Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski has answered the question before.
He answered it again, without really being asked during Monday's ACC coaches' teleconference.
Why did he wait until Feb. 19 at St. John's to put freshman Elliot Williams in the starting lineup and move Jon Scheyer from shooting guard to point guard?
"Some people have said, 'Why didn’t we do this earlier?' We were 19-1 (actually 18-1) earlier, going the way we were," Krzyzewski said. "And we were playing really well. And Elliot had not emerged as much in practice. And we got knocked back, and we felt that going the way we were going wasn’t the way that would make us the best possible team."
Duke reeled off five straight wins after the change before losing 79-71 on Sunday at North Carolina.
"We didn't realize just how big of an impact this would have, but it's had a huge impact," Krzyzewski said. "We're just a better basketball team right now."
Monday, March 9, 2009
Krzyzewski explains timing of change...again
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11 comments:
Henderson returning will be the key to Duke's National Title aspirations next year. This team's ceiling is Elite 8/FF.
Paulus should of played more. The the senior in the game. Shame on you Coach K.
I defend Coach K. Paulus played. He missed two wide open threes. Not his day so he got benched. Simple.
Not his day?!? At about 10 minutes to go in the game, exactly FOUR Duke players had scored. At all. The entire bench played a total of 19 minutes FOR THE GAME!! This is why Duke teams keep flaming out quick in the tournament. You just can't rely on one or two guys to bail you out game after game. Other than Singler and Henderson, Duke would've been lucky to be ELIGIBLE for the tournament. But, I guess when you can lose 4 out of 6 games and not fall out of the top 10, there's a bit more of a cushion there. But in the long run, so long as Coach K insists year after year in not playing the McD's All-Americans who ride his bench, Duke teams will continue to underachieve in the postseason. And he'll have nobody to blame but himself each time.
Quite the rant, 1:41 pm. But Duke shouldn't "flame out" at all this year.
They get 4 days rest, Nolan Smith will return well-rested and healthy, Plumlee will play on Thursday, and Elliot Williams has been rested and fresh for 90% of this season. Don't be surprised if Duke's in the Elite 8 this year.
"You can't just rely on one or two guys"
Perhaps you forgot about Jon Scheyer, who put up 24 points against 5 assists and zero turnovers yesterday.
Scheyer also didn't miss yesterday, btw. I wonder how often that will happen?
And I'd be willing to bet that the return of Smith and Plumlee won't up the bench's minutes by more than 5, if that. It just means guys like McClure will see their minutes decrease even further and Paulus might not see the court at all. And by the way, all four of these guys were All-Americans coming out of high school, and now all four are fighting for garbage minutes. And they aren't alone. My point is unchanged.
And I will definitely be surprised to see Duke in the Elite 8 this year. In fact, I'll be shocked to see them in the Sweet 16. The Tournament isn't like the polls; there's nobody voting to prop you up.
Your boy Paulus has only one skill - flopping. Duke has always lived and died by shooting a ton of 3's. Coach K needs to hang it up and stop swearing at the refs the whole game. It's not hard to read lips when he constantly drops the F-bomb. Poor example when you don't agree with a refs call and you go nose to nose with him.
McClure was never an All-American at any level (do you mean Connecticut All-State?).
And considering Smith has averaged double digit minutes/game even AFTER Scheyer took over the point, I sincerely doubt that "the return of Smith and Plumlee won't up the bench's minutes by more than 5". Your ignorance is validated through your comments.
Miles Plumlee was not an All-American either. His little brother is (he'll be around next year).
Smith will play, and a decent amount, but at the expense of other (lesser, I suppose) players. That was my point, and the numbers bear that out, pre and post lineup change. Coach K plays a short bench, and has for at least the last decade. The faces change, not the formula.
And I apologize, I was thinking of the younger Plumlee as an All-American and I would have sworn McClure was too but he wasn't. So maybe they spend a couple minutes setting screens for the real players. That means Coach K only has 7 McD's AA for his 8-man rotation. My mistake...his numbers are down this year.
And I guess we'll just have to see how ignorant I am when the brackets are filled out, huh?
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