A Closer Look At The Winston-Salem State Game

We thought it would be a good time to take a closer look at the Winston-Salem State game and see what we might notice if we watched carefully. There was a lot of good stuff, so let’s jump right in. We’ve only gotten through the first half. If we have time we’ll do the second.

• Tipoff: Counting Villanova, this is the second tip in a row that Williams has stolen on the way up.
• 19:35 Watch Williams stalk the shooter.
• 18:45: if Keels misses, Duke is in terrible rebounding position. No one is near the basket.
• 18:31: Just look at the incredible defense of Roach. Wow! What balance! #3 Cameron Campbell ultimately gets to the basket where Williams is waiting and scores over him, partly because Roach comes back and is on him, somewhat forcing Williams to stay back. Big deal. Consider the energy the ballhandler spends. Wow!
• 18:00: Roach and Wendell Moore trap #5 Isaac Person at half-court. He should’ve passed to the open man.
• 17:41: Watch Williams pounce back to counter the drive, almost get the block and then the follow-up. Better teams will find open shooters. #5 was begging.
• 17:14: Banchero scores on a really weird shot: he catches the pass and turns, jumping (sort of) off his pivot foot. Good thing Williams wasn’t on the other team. Campbell, just 6-4, couldn’t stop it. A bigger guy could have.
• 17:00: #11 Jonathan Hicklin is 6-4. Mark Williams is a 7-0 shot blocking shark. Hicklin tried to split Williams and 6-10 Banchero for a layup. Meanwhile teammate Xavier Fennell, #12, was backing away. He would have had an easier shot. Williams took that one out.
• 16:42: Williams abandons a screen and heads down a wide-open lane. Moore hits him for an easy dunk. Smart play on both parts.
• 16:28: John subs in for Williams.
• 16:19: Keels dribbles into a double team and Moore bails him out then hits John for an easy dunk. Another great assist for Moore.
• 16:09. Watch John command the defense. We love experience!
• 15:26: What a clean jumper by Roach!
• 15:15: We’re really impressed with Roach’s footwork but also his balance. He’s able to crowd the ballhandler without touching him. And he and Moore are a lethal combination on defense as they force another turnover.
• 14:55: AJ Griffin debuts in a Duke uniform
• 14:33: It doesn't take long to see that he’s an active, intelligent player who doesn’t wait for the game to come to him. He seeks it out.
• 14:24: Baker was out of position to stop this drive from the beginning. He had John behind him. The foul was unnecessary.
• 14:22: Williams is back.
• 14:17: WSSU goes to a zone press. Keels breaks it cleverly.
• 14:08: Watch Roach make a slightly daring crosscourt pass to Baker for an open three.
• 14:00: Watch Roach penetrate the zone and dump an alley-oop for Williams. Sweet! And no hesitation. Obviously WSSU had no answer for the 7-0 Williams but still, Roach got in position to make the play.
• 13:27: Watch Roach pass to Griffin then tell him to pass to Baker for the open three. He does and Baker drills another.
• 13:03: Block.out. Banchero.Block.out. Banchero.Block.out. Banchero. Block.out.Banchero.
• 12:48: Williams demonstrates proper block-out technique and one-hands the rebound. John Wooden would disapprove but we like the demonstration of power.
• 12:27: The play before, Williams was upset because he felt Person manhandled him and he’s lined up for payback. But Person passes and Williams turns to block 6-9 Rasheen Merlin. Merlin? How cool is that? Then watch him try to slap the ball out to Baker. Didn’t work but nice idea. He should apply that to the blocks where he throws them out of bounds. It’s fun to watch but you just have to start over on defense. What’s the point? Tip and catch it!
• 11:57: Williams gets the ball underneath but can’t muscle over Merlin. He hit the shot but played it like it was last year.
• 11:40: Keels is hiding behind Merlin and sees the pass coming. He pops out and takes it away for an easy basket. Only two guys from WSSU get downcourt to contest. They look tired.
• 11:23: Hicklin drives past Moore. Banchero covers his valuables and tries to draw a charge. Hicklin slips by him and sees....Williams! Is he Mt. Everest? People keep trying to climb him. He doesn’t get the block but he alters the shot. Banchero gets the board and watch him lead the break. The guy is 6-10!
• 10:38: Keels is really built for football but watch his body control on this drive. Beautiful touch.
• 10:18: Jaylen Blakes checks in. Watch John. Is he scanning the court? Or is he trying to loosen his neck? We’d say he’s scanning and...wow, just look. Dude might be part android, possibly alien. Maybe it’s just a glitch in the matrix. Not sure we’ve ever seen that before.
• 8:57: Three freshmen on the court. Banchero gets the ball and shoots a fadeaway. Blakes stays at the top of the key. But after he realizes that Banchero is committed to a shot, Griffin rushes in from near press row and gets the rebound in a crowd. Love his instincts and hustle. Blakes is closer to half-court. Unfortunately Griffin threw the ball over Moore’s head and Duke got one of just four turnovers. Blakes never crosses the three point line and doesn’t much move. Clearly his defense is ahead of his offense right now.
• 8:20: Not that we’re counting and this one didn't count anyway, but it’s amazing how many low rebounds Banchero has gotten after busted plays or near blocks by Williams. That’s a compliment by the way. He’s always ready.
• 7:42: Banchero’s feet were on the lot when he grabs the rebound. See?
• 7:32: Banchero sees an opening but John’s defender Shamon Jackson has him hooked. That turnover wasn’t really on Banchero. He had the right idea.
• 7:00: No one is worried about Bates Jones and he makes them pay.
• 6:30: Has Baker ever dunked at Duke before? Seriously. We don’t remember.
• 6:19: We have no idea what the coaches tell him and he might be doing exactly what they want, but Williams spends some time a bit away from the basket on defense. On this play he helps double-team a guard out near halfcourt and Baker rebounds the miss, passing out to Roach near the curve in the three point line. He sees Williams flying up court calling for the pass and hits him.
• 5:09: Keels heads to the basket and it looks like a collision, which it is...between two Rams. We would call it a flop except one of the guys knocks the other over.
• 5:00: Bates Jones for the block! His defense all the way down was good too. And on the follow up play as well.
• 4:36: Blakes has a nice drive, misses, then compounds it by fouling. Oops. Freshman mistake. Still, not a bad drive. BTW if you are wondering about Baker’s tattoo, it appears to be a basketball rim and net.
• 4:03: Keels finds Jones alone in the corner for another three. He could have been trapped, but he wasn’t.
• 3:50: It sure looks like Jones got a fingertip on the shot. No credit for a block though he does appear to have slightly deflected it. And that’s good enough.
• 3:42: Is Keels trying to draw a foul by spreading his legs wide on the three?
• 3:30: Blakes is playing some wonderful D here. He might have fouled on the shot but got away with it. This kind of effort will get him minutes.
• 3:19: Banchero shows some nice ballhandling on the drive but probably needs to be more ruthless. We’re guessing it comes up in film review.
• 2:58: It sure looks like Moore got a finger or two on that shot.
• 2:37: Like Banchero, Williams is going to be told to not be soft when he takes it to the basket. This is not a problem for John, incidentally, and that’s something you should keep an eye on because there may come a time when Coach K says, you know what? We’re going with the tough guy here.
• 2:10: More good defense by Moore and Banchero picks it up and is gone.
• 2:05: Watch as #0 - Samage Teel? - strips Banchero on the way up. Both defenders are much smaller. He will probably be reminded of that. Check out Moore’s slick move to get into the lane on the foul shot.
• 1:47: Banchero has a beautiful driving layup. Poetry in motion.
• 1:40: Check out how Williams reaches over and in to deflect the ball off of Person’s knee - on a break. Pretty great!
• 49.7: Now Williams gets physical: great block! Keels makes a nice recovery and gets it to Banchero. Right now he’s reminding us a bit of Danny Ferry who took a while to assert himself physically.
• 4.9: Roach misses the three but if we recall correctly this is the third time that Keels hit the left corner with a pass for an open three.