Duke Basketball 2021-2022

[bdotling]

Either the team has stop caring or this 6 man rotation has everybody gassed. But this is a pretty horrific trend/drop off.
Peaked literally going into UNC with K saying this looked like an old Duke team and they were ready.

 

[physicsfactor]

Is it too late to switch to zone?

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

K will make a drastic defensive change now. Reviewing film all night tonight.

 

[TS9]

Only trick left in K’s bag is to scream even louder at players who stopped listening to him weeks ago.

 

[TS9]

After all, it’s their responsibility to put him in position to win, not the other way around.

 

[rhfarmer]

I have a theory about the late season collapses year after year. It's obvious that a short rotation could be part of it, but it's hard for me to believe that 19 year old kids are getting tired playing basketball. If they were at the park, they would play for 6 hours a day.

I honestly think that they get to the point that they know the defense is stupid and unsustainable, but they aren’t going to mutiny, so they just go through the motions, realizing that it's pointless. They have to know, right?

 

[DurhamSon]

Boeheim has the shortest rotation in the country and Cuse has more FFs than us the last ten years, and more wins than us as a non-1 seed. It can’t be that simple.

 

[TS9]

I’ve long thought that actually playing a season of Duke basketball is probably a huge drag for the players. K’s personality and approach doesn’t make it fun, there’s extreme pressure in every game, everyone hates you. What’s the last team that seemed to enjoy being Duke? 2015? Maybe 2019?

 

[DurhamSon]

How do you fucking fail to put together a great team when the one weakness of the OAD model, experience, was essentially repealed with zero-delay transfers? Theoretically if you’re the top recruiting destination by a mile you have your pick of filling the roster with any player available either HS or College.

I’ll maintain that K’s deficiency the last decade as a tactician hasn’t been nearly as detrimental as his much more outsized failure as a GM

 

[Devilsforlife]

Every post-2015 team save 2018 has had a late Feb/early March swoon now.

 

[Pantone287]

I have a theory about the late season collapses year after year. It's obvious that a short rotation could be part of it, but it's hard for me to believe that 19 year old kids are getting tired playing basketball. If they were at the park, they would play for 6 hours a day.

I honestly think that they get to the point that they know the defense is stupid and unsustainable, but they aren’t going to mutiny, so they just go through the motions, realizing that it's pointless. They have to know, right?

I agree, but I have a feeling K also just wears players down mentally, in general. I imagine being in an abusive relationship can be draining.

 

[dukeboy911]

Thank god I’m on the other side of the world so I don’t have to witness this teams debacle in normal time.

 

[childress22]

I agree, but I have a feeling K also just wears players down mentally, in general. I imagine being in an abusive relationship can be draining.

I think that's true, but wouldn't even put it all on K. I think the fan base and media have fairly consistently overrated our teams, especially in the post-2015 era, and have created a culture where the players (and a lot of the fans?) feel like it's a letdown every single year if they don't make the Final Four. Like in the postgame ceremony in Cameron, where K was trying to give his players credit for getting the first-place regular-season finish and the fans drowned him out by chanting "We Want Six".

 

[StopThePumpFakesShav]

This was one of the worst 7 days I can remember in recent Duke history. There's good reason to assume we are losing in the first weekend. But I do want to note the lack of correlation between ACCT results and tourney results post-2010. For example:

ACCT championships:
2011, looked great in ACCT: Barely beat Michigan on last possession in R2, blown out in round 3
2017, incredible run in the ACCT: Second round debacle against South Carolina
2019, wins ACCT: Looks like ass in NCAAT. Probably should've lost to UCF in round 2.

Best tournaments since 2010:
2013: Lost first game to Maryland in ACCT. Cruise to the E8 with wins against good Creighton and MSU teams before running into the best team in L'Ville
2015: Good first game in ACCT, horrible effort against ND. Won NCAAT
2018: ACC- Disgusting loss to UNC in Brooklyn in semifinals. Cruised through first weekend, beat Syracuse for third time that year in E8 in closer game. Probably should've been in F4, even more so than 2019.

 

[TS9]

Of course, there were also 2012 and 2014, which seem like the closest comps to 2022 in terms of overall vibes.

 

[StopThePumpFakesShav]

Of course, there were also 2012 and 2014, which seem like the closest comps to 2022 in terms of overall vibes.

Yeah, though this team has shown a higher ceiling and more sustained success than those. I'd say 2012 was just a bad team. 2014, there are unfortunate parallels. Including losing in the final of the ACCT.

 

[childress22]

Yeah, though this team has shown a higher ceiling and more sustained success than those. I'd say 2012 was just a bad team. 2014, there are unfortunate parallels. Including losing in the final of the ACCT.

Paolo really is kind of like an 80%-as-good Jabari. Moore and Hood probably suffer from some similar inconsistency issues too, although I'll give the edge to Moore here by a decent bit in terms of making big plays on both ends of the floor.

Also, that team had nothing like Mark.

 

[rome8180]

I'd have to look, but this may be a worse defensive stretch than 2014 ever had. I figured I'd move the defense talk out of the Pomeroy thread.

November 1st to December 1st - 36th rated defense
December 1st to January 1st - 110th rated defense
January 1st to February 1st - 14th rated defense
February 1st to March 1st - 63rd rated defense
March 1st to now - 206th rated defense

Our defense hasn't been great all year, to be honest. Even that January number is only lifted up by a historically bad offensive performance from Notre Dame. In retrospect, I'm not sure how much our defense had to do with than one game either. If you remove it, our defense falls to 41st for that month.

@physicsfactor I'm completely reversing my position now and one-upping you. It wasn't recency bias. In fact, you didn't go far enough. Our defense has been, is, and will always be trash. It exists in a platonic state of trashhood.

 

[rome8180]

I stand corrected. Here's 2014:

November to December - 112th
December to January - 9th (wtf?)
January to February - 65th
February to March - 57th
March to April - 252nd

Sample size was 6 games in March. They went 3-3. This Duke team can still equal that achievement if they lose in the 1st round while giving up a lot of points. They can also go 3-3 for the month.

 

[rome8180]

At least 2014 didn't lose on Senior Night, correct?