Should Duke men’s basketball be concerned?

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V to the Victoria, producing the program. My guess is that Brian Geisinger has requested his own Bump Music and I know him to be a pretty big OutKast fan, so why not? So let's get to Brian Geisinger from Pac Pride, Devil's Den and probably four other things that I don't know off the top of my head.

And he joins us on the Adam Gold show to talk about Triangle Hoops. What's up, man? I'm doing well. How about you? Yes, I come in with a lengthy list of demands as far as your right music, beverage choice and obviously, you know, a contributor paycheck with a lot of zeros at the end of it.

All those things are included, right? Yes, I've checked all the boxes on the rider, on the tour rider for Brian Geisinger. Alright, I want to start with the Wolf Pack. So we set this up as Pac Pride, so let's do it. Look, I know Virginia Tech isn't the team we thought they were going to be at the beginning of the season.

I still think it's there, but I don't care. I was super impressed with the way they came back after the win. The emotional win and the thorough beating they put on Duke on was a Tuesday night to come back Saturday night on the road and be impressive.

They weren't the same obviously, but they were impressive and their defense was good. I mean, am I getting out too far ahead of what I think this NC State team can be? Not yet.

I don't think so. And yeah, just real quickly on Virginia Tech. I mean, they've lost four straight games, but three of those were without Hunter Couture. He was a really, really important player for them.

As good as Sean Padula has been this season, he's probably been like a top seven or eight player in the league. Without Hunter Couture and his ability to sort of like run around screens and shoot threes, that offense is missing probably its second or third most important piece. So that's tough, but that doesn't take away anything from the two wins that State had last week. To beat a fully healthy Duke team with Dereek Whitehead starting to play pretty well and to just wax them in Raleigh, thoroughly dominate them. And then to go on the road and get a huge road win, to pick up two victories last week that are probably going to look good on the NCAA tournament resume. And right now, don't look up, but NC State's top 50 nationally in defensive efficiency, you know the offense is going to be there.

So right now you're looking at a team that's probably one of the top 25 or 30 best teams in the country. And to get those two wins too, without Jack Clark and when, you know, obviously Dusan Orchage is still out too, it is huge. And for a team that wasn't sure what it had coming in off the bench, you know, as recently as a couple of weeks ago, it's massive. I mean, can you imagine Gold, even if I had told you two, three weeks ago that Greg Gantt was going to play 67 minutes combined over in for NC State in wins over Duke and Virginia Tech, would you, you know, I don't think you would have believed that.

Forgot he was there. Like literally he's played within the last two games for state, he played probably, I think close to 50% of the total minutes he's ever played in an NC State uniform. And they were last week's games, both wins. And I mean, Gants, you know, he's, he's a bit of a liability on offense, but he's doing so much hustle play stuff for them with offensive rebounds, steals, deflections, switching around, guarding a bunch of different positions and kind of filling in for Clark, at least on the defensive side of the floor. Yeah, it's funny going back to the Duke game. I would have, if you had given me an over under hat after having watched it, if you had given me an over under on how many minutes DJ Burns played and said, 25, I would have taken the over. And he only played 16.

That's how good those 16 minutes were. It felt like he was on the court forever. He was so good. Now, he wasn't great. He didn't have to be great at Virginia Tech, but he has been so he is a very, very is an old school score from inside.

Yeah. And he can really like help facilitate and pass and you can run offense through him. He had a big stretch in the second half against Virginia Tech kind of after the Hokies made their initial surge where I think it was like after the second media timeout and he's, he scored on, if it wasn't three straight possessions, it was, you know, three out of four or something, three out of five, something like that, all post up isolations. And yeah, you know, DJ, I do like when he's able to get deeper post position before the initial catch, but he's shown the ability to catch from 1920 feet out and sort of just spin and, you know, back down and, you know, kind of just get to these weird little angles and throwing these little, you know, kind of funky flip shots. And if you send a double team, like he's gonna kick out for a shooter, or he's gonna find the cutter for a layup. And it is nice for them to have, they can, they, you know, obviously with Jarkel and with Torqueveon, you've got the two pick and roll guys that you can, you can run offense through, then you can kick out to KC Morsell. And like, that's the base for the offense here for NC State, right?

And when one of those guys has it going, you could really sort of like dial up their usage. Well, teams can also start to key in on that a little bit. And then Burns gives you, it's like a pitcher having a, you know, more than just one pitch. Like you've got an off speed pitch with Burns too, where you can throw it into him in the post. And all of a sudden you've got to defend NC State differently. It's not all high spread pick and roll, right? The geometry of the court is different when, when you're playing through Burns in the post. And I do think it's interesting for both the wins last week, after starting the first couple of games with him, Hortage out, Burns went back to coming off the bench.

They started E.B. DeJuana to give them some defense and some screens and some dives. And I think, you know, DeJuana, again, he's limited offensively, but he gives you some, some rim protection. He plays really hard and he's playing, he's just doing his job that NC State's asking him. And then Burns can now give you some offense off the bench, you know, which I think is probably a role that's probably a little bit better for him.

You can maybe manage just minutes a little bit better that way. But I do think, because I'm not sure when, you know, guys like Clark and Mahorchuk are going to be back, you know, they're going to need some more 25, 20, 25 minute plus games out of Burns at some point, because as, as much fun as the two wins were last week for NC State, it does feel like with some of their limitations offensively, like they're playing some of these lineups offensively where you're like, you know, the defense doesn't have to guard two of these guys out here, you know, and you really saw Virginia Tech with Justin Mutts playing way off of Greg Gantt or way off of Ernest Ross. And so you're going to need to be able to bring in a guy like Burns to give you another sort of like focal point offensively. And again, DeJuana has played his role, I think almost to perfection this season. And I, you know, I'm sure maybe you've seen some of the stuff they've put out on social media, like around this team.

And I know winning helps all of this stuff. But the vibe seemed really good around state. And I think a guy like Burns has helped that. Like, I think, you know, Kevin Keats and his staff give them a lot of credit. But they brought in guys that clearly do seem to really like playing with one another. And it's hard not to crack a smile.

When you see the video DJ burns in the Virginia Tech locker room after the game with the sunglasses. It's so good. So yeah, I don't know, the vibes are good.

And it's nice for them to have a week off to get ready for, you know, what's gonna be a really, really tough match. I'm the opposite. I keep playing. I want to keep the role the role going. I also think that year two of Casey Morsell is light years better than year one. And that is the perfect complimentary player. Plus, he can defend. He's got a pretty he's got, I think, an underrated big body, even though he's not, you know, huge.

But I love I love what he adds to the team. Let me get to Carolina. We'll get to the Duke part of this before we have to say goodbye. Tar Heels, I thought that was exactly what it was supposed to be against Notre Dame. Notre Dame does not appear to me to be very good at all, which is kind of disappointing because this is like another year where the Irish really aren't very good. And, you know, I don't know what was it five, six years ago when Pat Conaton was there, whoever, however long ago that was, that was a good, a really excellent run for Notre Dame.

They have not been good, but North Carolina did what they had to do without Pete Nance. Bench looked good. Probably Puff Johnson's best game of the year.

Definitely. Yeah, definitely Puff's best game without a doubt. And, you know, they need him without Pete Nance, right? You know, Nance was injured within the first minute or two against Wake Forest.

He doesn't play against Notre Dame. And you've seen UNC kind of lean into, I wouldn't say these are necessarily like, you know, small ball lineups, but to an extent they're playing more three guards with Seth Trimble, Caleb Love and RJ Davis on the floor together. And in Leaky Black sort of as like the defacto foreman, you put all of that, that slashing, that shooting, that playmaking around Armando Bacott, who's having, I mean, Bacott's been incredible this season since he kind of came back from the injury early on. You put all that around him and it's really, really tough to defend.

I was at the in Chapel Hill for the UNC Wake game last week. And RJ Davis, the shot making from him was incredible in that game. And, but ultimately when UNC needed offense, they could just, you know, slice screen, cross screen Bacott down to the low block and just play through him.

Right. And if you send a double team, he's going to make the pass. And if it's a single coverage, like he's just, he's just going to score or if he doesn't make the shot, he'll get, you know, get the offensive rebound or he'll draw a foul or whatever.

So I don't know. This is, I think, I mean, obviously I expected Pete Nance to be a huge part of the picture for UNC and, and if he comes back healthy, I'm sure he will be, but this is starting to kind of the, the, the, you, this UNC team with the offense playing this well, I think sort of that's more or less what we were expecting to see at the start of this season. And I think Puff Johnson was a part of that, but having a guy like Seth Trimble come in and I know he wasn't maybe great against Notre Dame, but very good against Wake Forest. And you have a guy who can really pressure the rim, can finish, knows how to play without the basketball. Like he's a nice fit next to Davis and Love who obviously want the ball a lot. And if you're playing through Bacott in the post, then, you know, Leakey's going to have it some too.

So you need a guy that's sort of comfortable playing in space and playing without the ball. And I think those lineups with Love, RJ and Trimble, especially against Wake, it was huge, those games, but they played, I think 30 plus minutes combined the last two games and they've won those minutes, which is, is huge for them, you know, down Nance right now. All right, let's get to the Blue Devils.

I mean, I'm kind of worried if Jeremy Roach never gets back to full health. I don't know how they score. Yeah, well, I, the one thing I will say is some big free throws late in the game for Kyle Filipowski. Nice to see him knock those down. Drake Whitehead continues to play better. Yep. He was very good.

That's the huge, that's the, and that's been the case for a few weeks now. I thought Drake played pretty well against NC State. He just kind of got lost in the shuffle because Duke just got, you know, the, the, the doors blown off against State, but that's big for them because Whitehead is their, he's their most talented player.

I mean, he's the guy that has top five pick, top eight pick potential and for he, so he's the upside play. So I do think all season long, and I don't know if they'll, they'll get there, but I do think like one is Duke team, like they're decent. They're maybe not, you know, exceptional, you know, Duke team by that program standards. But I think this is a team that is still a top, you know, four or five team in the ACC is still maybe a top, you know, 30 team nationally or whatever.

They have two top 20 wins this season. This is a roster with a bunch of NBA players on it still, but they lack dynamic shot creation and playmaking in the back court and on the wings. And so Whitehead can help there. But that's where the loss of Roach could be a big hit. And that's why they probably need more from Tyrese Proctor. Like there are times when they put Jalen Blake's in and all of a sudden you're like, wow, Duke has some actual like zest and, you know, like, you know, burst coming in from the, from the back court. And it's like, it's great that Jalen Blake's has played well in minutes and been able to provide that stuff.

But ultimately, you know, you don't want to have to rely on him for that. And you know, I don't know, I feel bad for Roach because, you know, this was supposed to kind of be his team, his year, he's the captain, he's coming back from the final four run and, you know, dealing with a toe injury like this mid season, like, you know, I don't even know how you play through that because it does feel like every game since he scuffed it up, like he's, there's some point during the games, even when he's healthy enough to play where you do see him, like it's bothering him. And I think he is not like Roach is like, you know, an elite athlete at the guard position, but he does give them a little bit of north-south burst, a guy that can attack switches that can get downhill can't always finish just because of the size limitations.

But um, but not having that is huge for them. So I'm not I'm certainly not like not out on Duke yet, especially because I'm a little encouraged to see Dereek Whitehead playing like this. And I know Tyrese Proctor has had a tough season at times this year. I think he's had some bad luck in terms of shooting the ball, because I watched him play for Australia in FIFA competition this summer.

And that was that was like that was pretty good competition. He's playing with grown men. And that he was maybe the youngest guy in the tournament or one of the youngest guys in the tournament. And he, he played well, like he helped create offense for that Australian team. So I think there's a there's a guy there that can really help this roster.

And I think we've seen it in spurts, it's just they're going to need it. I think on a on a guy that can kind of control the tempo of a game for 30 plus minutes, because you just right now, aren't sure what you're gonna have with with with Jay Roach. Yeah, look, I think if Jeremy Roach can't get back to full health, I'm not sure Duke's best point guard isn't John Shire. I mean, he was really good. I mean, he's tremendous to pretty good.

Jay Lucas is a pretty good college player as well. And look, maybe they can look obviously they can play through the post with Ryan young, you can do that. And they've had to probably lean on that, I think more than they wanted to this season. Um, I think I think, you know, Shire was envisioning two types of offense, depending on the center, you know, who was in the game, it's Ryan young, well, then you can kind of play through the post, you can do some high low action, that type of stuff. And then when if Derek lively is the center, yours, it's spread, pick and roll, right? And you're using him as a pressure point on the rim. And I, you know, that hasn't quite worked out the I think there was some hope that and I think there will be for him beyond Duke that Derek lively becomes a guy that can, you know, maybe, you know, maybe shoot threes pick and pop a little bit. And he's what I think oh, for shooting from deep this season.

Um, and really, it was only the first Boston College game. That's the one time this year where he's been like, for an entire game been like a serious pressure point on the rim in terms of the screen and dive and, and in lob game. So I think more on ball reps for Drake Whitehead would is sort of like the play for, for Duke here, you I think you know what you're going to get with Philipowski, but they've probably had to lean on him a little too much for creation, right?

He's really talented. Like he's, he's been one of the best players in the in the ACC, if not the entire country this season, I think is sort of like, even even as some of his efficiency numbers have slipped a little bit the last three, four weeks, I think he is probably established himself as a better prospect for the NBA than we were even sort of envisioning as recently as like three, four months ago. Yeah, they might take away from this conversation is that Duke is slow. And they are they are right now they're slow and they need somebody to give them some burst. Or john Shire is going to have to call a play out every single time down the floor, which I wouldn't be completely opposed to, because I think john can do that.

And I think their offense has enough players. Brian Geisinger at be guys underscore bird pack pot at pack pride devil's den. And you just hit him up on Twitter. He'll, he'll talk to you covers UNC Asheville to I saw that thread.

I saw that thread from over the weekend. You're amazing. Yeah.

Brian guys out. You're the man. I'll talk to you later. Yeah, you guys be good. Okay, take care.