Hey, Dukes! Came here to post this and I was beaten to the punch!

We're going to have a about a half dozen season preview-type stories at PSN over the next couple weeks, but since I was at practice yesterday, I figured I could answer any questions anyone wanted to fire my way here.

Which Hughes? Lol. Frankie Hughes is expected to miss the entire season with a knee injury. I didn't see him at practice, though I didn't stay the entire time. Mike Hughes looks fine. Maybe a touch behind some other guys as far as conditioning goes.

Maceo Austin is going to be a really, really good offensive player, even as a freshman. On defense, he's long for a guard, but not hyper-quick, so Dunn-Martin might get more playing time against teams with small, quick backcourts or teams that press. Otherwise, I'd expect Austin to start.

I'd seen Austin play before. Thursday was the first time I got my eyes on Buckley and Miller. Buckley probably won't be asked to do a lot because of the guys ahead of him, but he looked like a capable distributor.

Miller seems more likely to have a significant role this season because of the injury to Frankie. Nice 3-point stroke and seems to be a pretty heady player that sees the court well. Probably needs to add a little strength for rebounding and defense purposes.

WashPaRick wrote:

ASaunders_PGH wrote:

Hey, Dukes! Came here to post this and I was beaten to the punch!

We're going to have a about a half dozen season preview-type stories at PSN over the next couple weeks, but since I was at practice yesterday, I figured I could answer any questions anyone wanted to fire my way here.

What are you hearing about Hughes physical condition and how are the three freshmen looking. Thanks in advance.

Thanks for your stopping by Alan.  Are you going to covering the Dukes for the PG this season?  Also, do you know when Rotroff will be cleared to practice?

Thanks for the coverage, Alan.

This video gets me pumped. The most promising season in a long time begins. SOON.

Pardon the pessimism but, I will need a bunch of convincing before I agree TDM deserves the green light he has. I promise I will forever shut-up on this topic if his 2pt % gets into the mid-high 40s & his 3pt % is over 35.5% for both the conference & non-con portions of the season. He is quite a shot-maker, no doubt. I just really want him to be more judicious with his shot selection.

His non-con 3pt shooting & conference 2pt shooting were both disastrous in 18-19. With his awesome free-throw shooting & increased efficiency, he would be an absolute nightmare off the bench matchup for opponents.

The rotation of Sincere, Norman, Maceo, and a more efficient TDM would keep constant pressure on opposing defenses to contain DU backcourt scoring. That will allow the offense to face tired opposition late in games, open up driving/passing lanes, & soften opposition interior defense by discouraging backcourt sagging/help. That is a powerful combination. That is the kind of wholistic offensive dynamic that neither RE nor Ferry could make happen

I am writing about 2 or 3 shot choices per game. This is the sort of incremental improvement that upperclassmen in strong programs make from year to year.



 

Last edited by phil95 (10/11/2019 12:44 pm)

ASaunders_PGH wrote:

His true shooting percentage is higher than Carry's.


 

He's inconsistent though. He's one of those players who can shoot you into, or out of a game.

phil95 wrote:

Thanks for the coverage, Alan.

This video gets me pumped. The most promising season in a long time begins. SOON.

Pardon the pessimism but, I will need a bunch of convincing before I agree TDM deserves the green light he has. I promise I will forever shut-up on this topic if his 2pt % gets into the mid-high 40s & his 3pt % is over 35.5% for both the conference & non-con portions of the season. He is quite a shot-maker, no doubt. I just really want him to be more judicious with his shot selection.

His non-con 3pt shooting & conference 2pt shooting were both disastrous in 18-19. With his awesome free-throw shooting & increased efficiency, he would be an absolute nightmare off the bench matchup for opponents.

The rotation of Sincere, Norman, Maceo, and a more efficient TDM would keep constant pressure on opposing defenses to contain DU backcourt scoring. That will allow the offense to face tired opposition late in games, open up driving/passing lanes, & soften opposition interior defense by discouraging backcourt sagging/help. That is a powerful combination. That is the kind of wholistic offensive dynamic that neither RE nor Ferry could make happen

I am writing about 2 or 3 shot choices per game. This is the sort of incremental improvement that upperclassmen in strong programs make from year to year.

This is the most optimistic I've been since Ron's second year. Alas, that season ended up as a big disappointment to me. Ron got a pass from the fanbase because it did end up being a winning season, but he did his worst job that year, and I think it parallels Mike Rice's second year. In both the 79-80, and 07-08 seasons, the team was very deep. In both cases, I think the coaches played too many players, and didn't settle on a solid rotation. Rice could never make up his mind between Ronnie Dixon, and Jeff Baldwin at the 2, and as a result, we got spotty production from the position. In 2008, Ron was always shuttling Aaron and Kojo in and out of the lineup, as well as Kieron, and Sean. In both cases, the team was less talented the following year, but had better seasons. In 81, Jeff Baldwin was gone, forcing Rice to play Dixon. Ronnie responded with a great season. in 2009, Aaron Jackson was finally given control of the team, and he responded with one of the greatest seasons by a Duke in recent memory. I'm pointing this out because we do have a fairly deep roster this year. I'm hoping the KD is able to settle on a reasonable rotation, and stick with it, as opposed to trying to play 12 guys. If some end up on the bench and want to leave, so be it. You can't worry about that. This is a key year for us. The best players need to get the bulk of the minutes.

1111 Vickroy wrote:

Duq81, I'm drawn in by your comment regarding rotation but more specifically as it applied to last years Pitt game. How does pitt beat us by 21? I love coach D but that over rotation wasn't good

I remember how the year with kojo and how it started out and seemed so promising based upon the talent that they had. At times you could notice that Aaron Jackson had something special and of course the next year he took over and proved to be a terrific basketball player. Maybe in this case the loss of Eric Williams will balance the team out a little bit more and the mix of talent will help them in the long run

Agree! As they say, you can't have too much talent, but sometimes you have to make hard choices about who gets to play. Sometimes coaches think you can keep everyone happy by splitting up the minutes, but what usually happens is that you end up with 13 unhappy players instead of 4 or 5.