Derrick Williams is a very impressive NBA prospect. I can see his game translating to the NBA very good.

I cant believe I forgot about that put back Derrick Williams had within the first 2 minutes of the game. I should have known he was going to stud it up after that.

Forget about NCAA tournament, this may have been the best half of basketball I've seen in a long time. The Zona players really fed off of Williams' energy and you could tell that they believed that he wouldn't let them lose.

 

In the argument about talent vs experience, chalk one up for talent.

Forget about NCAA tournament, this may have been the best half of basketball I've seen in a long time. The Zona players really fed off of Williams' energy and you could tell that they believed that he wouldn't let them lose.

 

In the argument about talent vs experience, chalk one up for talent.

 

Wondered if Purple's good friend Jason Whitlock might have made for some more discussion on this thread:

 

http://msn.foxsports.com/collegebasketball/story/whitlock-how-i-found-myself-rooting-for-duke-in-ncaa-tournament-032511

 

:thumb:

I do not think anyone will argue that Irving was not good last night... that was not the point of Cats post. Like I stated in the thread from a few days ago, inserting Irving back in would have an effect on the team chemistry which has been developed through the season. It is negligent to say otherwise, imo. I am not saying it is the reason they lost - it probably would not have mattered - but it is an entirely different Duke team that won the ACC tournament and earned a #1 seed. Jameer Nelson is a good example when the Magic played the Lakers in the Finals. When your entire rotation is different all of a sudden, it takes a while for everything to click.

 

But as Bilas pointed out, it was the right thing to do in playing Irving. I do not disagree with that. I was in the minority that believed it would hurt Duke and why I picked Arizona in my bracket against them.

 

:thumb: Look at how Duke played offensively the last 10 minutes. Balls were being thrown in the stands, and basically only one on one was being played. Now getting killed on the boards made it a rough night, but I have no reason to think Duke could have scored enough down the stretch had it been a close game. Chemistry was way off IMO. That's not a slap at Irving, but putting a guy in at tourney time who really hasn't played much with a team is going to hurt anyone's on court chemistry I feel.

 

Irving playing had no affect on Arizona flat out being a buzzsaw last night. If Duke played bad I would agree but if you look at the stats they really didn't play all that bad...

 

Duke got ouscored by how many in the 2nd half? How many TO's did they have in the last 10 minutes? How many assist did Duke have in the 2nd half? Alot of that has nothing to do with rebounding, other than scoring margin. But Zona went on like a 20-4 run, some of that has to go on the offense.

 

Derrick Williams is a very impressive NBA prospect. I can see his game translating to the NBA very good.

 

Looks like an athletic Carmelo Anthony to me. He doesn't have the offensive arsenal of Anthony yet, but that's who he looks like to me. Maybe it's the body build though. He's way more aggressive than Anthony.

I'll chime in on Irving. Here is my thought process. I don't think Duke was good enough to win it all without him. With him, I think it was a possibility if things clicked and worked. I believe it was a chance worth taking.

I just don't buy that Duke wasn't good enough to win without Irving. They were a 1 seed for crying out loud and had been one of the best teams in the country all season long. Maybe they weren't the favorite but they were one of 5 or 6 teams everyone thought had a realistic shot at winning it all.

I just don't buy that Duke wasn't good enough to win without Irving. They were a 1 seed for crying out loud and had been one of the best teams in the country all season long. Maybe they weren't the favorite but they were one of 5 or 6 teams everyone thought had a realistic shot at winning it all.

 

I just don't buy that Smith missed all those open shots because Irving was on the floor.

 

Duke's best player was healthy. No way you leave him on the bench. It didn't work out as planned, but that had more to do with Smith missing shots he almost always makes and Zona making the Plumlee brothers their, well, you get the point...

I just don't buy that Smith missed all those open shots because Irving was on the floor.

 

Duke's best player was healthy. No way you leave him on the bench. It didn't work out as planned, but that had more to do with Smith missing shots he almost always makes and Zona making the Plumlee brothers their, well, you get the point...

 

Thank you. It kills me that Kyrie is getting blamed for Nolan going 3-14 and choosing to shoot jumpers instead of attacking the basket.

Cats-Duke had 11 turnovers the whole game. They didn't have that many in the second half and Nolan had the most. How is that Kyrie's fault? I blame jet lag or something but not Kyrie.

Thank you. It kills me that Kyrie is getting blamed for Nolan going 3-14 and choosing to shoot jumpers instead of attacking the basket.

 

Smith is a different player without the ball in his hands. Playing Irving was absolutely the right decision but I think it did change Nolan's game a little bit.

I just don't buy that Duke wasn't good enough to win without Irving. They were a 1 seed for crying out loud and had been one of the best teams in the country all season long. Maybe they weren't the favorite but they were one of 5 or 6 teams everyone thought had a realistic shot at winning it all.

 

 

3 #1 seeds are gone.....just saying.... Out of those 6 teams everyone thought had a chance to win it all 5 have been eliminated.

Nolan could have gone 10-14 from the floor and Duke still would have lost last night.

Which is why I said "it probably would not have mattered". But I still contend the team chemistry had not fully come together yet.

 

Duke rather dominated the first half....throw chemistry out the window. Why can't people just give Arizona credit. They played lights out for 20 minutes, and it was ova!

Jay Bilas is not even close to being a Duke homer. Vitale loves on UK nearly as much as Duke as well.

 

Very true, especially with Dickey V.