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Player Wendell Carter Jr.

That top of the key three as the trailer seems like an automatic make at this point.
 
He still has some rough games, but tonight we saw him hit a baseline jumper, a jump hook, a three, all five FTs, and a few power slams. Additionally, he contested everything around the rim, pulled down rebounds, and distributed the ball like motherfucking Al Horford.
 
I also was really high on Okafor (who turned out to be good at the wrong things), Tatum (who took two thirds of a season to be good), and Gbinije (who took five years to be good at a different school). So it's a mixed bag.
 
It's funny how the big debate on this board for 1.5 years is whether you were a Bamba guy or a Carter guy. I was a Bamba guy. As it turns out, both are having pretty damn good seasons and you can't go wrong with either, though Wendell's offensive versatility probably suits this team better. And I do think Bamba will probably have a better professional career. They don't feel nearly as intertwined as they were for a while on here, though. I still love looking back at the old threads and laughing about us getting excited that Bamba was attending the MIT Sloan conference. Or those 5 minutes we thought Carter might go to Harvard
 
Our original class was going to be Quade, Trent, Knox, Carter, and Bamba. Quade is probably slightly better than Duval. Knox is definitely worse than Bagley, though you can't really compare across positions like that.

It's fun to think about Carter and Bamba as a defensive back line. Though maybe in that situation, our man to man is passable enough that we never make the switch to zone and it's an overall net loss.
 
The coaches need to figure out what to do defensively when Carter and Bolden play together. Carter isn’t quick enough to get out to the corner in that wing position (he gave up two wide open corner 3 makes last night that I remember), and we don’t want him away from the rim anyway. I doubt Bolden would do much better covering that, but since he was by far the best big at defending the perimeter on PNRs, maybe we give him a shot on the wing and leave Carter in the middle? Maybe those two threes were the only points scored against that lineup, and I’m worrying about nothing. Thoughts?
 
They could play a 3-2 zone, and the wings drop down to cover the corner 3, but it leaves other problems if a team has a lot of shooters.
 
@physicsfactor & @rhfarmer I have noticed the difficulty getting out to the corner shooters as well.

This may be resolved when/if Bags comes back, as I think he can get out to the shooters more quickly and it should allow WC to stay closer to the paint where his shot blocking comes into play. Does it make sense to play Bolden with White and Wendell with Javin to fix this issue until Bagley returns? Or is the Bolden/White frontcourt too much of a negative offensively?
 
rhfarmer said:
They could play a 3-2 zone, and the wings drop down to cover the corner 3, but it leaves other problems if a team has a lot of shooters.
Click to expand...

Duke resembles the oId Tarkanian amoeba defense at times, it even Looked Like a 4-1 zone; the further Duke extended it the further the Cardinals brought out their guards, which played right into Duke's hands!

http://www.coachesclipboard.net/AmoebaDefense.html
 
physicsfactor said:
The coaches need to figure out what to do defensively when Carter and Bolden play together. Carter isn’t quick enough to get out to the corner in that wing position (he gave up two wide open corner 3 makes last night that I remember), and we don’t want him away from the rim anyway. I doubt Bolden would do much better covering that, but since he was by far the best big at defending the perimeter on PNRs, maybe we give him a shot on the wing and leave Carter in the middle? Maybe those two threes were the only points scored against that lineup, and I’m worrying about nothing. Thoughts?
Click to expand...
I was thinking the same thing when I was watching. It makes more sense to have Bolden guard the wing. His foot speed for a guy of his size is genuinely surprising (at least on hedges and on containing the ball handler).
 
Inveigle said:
Duke resembles the oId Tarkanian amoeba defense at times, it even Looked Like a 4-1 zone; the further Duke extended it the further the Cardinals brought out their guards, which played right into Duke's hands!
Click to expand...
I hate to give him credit, but Bilas was spot-on about this. Louisville rarely threatened the zone from behind it.

I gotta say it's just beautiful watching Duke finally play a defense that stays with shooters (for the most part) AND protects the rim while encouraging long 2s.
 
rome8180 said:
physicsfactor said:
The coaches need to figure out what to do defensively when Carter and Bolden play together. Carter isn’t quick enough to get out to the corner in that wing position (he gave up two wide open corner 3 makes last night that I remember), and we don’t want him away from the rim anyway. I doubt Bolden would do much better covering that, but since he was by far the best big at defending the perimeter on PNRs, maybe we give him a shot on the wing and leave Carter in the middle? Maybe those two threes were the only points scored against that lineup, and I’m worrying about nothing. Thoughts?
Click to expand...
I was thinking the same thing when I was watching. It makes more sense to have Bolden guard the wing. His foot speed for a guy of his size is genuinely surprising (at least on hedges and on containing the ball handler).
Click to expand...
Would love to know the stats on the D when Bolden/Carter were in the game at the same time. Seemed to drop off. Having Jack/Jav on the wing in like a 4/1 defense was really disruptive. Seemed like when Bolden/Carter were in at the same time it gave up the corner more. Not sure Bags coming back will help that.
 
What sucks is White and Jav played 34 minutes. Once Bagley comes back those guys go back to zero minutes or just a few minutes. Carter and Bagley are our best post players but I wish K would shorten their minutes just a little to give the older guys some time and keep Bag/Car fresh at the end of games.
 
This series is mostly just Capel kissing players' asses, but I like hearing Carter dissect the plays.

 
Inveigle said:
rhfarmer said:
They could play a 3-2 zone, and the wings drop down to cover the corner 3, but it leaves other problems if a team has a lot of shooters.
Click to expand...

Duke resembles the oId Tarkanian amoeba defense at times, it even Looked Like a 4-1 zone; the further Duke extended it the further the Cardinals brought out their guards, which played right into Duke's hands!

http://www.coachesclipboard.net/AmoebaDefense.html
Click to expand...
I wish Tark was around to see this FBI probe happening.
 
It's not a 4-1 zone or an Amoeba defense. It's literally just a 2-3 zone with the wings playing high (which you pretty much have to play in college due to the shooting capabilities of most players) I haven't seen Duke go 3-2 yet (they did a few years ago a little bit, I forget which team) but I haven't been watching the games as often, so maybe they have but I haven't seen it.
 
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