Jihwan and Edeline's CS92 Project
Commentary about the game
After the game ended with the win going to the underdog, many sports writers and websites attempted to come up with faults in the Blue Devils’ strategies that led to their premature exit out of the 2017 NCAA tournament. One of the most convincing reasons is that Duke’s offense lacked precision and strength, which proved fatal especially in face of the Gamecocks’ well-known immaculate defensive front. And this claim seems to be substantiated by statistics. While the Blue Devils averaged 47.5% accuracy in field goals throughout the 2016-17 season, they came short in the South Carolina game at 41.5%, with only 22 out of 53 total attempts making it into the basket. Also, compared to the season average of 11.4 turnovers per game, Duke experienced 18 turnovers in this game, which numerically demonstrates that Duke was unable to maintain controlled possession over the ball. The Gamecocks, on the other hand, performed in a way that’s coherent with their season statistics for the most part. They made 42.9% of the field goals attempts (season average: 42%) and had only 11 turnovers (season average: 13.0). It can be concluded that the Gamecocks showed their usual solid defense, and with their “sloppy” play, the Blue Devils were unable to overcome the defensive pressures, even to perform as well as their season average in many regards. Another interpretation of the game attributes the loss to Luke Kennard’s under-average performance. In the 2016-17 season, Kennard emerged as one of the strongest players on the team, which relied heavily on him in almost every game of the season. However, as one of the five starting players, he scored only a mere 11 points (season average: 19.5) with only 1 successful three-pointer out of 4 attempts (season average: 43.8%). As Duke’s offensive strategies that most likely involved Kennard as a core component failed, as evidenced by the aforementioned statistics, it was unable to penetrate South Carolina’s minute defense. Thankfully, Grayson Allen, who was not a starting 5, stepped in to score 20 points in total, which is well above his season average of 14.5; however, his performance alone was not sufficient to salvage the frequent turnovers Duke faced. Sports fans' reaction to the game Following Duke’s unexpected loss to South Carolina, the social media platform Twitter exploded with basketball fans sharing their reactions, particularly in the form of memes. While some Duke fans expressed their disappointment and frustration over the situation, many non-Duke fans, on the other hand, posted memes that celebrated, and moreover, mocked Duke’s loss to South Carolina. An article explained this phenomenon by referring to the divisive tradition in which the Duke basketball team tends to receive much hate from non-Duke fans, many of whom not only support other teams but may actively root against Duke.
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AuthorsJihwan Hwang and Edeline Loh are juniors with avid interest in computer science currently enrolled in CS92 at Duke. Their NetIDs are jh419 and el121, respectively. ArchivesCategories |