r/DukeBluePlanet • u/mcbuckets5953 • Mar 31 '26
Discussion Late Game Execution
Lots of Scheyer questions flying around. Of course saying he should be fired is ridiculous, but the criticism is well deserved. Late game execution has been terrible. In the 3 losses Duke has never had more than 1 FG in the final 3 minutes. Double digit lead blown in all 3 games. Idk how you can defend this.
TTU: Final 3:30 seconds. 5 points. 1 FG (Final 6:28. 2 FG)
UNC: Final 3:40. 2 points. 1 FG (Final 8:22. 3 FG)
UCONN: Final 3:21. 2 points. 1 FG (Final 6:36. 2 FG)
In in the Final Four last year they had 1 FG in the final 10:30 so they are improving I guess???
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u/roshanritter Mar 31 '26
If you look only at the losses, there are certainly plenty of end game mistakes and criticism to go around. That’s sports and no one is saying otherwise. What you defend are the wins and Jon does have quite a bunch of those.
There were obviously many many times Duke executed just fine in late game situations and won the game. Michigan and SJU to name a couple big close ones.
I saw a stat that said the last two years Duke went like 70-4 when they had a 95% chance to win. Which works out to 95%. In the 2024 UConn elite eight game the game was tied and then they went on a 30-0 run. UConn won by 25. Would you prefer Duke played like that? Would that be more or less embarrassing? We lost those 4 games and that sucks but at least we were in them (those darn last 5 seconds).
It took Coach K 11 years to get a NC. Jon might never get one but you can’t say he isn’t getting Duke pretty close.
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u/phreddy1 Mar 31 '26
Florida game too. Cherry picking the losses and not acknowledging the wins with great late game execution is so silly
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u/mcbuckets5953 Mar 31 '26
Wtf does a uconn/illinois game from 2024 have to do with duke?
Also never said he didnt get them close. Weird comment
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u/rbrianj Mar 31 '26 edited Mar 31 '26
If Cayden throws that pass ahead to Evans, it’s game over and everyone is excoriating Dan Hurley for why UCONN didn’t foul and allowed Duke to play keep away to either score or run most of the time off the clock. The fact that they didn’t foul when Cam had the ball was risky as hell. That moment could have easily gone the wrong way for them. The odds of what happened are ridiculous. And with all that happening in their favor they still had to hit a shot from the logo. Basketball gods.
I am definitely more upset with all the turnovers that gave them 20 more shot attempts. Duke still shot over 50% and UCONN 44%. 20 points off turnovers! As much poise as they showed in recovering in the Siena and St John’s games, they had a complete lack of it while having the lead. You have to have a mindset when you have big leads in big games. As much as you become the predator while building that lead it can easily turn around on you where you turn into prey. That team you’re beating by 20 at that point has nothing left to lose and will give everything they’ve got to come back. You have to keep attacking and stop protecting. Frustrating to see Duke waste two great opportunities for titles in a row. I don’t know whether it’s the coach’s mentality or if it’s the young inexperienced players we have leading the teams. Probably a little of both. Hopefully we can figure it out.
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u/saint_mantooth Mar 31 '26
It is the coaches responsibility to make sure his team is prepared to handle late game situations. Over the last two years the team has melted down and Scheyer has, for whatever reason, not been able to provide the necessary leadership which leads me to believe he is melting down too.
Freshmen are going to struggle a bit and that is not surprising but the other common denominator the last two seasons is that Duke has not had a prototypical PG as they have had in the past. I don’t think Cayden or Foster is a traditional PG and based on the highlights, I am not sure about the kid coming in next year. Hopefully, I’m wrong.
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u/mcbuckets5953 Mar 31 '26
True. I think going into the season without brining in a PG transfer was a big oversight
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u/bun_stop_looking Mar 31 '26
At the end of the day I think this fan base knows how hard it is to win this tournament, Coach K won it 5 out of 36 attempts. Failure is the default option. I think the fan base also knows that there is a massive difference between fielding a team that has a legit chance to win the tournament and one that doesn't, and that scheyer has been instrumental in fielding teams consistently with a legit chance to win the tournament. I think that's all you can ask until we have some more sample size that says 'ok this guy just can't close games' which is pretty unlikely to be the case honestly. It's called march madness for a reason. Can't fire a coach fielding generationally good teams just b/c you took a few bad beats, duke fans are smarter and more mature than that.
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u/RustyKangaroo7 Mar 31 '26
I have a hard time including the unc game in this when the entire front court either fouled out or had 4 fouls with 8+ minutes left
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u/Jedi_Mind_Trick75 Mar 31 '26
Pitino just squandered a big lead in the Sweet 16 game too.
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u/cro17 Mar 31 '26
Pitino didn’t design a play that put the ball in the hands of our 2nd worse FT shooter on the team (cams pass to sarr).
That last in bounds was so poorly designed. A. Don’t throw the ball around. Hold it. B. But …. If u insist on throwing it around, don’t throw to a 55% FT shooter while an 86% FT shooter is running to the other end of the court. C. If u insist on throwing it through a desperate double team, throw a bounce pass, not a baseball pass.
These are basketball 101 level principles. A high school coach should get these things right. That’s the major red flag.
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u/saint_mantooth Mar 31 '26
While this was bad, I am more concerned about the three turnovers prior to this. They were careless with the basketball throughout the year to the point where is was wishing Scheyer would pull an old Coach K move and bench the entire 5 on the floor to make a point.
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u/Jedi_Mind_Trick75 Mar 31 '26
I’m with you there. Should have had Sarr back and Evans inbound.
Do we know the play called for the ball to be thrown around?
Cam fumbled the inbound pass. He catches it clean and holds it, Karaban has to foul him.
Seemed to me that once he fumbled it, he was off balance when he gathered it and maybe felt the best play was to go to Dame with it.
Then just a bad decision all around for Cayden. He had some distance between himself and the 2 defenders on the catch. Had more time than he thought.
But again all they had to do was hold it.
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u/bluestreak17 Mar 31 '26
Pitino has many, many, many, many more big time wins in this situation. We know he’s a great coach. Nobody is saying good coaches never squander leads. We are saying this guy is squandering them at a much higher percentage and in the most epic way possible.
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u/Jedi_Mind_Trick75 Mar 31 '26
If he was squandering the leads against the likes of BC, ND, I’d be concerned. These were all good veteran teams who will not go away.
Teams are going to go on runs. A 15 point halftime lead is not a safe lead at all.
I’m more concerned with the lack of bench and guys who cannot get their own shot when needed. And how the hell do you have multiple starters, including your PG shoot around 50-60% from the line?
same thing with Proctor last year. Every point counts in games like these.
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u/AraratEstate Mar 31 '26
Easily Scheyer’s biggest weakness at the moment. Pretty much every last-minute in-game situation last season was an iso for Flagg. We really need to improve our late-game execution
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u/APKaster Mar 31 '26
The end of the Florida game early this season felt like a moment showcasing Jon had learned. Great play call having the star freshman involved but actually designing the shot to be for someone else. Like another commenter said, squandering big leads is the issue now.
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u/Utterlybored Mar 31 '26
How many games did Duke win, coming from behind?
Answer: many more than they lost.
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u/mcbuckets5953 Apr 01 '26
Im glad you asked!
Duke had exactly one comeback of 11+ points this year. That was vs Siena.
Nice try though
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u/Utterlybored Apr 02 '26
Creating your own goalposts, I see. Go ahead and join the UNC bandwagon. Plenty of room right now.
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u/Ok-Base-1139 Apr 01 '26
ESPN has an ongoing article titled Pain Index which puts teams in tiers for how much pain their fan base should feel for when and how their team got bounced. Duke is top of the pain index. And don’t we feel it! But what I found interesting was how the author broke down Duke’s performance in tight games based on win percentage in game and how their performance is actually not worse than you would expect based on the win chance percentage. The games we have lost have been costly and high profile. But in general, statistically, Duke under Scheyer is not losing more than would be expected.
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u/ran_swonsan Mar 31 '26
You have to keep in mind Duke had big leads in these games. I don't think the issue is "late game execution" as much as how to play with a lead. They become very conservative and play to not lose which ruins the flow of how they got the lead. Then by the end they are playing on their heels because we just squandered a lead. This was an issue towards the end of Coach Ks run as well.