Duke Over Davidson

The Davidson game is what I had hoped the Army game would be: a battle against a group that had no fear and knew what they were doing at both ends of the court. Army's shot's just didn't drop, whereas Davidson got hot and kept going to their money players. It was obvious that Duke had a lot of defensive flaws in the Army game, but nothing brings that message home like a team making you pay for said errors.

This is what happens when a young team plays a well-coached group that has a solid plan, not a bunch of one-on-one athletes. Duke struggled on defense because they had to adjust to crisply-set screens and precise passing. The number of times that Chris Duhon was picked off to free up Wayne Bernard blew my mind--and no one would rotate over to pick him up. Not Chris' fault there--I thought in general he had a great game. Davidson coach Bob McKillop's game plan was ballsy--he chose to speed up the game by attacking Duke in transition. The number of times Davidson got easy baskets because Duke relaxed after scoring were many. Team defense was a problem last year and it could be a problem this year if the young forwards don't grow up quickly.

On offense, everyone played well. Obviously McKillop was gambling that Duke didn't have the same kind of firepower this year, and wanted the youngsters to prove that they could score. Well, they can. Duhon certainly helped on that account. That one pass to Shavlik Randolph after Shav set a high screen and then went to the basket for a dunk was beautiful. Shav was just superb on offense, Chris was very good, JJ generally took good shots. Shelden Williams did some great things and some dumb things, but definitely showed signs of life despite being doubled every time he touched the ball. The one player I was VERY disappointed by was Dahntay Jones. Way too much one-on-one play and very poor decisions. He did not play like a senior.

I thought the use of the delay game at the end was fine and appropriate (and also knew that a number of fans would complain about it). Even as Davidson was on a 9-2 run, it took them nearly 3.5 minutes to do it,

because Duke took care of the ball. Note that Davidson was wisely

keeping guys on the perimeter to prevent Duhon from driving and dishing for three--they wanted Duke to prove that they could beat them off the dribble. A good strategy, and Duke simply has to improve when that's what the defense gives them. I would have liked to have seen Dahntay or Chris simply elevate for a simple 10 foot jumper instead of an awkward drive.

After Duke took a quick 2-0 lead on some Dan Ewing free throws, Davidson went on a remarkable 7-0 run. That came on three consecutive jumpers where the Wildcats set some beautiful screens that Duke was a bit slow to react to. The Devils were also piling up fouls in the first two minutes of the game, racking up 6 team fouls in that timespan. Finally, Shav somehow managed to score through a double team and Duhon hit one of his trademark 30' jumpers to tie things up at 7. Duhon sparked the team after a Davidson turnover and dished to Ewing in transition to put up by a deuce. Davidson's Bernard did not hesitate in pulling the trigger when he had an opening, and sank a three to put Davidson back on top.

Michael Thompson came into the game and played a couple of positive minutes after Casey Sanders picked up 2 quick fouls. He muscled in for a dunk on a Duhon feed, finishing up strong. Duhon forced another turnover and went hard to the basket for a layup. Duke had a 13-10 leadad and was on an 11-6 run. Davidson responded by holding Duke scoreless for the next two minutes and hitting three jumpers to pull ahead 16-13. Shelden posted up and hit a nice turnaround jumper, but Davidson scored again keep a three point lead. Jones drove and showed nice body control in generating a three point play to tie things up at 18 with thirteen minutes to go in the half.

Davidson would simply not go away, and the two teams would go on to change leads 12 times during the next four minutes. With Sean Dockery in the game, Duhon took charge and hit a three and drove to the basket in consecutive possessions. After Davidson pulled ahead 24-23, Chris dished to Shav, who earned a three point play. The sizzling Bernard hit yet another three to put the Wildcats on top yet again. Free throws from Ewing & Williams put Duke on top again, but Bernard used another solid screen to swish his third three of the half. Duhon went back to being a playmaker, finding JJ Redick for his first hoop of the game and throwing a lob to Ewing that he threw down. Davidson would stay competitive for the rest of the half, but could not stop Duke on offense.

Redick hit a 17' jumper to put Duke up by 5, but Bernard hit another 3 to cut the lead to 39-37 with six minutes left. Two Jones foul shots were countered by another Bernard basket. Jones put the team back up by 5 with a baseline shot, but a Terrell Ivory free throw cut it to 4. The Wildcats rebounded his second shot, but Dockery picked them clean for a steal and layup, and then scored in transition once again when Redick got a steal. That made the score 48-40 and forced a timeout as Duke finally got a bit of separation. Davidson switched tactics and went inside to Ian Johnson, who victimized Duke all day with a feathery touch on his half hooks in the lane. After he hit a basket, Casey Sanders slithered inside with a nice move and layup. A Davidson miss led to Duhon finding Redick for three, giving Duke its first double digit lead at 53-42. After Randolph hit a free throw, the Wildcats shut Duke out for the last two minutes of the half, with Johnson scoring 4 points. Duke missed 4 shots during that timespan, but still had a 54-46 lead. The Devils shot 49% in the first half but allowed Davidson to shoot 50%.

The first seven minutes of the second half were all Duke. Jones opened up with a jumper that was quickly matched. Shelden started to assert himself with an open-court steal, during which he led a break and dished to Duhon for the finish. Then he hit a rebound basket after a Ewing miss and set up a potential three point play with two men on him, but missed the freebie. Still, that gave Duke a 62-49 lead. After a Davidson turnover, Redick hit another three to give the Devils their biggest lead of the game. Bernard's fifth three of the game made it closer, but Duhon found Randolph coming off a screen for a three. Two Davidson foul shots were followed by Shelden finishing a lob from Duhon. After Johnson scored inside, Redick had a four-point play, getting fouled as sank the three. Duke took advantage of a Davidson foul with Shav hitting a couple of shots. Duke was now up 75-56 with thirteen minutes left.

After Redick found Dockery for a spectacular reverse layup, Duke got yet another steal. But Williams foolishly tried to bull his way to the basket in transition going at full speed, and was called for a charge. That mistake seemed to invigorate the 'cats, who ran off 9 straight points. Williams missed a couple of close-in shots by rushing them, Duhon missed the front end of a one-and-one, while Ewing, Randolph & Redick all missed jumpers. Ewing then hit a couple of three throws and found Sanders inside for a tough basket to make it 81-68 with under ten minutes left, but a Peter Anderer three brought it to ten points--certainly within the realm of possibility.

Duhon then found Randolph flashing from the high post to the low for an easy dunk on perhaps the play of the game. A Duhon free throw made the lead 84-71 with over four minutes left. Davidson made their next two shots as Duke went into its delay game and Jones missed a three. Duhon countered by driving for a score, but Johnson punished Duke inside once again. Duke continued to go to the delay game, but Jones again took an off-balance shot. With just over a minute left, Bernard hit a jumper that cut the lead to 6. Redick was then fouled and hit 1 of 2 to make it a three possession game. Anderer missed a bucket, and frosh Randolph calmly sank both of his shots. A Bernard miss led to Duhon nailing 2 more freebies. Duhon and Randolph went 4-4 down the stretch as Duke shut down the Wildcats at last.

Duke's long dry spell on offense meant that they only shot 40% in the second half, but they held Davidson to the same mark. Overall, Duke's three point shooting was only 6-19, under the break-even mark. Duke's 21 turnovers really hurt, especially in the first half. Davidson is a solid club that really only had 2 or 3 players of ACC caliber (not including Puff Summers, who is a clear All-Name star), and those players did all they could to win. The Wildcats are a likely NCAA team in their conference given their ability to score, but this team should not have been within ten points of Duke after the game's first ten minutes. They exposed Duke's weaknesses in a rather glaring fashion--we'll see how quickly they can be fixed.

** Negatives:

1. Valuing the ball. Dumb passes, offensive fouls and poor decision making from Jones, Williams and Ewing made up the bulk of Duke's turnovers. The early miscues allowed Davidson to thrive by running up and down the court.

2. Transition defense. It was awful, frankly. Duke would celebrate a nice play while Davidson was already halfway down the court. This showed a lack of court awareness and defensive intensity.

3. Help defense. Duke's biggest weakness by far, as the young forwards are just barely beginning to understand how important communication is under the boards. Duke really missed Nick Horvath in this game, who has shown that he's really starting to understand how to play Duke's style.

** Positives:

1. Rebounding. Shav was brilliant wth 12 rebounds, while Casey did a nice job off the bench with 6 (including 3 offensive) and Chris was spectacular with 8 from the guard spot.

2. Ball pressure. When Duke really turned it up, they forced a lot of turnovers. They had 11 steals and forced 24 turnovers overall, including a 5 second call.

3. Getting to the foul line. With Duke's size, this will be an important factor for them. Even before the endgame, Duke attempted 28 free throws. Hitting 9 of their last 10 completely squelched any comeback attempt.

Player-By-Player:

** Williams: Shelden is such an intriguing player because he can do things that no one else on this team can, like become a consistent low-post scorer, a dominant rebounder at both ends, and a physical presence inside. He's shown flashes of brilliance thus far but still has a ways to go, especially on defense. Still, 4 blocks and a brilliant open-court steal show that he can be a real difference-maker at that end as well. I was very impressed by his 4 offensive rebounds, one of which led to a stickback. He is not a great decision maker right now and sometimes puts the ball on the deck too often. Like Shav, he's also having trouble with help defense. Shelden will require a bit of patience, but there's a chance that he will soon be ready to make a huge impact in a game.

** Randolph: Another excellent game for Shav. He scored on a three, twice in the low post, on a dunk and on many free throws. More impressive than that were his 12 rebounds and 4 blocks. He's not especially strong (though no beanpole), relying on timing and positioning for both rebounds and blocks. His big weakness continues to be helpside defense, where a lack of communication has really hurt the team.

** Jones: Not a great game for Dahntay. There are times when he has trouble fitting into the rest of the offense, so intent is he on going to the basket. On one of his awkward attempts that clanged off the rim, he had Redick wide open in the corner for a three if he had seen him. His foul trouble may have thrown off his game, because his defense was not at its usual level either. What was most disturbing was seeing his game go south during crunch time--he mostly made good decisions in the first half, when he scored 7 of his 9 points. He was 1-6 in the second half, and has yet to demonstrate a consistent three point stroke. Dahntay needs to step up while still staying within the team concept.

** Ewing: An OK game for Dan, who did most of his damage from the foul line. He missed all of his threes, had some early turnovers, and just generally had trouble finding a steady rhythm on offense. He was the one who finally slowed down Bernard a bit in the second half, though he was also screened off on more than one occasion. His 5 rebounds showed his commitment to getting after the ball, something the entire team needs to display. (Duke's starting backcourt combined for an impressive 13 boards.)

** Duhon: While Chris does continue to turn the ball over a bit more often than I would like, there's no question that he's raised his level of play several notches. In a close game, he showed that he's willing and able to take over on the offensive end, and expand the range of his game there. While his in-the-building range is still in effect from three, I was happy to see him go hard to the basket, utilizing that quick (but awkward-looking) first step. It was also good to see him close the deal from the foul line in the second half, since this has been a weakness in the past. Beyond that, he was brilliant with a 10 assist, 8 rebound game. He will be crushing some single-season assist records this year, and it wouldn't shock me to see him break some single-game records. He makes everything go for Duke. The Davidson game was just the beginning of what he's capable of on the court, and he must learn to seize greatness.

** Sanders: The big negative for Casey was his foul trouble. What's worse, a couple came on the offense end, an unforgivable turnover in Duke's system. On the other hand, Casey did a great job on the boards and showed some real agility in his scoring. Throw in a block and you had a solid performance in 14 minutes. Averaging 6 points and 6 boards this year would be perfectly acceptable for him.

** Redick: Another very solid game for JJ, despite the fact that he has yet to catch fire from three point range. Still, he did have half of Duke's threes, and that four point play was a big one. Much more impressive was his defense and the way he patrolled the lanes. He's taken up Mike Dunleavy's slack in that area--Mike used his long arms and anticipation to pick off passes, while JJ simply excels as a spy. He's in the right place at the right time. I also liked his 2 assists and only 1 turnover. I wouldn't say that JJ has true star power at this point, but he's doing a superb job as a support player who doesn't mind taking big shots when available.

** Dockery: Dock had a couple of big steals that sparked Duke's huge second half run. He's certainly proved that he can finish on breaks, getting layups in transition twice and also cutting for another score. He also picked up a couple of assists but did turn the ball over twice. Sean did a nice job of picking his shots well and gave Duhon a chance to take over the game offensively.

** Thompson: Big Mike had that one nice dunk when filling in for Sanders. As he continues to adjust to the speed of the game at this level and learns to finish strong, he will continue to improve.

** Melchionni: Melch was inserted just briefly late in the first half to protect some of Duke's players from picking up additional fouls.