Duke is at the apex of its season. Coming off a stellar win vs Maryland, where Kyle Singler emerged as a deadly 3 point shooter and had his Hall of Fame coach praising him as one of the best freshmen ever – Duke could do no wrong. #2 in the country. 22-1 with its only loss coming on a last-second buzzer-beater in OT. 10-0 atop the imposing ACC. The only team left unbeaten in a major conference – and that’s unbeaten with no team coming within 9 points of them. If you wanted the definition of “impressive”, Duke was it.
So I was quite surprised when I turned on FSN and found myself a fly on the wall to the Demon Deacons locker room, where, just before the game, first-year head coach Dino Gaudio was giving his pep talk to the team. A pep talk? Oh, how cute! There’s a bunch of stuff on a dry-erase board that I can’t read, and then there’s his words: “You only get one chance to play these guys. One! Now you don’t have to play perfect. Because they’re not going to play perfect. You understand? But I do know this. You have to play v v hard, you have to play v intelligently, and you have to play together. I tell you what. This game is going to come down to the toughest team as the winner. Now if we go through that door together, we come back together. [Pause] Listen, if you wrap your arms around each other, and do what we need to do, you’ll remember this game for a long, long time.”
“40 minutes of work, a lifetime to remember.”
A lifetime to remember?
I paused from my activities and stared at the TV. So this is what it’s like for unranked teams to play Duke? That the matchup becomes one of zee games of the season? Wow. I can’t even imagine Coach K saying this to his troops tonight. Play hard, yes. Play together, yes. But not “a lifetime to remember”. Never. Not unless it’s a tournament game, nor maybe a Carolina game, if they are ranked higher than we are. We go into every game expecting to win. And especially this season – especially now – when we’ve proven that we can play with and beat just about any team in the country. No one scares me. No one, if we were playing them tonight, would make me say: “Hey guys, if we put our life on the line for this one . . it’ll be worth remembering for a lifetime.”
But the circumstances are different. The Wake Forest team is younger than we are. In fact, they are very similar to the Duke team of last year, where we started 2 freshmen, 2 sophomores, and 1 junior. But I don’t remember anyone calling us the “Baby Devils” last year, like they are doing this year with the supposed “Baby Gators”, and the “Baby Deacons” here. Well, whatever. The fact is, if we were facing the #2 Tar Heels last year, and needed a pep talk to get us in the fighting mood, the above would not be outdone. So, it all comes down to perspective. I guess I was just amazed at how wide the gulf is between our differing perspectives.
Opening tap! Singler gets it, but is shut off along the baseline and tries to find Paulus, only to have the pass picked off. They work it around to a wide open 3 pointer – and hits. We come right back, and Kyle makes up for his previous mistake by grabbing a wobbly pass from Greg, getting into the middle of traffic, then finding Thomas inside with a great pass for the stuff! Damn, they miss an alley-oop but get Teague wide open for a 3 again – and hits! 2-6 in a hurry. Teague is only 34% from 3?
There are no open driving lanes, but Singler just creates one. Setting a screen for Paulus – he pops back out, gets the pass, recognizes that he’s being guarded by a point guard (Ishmael Smith), and just blows right by him, cradling that ball in his arm for one, two, three and he’s up and IN! S*** - 3 turnovers already??? We haven’t gone 3 minutes! Offensive foul on Nelson?? The guy never hit the floor! Sigh. Zoubek is in for Kyle, the better to match up with their 7 footer McFarland. Paulus takes matters in his own hands and drives into the lane for a floater – and Lance Thomas is there for the put-back!
Then it all skitters downhill from there. Our vaunted defense is definitely a bit lazy today. Turnovers and missed shots are piling up like dirty dishes. Meanwhile, the Demon Deacons are finding all kinds of openings for their shots – and before you know it, it’s 7-15, 14:53. Paulus walks the ball up the floor, then pulls up for a 3 pointer – its way off – and the long rebound comes right into Ishmael Smith’s hands, who instantly races it the other way against a backpedaling Paulus for a 1 on 1 fastbreak – though it rattles out! “I haven’t seen anyone except Lawson as fast as he is!” Brando swoons. Nelson, just waiting to pick it off, skies for the rebound, takes it end to end, and gets all the way inside to lay one up. Oh, but Teague just torches our momentum with yet another 3. 9-18?? What is that, 3 threes in 6 minutes? Why are we constantly losing sight of him? But as we go back upcourt – Nelson, pausing at the top of the key looking to pass – finds no one even interested in guarding him, they’re all watching the ball – and he just squires up and fires a 3 of his own. Bottom of the net, baby! And as their PG pulls the ball back out to reset . . I see 4 royal blue-clad boys in various styles and poses lined up across the sidelines, licking their chops to come in and play. Reinforcements are on the way! We need match speed with speed.
Oh, that’s a joke. Total joke. Zoubek is guarding McFarland, turns to guard against Ishmael Smith who’s broken into the lane, Smith dumps down to McFarland who just turns for the layup, Z has to turn back and tries to go for the block, but fouls instead. And McFarland, on hearing the whistle, just laughs in Z’s face and taunts him, something like “hell yeah, I got you!”. Z, incredulous, says something back – either to him or to the officials, I’m not sure – but he gets T’d up, no questions asked. Uh, excuse me? Who was the instigator? Poor Brian, walking back to the bench, spreads out his arms in complete surrender. Oh, much better. A double technical was assessed, so there’s one on McFarland as well. God damn right. 13:26.
Oh, we’re going to get to the basket every time. We’ve had enough with Maryland and their tall dudes. With McFarland out, you don’t scare us. Nolan, Kyle, Scheyer, and LT have just come in, and this is the lineup that’s going to answer back. Nelson goes right into the heart of the Wake defense and muscles one up – but it doesn’t go! He grabs it back and tries again – ugggh! Still no! But we get the rebound, Nolan hits Nelson again for the follow, and our 6’4” guard fearlessly goes in there to try for the 3rd time – and gets fouled. Missed both free throws though.
STEAL BY NELSON!!!!!! Here comes our captain! Shoved and bumped by a taller defender all the way up the floor, he deftly controls the ball, goes up against another white shirt, takes contact, and still manages to finish – AND ONE! Too bad the free throw bounces out. Kyle, though, manages to grab the rebound, and Scheyer goes up for 3! But no dice. They run the other way, and – oh! Great job, Nelson! 2nd foul on their point guard, Ishmael Smith. Seconds later . . Wake gets the rebound, but Nelson, so alert, looking for every tactical advantage, sees that their ballhandler’s not really aware of him, and he just stands his ground as the Wake guy runs forward, making him knock head-first into D-Marc, both of them goes sprawling – the ball is loose – and hello! LT picks it up, goes right to the basket – and is fouled! But we cannot buy a free throw. 3 players have missed 6 of 7 so far. Yeah, I, too, would call that as “not the greatest in the world”, Gminski. How polite. 14-19, 12:33.
Henderson with a long jumper – gets the shooter’s roll. Singler for THREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wide open beauty. Then he cuts inside for an easy layup, even as they tried to block him from both sides. 23-24! We are so close now! And Kyle, feeling the momentum shift, knows we need a defensive stop – and he puts his body on the line. #44 is coming in, charging hard. Without hesitation, Kyle switches over, getting toppled over by a 240 lb runaway train and slammed backwards onto the floor for his troubles. But upon hearing that whistle for the offensive charge – oh, pure delight. With the ball in our hands now – Nelson takes over. We work it back and forth, Scheyer coming out, Singler setting a pick. But Nelson, who is so patient, just waits . . waits . . and waits . . until he finally spots the narrowest of seams, and then he’s gone, taking it right to the hole for the LEAD!!!! 25-24, 9:06.
DANG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Great work by our two point guards! #23 James Johnson is dribbling the ball out near the halfcourt, guarded by Paulus, and tries a fancy crossover but looses his footing, and the ball is picked off at lightening speed by Nolan Smith, who just outsprints everybody for the one-handed SLAM DUNK! OH-HO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hmmm, Singler’s ball-handling out on the open court is a bit questionable of late. 5 turnovers in the last game, and again, here, he’s being a bit sloppy with the ball. One lazy pass to Scheyer in the scramble to get back upcourt . . 2 or 3 TO already . . and now here, when he grabbed a rebound, looked to shoot it, only to realize he was being swarmed by guys, tossed it back out – but it was too strong and Scheyer couldn’t get to it in time. Don’t panic, Kyle! Paulus forces them to give it right back with a 5 second call on their PG Smith. But we hand it right back when Nelson gets overzealous and sends a halfcourt pass zipping ahead to Paulus, who is trapped in a corner and can’t handle it. 9 turnovers to their 8? Is it because of the late Sunday time slot?
Nelson hits a big 3! Then finally they foul someone on our end who is money at the FT line – Singler, who drains both. 32-30, 5:08. But James Johnson throws a glaring headlight on our defensive switch inside against an overmatched Paulus, turns around to shoot, and bags the and-one as a bonus. Paulus takes a seat, Scheyer picks up PG duties, looks for his shot but passes on a 3, goes into the 3 second area, looks like he’s going to shoot – but passes it back out with 9 seconds left on the clock, and gets whistled for a 3 second call. Oh, s***! Scheyer is DOWN! . . .
. . . He’s ok. Getting back up, tries to shake it off – but he is limping. Coach K immediately sends King in there. 4:26.
Nelson drives, gets blocked and fouled – but cannot hit the 2 free throws, even with the game on the line at 32-33. We are 5 of 14 on free throws. Splendid. But then he turns right around with a STEAL!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH, 3 on 1 fastbreak! And he dishes to Nolan for the DUNK!
Scheyer is back in the game! But we’re making them look like world-class shot blockers out there. King gets blocked. Scheyer does too. On the other end – Nelson alters a shot, but they get it right back on the other side for the put-back. Disheartening. 34-38, 2:40. NOLAN with a THREE!!!!!!! Then – forces an offensive charge!
Ok, Kyle, stop with all the fancy bounce passes inside to Nelson. A) he’s not a forward, and B) it’s getting picked off left and right. 4th TO for him? Johnson backs Singler down in the low post and scores – but Nelson answers back with a great-looking 3 – and its tied, 40-40, 1:53 left. But uh-oh, here comes turnover #12 for Duke, as Nolan took an extra step. We now have more turnovers than Wake. Are we as young as Wake? We certainly look like it. Nolan with a great crossover to hit the floater in the lane. Then Singler, trying to dog their ballhandler Teague, picks up the cheapest foul on earth, 60 feet out – SIXTY FEET! WTF? Kyle????? There’s 33 seconds left in the first half, and you have to go out and pick up your 2nd? Why, because every other starter also has 2??
They’re in the bonus already, as Teague hits his 1st, misses his 2nd – but they grab the rebound faster than we can blink. Hot damn! Gaudio calls a timeout, and they run their set to perfection. Stallball until the last 5 seconds, the crowd is now screaming at Teague to do something, anything – and he skips right through the defense, throwing up a shot . . it doesn’t go, but even with Zoubek there, Skeen gets the put-back – right at the buzzer! Holy smokes! 42-47 halftime.
Second half: Henderson opens with a 3, and as it bounces harmlessly away, they discuss how painful it is for Gerald to receive a pass and shoot. He is, at best, around 65%. Well, then why the hell do we have him in there? Is it not more important to rest him up for March? But aside from his decreased shot attempts – you’ll never know from him that he’s hurting. He still zips around the court with that long, effortless bounce step of his, still fights for rebounds, and now, here, he sees the mismatch with 7 footer McFarland on him instantly and takes him to the bank, wrangling him along for the baseline drive and – whistle – foul! That’s the 3RD on McFarland, which is “BIG!” Brando intones. Off the inbounds – Paulus immediately finds his favorite spot, squares up, and fires – snuggles into the net! “Textbook!”
ARRRGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Monster alley-oop to some guy on their team, I have no idea who, but he sure as hell tells us about it, and we cannot answer back with Henderson. Now I suddenly realize how much we miss him. Losing Henderson to a sprained wrist – for the entire duration of the rest of the season – is a major blow to our athleticism and ability to penetrate and/or kickout. So many times, I felt that we tried to penetrate and tried to look for ways, but Scheyer is just not a replacement, and for that reason, our 3 point shooting tonight has been more stand, square up, and shoot rather than wide open looks. Then Nelson is forced out of bounds, driving baseline – awww, c’mon, Nelson! 44-49, 17:16.
The onslaught continues. Now L.D. Williams gets a screen and hits a 3 – and stretches their lead to 44-52. Though he’s apparently not a 3 point shooter by any means in his regular day job, according to the announcers. Of course not. 34% shooters on their team will ht for 75% tonight. Count on it. Then – Henderson sets a screen and Kyle Singler squares up for the THREE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank God we have you, Kyle. 47-52.
Intentional foul on Chas McFarland. Yes. And the boos rain down like hail from the crowd, as no one, obviously, believes it to be intentional. No? When you go up against a shooter with BOTH hands, and bring them DOWN rather than try to block the ball, I would say that is it intentional – especially with everyone going 90mph, it is bloody dangerous to boot. Plus it was on Henderson trying to dunk – his wrist does NOT need more drama, ok? It is not our fault that your inbounds play is highly suspect. We got the steal, we pushed it up the floor to a streaking Henderson, and by all accounts we deserved the thunderous flush. Eh, 4th on McFarland. See ya!
And immediately, Singler goes wild. They forget to guard him in the paint, G breaks out laughing and sends him the ball, and – awww, Kyle! You shoulda dunked that! – as he goes up for the easy layup. OH PAULUS!!!!!!!!!!!! Goes end to end for the tie, 52-52, on a layup with no shot-blocker in sight! And Nelson, bless his heart, takes on all comers and their abuse and stuff thrown onto the floor, to nail two free throws, and we have the lead back after a long hiatus, 54-52.
Scheyer with the steal falling down, D-Marc bounce-passes it far ahead to Paulus, who controls it and brings it back , then hits McClure, who hits Nelson, who’s fouled. Most familiar sight of the night. And as he goes to the free throw line – I hear all those boos for him, all those spinning popsicles – and as I look into his eyes, I want to pray for him. C’mon, Nelson. C’mon, baby. C’mon, DeMarcus. It just kills me to know that we’ve left 6 or 8 points on the table because of missed free throws, because it’s become pretty clear that one of Gaudio’s missives was to mug DeMarcus every time he gets near the hoop. He hits 1 of 2, even with the entire wrath of the student section breathing down his neck. 55-52, we have to work for every inch.
Goddamn it. DeMarcus Nelson gets hit with his 3rd personal, offensive charge. 13:45, takes a seat. Kyle follows suit, collecting his 3rd while tussling with Skeen, 12:48. Then that bloody Skeen muscles up against Lance Thomas, and, like the chicken pox, LT gets hit with his FOURTH, 12:25. Oh great. Just great. We can’t catch a break anywhere! Nelson, with 3, will now have to come in for LT.
Nolan Smith gives us some good news with a TRIPLE off a Henderson screen (we need our 6’4” guards to be screeners now???), to get us up 58-55. Oh, what a beautiful play by Scheyer to Singler! Entirely unscripted to boot! Scheyer dribbles into the lane, looks to shoot, almost climbs his guy like a ladder but then spots Singler streaking in from the left wing – the pass is picture perfect – and before they know what’s hit them, Kyle is right underneath the basket for an easy deuce. 60-55 in a pleasant surprise, 11:17, and Dino calls a timeout.
Well, they storm back in a hurry, and we go 2 trips with Nelson posting up as a power forward, but he’s getting blocked left and right. And now, with 10:10 still left to play, Nelson picks up his 4th foul trying to draw the offensive charge. S***! It’s 60-61!
With Nelson gone, we completely blow our next possession, with Paulus having to heave up a hotly contested 3 pointer at the buzzer that bounces harmlessly off the backboard. Coach K cannot even say anything; he just doesn’t see his team anywhere out there tonight.
But the freshmen. Oh, the fabulous freshmen we have! Kyle Singler, with 3 personal fouls, puts his hands straight up and holds his ground against the much heavier Skeen, and uses his chest to basically force that ball out of Skeen’s hands and into a “steal” for Duke. Nolan grabs that sucker and races it end to end, drawing a foul – and having no trouble converting the ensuing gifts to get us up again, 62-61.
Ok, I spoke too fast again. Kyle, what’s wrong with you? Yet another cheap foul, chasing a guy in front of you with the ball? How is that going to help Duke? That’s your 4th, and there’s still 8:02 left on the night. Unlike the Jan 27 Maryland game, D-Marc and G are not available to bail you out. Kyle’s 3s, too, are off tonight, and that’s part of what’s bothering him. He’s been on such a hot tear lately – getting all kinds of accolades – “forget freshmen of the week”, think 1st team all ACC – and now he’s playing like a true, bonafide freshman who needs to air out all his mistakes and inconsistencies. I don’t know. But we need you out there for us, Kyle. More than ever. Without you, we are looking at our first possible loss of the ACC season . . to a 5-5 team. Yikes. 62-63.
What the – ???? Lance comes in for Singler (really a wash – trading 4 fouls for 4 fouls), McClure with a push-off on the rebounding fight, gets replaced by G, who immediately grabs 2 rebounds, but in his move to reverse-jam the sucker, gets whistled for the – offensive foul????? Who was even close enough for the offensive foul????? Oh, I never. Whatever. Here comes some ads to relieve the tension. 7:43.
It gets even worse. With both Singler and Nelson out, we have no idea what to do on offense. None. Henderson is out along the perimeter, dribbling, dribbling, but sees no seams, and tries to take it baseline – but, like a replay of Nelson earlier, gets bumped out of bounds and whistled for the turnover. Oh, finally, Coach K shows some emotion! Arguing that non-call. Then he knows his hands are tied and nods to Nelson to get back into the game, before it’s too late.
Oh, it is way too late. 62-67, and the second Nelson touches the ball, he immediately launches a 3. It sails wayyyy out of bounds. “That looked like a tired shot,” Brando kindly critiques, as Nelson walks off glassy-eyed to the serenades of “AIR-BALL! AIR-BALL!” Scheyer gets blocked. Henderson’s normally gorgeous jumpers are now going everywhere but in. We now need Kyle Singler in the worst way. And Coach K calls a timeout. We’ve missed our last 9 shot attempts? Ouch. Kyle scrambles up from the scorer’s table to go to the huddle, where an actual converted set play might wake us up. Still 62-67, 5:41 left.
Wow. Wow. Look at their speed. Their team is just hungrier than we are, and it’s crystal clear by now. They are attacking the basket on every occasion, knowing that we’re in foul trouble, won’t contend their shot, and they’re just torching us in the paint. Now Paulus picks up his 3rd, and Teague gets the basket and one. Oh, how much we’ll looooove to have those missed free throws back! 62-72 – is this game still salvageable?
Well, that was stupid. They bring McFarland back in, for what I don’t know, and Kyle goes right at him, spinning, blitzing his way to the basket, and McFarland’s GONE. 5 on him. Oh, but Kyle – we need every point, every point, and you only hit 1 of 2? Off the rebound – out to Duke! On a play that I couldn’t see b/c of the bizarre camera angle. “DeMarcus,” Brando chuckles, “always has his hands in the fray.” The senior captain immediately takes it to the rack – but, “oh!” – loses the handle? How do you lose the handle with such strong hands? On the other end, Teague goes down in a heap with Singler, no foul is called – and Nelson races the other way with it, hitting Paulus, who spots up for the transition threeeeee – YES!!!!!!!! He hits it!!!!!! OH, GREG! 66-72, 4:11 still left! But Wake is in the driver’s seat, they know it, and they take a page from our book by playing stallball with us – God, it’s frustrating! Paulus gets whistled for his 4th foul. Oh sure. So what else is new?
Nelson’s gone. Yep. So is the game. 3:12 to go, down 66-73, Nelson with a push along the perimeter, and he’s disqualified from the game. The announcers, seeing us lose our leading scorer and senior leader, tries to cheer us up by reminding us that right around this time last week, Clemson had a similar lead on Carolina, and Carolina managed to storm back to force OT, and then the win. Yes, but – Carolina was at home. Here, on the Wake Forest campus, we have no fans, not even Coach K, who just looks silently on as Scheyer travels and generates turnover #20 for Duke.
Oh, this is a dogfight. Nolan goes end to end for his senior compadre left on the bench, making it 68-74. As every second ticks off the clock, I look for signs that we want to fight back. Why don’t we pick them up full court, like Carolina did to us? Why don’t we press and trap? Where the hell is our stalwart defense tonight?? ZONE? Remember that??? C’MON!!!!! Throw King in there for some freshness and variety at the 3? Because, wow, we sure as hell have no answer for Teague, who scorches the net yet again right in the heart of our defense. Thank God for Nolan Smith – right back at them! 70-76, 2:30.
All hell breaks loose. Singler tries for a three-pointer – and it breaks my heart that it doesn’t go in, because he wants to, I know he wants it to from the bottom of his heart, and it just confounds him that it doesn’t. Off the rebound – Scheyer fights with a white shirt for it, Singler tries to help him, gets tangled and falls to the ground with Teague – and then Teague jumps up with his hand cocked ready to punch Singler – who has his hands spread out wide on the floor. WTF???? You wanna fight? You’re seconds away from an ejection, kid. The referees jump in there to bail him out, and he skulks off. Um, and why is it Wake ball? No explanation. Of course.
Everything is down the tubes. Everything. It is just mind-boggling how much. No one has a good shooting night. Our 3s are way off. Our free throws are way off. We keep getting blocked, forced out of bounds, or getting our passes stolen. Nelson can’t hit from inside, Singler can’t hit from outside, Scheyer just plain can’t hit anything, Henderson is limited, and we are getting no help from anyone else, including Lance, Z, or King. We have no advantage on the turnovers. No advantage in steals. Getting totally out-rebounded. I mean, what else do you need to do, to NOT win? I think we’ve covered it all. But just to be safe, though, we’ll add one more hurdle: our epidemic of foul trouble on every single starter. I’ve gotta say, Coach – we’re in so much foul trouble that a little zone can’t possibly hurt, right? Will help protect Singler or Lance from being totally disqualified? Ah, but what do I know. Coach K almost seems intent on getting this loss so he can talk some sense into this overconfident team and whip them back into shape before Carolina comes in March 8. Because, otherwise . . there goes our #2 ranking. There goes our perfect ACC record. There goes our 12 in a row. Yeah . . I didn’t care about that #1 seed in the East either, right, K? Who needs that? All those Wake fans, ruining our cheer sheet.
Teague breaks through a double team, hands off to Skeen, who gets fouled by Henderson. Welcome, Gerald! He joins the rest of his teammates in the 4 foul club. OH WOW, look at Nolan GO! Races end to end in 5 seconds flat, and the ball’s in the hoop. Where was this kid from the beginning? Why didn’t we realize we had Teague’s counterpart on our bench this whole time??? 72-78, 1:46 remaining, and Coach K immediately calls a timeout to try to set a trap. Brando astutely picks up what we’ve guessed about this game: Coach K saw all the accolades, all the ink about how half the ACC games have gone down to the wire, but we haven’t been touched, we’ve managed to get the lead with 5 minutes remaining every time and been too comfortable running the stallball show. “It’s almost as if he wants them to will their way through it. If not tonight, then it’ll get tougher the next night.” Exactly. Coach K wants this club to be battle-tested, not just during the first 35 minutes of the game, but during the last 5 as well. Congrats, you’ve got your drama. Now, will this team respond?
OH SHITTTTTTTTTTT. “That’s FIVE on Kyle Singler! His night is OVER.” I don’t even feel like typing. Kyle is gone. Offensive foul, trying to split a double team to the goal, and trips over them. Well, what a lovely way to end the evening. Two of our best players gone, with a couple more probably not far behind. Hey, the ball went in! Can we count that, at least? No?
Poor boy. He was the hottest thing in the country just 4 days ago, getting all kinds of praise from his Hall of Fame coach, from Dickie V, from every sportswriter alive, getting Rivals.com’s National Rookie of the Week and sharing ACC Player of the Week accolades with Hansbrough. Now look at him. Defeated, shackled to the bench, hearing the delirious screams from the crowd feeling the upset, feeling the incredible upset, and he puts his fingers to his temple. We didn’t fight tonight. Or maybe we got outfought. I was ok with losing to Pitt because they were a more experienced team, a more physical team – but this???? To the baby Deacons???? You’ve got to be kidding me! This ain’t a top 25 club! This team is barely in the top 5 of its own league! And yet? We can’t get closer than 7 points, with 1:38 left? Goddamn.
Wow, what a primal scream, as Gerald Henderson exits from the game. Does his 5th foul make you THAT happy?? I’m not sure if we should be fouling at this point, 72-79 with 1:31 left, as we really don’t have that many bodies to give fouls on. And they’ve been lights out at the line tonight, being at home, of course. Now I am actually rooting for Carolina to take care of these suckers next Sunday. Weak, huh?
Taylor King is in. Wow, how bad must he feel, huh? Pretty much the very last option, after every starter has fouled out except for Paulus, who has 4? Oops, make that 5. Paulus is gone. This crowd is just getting ready to storm the court. Please plan your exit strategies now, Blue Devils. I don’t get it. Ok, yes, Nolan’s hot, having raced it down for a bucket the third time in a row, but now he misses a 3, and now again he misses a short jumper – can we not have anyone else score? King? What happened to his “instant offense”? Has he been bricking everything in sight in practice? And this Coach K looking unemotionally on is getting kind of eerie. K, your 5th starter has just fouled out. FIFTH STARTER!!! That’s pretty major, isn’t it? Something is very wrong with your defense if that happens, wouldn’t you say? Care to give them a few pointers? But no, it looks like the players and the coaching staff had a huge gigantic argument right before the game, and K is boycotting this game or something.
There it is. The End. 73-86 final score. And to see them storm the court – at least handshakes are spared – that’s pretty humiliating. They haven’t had a top 5 win since 2005 – 3 years ago. All 5 starters foul out? ALL FIVE?????? That’s ridiculous! This wasn’t a “good loss” – this was as humiliating as it gets. It didn’t go into OT. It didn’t go down to the wire. It was over with by the 5 minute mark, and we had no answer. NO ANSWER! Not even an illusionary one! Our 3s were terrible, our inability to get to the rim beyond Nolan was embarrassing, and – you’re right – we had no post guy to dump it down to when we needed a bucket. We just had no momentum of any sort – and, worst of all, we let our offense dictate our defense, rather than the other way around. When we had good offense – woooo! We had tight defense, we ran up and down the court, we were sharp and together. When we had bad offense – then we had no hunger on D – none. We were also a little careless on free throws earlier on. Let me tell you, it would’ve been a lot closer had we hit our free throws, and maybe we would’ve been able to come back. Who knows? I think Marty would’ve bailed us out. Right, Marty?
What happens when we have a bad shooting night? This is what happens. 40 minutes of hard work . . one lifetime of memories. You got us, Dino. We’ll give you the memories, if this will give us a wake-up call. Miami is next. And if we don’t win down there 98-82 like the Heels did after their first ACC loss, our post-season hopes are over.
:: collapses on the couch ::
Oh, I can’t believe it. I just can’t believe it. Yeah, lack of emotions got us the loss. I believe that. Maybe every coach should say “40 minutes of hard work will beget you a lifetime of memories” – but who are we kidding? What would Coach K have said that the Blue Devils would’ve listened to? Win this one so we might be #1 if Memphis gets beat? Win this one, so we can make a little history? Get an extra pat on the back? Yeah, it just doesn’t sound as nice. Wake Forest was 5-5 and fighting for their lives. They had UNC and Maryland next, and was possibly looking at 5-8 in a hurry if they didn’t shore up. Well, they shored up. Now I can understand how UCLA gets beat by 4-7 Washington, or Carolina so narrowly by 1-9 Virginia. I’m gonna hear those damn whistles all night long in my sleep, aren't I? F***ing officials.
Post-game Thoughts (2.18.08):
So I was quite surprised when I turned on FSN and found myself a fly on the wall to the Demon Deacons locker room, where, just before the game, first-year head coach Dino Gaudio was giving his pep talk to the team. A pep talk? Oh, how cute! There’s a bunch of stuff on a dry-erase board that I can’t read, and then there’s his words: “You only get one chance to play these guys. One! Now you don’t have to play perfect. Because they’re not going to play perfect. You understand? But I do know this. You have to play v v hard, you have to play v intelligently, and you have to play together. I tell you what. This game is going to come down to the toughest team as the winner. Now if we go through that door together, we come back together. [Pause] Listen, if you wrap your arms around each other, and do what we need to do, you’ll remember this game for a long, long time.”
“40 minutes of work, a lifetime to remember.”
A lifetime to remember?
I paused from my activities and stared at the TV. So this is what it’s like for unranked teams to play Duke? That the matchup becomes one of zee games of the season? Wow. I can’t even imagine Coach K saying this to his troops tonight. Play hard, yes. Play together, yes. But not “a lifetime to remember”. Never. Not unless it’s a tournament game, nor maybe a Carolina game, if they are ranked higher than we are. We go into every game expecting to win. And especially this season – especially now – when we’ve proven that we can play with and beat just about any team in the country. No one scares me. No one, if we were playing them tonight, would make me say: “Hey guys, if we put our life on the line for this one . . it’ll be worth remembering for a lifetime.”
But the circumstances are different. The Wake Forest team is younger than we are. In fact, they are very similar to the Duke team of last year, where we started 2 freshmen, 2 sophomores, and 1 junior. But I don’t remember anyone calling us the “Baby Devils” last year, like they are doing this year with the supposed “Baby Gators”, and the “Baby Deacons” here. Well, whatever. The fact is, if we were facing the #2 Tar Heels last year, and needed a pep talk to get us in the fighting mood, the above would not be outdone. So, it all comes down to perspective. I guess I was just amazed at how wide the gulf is between our differing perspectives.
Opening tap! Singler gets it, but is shut off along the baseline and tries to find Paulus, only to have the pass picked off. They work it around to a wide open 3 pointer – and hits. We come right back, and Kyle makes up for his previous mistake by grabbing a wobbly pass from Greg, getting into the middle of traffic, then finding Thomas inside with a great pass for the stuff! Damn, they miss an alley-oop but get Teague wide open for a 3 again – and hits! 2-6 in a hurry. Teague is only 34% from 3?
There are no open driving lanes, but Singler just creates one. Setting a screen for Paulus – he pops back out, gets the pass, recognizes that he’s being guarded by a point guard (Ishmael Smith), and just blows right by him, cradling that ball in his arm for one, two, three and he’s up and IN! S*** - 3 turnovers already??? We haven’t gone 3 minutes! Offensive foul on Nelson?? The guy never hit the floor! Sigh. Zoubek is in for Kyle, the better to match up with their 7 footer McFarland. Paulus takes matters in his own hands and drives into the lane for a floater – and Lance Thomas is there for the put-back!
Then it all skitters downhill from there. Our vaunted defense is definitely a bit lazy today. Turnovers and missed shots are piling up like dirty dishes. Meanwhile, the Demon Deacons are finding all kinds of openings for their shots – and before you know it, it’s 7-15, 14:53. Paulus walks the ball up the floor, then pulls up for a 3 pointer – its way off – and the long rebound comes right into Ishmael Smith’s hands, who instantly races it the other way against a backpedaling Paulus for a 1 on 1 fastbreak – though it rattles out! “I haven’t seen anyone except Lawson as fast as he is!” Brando swoons. Nelson, just waiting to pick it off, skies for the rebound, takes it end to end, and gets all the way inside to lay one up. Oh, but Teague just torches our momentum with yet another 3. 9-18?? What is that, 3 threes in 6 minutes? Why are we constantly losing sight of him? But as we go back upcourt – Nelson, pausing at the top of the key looking to pass – finds no one even interested in guarding him, they’re all watching the ball – and he just squires up and fires a 3 of his own. Bottom of the net, baby! And as their PG pulls the ball back out to reset . . I see 4 royal blue-clad boys in various styles and poses lined up across the sidelines, licking their chops to come in and play. Reinforcements are on the way! We need match speed with speed.
Oh, that’s a joke. Total joke. Zoubek is guarding McFarland, turns to guard against Ishmael Smith who’s broken into the lane, Smith dumps down to McFarland who just turns for the layup, Z has to turn back and tries to go for the block, but fouls instead. And McFarland, on hearing the whistle, just laughs in Z’s face and taunts him, something like “hell yeah, I got you!”. Z, incredulous, says something back – either to him or to the officials, I’m not sure – but he gets T’d up, no questions asked. Uh, excuse me? Who was the instigator? Poor Brian, walking back to the bench, spreads out his arms in complete surrender. Oh, much better. A double technical was assessed, so there’s one on McFarland as well. God damn right. 13:26.
Oh, we’re going to get to the basket every time. We’ve had enough with Maryland and their tall dudes. With McFarland out, you don’t scare us. Nolan, Kyle, Scheyer, and LT have just come in, and this is the lineup that’s going to answer back. Nelson goes right into the heart of the Wake defense and muscles one up – but it doesn’t go! He grabs it back and tries again – ugggh! Still no! But we get the rebound, Nolan hits Nelson again for the follow, and our 6’4” guard fearlessly goes in there to try for the 3rd time – and gets fouled. Missed both free throws though.
STEAL BY NELSON!!!!!! Here comes our captain! Shoved and bumped by a taller defender all the way up the floor, he deftly controls the ball, goes up against another white shirt, takes contact, and still manages to finish – AND ONE! Too bad the free throw bounces out. Kyle, though, manages to grab the rebound, and Scheyer goes up for 3! But no dice. They run the other way, and – oh! Great job, Nelson! 2nd foul on their point guard, Ishmael Smith. Seconds later . . Wake gets the rebound, but Nelson, so alert, looking for every tactical advantage, sees that their ballhandler’s not really aware of him, and he just stands his ground as the Wake guy runs forward, making him knock head-first into D-Marc, both of them goes sprawling – the ball is loose – and hello! LT picks it up, goes right to the basket – and is fouled! But we cannot buy a free throw. 3 players have missed 6 of 7 so far. Yeah, I, too, would call that as “not the greatest in the world”, Gminski. How polite. 14-19, 12:33.
Henderson with a long jumper – gets the shooter’s roll. Singler for THREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wide open beauty. Then he cuts inside for an easy layup, even as they tried to block him from both sides. 23-24! We are so close now! And Kyle, feeling the momentum shift, knows we need a defensive stop – and he puts his body on the line. #44 is coming in, charging hard. Without hesitation, Kyle switches over, getting toppled over by a 240 lb runaway train and slammed backwards onto the floor for his troubles. But upon hearing that whistle for the offensive charge – oh, pure delight. With the ball in our hands now – Nelson takes over. We work it back and forth, Scheyer coming out, Singler setting a pick. But Nelson, who is so patient, just waits . . waits . . and waits . . until he finally spots the narrowest of seams, and then he’s gone, taking it right to the hole for the LEAD!!!! 25-24, 9:06.
DANG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Great work by our two point guards! #23 James Johnson is dribbling the ball out near the halfcourt, guarded by Paulus, and tries a fancy crossover but looses his footing, and the ball is picked off at lightening speed by Nolan Smith, who just outsprints everybody for the one-handed SLAM DUNK! OH-HO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hmmm, Singler’s ball-handling out on the open court is a bit questionable of late. 5 turnovers in the last game, and again, here, he’s being a bit sloppy with the ball. One lazy pass to Scheyer in the scramble to get back upcourt . . 2 or 3 TO already . . and now here, when he grabbed a rebound, looked to shoot it, only to realize he was being swarmed by guys, tossed it back out – but it was too strong and Scheyer couldn’t get to it in time. Don’t panic, Kyle! Paulus forces them to give it right back with a 5 second call on their PG Smith. But we hand it right back when Nelson gets overzealous and sends a halfcourt pass zipping ahead to Paulus, who is trapped in a corner and can’t handle it. 9 turnovers to their 8? Is it because of the late Sunday time slot?
Nelson hits a big 3! Then finally they foul someone on our end who is money at the FT line – Singler, who drains both. 32-30, 5:08. But James Johnson throws a glaring headlight on our defensive switch inside against an overmatched Paulus, turns around to shoot, and bags the and-one as a bonus. Paulus takes a seat, Scheyer picks up PG duties, looks for his shot but passes on a 3, goes into the 3 second area, looks like he’s going to shoot – but passes it back out with 9 seconds left on the clock, and gets whistled for a 3 second call. Oh, s***! Scheyer is DOWN! . . .
. . . He’s ok. Getting back up, tries to shake it off – but he is limping. Coach K immediately sends King in there. 4:26.
Nelson drives, gets blocked and fouled – but cannot hit the 2 free throws, even with the game on the line at 32-33. We are 5 of 14 on free throws. Splendid. But then he turns right around with a STEAL!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH, 3 on 1 fastbreak! And he dishes to Nolan for the DUNK!
Scheyer is back in the game! But we’re making them look like world-class shot blockers out there. King gets blocked. Scheyer does too. On the other end – Nelson alters a shot, but they get it right back on the other side for the put-back. Disheartening. 34-38, 2:40. NOLAN with a THREE!!!!!!! Then – forces an offensive charge!
Ok, Kyle, stop with all the fancy bounce passes inside to Nelson. A) he’s not a forward, and B) it’s getting picked off left and right. 4th TO for him? Johnson backs Singler down in the low post and scores – but Nelson answers back with a great-looking 3 – and its tied, 40-40, 1:53 left. But uh-oh, here comes turnover #12 for Duke, as Nolan took an extra step. We now have more turnovers than Wake. Are we as young as Wake? We certainly look like it. Nolan with a great crossover to hit the floater in the lane. Then Singler, trying to dog their ballhandler Teague, picks up the cheapest foul on earth, 60 feet out – SIXTY FEET! WTF? Kyle????? There’s 33 seconds left in the first half, and you have to go out and pick up your 2nd? Why, because every other starter also has 2??
They’re in the bonus already, as Teague hits his 1st, misses his 2nd – but they grab the rebound faster than we can blink. Hot damn! Gaudio calls a timeout, and they run their set to perfection. Stallball until the last 5 seconds, the crowd is now screaming at Teague to do something, anything – and he skips right through the defense, throwing up a shot . . it doesn’t go, but even with Zoubek there, Skeen gets the put-back – right at the buzzer! Holy smokes! 42-47 halftime.
Second half: Henderson opens with a 3, and as it bounces harmlessly away, they discuss how painful it is for Gerald to receive a pass and shoot. He is, at best, around 65%. Well, then why the hell do we have him in there? Is it not more important to rest him up for March? But aside from his decreased shot attempts – you’ll never know from him that he’s hurting. He still zips around the court with that long, effortless bounce step of his, still fights for rebounds, and now, here, he sees the mismatch with 7 footer McFarland on him instantly and takes him to the bank, wrangling him along for the baseline drive and – whistle – foul! That’s the 3RD on McFarland, which is “BIG!” Brando intones. Off the inbounds – Paulus immediately finds his favorite spot, squares up, and fires – snuggles into the net! “Textbook!”
ARRRGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Monster alley-oop to some guy on their team, I have no idea who, but he sure as hell tells us about it, and we cannot answer back with Henderson. Now I suddenly realize how much we miss him. Losing Henderson to a sprained wrist – for the entire duration of the rest of the season – is a major blow to our athleticism and ability to penetrate and/or kickout. So many times, I felt that we tried to penetrate and tried to look for ways, but Scheyer is just not a replacement, and for that reason, our 3 point shooting tonight has been more stand, square up, and shoot rather than wide open looks. Then Nelson is forced out of bounds, driving baseline – awww, c’mon, Nelson! 44-49, 17:16.
The onslaught continues. Now L.D. Williams gets a screen and hits a 3 – and stretches their lead to 44-52. Though he’s apparently not a 3 point shooter by any means in his regular day job, according to the announcers. Of course not. 34% shooters on their team will ht for 75% tonight. Count on it. Then – Henderson sets a screen and Kyle Singler squares up for the THREE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank God we have you, Kyle. 47-52.
Intentional foul on Chas McFarland. Yes. And the boos rain down like hail from the crowd, as no one, obviously, believes it to be intentional. No? When you go up against a shooter with BOTH hands, and bring them DOWN rather than try to block the ball, I would say that is it intentional – especially with everyone going 90mph, it is bloody dangerous to boot. Plus it was on Henderson trying to dunk – his wrist does NOT need more drama, ok? It is not our fault that your inbounds play is highly suspect. We got the steal, we pushed it up the floor to a streaking Henderson, and by all accounts we deserved the thunderous flush. Eh, 4th on McFarland. See ya!
And immediately, Singler goes wild. They forget to guard him in the paint, G breaks out laughing and sends him the ball, and – awww, Kyle! You shoulda dunked that! – as he goes up for the easy layup. OH PAULUS!!!!!!!!!!!! Goes end to end for the tie, 52-52, on a layup with no shot-blocker in sight! And Nelson, bless his heart, takes on all comers and their abuse and stuff thrown onto the floor, to nail two free throws, and we have the lead back after a long hiatus, 54-52.
Scheyer with the steal falling down, D-Marc bounce-passes it far ahead to Paulus, who controls it and brings it back , then hits McClure, who hits Nelson, who’s fouled. Most familiar sight of the night. And as he goes to the free throw line – I hear all those boos for him, all those spinning popsicles – and as I look into his eyes, I want to pray for him. C’mon, Nelson. C’mon, baby. C’mon, DeMarcus. It just kills me to know that we’ve left 6 or 8 points on the table because of missed free throws, because it’s become pretty clear that one of Gaudio’s missives was to mug DeMarcus every time he gets near the hoop. He hits 1 of 2, even with the entire wrath of the student section breathing down his neck. 55-52, we have to work for every inch.
Goddamn it. DeMarcus Nelson gets hit with his 3rd personal, offensive charge. 13:45, takes a seat. Kyle follows suit, collecting his 3rd while tussling with Skeen, 12:48. Then that bloody Skeen muscles up against Lance Thomas, and, like the chicken pox, LT gets hit with his FOURTH, 12:25. Oh great. Just great. We can’t catch a break anywhere! Nelson, with 3, will now have to come in for LT.
Nolan Smith gives us some good news with a TRIPLE off a Henderson screen (we need our 6’4” guards to be screeners now???), to get us up 58-55. Oh, what a beautiful play by Scheyer to Singler! Entirely unscripted to boot! Scheyer dribbles into the lane, looks to shoot, almost climbs his guy like a ladder but then spots Singler streaking in from the left wing – the pass is picture perfect – and before they know what’s hit them, Kyle is right underneath the basket for an easy deuce. 60-55 in a pleasant surprise, 11:17, and Dino calls a timeout.
Well, they storm back in a hurry, and we go 2 trips with Nelson posting up as a power forward, but he’s getting blocked left and right. And now, with 10:10 still left to play, Nelson picks up his 4th foul trying to draw the offensive charge. S***! It’s 60-61!
With Nelson gone, we completely blow our next possession, with Paulus having to heave up a hotly contested 3 pointer at the buzzer that bounces harmlessly off the backboard. Coach K cannot even say anything; he just doesn’t see his team anywhere out there tonight.
But the freshmen. Oh, the fabulous freshmen we have! Kyle Singler, with 3 personal fouls, puts his hands straight up and holds his ground against the much heavier Skeen, and uses his chest to basically force that ball out of Skeen’s hands and into a “steal” for Duke. Nolan grabs that sucker and races it end to end, drawing a foul – and having no trouble converting the ensuing gifts to get us up again, 62-61.
Ok, I spoke too fast again. Kyle, what’s wrong with you? Yet another cheap foul, chasing a guy in front of you with the ball? How is that going to help Duke? That’s your 4th, and there’s still 8:02 left on the night. Unlike the Jan 27 Maryland game, D-Marc and G are not available to bail you out. Kyle’s 3s, too, are off tonight, and that’s part of what’s bothering him. He’s been on such a hot tear lately – getting all kinds of accolades – “forget freshmen of the week”, think 1st team all ACC – and now he’s playing like a true, bonafide freshman who needs to air out all his mistakes and inconsistencies. I don’t know. But we need you out there for us, Kyle. More than ever. Without you, we are looking at our first possible loss of the ACC season . . to a 5-5 team. Yikes. 62-63.
What the – ???? Lance comes in for Singler (really a wash – trading 4 fouls for 4 fouls), McClure with a push-off on the rebounding fight, gets replaced by G, who immediately grabs 2 rebounds, but in his move to reverse-jam the sucker, gets whistled for the – offensive foul????? Who was even close enough for the offensive foul????? Oh, I never. Whatever. Here comes some ads to relieve the tension. 7:43.
It gets even worse. With both Singler and Nelson out, we have no idea what to do on offense. None. Henderson is out along the perimeter, dribbling, dribbling, but sees no seams, and tries to take it baseline – but, like a replay of Nelson earlier, gets bumped out of bounds and whistled for the turnover. Oh, finally, Coach K shows some emotion! Arguing that non-call. Then he knows his hands are tied and nods to Nelson to get back into the game, before it’s too late.
Oh, it is way too late. 62-67, and the second Nelson touches the ball, he immediately launches a 3. It sails wayyyy out of bounds. “That looked like a tired shot,” Brando kindly critiques, as Nelson walks off glassy-eyed to the serenades of “AIR-BALL! AIR-BALL!” Scheyer gets blocked. Henderson’s normally gorgeous jumpers are now going everywhere but in. We now need Kyle Singler in the worst way. And Coach K calls a timeout. We’ve missed our last 9 shot attempts? Ouch. Kyle scrambles up from the scorer’s table to go to the huddle, where an actual converted set play might wake us up. Still 62-67, 5:41 left.
Wow. Wow. Look at their speed. Their team is just hungrier than we are, and it’s crystal clear by now. They are attacking the basket on every occasion, knowing that we’re in foul trouble, won’t contend their shot, and they’re just torching us in the paint. Now Paulus picks up his 3rd, and Teague gets the basket and one. Oh, how much we’ll looooove to have those missed free throws back! 62-72 – is this game still salvageable?
Well, that was stupid. They bring McFarland back in, for what I don’t know, and Kyle goes right at him, spinning, blitzing his way to the basket, and McFarland’s GONE. 5 on him. Oh, but Kyle – we need every point, every point, and you only hit 1 of 2? Off the rebound – out to Duke! On a play that I couldn’t see b/c of the bizarre camera angle. “DeMarcus,” Brando chuckles, “always has his hands in the fray.” The senior captain immediately takes it to the rack – but, “oh!” – loses the handle? How do you lose the handle with such strong hands? On the other end, Teague goes down in a heap with Singler, no foul is called – and Nelson races the other way with it, hitting Paulus, who spots up for the transition threeeeee – YES!!!!!!!! He hits it!!!!!! OH, GREG! 66-72, 4:11 still left! But Wake is in the driver’s seat, they know it, and they take a page from our book by playing stallball with us – God, it’s frustrating! Paulus gets whistled for his 4th foul. Oh sure. So what else is new?
Nelson’s gone. Yep. So is the game. 3:12 to go, down 66-73, Nelson with a push along the perimeter, and he’s disqualified from the game. The announcers, seeing us lose our leading scorer and senior leader, tries to cheer us up by reminding us that right around this time last week, Clemson had a similar lead on Carolina, and Carolina managed to storm back to force OT, and then the win. Yes, but – Carolina was at home. Here, on the Wake Forest campus, we have no fans, not even Coach K, who just looks silently on as Scheyer travels and generates turnover #20 for Duke.
Oh, this is a dogfight. Nolan goes end to end for his senior compadre left on the bench, making it 68-74. As every second ticks off the clock, I look for signs that we want to fight back. Why don’t we pick them up full court, like Carolina did to us? Why don’t we press and trap? Where the hell is our stalwart defense tonight?? ZONE? Remember that??? C’MON!!!!! Throw King in there for some freshness and variety at the 3? Because, wow, we sure as hell have no answer for Teague, who scorches the net yet again right in the heart of our defense. Thank God for Nolan Smith – right back at them! 70-76, 2:30.
All hell breaks loose. Singler tries for a three-pointer – and it breaks my heart that it doesn’t go in, because he wants to, I know he wants it to from the bottom of his heart, and it just confounds him that it doesn’t. Off the rebound – Scheyer fights with a white shirt for it, Singler tries to help him, gets tangled and falls to the ground with Teague – and then Teague jumps up with his hand cocked ready to punch Singler – who has his hands spread out wide on the floor. WTF???? You wanna fight? You’re seconds away from an ejection, kid. The referees jump in there to bail him out, and he skulks off. Um, and why is it Wake ball? No explanation. Of course.
Everything is down the tubes. Everything. It is just mind-boggling how much. No one has a good shooting night. Our 3s are way off. Our free throws are way off. We keep getting blocked, forced out of bounds, or getting our passes stolen. Nelson can’t hit from inside, Singler can’t hit from outside, Scheyer just plain can’t hit anything, Henderson is limited, and we are getting no help from anyone else, including Lance, Z, or King. We have no advantage on the turnovers. No advantage in steals. Getting totally out-rebounded. I mean, what else do you need to do, to NOT win? I think we’ve covered it all. But just to be safe, though, we’ll add one more hurdle: our epidemic of foul trouble on every single starter. I’ve gotta say, Coach – we’re in so much foul trouble that a little zone can’t possibly hurt, right? Will help protect Singler or Lance from being totally disqualified? Ah, but what do I know. Coach K almost seems intent on getting this loss so he can talk some sense into this overconfident team and whip them back into shape before Carolina comes in March 8. Because, otherwise . . there goes our #2 ranking. There goes our perfect ACC record. There goes our 12 in a row. Yeah . . I didn’t care about that #1 seed in the East either, right, K? Who needs that? All those Wake fans, ruining our cheer sheet.
Teague breaks through a double team, hands off to Skeen, who gets fouled by Henderson. Welcome, Gerald! He joins the rest of his teammates in the 4 foul club. OH WOW, look at Nolan GO! Races end to end in 5 seconds flat, and the ball’s in the hoop. Where was this kid from the beginning? Why didn’t we realize we had Teague’s counterpart on our bench this whole time??? 72-78, 1:46 remaining, and Coach K immediately calls a timeout to try to set a trap. Brando astutely picks up what we’ve guessed about this game: Coach K saw all the accolades, all the ink about how half the ACC games have gone down to the wire, but we haven’t been touched, we’ve managed to get the lead with 5 minutes remaining every time and been too comfortable running the stallball show. “It’s almost as if he wants them to will their way through it. If not tonight, then it’ll get tougher the next night.” Exactly. Coach K wants this club to be battle-tested, not just during the first 35 minutes of the game, but during the last 5 as well. Congrats, you’ve got your drama. Now, will this team respond?
OH SHITTTTTTTTTTT. “That’s FIVE on Kyle Singler! His night is OVER.” I don’t even feel like typing. Kyle is gone. Offensive foul, trying to split a double team to the goal, and trips over them. Well, what a lovely way to end the evening. Two of our best players gone, with a couple more probably not far behind. Hey, the ball went in! Can we count that, at least? No?
Poor boy. He was the hottest thing in the country just 4 days ago, getting all kinds of praise from his Hall of Fame coach, from Dickie V, from every sportswriter alive, getting Rivals.com’s National Rookie of the Week and sharing ACC Player of the Week accolades with Hansbrough. Now look at him. Defeated, shackled to the bench, hearing the delirious screams from the crowd feeling the upset, feeling the incredible upset, and he puts his fingers to his temple. We didn’t fight tonight. Or maybe we got outfought. I was ok with losing to Pitt because they were a more experienced team, a more physical team – but this???? To the baby Deacons???? You’ve got to be kidding me! This ain’t a top 25 club! This team is barely in the top 5 of its own league! And yet? We can’t get closer than 7 points, with 1:38 left? Goddamn.
Wow, what a primal scream, as Gerald Henderson exits from the game. Does his 5th foul make you THAT happy?? I’m not sure if we should be fouling at this point, 72-79 with 1:31 left, as we really don’t have that many bodies to give fouls on. And they’ve been lights out at the line tonight, being at home, of course. Now I am actually rooting for Carolina to take care of these suckers next Sunday. Weak, huh?
Taylor King is in. Wow, how bad must he feel, huh? Pretty much the very last option, after every starter has fouled out except for Paulus, who has 4? Oops, make that 5. Paulus is gone. This crowd is just getting ready to storm the court. Please plan your exit strategies now, Blue Devils. I don’t get it. Ok, yes, Nolan’s hot, having raced it down for a bucket the third time in a row, but now he misses a 3, and now again he misses a short jumper – can we not have anyone else score? King? What happened to his “instant offense”? Has he been bricking everything in sight in practice? And this Coach K looking unemotionally on is getting kind of eerie. K, your 5th starter has just fouled out. FIFTH STARTER!!! That’s pretty major, isn’t it? Something is very wrong with your defense if that happens, wouldn’t you say? Care to give them a few pointers? But no, it looks like the players and the coaching staff had a huge gigantic argument right before the game, and K is boycotting this game or something.
There it is. The End. 73-86 final score. And to see them storm the court – at least handshakes are spared – that’s pretty humiliating. They haven’t had a top 5 win since 2005 – 3 years ago. All 5 starters foul out? ALL FIVE?????? That’s ridiculous! This wasn’t a “good loss” – this was as humiliating as it gets. It didn’t go into OT. It didn’t go down to the wire. It was over with by the 5 minute mark, and we had no answer. NO ANSWER! Not even an illusionary one! Our 3s were terrible, our inability to get to the rim beyond Nolan was embarrassing, and – you’re right – we had no post guy to dump it down to when we needed a bucket. We just had no momentum of any sort – and, worst of all, we let our offense dictate our defense, rather than the other way around. When we had good offense – woooo! We had tight defense, we ran up and down the court, we were sharp and together. When we had bad offense – then we had no hunger on D – none. We were also a little careless on free throws earlier on. Let me tell you, it would’ve been a lot closer had we hit our free throws, and maybe we would’ve been able to come back. Who knows? I think Marty would’ve bailed us out. Right, Marty?
What happens when we have a bad shooting night? This is what happens. 40 minutes of hard work . . one lifetime of memories. You got us, Dino. We’ll give you the memories, if this will give us a wake-up call. Miami is next. And if we don’t win down there 98-82 like the Heels did after their first ACC loss, our post-season hopes are over.
:: collapses on the couch ::
Oh, I can’t believe it. I just can’t believe it. Yeah, lack of emotions got us the loss. I believe that. Maybe every coach should say “40 minutes of hard work will beget you a lifetime of memories” – but who are we kidding? What would Coach K have said that the Blue Devils would’ve listened to? Win this one so we might be #1 if Memphis gets beat? Win this one, so we can make a little history? Get an extra pat on the back? Yeah, it just doesn’t sound as nice. Wake Forest was 5-5 and fighting for their lives. They had UNC and Maryland next, and was possibly looking at 5-8 in a hurry if they didn’t shore up. Well, they shored up. Now I can understand how UCLA gets beat by 4-7 Washington, or Carolina so narrowly by 1-9 Virginia. I’m gonna hear those damn whistles all night long in my sleep, aren't I? F***ing officials.
Post-game Thoughts (2.18.08):
I’ve never seen Coach K so disappointed. It was almost as if he wanted this loss, or in the very least he was just going to let his players fight through it on their own, and see what they come up with. That was the weirdest thing about tonight. Not the 5 starters all fouling out. Not the abysmal numbers in just about every category. Maybe I haven’t seen years and years of Duke games, and maybe it’s because of the TV crew, but every time the camera panned to him, he was just sitting there with his hand under his chin, or his hands by his sides, while placidly watching his team being torn to shreds. That’s the thing that kills me – neither side tried very hard. Coach K did not try, and the players did not try, outside of Nolan Smith. I mean, ok, we’re looking at a potential loss here with about 4 minutes to go – why couldn’t we have tried some new things?? Pretend this is a round 2 game with a 8 or 9 seed, and learn from it?
This was totally different from the Pitt game. That game was actually exciting! After the narrow loss, I was angry and disappointed, but in a “good” way, because we fought til the end; we just didn’t get the win. But here? Here we didn’t fight. Nolan did – a couple players tried – but at the end we just gave up. It was almost like – yeah, we’re 10-0, 22-1, what are you going to do about it? We had some injuries, some foul trouble – and that was enough excuse for tonight. Bulls***. That’s not how a championship team should react, and that was certainly not a championship team out there tonight.
And I think Coach K knew it. He wanted to get a point across. For someone usually so successful with his in-game adjustments and motivations, he did neither tonight. With all 5 starters in foul trouble – he never went deep into his bench, but, rather, traded Thomas for Singler when the latter picked up his 4th foul, and watched as one after another bailed themselves out of the game with their 5th. He didn’t try to fix the switches on screens that were killing us with their mismatches. He didn’t try to go to zone to protect our players and stop their dribble penetration. Worst of all – he didn’t encourage his team on along the sidelines, calling out a play or extorting his players or even arguing bad calls. He just sat there, as if he was personally challenging his team, as if there’s been such a disconnect in practice lately that the only way to get his point across was for them to lose on their own in a hostile environment.
The announcers saw it too. Brando: “It’s almost as if he wants them to will their way through it. If not tonight, then it’ll get tougher the next night.” Coach K’s own words: “Sometimes the best lessons are the ones that are taught in defeat, so hopefully we’ll learn that lesson.”
I sure hope so. There were some good stretches, true, when Duke really tried – and rallied – from being 8 or 10 down. But towards the end, when it became obvious that Nelson could not play power forward, and our 3s were not falling – we just gave up. We couldn’t come up with anything new, and we suddenly looked exactly like we did last year – exasperated, incredulous, but unable to do a thing about it. And that storming of the court by the Deacon fans? Embarrassing. I felt embarrassed, watching from home, and the players should feel embarrassed too, watching it live. The Deacons weren’t supposed to win. Yet they did. And Blue Devils were the ones who gave it to them.
This was totally different from the Pitt game. That game was actually exciting! After the narrow loss, I was angry and disappointed, but in a “good” way, because we fought til the end; we just didn’t get the win. But here? Here we didn’t fight. Nolan did – a couple players tried – but at the end we just gave up. It was almost like – yeah, we’re 10-0, 22-1, what are you going to do about it? We had some injuries, some foul trouble – and that was enough excuse for tonight. Bulls***. That’s not how a championship team should react, and that was certainly not a championship team out there tonight.
And I think Coach K knew it. He wanted to get a point across. For someone usually so successful with his in-game adjustments and motivations, he did neither tonight. With all 5 starters in foul trouble – he never went deep into his bench, but, rather, traded Thomas for Singler when the latter picked up his 4th foul, and watched as one after another bailed themselves out of the game with their 5th. He didn’t try to fix the switches on screens that were killing us with their mismatches. He didn’t try to go to zone to protect our players and stop their dribble penetration. Worst of all – he didn’t encourage his team on along the sidelines, calling out a play or extorting his players or even arguing bad calls. He just sat there, as if he was personally challenging his team, as if there’s been such a disconnect in practice lately that the only way to get his point across was for them to lose on their own in a hostile environment.
The announcers saw it too. Brando: “It’s almost as if he wants them to will their way through it. If not tonight, then it’ll get tougher the next night.” Coach K’s own words: “Sometimes the best lessons are the ones that are taught in defeat, so hopefully we’ll learn that lesson.”
I sure hope so. There were some good stretches, true, when Duke really tried – and rallied – from being 8 or 10 down. But towards the end, when it became obvious that Nelson could not play power forward, and our 3s were not falling – we just gave up. We couldn’t come up with anything new, and we suddenly looked exactly like we did last year – exasperated, incredulous, but unable to do a thing about it. And that storming of the court by the Deacon fans? Embarrassing. I felt embarrassed, watching from home, and the players should feel embarrassed too, watching it live. The Deacons weren’t supposed to win. Yet they did. And Blue Devils were the ones who gave it to them.
