He grabs the Duke possession, motors up the court, finds absolutely nobody interested in picking him up, and then just zooms straight to the basket, going up and up for the DUNK! Whoa!!! Nice!!! Way to beat their transition D! Off another Clemson runner . . Nolan dribbles out to the left elbow, hears the crowd chant his name, and says “why not?” and pulls up for a 15 footer that looks way too easy. And he’s not done! Next trip down, he offers King a 3 – King wisely says no thanks – so he takes it back, winks at DeMarcus, guns into the lane, finds 3 guys this time taking him seriously and collapsing in on him, and then swiftly does a 180 and finds DeMarcus out on the perimeter for a 3. And he drains it! 16-12! 13:21 left.

And now Duke’s pressure defense is starting to kill Clemson. They can’t get a pass inside. They’re losing balls out of bounds. They’re getting the ball stolen. Then they foul Scheyer attempting a 3 – gotcha! As he steps up for his 3 freebies, they show his parents looking on happily in the stands – undoubtedly due to the fact that they’re escaping the coldest day so far here in Chi-town (high 5, low -7). Jesus, can we not get any boards???? Box out??? All I see is miss, tip, tip, tip, and Clemson with about 4 or 5 chances to get the score until finally the ball decides to bounce Duke’s way and Henderson ends up with it.

OH SCHEYER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ALL THE WAY, BABY!! Just muscles his way inside and lays it in! 23-14 all of a sudden! Are we out of danger? And then Mays gets the ball poked out of his hands, G is streaking down the court all by himself, and I am getting ready for a dunk . . but, oh! What’s this? A kick-out? When we had a wide-open layup? As Scheyer drills the 3 – why not, when we’ll rather have a transition 3????? Oh, Scheyer!!!!! Welcome home, baby! Here’s the cheers for you that you should’ve received in the FSU game. 26-14! Someone needs a timeout! 10:56.

And Clemson goes back to what they do best – namely, with a put-back. The slaughter continues on the boards. LT then shows why he cannot be counted on for a put-back with one hand – not even with both hands – as he botches a goal despite being 2 inches away AND with NOBODY in his way! It rolls out! Ah, at least he grabbed the board and got fouled. At the other end, though, it’s frustrating – Duke plays great defense, picks them up at half court, really tries to deny the entry pass – but even if we do run some time off their shot clock, all they have to do is make one good pass inside, or move the ball around, and then – bam! – we are stretched too thin and some 6’9” guy comes flying up to make their statement with a rim-rattling dunk. Or put-back – one handed or not (Mays wears an oven mitt on his non-shooting hand). It’s quite disheartening. And then you see Paulus basically walk the ball back upcourt, forgetting all our “run, run, run” principles, and then simply hands it over to Nelson or Scheyer, without much of a playmaking ability at all. Sigh.

Henderson is dribbling, dribbling, making me wonder what the plan is, Nelson is pushing, pushing his guy away in front of him, slowly moving out of the left wing – and then – BOOM! Henderson circles in with a stride that is unreal, flies towards the basket, and slams down a loud, emphatic DUNK! Way to throw that down, G!!!! And mad props to Nelson, who was quite hilarious, clearing out that space for him, playing the goon for his teammate, giving him the room to work. 38-27, 4:50 to go.

Then Paulus undoes all the hard work by running into the lane, turning and thinking he can get DeMarcus an open shot, but instead puts the ball right into a Tiger’s hands, and they run down the court and lay it in with no resistance whatsoever in about 4 seconds. Nice. And Singler, despite being praised right and left by every single broadcaster from here to Anchorage, is not having a good game. Missed a couple threes, and now loses the ball while making his move in the post. Sure, he’s a mismatch for them – but if he’s not making moves, he’s not much of a match to begin with. Meanwhile, Clemson is starting another run. Pounding it inside, making nice jumpers, they cut the lead down to 38-33, much sooner than I thought. You don’t want us to reach 17 first? Yeah, how can we, if you’re gonna outrebound us by 10 – and the first half’s not even over yet!?!?!?

And here comes outrebound #11, #12, and #13, as they miss, tip, miss, tip, miss, tip, and then finally back off when the ball is safely through the net. We have no answer for them. And unlike Pitt, this is evident from minute 1. Nolan turns it over . . but just as I type this, the 2 freshmen make up for their mistakes. Nolan charges into the lane, draws the sharks, kicks it out to Singler, and – is this a familiar sight or what? – with the lead dwindling down to precariously single digits, Singler NAILS a big 3. 41-35, 40 seconds left. Unfortunately, we lose Oglesby behind a screen, and he nails a 3 to answer right back. We hold for the last shot . . and Nolan, with his feet just 1 inch inside the circle, takes the jumper and drains it. 43-38. Halftime.

I am very worried as we begin the second half. Never in recent memory have we gone into the locker room with such a precarious lead. It’s always been double digits. Then we have a scare in the second half and the other team makes a game of it. Does Clemson not like that script? Uh oh . . .

Nelson! Off the inbounds! That’s the easiest basket so far! But Clemson will win this game. I just know it; they’re killing us down low. 47-47. And now Kyle Singler takes the ball, making the first drive of the night for him, wanting the ball in his hands, wanting to make a play or draw a foul. And . . he draws the foul! 3rd on Booker. Swishes both. 49-47. As they come down the other end – I am cringing for another easy dunk – Mays in the air – but Singler goes for the BLOCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOLY COW! HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No more Mr. Nice Guy! With the game on the line – finally, an act of aggression! And there, is the turning point of the game, because off that terrific defense, Henderson takes the ball and throws it ahead to a streaking Nolan, who loves those fastbreak opportunities – and just slides inside for the two. 51-47, just like that, for a 4 point turnaround! 16:28.

Clemson comes roaring back, 51-51, in about a minute. Now it’s Henderson who takes us on his back, and he gets exactly what he wants, ushered to the free throw line to make 3 of 4. 54-51. But then we leave a Tiger alone on the 3 point line, and he is clutch, getting it right back to 54-54, tied game. 14:11 to go, and this is gonna be a fistfight. Henderson throws the first punch, bursting into the lane and turning the corner on turbo power, bringing the ball back like a fist ready to punch – but MISSES THE DUNK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Are you kidding me????? How can he miss????? As he falls onto his butt, looking about as stunned as we are. Poor Scheyer was charged with that ripping rebound and stepped out of bounds. Oh, but on the replay they show Sykes getting up just enough to put a hand in his face, thus blocking his vision. Awwwww.

Score still tied, 54-54 . . and LT decides to give them 2 chances to grab the lead, committing his 4th foul. They brick the first . . but gets the second. 54-55. Paulus with a long miss, but G with great hustle tracks it down, runs into a brick wall double-team, and goes to the line for a 1 and 1. Missed. My heart is racing. Then – DEMARCUS NELSON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just a blur right out of the screen, and next thing you now, what you were watching is gone, and replaced entirely by the DeMarcus Nelson one-man fastbreak, as he blurs right by his man and goes up for the exclamation point DUNK. What great anticipation!!!! That’s the way to break it open! 56-55. Then Hammonds throws the ball away. Clemson switches to a 1-3-1 zone, and Nelson misses a jumper. How come we don’t try a little zone to stem this Clemson headache-inducing pounding inside? LT has 4 fouls – why don’t we try to hide him? But I’m thinking too much. It is clearly much more effective simply to steal the ball away from them. Mays is double-teamed, throws the ball into Paulus’ general direction, and next thing you know, Paulus is turning tail fast as he can go and laying it up against a taller defender, Perry. 58-55! Clemson asks for a timeout.

But the Tigers still won’t go away. They fire up a 3. Nelson answers with a 3. Paulus has lost his magic touch from beyond the arc, having fired 5 long ones and only hit 1. Oh – but the freshman Oglesby bails him out by kindly fouling him (and Paulus helps his own cause by flopping a bit). 3 free throws coming right up! The commentator Fran shares an aside: “I had a chance to work with Paulus at the Steve Nash PG camp last summer. What a great kid. I said to him, “I didn’t realize you were such a good guy,” and he said, “Why? Cause I play at Duke?” Ha. Ha. Ha. As he swishes all 3, making it 64-60, 10:10 to go.

Oglesby tries a 3 pointer of his own, also falling down just in case he missed it – and – well, he missed – no call. Good job. Nelson eyes the paint, decides to try his luck, NOBODY even moves! HA! And suddenly Nelson is slashing to the rim with no defender in sight! Awesome!!!! “They’re not a good driving team. They’re not a better than average driving team. They may be the best driving team in the COUNTRY!” OH? Based on one pretty drive by our irreplaceable senior? Thanks, guys! 66-60! And as the Tigers glance up at the score – it’s PAULUS, with a STEAL! Just so smoothly picks the pocket of a stand-still Oglesby, who never knew what hit him, and before he could recover, our fleet-footed point guard had stormed down the lane and laid it in. 68-60! The crowd is going nuts!!!!

Clemson scores one, but it doesn’t help. Offensive charge, drawn by Henderson, and they give the ball right back. Singler throws a looooong outlet to a streaking Scheyer, who corrals it and gets fouled. Two swishes later, it is 70-62. LT with a nice tip to deny the ball being thrown inside! Great Lance! Off the inbounds pass – STOLEN, by Scheyer! Though he can’t finish, but nearly steals it back for a second try. At this rate, it’s almost too much fun to worry about stuff like that, because clearly the momentum has shifted. We are hitting on all cylinders. They can pound it inside all they want, but we are quicker, faster, more alert, more eager to run, and we will foul you or double-team you to make you earn your points inside. And the crowd, knowing the tide has turned, is bouncing off the walls. We can beat them!!!! We can assert our domination on the ACC!

Oh, a little zone! Finally! And see how great that worked out? They try to penetrate, loses their footing, and the ball careens perfectly into Nelson’s hands, who throws it ahead to a running Nolan, who lets it bounce in front of him, like a yo-yo, before reaching out, tapping the ball to him, and flipping it up into the net – all the while going at least 70mph, with a hot-streaking Scheyer and Singler right behind him, making sure that this time, this fastbreak won’t go unconverted. As they both crash the glass, the ball happily slides into the net, 72-63!!! And it’s too much fun! Nolan and Scheyer fall over each other trying to get back up on D, scrambling to their feet, looking like 2 kids just down the bunny slopes and too eager to get back for more. Oh, the adrenaline’s gotta be pumping through them now – they are unstoppable, uncatchable, and what was once a tight game has been blown back out to the stone age. No more menacing brutes patrolling the lane. No more power dunks raining down on them right and left. Duke has imposed its will on them, taking control of everything except the boards, and perhaps even the boards, as the disparity is nowhere near as bad in the second half. Duke was in the passing lanes, the driving lanes, controlling the fastbreak points, the steals, and just completely messing up their game. It is a complete turnaround, with 7:22 left to play.

Then, in about a minute, we reel off 9 more points. It is dazzling. Singler misses a 3, we grab the rebound, Scheyer hits up Singler for another try . . and in it goes! A big 3-ball from Kyle! 75-65. Wow, look at Henderson go! It is breathtaking. Off the Clemson make, he just bounds upcourt, the ball bounds along in front of him, and from 75 feet out he must’ve taken only 4 or 5 steps, tops, and that’s all he needs to get right up by the goal and put it in despite the hard contact and foul. AND ONE! Oh, Duke in the open court is just a thing of beauty. 78-65. Then, “see the zone,” Fran instructs. “It’s not the best zone ever.” That is ok. It sure is the best zone Clemson has ever seen, as they cough up their possession, right on cue. YES!!! Henderson gladly takes off with that gift, circles in, kicks it out to Scheyer, who touch-passes it immediately to Singler, who wastes no time – giving them the final dagger to the heart – a perfect THREE! 81-65!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Unbelivable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And the Tigers are done. In the space of 1 minute, we have completely turned the game around. This is much more impressive than the FSU game. If you don’t have the guards to play with us, you might as well go home. We don’t care who your big men are. This is college, baby. And Clemson just burned its last timeout, with 5:43 left to play. 21-4 run in the last 4:17.

Clemson comes out of the timeout with the same gameplan they had 2 hours ago – attack the paint. So, they get the ball inside to Mays – and Nolan clobbers him. To his credit, he makes both (possibly also tired of the commentator’s 512th mention of his clubs’ terrible FT %). We miss . . but then Clemson offers up another bad pass, and Nelson races upcourt with it, easily beating Oglesby to the basket – and one! The free throw is no good . . but in the ensuing melee, someone is nice enough to tip it out to a stand-still Scheyer, who calmly accepts the possession. He then gives it to Paulus . . who forgets that we still have 4:47 left to play in the ballgame, anything can happen, and . . wait, what’s the score again? 83-67? Well, never mind. Do what you will with the ball, Greg.

Duke starts to relax, letting a couple things go: giving up an easy inbounds pass and immediate layup, taking a Mays flop for an offensive charge, G missing 2 FT, etc. That’s all okay. In order to make a comeback, Clemson will have to play lights-out defense for the last 5 minutes, shoot the 3 well, and at least try to generate a few turnovers from us. Yeah, ain’t gonna happen. Oglesby’s having a rough night, ending up with only 3 of 11, and their PG Hammonds will not fare much better, going underwater with a 2/3 A/T ratio.

And NELSON is still lighting up the night!!!!!! Tipping in a Singler miss! Gorgeous! “There are glue guys, and then there are super glue guys. That describes DeMarcus Nelson to a T.” What will we do next year without you, DeMarcus? Will Greg similarly step up, like you’ve done this year? Hold on a sec – is Nolan limping? 2:15, as he trails the action after a missed floater in the lane. Well, no mention of it by the announcers. 87-74, 1:35 left, and they’re coming to their feet in Cameron Indoor. There is no threat left. We will go into Chapel Hill in 2 weeks undefeated in ACC play. Heh, maybe Maryland will give us a hiccup – right, Carolina?

And Nelson provides the exclamation point. As they double Scheyer down in the lane, he spots a cutting “21” turn the corner and easily threads him the bounce pass – DeMarcus for the dunk! But instead of going up strong, he instead lays it in – and the announcers point out astutely that he may have tweaked his back. Yep, on the replay, he reaches and grimaces a little at his back underneath the basket. Hope you’re alright, Markie. As he comes off to a roaring ovation. 24 points!!! Matching a career high! As the buzzer sounds, and the happy Duke bench comes out to greet its players – Mike Patrick roars, “Statement game!” 93-80. I am dancing!

And what a statement. What a turnaround from the FSU game. Knowing we won’t outwork them on the glass – we shore up our turnovers (from 21 at FSU to 11 today) while forcing them into 20. We grabbed 13 steals!!! We completely took them out of their game in the second half. For the first time in a long time – perhaps the first time all season – we played an outstanding second half, much better than the first half. We adjusted. We exploited their weaknesses. We took their advantage – size – and turned that right around into a disadvantage for them. Wow . . I am just in awe. This is a classic example of how your defense turns into your offense. 37 fastbreak points!!!!!!! Amazing!!!

Does K know how to coach, or what? This was an extremely well-prepared team. They didn’t get rattled, didn’t get into foul trouble, and just rallied at all the right spots, making it a team effort in the process. Everyone contributed. Everyone crashed the glass. Everyone had a steal or two, taking it end to end for the layup. And the substitution patterns were right on, with Nolan and Scheyer coming in and immediately providing an offensive kick, and Nolan and Greg spelling each other at the right times to give grief to their PG, Hammonds. We focused on Oglesby, their sharpshooter, and shut him down. We crowded their big guys on defense and forced them into bad passes, then on offense drove straight at them and made them foul. Against a bigger team – we made more foul shots than they attempted. The only place where we got out-done was the glass, with the rebounding margin a frightening 26-42. But, just like in the Wisconsin game, we knew that will happen and it didn’t matter. Not when we controlled every other aspect of the game.

But the thing I love most is how together this team played. In order to take down a bigger team, you have to be focused and work seamlessly together as one, and that’s what Duke did tonight. The switches on the screens and on D were amazing. Everyone was alert, and as soon as any pass was made, that Tiger immediately found himself confronted by 1 and ½ or 2 Dukies, looking for the steal, looking for the indecision. And on offense, we shared the ball extremely well. Six Blue Devils had 9 points or more. And when they tied the game . . when they took the lead . . we didn’t let it go for a second before we answered . . and we answered . . and then we just shut the door on them with about 5 minutes to play. Singler’s block was HUGE. It led right away to a fastbreak bucket for us, but more than that, it told them that we had the ability to control the low block too, that this was the end of their freebies around the rim. Nelson, Henderson, and Scheyer all played GREAT. Nolan – was a revelation. Having him at the point really got me excited. 4 assists and 6 of 9 shooting! And Singler showed once again the uncanny ability to knock down huge threes with the game very much in doubt. He actually took 7 threes – making 3 – which is the most attempts of anyone on the team. Usually you’ll think King will take those – but Singler? I think it’s because he didn’t want to mix it up inside, but he also did it to stretch their defense, and on the majority of those, he was wide open. King, however, was surprisingly absent, but I think that’s due to matchups more than anything, and K wanted at all times 3 or 4 fleet guards out on the floor.

Bring it on, Carolina!

The Lion in Winter

The greatest rivalry in sports doesn’t just happen on the hardwood twice a year. Not anymore. It isn’t just Feb 6 and March 8 this year. It’s already begun. The first shots have already been heard, from Texas, to California, to Madison Square Garden. And the lion, so used to the balmy glow of the sun, suddenly finds itself in the cold drags of winter.

Jan 3: 6’10” 5-star John Henson (2009) commits to Carolina.

Jan 4: 6’9” 4-star twins Travis and David Wear (2009), former teammates of Taylor King, commits to Carolina.

Jan 9: 6’5” 5-star Reggie Bullock (2010), commits to Carolina.

Jan 13: 6’3” 5-star Dexter Strickland (2009), playing in the Nike Super 6 at MSG, commits to Carolina.

Then, on Jan 16: 6’10” 4-star Erik Murphy (2009), one of 4 highly coveted Duke recruits, commits to Florida . . without even a single Duke visit.

Son of a b**ch.

Al Featherston on DBR tries to allay the fears, reminding us that “Many - maybe most - of K’s major recruiting victories have been as good as advertised. That string of great players stretches from Johnny Dawkins to Danny Ferry to Grant Hill to Elton Brand to Shane Battier to Jason Williams to J.J. Redick to Luol Deng . . .

. . . to Kyle Singler.”

Oh, lord.

You don’t know, what you’ve got, do you? Seeing his name up there, alongside the greats . . I was totally unexpecting it. Recruiting is all about looking forward, to the next big thing, the next one, the next one. But what about our current roster? How about G? Scheyer? . . Kyle? Last night, his face was black and blue – an ugly gash right under his right eye, a cut above his eyebrow that had required stitches 2 months ago and was just healing up – and now his chin was cut open, bleeding only a few seconds ago. Oh Kyle. We are so lucky to have you. When Duke was on the ropes, when it could do nothing as its pretty lead all but vanished . . who puts us on his back? Who steps up to the 3 point line and demands the ball for a point-blank shot? To see him, putting his arms around his teammates in the huddle . . to hear him say, someone’s got to do it, we might be thin up front but we’re gonna do team defense and someone’s got to step up. I’ll do it. I don’t mind. I never signed on to play the 5, but . . I’ll do this. For Duke.

“I’ll be back.”

It’s been an eventful night. Scheyer went absolutely ballistic on Florida State, playing like an all-world, playing like a kid with a slingshot who’d just figured out what he can do with it, and gleefully running around, snickering. They are all ribbing on him, teasing him, mimicking his moves, laughing and having a good time in the back of the bus. Coach K looks back at them – a wide grin on his face. His young team had faced a tough road opponent tonight, the same opponent that had gone into LittleJohn and pushed Clemson into double OT – and he knew what this win meant to them.

Believe me, there was a reason why he didn’t schedule any “true” road games earlier in the season. A reason that no one else knew about. It was games like these, that sometimes tries his patience as a Hall of Fame coach. He needs to maintain composure – he’s got to remember that. But it kills him, when opposing fans cannot appreciate the hard work and effort that his kids had just put forth tonight. No matter the win – no matter if it was a loss or draw – whatever – any basketball player, should deserve more respect and more courtesy than the s*** doled out to his team tonight. No matter who you are – no matter what's on the front of your jersey – hey. These kids are putting their life on the line for you. For your enjoyment. They are sacrificing their bodies. They are sacrificing their time and effort and heart. The least you can do is show some respect. You don’t need to throw things. You don’t need to hijack the ESPN broadcast to show your dirty mouth to the world. Some of the stuff that the kids said . . my God. That was why Coach K was on the sidelines, putting his arm around Greg, pulling his eyes down. Don’t look at the students. They don’t deserve your attention. Look at me. Look at the person who believes in you. Sometimes, Greg, it’s us against the world.

So they are pulling out of the arena, onto the highway to the airport. The night is dark, 10pm, and they stop by to grab food before heading to the terminal. “Away” games are the toughest when they are on Wednesday nights, because you have to jet in on Tuesday, then miss an entire day of classes on Wednesday as you practice and scout. On Thursday, you’re tired, still shot with adrenaline, and looking forward to Friday already. But that is the life of a student-athlete. And when he looks back on them . . when he sits in his seat and reclines back and can almost close his eyes to the blissful sounds of laughter and teasing and the awful rap noises Taylor King was making to accompany Nolan Smith’s bass-voiced play by play of Scheyer’s 21 points in 75 seconds against the Noles . .

He can almost see them, each one clearly, without even having to turn around and open his eyes. They were there, in his mind – the result of months of hard recruiting and then weeks and months and for some of them 3 and a half years of daily practices and dinners and one-on-ones, to ingrain them in his mind. Their smiles. Their frowns. Their wide eyes . . tired breaths . . and their brilliance, that bounce in their steps, once they got it. Oh, and they got it tonight. Those first half minutes, when they went on that 16-0 tear – he had so wanted to run out on the court to join them. How much fun was Scheyer having? The smarts, the court vision, the stunning awareness! How much of an improvement had Taylor King made over the last couple of games? Nolan Smith? And Kyle Singler. Oy! How clutch, was that 3 point shot? Of all the 3 point specialists on the team . . for him, to want it! A 6’8” freshman!

But then comes the call that can ice your heart. Erik Murphy is on the other line. His voice is scratchy . . hello coach . . I’m calling to let you know . . um . . well . . I’m sorry, coach. I was very interested in Duke University. I’ve really thought it through. But, in the end . . my gut tells me, Florida. I know I’ll fit right in with their style of play. Yes . . yes, I know. I’m sorry, coach. I really am . . . Okay. Thank you. Best of luck.”

Click.

The noise has died down. The kids have scooted back into their seats, starting to feel the drag of the long night ahead of them, many pulling on their earphones. In the silence, Coach K could still hear one voice: Kyle Singler, talking on the phone to his parents in Oregon. The snippets of conversation wafted slowly towards the front of the bus. “I’m fine, mom . . really, it’s no big deal, it’s already healed! . . haha, okay . . oh, did you see that dunk by G?? Off that missed free-throw? No?? That was sick! . . hey EJ . . how was your game last night? . . . ”

Silently, Coach K leans forward until his forehead rests on his knuckles, squeezing his eyes tight. It is all he can do to keep his emotions inside. Kyle Singler. I have to surround you with better talent. I just have to. I’m not going to make the same mistake that I’d made with JJ Redick. I owed him a national championship. Not the other way around. I owed him. He should never have been 90% of our offense. Kyle, I made you a promise. I told you, when I was recruiting you, that you would become a National Player of the Year for Duke. And you will. But in order to develop you . . in order to prolong your life from all those goons out there . . I have to give you a better low-post player than I have so far. Lance Thomas is . . well, let’s not go there. Brian Zoubek is still, alarmingly, light years away. You need help now – and I can’t give that to you. I can’t protect you against a bruising 23 year old such as Tyler Hansborough. And now . . now the kid that I would’ve loved to come in and learn from you have gone somewhere else. Isn’t Florida all out of scholarships??? #$&^!*&@#!?!!

But, hey . . not every kid is a Duke kid. Not every kid is going to say, “Duke was my first – and only – choice.” No. We’ll be alright. Next play.

“I’ll be back.”

Those words echoed in his ear. In the era of one-and-done’s . . to hear your best player tell you, emphatically, that he’s coming back . . that’s something, isn’t it? And the team . . they’ve just won their first ACC road game tonight. They are ranked top 7 in both polls. They are 1 point away from being undefeated – isn’t that enough? Isn’t that a testament to some kind of success? Sure, there were some bad turnovers tonight. And 3 point shooting wasn’t great. But that’s all for tomorrow. Let the worries come tomorrow. Tonight? Let’s just enjoy this. Let’s enjoy what we have, rather than what we don’t have. Best of luck to Erik Murphy. But (aside from joining a club with 6 legit big guys playing in front of him) – he’s missing out on this. On the sound of Taylor King, 2,000 miles from home, but with not a care in the world, rapping with the best of them . . until Nolan Smith tackles him from behind, pulling the blue hood over his eyes, their incessant laughter catching as Gerald joins them . . and Kyle Singler, his eyes closed, his voice quieting as he listened to his brother thousands of miles away . . but his grin, his sleepy, wide-toothed grin, said it all. As the bus rolled on into the night . . somewhere between Tallahassee and Durham, beamed the smile of a boy, right at home.

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!