The Duke-Michigan State game was a complete disaster for the brothers Plumlee. Their mental errors were egregious and they were physically dominated by a tough Michigan State interior. I lost all of my optimism for the Plumlees at the end of the Michigan State game. It took a long time for me to reach the realization that the Plumlees will never play up to their potential while they wear a Duke uniform. After the MSU game I decided to temper my expectations and appreciate the Plumlees for what they are: players with copious amounts of potential, who show flashes of brilliance, but can’t put it all together. I know what the Plumlees bring the table and decided to enjoy watching them play, rather than focusing on unrealistic expectations. But, like a crazy ex-girlfriend you can’t stay away from, the Plumlees have given me a reignited and unrealistic hope in them.
Yearly Archives: 2011
Hope!
Amigos,
You can read my Maui Invitational preview, complete with some history and predictions, here.
In other news from the weekend:
-Duke women’s soccer has advanced to the Elite 8 with a 2-1 win over Ohio State.
-The UNC men have advanced to the third round with a 3-2 win over Coastal Carolina. They had to come back from down 1-0 at half.
-The Duke men lost a late one to New Mexico, 2-1 in overtime, ending their season.
-In the field hockey national championship, UNC took a 2-0 lead into the final four minutes of play, but gave up the lead and eventually lost 3-2 to Maryland in overtime.
Duke-Tennessee at 5:30.
Optipessimism Week 10: UNC – Virginia Tech
Duke fans, you actually might want to read this one.
A disclaimer as we get into it: I’m going to talk very little about the UNC-VT game. Want to know why? Okay, what was the score of the game?
If it took you more than a couple seconds to come up with the answer, VT 24 – UNC 21, well, that’s why. UNC played hard in this game for about the first eight minutes, folded the middle thirty, then decided to make the score respectable toward the end. I just can’t get excited about a team that seems like it has tuned out for the season, just as many Carolina fans have. The score wasn’t nearly as close as it looked, because let’s be honest – if you watched the game, you knew that all the Hokies had to do if they wanted to score was run jailbreak screen passes and send their phenomenal tailback, David Wilson, on stretch plays and wait for UNC to miss seven tackles.
So UNC sits at 6-5 on the season, with wins over most of the “bad” teams on their schedule except NC State (yes, they really do suck) and losses to most of the “good” teams like Virginia Tech, Clemson, and GT. With just one game left in the season – the annual Victory Bell game against Duke – it’s a fairly safe bet to say this has been an underachieving, mediocre edition of Carolina football. But really, who can blame them considering the events of the summer and fall? After all, they’re still going to go to a bowl game….
Triangle Prophets, Week 12
Every Friday, a group of fearless webmasters and sports fanatics from around the Triangle will gather to predict five college football games against the spread. Every Duke, Carolina, and N.C. State game will be featured, along with a smattering of high profile non-Triangle games. As the season goes along, we’ll keep the standings updated and see who emerges as the one true prophet. Make your predictions in the comment section. Each week, we’ll feature any and all commenters who pick all 5 games correctly.
Current Standings
1. John Watson, The Devil’s Den – 31.5 points
2. The Devil Wolf, TRB – 26.5 points
2. Nate Friedman, UNC football correspondent – 26.5 points
2. Me – 26.5 points
2. Tar Heel Fan Blog – 26.5 points
6. James Henderson, Publisher, Pack Pride – 25.5 points
7. Jim Young, Editor, ACCSports.com – 23.5 points
8. William Earnhardt, Site Designer – 21.5 points
The Weekend Rundown
Lots of goodness going down this weekend, and it all starts tonight.
Men’s Hoops
Friday – Davidson at Duke. Call me crazy, but I like the Blue Devils.
Sunday – Mississippi Valley State at UNC. Call me crazy, but I like the Delta Devils
Women’s Soccer
Friday – UNC vs. Baylor, in Gainesville. Second round NCAA action. If UNC wins, they’ll play Sunday against (probably) Florida.
Friday – Georgia at Duke. Can’t wait for this. Duke will host games through the quarterfinals if they keep winning. Like UNC, they’ll play again at 1pm Sunday if they win, against the winner of Ohio State and UW-Milwaukee.
Men’s Soccer
Sunday – Duke vs. New Mexico. The Devils won their first round NCAA match against Georgia State, and will now travel to Albuquerque to try to continue the run.
Sunday – UNC vs. Coastal Carolina. UNC had a first-round bye, and will host a second round game at Fetzer. Hopefully it doesn’t rain; Coastal Carolina is from the ocean, and they love playing on water.
Field Hockey
Friday – UNC vs. Connecticut, 2pm. It’s the Final Four! If UNC wins, they’ll face Old Dominion or Maryland in the championship Sunday at noon. They’ve beaten both already this season, though ODU handed the Heels their only loss early on. UNC has faced Maryland in the championship the past two season, with a win in 2009 and a loss in 2010. If you have any inclination, you can watch this one live on NCAA.com.
Back this afternoon with the Triangle Prophets. Enjoy your weekend.
Carolina vs. UNC-Asheville: +/- and Defensive Charting
Caveat: Single-game +/- figures are so “noisy” (i.e., influenced by randomness) that they’re rendered practically useless. Even with a complete season’s worth of data, the +/- metric (especially in this– its unadjusted– form) suffers from this noisiness. Still, when taken in conjunction with the defensive box score, traditional box score, and old-fashioned “eye test,” the single-game +/- can be a part of the total evaluation process. It also serves as a good summary of Roy Williams’s substitution patterns/rotation.
Some definitions:
Pts-Pts All.: the points scored and points allowed by the team during a given player’s minutes
Off Eff: the points scored per 100 possessions with a given player on the court
Def Eff: the points allowed per 100 possessions with a given player on the court
Net Eff: the scoring margin per 100 possessions with a given player on the court
+/- Stats vs. UNC-Asheville |
|||||
| Player | Minutes | Pts-Pts All. | Off Eff | Def Eff | Net Eff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Watts | 9.4 | 27-19 | 145.9 | 108.6 | +37.3 |
| Marshall | 32.9 | 80-58 | 121.2 | 90.6 | +30.6 |
| Barnes | 30.1 | 69-51 | 113.1 | 86.4 | +26.7 |
| Zeller | 29.2 | 67-52 | 113.6 | 90.4 | +23.2 |
| Hairston | 11.4 | 32-27 | 145.5 | 122.7 | +22.8 |
| TEAM | 40.0 | 91-75 | 115.2 | 94.9 | +20.3 |
| Henson | 29.2 | 63-54 | 107.7 | 92.3 | +15.4 |
| McAdoo | 9.3 | 23-21 | 127.8 | 113.5 | +14.3 |
| Strickland | 29.5 | 58-51 | 100.0 | 87.9 | +12.1 |
| Bullock | 11.8 | 31-32 | 129.2 | 128.0 | +1.2 |
| Hubert/Simmons/Cooper/Crouch | 1.5 | 1-2 | 50.0 | 66.7 | -16.7 |
| Dupont | 1.1 | 0-0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| White | 0.4 | 1-2 | 100.0 | 200.0 | -100.0 |
Basketball Won’t Go Away
Each week, contributor and new parent Joey will post his thoughts as he undergoes the transformation from fanboy to father.
You probably saw the title of this post, and immediately began an inner-monologue, railing against me and what I stand for: “What in the hell is he thinking? I’ve waited since late spring for hoops to return. The NBA is locked-out, but I’ve finally got college ball to watch, and now this clown wants it to leave?!? What the…” Just bear with me.
I’ve never said it in this space, but I won’t try to influence my daughter’s fandom. I’ll let her pick her allegiances on her own if/when she ever decides to do so. That said, she’s going to have a hard time ignoring the looming presence that Carolina basketball has had on her life, even before she took her first breath.
I’ve never been very close to the program. I’ve known folks who worked for the team. I’ve been lucky enough through various avenues in my life to have some access to the program. But, for a guy who for the most part, is just a rabid fan of Carolina Basketball, the nuance that has permeated my young adulthood/marriage/early fatherhood is pretty curious. No, I didn’t get to name her Raysheed McHarrisonbrough, but somehow, my personal road has intersected with Carolina hoops in some quite ironic ways. A few examples, if I may: Continue reading
Why #903 is Truly Historic
Let me start by offering congratulations to Mike Krzyzewski for win #903. Duke has been one of the top basketball programs in the country for three decades and Blue Devil fans everywhere have one man to thank for that. I may not agree with the people who think he’s a great man of integrity and class, but he can flat out coach college basketball. There is no denying that. While he’s had a plethora of talent in his 36 years at the helm, his teams win consistently because they are disciplined and play intelligent basketball. He’s figured out a formula for success in college basketball and executed and evolved it almost flawlessly for his entire career.
Are some records truly untouchable? These records certainly seem that way:
- Joe DiMaggio’s 56 game hitting streak
- Cal Ripken’s 2,632 consecutive game streak
- Wayne Gretzky’s 2,857 career points
- Pete Maravich’s 44.2pts/game college scoring average
- Wilt Chamberlin’s 50.4pts/game in the 1951/52 NBA season
What are some others that you think will never be broken?
As a Carolina fan, I was of course saddened when Bobby Knight passed Coach Smith for first place all time in division 1 wins. What dissapointed me the most, however, was knowing that Coach K was also inevitably going to jump ahead of Coach Smith, and would eventually surge to number one on the list. That’s just the nature of sports, I suppose. Yet, seeing Krzyzewski get win #903 got me wondering. Is it possible that no one will be able to top him? After putting together such a long career of sustained success, will anyone be able to match that in today’s game? Is this one of those records that will go down as “unbreakable”?
I decided to do a comparison of the big name coaches around the country to see how likely it is that anyone will be able to pass Coach K in the coming years. Continue reading
That was Ugly
(Amigos- my take on Coach K’s 903rd win for Grantland can be found here. Below is Marc’s. Thanks for reading. -Shane)
Thanks Mike, Now I can be crotchety in peace.
With sixteen minutes and twenty-seconds remaining in the second half Andre Dawkins buried a three pointer over a Michigan State Defender. It was the beginning of a 17-1 Duke span where the Blue Devils started to run away with the game. I felt content as I knew that Coach K was about to waltz into the history books against a gritty opponent. I should have known better. Michigan State clawed back into the game with nine minutes remaining as the Duke offense went into “stall-ball,” and the shots stopped falling. In the end Duke’s lead was too large for Michigan State to overcome and the Blue Devils pulled out a toughly fought victory. Congratulations to Coach K for becoming the winningest Coach in college basketball!