Duke 80 - Maryland 62:
Isn't it amazing how good Duke looks when they shoot the three well? All the problems of the St John's game just melted away as the net burned from Duke's three balls. Duke ended the game 10-23 43% from behind the arc against Maryland. What a refreshing change from the 5-26 19% shooting Duke had Sunday against St John's. If Duke is shooting the three pointer well they are almost unbeatable by any team in CBB this year, that is already known. What needs to be established is if Duke can win games against good teams without hot shooting from three? Right now I say "no", Duke still needs to work on other parts of their game and they did take a step today against Maryland, 23 three point attempts is relatively low for Duke this year.
I think we've learned if Mason Plumlee is aggressive and gets on the board early offensively he is going to play well. Mason scored Duke's first points of the night and had 6 of Duke's first 11 pts. When I watch Mason in games like this, the jittery and confidence lacking Mason disappears and a confident, almost arrogant Mason comes out. Thats the Mason I like, the one who gets in scraps with the other team at times, has a sly smile after skying in for a dunk...really just being the type of player Duke haters hate more than anything. I love those guys, an engaged and arrogant Mason is that guy. Zero confidence and over thinking Mason isn't. He had 2 nice drives with thunderous dunks in this game, unfortunately one didn't count as the shot clock had run out but it sent a message early in the first half that he was there to play Wednesday night. Mason ended the game with a solid double-double of 12 pts 11 rbs (4 off rbs). Mason has recorded 7 double digit rebound games in 8 ACC games this season (BRIAN ZOUBEK ANYONE?........anyone?).
Defensively Duke's issues from Sunday's loss carried over I think to this game. Duke still struggled to stop dribble penetration to the paint and that again led to lots of Maryland lay ups and dunks. Duke switched to a 2-3 zone for some of the first half to slow it down and I liked the move especially against a team that struggles from 3 like Maryland. Coach K learned the 2-3 from Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim during K's Team USA summers with Boeheim as his assistant. I think K may need to continue to use the 2-3 zone going forward in games in which Duke is struggling to stop the dribble penetration in the man to man defense.
This was a nice bounce back game in which Duke got good contributions from everyone. Winning @ Maryland feels better for me as a Duke fan than winning @ UNC. That is just my personal opinion but the hate and vitriol that Maryland's fans show for Duke makes my blood boil. There is nothing better than shutting them up. Though even that is tough, Duke was up by 10-15 pts most a game and the goofy Terp fans were cheering as if THEY were up 10-15 on Duke. These delusional turtles will have to wait until at the earliest the ACC tournament to have a shot at Duke again. What is more likely is that they will be seeing Mr. Rivers running circles around them next year when they get a shot to correct their recent failures against Duke. Duke has won 8 of the last 9 against Maryland.
"Sweat Gary....Sweat!"
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