Late game: Creighton/Duke

[tornado]

Duke was clearly just too much - 66-50....even with Creighton catching a lot of breaks and multiple Duke players getting in foul trouble or fouling out

as successful as Creighton has been in regular season play this continues a rather disappointing record of never winning more than one game in the NCAA Tourney...
....so now Wichita, Bradley, UNI, and Evansville are still playing.......
This is by far Creighton's lowest point scoring output of the season, it was the lowest scoring total of the day, and Duke seemed comfortable and in charge most of the game unlike most of Duke's recent games - almost all of which - including their first game against Albany were considerably closer...

Doug McDermott facing a Top Ten opponent for the first time this season (or even a Top 20) - kinda looked a bit more ....human - going 4-16 and only 1-4 on 3-pt shots..
He had no assists and 3 turnovers...he looked good at times but his inability to score against the kind of talent he's gonna see if he jumps to the NBA - might have hurt his draft stock considerably - so Creighton fans might just have something to cheer about if it causes him to stay in school.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/21940912/duke-ended-doug-mcdermotts-season-now-what-about-his-college-career

Creighton shot just 2-19 as a team from 3-pt, got nothing off their bench - a bad sign when they're headed to a tougher conference and losing several key players to graduation, and never led or made any runs in the 2nd half - they looked worn out - maybe burdened by all the media hype...

[TheAsianSensation]

and Duke seemed comfortable and in charge most of the game unlike most of Duke's recent games - almost all of which - including their first game against Albany were considerably closer...

wait, what? This game was closer than the Albany game actually. Albany spent probably about 18 of the 20 minutes in the 2nd half facing a double digit deficit, while Creighton held around the 8-12 deficit mark until the final few minutes. To say Albany was considerably closer is just...not accurate.

Doug McDermott facing a Top Ten opponent for the first time this season (or even a Top 20) - kinda looked a bit more ....human - going 4-16 and only 1-4 on 3-pt shots..
He had no assists and 3 turnovers...he looked good at times but his inability to score against the kind of talent he's gonna see if he jumps to the NBA - might have hurt his draft stock considerably - so Creighton fans might just have something to cheer about if it causes him to stay in school.

He definitely didn't get any help. He did go off for 30 against the one Top 20 team he played this year (Wisky) and did well against Wichita, if anyone feels frisky enough to call them top 20 too.

But he did get 21....went to the line 12 times...and 3 turnovers wasn't that bad, and 0 assists is reasonable when the rest of the team pretty much let him down.

Creighton shot just 2-19 as a team from 3-pt, got nothing off their bench - a bad sign when they're headed to a tougher conference and losing several key players to graduation, and never led or made any runs in the 2nd half - they looked worn out - maybe burdened by all the media hype...

Burdened? They were the underdog to Duke. Duke's just a better team, plain and simple.

By the way, I didn't know "several" equates to 2 (Gibbs and Echinique). Granted, both key, but not "several".

[Da Coach]

Creighton has been one of the best 3 point shhoting teams in the country all year but had possibly their worst shooting game last night. They were just 2-19 from three and a lot of them were wide open as Duke focused their defense on trying to stop McDermott and the Creighton inside game.

Box score

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=330830150

[tornado]

AS - hardly know where to start in your feeble effort to claim there's something wrong in what I say...

..To say Albany was considerably closer is just...not accurate.

Duke 66 - Creighton 50
Duke 73 - Albany 61
...sorry but I am no fool - the Albany game was closer and you are entitled to believe otherwise but Duke controlled the game yesterday especially the entire 2nd half despite foul trouble..
- and you're apparently the only one, even Creighton fans included, who see otherwise. Even some of your friends seem to dispute you -
"The second half was controlled by Duke .."

http://www.mvcfans.com/wp/2013/03/24/duke-defeats-creighton-66-50-bluejays-end-season-at-28-8/

He did go off for 30 against the one Top 20 team (Wisconsin)

hmm.. Wisconsin was not a Top 20 team at the completion of the season- they were ranked #24
and at the time Creighton played Wisconsin - CREIGHTON was ranked #14 and Wisconsin was UNRANKED...so it's patently false to say Creighton beat a top 20 team.

By the way, I didn't know "several" equates to 2 (Gibbs and Echinique). ...

Hmm..did you forget about Ethan Wragge - who everyone but you considers him a key player...
Tell me what drives a person to hover over someone's every word just to find something miniscule to play gotcha on?
I cannot imagine reading all of your or anyone's posts to try to find some meaningless and irrelevant minor discrepancy to try to blow into a major argument

[TheAsianSensation]

Duke 66 - Creighton 50
Duke 73 - Albany 61
...sorry but I am no fool - the Albany game was closer and you are entitled to believe otherwise but Duke controlled the game yesterday especially the entire 2nd half despite foul trouble..
- and you're apparently the only one, even Creighton fans included, who see otherwise. Even some of your friends seem to dispute you -
"The second half was controlled by Duke .."

http://www.mvcfans.com/wp/2013/03/24/duke-defeats-creighton-66-50-bluejays-end-season-at-28-8/

I wasn't disputing Duke controlled the game. I was disputing you acting like Creighton was worse than Albany or any other of Duke's recent opponents. Look at more than just the final score. I watched both games. Creighton was closer to Duke and the lead ballooned late during garbage time. The Albany game was a blowout sooner and tightened in garbage time.

hmm.. Wisconsin was not a Top 20 team at the completion of the season- they were ranked #24
and at the time Creighton played Wisconsin - CREIGHTON was ranked #14 and Wisconsin was UNRANKED...so it's patently false to say Creighton beat a top 20 team.

By this same logic, FGCU beat Miami when they were unranked and way off of everyone's radar.....so FGCU didn't have a quality win of any kind heading into this tournament.

I used NCAA seeding, not polls, as my benchmark. Then again, I've always been on the "polls are stupid" crusade.

Hmm..did you forget about Ethan Wragge - who everyone but you considers him a key player...
Tell me what drives a person to hover over someone's every word just to find something miniscule to play gotcha on?

Doesn't Wragge have a year left? (I could be wrong but I double checked myself and he's listed as a junior)

And let's address that last point. I hardly hovered. I merely read it, noticed what I thought where factual errors, and responded.

But if that's what you think I'm doing, then you'll be sorely disappointed.

Unless you want me to. I bet if I really tried I could do some real damage.

[tornado]

sorry if I am wrong Wragge may have a year left.... he's been there four years and played in all four but may have a redshirt -

but here's what Doug McDermott will be hearing from a lot of experts - so they may lose him, too -

https://mobile.twitter.com/AdamZagoria/status/316193271980376064?p=p

[Da Coach]

CBSsports.com has a column about what Doug McDermott will do next. It actually says very little we don't already know

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/21940912/duke-ended-doug-mcdermotts-season----now-what-about-his-college-careerC

[tornado]

I agree - I think everyone knows that he's had sufficient exposure, been seen by every NBA team - everyone knows what he can do and that he'll get picked somewhere from mid 1st rd to mid 2nd rd...and that his stock may not improve much at all should he stay another year.
This article kinda compares his situation to Lehigh's BJ McCollom whose stock has likely even dropped by staying for his senior year.

http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/03/25/creighton-enters-uncharted-territory-in-new-big-east-next-season-without-mcdermott/

BUT - if yesterday showed anything - it showed exactly what last year's NCAA game showed for McDermott - that when he actually has to match up against a team that has NBA caliber athletes - he can look different than his averages.

In those two games (both double-digit losses) against ACC teams (last year against UNC - and this year against Duke)
he shot & scored below his average - especially his 3-pt shooting (25%)

So as Creighton moves to the Big East to play the likes of Georgetown, Marquette, & Villanova - then does he really want to spend his senior year before going in the draft - facing similar athletes every night in the new Big East - potentially dropping his draft stock?