phil95 wrote:

CLK wrote:

Random thought on last night's game:

1. Grant didn't take Richmond, Richmond took Grant out of the game.  We cannot win if Grant is going to play 34 minutes and only score 3 points.  Grant is a very different player on the road.    

2. Was it the officiating or did Richmond just out tough us in the second half? The A10 officiating in general ruin the game by calling so many fouls on minimal or incidental contact.  So different from watching other league officiating.  It favors the team that drives the ball, that is not a secret.  So the coaches need to factor that into their game plan.

3. There are certain combinations of freshman that never should be on the court together.  Dambrot needs to figure that out.  Bad chemistry.

4.  Dixon should be our backup center, and never be a DNP again as long as he is healthy.

5.  If Rozier is ever going to be an effective A10 PG he has to have the confidence to take and make wide open three-point shots.   

6. That last shot by Richmond never should have happened.  It sure looked like Burton traveled to me, even after watching it 10 times. 

What do you think of starting Dixon instead of Reece? Because he is a freshman he is going to have uneven performances when he only deserves 12-15 minutes & Reece can play the bulk of the minutes. Reece isn't coming back & can't transfer. Maybe this keeps Dixon from being Poached in the off-season?

I am of the opinion that your best most consistent players should get the most minutes.  I am more concerned about winning this year because we have the depth and talent to make a run and get to the post season. I view Reece as our best option at center. While Reece could probably play the 4, Rotroff, Dixon and Barre can effectively only play the center position.  I see Dixon as the one with the most upside and can help us the most this year and needs to play meaningful minutes this year.  I am not saying Rotroff and Barre should not get minutes, and I know it is a hard call for Dambrot, but that is why he gets the big bucks.

Pretending I am Dambrot, as of right now I would start Brewer, Clark, Gunn, Williams and Reece.  Rozier, Grant and Dixon as the first three off the bench.  These 8 guys are the best combination in my opinion right now and should get the most minutes.  I hope Dmbrot can figure out his optimum rotations.  I guess it is hard to know with all the potential talent who is going to give you what on a given night.  Hronsky seems to be taking a big step forward in his game.  McGriff can light it up on any given night.   I might suggest, however, certain combonations just don't work.  Having Barre, Dixon and Rozier on the court at the same time is not a good combination in most matchups. 

The Dukes need to win the next two on the road.  I hope last night's game motivates them to take it out on the Joeys and the Bonnies.


 

CLK wrote:

phil95 wrote:

CLK wrote:

Random thought on last night's game:

1. Grant didn't take Richmond, Richmond took Grant out of the game.  We cannot win if Grant is going to play 34 minutes and only score 3 points.  Grant is a very different player on the road.    

2. Was it the officiating or did Richmond just out tough us in the second half? The A10 officiating in general ruin the game by calling so many fouls on minimal or incidental contact.  So different from watching other league officiating.  It favors the team that drives the ball, that is not a secret.  So the coaches need to factor that into their game plan.

3. There are certain combinations of freshman that never should be on the court together.  Dambrot needs to figure that out.  Bad chemistry.

4.  Dixon should be our backup center, and never be a DNP again as long as he is healthy.

5.  If Rozier is ever going to be an effective A10 PG he has to have the confidence to take and make wide open three-point shots.   

6. That last shot by Richmond never should have happened.  It sure looked like Burton traveled to me, even after watching it 10 times. 

What do you think of starting Dixon instead of Reece? Because he is a freshman he is going to have uneven performances when he only deserves 12-15 minutes & Reece can play the bulk of the minutes. Reece isn't coming back & can't transfer. Maybe this keeps Dixon from being Poached in the off-season?

I am of the opinion that your best most consistent players should get the most minutes.  I am more concerned about winning this year because we have the depth and talent to make a run and get to the post season. I view Reece as our best option at center. While Reece could probably play the 4, Rotroff, Dixon and Barre can effectively only play the center position.  I see Dixon as the one with the most upside and can help us the most this year and needs to play meaningful minutes this year.  I am not saying Rotroff and Barre should not get minutes, and I know it is a hard call for Dambrot, but that is why he gets the big bucks.

Pretending I am Dambrot, as of right now I would start Brewer, Clark, Gunn, Williams and Reece.  Rozier, Grant and Dixon as the first three off the bench.  These 8 guys are the best combination in my opinion right now and should get the most minutes.  I hope Dmbrot can figure out his optimum rotations.  I guess it is hard to know with all the potential talent who is going to give you what on a given night.  Hronsky seems to be taking a big step forward in his game.  McGriff can light it up on any given night.   I might suggest, however, certain combonations just don't work.  Having Barre, Dixon and Rozier on the court at the same time is not a good combination in most matchups. 

The Dukes need to win the next two on the road.  I hope last night's game motivates them to take it out on the Joeys and the Bonnies.


 

Bold suggestion! Bringing the A-10's leader in total 3's made & 3's made per game not to mention #9 in scoring, # 10 in 3pt shooting, #7 in FT shooting, sporting a 1.34 A/TO ratio, & that has started 101 of 104 games in his D-1 career, including all 17 games as a Duke, would be a ballsy decision. I thought I was getting creative with the suggestion to start Dixon again. I would guess that using a player with Dae Dae's track record & experience as a 6th man is damn-near unprecedented for a team on the rise after a major rebuild in this league. Even so, I do see some logic in the combination of starting players you suggested. That would probably be a strong unit for 6-7 minutes per night. I would just be terrified of what such a shocking move would do to Dae Dae's head game  & the team's chemistry. He would have to be one of t he great team players of all-time to handle that productively after have led this team to a truly surprising half season.

I love Gunn as a 22-25 minute a game 6th man due to his flexibility to be effective in multiple types of lineups. I have enjoyed watching him mix it up down low more over the last few games. Tre's injury & the Joe/Jimmy foul trouble  had him playing way too many minutes last night. I also think his not-so-good on the ball defensive effort & mediocre conditioning make playing him beyond 25 minutes a diminishing returns situation. We have definitely seen the impact of his sweet shooting. I was so excited to see him pump & go for a successful paint shot last night. More of that would be awesome as would some drive & kick action from him. Due to Gunn's play the last 3 games, future opponents simply have to stretch their defenses to always account for him. This must make for better interior scoring & less heat on Dae Dae.

I have come to like Rozier's contributions. However, against these better teams with serious defenses & stable program cultures, (Dayton, Richmond, VCU, St, Louis etc...), the plan should be to play him less than 10 minutes a game unless injuries, foul trouble, and/or his being on fire dictate otherwise. He was definitely out of his depth last night & the typical value he generates from intangible but impactful actions was not to be found. Tevin should be playing 32 minutes a night with strategic substitutions around media timeouts to get him most out of his bench rest. Really, I look forward to watching Rozier grow as a player. I hope he stays a long time because he seems like a winner even though I want to puke every time KD says Rozier is the team's best on-ball defender.

I'm not so sure that Dae Dae's periodic struggles have as much to do with being on the road as they do with the defensive quality of the opponent & the length/size/mobility of his primary defender. Both the help defense that Dayton, Kentucky, VCU, & Richmond can offer & the quality of each of those team's best perimeter defender is a far cry from what Colgate, UCSB, Alabama St., etc... can throw at him. I also think that the coaching staff doesn't do the best job of unleashing sets for Dae Dae to be used sparingly & only against better defenses. These sets should have the dual purpose of getting him going & using him as a decoy andor facilitator to force the defense to think about stopping more actions. These are the sort of wrinkles I think Dambrot offenses lack.

I want to see Hronsky get some of the minutes Rozier & Gunn have gotten over the last few games. Not too many minutes but rather, 14-16 per game over the next 4 games. I don't think there is much downside to this as Hronsky can do a fair amount of the things that both of those players do well & some things each of them don't. Worst case scenario is that you dial back the minutes if it is going poorly in such a way that Matus understands what needs to improve for him to earn the minutes back while knowing the programs truly wants him in the long term. I also see this as a win now move because Hronsky came make a huge contribution with his size, aggressiveness, effort, athleticism, & inherent understanding of the game with no expectation of having to be the man as a true freshman. How many 6' 8" freshman SF/2 guards with his skills, physical gifts, & upside are playing in the A-10? For this program in particular, he is pretty much a unicorn.

I feel like KD has always employed too much random disbursement of minutes for these young guys for them to be on firm footing. Roles & substitution patterns remain undefined 17 games in. Some players need this kind of thing even though others, like Reece, seem to flourish in many different scenarios.

Phil, I am not suggesting that Grant become our permanent 6th man.  The reason I used the term "as of right now" in the suggested starting lineup is the concept of playing your hot hand.  This would be fluid based on the coach's judgement.  If you look at Grant's numbers in League play only, they are substantially down from his season average.  I realize we have only played four League games, and arguably played three of the best teams, but if you look at Gunn's numbers, he is probably the hottest player we have in League play.  I guess Gunn could start in place of Williams, and that may be the answer.  Grant is leading the team in minutes played in League play 33 minutes and on the season and 32.5 minutes.  He really should be playing more like 25 to 30 minutes in my opinion to give us the punch we need late in the game especially on the road.  All I can say is I am glad we have the great mixture of older and new players, but I am glad I not the one making these calls.

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FAM wrote:

Since this is a board of "discussion" I am wondering since now, we Are in league play, do the teams have a lot more film on us and know how to play Grant better.  Plus, with playing better teams ....means better defense.  He will need to adjust and improve.
Go Dukes

Absolutely spot on.