The Buzz: Rhode Island

Duke escaped Cameron Sunday with an 82-79 win over Rhode Island in which the Blue Devils trailed for an estimated 30-35 minutes. The more important news? Officially surpassing 2000 Tim’s prediction that Ryan Leaf would lead the San Diego Chargers to the AFC West title (they went 1-15) was Sunday morning’s gem: “I see Baron being bottled up.” Yea, that’s the new Steve Urkel “Did I do that?” worst prediction ever.

You know, I had heard that Jimmy Baron was a good shooter. But the idea behind that clearly flawed statement was that Duke had, too; the Blue Devils would take Baron away and make the other Rams beat them. To URI’s credit, they did exactly that in the first half. At the intermission, even though Baron had just three points, URI led by one (and deserved to be up more).

But for the second time in two games this season, Baron carried the offense in the second half. He scored 17 after the break against Brown, but that was just the warmup for 21 Sunday. A lot of times when a guy hits a high percentage of his three-point shots, they come in the flow of the offense and largely because he is open. (The most prevalent example coming to my mind is when the point guard from UNC-Wilmington went 8-for-8 from beyond the arc in a first-round matchup with Maryland in 2003–you know, the game won by that Drew Nicholas fallaway. The point is, John Goldsberry–if that is his name–was the secondary option behind the great Brett Blizzard, and thus didn’t have to force his shot. Hence, 8/8.) But let’s be honest: for the last 10 minutes of the game, Rhode Island’s offense was “Get out of Jimmy’s way.”

There’s really no defense for it when a guy gets that hot. The Blue Devils tried Scheyer, Smith, McClure, and Singler on Baron, and none of them worked. The only successful strategies remaining were to: (1) run a double at him, which leaves the defense wildly exposed; (2) face-guarding him to prevent him from getting the ball, which is, to put it mildly, easier said than done for 94 feet; or (3) straight foul him. Only No. 2 is remotely practical, and I imagine the Blue Devils were trying it down the stretch.

Duke got the stop it needed, however, with Singler on Baron, which I didn’t like coming out of the timeout. (P.S. Here’s how I imagine URI’s huddle before the last play: Coach Jim Baron draws up a play intended to use son Jimmy as a decoy and set up Delroy James. The Rams all slump in disappointment. Baron the Elder says, “What’s the matter with you guys?” Jimmy looks up at Pop, looks around, and says, “I’ll make it.”) But Baron made the mistake of going inside the 3-point line (where he was 0-for-5), which allows Singler to defend even more aggressively because the help is closer. The jab-stepback that had worked so well all game didn’t create enough space, and Singler was able to alter the shot and, in the end, preserve the win.

Unfortunately for Duke, it can’t get caught up in the elation of that final stop and the awe in witnessing Baron’s second-half performance. The Blue Devils can’t forget that they trailed that game at halftime, largely because of their inability to score in the halfcourt. The offense broke down into ugly 1-on-1 action that resulted in poor shot selection and a 4-for-19 start to the game. That kind of offense probably won’t get it done against Southern Illinois’ intense man-to-man (which may be the best in the nation), and certainly won’t be enough in a potential matchup with UCLA.

Two more brief observations: (1) Someone tell Gerald Henderson the season started. (2) It’s great when Nolan Smith leaks out of the backcourt for easy transition buckets against Presbyterian and Georgia Southern. To put it bluntly, that tactic won’t fly against any quality opponent. The point guard’s responsibility is to be the first outlet pass after the rebound–not the last one. With Smith trying to sneak out early, Duke’s forwards got caught with the ball under the basket waiting for him to come back through the crowd for the outlet; this slows down the offense more than speeds it up, and against teams that pressure the outlet (hello, UCLA!) could lead to costly turnovers. Just something to watch out for this week.