Some few select Ultimate Truths

Hello all!

First off, allow The Ultimate Lord to rain His blessings and good wishes down upon all of the Flock. It has been Some Time since He spoke the Truth... to be honest, as things had been difficult recently, and the shadows had been dark, even His Gracious Heart had taken a beating, and the Truth became harder to come by. Plus, there were a lot of late games, and His bedtime is really like 11:00. Once it gets past 11:00, The Truths are usually snored into a very comfortable pillow.

Having said that... given the win against The Saint John's Redmen Johnnies Red Storm, The Ultimate Lord thought He would once again share... some limited Ultimate Truths!


* Love Bob Knight. Between his sharp insights, acidic wit, and fantastic stories (the Cosell one was funny, interesting, and poignant all at once) he is just the best on TV. However... could he have called us "The Dukes" any more often?

* Anyone notice on that Singler drive about 2:20 into the second... as Email came over into the post, not only did Singler wave him off, but Paulus on the bench also waved him off?

* Very nice to see Elliot and Miles get some minutes. The Ultimate Lord has definitely been in the "Give the young guys minutes" camp, and while He realizes some of it was because Dave was unavailable, He still think these minutes, regardless of the stats (good for Elliot, not as superb for Miles) will go a LONG way towards forging a stronger team in the future.

* Speaking of Elliot, it was very refreshing to see him out there early, make two quick blunders, and not get yanked. There is something to be said for allowing a young guy to get his mistakes in and still grow. In The Ultimate Lord's own years in D1 sports and the pros, He has seen a lot of young guys who get the time grow past early fumbles and become important contributors; hope that Elliot is moving that way because he can bring a lot to the table for our team.

* Speaking of Miles, despite his stats being underwhelming, it was nice to see some of his leaping ability, particularly on a block near the end where he went up for the fake, came back down, and got back up in time to block the shot.

* Loved seeing Jon at the point. Very funny timing, too; just earlier today around lunch The Ultimate Lord was talking with a fellow former Tent #1 guy discussing next year, and The Ultimate Lord put forward the idea that Jon would take the primary point responsibilities while they moved Nolan more over to the 2. Who knew it would actually be a discussion about THIS year? Jon is just so smart with the ball, it actually seems like a no-brainer to put it in his hands. Plus his length and D are fantastic.

* Speaking of Jon, he and Gerald have a great connection out there. They look to each other a lot, both in play and after the whistle. Maybe a bit of a roommate connection, maybe a bit more. They really seem to enjoy each other.

* Speaking of Gerald; glad to hear someone else mention his carping to the refs on a missed call. He has a small tendency to do that that The Ultimate Lord has noticed previously; he really should ditch it. It hasn't really hurt us yet, but mentally it is just a flaw.

* Brian seems to be pretty deep in the bench, and unfortunately didn't show a lot of cause to get higher up. Wish he would just stay between his man and the basket and get those hands in the air.

* Loved seeing Chris Duhon in the house! And speaking of Chris and the house, his crib as featured on Blue Planet was pretty understated. Guess a lot of these guys don't spend a lot of time home and so don't get it too lavish... and anyway, he is young, he has time

* That movie with Nick Cage and the end of the world is only PG-13? Maybe The Ultimate Lord is just a post 9/11 softie, but even the commercials seemed R to me.

* Some very chippy play tonight; a lot of woofing. Kyle really got CREAMED on that one screen down low.

* Anyone else notice the girl behind the announcers in the first half. She was so happy to be on TV but trying SO hard not to make it obvious. She was a bit different than that kid a few games back who kept ducking his head into the shot while his dad kept pulling him back up and scolding him!

* Lance has become a lot more vocal... nice to see that. Heck of a dunk there too... and that pass from his tush; wowzers!

* Maybe the rest of this year will be a bit more enjoyable now that some of us have more realistic expectations, rather than over-the-moon type stuff? Those first-half streaks that Duke has gone on the last few years always gets hopes SO high that it becomes more difficult to enjoy what is accomplished... maybe this year we all can just enjoy it for what it is?

* Lastly, The Ultimate Lord liked that we seemed a lot more patient on offense, looked to drive more, and stopped chucking up 3s. We had seemed to settle into a lazy offense during our recent slump, an offense that has made some Duke fans cringe over the years, where we simply toss up 3s. This team seems to feature a lot of good 3 point shooters, but the reality is we are not as good as we seem (or even COULD be) so it was nice to see us move away from that and try to score in a bit more of an old fashioned manner.

Anyway... fellow Duke fans, it is a delight to be back among you, sharing The Truth for all to hear!