JJ Redick and Duke Basketball Fansite

Except for the first half and as I predicted in my previous post at halftime….

“That was Easy”

Yeah I know, it’s been all of 12 hours before the post. Thats what happens when you have a 20 month old. On to the goods! Duke came back from a half time deficit that had me worried. Maryland played a solid game but Duke simply turned it up a notch in the second half. Riding the back of Nelson, the Devils turned what looked to be a “down to the wire” game into 9 point win. Marylands free throws really sucked downed the stretch. Again, an ACC team has a chance to topple a top ranked opponent only to let a simple free throw or two make the decision. Thats the difference between a “top ranked” team and one that wants to be one.

The fans were packed and making plenty of noise the first half and Duke really quited them down in the 2nd half. Maryland hit a few big threes near the end but wasn’t enough to make them compete.

Henderson from Duke had another fine again, but the show of the night belonged to Demarcus Nelson again. He is THE leader of the Devils this year and he shows it. Noone can guard him and if they do Nelson’s upper body is just too big and broad to make them a factor. He’ll simply muscle his way to the hoop, make the shot and draw the foul.

Nelson finished with a career high 27 points with a crucial bucket with 61 seconds to play that sealed the deal.

Shoot! I missed it by one. It was a 17 point win instead of 18. The Devils countered the Hokies aggressive play during the entire ballgame. The theme of the year seams to be “play physical” in the ACC. When you’re going up against the top ranked teams the underdogs are muscling up against the big boys. Its happened twice to Carolina, Clemson and Maryland, and Clemson almost pulled it off.

Washington, who’s always asking for trouble, almost got it tonight from Nelson. During the game, Washington really got the best of him in my opinion. If Demarcus didn’t foul out I think it may have gotten really ugly down the stretch.

This Duke team is alot more experienced and deep than years past. Everytime I see the four corners being run thoughts of years past start to creep into my mind. All I can remember is a VERY inexperienced team that tried to run the four corners only to blow games down the stretch. It different this year and I’m getting over that “four corners” fear.
Scheyer had foul trouble unfortunately and I did not get the game out of him that I expected. Singler once again played strong. I’d like to see Henderson shoot more.

Time to hit our forums…more later!

The game was actually alot closer than the score shows. The Devils started to falter down the stretch and I started having flashbacks of last year.  Singler hit a big three which really kicked it into ‘overdrive’ for Duke on a dish from Scheyer.  Nelson came through on some free throws late in the game and the rest is history.

Unfortunately, things started turning ugly near the end as well. Apparently Reid from FSU isn’t too much of a Paulus fan. Paulus hit the deck on the offensive end after getting a bit of a shove from Reid, then on the defensive end Reid took a “swipe” at Paulus as he was lying on the hardwood.  Reid was T’d up and the Devils padded their lead at that point. The fans didn’t appreciate what was going on as debree hit the floor after the free throws and at the end when Coach K shook hands with Hamilton at the end. Both visible on tv but the commentators mentioned nothing about it.  As they probably shouldn’t.

Scheyer had a great night and hopefully he’ll earn a starting spot versus Clemson coming up. Jon finished with 21 points with the majority of those coming in the first half.  One thing you won’t see much out of college basketball is trying to get the rock to a hot player.  Gone are the days of creating plays specifically for the JJ Redicks in the world.  Maybe that will change as Singler molds into the player we expect him to be.

The Devils travel to Tallahassee tonight to take on FSU. Tipoff is set for 7pm.  Duke lost last year in a in a matchup that Scheyer remembers well.

“I think it’s going to be a tough place to play obviously-they will be ready for us and the crowd will be into it-but the main thing is we should love to be in that environment,” Scheyer said.

Many folks remember the game because Redicks jersey was hoisted up to the rafters during halftime.  It will be a tough matchup tonight in a long ACC schedule for Duke.  I think they can pull through with a lot of wins but they have the potential to go missing when it comes to their defense.

Whens the last time you saw the players slap the floor?