you don't think johnson and gonzalez will compete for starting time at point?

3/28/2007 9:24:42 PM

honestly, no, but i'll add this so it's a more comprehensive list.

ncsu: athletic lineups or powerful lineups depending upon starters
grant
fells
costner
mccauley
horner (came up huge at the end of the year)
hickson
nieman
degand
johnson
gonzales

duke: the deepest team duke's had in years with tons of different options
paulus
nelson
scheyer
henderson
pocius (if he returns)
mcclure
zoubek
thomas (if he returns)
singler
king
smith
patterson (50-50 between duke and whereever donovan ends up)

[Edited on March 28, 2007 at 9:26 PM. Reason : .]

3/28/2007 9:25:33 PM

Quote :

"duke: the deepest team duke's had in years with tons of different options paulus sucks nelson will be the go-to-guy scheyer average henderson Could be good will always be liked by State fans pocius (if he returns) Oh no, Duke might have to replace Ol Marty mcclure Sucks zoubek KNows his role, could be solid contributor thomas (if he returns) Where's he going? singler TBD king TBD smith Going to be good IMO patterson (50-50 between duke and whereever donovan ends up) Landing this kid would be huge for K "

K has many bodies, but quality depth , they aint exactly the 99 or 01 team. Truth be told, Duke will be 10-6 or 11-5 (ACC) with improvement because of the depth and their typical aggressive defense and ability to lean on defense without getting called. Nelson will have to stay injury free and Henderson will have to come on, which I think both will for Duke ot have a better season without McBob proving just how worthless he truly was.

[Edited on March 28, 2007 at 9:30 PM. Reason : .]

3/28/2007 9:26:09 PM

^i think you've made a critical mistake by assuming that each player will play the same role. smith will take a lot of the pressure off of paulus when needed and that frees up paulus and scheyer for shots.

paulus: forced to play point, but still one of the best shooters in the acc at the end of the season (refer to stats if you don't believe me)

mcclure: one of the best all around role players in the acc. he plays defense, rebounds, and isn't a liability handling or distributing the ball...he's not a scorer though.

scheyer: average? we'll see about that when he's able to just be a shooter and not have to handle the ball.

*thomas and pocius are rumored to be transferring, which wouldn't hurt duke, but pocius has potential that he FINALLY showed in the acc tournament. he's been great in competitive international play, but never really done anything at duke.

back to state though, i'm VERY excited about hickson, mccauley and costner...that's deadly

[Edited on March 28, 2007 at 9:31 PM. Reason : ncsu]

3/28/2007 9:29:24 PM

Quote :

"paulus: forced to play point"

correct me if i'm wrong, but paulus was recruited to play the point.

3/28/2007 9:31:38 PM

^somewhat. i think it's clear that he isn't the player you want handling the ball for 40 minutes and duke didn't have any other options. paulus started hitting his shots as his ball handling decreased at the end of the year. smith gives backup at the point that isn't a liability against quick guards.

3/28/2007 9:33:05 PM

Quote :

"forced to play point"

This is his natural position, so I must be missing the whole "he was forced into it" point you made. Why would Lance Thomas transfer? Same with Ol Marty? All I got is that iF Paulus doesn't become 35%+ from downtown and cut his turnovers in half, forget it. Their are 4 returning point guards in the ACC I'd rather have right now, and I've never said that about Duke since Wojo was running the show.

I am also looking forward to Hickson's arrival along with the improvement of everyone returning. I'm not necessarily worried about our offense, that will come and go with any team. What I'm looking forward to seeing is when we shoot 35-38% from the field and have to rely on great defense and crashing the boards with fury to win a 68ish-64ish ballgame. That game will truly show me where we stand

[Edited on March 28, 2007 at 9:39 PM. Reason : .]

3/28/2007 9:33:53 PM

^refer to above about paulus. unless his game changes...i don't think he'll ever be a "true" 40 minute a game point guard. smith changes the aspect a lot though because he can play point and is a terrific defensive player, whereas pocius couldn't guard big bart bringing the ball up the court.

def. agree about state. with our system...it could be insane next year. if someone can step up at point to allow fells and grant to play off the ball and the rotation of mccauley, costner, and hickson (the latter two can play 3 through 5), it could be a very surprising season. i think state has a resurgence next year and finishes in the top 5 in the acc.

[Edited on March 28, 2007 at 9:44 PM. Reason : .]

3/28/2007 9:41:52 PM

Quote :

"i don't think he'll ever be a "true" 40 minute a game point guard"

Exactly, K and the rest of these recuritng services dropped the ball entirely when they said this kid was the best PG in the land in 05. If Paulus is counted on for shooting, Duke is in trouble, he truly has no noticeable strength as a basketball player if he is a PG who can't play the majority of the minutes handling the ball and can't shoot. I realize he shot well late in the season, but losing McBob is going to let defenses key in on the perimeter players that much mroe, but overall I say they at least get 9 conference wins because of the name on the jersey.

3/28/2007 9:46:10 PM

Quote :

"i think state has a resurgence next year and finishes in the top 5 in the acc."

top 2 would be more of a resurgence, not so much just top 5

3/28/2007 9:50:40 PM

^^come on though man. i mean did you watch the last half of the season? paulus was HUGE scoring.

i did a little math...from february 4 through the end of the season...

paulus shot 48% from the field

paulus shot 49% from the three point line

paulus averaged 18 points per game, 4 assists per game, and 3 turnovers per game (only drawback)

oh and don't forget he played hurt the first month of the year. if he was able to play his role and not be needed to run the show for ALL 40 minutes, he'd be a star. at duke he has to run the show though.
i'll take that guy on my team anyday

[Edited on March 28, 2007 at 9:54 PM. Reason : .]

3/28/2007 9:53:06 PM

^But he can't defend and he gives up responsibility in crunch time. aka, he's average.

3/28/2007 10:12:39 PM

JJ finished with 14 pts and 6 boards on 7-9 shooting.

3/28/2007 10:34:38 PM

^did you find the boxscore online?

3/28/2007 10:41:56 PM

well ESPN has him with an East leading 14 pts, and i counted his rebounds and got 6.

3/28/2007 10:47:05 PM

badass

3/28/2007 10:54:53 PM

that is vur nice.

3/28/2007 10:58:26 PM

hey MOODY.. Duke is gay.

3/28/2007 11:10:57 PM

5 dunks... and he was the best big man in the game. can't wait for next year

3/28/2007 11:21:05 PM

Quote :

"paulus averaged 18 points per game, 4 assists per game, and 3 turnovers per game (only drawback)"

turnovers being a drawback for a point guard is not a good thing.
Degand was with the team all year. Sid & Co. know some things about playing the point, (and johnson was with 'em for the whole spring symester)

While K and Sid have about the same number of peices on the board, K's peices all look about the same
we've got a good post rotation (hickson, McCauley, and costner)
a good 2/3 rotation (horner, grant, and fells [I'm not sure where smith will fit in])
and 3 guys (at least one of which Sid will knock into shape) to play the point

the biggest hole for duke is paulus, I just don't think that he can play at more than one speed



[Edited on March 28, 2007 at 11:31 PM. Reason : thanks moody whole to hole]

3/28/2007 11:24:04 PM

Quote :

"turnovers being a drawback for a point guard is not a good thing."

o, rly?

3/28/2007 11:25:51 PM

which is worse me pointing out the obvious, or you pointing out that I'm pointing out the obvious

3/28/2007 11:29:36 PM

i'll be nice since it's corrected

[Edited on March 28, 2007 at 11:42 PM. Reason : paulus isn't a superstar, but he isn't a bad player]

3/28/2007 11:30:28 PM

nah paulus is a big time shooter. you guys judged him too early and are just thinking about jan. he can shoot on the move which is key. duke will have maybe the best swing team so those guys will take more pressure off than mcrob could.

nelson will not be the goto guy.

3/28/2007 11:41:35 PM

anybody have a box score from the game?

3/28/2007 11:43:12 PM

you pointing out the obvious.

3/28/2007 11:43:44 PM

billy d keep em movin like a pimp house this going urban meyer style back to back in football and basketball

CHOMP CHOMP BITCHES!

3/28/2007 11:46:22 PM

On the Sidney Lowe Show, Sid talked a little about next year, specifically Degand. He said he's North/South guy (meaning he likes to move quickly up the court) and believes he can get the ball up the court as quick as anyone in the country. He said we'll definitely like to get out and run with him, but that's only if the personnel allows it. So hopefully our depth next year will be useful depth and the incoming guys will be able to come in and provide quality minutes, points, and rest for our starters. I don't think we've really seen much of what Coach Lowe has to offer yet. We couldn't play much man-to-man defense, which I hear Coach Lowe loves, and we did play a lot of downtempo half-court sets. This was all due to personnel. We didn't have many players, and the players we did have, while liking the new system, were recruited to play in a slow offense that didn't favor getting the ball quickly up the court. It's nice to know that Lowe can adapt his coaching philosophy and style to his personnel, and has effective half-court sets in case we end up playing a team that defends in transition well. Lowe though has said that our offense won't completely be a run and gun offense, it will be much more traditional. Lowe actually used incorporated some similar concepts of the Princeton offense into his offense some this year. It was nice seeing a more traditional offense this year, with at least one, sometimes two men posting up on the low block, instead of all five guys standing beyond the 3 pt. arc.


Note: I did like Sendek and thought he was an exceptional coach, but I did wish many times that we were better at rebounding, which if we had guys actually close to the rim would have definitely helped out our rebounding.

3/28/2007 11:55:18 PM

^^







....

[Edited on March 28, 2007 at 11:55 PM. Reason : ]

3/28/2007 11:55:33 PM

Quote :

" i'm VERY excited about hickson, mccauley and costner...that's deadly"

3/29/2007 12:16:48 AM

i speak the truth

3/29/2007 12:19:11 AM

Hickson led the East with 14 points on 7/9 shooting, 0-1 from 3, 0-2 from the line, and had 6 rebounds in 16 minutes.

3/29/2007 5:36:18 AM

NC State should have one of, if not the, top frontcourts in the ACC next year.

Horner showed a whole lot of improvement at the end of the season...and with He, McCauley, Costner, and Hickson, we should be pretty damn talented there.

Now if we could only find a Point Guard. Jai Lucas looked very very good last night...we sure could have used him

3/29/2007 6:53:59 AM

Quote :

"anybody have a box score from the game?"

3/29/2007 7:23:16 AM

neiman graduates this year, so take him off the list.

3/29/2007 7:47:18 AM

Quote :

"Now if we could only find a Point Guard. Jai Lucas looked very very good last night...we sure could have used him "

uhhh, we have 2 PG next year

3/29/2007 8:47:57 AM

Senior Gonzalez + Degand = Jai Lucas?

3/29/2007 8:49:52 AM

^unfortunately, no...you guys think Jai will still go to UK w/o Tubby there and no coach as of now?

3/29/2007 9:05:46 AM

so nobody knows where to find a box score from the game last night?


hell, all I want to know is James Harden's stats. can somebody find that for me? i've searched

3/29/2007 9:21:28 AM

You can't judge anyone by this game.

I remember 2 years ago, McRoberts looked like a basketball god and both Hansbrough and Costner looked like crap.

3/29/2007 9:29:49 AM

Anybody think Tracy Smith and Johnny Thomas will play significant minutes for us next year?

3/29/2007 9:31:49 AM

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/highschool/news/story?id=2816660

3/29/2007 9:32:23 AM

I know Chris Wright won the 3 pt contest but does anyone remember him playing in the game last night? I don't remember one instance of seeing him.

3/29/2007 9:35:02 AM

^yea he had a few good plays

money as back door cut pass too

3/29/2007 9:36:11 AM

Chris Wright and Jai Lucas were both better than OJ Mayo who hit one spectacular 3 and missed everything else....and didnt pass the ball once.

3/29/2007 9:57:12 AM

^^ Which is probably why he wanted to play for Herb, then changed to Georgetown.

Those cuts looked NICE, he's going to be nasty in Georgetown's system.

3/29/2007 9:59:59 AM

Guy picks Hickson as his top 5 in the game.

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070329/COLUMNISTS01/703290490/1002

Quote :

"The scariest wing player? J.J. Hickson, who had 14 points and six boards. "

Good showing by Hickson. Like you guys, I'm very excited about next year now. Between Big Ben, Costner, Hickson, Horner, and Tracy Smith(don't sleep on him), we're stacked.

And Degand will be fine at PG. He'll be the big surprise of the year. Think faster Tony Bethel.

3/29/2007 10:01:29 AM

Bethel was a shooter, can Degand shoot?

3/29/2007 10:12:53 AM

^I like the athleticism. We need leaders. I actually think Fells will start PG b/c he knows the system and has the experience. He played PG later in this season to prepare. We will see a new PG during the season though.

bttt, Hickson showed up strong. I was really impressed. He looked a big more slow footed than what I thought but he was playing with the fastest guys in the country.

3/29/2007 10:12:57 AM

I think all of our freshman will see the floor next year, with Hickson getting the most minutes, followed by Speedy Gonzalez, Smith, and Thomas. Thomas may see the floor more depending on the Gavin Grant situation.

3/29/2007 10:13:07 AM