A wolf pack...a group of wolves that live and work together in order to survive. The Wolfpack from NC State tonight though looked like they had never met each other before and were definitely not surviving against Duke. 6 minutes into the game Duke was only leading 11-8, Duke then went on a 20-2 run over the next 5 minutes and the game was really over. If you had any question whether the game was over or not, all you had to do was look at the leading scorer for the Wolfpack Tracy Smith's face. He was down and dejected most of the night and showed zip zero leadership by sitting on the bench shaking his head and smiling a dissapointed smile at his teams pitiful performance.
Mr. Duke prediction: Sidney Lowe will be fired at the end of this year. He has more talent than he has ever had at NC State in his tenure and they are no better than they have been. In this game tonight Duke embarrassed them. It wasn't the score that was as embarrassing as was the effort on so many plays. Long rebounds Duke ran hard after, while NC State jogged. Loose ball rebounds Duke jumped on the ground, NC State bent at the waist.
The most telling moment was on a ball tipped in to the back court a NC State player who I can't name right now jogged after the ball. Josh Hairston for Duke started probably 20 feet behind the State player and sprinted hard and dove on the ground sliding for a good 10 feet and tipping the ball out of the State player's hands and out of bounds. It was NC State's ball as it was off Hairston, and the game was decided without this play playing any role in that decision. There was 1-2 minutes left and Duke was up 25 but the player who was still diving, showing passion, and wanting it more was Hairston for Duke.
NC State has consistently started games slow this year, they lack passion, they lack inspiration....they lack coaching. That's what was embarrassing for NC State tonight, their program was outclassed top to bottom by Duke. Sidney have fun assistant coaching in the NBA next year.
As for Duke, another strong game out of Mason Plumlee today, 16 pts 12 rbs. This is exciting and I am just hoping he continues his confident play the rest of the year and Duke will have an inside presence that it needs badly.
Another bright spot in this game was Duke's lack of three point shooting in a win. Duke only shot 14 total threes in this game and they made 7 of them. It seemed K had stressed that Duke attack the basket and go inside some to Mason as well. It was a good plan and there were much more high percentage shots taken early on in this game as Duke stretched out a nice lead.
Moving forward Duke needs to remember they can score inside the three point line and they can do it when they are trailing in a game as well. Duke goes to the three point shot when they trail early in games, like in both losses this year. No need to panic when you trail early, continue running the offense and continue attacking the rim like this game and Duke can get back into games they trail without bombing away from three only.
Moving forward a big game to watch tomorrow is the UNC vs Florida State game. It will be very interesting to see how UNC reacts to Larry Drew II leaving the team earlier this week. Drew has been a lightning rod for criticism since being at UNC and taken most of the blame when UNC has struggled. He lost his starting job recently and its looking like he didn't take that too well, even though coming off the bench he and UNC had played well.
Just when it looked like UNC had recovered from both last years disappointment and this year's, up until a couple weeks ago, underachieving start, Drew leaves. How Roy helps to get the Tar Heels mentally back into this season without Drew may decide whether or not Duke will have a challenger for the ACC title this year.
Next up for Duke is that UNC team. If UNC beats FSU tomorrow we will know that UNC is back and Duke will have a serious game on its hands Wednesday. If UNC falls to beat FSU we will know that UNC is mediocre and although they may give Duke a test Wednesday because in this rivalry the records go out the door, they will not be strong enough down the stretch to keep up with Duke record wise. Either way its Duke - UNC week, and it doesn't get any better than that. Bring on Roy's Boys.
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