Thursday, February 9, 2012

Duke 85, UNC 84

I can't say I like Austin Rivers, but I have to respect the guy. There are not a lot of freshman who have the confidence and ability to do what that kid did to UNC last night, scoring 29pts on 6 threes including the game winner as time expired (see video below).

Thoughts on the game:
1) That was the biggest choke of the year. UNC was up 10 with just over 2 minutes left. Kansas's loss against Missou last weekend was bad, but that one was on the refs. This one was squarely on Roy Williams and UNC's inability to finish. When you return all five starters from an Elite 8 team,  the best PG in the ACC (maybe 2nd after last night) and one of the best closers in the game (Barnes), that should never happen.
2) Both teams play horrendous defense. You'd think you would step out to guard the three after the opposing team has attempted 35 of them, but apparently UNC does not know how to make adjustments. Meanwhile, Duke gave up 14 offensive rebounds (which felt like 25) and it's not like the team doesn't have size (the Plumlees are both 6'10")
3) Jay Bilas needs to relax on his Tyler Zeller obsession. If I had to hear "Tyler Zeller is hands down the ACC Player of the Year"one more time, I was going to personally tweet smack him. Zeller had a great first half (19 points), but you aren't the ACC Player of the Year if you only get 4 second half points and effectively win the game for Duke (missed free throws, tipped shot in for Duke which should have been worth 3 points, awful defense on the game's final play). The guy never gets double teamed because of the presence of Henson and Barnes and simply does what a skilled 7'0" big man should do when playing 1 on 1 on the block. Mike Scott is the ACC Player of the Year - he gets doubled almost every possession and still has better stats for UVA, which is only 1 game behind UNC in the ACC race.

Tyler Zeller: 15.6ppg (18.6% of team's points), 9.7rpg (21.1% of team's rebounds)
Mike Scott: 17.0ppg (26.6% of team's points), 8.3rpg (25.2% of team's rebounds)

Austin Rivers with the dagger:


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