Duke Basketball 2018-2019

[savedukebball]

easily our worst NCAAT loss since UConn 2004.

I'm pretty disappointed, but come on man. Not even top 5.

*Most devastating loss since then. Kansas last year is the only one that rivals it for me.

I can easily stomach Kansas knowing that Villanova would've sliced and diced our zone into oblivion the next week.

With three teams waiting for us in Minneapolis that we'd already beaten, this one hurts a lot more.

 

[TS9]

Even if we'd won yesterday, we would've been in one hell of a predicament against Texas Tech. Those dudes were good back when we played them, but they're pretty scary right now.

 

[Devilsforlife]

Even if we'd won yesterday, we would've been in one hell of a predicament against Texas Tech. Those dudes were good back when we played them, but they're pretty scary right now.

Yeah Tech would have been an extremely tough matchup. Preferable to Gonzaga imo, but still really hard. I'd have felt a lot better about the season had we reached the FF and lost to them though. Same with last year.

 

[Inveigle]

Auburn beat Kansas, beat the hell out of Carolina, then whipped Kentucky and those guards look fast as lightening. I'm glad Duke beat them in Maui because I haven't seen a guard left in the tournament who can check Harper.

 

[deeyoukayeee]

easily our worst NCAAT loss since UConn 2004.

I'm pretty disappointed, but come on man. Not even top 5.

*Most devastating loss since then. Kansas last year is the only one that rivals it for me.

I mean, I know the Zion thing and recency looms large, but 2012, 2014 and 2017 were just fucking humiliating. Getting run out of the gym in 2011 after celebrating the awesome ACCT title and Kyrie's return was mind-boggling. And even though we weren't all that good in 2007, choking against VCU was horrific. I might even put 2006 up there - Izzo sure picks his spots to take out Duke legends - and 2008, just because Joe Alexander taunted us like he did and then went out and hammered us.

I hate that Zion doesn't get rewarded for his excellence, and I did love the comradery of this squad, but we lost by a point to a well-coached team that was ranked ahead of us in Pomeroy.

 

[deeyoukayeee]

Auburn beat Kansas, beat the hell out of Carolina, then whipped Kentucky and those guards look fast as lightening. I'm glad Duke beat them in Maui because I haven't seen a guard left in the tournament who can check Harper.

We'd kill Auburn. I think UVA will dismantle them. I like UVA over TTech in the final. Barely.

 

[Devilsforlife]

easily our worst NCAAT loss since UConn 2004.

I'm pretty disappointed, but come on man. Not even top 5.

*Most devastating loss since then. Kansas last year is the only one that rivals it for me.

I mean, I know the Zion thing and recency looms large, but 2012, 2014 and 2017 were just fucking humiliating. Getting run out of the gym in 2011 after celebrating the awesome ACCT title and Kyrie's return was mind-boggling. And even though we weren't all that good in 2007, choking against VCU was horrific. I might even put 2006 up there - Izzo sure picks his spots to take out Duke legends - and 2008, just because Joe Alexander taunted us like he did and then went out and hammered us.

I hate that Zion doesn't get rewarded for his excellence, and I did love the comradery of this squad, but we lost by a point to a well-coached team that was ranked ahead of us in Pomeroy.

Fair points, but losing in back-to-back E8s where we had a 3 point lead and the ball with under 1:30 left is pretty fucking brutal. 07, 08, 12 and 14 all sucked because of how we exited, but I think most fans realized those teams had Sweet 16 ceilings. 11 and 17 were rough too, but we got blitzed off the court in both games and those teams were ruined by injuries and general dysfunction in 17's case. 06 was also incredibly painful, but that team had nothing beyond JJ and Shelden and I've come to accept that JJ was a serial choker in the NCAAT.

This one really stung for me due to K's incompetent coaching down the stretch, and the fact that had we won, we had a great shot (an almost certainly K's last) at bringing home #6. At the very least, a FF appearance would have been a great achievement, and made me feel much better about this season.

 

[dukebluedevils05]

We never had the ball up 3 with under 1:30 left. I've seen several people say this. If we did, K would've drained 30 seconds off the clock, but we never put ourselves in that position, unfortunately.

If we could've got a stop on the possession when we were up 3 and Winston threw that lob to cut it to 1, we'd have won the game IMO.

 

[Si6hts]

I'm ruined.

 

[best4heisman]

https://www.sbnation.com/college-ba...-march-madness-michigan-state-ncaa-tournament

I apologize if anyone already posted this but I'm unwilling to go through all the threads and check.

Not sure K could've done anything about Cam/all the shooters being awful, but the most convincing argument here is the way Zion was misused offensively. Everything should have gone through him, either in the post or as the primary ballhandler.

 

[Inveigle]

Auburn beat Kansas, beat the hell out of Carolina, then whipped Kentucky and those guards look fast as lightening. I'm glad Duke beat them in Maui because I haven't seen a guard left in the tournament who can check Harper.

We'd kill Auburn. I think UVA will dismantle them. I like UVA over TTech in the final. Barely.

Maybe, maybe not because I thought Duke would kill UCF and dismantle VaTech but that didn't happen. Like I said, Harper is the guy that nobody can stay in front of left standing and I expect they will give Virginia all they want and then some.

 

[aiw]

I might even put 2006 up there - Izzo sure picks his spots to take out Duke legends

2005

 

[ZackM]

We never had the ball up 3 with under 1:30 left. I've seen several people say this. If we did, K would've drained 30 seconds off the clock, but we never put ourselves in that position, unfortunately.

If we could've got a stop on the possession when we were up 3 and Winston threw that lob to cut it to 1, we'd have won the game IMO.

They had the ball, but we had 4 fouls to give. We could have drained every bit of 30 seconds, probably a lot more, if we'd used them.

 

[Slap the Floor]

I didn't realize how much I enjoyed this team until the season was over. 100% more likable than the last 2 seasons. Disappointing ending but ultimately I will remember this team, aka Zion, fondly.

 

[Devilsforlife]

I didn't realize how much I enjoyed this team until the season was over. 100% more likable than the last 2 seasons. Disappointing ending but ultimately I will remember this team, aka Zion, fondly.

Yeah, this was a fun season overall. Lots of extremely enjoyable wins and memorable moments, including the romp of Kentucky, Cam's buzzer beater @ FSU, sweeping UVA, incredible comeback @ Louisville, ACCT wins over UNC and FSU, and beating VT in the NCAAT to give us a win over every ACC foe. Easily the best collection of victories we've had since 2015. I mean, Duke owns wins over 3/4 FF participants.

This team deserved to make the Final Four, and it's such a fucking shame that they came up short. I do wonder if we'd have managed to eek out a win against MSU if not for the rash of injuries we dealt with - the team never seemed to fire on all cylinders again after Zion went down - but I don't feel like making excuses, as our failure to close the door at 30-21 and K's horrific end of game coaching led to us blowing a game that was there for the taking.

Overall, I'd rank the non-title teams of the last decade as follows:

1. 2019 (I give it the nod over 2013 due to the pure joy of watching Zion, and the terrific resume we compiled; should have reached the FF)
2. 2013 (great season, K's last vintage Duke team, fucked out of a FF appearance by the committee)
3. 2011 (probably should be #1, but I'll never, ever get over Kyrie's injury; getting blitzed in the S16 also sucked)
4. 2018 (rollercoaster of a season that ended in heartbreak, inches away from a FF)
5. 2016 (generally enjoyable team, maxed out its potential in reaching the S16)
6. 2017 (won the ACCT and avoided a first round debacle, but otherwise a total dumpster fire, especially given the expectations and who won the title)
7. 2012 (some good wins and memorable moments, but losing to a 15 seed was brutal)
8. 2014 (utter disaster, no further commentary necessary)

 

[LastHearth]

I agree with all your rankings except I’d swap 16 and 11. I really enjoyed the 16 season and as you say they maxed their potential. 2011 was one big tease that failed to deliver

 

[Slap the Floor]

2014 was the biggest steaming pile of shit of all time. We had very high expectations for that team, too.

 

[rome8180]

I would probably put 2012 over 2017. I get the argument otherwise, but that season had several great signature wins. The Maui win over Kansas, the UNC buzzer beater, the comeback vs NC State, the win over MSU to get 903. Plus, the 2017 team was far more of a squandering of top end talent. And all the injuries were just really frustrating.

Losing in the 2nd round in 2017 was in ways as demoralizing as losing to Lehigh. We all knew by the tournament that the 2012 team wasn't going anywhere. But the 2017 team seemed like they had started to turn a corner.

 

[rome8180]

2019 vs. 2013 is tough for me. I like most of the players on that team better than I like anyone but Zion on this team. It also felt less like we'd "wasted an opportunity" with that team. Kelly's injury really derailed us and we ended up with a rough path.

Still...Zion.

 

[Slap the Floor]

Honestly the injuries we've gone through since 2010 are just beyond frustrating:

2011- Kyrie
2012- Ryan Kelly entering the NCAA Tournament...everyone might say that team wouldn't have made the Final Four, and they definitely wouldn't have, but I don't think they would've lost to Lehigh with Kelly. They had just kicked a good Florida State team in the ass on the road in the final game of the season.
2013- Ryan Kelly again. Definitely a Final Four team with a better path. I'll never forget how they just perfectly executed the defensive and offensive gameplan against Michigan State. The defensive game plan was brilliant and they were actually "tougher" than MSU. I know it's been a hot topic, but only an experienced and seasoned team could perform like they did in that game.
2016- Amile Jefferson. That team maxed out without him and reached the Sweet Sixteen. With him, I would imagine we would have been likely a 2 seed, and who knows what would have happened. Maybe a lucky trip to the Final Four, maybe not, but it would've been interesting to watch since that team maxed out, and Allen and Ingram were as good as they were.
2017- Giles, Tatum, Bolden. It took that team a while to get going. Another situation where maybe with a healthy roster we beat Kansas and avoid that rough start in conference play and get a 1 seed. That team had flaws, but the first weekend upset could've been avoided potentially
2019- Tre Jones misses 3 games, Zion misses 5, Bolden misses the ACC Tournament, Jack White misses the first weekend of NCAAT, Reddish misses S16. That team hadn't played with a healthy roster for over a month until the Elite Eight game...I do question how much it slowed down their development on both ends of the floor. We still should have won, but it limited them a bit, IMO.

I would be shocked if another program has been drilled with injuries these significant for this long of a period. Every team gets injuries, but damn they've just piled up on us since 2011.

In many ways it feels like we're due for some good luck. Two Elite Eight losses in a row- one in overtime and the other by one point, 3 out of the 4 seasons since 2015 have been significantly hampered by injuries. Maybe next year we'll fly under the radar like we did in 2015 and 2010 and win it.

Spoiler

we won't