Could we please leave Duncan alone

[MuskieSuperFan]

Ok, let me first say that I agree with most fans that Duncan is a little on the softer side of what you would expect of from a guy his size. HOWEVER, I am growing tired of the Duncan bashing that I am hearing among Muskie fans. I was at the GW game and I repeatedly heard people criticizing Duncan for being soft, and not being in the paint and not shooting threes etc. I would like to point out that Duncan's style of play has some SERIOUS benefits given Xavier's style of play and team makeup.

1. By Duncan being on the perimeter so much, in man to man situations, it forces the defense to also bring their center out on the perimeter to defend Duncan. This in theory, opens the lane for penetration by DREW, BJ, CJ, and BROWN. It also gives Duncan an opportunity to drive against less athletic centers. (I recognize that he doesn't do enough of this. However, this works well given our guard play and our athletic forwards. The downside to this is that Duncan is almost never in position to rebound the ball, so its important for the other members of the team to finish or get fouled when driving to the hole.

I say all of this to reiterate the point that bashing Duncan is not going to change who he is, and I do think that Sean Miller is wise for utilizing this strategy as opposed to trying to force Duncan to be something that he is not.

Sorry for the length of this guys, but I had to get this off my chest after hearing the Duncan Bashing at last nights game. It's unfortunate it was coming for our own section!

[bluegrass]

He played a good game last night and we needed it since Love didn't have a very good game.I think he is very important to this team.He has to be a more complete player.Don't just shoot three's.Get into the lane and score or get fouled.He doesn't have real great hands when he gets the ball down low.

[StanleyOwnsYou]

I agree with both of you. Last night's game was agame well suited for Josh. He had some HUGE buckets in the second half in which I believe was his best game of the year. There will be games that suit him well and other that suit JLove better. In the end, it should prove valuable to have two different types of bigs that we can rely on.

All I want to know is where has that drive to bucket and 1 been all year? He should penetrate more often. It will free our outside shooters up and with him being such a good FT shooter, its a win-win, unless he's called for a charge that it is.

[MuskieSuperFan]

It seemed like he did more of that last year, in fact I think your right I can't even remember seeing him drive to hole this year...He should !

[XU-XHI]

His biggest drive as a Muskie came against BYU in the tourney. Hopefully he utilizes his size and skills and gains confidence from the GW game.

[DWXU23]

Duncan has been playing much better since coming off the bench and is knocking down most his threes but i still get nervous when he gets the ball close to the hoop in trafic.

[xfan]

I don't think we can leave Duncan alone until he starts playing like a senior. One game doesn't do it for me. Why is it at X we always have a player or two that digresses the more experience they have? Duncan needs to start catching the ball with consistency, play interior defense, and show some effort. We need him for the RUN in '08.

[vee4xu]

Still shoots too many three's for my liking. Also, his hands are not very good, but that really isn't his fault. He does try hard, I will give him that.

[mhettel]

He's pretty good at what he does. we just all want him to do the things he doesn't do. His game is a 2/3 and his body is a 4/5.

His hands are poor, making his driving a challenge. They don't help when he rebounds either.

He doesn't have a natural "nose" for the ball as a rebounder. He'll grab it if it comes to him and he's ready.

His defense is fine against an average PF or smallish center.

His inside offense isn't pretty, but he gets it done with his little jump hook and push shots.

he plays hard. He shoots very well when set. His FT shooting is money.

There would be few teams where you would say that a guy like Duncan wouldn't help as a key part of the rotation.

3.5 years into his career folks. he aint changing. like him for what the does.

[joebba]

I agree. We all know his capabilities. Yes, he has some issues in the post but I can tell he is trying to be better than in the past. I saw a few times in the GW game where Love suffered from some of the samme issues as Duncan, sometimes a little slow down low on the post, not holding onto to the ball hard enough.

Duncan is still an important player to this team.