Game Thread [2022-23] at Syracuse

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

With Proctor, Roach, Whitehead, will Duke have the best 1-3 in the NCAA Tournament?

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

I don’t think there’s any reasonable argument that some other SG/SF will be better than Whitehead one month from now. The only thing holding him back is his coach and teammates. Should be getting 20 shots per game.

 

[Pantone287]

He's sure on a heater. 68% over his last five, 52% over his last nine, on 4.8/4.9 attempts.

The flip side is he's shooting 31% from 2 during those nine games, by my math. He's pretty purely a specialist right now, which is fine, but not sure we'll ever get huge usage from him.

 

[DrKlahn]

It's a pretty important specialty, no?

 

[DurhamSon]

I believe they call this Winslowing

 

[rome8180]

He's sure on a heater. 68% over his last five, 52% over his last nine, on 4.8/4.9 attempts.

The flip side is he's shooting 31% from 2 during those nine games, by my math. He's pretty purely a specialist right now, which is fine, but not sure we'll ever get huge usage from him.

Yeah, this is an AJ Griffin scenario. His athleticism is not there and he doesn't trust his body. But the shooting skill is still there. The difference is that the hot shooting is happening later in the season than it did for AJ. By the time we got to the tournament, AJ was fully scouted and the shooting wore off.

 

[rome8180]

I'm glad that I've been vindicated about Whitehead. I never understood why scouts questioned his shot. It's also pretty clear he's not a "bust" like Sailfish claimed he would be. You can easily see how he would have averaged 17-20 ppg with full health and continuity.

 

[Devilsforlife]

It sucks that we didn’t get fully healthy AJ or Dariq at Duke.

 

[DurhamSon]

I’ll own up to it, I thought it was another Reddish situation. Injury to start the year must have been much more of a hamper to his recovery than was let on

 

[ZackM]

I don’t think I’ve ever seen him make a shot, but I’m glad he’s apparently good now.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

His shot profile is interesting. Not accounting for this game, Hoop-Math has him at 30% from non-rim 2s and 50% at the rim. Both numbers are bad, but the 30% not at the rim is particularly dreadful, partly because there’s no good reason to be taking those shots in the first place if you’re that bad at them. 28% of his shots are non-rim 2s. 24% are at the rim. 11% FT rate is also stupid and bad, given his 93% FT shooting.

He either needs to see some positive regression in midrange accuracy, or cut it out almost entirely and get to the rim more, if only to draw more fouls. If he had Harden’s mentality of “3s or free throws,” his offensive rating would be through the roof. Of course, he’s not Harden, but hopefully his massively suboptimal shot profile is more due to coaching and being misguided than a total lack of talent to achieve the optimal shot profile.

I would expect him to have an average line like 5/12 3pt, 4/5 FT, 1/2 2pt if this resurrection is real and the coaches employ decent offensive strategy.

 

[rome8180]

With the caveat of this being high school games and a small sample size, my experience watching Whitehead in high school was SO different than watching Reddish. High school Reddish looked just like college Reddish in the few games I watched.

 

[rome8180]

His shot profile is interesting. Not accounting for this game, Hoop-Math has him at 30% from non-rim 2s and 50% at the rim. Both numbers are bad, but the 30% not at the rim is particularly dreadful, partly because there’s no good reason to be taking those shots in the first place if you’re that bad at them. 28% of his shots are non-rim 2s. 24% are at the rim. 11% FT rate is also stupid and bad, given his 93% FT shooting.

He either needs to see some positive regression in midrange accuracy, or cut it out almost entirely and get to the rim more, if only to draw more fouls. If he had Harden’s mentality of “3s or free throws,” his offensive rating would be through the roof. Of course, he’s not Harden, but hopefully his massively suboptimal shot profile is more due to coaching and being misguided than a total lack of talent to achieve the optimal shot profile.

Well, the issue is that when he drives he encounters a wall of defenders due to our poor spacing. And because his foot speed, athleticism, and confidence are not there, there's no chance of driving through that traffic. So he chucks something up. The difference between him and Mark in those situations is that Mark is smart enough to not put up a shot.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

At this point, Scheyer needs to try smaller lineups for longer stretches. The ceiling on this team is way too low with 2 of the 3 bigs on the court at all times, even if it has been best for the team up to this point.

 

[LastHearth]

Wow, wasn't expecting this.
Although let's be honest, 14 TOs is not exactly a crisp performance.
Duke is now shooting 34.7% from 3 in ACC games, which means outside shooting, with Whitehead, is actually no longer a weakness. The biggest problem with the offense is still the turnovers.

Unfortunately, in my years of following college basketball, teams that struggle with turnovers do not suddenly get better at holding on to the ball during the season. You are what you are, and if you want to get better, work on it in the off season.

 

[torontoduke]

Drove back to Ottawa from Cuse today.

The 6 of us sprung for better seats this time, so we were reasonably close to the court. Very physical game. I'm sure you folks are not a big fan, but SU's Mintz seems to be a very strong guard. Pretty impressive to see up close.

A terrific defensive effort from the Devils. Especially Mitchell, Proctologist and Lively. Great job on switches and cutting off lanes. Really made the SU guards work.

Whitehead was NICE.

Need Flip, Proctologist and JR to be stronger with the rock. Too loose.

As with previous visits, really impressed with the energy Duke games bring to Syracuse. 31K in attendance. Met several Devil fans at the bar. Good times.

Imperfect performance, but an important/nice win.

 

[childress22]

At this point, Scheyer needs to try smaller lineups for longer stretches. The ceiling on this team is way too low with 2 of the 3 bigs on the court at all times, even if it has been best for the team up to this point.

Most importantly, as I think you said in another post somewhere, just give all the 3 minutes to Whitehead and Grandison. That by default should cut the "2-big" time, since Mitchell still needs to play some.