I figured Duke would at least get past the first game. Oh well.
The whole game just highlighted the problems with Duke (season long problems and more recent problems -- and yes, admittedly, Ryan Kelly's injury did impact their game, but give me a break).
1. Defense: I'm not talking about the handful of fast breaks that Lehigh got off of long rebounds. I'm talking about the second half. There was one play where Dawkins was guarding a Lehigh player. The player drove past Dawkins (fine), but then somehow weaved his way past two other players. Seriously?!? Then there was the one on one situation with Austin Rivers where he just got burned bad. Then with the seconds dwindling, how in the world do you just let someone go free on an inbound past like they did for a quick slam. I'm not sure which Duke player was guarding that guy, but from the television screen I could easily see the Lehigh player heading for the basket and the Duke player just letting him go.
2. Three-point shooting. This was a more recent problem. For this game they went 6-26 and I believe 3 of those came in the last couple minutes so a more accurate reading might be that they went 3-22 or something like that. Yeah, when your backs are against the wall the threes for some reason start going in -- I suppose it is due to the fact that you really don't need to think about it, you're just shooting.
3. Guard play. The three point shots weren't falling partially because none of the Duke players (except for Austin Rivers) can create their own shot. Once they get the ball and if you're anywhere near them, they won't be able to shake you off. Yes, the guards got into serious foul trouble, but a number of them were just stupid fouls -- two on Dawkins for sure.
As mentioned, it was a game that just highlighted the failings of this team. I do believe that even DukeBasketballReport, which hardly ever says anything negative about Duke basketball was finally throwing digs at the team by mid-season. Such as sad season for Duke fans.
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