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[2018-19] Virginia, at Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech, at Notre Dame, St. John's

We've lost at least twice in January since 2009. So I'll assume we lose this one since it's our last opportunity for a second January loss.
 
StopThePumpFakesShav said:
I think that’s a bit negative, Pants. Yeah they looked like ass today and offense against a zone is a major issue but even very good/great teams sleepwalk against shit opponents sometimes.

In 2015, for example, Duke came off the big comeback win at Virginia with a similarly shitty performance against #86 Georgia Tech. They won 72-66- kind of sleptwalk through it.

Lot of shit to solve for these guys and while I was annoyed in the moment, not taking too much away from this one.

Also on the coaching, definitely some complaints on usage allocation this year but Reddish just isn’t making shots, and that’s not really on the staff. 2017 was a disaster from
a coaching perspective. I haven’t had as many complaints with the coaching since the Feb 2018 shift to zone though. The UVA game, for example, I thought was very well coached.
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My opinion on most things in life is excessively negative, so this is probably a reasonable stance. That said, it's not the "absolute" level of performance that turns me off, it's the level they're at relative to where they should/could be with a historic talent edge. It's not all that exciting for me to watch a team leave so much on the table in easily fixable ways.

I mean, a lack of shooting doesn't mean you're just out of options for offense other than isos that start 20 feet from the basket, especially when you have a Zion and a Barrett. There are a million different things you can do to make a college basketball offense featuring those two unstoppable, starting with getting Zion the ball 15 feet and in. There's no excuse for not making that the central, intentional goal of everything you do in the halfcourt, and playing out of that. Or, for example, have we put Zion in a single PNR as the screener? Why the hell not? I feel like even the worst NBA coach would find this offensive system laughable, given who's on the team.

I'm also of the opinion that the talent level of this team blows 2015's out of the water, and is going to be absurdly physically superior to anyone they face. So, yeah, they're going to eventually separate and win most of their games even operating at the low end of where they could be, and Zion and Tre will make pretty much any defense look good. It's not like the D is at a UVA or TTech level, though, where they're just suffocating teams out of the gate. I don't feel like they've been particularly intimidating or dominant on either end, "just" very good (top 5ish on both sides).

Which, you know, normally, I'd be thrilled with that, but it's hard for me to feel excited and satisfied with it when they've so clearly got the personnel to be a historically dominant team, instead of a team that's roughly comparable with a small group of contenders behind UVA in 2019 alone. I still watch them when I have time, because, Zion, but their day-to-day performance feels mostly inconsequential to me unless/until certain changes are made.
 
Probably won't be able to go to the game tomorrow. Supposed to get 8+ inches of snow.
 
Trent Jr. would’ve been perfect for this team. Could’ve played his way into the first round. Adding a low 40’s outside shooter to this team would’ve really separated us from everyone else.
 
Admittedly, there is danger in looking for too many parallels/comps to the 2015 team, but for the sake of playing devil's advocate or whatever: At essentially this point in the 2015 schedule, we were kind of in WTF mode with that team. January included the State/Miami ass beatings, the win at Louisville, the first ND loss and the comebacks vs. St. John's and Virginia, not to mention the Sheed banishment in the middle of it all. It was a pretty wild month, and the qualities of our performances were all over the place.

I think the title run taints our recollection of that team sometimes, at least in terms of what it was during the stretch between the game at Wisconsin and the game at Virginia.

January malaise seems unavoidable with Duke teams at this point in the program's history, and I'm more or less fine with what's going on right now.

February's schedule is shaping up to be comically difficult, though, so I'm saving my panic for that.
 
Devilsforlife said:
The Master is just saving his best offensive sets for March. We will see Zion PNRs then. Trust in K, the man who led us all the way to the second round in 2017.
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2nd half small ball against GaTech makes me foolishly believe that's actually possible, lol. K will unleash Zion PNRs in the 1st UNC game!!!!
 
Forecast now calling for 11 inches of snow. 9 inches in South Bend. How much snow does it take to cancel a game?
 
Took around that in 2014 to cancel an eight-mile drive to Chapel Hill.

Hopefully if it's rescheduled it's not to a date that completely screws us like that one did.
 
DurhamSon said:
Best case scenario is they play and the snow keeps much of a crowd from attending.
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I don't think it's going to get cancelled, being from the Indiana area, they should be able to keep the roads clear - this isn't South Bends first snowfall.

Also - Duke is already in South Bend, don't see them cancelling with them already there.
 
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