Duke starting to pull away here

Hoping Davidson can keep it close, for "good game" purposes

CC if you are in the area I can get you tix for the Wake game saturday.

Ryan Kelly dropped five threes on Wake Forest yesterday for 22 total points. At 6-11, he's the best pure shooting big man in college basketball. Over the past eight games, Kelly has connected on 19 of 29 three pointers (65%), including cashing 8 of 11 in the previous two contests.

He's the perfect frontcourt accomplice to Mason Plumlee. If teams are going to continue to double down hard on Plumlee in the post, Kelly is going to make them pay the penalty from outside of it.

Ryan Kelly, who is so affectionately referred to as the White Raven by the Crazies, will now be known by the nickname "Baby Dirk".

With Plumlee getting double teams Ryan Kelly will put up some serious numbers. I hope he goes off on the Pups from Raleigh this weekend the State crowd is blood thirsty for the Devils for some reason?

I think that thirst for blood has something to do with State not winning the ACC since before any of their players were born. Unfortunately, I fully expect a Duke loss in Raleigh on Saturday. It has shades of 2010 all over it.

I think Duke will come to play. They know that State is game to beat them. Veteran group here in Durham, they will get the job done. I envision a game more like the one in Tallahassee last year, gutty tough road win, Curry providing some valuable buckets.

Duke rolls over Clemson, 68 to 40.

Ryan Kelly maintained his torrid three-point shooting tonight, going two-for-two from three-point land in the first half, making the near seven-footer 21 of 31 from triple over the last nine games. He went down early in the game, however, after aggravating his foot a bit and never returned. A bit worried.

Over the last 30 years I have been watching Duke, it seems that the number one injury that Duke had to deal with is the generic foot injury. I don't have a list, but it seems that every few years a star is hampered with some sort if foot injury.

Ryan Kelly out indefinitely. No timetable for return.

This is a fucking nightmare. Duke will lose by 20 on Saturday. And the hopes for contending for a national championship, if Kelly is gone for good, those are out the window. I feel like I have pneumonia.

Kelly officially out for the game at N.C. State on Saturday. Duke will lose that game by 20 points.

The early reports are maybe four weeks, but the silence surrounding the injury is very telling. K and the staff are traditionally very tight lipped in scenarios such as this as to not give opposing teams any advantage in game prep, but this has the feeling of a disaster. If Kelly's gone for the year, Duke will be out in the first weekend of the tournament.

You are turning into Tiger2003 lol. No way is the injury THAT big. Yes, it would turn their season upside down if he is hurt for a long time. But not first weekend bad and not lose by 20 to the Pack bad.

After suffering through Kyrie in 2011 and the injury to Kelly last year, which was the biggest factor resulting in Duke's first round loss to Lehigh -- with Kelly in that game, Lehigh has nobody that can matchup with the 6-foot-11 swingman and it's a completely different ball game -- I have no hope in anything. Duke did lose Carlos Boozer to a broken foot on the second to last weekend of the regular season in 2001, without skipping a beat and winning the ACC Tournament and advancing to the Final Four before Boozer's return, but that Blue Devil squad also had two NPOTY's on the roster in Williams and Battier.

Kelly is Duke's lynchpin. The most versatile offensive and defensive player on the roster and the best big man shooter in college basketball. His Euro style play is the perfect counter to Mason's Plumlee's game in the paint. It's the ultimate catch 22. Double down on Plumlee and Kelly blitzes you from the outside (he's a 52% shooter from three). Faceguard Kelly and Plumlee is almost unstoppable in the one-on-one scenario down low. It's a huge loss. Duke has nobody outside of Kelly who can match up with State's C.J. Leslie.

Seth Curry's leg just broke in half. No contact whatsoever and just collapsed.

Curry's injury doesn't look near as bad as it did at first. Back on the bench now and my guess will be back on the floor here soon.

If Curry is out for an extended period of time, as it appears Kelly will be, Duke's in serious trouble and will have no chance at the No. 1 seed heading into the ACC Tournament and the chance of a national title run will minimize dramatically. The loss to day in Raleigh was a given -- I knew that and any reasonable Duke fan knew that -- but there was actually hope near the end after Curry came up with consecutive threes to snip State's lead to three with about three and a half minutes to play. And then Curry is sidelined.

Mason Plumlee played like a champion today. 15 points, 11 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 blocks. He did his best. Duke just didn't have enough firepower in a tough road environment.

Duke won't make the sweet 16. Not athletic enough compared to NC State.

The players who took Kelly's minutes did an admirable job.duke's downfall was led by Sulaimon's 0-10 shooting and Thornton's ill-advised technical which revved up the crowd.Monster effort goes to the Wolfpack's Richard Howell( 18 pts and 16 rebounds) and C.J.Leslie(25 points and 6 rebounds).

Plumlee played well, but he kind of got annialahted in the short spurts I watced (TV timeouts during IU) by the bigs of NCST (Leslie and Howell). Duke needed Kelly to help him out, but on the road, not sure that would have mattered today.

Prescott;1364365 wrote:The players who took Kelly's minutes did an admirable job.duke's downfall was led by Sulaimon's 0-10 shooting and Thornton's ill-advised technical which revved up the crowd.Monster effort goes to the Wolfpack's Richard Howell( 18 pts and 16 rebounds) and C.J.Leslie(25 points and 6 rebounds).

That "ill-advised" technical was the result of N.C. State's Scott Wood pompously inserting his mug in Tyler Thornton's face, and Thornton then removing him from his personal space with a minor shrug. Wood instigated the technical. Not the other way around.

Amile Jefferson did play admirably. He scored 10 points for Duke in Kelly's absence and brought tremendous hustle and spirit.

Seth Curry scored 22 points today and hit 5 of 10 from three. Playing without Kelly and Curry for the final four minutes (and Kelly the whole game), there was no way Duke could win that game on the road. On to the next.

Laley23;1364366 wrote:Plumlee played well, but he kind of got annialahted in the short spurts I watced (TV timeouts during IU) by the bigs of NCST (Leslie and Howell). Duke needed Kelly to help him out, but on the road, not sure that would have mattered today.

There's no way it would not have mattered. Kelly is the most versatile big man in the country, with the deadliest perimeter shot of any player over 6'10 in the game today. Kelly's presence as a stretch four on offense, and a vastly underrated defender, would have changed the entire complexion of the game.

Also, I think "annihilated" is probably a bit too strong a word. In no way was Mason Plumlee obliterated today.

wildcats20;1364337 wrote:Seth Curry's leg just broke in half. No contact whatsoever and just collapsed.

I couldn't watch any of the game, and haven't heard any updates--what's his prognosis?

reclegend22;1364369 wrote:There's no way it would not have mattered. Kelly is the most versatile big man in the country, with the deadliest perimeter shot of any player over 6'10 in the game today. Kelly's presence as a stretch four on offense, and a vastly underrated defender, would have changed the entire complexion of the game.

Also, I think "annihilated" is probably a bit too strong a word. In no way was Mason Plumlee obliterated today.

Of course it would have mattered, im saying the outcome is probably the same. Not many, if any, teams were going to Raleigh and coming out winners today. CJ Leslie played too well.

And I switched over 3 times. Once I watched Plumlee give up 2 offensive rebounds (start of half). Then I watched CJ Leslie to to the hole and spin on him and then I watched CJ Leslie drive on him. I think I saw him get blocked (but not sure on which Duke player it was). Also saw him get called for a foul.

Again, I only watched like 8 total possessions, but 5/8 Plumlee WAS owned. If Kelly is down low to help, its completely different. Howell and Leslie combined were to much for Plumlee today.

That "ill-advised" technical was the result of N.C. State's Scott Wood pompously inserting his mug in Tyler Thornton's face, and Thornton then removing him from his personal space with a minor shrug. Wood instigated the technical. Not the other way around.

It doesn't matter. duke would have been better off if Thornton could have kept his cool. He couldn't and his actions cost his team.

Laley23;1364385 wrote:Howell and Leslie combined were to much for Plumlee today.

Definitely agree with this. Jefferson did a nice job today despite his inexperience and pretty much no playing time in any of Duke's marquee games this season, but today Mason was pretty much going one on two most of the afternoon in the low post. In light of that, I think 15, 11, 4, and 2 isn't quite that bad a day.

Ryan Kelly is by far the most efficient offensive and defensive player on Duke's team. Offensively, despite shooting a remarkable 53 percent from three, he's not just a Steve Novak-like bomber. In the interior, Kelly is averaging 1.24 points per post up play, the best mark in the ACC. As an on-ball defender he is holding opponents to 0.53 points per possession on 22.2% field goal shooting, both of which rank No. 2 in the ACC in those categories. His absence kills Duke.

Prescott;1364472 wrote:That "ill-advised" technical was the result of N.C. State's Scott Wood pompously inserting his mug in Tyler Thornton's face, and Thornton then removing him from his personal space with a minor shrug. Wood instigated the technical. Not the other way around.

It doesn't matter. duke would have been better off if Thornton could have kept his cool. He couldn't and his actions cost his team.

I thought you didn't watch Duke?