WHAT JUST HAPPENED?
The Duke Blue Devils dropped their first game of the season, 66-61 to Florida State. The loss shouldn’t be too shocking. Many predicted that this Duke team could fall in Tallahassee. It’s happened before. In fact it has happened three times since 2002.
Every team needs a little reminder that they can be beaten and the Seminoles were kind enough to deliver that message.
WHAT WENT WRONG?
The obviously problem was the outside shooting. Duke started the game 0-10 from three and finished 11-35. Any team that has to shoot 35 three pointers is in trouble. The fact is, even a casual fan could have told you that if Duke’s outside shots aren’t falling, they’re not going to win. Now every team goes cold from deep from time-to-time, but the key is to have an inside presence if things are going wrong, but…
DUKE HAS ZERO INSIDE GAME
As the season has progressed, I certainly have not been the only one to notice that Duke’s big men have gotten worse, especially on the offense end. Now I know Florida State is a good inside defensive team, (they held Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger to 3-9 shooting), but our big guys did not even attempt a single shot from inside the paint (that wasn’t an offensive rebound). Not once did Mason or Miles put their backs to the basket, make an offensive move and attempt a basket. Not once. I can’t even recall a single time when a pass was thrown down low to them.
Ignoring Ryan Kelly’s 1-4 night (since most of his shots are three-point shots), Miles and Mason only took four shots total, making one. On top of that, someone smarter than me (with more access than me) needs to explain why Miles Plumlee is worthy to start, but then only see six minutes of action. I thought maybe the coaching staff decided to go small ball, but even when Mason had to go to the bench, they brought in Ryan Kelly and not Miles.
LET’S TAKE A STAT BREAK: Duke was 12-30 from the field in the second half. Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith made 10 of the 12 shots.
LIFE IS DIFFERENT ON THE ROAD, AINT IT?
For whatever reason, Duke’s Seth Curry and Andre Dawkins looked rattled tonight. I’m sure a lot of it had to do with the Seminoles defense, especially their length. They make life hard for a lot of folks. This could explain why when these two attempted to do any kind of dribbling or driving, it looked like it was the first time they’ve handled a basketball.
I don’t think Dawkins once was able to drive a ball forward more than a few feet and Seth looked awful on that steal and fast break.
However, the pair also missed a ton of open threes. They combined to hit just two of 14 three-point shots. Duke will not win with those numbers. They can’t be a two-man team. I really wish one of these two will take over and own that starting role. It’s like one game, one of them is good, but the other isn’t. Coach K then makes a lineup change and the roles reverse.
TURNOVERS WILL MAKE A GREAT TEAM LOOK BAD
Here is the stat that needs to worry all Duke fans. In three ACC games, Duke has more turnovers than assists…a lot more turnovers. Against Miami, Maryland and Florida State, the Blue Devils have only 28 assists to 44 turnovers. That’s bad. That’s real bad.
Is it me, or was there just way too much of Nolan dribbling the ball? It’s almost like he dribbles until someone comes off a screen and then they shoot. If the shot is not there, get back to Nolan, try it again. That’s not an offense. Where’s the motion in the motion offense? The problem is, Nolan is really the only guy who can consistently handle the ball.
Now can we start to understand how much pain Irving’s big toe is going to cause us all? He is that important. The fact is, if he’s on the court tonight, Duke wins the game. Two reasons why…
First, as talented as FSU is on the defensive side, they have no one would could keep up with Irving. Tonight the Seminoles did very little helping on defense and no double-teaming. That would not be the case if Irving is on point.
Secondly, Duke’s defense against Derwin Kitchen was awful. Granted, the kid was having “one of those nights” and that’s rare for him. But at times, he abused Andre Dawkins, who has struggled this season to keep his man in front of him. Irving had no such struggles prior to getting hurt.
SPEAKING OF KITCHEN…
Mad props to Derwin Kitchen. The senior point guard was unstoppable, hitting 9-13 from the field. He actually had a double-double, scoring 22 and grabbing 10 rebounds. That part shouldn’t be too shocking, he averages over five and a half boards per game.
THE GAME’S DECIDING MOMENT:
When Chris Singleton went out with four fouls, Kitchen was instrumental in Florida State not just holding their slime lead, but extending it a bit. Think about it, when Singleton went out, FSU was up three with just over nine minutes to play. The Blue Devils had just rallied from 11 down. Everything was coming up Duke.
Kyle Singler would hit his next three, tying the game, but then Kitchen took over. He scored nine of the Seminoles’ next 11 points (he also scored a three prior to this run, so technically he scored 12 of 14). Hell, after Singler’s three, FSU went on a 7-0 with their best player on the bench. By the time Singleton did come back in, Florida State’s lead was four. Duke would never tie it or take the lead from there on out.
THE MYSTERY THAT IS FLORIDA STATE
The Seminoles are a good team. Yet, if it was my bracket, I’d have them on the bubble. This win certainly will help the resume and probably puts them inside the bubble instead of out. The problem is, this team that just beat Duke, also lost to Auburn (whose basketball team probably couldn’t beat their football team in a game of b-ball), as well as home loses to Florida, Ohio State.They recently fell on the road to a depleted Virginia Tech team.
Yet, this team always seems to come up big against Duke. Like I said earlier, three times since 2002 Florida State has beaten a #1 ranked Duke team. They just show passion and ability that they don’t show against anyone else. If they played like this every single game, they’d be a lock for the number two spot in the ACC. Yet, this team could just as easily lose to NC State this weekend.
FINAL THOUGHTS
It’s one loss. The first loss in 26 games. I’ll get over it…quickly. At the very least the undefeated talk can finally go away. The fact is, without Kyrie Irving, this team is a good team, not a great team. That’s fine of course because a good team won the championship this year.
It does shows they have a lot of work to do. This team, that was blowing away the competition earlier in the year, is now just 2-1 in the ACC. In their two ACC wins, they needed late second-half rallies to either pull away or take a lead. They’ve now trailed in the second half in their last two. Now it’s gut check time.
P.S., STORMING THE COURT, WTF?
I know I’m going to sound like an angry old man, but really Seminoles’ fans? Just about every other year you beat Duke at home and every single time you storm the court. Listen, you beat the number one team in the land. I get it. You have a lot to be happy about, but if North Carolina beats Duke this year in Chapel Hill, do you think Tar Heel nation is going to storm the court?
I’m a big believer in the Barry Sanders way. When the former Lions RB scored a touchdown, he just handed the football to the ref. Why? Because he said, “you act like you’ve been there before.” And that’s the point.
Florida State has been here before, plenty of times now. If you want to be mentioned along with some of the big boys of the ACC, then act like you’ve been there when you defeat one of those big boys. Stop acting like you’re the North Florida Osprey’s. If they beat Duke, they can storm the court. This same note goes to Maryland fans.