Nice to see Amile play well - need some more of that! Have to watch those fouls though

I liked what I saw of Jefferson. There is serious potential there, and as Stephen Frazier notes, his development could be the silver lining of the Kelly injury. Ten boards was a nice stat.

There is definite talent on the Jackets. If they can keep the group together and get a couple more solid recruiting classes they could be a legit ACC title threat in a couple of seasons.

I was impressed with Sulaimon's quick release on his two first-half threes.

Seth Fucking Curry. Jesus that boy is something when he's on...

I like the "Mason hook". He just had some tough luck on a couple in the first half, but he could easily have been 11-20 instead of 7-20. I would have liked K to give him a minute or two of rest, though, as much to let the team run a few possessions without him.

The week's rest should do the boys some good. I am very keen to see how we do at Miami with some time to get used to Kelly's absence.

Jefferson just makes plays that Hairston can't make. He deserves to get more mins than Hairston. Now is a good time to get him prepared for bigger games down the road. In a perfect world, Kelly comes back healthy in time to get back in the rotation w/o much disruption and Jefferson is then ready to contribute coming off the bench.

In 2001, Boozer got injured which forced K to play Casey Saunders (6'11 McDonald AA who K wouldn't play). When March came around, Boozer was healthy and Saunders contributed off the bench....which led to a championship.

I think sitting Curry is a good idea if thinking long term. His body is wearing down and any rest would help because we will need him to make a run in March.

Sheed needs to get back on track.

Go Duke

NCST played well and is a good team; I believe Duke will have the greater postseason success, though.

In case you haven't been keeping track, Clemson's first Burger Boy since the early 1990s was suspended twice last year (4 games total) and once this year (2 games, including a few hours before the Purdue loss where there was little chance to change the game plan). Against FSU Saturday, in which we were down 17 and fought back to within 3 with the ball, Milton turned it over on 3 straight possessions in the final 1:30.

For what it is worth, Q Cook is pretty effective in stall ball.

Bring on Weak Florist. Matt - preview time?

The last two games have been our worst two games all year. Jefferson gives us more athleticism and better defense.

We went into stallball with seven minutes left in the game against Davidson....not panic time yet but just wondering....is this what it's going to look like the rest of the year?

Nice game by Seth Curry, though.

Jefferson did not play yesterday - fanbase is already speculating transfer.

Rebounding is still a concern, but, boy, is the defense, ballhandling, shooting, on-court playcalling, and team chemistry just massively upgraded. Fun team to watch!

Let's TCB against Elon tonight.

Offensively we are scoring in a variety of ways: scoring from the low post (which we haven't done in the recent past), scoring easy points on fast break buckets (again something we haven't done a lot in the recent past), dribble driving the ball and dishing for easy dunks or driving and scoring layups on your own, and obviously hitting outside shots.

This shows me that we aren't one dimensional offensively. A sign of a good team is that it gets pts in a variety of ways. So if we are off one night from the perimeter, we can compensate and score in other ways.

Defensively this season we are playing more of a containment type defense. Mason is protecting the rim more instead of guarding his guy on the perimeter thus leaving the paint wide open. And the guys are helping each other more than in the past. Again, this is a positive sign. Hopefully, no longer are the days where we play a "in your face" style of defense and our guys end up easily getting beat off the dribble and giving up easy layups to the opponent.

I'd like to see Jefferson get more minutes. He produces when he's in the game. And we are going to need him to be ready in March. Also, any rest we can give our starters is good so that they still have their legs come March.

Overall I'm really liking this team so far. I think we have a chance at making a good run in the tourney this year.

GO DUKE!!!

Duke needs to stay healthy, and a good run in the tourney is possible.

Nice start to the season, no?

Go Duke!

I'll also join the 'Screw UCONN' chorous

Big game against Minnesota tomorrow - I think it will be tough, as the Gophers have some nice talent.

I am no fan of the Terps at all, and their fans have set the bar for obnoxious insanity in the conference recently, but I admit I'm disappointed about this move. In the main, because I'm afraid it will open the door to UConn joining the ACC, and I struggle to think of a program I am less enthusiastic about having in the ACC than those bozos...nope, nothing comes to mind. I'd take Kentucky or the 'ville over the Huskies 10 times out of 10. Blech.

Of course, there's also tradition, history, the desire of the players and the fans, etc. that argue against this move too. But we all know that sentimental crap counts for even less now than it ever did. I remain unconvinced that college sports is better for that fact...

Cook is improving in many aspects of the game...just too many turnovers lastnight.

Time for the Battle for Atlantis - Minnesota will be tough

I am very excited about #14 - had a bad shooting night, but he was so effective in other areas. Love his attitude.

Will be interesting to see how Amile/Murph/Marshall develop over the course of the year.

The UK announcers rarely raised their voices in excitement. A couple of Poythress dunks and one fast break right after a Cats timeout, but other than that, they were rather monotone (I got home to watch the last 4 minutes ... sharp contrast to Vitale's melodious tones)

The analyst used the phrase "classic Duke flop" 3 times. I wonder how they referred to Tyler Hansbot in those games a few years ago.

Nice win! Kind of a must-win though, with UK's one-and-dones still settling in.

Quinn's D looked pretty good IMO. He was a bit anxious on offense, but it seems he understands team D much better this time around.

Go Duke!

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/20901553/back-from-the-depths-exphenom-taylor-king-finding-himself-looking-for-his-game

http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/11/06/2464587/dukes-curry-battling-leg-injury.html

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/recruiting/blog/eye-on-college-basketball-recruiting/20126362/duke-gets-commitment-from-no-32ranked-semi-ojeleye

Hey Matt. Any double secret inside lawyer thoughts on the Lance Thomas brouhaha? I'm feeling a bit worried about it.

Most Overrated Coach -- http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/19753693/critical-coaches-who-is-the-most-overrated-coach-in-the-country

Most Coveted Player -- http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/19738540/critical-coaches-whos-the-most-coveted-player-in-college-hoops

Most Underrated Coach -- http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/19745784/critical-coaches-who-is-the-most-underrated-coach-in-america

Now this is getting exciting. I'll write a full article with thoughts on Sunday or Monday.

http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story/19104918/article-Duke-s-Dawkins-says-he-needs-year-off

http://acc.blogs.starnewsonline.com/30402/coach-k-makes-it-official-dawkins-will-redshirt-in-2012-13/

Here's a fun little video that should bring a smile to your faces (well, it did mine). Only thing missing: a role for Nolan. :) Apologies if this is old - I just saw it (blame Canada).

http://devour.com/video/uncle-drew/

My Gawd! A Morrissey/Smiths reference?! Mega!

There's another thing that changed last season. El Sid wasn't around anymore. Not sure if you watched C.J. Leslie in prep school vids or in all-star games and such but . . . the kid was clearly jaking it as a freshman. Word behind the scenes was that he, Brown and Howell could not stand Lowe. He leaves and - - huge surprise! Those guys start contributing and living up to their potential. Gottfried had nothing to do with it; sorry to disagree with ya.

Yeah, I didn't really want to get into criticizing Painter's reasons for transferring, but since you brought it up . . . he's from the Norfolk area. That's almost exactly a three-hour drive from Raleigh; I've done it. So in order to get "closer to home" for his mom and his grandmother, and assuming he's staying in Div I (heh - - he is), Painter will have to transfer to Old Dominion, Hampton (yeah, right), William & Mary, Maryland-Eastern Shore (snicker) or one of the Richmond schools (and all but ODU and Hampton will only cut about 90 minutes off his current distance from home). That's it. That's his potential list to be closer. Even George Mason would actually be a longer drive.

Not saying I don't wish his mother and grandmother the best; I do. But . . . I simply don't buy it. Now that the rules support a waiver of the sit-out year, kids are going to take advantage. We might have even had it happen to us already. And Painter is a big loss for them - - agreed, bigger than Harris or another departee I didn't even mention, Jaqawn Raymond, but that's still lost depth. They actually don't have even that many players for next season, which is good for Gottfried in a way because he can get out of the way and do less coaching, Roid-style, but bad for their ACC title chances when the competition heats up. But it's all okay. I kind of like seeing Duke third in the projected ACC standings and hope the mediots follow suit in the preseason. Maybe K will get kicked in the ass a little. In any event, not getting Amile was a HUGE blow to NCSU and a further referendum on Gotty.

El Guapito, great commentary on Lutz. It's funny to me how this new profession has cropped up of guys who are Failed Head Coaches But Can Still Help Out in a Limited Way. I'll call it Steve Robinson Syndrome just for fun.

However... here we go.

He was a bad coach at bama. no doubt about that. but it appears he learned something while out of the profession. The same state team that Gottfried led to the sweet 16 only a year earlier looked like they didn't know how to play organized bball, had horrible attitudes and showed no heart/effort on the court.

Only one thing changed between that year and last year when they made the sweet 16 run. I don't know if it is Gottfried or the assistant coaches who should get the credit but it was pretty obvious to me that they became a TEAM that trusted one another on the court instead of a bunch of individual, selfish players.

Also, if memory serves me correct, when they had their best players on the court they dominated last years duke team. The only reason we won that game is because 3 of their 4 best players got into foul trouble and couldn't play as aggressively in the second half of the game. And they weren't a deep team so when those guys went out of the game their talent level dropped a lot. But I guess that's only my interpretation. Also, Painter is transferring because he wants be home, closer to a sick family member. Not sure if it's his grandmother or what. I think the other kid is transferring because he can see the writing on the wall. He's just not talented enough to earn playing time on next years state team.

IMO, objectively speaking, they should be the best team in the ACC next year.

However, with the addition of Jefferson and Sulimon I think we should have enough athleticism to defend them so it should be a good game.

Very excited about Jefferson. You cannot win or compete for Championships with guards and big men alone. Utility players are present on every Duke Championship team (and frankly every successful program)

He is a very good recruiter and arguably the worst operational coach in the conference - - well, non-Bzzkillick division, anyway. Remember our home game against them last season? Any other coach (again, save Bzoffick) in the ACC would have figured out how to win that game for the Pack - - but he was just totally lost. He might as well have been four counties away, locked in a basement. There were numerous other examples of him failing to coach properly during the season; I saw them play an inordinate amount of times, for whatever reason.

It's not really a matter of him taking Lowe's players and turning them into some force; it's more a matter of those players finally caring, because they didn't play for an abject idiot even stupider than Gottfried and with no credentials to be a head coach, and putting it all together. Also, Gotty had the "smarts" to put the ball in one point guard's hands instead of three (lol) as Lowe tried to do, and Howell and Brown finally woke up and reached their potential, or close to it. Also, Leslie couldn't stand Lowe and suddenly started playing like a team guy without El Sid to kick around.

I give Gottfried credit for absolutely none of this.

Moreover, the guy has a terrible personality; he drove Harrow away and now Painter and Harris left, neither for particularly good reasons. He's firmly from the Jim Harrick school of player-coach relations, and as we've seen with Harrick himself and Lavin, that strategy only works to a point. Romar seems to be the exception.

One more note about the Pack - - they'll miss C.J. Williams, mostly on the defensive end, terribly next season. They are already, and will be in the preseason if trend hold, drastically overrated. That's annoying to me, and that's one of the (lesser) reasons that I am beyond thrilled about Jefferson's signing.

ALEX Murphy - - currently starring in Finland. Sorry, Alex!

5 Mason
4 Jefferson
3 Murphy
2 Sulimon
1 Cook

Also...don't sleep on Gottfreid. He showed us all how bad Sidney Lowe really was. Lowe was a good recruiter who couldn't coach. Gottfreid showed last year that he can coach when he took Lowe's players and turned them into a contender. He also showed he can recruit by bringing in good talent for next season. This guy is going to be around for awhile.

If Jefferson can step into the role that I envisioned for Mike G. them we should have a pretty complete team. I agree with Fats that Hairston is more of a power guy at this point.

I predict that Duke will enter the season underrated by the national media. A nice change pf pace.

This is surely good news if the requisite bench-shrinkage isn't too extensive next year.