Two words for Maryland fans: DeMarcus Nelson

By the time you read this post all the early model compact and sub-compact American cars that Maryland “students” lit on fire “in protest” for Duke’s win should burning out and many of the now detoxed drunken thugs with books should be posting bail.

So that means that Duke must have won, right? Well, yes, Duke did win, but win or lose the Maryland thugs will riot, so that’s not necessarily indicative of an outcome either way. With that said, I was really impressed with Maryland’s squad and that’s something I haven’t said since Juan Dixon was doing his thing back in the day. Though I hate to admit it, they are a lot better than their record indicates and will be a tough out for several ACC teams going forward as long as they can avoid the classic Gary Williams let downs to weaker teams.

Still, after being down 9 at the half in an emotional game, the Good Guys manned up, lead by the Captain DeMarcus Nelson, and got a tough win on the road with a 93-84 victory at the cable box in Maryland.

(I know, I know Maryland fans, Duke gets all the calls and that’s why they won, not because Duke is just better and this was a foul on Henderson that they missed too, I know.)

Again, the hallmark of this group is team. It’s completely cliche but dammit it’s true. Guys get cold, other guys get hot, some guys just don’t have their best stuff, but with this group, unlike any other Duke team I’ve ever seen, there’s always someone there to pick up the slack. There’s always a man ready to step in and do his duty. Tonight that man was DeMarcus Nelson with 27 points, 19 of them in the second half.

I mean, homey was ballin out there! He was hitting mid range shots, getting and ones, hitting free throws, making defensive plays, distributing the rock, battling on the boards and just being an all around leader out there. You could just feel the guys gravitating toward his example. It’s like he was balling with the fight music from Gladiator playing in the background. In fact, if you want to run that back and understand what DeMarcus was hearing during the MD game, go ahead and hit play.

Great stuff.

Talk about coming of age, a career high on the road at hostile MD with the ignorant thugz/studentz looking on in utter disbelief? And what about young Nolan?!

Geez, could that cat play any better? Homey was DEALING out there with runners, threes, dimes and defensive plays. Bottom line, he was integral in Duke’s win tonight. Forget the future, the future is now. I honestly don’t see how Coach K can’t seriously consider Nolan for the starting job after what we saw tonight. Not only that, but he plays well with his teammates. He finds guys in the right spots for them to make their shots and if they can’t make them, he’s in the right position to take his own. If Elliot Williams is as advertised, Duke’s future backcourt will be very scary.

I would be remiss if I didn’t make note of the hot game turned in by the (near) future NBAer Gerald Henderson.

Homey’s mid range game is taking off like Soul Glo’s home weave products. I mean, this cat is a BEAST on that curl (no pun intended). That elevation, the silky smooth release, the dunks on fast breaks, the polos, the nikes, the grind, empty bottles of No-Doz, I spent that gas money on clothes with logos…my bad, had a Kanye “The Glory” attack. But that’s how Hendo’s game is right now though. This cat is literally taking cats to the Glory and they really “can’t stand it lord” with that choir in the background and Coach K spinning Hendo’s greatest hits on the sideline.

This is a team of men… and I fucking love it.

Go Duke.

Oh, much respek to my main mahn Lance Thomas, him be on the rise right about now, really competing and doing his thing for Duke Blue. Lance, keep sticking with it homey. You’ve been ballin the last couple of games and the squad needs what you bring. Incidentally, I know this cat tries to channel Ben Wallace, but can someone please tell me why this is necessary?

Look, I’m not trying to start no trouble, but I’m just saying. This cat looks like Lord Helmet from Spaceballs out there. It just aint right. I mean, this cat is out here acting like he needs some sort of gimmick. Osby, you’re actually a decent ACC big man with talent. You don’t need that dome to draw attention to yourself….seriously, use some of that illegal Murrland booster money and go git yourself a damn haircut, bottle of Nair, something. At this point, even male pattern baldness would be an improvement. Geez.

Run the stats:

Duke Blue Devils
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	FTM-A	OFF	REB	AST	PF	PTS
K. Singler, F	31	2-10	2-2	1	3	1	5	7
L. Thomas, F	18	2-3	2-4	1	2	0	4	6
G. Paulus, G	19	3-7	4-4	0	1	2	4	12
G. Henderson, G-F	33	9-12	4-6	1	5	1	2	23
D. Nelson, G	38	10-19	6-8	3	7	4	3	27
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	FTM-A	OFF	REB	AST	PF	PTS
N. Smith, G	20	4-6	5-5	3	6	1	0	14
D. McClure, F	8	0-2	0-0	0	2	0	1	0
T. King, F	5	0-2	0-0	0	0	0	1	0
J. Scheyer, G	28	2-7	0-0	1	2	0	3	4
TOTALS		FGM-A	FTM-A	OFF	REB	AST	PF	PTS
		32-68	23-29	10	28	9	23	93
		47.1%	79.3%
TEAM REBS: 8 TURNOVERS: 10 (G Henderson 2, G Paulus 1, K Singler 3, L Thomas 1, D Nelson 1, N Smith 2) BLOCKED SHOTS: 3 (G Henderson 2, D Nelson 1) STEALS: 13 (G Henderson 1, G Paulus 4, K Singler 2, T King 1, D Nelson 4, N Smith 1) 3-PT FGS: 6-18, .333 (J Scheyer 0-2, G Henderson 1-2, G Paulus 2-3, K Singler 1-5, T King 0-2, D Nelson 1-2, N Smith 1-2)

– Lake

Duke Basketball Breakdown: Lance Thomas

You won’t find bigger Duke Basketball fans anywhere than right here at U v. T. No question, it’s a Commodus situation, with all the passion and ruthlessness that goes along with it. “I would butcher the whole world if you’d only love me”. Peep that scene here where Commodus offs his pops, so good.

At any rate, that’s how we feel about this next National Championship for Duke. In short, we gotta have it. Quite frankly, folks aren’t completely satisfied that we’ve got all the pieces in house to make a serious run at this thing. Don’t get me wrong, we’ll go to battle and die with the troops we have.. We do in fact support the troops! But we need a few more hard, pipe hittin brothas to make this thing work. At any rate, this is our assessment of Lance Thomas, Duke’s energetic, second-year player and former recruiting coup from New Jersey.

Player Name: Lance Thomas

Prep profile:

Ht. 6-9, Wt: 200

Position:

Small Forward/Power Forward

High School:	St. Benedict’s Prep.
Coach:	Danny Hurley
Class:	Class of 2006

AAU Teams:	New Heights, New York Panthers
Points Per Game:	16.8

Scout.com rating:	5/5 stars
Rivals.com rating	4/5 stars

Year:

Class of 2006

High School GPA:	3.1
Haircut:	Smooth thug rows, w/ a twag of AJ from 106 & Park

 

Duke Profile:

Duke Info:

Ht. 6-8, Wt: 215

Position:

Forward

Year:	Class of 2010
Games played:	31 of 33

Games started:	18 of 33
Mins per game:	14.9

Field Goal %:	.568
Free throw %:	.593

Points per game:

4.5

Rebs per game:	2.5
Haircut:	Corp. Blackman, even steve, no 40 belo temple taper

Last Year:

One thing about Lance, he always gave it his all. We can respect that because, let’s face it, not everybody does. Whether it was with his high post, jumping jack ball pressure D or that aggressive, wax on wax off lateral movement, Lance always came with the heart of a lion, will of a champion (rhetoric by the Prince Naseem Hamed). With that said, we hoped that LT would have brought a bit more confidence in his scoring ability with him to Durham. Watching tape of Lance in high school (there’s still some on youtube), homey had a knack for scoring in and around the paint. He had a solid mid-range game and definitely rebounded well. I think he discovered, as many have, that the ACC is far more physical than even top Prep and AAU competition because let’s face it, plenty of Lance’s stuff got thrown back at him on put backs last year. All in all, it’s hard to quarrel with what Lance gave us though. He went out, started a bunch of games and most of all, played extremely hard. A very solid first year for LT.

Outlook For the Coming Year:

In short, LT has got to get stronger, improve his jumper and, dammit, GET STRONGER. Foul trouble has been an issue, but we figure most of that will work itself out once he doesn’t have to overcompensate for a lack of strength with speed and of course, experience. Dude has great mobility and good size at 6′, 8″- or 6′, 9″. He’s definitely got to get that free-throw shooting percentage up, but that’s just a matter of dedication which we think he has.

Clearly he’s bought into the Duke system and clearly Coach K sees him as a valuable contributor that belongs on the floor given his high number of starts and the big minutes he got in his first year. The exodus of Josh McBoberts and injury to Large Zoubek should really inspire this cat. I mean, really he should be working out with Victory, Puff Daddy feat. Big and Busta and Ante Up, M.O.P. on a continuous loop.

Lance, the millions and millions of Duke fans are with you homey. All reports in the summer say that you are playing plenty of hoop with all kinds of comp. Good to hear. We’re expecting a solid sophomore bump for Mr. LT, a cat we see as part of the solution for Duke.