Devils played very well today. Cook was good not great, Curry was great, Plumlee was great, and Amile Jefferson was unexpectedly good. Suilamon disappeared but that is to be expected from a Frosh who is now expected to shoulder some of the scoring load and Tyler Thornton and Josh Hariston are spark plugs defensively and under no circumstance should they have the ball in their hands offensively.

Kelly in the lineup would have produced a W today I am fairly certain. Duke is a much better team than NC State AT THIS POINT. State has a higher ceiling no doubt, but they wouldn't have beaten a healthy Duke team. Will be interesting to see how K responds here. Jefferson played well but defensively was a liability. Playing Hariston and Thornton at the same time is akin to the Hickory Hoosiers without Jimmy Chitwood. There isn't enough offense out there to do much of anything and the minutes they were on the floor together were disastrous. Plumlee drawing a double then kicking to Hariston was essentially a turnover. Jefferson will have to grow up quickly.

I really hope that the Devils find some substitute for Kelly, would love to see more Alex Murphy and Jefferson but given the defensive problems the team had last year I would envison K is going to turn to the veterans Thornton and Hariston. Duke is gonna try to win games by being the first to 60.

http://duke.scout.com/2/1257207.html

The good news: Seth Curry will reportedly not miss any games due to the injury he suffered during the N.C. State game on Saturday.

The bad news: Sources close to the program saying that Ryan Kelly's Duke career is likely over and that he could undergo surgery in the next couple of weeks. If those reports hold, it was a terrific career. One of my favorites.

Thats a huge loss if true.

But, better now than in 6 weeks. Similar to Kyrie being early enough for Duke to find its rhythm again. This is later, but still isnt March yet...

Laley23;1365615 wrote:Thats a huge loss if true.

But, better now than in 6 weeks. Similar to Kyrie being early enough for Duke to find its rhythm again. This is later, but still isnt March yet...

Agreed. But, even without Kyrie, Duke still had Nolan Smith as the go-to guy with the ball in his hands. As great as Kyrie was, Nolan stepped in and played at such a high level at the point guard spot that he was a top two or three finalist for NPOTY. Josh Hairston and Amile Jefferson, who will be called upon to fill in for the missing Ryan Kelly (if true) are, well, not that.

I just don't think Kelly can be replaced in any way, shape or form. Mason Plumlee, as we saw against State, will really suffer from Kelly's absence, as teams can constantly double down on him without Kelly's presence as an outside threat. Plumlee will be the sole focus now inside.

reclegend22;1365620 wrote:Agreed. But, even without Kyrie, Duke still had Nolan Smith as the go-to guy with the ball in his hands. As great as Kyrie was, Nolan stepped in and played at such a high level at the point guard spot that he was a top two or three finalist for NPOTY. Josh Hairston and Amile Jefferson, who will be called upon to fill in for the missing Ryan Kelly (if true) are, well, not that.

I just don't think Kelly can be replaced in any way, shape or form. Mason Plumlee, as we saw against State, will really suffer from Kelly's absence, as teams can constantly double down on him without Kelly's presence as an outside threat. Plumlee will be the sole focus now inside.

All thats true.

I guess Im looking at a weak ACC conference and the chance Duke will still be able to have a good seed in the tourney. I still dont see more than 5 more loses. Normal ACC year, you have potential for a lot more loses, this year they should be able to compete in every game still and probably favored in most. But then again, you know Duke the way I know Indiana. So I will take your word for it.

Laley23;1365637 wrote:All thats true.

I guess Im looking at a weak ACC conference and the chance Duke will still be able to have a good seed in the tourney. I still dont see more than 5 more loses. Normal ACC year, you have potential for a lot more loses, this year they should be able to compete in every game still and probably favored in most. But then again, you know Duke the way I know Indiana. So I will take your word for it.

Don't get me wrong, even without Kelly in the lineup, Duke will still have a legitimate shot at winning both the ACC regular-season and tournament. And that's because, as you say, outside of State and Miami, the ACC is mediocre at best. Maryland is decent also.

Duke will have very tough games at Miami, Miami at home, at home against N.C. State, at Maryland and then at UNC to end the season, all losable games especially without Ryan Kelly. But I like Duke's chances in what is obviously a watered-down conference. As we saw last year when Kelly went down last year, though, the road will be much tougher, and in the NCAAs, Duke just won't have the firepower without their 6-11 senior star.

Couple things I noticed from Saturday....

1. Jefferson and (it hurts me to say this) Hairston really stepped up and played well for the absent Ryan Kelly. If Jefferson could've stayed foul trouble free that would've definitely helped but thats tough when you're guarding one of the best players in the ACC (Leslie). And the really scary thing is Jefferson ONLY PLAYED 12 MINUTES. Holy hell, 10 points in 12 minutes. Looking back I really wish we could've got at least 20-23 minutes out of him.

2. Mason Plumlee seemed to be resorting back to some stuff he did earlier in his career...dribbling way too much on the perimeter with a very high dribble, a bit out of control at times. But still thought he fought very hard down low.

3. Sulaimon definitely struggled, he even missed some easy lay ups. Coming into Saturday he was averaging 12-13 points. We got 4 out of him. He is shooting 9-40 from the field these past 5 games. He needs to find his stroke again.

4. I really wish we could see more Alex Murphy. Dude is a freak of an athlete and with Sulaimon struggling, why not give him some more burn? I honestly think he almost has Sam Thompson ups.

5. Overall though I'm not too worried. So as long as Curry is not bothered by the injury from Saturday. These next two weeks are relatively easy, schedule wise. Lets get Kelly rested and recovered, keep developing our bench (yes, that means Hairston unfortunately lol), and have Cook keep being a playmaker.

Rasheed was coming off the flu and my sources haven't said anything about Ryan getting surgery. Last word was mid foot sprain and he needs to stay off it because ligaments are damaged but not in need of surgical repair.

Glad you've heard or read differently. I'm a brutally cold cynic by nature, so I have no hope. It's nice to know that everybody isn't like that.

Thanks for the positive thoughts.

Interesting about Rasheed. K talked at length today about Rasheed's struggling stretch, yet never mentioned an illness of any kind. Would make sense, though. Rasheed has been awful the last three or so games. He's without a doubt coming back to Duke, despite whatever Red Rider says to the contrary.

Yeah, not sure what Rider is hearing. Josh, Tyler, and Rasheed are a pretty tight group. Don't see any of them transferring anytime soon.

The line dropped from 19 to 14.5 overnight. Wondering if curry may not play.

ccrunner609;1368638 wrote:Curry is playing but Duke is pulling their usual. Playing at home against a team they know they are going to win and they are playing down to the competition.,

Aggravating to say the least.

Thank God Rasheed Sulaimon has come out of the shell he crawled into four games ago. He and Curry have lit it up tonight from beyond the arc.

Seth Curry doing it big tonight in Durham. Dell's boy went for 24 points on 6 of 7 shooting from three-point land. On pretty much half a leg. He's a cool customer on the court.

Devils travel to Coral Gables to take on ACC leader Miami tonight at 7pm.

Jim Larranaga's bunch has played well as of late, going 5-0 and winning 7 of 10 since losing center Reggie Johnson. Miami relies heavily on the high ball screen with Shane Larkin. Duke will probably stagger the screen at the top with Mason Plumlee trying to deter the offense (since that is what they always do).

Duke is favored by 2 on the road, figures to be a very close game tonight.

Dookies will win big or Miami will win. No in between for me.

Going to the Holes game tonight wildcats20, have 4 tickets and can't give them away. Apparently the only people who actually want to be Tarheels are in this video.

[video=youtubeXC7KvAEFtg][/video]

swamisez;1373138 wrote:Going to the Holes game tonight wildcats20, have 4 tickets and can't give them away. Apparently the only people who actually want to be Tarheels are in this video.

[video=youtubeXC7KvAEFtg][/video]

Lol

If I wasn't 500 miles away I would be there.

Haha I forgot this game was on at 7. Just saw the halftime score. That's awful.

LOL Duke

This is amazing.


Similar to Carolina in Tallahassee last year.

I've watched duke for years, I've never EVER seen Coach K look this disgusted...Talk about a long flight home...

Nice showing tonight.

Seth Curry doing it big tonight in Durham. Dell's boy went for 24 points on 6 of 7 shooting from three-point land. On pretty much half a leg. He's a cool customer on the court.

Dell's boy was really a cool customer tonight in Miami. 0-10 in 22 minutes.

Duke absolutely lives and dies by the three. If it isn't falling, they are in huge trouble.

Didn't get to see the game, but the stat line says three point attempts had little to do with this loss. They were as bad if not worse from inside of 10 feet as they were from 20 feet and out.