DukeBlueCentral

🚨 Podcast Launch Alert 🚨 I decided to jump in and join the community of Duke Podcasters! My first Episode just went live! Just search Duke Blue Central. Check it out! Apple Podcast - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/duk… Spotify - open.spotify.com/show/4xoogQY6e… YouTube - youtu.be/k9YMDDjpiXA

I'll say this, Cayden made a bad mistake. But I 1000% want him as PG1 next year. Kid is tough, smart, and dedicated to working on his game. One mistake doesn't destroy your career. Come back and let's ride.

One thing that makes these types of losses harder for Duke fans, is that Duke rarely can say “we’ll run it back next year with the same guys.” The burden of recruiting great players is that they leave. Next year will be a totally new squad.

Duke has had 2 of the best regular seasons in recent memory, and 2 of the worst postseason exits ever witnessed. This was the worst blown lead by a 1 seed EVER!!

Scheyer will catch some flack here: as any coach would in this spot. But that decision making on court is unacceptable. Everyone HAS to know you have a timeout in your back pocket. To go for that pass in that moment is insanity.

Had a timeout. Coulda held the ball longer. A horrible horrible play by a smart player. It’s Kihei Clark against Furman all over again. Only in the elite 8 when you were leading by 15 at half. Unacceptable and heartbreaking loss

Isaiah with 2 awful plays back to back, but time to make up for it. We’ve got the lead 3:42 to go. Forget about what’s happened, focus on the now, string together good offensive possessions and get stops.

This Duke team all season is so focused on getting out on the fast break that they totally ignore whether they’re out manned or not. No reason to jump on the fast break if you’re out gunned two to one. Just settle in and get into the offense

Really poor defending in the first 10 minutes of the second half. They’re playing scared and playing like they are just trying keep their lead. NOT a recipe for winning. Keep banging on the inside and let’s get slim more involved

Been an okay first 5 minutes for Duke. UCONN has cut the lead to 14 and about to shoot free throws. The paint is still open for Duke. Gotta limit the fouls and can’t let UCONN shooters get hot. It’s a Game of runs and UCONN wasn’t gonna give up, gotta keep it up.

Duke has failed far too many times in the second half already. UCONN can get into this game at the free throw line. On the other end, a good two is better than a good three for Duke. Don’t try to be too cute punish them in the paint.

If Duke can extend this lead in the first 4 minutes or so of the half, it’s probably game over. If UCONN hits a couple threes and gets it to single digits, it’s game on again. Play smart, get it inside, draw fouls, and keep defending just as you were.

Great half, poor last minute or two, but even with that Duke is up 15 at the break; you’ll take that all day. However UCONN is a team that can shot the three better than they’ve shown so far. The focus remains on defending Karaban, and running them off the three.

Cayden has been EXCELLENT. I was hoping that after Caleb came back, Cayden would continue to progress as he had been with more minutes. He is looking the part of a star right now.

Would love to see us attack Reed on offense. He’s one of the most foul prone players in college basketball. Seems that if we can get him out of the game, UConn doesn’t have another great offensive option as of yet.

My strategy with defending Reed would be to hold off doubling him as long as possible. He can get himself into foul trouble, and if he wants to score 40 and beat us, let him try. Don’t let the other guys get going.

Did I just hear Maliq is dealing with some back spasms??? What else can happen man…😅

One thing I’d love to see tonight is big Pat getting more involved on offense. One thing I was surprised by was that St. John’s really limited his impact on that side of the ball, even with him being the tallest player on the floor.

Feels like UCONN has to hit threes tomorrow to win. They shot 43% yesterday and it was enough to barely hang on against Michigan State. I think they’ll need another strong outside shooting performance if they want to keep up with Duke.

FT Differential in the tournament: Arizona +64 Illinois +49 Duke +44 Guess which team is the only one getting social media attention from it?

For what it’s worth I thought St John’s played a near perfect game last night. They hit 13 threes at a highly efficient percentage. Great game plan and they executed well. Really impressive that Duke was able to get the win. St. John’s had no business being a 5 seed