Virginia Union Game Thread

[whereinthehellami]

VUU
Duke's first exhibition game is against Virginia Union University, a historically small black college from Richmond, Virginia. Williard Coker steps in as Virginia Union's head coach after 23 years as an assistant for Coach Robbins, who coached for 30 seasons. Tough, although very cool way start to your head coaching career.

PLAYERS
VU's leading scorer and rebounder Brad Byerson graduated last year averaging 16.8 PPG and 8.1 RPG. His brother Brandon, a 6-1 JR, returns after averaging 11.2 PPG while shooting 42% from 3. His other brother (not Darrell) Braxton, a 6-3 SO, also returns after averaging 7 PPG. 3 brothers on one team, a rarity that Duke could accomplish with the Plumlee's.

The Panther's Greg Thondique, a 6-6 SR was named to the pre-season all CIAA for the second consecutive year. Greg averaged 8.9 PPG and 6.1 RPG last year.

THOUGHTS
VU was 22-8 last year but lost their top two scorers and don't have a player taller than 6-7. Not exactly a recipe for success aggainst Duke, playing right into the Blue Devils strengths.

Obviously this will be a glorified scrimmage and a chance for the Devils to beat up another team instead of themselves. I look for Duke to focus on shutting down their top two guys, Thondique on the inside and the elder Byerson on the outside.

On the other side of the ball I'd like to see Duke focus on playing aggresive mistake free ball. Share the ball and run some plays. This is more of a chance for the Coaches to play with different line-ups and see what parts work better together. Nothing like a 40 plus margin of victory to start the season.

[brianl]

I live in the Richmond area and work within a 1/2 mile of VUU. This program has consistently performed well in CIAA under the leadership of Robbins, including a National Championship a couple of years ago.

They are small, but possess good athleticism and heart. They usually like to play an up tempo style which should lead to an interesting 1st half.

They'll be a good exhibition opponent.

[Indoor66]

I live in the Richmond area and work within a 1/2 mile of VUU. This program has consistently performed well in CIAA under the leadership of Robbins, including a National Championship a couple of years ago.

They are small, but possess good athleticism and heart. They usually like to play an up tempo style which should lead to an interesting 1st half.

They'll be a good exhibition opponent.

Virginia Union has been a small school power for many years. I recall seeing them in the small college National title tourney in 1958 with, IRRC, Jumpin Johnny Jackson.

[bdh21]

Virginia Union also has some notable basketball alums: Charles Oakley and Ben Wallace, among others.

[whereinthehellami]

Virginia Union also has some notable basketball alums: Charles Oakley and Ben Wallace, among others.

Nice dig bdh21. Those are two examples of the kind of player Duke would love to have down low with this team.

[JBDuke]

According to goduke.com, the game is this Saturday at 1:00 pm eastern. It looks like the only video will be via Duke's Inside Access (maybe Cable 13?). I'm not sure, but it doesn't even look like the Duke Radio Network will have this one, although it does look like they'll broadcast the Lenoir-Rhyne game on Nov 5th.