Tobacco Road Report

By Michael

Duke held the Demon Deacons to the fewest points allowed by an opponent in Cameron Indoor since 1958. In case you were wondering, 1958 is the year Sputnik fell back to earth, Bobby Fischer won the the U.S. Chess Championship at age 14, tuition at Harvard was $1250 per year, a gallon of gas cost $0.24, and the St. Louis Hawks defeated the Boston Celtics to win the NBA Championship. Yes, the now Atlanta Hawks were actually good at one point in their history, but that's a story for a later date.

It was hard to tell whether Duke's defense was that good, or Wake's offense was that inept. Probably some of both. Either way, No. 17 Duke (15-5) cruised to a 22 point victory and evened their conference record at 2-2. Wake (9-8) is still searching for answers, falling to 1-4 in conference play and quickly becoming a non-factor in any post season discussion.

Wake Forest tried to pick up where Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech left off. In these two conference losses, both Tech's were able to use superior backcourt quickness to get dribble penetration on offense against Duke. Ishmael Smith took Paulus off the dribble on several early possessions, but the Deacons were unable to turn that penetration into much offense.

None of his teammates showed any kind of finishing skills, as shot after shot clanged off the iron or missed completely. After watching this futility, Smith tried to take matters into his own hands at times, but often ended up overpenetrating and launching off balance shots over McRoberts, Thomas, and Henderson.

As Dowdell and Gordon showed, the penetration is there against Duke and the ability to pull up short for a 8-10 footer is what Duke is frequently leaving open. Duke's not dumb, they guard the three point line and the basket as good as anyone in the country. The Dukies are very good at collapsing on drivers, stepping in to take charges, and challenging shots around the basket. So take what the defense gives you and make them adjust.

The announcing crew was a bit hard on Smith since he finished with 8 turnovers. I agree that he was making suspect decisions at times, but it's not like the kid was getting any help. The main criticism I have is that Visser needed more than 8 shots for Wake to have any kind of chance. Duke's defense was collapsing effectively on Visser, but not that much. For some reason, Wake didn't go to him as much as they could have.

Just how futile was the offense for Wake? The tempo-free stats are not pretty so avert your eyes if you're squeamish. 16 of 48 from the floor, 3 of 11 from beyond the arc, 5 of 12 from the free throw line, and 21 turnovers versus 5 assists. The result was an effective field goal percentage of 37 percent, a turnover on nearly a third of all possessions, and an assist on one of every twelve possessions. That's not a typo...the Deacon's assist percentage was 8 percent (versus 24 percent for Duke).

Wake only managed 0.61 points per possession. You have to feel for Skip Prosser on nights like this.

As for the Blue Devils, this was a methodical dismantling of the opponent. The pace was what Duke wanted -- 66 possessions overall -- and they were able to get various open looks against the Demon Deacon defense in their standard half court sets. Paulus had one of his better offensive showings with 17 points on 5-10 3-FG shooting, but I'm sure Coach K is most happy about the 1 Paulus turnover. They're looking for him to run the show and not turn it over in the half court set and Paulus accomplished this last night. Say what you will about Paulus' play, but the kid is a fighter.

The announcing crew, which shall remain nameless at this point, finally came around to the understanding that McRoberts doesn't have to score for Duke to be effective. He finished with another excellent line -- 11 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 blocked shots -- and the announcers were calling him "The Stat Stuffer" by the end of the game. Hey guys, thanks for finally coming around, but readers of TRR have known this for weeks! Get on board with TRR and this wouldn't have taken so long.

Finally, Duke's been excellent on the defensive boards all year and last night was no exception. Duke rebounded 75 percent of their defensive rebounding opportunities, which matched their 78 percent average in conference play so far. Remember, it's not rebounding margin that matters. Opponents need to know that it's one and done against Duke offensively. Get a good look the first time around, since you won't get many second chances.