Duke basketball 2013-14 player review: Tyler Thornton
(04/11/14 6:56pm)
Tyler Thornton
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Tyler Thornton
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Blue Devils are no strangers to facing elite talent seemingly every weekend in the gauntlet that is the ACC schedule. This weekend, they'll get a crack at a pitcher who many project could be the No. 1 overall pick in June's MLB draft.Duke will play host to highly-touted southpaw Carlos Rodon and N.C. State for a three-game series beginning Friday at Durham Bulls Athletic Park—the Blue Devils' first series of the year at their home away from home. First pitch of the opener is set for 6 p.m., followed by 1 p.m. starts Saturday and Sunday.A 6-foot-3 junior, Rodon put professional league scouts on notice last season by posting a 10-3 record and racking up 184 strikeouts. Since 2003, only five players nationwide have recorded as many punchouts in a single season—four of those are Tim Lincecum, David Price, Stephen Strasburg and Jered Weaver, who went on to become studs in the major leagues.Featuring a fastball that can run as high as 94 miles per hour, Rodon keeps hitters off-balance with a devastating slider. Duke head coach Chris Pollard said he expects to see the N.C. State ace Saturday afternoon."Carlos is going to get his strikeouts. If not the best pitcher in the country, he's certainly in the conversation for best pitcher in the country," Pollard said. "[The slider] has really been the bread and butter for him all year. He's going to get his swings and misses. What you try to do is get in good counts and when you do get a fastball you have to be ready for it because it might be the only one you get the entire at-bat."Duke (18-16, 7-8 in the ACC) tagged Rodon for six runs—four of them earned—in his start against the Blue Devils last season, but the left-hander also struck out 15 hitters in nine innings of work. The Wolfpack won that game in 10 innings. Duke had the bases loaded twice in the early-going of that contest, but Rodon was able to minimize the damage.Rodon has been a tough-luck loser this season, though, going just 2-5 in eight starts despite a 2.44 ERA. The culprit has largely been spotty defense behind him—half of the runs scored against the junior this year have been unearned.After pushing across just eight runs during a four-game losing streak, the Blue Devil offense broke out of its collective funk Tuesday with nine runs on 10 hits against N.C. Central. Pollard noted several positives that could, if continued, propel the Blue Devils back into contention in the ACC."We did a really good job with two strikes. We did a really good job with situational hitting, scoring guys when we had an opportunity to score them —we didn't leave a lot of meat on the bone," Pollard said. "I've told our club numerous times this year that with as well as we've pitched and played defense, once we get a couple of key guys hot we have the ability to go on a run."The Wolfpack (19-13, 5-10) have juggled their rotation of late, so it is unclear who else the Blue Devils will face this weekend. Southpaws Brad Stone and Ryan Williamson are two likely options, meaning Duke would face left-handed arms in every game of the series. Andrew Woek, usually reserved for use in the later innings, could earn a starting nod as well.Duke will counter with its usual trio of weekend starters in Drew Van Orden, Trent Swart and Michael Matuella. Swart, who will toe the rubber Saturday for the Blue Devils, will be making his second rehab start as he continues to recover from an elbow injury. The junior threw two hitless innings last weekend at Georgia Tech but struggled with his command and needed 40 pitches to get through the first two frames. Pollard said the plan is to lengthen Swart's outing against the Wolfpack.The Wolfpack have three thumpers in their lineup in Andrew Knizner, Trea Turner and Logan Ratledge, who all have four homers on the season. But given the consistency of the Blue Devil staff all season long, Pollard said he expects runs to be at a premium this weekend."Pitching has been a strength of our team all year," Pollard said. "I'm going to be very surprised if we don't pitch well again this weekend. The key's going to be to have a good offensive approach and push some runs across."
With Duke's season in the books, The Blue Zone will review the seasons of all the Blue Devils, beginning with the freshman Monday and ending with the seniors and graduate students Friday.
The Blue Devil defense struggled against a high-octane Boston College offense, allowing the Eagles to play spoiler on Senior Day.
Missing three racing shells has forced the team to adjust on the fly this week in practice at Lake Michie in Bahama, N.C., but hasn't affected the Blue Devils' preparation.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>RALEIGH—Live by the three, die by the three. By that logic, the Blue Devils should have had no problem Friday afternoon.Mercer had other ideas.Fifteen 3-pointers were not enough for No. 3 Duke to escape the 14th-seeded Bears, falling 78-71 at PNC Arena. The Blue Devils made just three two-point baskets in the second half, as Jabari Parker and Rodney Hood were never able to find a rhythm.Parker scored 14 points but was just 4-of-14 from the floor, while Hood finished with just six points and was held scoreless in the second half. Arriving in Durham with high expectations, Parker called the loss "disappointing" and his season "incomplete.""We didn't close the deal. We had a lot of chances to do so," said Parker, who acknowledged that the pressures of playing in March affected his style of play. "I should've treated it like any other game... [I didn't do] what I did before this: just playing."Empty possessions down the stretch proved costly for the Blue Devils, as an errant pass out of bounds, an air-ball and a travel gave Mercer a chance to erase a 63-58 Duke lead. The Bears took advantage, scoring 11 unanswered points in the closing minutes to pull off the major upset.Playing a Mercer squad with seven seniors, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said his team showed its youth, letting a late second-half lead slip away for the fifth time this season.Another late-game meltdown brought Duke's season to a premature end with an upset loss to Mercer."The tournament sometimes places you in a position where you have a younger team than the team you're playing against. Not just younger in age but in physical maturity," Krzyzewski said. "[We're] just young [inside]. I mean, we've gone through that all year."Initially, Duke was able to survive the struggles of its two leading scorers, thanks to the 3-pointer. Rasheed Sulaimon set the trigger-happy tone early for the Blue Devils, draining two corner triples on Duke's first two possessions. He and junior Quinn Cook hit big shot after big shot from downtown to pace Duke, finishing with a combined 43 points, 36 of which came via 3-pointers.With Mercer center Daniel Coursey—the Atlantic Sun's Defensive Player of the Year—making life difficult for the Blue Devils in the key, Sulaimon and his teammates resorted to the long ball, firing away 37 times on the afternoon."[Mercer] really packed it in," sophomore forward Amile Jefferson said. "They did a good job of, whenever guys drove or we got it in down low, they had multiple guys crowd the paint, and that's what was there, the kick-out three."Even with the Blue Devils' streaky shooting, the Bears (27-8) refused to roll over. Ike Kwamu poured in all 11 of his points in the first half off the bench as Mercer executed brilliantly in the half-court. The Bears shot 55.6 percent from the field and converted on 23-of-28 free throws.With Duke (26-9) trailing 45-40, Tyler Thornton made a series of plays of the type that have defined his career in Durham. He nailed his first 3-point attempt of the afternoon to cut the deficit to two, then came up with a steal on the next Mercer possession. He couldn't finish in the lane and fell to the ground out of bounds, but scrambled up only to hit the deck again to save the ball from careening out of bounds. Thornton's hustle play earned Sulaimon two free throws, erasing what had been Mercer's largest lead of the game.Thornton's energy created a spark for the Blue Devils on the offensive end, but the defensive letdowns that have plagued Duke in second halves all season re-emerged once more, the major reason why there will be no more hustle plays in a Duke uniform from the senior.Another triple by Cook gave Duke the lead back at 48-45, but Mercer scored four straight points to reclaim it. Finding himself wide open again from the top of the key, Cook splashed home his fifth 3-pointer of the afternoon, putting Duke ahead 54-51 with 9:05 remaining.Parker finally asserted himself with 5:39 remaining, converting a 3-point play to put Duke ahead 60-58. Thornton then calmly sank three free-throws to give Duke a five-point cushion.Mercer was left celebrating as the Blue Devils once again failed to make big plays down the stretch.But that cushion was short-lived, as the Bears—who shot more than 50 percent from the floor on the afternoon—controlled the rest of the game. Coursey led the Bears with 17 points, scoring as many two-point field goals as the entire Duke team, and Mercer got double-figure contributions from Jakob Gollon, Langston Hall and Anthony White Jr.The Blue Devils allowed a 17-0 run down the stretch in a loss to Wake Forest March 5. This time around, it was 11 straight Mercer points that ended Duke's season prematurely."On the defensive end is where we've lost all the games," Hood said of Duke's plethora of second-half collapses. "People like to say offensive, we'd go in a drought, something like that. Defensively, we come down and score a bucket, and they come back with an answer. It just sucks we didn't figure it out before this tournament....I thought I'd be playing after today."
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Duke is getting all it can handle from No. 14 seed Mercer in its second round game in the NCAA tournament's Midwest Region, nursing a fragile 35-34 lead at halftime. Freshman Jabari Parker has struggled for the Blue Devils, committing a pair of early traveling violations and a goaltending violation, while shooting 2-of-7 from the field halfway through his first NCAA tournament appearance. Quinn Cook rattled home a pair of triples and had a steal and break-away lay-up to score eight straight points for Duke, but for all his efforts the Blue Devils found themselves knotted at 17-apiece. With Atlantic Sun Defensive Player of the Year Daniel Coursey clogging up the paint, Duke has dialed it up from distance in the first half, hitting eight 3-pointers. Despite the hot shooting, the Bears have stuck around thanks to several well-executed sets in the half-court offense.Here are some observations from the first half:
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The road to Dallas and the Final Four runs 1,180 miles from Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils only have to travel 21 for the first leg.Third-seeded Duke begins its quest for the program's fifth national championship against No. 14 seed Mercer at 12:15 p.m. Friday afternoon at PNC Arena in Raleigh in the NCAA tournament's Midwest Region."I think it's amazing for our group to be so close," sophomore forward Amile Jefferson said. "I think we'll have a great fan base out there in Raleigh at the PNC Arena, playing on a court we're familiar with. Our young guys haven't played there yet, but everyone else is really familiar with that court.... To have any slight advantage in a tournament like this is always great."Another advantage for Duke (26-8) is getting an extra day of rest and preparation."For us, the main thing is, after playing in the ACC championship game, playing those three games in 40 hours, it's good to play on Friday instead of Thursday and not have to travel," Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said.The Bears (26-8) earned an automatic bid to the Big Dance by taking home the Atlantic Sun tournament title. Last year's conference tournament champion—Florida Gulf Coast—busted brackets in highlight-reel fashion as a No. 15 seed, stunning second-seeded Georgetown in the Round of 64 and easing past San Diego State to reach the Sweet 16.Atlantic Sun Player of the Year Langston Hall is Mercer's only double-digit scorer at 14.7 points per game, also handing out a team-best 5.6 helpers per contest. At 6-foot-4, he'll have a size advantage if marked by Tyler Thornton or Quinn Cook and earned rave reviews from Krzyzewski as a player any team in the ACC would like to have. The guard is one of seven seniors on an experienced Mercer team, but the entire roster be making its NCAA tournament debut when the Bears step onto the court Friday.Duke will also rely on players who have never seen a minute of action in the Big Dance. The dynamic duo of Jabari Parker and Rodney Hood combine for 35.7 points per game as two of five Blue Devils averaging more than eight points per contest.Mercer also boasts the A-Sun's Defensive Player of the Year in senior Daniel Coursey, the Bears' second-leading scorer at 9.9 points per game. Krzyzewski said the 6-foot-10, 220-pound senior reminds him of Notre Dame forward Garrick Sherman, citing his poise and decision-making. Sherman hurt the Blue Devils to the tune of 14 points and eight rebounds when the Fighting Irish upset Duke in January.The 2014 edition of March Madness has already seen a smattering of upsets, indicative of a parity-filled college basketball landscape. In their last NCAA tournament game played in North Carolina, the Blue Devils were stunned by No. 15 seed Lehigh in 2012, and will look to avoid a similar early exit this weekend."Mercer is a team that can beat us, definitely," Krzyzewski said. "There are teams seeded in double-digits in this tournament that can give any team, in that one shot, a run for their money and beat them. That wasn't the case a decade ago. It was the exception. Now it's the norm because of the age difference, the experience of playing together difference, all those things."This postseason is the last chance for senior captains Tyler Thornton and Josh Hairston to bring a championship back to Durham. Graduate student Andre Dawkins—a member of the 2010 national championship team—is the only Blue Devil who owns a ring. Krzyzewski noted that if his team wants to cut down the nets come April 7, Duke will have to fight for every win."If we're fortunate enough to win [Friday], then we'll get ready for whoever's next. That's the way you got to do it nowadays," Krzyzewski said. "It's not given to you. You've got to keep earning it. But because of what we've done—a lot of people think these guys have done that, that this group of guys have done that. They haven't done it."Parker, Hood and Co. can take a step toward doing it Friday.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Did not play—coach's decision.That was Rasheed Sulaimon's stat line from Duke's victory against Michigan in the ACC/Big Ten challenge back in December, the product of a month-long slump that relegated the one-time starter to the bench. But with hard work, newfound confidence and two big shots, Sulaimon is back in a big way as Duke heads into the NCAA tournament.For a player who played valuable minutes on a senior-laden team as a freshman last season, Sulaimon's peaks and valleys have been more pronounced than anticipated. The sophomore struggled mightily in November—he scored in double-digits in Duke's first two games but did not eclipse eight points again until Dec. 28 against Eastern Michigan, a nine-game stretch in which he averaged 4.0 points per game.After a rough start to the year, Rasheed Sulaimon has bounced back and played a major role in helping Duke out of its slow start in ACC play.The Houston native hit rock bottom with a resounding thud Dec. 3, when he did not see any game action in Duke's 79-69 victory against the Wolverines. With a stable of talented guards at his disposal, head coach Mike Krzyzewski split Sulaimon's minutes among Quinn Cook, Tyler Thornton and freshman Matt Jones. In his postgame comments, Krzyzewski did not dance around the issue."[Sulaimon] has to play better than the guys who played tonight," Krzyzewski said. "He contributed great from the bench."The sophomore got a chance in Duke's next game, but not much of one, playing just five scoreless minutes in a Blue Devil win against Gardner-Webb. After a very productive freshman season, Sulaimon did not live up to expectations in the opening stretch of the 2013-14 season.Long talks with his parents followed as Sulaimon tried to work his way out of the funk."I just told myself that it can’t get any worse than this right now, so I just had to get out of it," Sulaimon said during the ACC tournament.Signs of an upward swing came in Duke's Dec. 19 victory against UCLA at Madison Square Garden. Sulaimon scored eight points, grabbed five rebounds and dished out four assists. His confidence was back, but the recovery was still incomplete.When freshman Jabari Parker joined Sulaimon in a rut, the team's performance as a whole continued to suffer. Duke got off to a rocky 1-2 start in ACC play thanks to two poor second-half showings at Notre Dame and at Clemson. In those losses, Sulaimon attempted just six shots and scored eight points total, a total non-factor.Sulaimon's season—and his team's—changed for the better Jan. 13 when the Blue Devils returned home to face Virginia. Duke led by double-digits late in the second half when the Cavaliers mounted a furious comeback, grabbing a 65-64 lead with less than 40 seconds to play. Sulaimon, who finished the game with a season-high 21 points, used an extremely friendly bounce to knock in a go-ahead 3-pointer off a broken play, helping the Blue Devils survive their third collapse in four games.Sulaimon's fortunate 3-pointer to bury a Virginia comeback in Cameron Indoor Stadium put a halt to Duke's ACC struggles and helped Sulaimon become a consistent contributor again.“A lot of prayer and just getting back in the gym and just believing in myself again," Sulaimon said about what helped him turn the corner. "Once I did that I started executing again, and all my hard work in practice [paid off]... once I started doing well Coach gave me a chance in the game."With his slump in the rearview mirror, Sulaimon saw an uptick in playing time and took advantage, posting double-digit performances in seven of his next nine games. Nestled in that span was Duke's Feb. 1 game at Syracuse, in which Sulaimon hit one of the memorable shots of the college basketball season. Taking the ball the full length of the court in five seconds, he rose up and drilled a triple at the buzzer to send the game into overtime and the Carrier Dome crowd into silence.Sulaimon is far from the only Blue Devil to go through a rough patch this season. Parker needed a few ACC games to get accustomed to carrying the load in conference play, Andre Dawkins has endured cold spells from beyond the arc and Quinn Cook currently finds himself out of a starting job. But throughout the season, Krzyzewski and his coaching staff have remained positive and given everyone the opportunity to earn back their minutes.Sulaimons late-game scoring ability will serve Duke well in tournament play as teams focus defensive efforts on Rodney Hood and Jabari Parker."Practice is a big thing. Guys are willing to work and get out of their rut," redshirt sophomore Rodney Hood said. "You have to come in locked in every day. There have been a couple games where guys haven't played, but everybody's going to get a shot to play. It just depends on what you do while you're in there."The shots didn't go down for Sulaimon in Sunday's ACC title game, but the sophomore still enters the NCAA tournament playing some of his best basketball of the season and could be the key to a Blue Devil title pursuit. He's no stranger to rising to the occasion—scoring a team-high 21 points to push Duke past Creighton in the Round of 32 last March—and has proven himself with two clutch 3-pointers this season, making Sulaimon one of a number of weapons opponents will have to key on if the game comes down to the final possession."Some people could have folded, splintered," sophomore Amile Jefferson said. "He's gutted it out, and he's been playing really well. He's a big key for our team because he can do things that not many people in the country can."Michigan looms as a potential Sweet 16 opponent for the Blue Devils. Sulaimon may still get his crack at the Wolverines after all.
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____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>GREENSBORO, N.C.—Gone are the days when the ACC tournament champion could effectively be decided by a coin flip between conference powerhouses Duke and North Carolina.Virginia's 72-63 win against Duke Sunday at the Greensboro Coliseum made the Cavaliers the fourth different program to take home the tournament hardware in as many years. Josh Hairston, Tyler Thornton, Andre Dawkins and Todd Zafirovski are the only members of the Duke roster with an ACC title, which came back in 2011 as the last of three consecutive Blue Devil championships.In the ensuing three years, a trio of teams outside the state of North Carolina claimed the tournament trophy for the first time ever. Florida State won in 2012, followed by one-hit wonder Miami last season and Sunday's coronation of Tony Bennett's Cavaliers."That's special, but it shows you the stranglehold those schools have had on it," Bennett said of finishing off the historic stretch. "Our job is to pry it away."Thornton said the Blue Devils can't expect to coast to a title."You can't come in expecting to just hang a banner, you have to fight for that," Thornton said. "Each one of those teams had a chip on their shoulder at some point in the season and they weren't getting the respect they felt they deserved. They had a point to prove and they proved it."Seventeen of the 18 ACC tournament champions between 1994 and 2011 hailed from the Tar Heel state. Maryland needed overtime against Duke in 2004 to bust up that streak. The Blue Devils climbed the podium 10 times in that stretch, and North Carolina cut down the nets five times. Tim Duncan-led Wake Forest hoisted the trophy in 1995 and 1996.Despite the parity within the conference in the last three years, the ACC has struggled to shed its reputation as consisting of Duke, North Carolina and the rest of the field. The conference's dilemma is reminiscent of the PGA in the heyday of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. That duo's absence from the leaderboard in the late 2000s allowed the nation to appreciate the next generation of talented golfers, but the last three tournament champs have entered the NCAA tournament still under-appreciated at the national level.Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski didn't hold back during the weekend in voicing displeasure concerning the conference's dwindling number of projected tournament bids. He jokingly offered the services of his Blue Devils and Roy Williams' Tar Heels in continuing to promote the top-to-bottom strength of the league."[It] hasn't done anything yet," Krzyzewski said of the new found parity's effects on the conference's national perception. "Should I tell Roy the two of us should keep losing?"The Cavaliers' rise to prominence this season has been predicated on all the things that allowed Krzyzewski's Blue Devils to achieve perennial postseason success during the past three decades. Virginia stifled their tournament competition by allowing 54 points per game in its three victories. A veteran ball club, the Cavaliers executed efficiently on offense behind All-ACC selection Malcom Brogdon and tournament MVP Joe Harris, even if it wasn't always pretty.Virginia's Akil Mitchell forced Jabari Parker to work for each of his 23 points.Down low, forwards Akil Mitchell and Anthony Gill made life difficult for Blue Devil slashers at the rim and forced Jabari Parker to work hard for each of his 23 points. Offensively, the duo contributed 19 points and 22 rebounds, including several big offensive boards down the stretch after Duke appeared to make the defensive stops it needed."Virginia's a very methodical team, they run their offense and they don't take bad shots," Duke guard Rasheed Sulaimon said. "One thing about them is you have to stay disciplined all the way through the rebound. I thought a lot of times we stayed disciplined throughout the shot and then kind of [lapsed] a little bit on the rebounding. When you're playing a team like that you've got to finish the whole play out."Conference expansion makes a return to the Tobacco Road-dominated ACC that much more unlikely. Syracuse won its first 25 games before stumbling down the stretch, and Jamie Dixon's Pittsburgh squad played Virginia tight in the conference semifinals. Reigning national champion Louisville, which enters the league next season, blew through the American Athletic Conference tournament like a tornado."I mean, [the ACC is] the best conference in America," guard Quinn Cook said. "People can say the Big 12, the Big Ten, no disrespect to them but... there's never a consistent winner."The chance to play against elite competition is what draws players like Sulaimon to Durham. They know that year in, year out, they'll have a chance to compete for titles, even though the conference's improvement has made that path increasingly more difficult."Now that the ACC is expanding too with more teams coming in, it just makes the tournament that much better," Sulaimon said. "I signed up for Duke to come here and win ACC championships and national championships. It hurts for us to not win [today] but we've got another chance to win the big thing."
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Points were expected to be at a premium here in Greensboro on championship Sunday. Virginia holds a slim edge at the half, 28-25, as a sluggish start gave way to fireworks down the stretch in the opening 20 minutes. Duke struggled offensively against a Virginia defense that leads the nation in points per game allowed, missing nine of its first 12 shots, but recovered with a 9-1 run to stay in the game. The Cavaliers sprinted ahead behind torrid shooting but their efficiency did not last, as Tony Bennett's club endured more than an eight-minute stretch without a field goal. Jabari Parker leveled the score at 19-19 with a stepback 3-pointer, one of the first shots in rhythm he had in the first 20 minutes.Here are some observations from the first half:
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Duke beat Virginia 69-65 Jan. 13 on a late 3-pointer by Rasheed Sulaimon. Since then, the Cavaliers have won 15-of-16 games, and will have a chance to add an ACC tournament championship to their conference regular-season title when they face the Blue Devils Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Greensboro Coliseum. For Duke, a second victory against Virginia would help the Blue Devils strengthen their case for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.Here are today's keys to the game:
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>GREENSBORO, N.C.—In the first year of the new ACC, the last two teams standing are old conference foes.Third-seeded Duke will try to unseat top-seeded Virginia in the ACC tournament championship game Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Greensboro Coliseum. Depending on how the rest of the conference tournament slate plays out across the nation, the teams could also be jockeying for position as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament."As long as I'm coaching, coaching an ACC [tournament] game is an honor, let alone coaching multiple games," Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "If you have a chance to win a championship in this league, it's the best."The first meeting between the two teams Jan. 13 at Cameron Indoor Stadium was played under very different pretenses. Duke (26-7) sat at 1-2 in ACC play and had just seen its AP poll top-10 streak ended, and the Cavaliers (27-6) were unranked and unheralded at the national level.Duke looked to be in total control in the second half, but the Cavaliers clawed back from a double-digit second half deficit to take a brief lead late in the game. With no margin for error, the Blue Devils squeaked out a 69-65 victory behind a fortuitous bounce on a Rasheed Sulaimon 3-pointer with 18.8 seconds remaining.After struggling and earning sporadic playing time early in the season, Duke's win against Virginia got Rasheed Sulaimon back on track.Sulaimon—who erupted for 21 points against Virginia after struggling early in the season—acknowledged the importance of his shot to altering the path of Duke's season, but dismissed the first meeting between the teams as "irrelevant."“Playing them, we’re familiar with how they play, but like I said that was about two months ago," Sulaimon said. "Everything is heightened in March. They’re a better team, we’re a better team, so you can’t really look at that game too, too much."