Coming from the Illinois - Arizona endgame - where they are tied with mere seconds left - for once, I have to psyche myself up a little bit for Duke, and so the first couple of minutes are somewhat of a letdown. Turnover, after failed put-back, after turnover. Did anyone else notice, in the jump ball circle, two yellow shirts surrounding Kyle, one on each side, as if they've been told by their coach to never let him out of their sight, like bodyguards? Then, just a tick before the whistle, Kyle scoots in front of them both, and when the ball comes his way, he easily snatches it up, even though he's surrounded - giving Duke first possession. Very nice. Both teams are perhaps a little too anxious in the first couple minutes - it's ok, guys, just play. King comes in off the bench, and immediately contributes. Gets a nice put-back - then the three's start raining in! You wanna shoot three's? We'll shoot three's! Kyle tries one. Almost. Paulus pulls up 3 feet behind the 3 point line, a la King style, and easily fires one up - it's good! Then King, not to be outdone, pulls up on the left wing and shoots his now-familiar, quick-fire release with those long arms as if saluting the goal - it's good!!! King has 5!
McClure is in! Fantastic to see Coach K trusting King enough to leave him in the game and replace Kyle at the 4, where he puts up those long arms a la Singler style to go up 10 feet high - and the Michigan kid immediately loses heart and tosses the ball away. Wow, Henderson with a nice move!!! Zips right through the defense, doesn't think twice, goes up strong with that high knee pivot and just banks that one home! Oh wait - that was Nolan???? Damn! Double wow for you, then! Rivaling Henderson with that deuce! And here's Scheyer with a great 18 footer. Lovely to see him adding those to his repertoire, since he's definitely shooting less three's this season. The announcers are saying this game is this sloppy (combined 8 for 32 so far = 25%) b/c both teams haven't played for 5 days+. Practices are nice and all, but you need to get "game-sharp". Um, if Duke looks like this after 6 days off, what will they look like against Albany, with 8 days off? Or Cornell, with 17 days off?
Singler and Nelson are back - and Singler promptly rips down a fierce rebound. On the other end, he backs into the post, twists and puts up a strong ball off the glass, it bounces out, and he's right there, fighting to get his ball back and going up again, this time from the left side, staying with it this time to make sure it goes in. Then, next trip down, he gets the ball on the left wing, and he gets that look in his eye, that says "look out! I mean business!" - clears himself a path along the baseline, and scoops that ball in! A whistle! Oh no - offensive foul? Wha - ? I didn't see no offensive foul! Oh. Okay, yeah, its there on the replay. Hey guys, can you scoot over, and not crowd him when he shoots, so that I can see what the hell happened, and not be blocked by a thicket of yellow shirts? Thanks. Yeah, they flopped. That's 2 on Kyle. 10:30. Boy, he's collecting those fouls alarmingly fast, isn't he? Poor guy . . say hello to the bench for me.
Yes!!! "Gerald Henderson strikes for the first time!!" Finally, a shot goes down! I was actually really hoping Paulus would take it all the way to the wire, but then he turns around 180 degrees and throws a scary pass to someone on the FT line? This is a fast break, not a free for all! So Henderson just rises up on the 3 point arc like a coiled spring and says to hell with all this sloppiness. They show a box - Michigan so far is shooting 1 for 10 on two's and 2 for 8 on three's. Surprising - b/c they've actually gotten lots of good looks, but they're just not going down. And please don't show the box on Duke - it ain't much better. Thomas with a borderline two all the way out by the 3 point arc? What are we doing, LT?? That brought back shades of Josh last year, just amusedly taking a three cause he didn't feel like venturing inside to the post. Can we not put these Wolvies away? They're not being coached by Tommy Amaker this year, or anything like that. On the other end - Paulus drawing an offensive charge! Great piece of defending - I almost had a start when I realized we had a 6'1" PG all alone against the driving 6'5" Manny - but he stepped up just in time. Incidentally - is it just me, or is Michigan pushing the pace faster and finishing better than us? Our three's have been ok - but our two's have been somewhat iffy.
GREAT execution! I love our in-bounds plays! Paulus is doing the in-bounds, his teammates are running around, and he just sends the ball straight to the only guy not running around, Scheyer, who's in his magical spot on the 3 point arc and sends it straight up. Money! You know, with Scheyer's three's, I just have so much more confidence than King's - maybe cause I watched him a lot from last year. Loved to see him put in that dagger in about 3 seconds flat.
Interesting lineup we have on the floor - TWO point guards (Paulus and Nolan) with Nolan taking the 2 spot, Scheyer, Nelson, and King at the 5? Interesting! Paulus is really enjoying this luxury, aren't you, Greg? Keeping an eye on his charge on the perimeter, but also sneaking a glance back towards Nolan, who's giving his guard all kinds of trouble on the ball - what a team! But will we lack defensively when they try to hack into the paint? Let's see, here they come . . great rotation . . great footwork . . and then King stoutly holds his ground while Nelson comes in for the double team, effortlessly stripping the Michigan kid into completely losing the ball and handing it over, to which Nelson says "thank you!" Scoops it up. Sprinting 90mph down to the other side, where he pulls it up and sends it to Scheyer on the right. NICE!!!!!!!!!! Smith is ALL ALONE in the paint! Are they confused about defensive positions or what? He just turns around, yelling to Scheyer "look what I found!" And then Schey boy just whips the pass right to him and he lobs it in against the glass - textbook! Ah, if LT or Z could have more of those moments - but here, Nolan turns being small into an advantage! 25-14. "And Duke has awakened!!!" How many pieces can we put together on the floor? How many??? You wanna run? We'll run! We'll put in our Thoroughbreds against you! Look out, Michigan!
OOHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Is this Nolan's breakout game? Is it??? All season long people have raved about Singler, more recently people have praised King to the sky - and now, now, we have Nolan breaking out BIG against Michigan! How about his HOPS???????? Nelson is becoming the instigator now - I love that rush of adrenaline when he rips down that rebound and starts taking off to the other end, firing up his engine 90mph and scouting the court with all kinds of senior-laden laser vision. So spine-tangling - I love it!!!!! Then a blur just appears out of nowhere, streaking out from the right wing, blows right by his defender - Nelson sends him the sniper bullet - and he just takes that ball and becomes one with it, rising as it rises and slamming it into the net just as it wants to slam! NOLAN SMITH, ladies and gentlemen!! OHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The announcers cry. Finally, some pretty action! Finally, some beauty! And there's nothing more beautiful - pardon my prejudice, Taylor - than a fast ball taken hard right to the basket. And that meteoric rise - that fast - I've only seen from Gerald Henderson so far this year. And here is Nolan, arguing for that patent! Rust? What rust? I'm just getting started! I'm a firecracker off the bench!!!
"Michigan needs a bucket." Yeah? I would say so too. Cause suddenly, it's like they're playing a whole new ballclub - suddenly, the Duke signature pressure that I'd seen and loved in games past is on all cylinders. They try a layup by the basket, can't get it to fall, gets the ball back, tries again 2 feet away, and still can't get it to fall. It's like we've magnetized the ball towards Duke or something! Ha ha! Nah . . we're just pretty good. Another rebound ripped down, another long pass - to King, all the way out there by himself! And he just squares up and fires - you don't even need to try to get out there to defend him. A trey! Oh, no, a deuce - he had his feet on the three point line. The Duke bench is outscoring the entire Michigan squad by itself - 20 to 14!
Oh, Nolan! He can't miss! A long, gorgeous-looking three - and the lead is 32-14! The fans go nuts!! Michigan needs a timeout! The pandemonium is so great that I can't wipe this huge, silly grin off my face - we're too good! We're on fire! It should be criminally barred or something! How about that? Paulus is so happy for his freshman understudy that he jumps on him and swings his arm around his neck, ribbing in that insane cheer for him. Nolan - welcome to the club! Do you hear that noise? Do you hear those fans cheering and yelling? That's for you. That's all for you. For once, it's not for the tall, smooth-shooting, walking-on-air kid from Oregon. For once, it's not for the linebacker-built, quick-release, lefty sharpshooter from California. This time, it's for the quick, lean gunner from Maryland; it's for the kid with the tattoos and the sometimes deer-in-the-headlights look against Marquette, the kid who a few games back had more turnovers than assists, the kid who everybody said would usurp Paulus's minutes and replace him outright but hasn't since shown that explosiveness and that killer instinct yet. Well, he's got it now. He was just waiting for that prime moment when nobody wanted to step up, when nobody wanted to break out against a very mediocre Michigan club - naw, he wasn't waiting. He had it all along. A "catalyst", they're calling him tonight. A "thief". A playmaker - a game-changer - a firecracker. How many of those do we have stashed on the bench??? Can our bench be a top 25 team all by itself? Early in the season I didn't think so. Now, maybe I do. Maybe - maybe, we really are that good, that deep. Boy - "deep" is word we haven't heard in quite a while, huh? I think maybe that's the sexiest word I've heard all day!
Holy cow - my head's spinning from that sequence of events. Is the Michigan team as bewildered as I am? How unselfish, how crisp the ball movement, everybody knows where everybody is, and they just seem to be playing the game out on the blacktop by themselves, with no yellow shirts in the way, no one cheering them on - just boom, boom, boom! What great teamwork. Just . . wow. We didn't get a shot in - but that's almost beyond the point. Crisp passes in and out, Nolan misses a 3, King rises up high to grab that rebound, sends it out immediately to Nelson, who fires up a 3 - no good - another rebound being ripped down - then the passes go in and out - boom, boom - and Scheyer blazes into the lane, only to kick out to a wide open King, who fires - no good - the rebound comes off the weak side, and Scheyer is magically there! The ball is wrenched away by a Michigan kid - oh, whistle! Over the BACK! Scheyer just walks away with that cool look - like "heh, I told you so" - don't mess with me on those rebounds, man! Chest-bumps Nolan. Cause, if you send him to the FT line, you know he's money, right? Awesome. 3 attempts at 3's, and we get a foul and an automatic two on FT. This is too much fun! 2:18.
King leaves, McClure comes in - and immediately we look for him. He breaks off a screen right into the center, gathers the ball, and acrobatically goes up to the goal - it's in! 2 points for Troy! Is that his first two for the season? Boy, have I missed McClure - his body movement as he goes up for the ball is just incomparable to anyone else - it's so signature, so unique, so spry! They show a box for the freshmen scorers on both sides so far - King and Smith combining for 18 while Michigan's combine for 4. And Kyle Singler is still sitting on the bench! I'd almost forgotten about him! What a club! Can we unleash all 3 freshmen at the same time next half? See how much wreckage they can do?
Oh, CLASSIC! That's about the most beautiful endgame for the first half as I've ever seen all season. 16 seconds left. Paulus with the ball. Dribble, dribble, takin' it easy. We space out the court. Michigan's ready to defend. Then Paulus takes a nice detour en route to the paint, circling in, gaining speed and rising up on that knee to shoot - and they're ready to block it, they've converging in, flying towards him. Then - then he scoops the ball cross-country to Nelson on the wing! McClure is there with a solid immovable screen! And there, with 2 seconds left, Nelson calmly takes that ball and rises up to his full height, unleashing that puppy and watching it sail in, smooth as butter. KA-CHING! A three-ball to end the half and a perfect last 10 minutes. Is it a coincidence that our firepower came on full-bore when we went to a smaller lineup? With 2 veterans (Nelson and Paulus), a dead-eye and key rebounder (Scheyer), an athletic riser (Hendo), and a fast, quick, but much more in control combo guard (Nolan)? Remember his fast, 3 fouls in succession fiasco in the Wisconsin game? I think he's learned, Coach! He's learning, just like King! At this rate, if we can get LT and Z up to speed - it's gonna be look out, world! Our freshmen are kicking that learning curve right to the curb. 41-23 halftime.
Second half: Kyle's back. And there it is again - time and time - he's missed his first 2 three-pointers, but he stays with it, he knows he can knock them down, and that crisp ball movement is courtesy of Paulus, who just knows where he is and touch-passes it right to him, who fires away - and its good! Then another one from Hendo! And the teamwork there is so unselfish: Kyle gets the ball on the arc - will he shoot it? No - he passes it right off to Paulus - also on the arc. Will he shoot it? No - just as I was waiting for that three to launch, he passes it straight to a waiting Hendo, all alone along baseline - and BAM - he goes up for the jam! Nicely done! Oh, PAULUS! To Nelson for the THREE! How great was that transaction? He just circles so fearlessly into the paint, gets 2 guys to jump up to meet him, then whip-lashes the ball out to Nelson over his shoulder, who, again, calmly steps up and fires away. Beautiful stroke, Nelson! I am loving Paulus more and more in this game. Hey Greg - sorry about what I said earlier in the Davidson game when I was dissing you for Richards. Heehee - didn't mean that. We don't need you to hand out 10 assists per game, necessarily - you contribute far more than that. But those assists you're racking up today! For three-point shots! So lovely to see!
Oh, no. No, no, no. Kyle is on the floor after the whistle, putting his hands up to cover his face, and I know what the call was. Blocking foul. On Singler. 16:05, he picks up his 3rd. Poor kid just wants to play, ref! Let him play! Thank you, Coach K - no substitutions. Then he goes to the other end and immediately goes to work - life's too short to take a breather! And what a beautiful play! Hey, can we run more of these? King on the perimeter with the ball, just kind of holding it - and I'm thinking, what are you planning to do? But ah, but he has a plan - and as soon as Kyle shakes off his defender and glides into the paint, free as a bird - the ball slips out to him, and in one smooth motion, he takes it and lays it up strongly into the goal. Score! You've forgotten about me? You've built your entire gameplan around me! Well, here I am! I can play the 5. I can play the 4. I can play the high pick and roll that so enamored some of us in the Davidson game. Anything - just don't make me sit. Pretty please, with a cherry on top?
I can't stop smiling - this is too much fun! Nolan comes in - there it is, 3 freshmen on the floor - and he gets the ball out on the perimeter. After having seen Michigan go again and again into the paint, I'm begging him - don't take another 3 - take it right to them - and he agrees. He does a little hesitation dribble, daring his challengers to bite - then neatly splits his double team right down the middle, roars into the lane, seizess that ball, and goes up STRONG!! That's the way to do it, #2! Then Hendo with a turnaround jumper - "tough shot!" the announcers chide - but it's nothin' but net! Oh! What a big time gamer! He's running the fast break, sees King ahead of the pack and sends it straight to him, for the easy deuce! You gotta dunk that, Taylor! The bench is just on fire. What's that, 31 for the bench?
Hendo gets blocked, again? He can't believe it. Nobody blocks me! I block you! So the next trip down, he gets a little overly aggressive and hears that whistle blow - offensive foul. Aww. Hey, can you believe it? This is our 1st turnover since the 10:30 mark of the first half! Only 5 turnovers so far! Way to go, Duke! Yeah, cause the 20 turnovers against Davidson wasn't gonna cut it today, not with 6 days to chew it over. And a LOB to Lance Thomas! Aww, except he pulls it down and then goes back up for the layup. Still, very nice to see him on the boards. I think everyone's had a bucket, except for Z so far?
WOW!! NOLAN SMITH! How dexterous, how versatile, how quick is he??? Has he missed a shot today? He goes right into the lane, doesn't care a hoot about the ring of defenders collapsing on him, shows a beautiful little spin move to get rid of his defender, and goes right up to the goal for the basket. "He's showing us everything today!" The announcers crow. But he wasn't on the scouting report, coach! He sure as hell wasn't - I looked during halftime!
So here is Z coming in for his chance to put some points on the board. Hey, it's not a party without Z, right? And boy, is he determined to contribute. His first trip down, he grabs a pass, turns, sees with surprise that his defender has flopped shamelessly to the ground - and hesitates for just a second, as if to say "what? I barely moved!" - then continues with his original purpose and just lays that puppy into the basket. Second trip down, he again takes a nice pass, looks a bit swarmed and overwhelmed for a moment, dribbles it out, goes up, loses it, then goes after it, determined, refusing to let up, chasing that ball and battling for it all the way to the floor, falling right on top of the Michigan player, digging it up, miraculously getting it into the hands of Scheyer, who takes no hesitation and goes up right to the wire, only to be mauled for the foul! What a heart in your throat sequence of events there! Coach K calls Z over for some pointers, as Scheyer all but breaks out into a dance on the FT line - I mean, professionally sinks 1 of 2 freebies.
How about Paulus! Calling out his own number and going up confidently for that three. It's almost like a merry-go-round with this team - you've got 2? Ok. You've got 2? Ok. It's mine turn now. I know I can sink this. And the ball shoots like an arrow to the target - nothing but net. Then, on the defensive end - Paulus harasses his player so much that the ball is fumbled loose, and Nelson, as sharp as a hawk, just scoops that ball up and takes off to the other end, slamming that sucker into the net for an emphatic two. Oh ho, NELSON!!!!!!!!!!!!! How good did that feel? No one got back! No one even tried running with him because it would've been such a lost cause. It's so deliriously loud in the arena that the announcers can't even get a word out! Oh, someone needs a timeout! Someone can't take any more of this Duke domination without a drink! As I pop another cold one to celebrate. 72-45. 8:38 to play.
And now its Nelson's turn again. He dribbles, dribbles, watching what's going on in front of him with such delicious coolness - then starts his attack, dribbling out around his defender, around another defender, hey you can take me out 25 feet and I won't care - I will just circle in right here, go all the way around the right side, come up here, and bang! Pop one in. Great poise, great confidence, and the authoritative bucket. He is starting to dish them out, too - as he sends one to Kyle Singler from the high post, and all Kyle has to do is lay it up - it's that simple! Oh, but a foul! The ball rolls around the outer rim before popping back out - to the consternation of DeMarcus, who lost that assist, and Kyle, who could care less about the foul, and more about the shot not going in from about 1 foot away.
"3E. Unflappable. Power-Aid." What the hell is power-aid? As the announcers try for some acute observations as he shoots his FTs. You mean like Cool-Aid, except tastes better, and with an extra oomph to pack you up 10 lbs? I don't necessarily want Kyle to pack on more pounds - though I understand he'll need it for the NBA. Ugh . . let's not utter that word right now, k? And what does 3E stand for? "Everything, is Effective and Efficient." Oh, nice one there, partner. Except can you not spell it out like an airplane seat number? Some of us have taken enough travel for work, thanks. How about E powered to the 3? Or, Triple E? Yeah, not much of a nickname potential there.
WHAT????? Taylor!!!! You're 3 feet away from the basket, and you kick it out to Scheyer on the wing? It'll be good if he can make the three . . no - but KING!!! With the put-back! WOW! Some kind of confidence, huh? Oh, what a beautiful play. 80-50. He blazes out to a fast break, grabs a streaking ball thrown out in front of him, but looses the handle to his Michigan defender who steals it away. My bad, my bad, he says. Then on D he stays right with his man, rising up as he rises up to shoot, partially deflects that ball so it becomes an airball easily collectible by Nolan, and he's already running off to the other end, finding his sweet spot and firing up with no one in sight, and its goooooooood!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Taylor King for three! Oh, but he's not done! After Michigan answers with a three of its own, King gets that competitive look in his eye, comes up on the set defense and takes one look at the goal, then - almost turns sideways, and just pops it up - done! "EFFORTLESS!" The announcers proceed to pick their jaws up from the floor. There's another E! E for Effortless! 89-59.
Z is looking spry! The last few minutes, he really shows them what a 7 footer can do. And then it's final. 95-67. And that's how the game is played.
Post-game thoughts: I love how we never went to stallball late in the second half, even when we had a comfortable 30 point lead. Instead, we cleared our bench, and let everyone work on their shots. That's the advantage of these games - work and execute well in the first half, so you can take somewhat of a breather in the second half, but still not let up, and concentrate more on spreading the ball around and getting everyone involved. There were definitely some trips down at the end when we wanted to get the ball in to Zoubek, so he can leave us with that lasting image of him picking up the pass on the interior and going confidently into his shot. Boy, Scheyer is a workhorse, isn't he? Outlasted everyone today with 29 minutes coming off the bench. And he never let up either, taking a great runner into the lane in the last minute or so. Paulus with 6 assists! And no turnovers! Today was definitely the day that our two point/combo guards showed everyone that the Duke PG spot is no longer vulnerable. Look out, Maynor - what you did to us last March, with a tired Paulus being hounded all 40 minutes of the game - will never happen to us again. Not with a healthy Paulus - and never, ever, when Nolan's rollin'!!!!
McClure is in! Fantastic to see Coach K trusting King enough to leave him in the game and replace Kyle at the 4, where he puts up those long arms a la Singler style to go up 10 feet high - and the Michigan kid immediately loses heart and tosses the ball away. Wow, Henderson with a nice move!!! Zips right through the defense, doesn't think twice, goes up strong with that high knee pivot and just banks that one home! Oh wait - that was Nolan???? Damn! Double wow for you, then! Rivaling Henderson with that deuce! And here's Scheyer with a great 18 footer. Lovely to see him adding those to his repertoire, since he's definitely shooting less three's this season. The announcers are saying this game is this sloppy (combined 8 for 32 so far = 25%) b/c both teams haven't played for 5 days+. Practices are nice and all, but you need to get "game-sharp". Um, if Duke looks like this after 6 days off, what will they look like against Albany, with 8 days off? Or Cornell, with 17 days off?
Singler and Nelson are back - and Singler promptly rips down a fierce rebound. On the other end, he backs into the post, twists and puts up a strong ball off the glass, it bounces out, and he's right there, fighting to get his ball back and going up again, this time from the left side, staying with it this time to make sure it goes in. Then, next trip down, he gets the ball on the left wing, and he gets that look in his eye, that says "look out! I mean business!" - clears himself a path along the baseline, and scoops that ball in! A whistle! Oh no - offensive foul? Wha - ? I didn't see no offensive foul! Oh. Okay, yeah, its there on the replay. Hey guys, can you scoot over, and not crowd him when he shoots, so that I can see what the hell happened, and not be blocked by a thicket of yellow shirts? Thanks. Yeah, they flopped. That's 2 on Kyle. 10:30. Boy, he's collecting those fouls alarmingly fast, isn't he? Poor guy . . say hello to the bench for me.
Yes!!! "Gerald Henderson strikes for the first time!!" Finally, a shot goes down! I was actually really hoping Paulus would take it all the way to the wire, but then he turns around 180 degrees and throws a scary pass to someone on the FT line? This is a fast break, not a free for all! So Henderson just rises up on the 3 point arc like a coiled spring and says to hell with all this sloppiness. They show a box - Michigan so far is shooting 1 for 10 on two's and 2 for 8 on three's. Surprising - b/c they've actually gotten lots of good looks, but they're just not going down. And please don't show the box on Duke - it ain't much better. Thomas with a borderline two all the way out by the 3 point arc? What are we doing, LT?? That brought back shades of Josh last year, just amusedly taking a three cause he didn't feel like venturing inside to the post. Can we not put these Wolvies away? They're not being coached by Tommy Amaker this year, or anything like that. On the other end - Paulus drawing an offensive charge! Great piece of defending - I almost had a start when I realized we had a 6'1" PG all alone against the driving 6'5" Manny - but he stepped up just in time. Incidentally - is it just me, or is Michigan pushing the pace faster and finishing better than us? Our three's have been ok - but our two's have been somewhat iffy.
GREAT execution! I love our in-bounds plays! Paulus is doing the in-bounds, his teammates are running around, and he just sends the ball straight to the only guy not running around, Scheyer, who's in his magical spot on the 3 point arc and sends it straight up. Money! You know, with Scheyer's three's, I just have so much more confidence than King's - maybe cause I watched him a lot from last year. Loved to see him put in that dagger in about 3 seconds flat.
Interesting lineup we have on the floor - TWO point guards (Paulus and Nolan) with Nolan taking the 2 spot, Scheyer, Nelson, and King at the 5? Interesting! Paulus is really enjoying this luxury, aren't you, Greg? Keeping an eye on his charge on the perimeter, but also sneaking a glance back towards Nolan, who's giving his guard all kinds of trouble on the ball - what a team! But will we lack defensively when they try to hack into the paint? Let's see, here they come . . great rotation . . great footwork . . and then King stoutly holds his ground while Nelson comes in for the double team, effortlessly stripping the Michigan kid into completely losing the ball and handing it over, to which Nelson says "thank you!" Scoops it up. Sprinting 90mph down to the other side, where he pulls it up and sends it to Scheyer on the right. NICE!!!!!!!!!! Smith is ALL ALONE in the paint! Are they confused about defensive positions or what? He just turns around, yelling to Scheyer "look what I found!" And then Schey boy just whips the pass right to him and he lobs it in against the glass - textbook! Ah, if LT or Z could have more of those moments - but here, Nolan turns being small into an advantage! 25-14. "And Duke has awakened!!!" How many pieces can we put together on the floor? How many??? You wanna run? We'll run! We'll put in our Thoroughbreds against you! Look out, Michigan!
OOHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Is this Nolan's breakout game? Is it??? All season long people have raved about Singler, more recently people have praised King to the sky - and now, now, we have Nolan breaking out BIG against Michigan! How about his HOPS???????? Nelson is becoming the instigator now - I love that rush of adrenaline when he rips down that rebound and starts taking off to the other end, firing up his engine 90mph and scouting the court with all kinds of senior-laden laser vision. So spine-tangling - I love it!!!!! Then a blur just appears out of nowhere, streaking out from the right wing, blows right by his defender - Nelson sends him the sniper bullet - and he just takes that ball and becomes one with it, rising as it rises and slamming it into the net just as it wants to slam! NOLAN SMITH, ladies and gentlemen!! OHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The announcers cry. Finally, some pretty action! Finally, some beauty! And there's nothing more beautiful - pardon my prejudice, Taylor - than a fast ball taken hard right to the basket. And that meteoric rise - that fast - I've only seen from Gerald Henderson so far this year. And here is Nolan, arguing for that patent! Rust? What rust? I'm just getting started! I'm a firecracker off the bench!!!
"Michigan needs a bucket." Yeah? I would say so too. Cause suddenly, it's like they're playing a whole new ballclub - suddenly, the Duke signature pressure that I'd seen and loved in games past is on all cylinders. They try a layup by the basket, can't get it to fall, gets the ball back, tries again 2 feet away, and still can't get it to fall. It's like we've magnetized the ball towards Duke or something! Ha ha! Nah . . we're just pretty good. Another rebound ripped down, another long pass - to King, all the way out there by himself! And he just squares up and fires - you don't even need to try to get out there to defend him. A trey! Oh, no, a deuce - he had his feet on the three point line. The Duke bench is outscoring the entire Michigan squad by itself - 20 to 14!
Oh, Nolan! He can't miss! A long, gorgeous-looking three - and the lead is 32-14! The fans go nuts!! Michigan needs a timeout! The pandemonium is so great that I can't wipe this huge, silly grin off my face - we're too good! We're on fire! It should be criminally barred or something! How about that? Paulus is so happy for his freshman understudy that he jumps on him and swings his arm around his neck, ribbing in that insane cheer for him. Nolan - welcome to the club! Do you hear that noise? Do you hear those fans cheering and yelling? That's for you. That's all for you. For once, it's not for the tall, smooth-shooting, walking-on-air kid from Oregon. For once, it's not for the linebacker-built, quick-release, lefty sharpshooter from California. This time, it's for the quick, lean gunner from Maryland; it's for the kid with the tattoos and the sometimes deer-in-the-headlights look against Marquette, the kid who a few games back had more turnovers than assists, the kid who everybody said would usurp Paulus's minutes and replace him outright but hasn't since shown that explosiveness and that killer instinct yet. Well, he's got it now. He was just waiting for that prime moment when nobody wanted to step up, when nobody wanted to break out against a very mediocre Michigan club - naw, he wasn't waiting. He had it all along. A "catalyst", they're calling him tonight. A "thief". A playmaker - a game-changer - a firecracker. How many of those do we have stashed on the bench??? Can our bench be a top 25 team all by itself? Early in the season I didn't think so. Now, maybe I do. Maybe - maybe, we really are that good, that deep. Boy - "deep" is word we haven't heard in quite a while, huh? I think maybe that's the sexiest word I've heard all day!
Holy cow - my head's spinning from that sequence of events. Is the Michigan team as bewildered as I am? How unselfish, how crisp the ball movement, everybody knows where everybody is, and they just seem to be playing the game out on the blacktop by themselves, with no yellow shirts in the way, no one cheering them on - just boom, boom, boom! What great teamwork. Just . . wow. We didn't get a shot in - but that's almost beyond the point. Crisp passes in and out, Nolan misses a 3, King rises up high to grab that rebound, sends it out immediately to Nelson, who fires up a 3 - no good - another rebound being ripped down - then the passes go in and out - boom, boom - and Scheyer blazes into the lane, only to kick out to a wide open King, who fires - no good - the rebound comes off the weak side, and Scheyer is magically there! The ball is wrenched away by a Michigan kid - oh, whistle! Over the BACK! Scheyer just walks away with that cool look - like "heh, I told you so" - don't mess with me on those rebounds, man! Chest-bumps Nolan. Cause, if you send him to the FT line, you know he's money, right? Awesome. 3 attempts at 3's, and we get a foul and an automatic two on FT. This is too much fun! 2:18.
King leaves, McClure comes in - and immediately we look for him. He breaks off a screen right into the center, gathers the ball, and acrobatically goes up to the goal - it's in! 2 points for Troy! Is that his first two for the season? Boy, have I missed McClure - his body movement as he goes up for the ball is just incomparable to anyone else - it's so signature, so unique, so spry! They show a box for the freshmen scorers on both sides so far - King and Smith combining for 18 while Michigan's combine for 4. And Kyle Singler is still sitting on the bench! I'd almost forgotten about him! What a club! Can we unleash all 3 freshmen at the same time next half? See how much wreckage they can do?
Oh, CLASSIC! That's about the most beautiful endgame for the first half as I've ever seen all season. 16 seconds left. Paulus with the ball. Dribble, dribble, takin' it easy. We space out the court. Michigan's ready to defend. Then Paulus takes a nice detour en route to the paint, circling in, gaining speed and rising up on that knee to shoot - and they're ready to block it, they've converging in, flying towards him. Then - then he scoops the ball cross-country to Nelson on the wing! McClure is there with a solid immovable screen! And there, with 2 seconds left, Nelson calmly takes that ball and rises up to his full height, unleashing that puppy and watching it sail in, smooth as butter. KA-CHING! A three-ball to end the half and a perfect last 10 minutes. Is it a coincidence that our firepower came on full-bore when we went to a smaller lineup? With 2 veterans (Nelson and Paulus), a dead-eye and key rebounder (Scheyer), an athletic riser (Hendo), and a fast, quick, but much more in control combo guard (Nolan)? Remember his fast, 3 fouls in succession fiasco in the Wisconsin game? I think he's learned, Coach! He's learning, just like King! At this rate, if we can get LT and Z up to speed - it's gonna be look out, world! Our freshmen are kicking that learning curve right to the curb. 41-23 halftime.
Second half: Kyle's back. And there it is again - time and time - he's missed his first 2 three-pointers, but he stays with it, he knows he can knock them down, and that crisp ball movement is courtesy of Paulus, who just knows where he is and touch-passes it right to him, who fires away - and its good! Then another one from Hendo! And the teamwork there is so unselfish: Kyle gets the ball on the arc - will he shoot it? No - he passes it right off to Paulus - also on the arc. Will he shoot it? No - just as I was waiting for that three to launch, he passes it straight to a waiting Hendo, all alone along baseline - and BAM - he goes up for the jam! Nicely done! Oh, PAULUS! To Nelson for the THREE! How great was that transaction? He just circles so fearlessly into the paint, gets 2 guys to jump up to meet him, then whip-lashes the ball out to Nelson over his shoulder, who, again, calmly steps up and fires away. Beautiful stroke, Nelson! I am loving Paulus more and more in this game. Hey Greg - sorry about what I said earlier in the Davidson game when I was dissing you for Richards. Heehee - didn't mean that. We don't need you to hand out 10 assists per game, necessarily - you contribute far more than that. But those assists you're racking up today! For three-point shots! So lovely to see!
Oh, no. No, no, no. Kyle is on the floor after the whistle, putting his hands up to cover his face, and I know what the call was. Blocking foul. On Singler. 16:05, he picks up his 3rd. Poor kid just wants to play, ref! Let him play! Thank you, Coach K - no substitutions. Then he goes to the other end and immediately goes to work - life's too short to take a breather! And what a beautiful play! Hey, can we run more of these? King on the perimeter with the ball, just kind of holding it - and I'm thinking, what are you planning to do? But ah, but he has a plan - and as soon as Kyle shakes off his defender and glides into the paint, free as a bird - the ball slips out to him, and in one smooth motion, he takes it and lays it up strongly into the goal. Score! You've forgotten about me? You've built your entire gameplan around me! Well, here I am! I can play the 5. I can play the 4. I can play the high pick and roll that so enamored some of us in the Davidson game. Anything - just don't make me sit. Pretty please, with a cherry on top?
I can't stop smiling - this is too much fun! Nolan comes in - there it is, 3 freshmen on the floor - and he gets the ball out on the perimeter. After having seen Michigan go again and again into the paint, I'm begging him - don't take another 3 - take it right to them - and he agrees. He does a little hesitation dribble, daring his challengers to bite - then neatly splits his double team right down the middle, roars into the lane, seizess that ball, and goes up STRONG!! That's the way to do it, #2! Then Hendo with a turnaround jumper - "tough shot!" the announcers chide - but it's nothin' but net! Oh! What a big time gamer! He's running the fast break, sees King ahead of the pack and sends it straight to him, for the easy deuce! You gotta dunk that, Taylor! The bench is just on fire. What's that, 31 for the bench?
Hendo gets blocked, again? He can't believe it. Nobody blocks me! I block you! So the next trip down, he gets a little overly aggressive and hears that whistle blow - offensive foul. Aww. Hey, can you believe it? This is our 1st turnover since the 10:30 mark of the first half! Only 5 turnovers so far! Way to go, Duke! Yeah, cause the 20 turnovers against Davidson wasn't gonna cut it today, not with 6 days to chew it over. And a LOB to Lance Thomas! Aww, except he pulls it down and then goes back up for the layup. Still, very nice to see him on the boards. I think everyone's had a bucket, except for Z so far?
WOW!! NOLAN SMITH! How dexterous, how versatile, how quick is he??? Has he missed a shot today? He goes right into the lane, doesn't care a hoot about the ring of defenders collapsing on him, shows a beautiful little spin move to get rid of his defender, and goes right up to the goal for the basket. "He's showing us everything today!" The announcers crow. But he wasn't on the scouting report, coach! He sure as hell wasn't - I looked during halftime!
So here is Z coming in for his chance to put some points on the board. Hey, it's not a party without Z, right? And boy, is he determined to contribute. His first trip down, he grabs a pass, turns, sees with surprise that his defender has flopped shamelessly to the ground - and hesitates for just a second, as if to say "what? I barely moved!" - then continues with his original purpose and just lays that puppy into the basket. Second trip down, he again takes a nice pass, looks a bit swarmed and overwhelmed for a moment, dribbles it out, goes up, loses it, then goes after it, determined, refusing to let up, chasing that ball and battling for it all the way to the floor, falling right on top of the Michigan player, digging it up, miraculously getting it into the hands of Scheyer, who takes no hesitation and goes up right to the wire, only to be mauled for the foul! What a heart in your throat sequence of events there! Coach K calls Z over for some pointers, as Scheyer all but breaks out into a dance on the FT line - I mean, professionally sinks 1 of 2 freebies.
How about Paulus! Calling out his own number and going up confidently for that three. It's almost like a merry-go-round with this team - you've got 2? Ok. You've got 2? Ok. It's mine turn now. I know I can sink this. And the ball shoots like an arrow to the target - nothing but net. Then, on the defensive end - Paulus harasses his player so much that the ball is fumbled loose, and Nelson, as sharp as a hawk, just scoops that ball up and takes off to the other end, slamming that sucker into the net for an emphatic two. Oh ho, NELSON!!!!!!!!!!!!! How good did that feel? No one got back! No one even tried running with him because it would've been such a lost cause. It's so deliriously loud in the arena that the announcers can't even get a word out! Oh, someone needs a timeout! Someone can't take any more of this Duke domination without a drink! As I pop another cold one to celebrate. 72-45. 8:38 to play.
And now its Nelson's turn again. He dribbles, dribbles, watching what's going on in front of him with such delicious coolness - then starts his attack, dribbling out around his defender, around another defender, hey you can take me out 25 feet and I won't care - I will just circle in right here, go all the way around the right side, come up here, and bang! Pop one in. Great poise, great confidence, and the authoritative bucket. He is starting to dish them out, too - as he sends one to Kyle Singler from the high post, and all Kyle has to do is lay it up - it's that simple! Oh, but a foul! The ball rolls around the outer rim before popping back out - to the consternation of DeMarcus, who lost that assist, and Kyle, who could care less about the foul, and more about the shot not going in from about 1 foot away.
"3E. Unflappable. Power-Aid." What the hell is power-aid? As the announcers try for some acute observations as he shoots his FTs. You mean like Cool-Aid, except tastes better, and with an extra oomph to pack you up 10 lbs? I don't necessarily want Kyle to pack on more pounds - though I understand he'll need it for the NBA. Ugh . . let's not utter that word right now, k? And what does 3E stand for? "Everything, is Effective and Efficient." Oh, nice one there, partner. Except can you not spell it out like an airplane seat number? Some of us have taken enough travel for work, thanks. How about E powered to the 3? Or, Triple E? Yeah, not much of a nickname potential there.
WHAT????? Taylor!!!! You're 3 feet away from the basket, and you kick it out to Scheyer on the wing? It'll be good if he can make the three . . no - but KING!!! With the put-back! WOW! Some kind of confidence, huh? Oh, what a beautiful play. 80-50. He blazes out to a fast break, grabs a streaking ball thrown out in front of him, but looses the handle to his Michigan defender who steals it away. My bad, my bad, he says. Then on D he stays right with his man, rising up as he rises up to shoot, partially deflects that ball so it becomes an airball easily collectible by Nolan, and he's already running off to the other end, finding his sweet spot and firing up with no one in sight, and its goooooooood!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Taylor King for three! Oh, but he's not done! After Michigan answers with a three of its own, King gets that competitive look in his eye, comes up on the set defense and takes one look at the goal, then - almost turns sideways, and just pops it up - done! "EFFORTLESS!" The announcers proceed to pick their jaws up from the floor. There's another E! E for Effortless! 89-59.
Z is looking spry! The last few minutes, he really shows them what a 7 footer can do. And then it's final. 95-67. And that's how the game is played.
Post-game thoughts: I love how we never went to stallball late in the second half, even when we had a comfortable 30 point lead. Instead, we cleared our bench, and let everyone work on their shots. That's the advantage of these games - work and execute well in the first half, so you can take somewhat of a breather in the second half, but still not let up, and concentrate more on spreading the ball around and getting everyone involved. There were definitely some trips down at the end when we wanted to get the ball in to Zoubek, so he can leave us with that lasting image of him picking up the pass on the interior and going confidently into his shot. Boy, Scheyer is a workhorse, isn't he? Outlasted everyone today with 29 minutes coming off the bench. And he never let up either, taking a great runner into the lane in the last minute or so. Paulus with 6 assists! And no turnovers! Today was definitely the day that our two point/combo guards showed everyone that the Duke PG spot is no longer vulnerable. Look out, Maynor - what you did to us last March, with a tired Paulus being hounded all 40 minutes of the game - will never happen to us again. Not with a healthy Paulus - and never, ever, when Nolan's rollin'!!!!
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