MBB: Duke vs. Mercer, NCAAT R64 (3/21, 12:15, CBS)

[hurleyfor3]

Discuss our Round of 64 matchup with Mercer here.

[Reilly]

http://about.mercer.edu/traditions/

[CameronDuke]

We should know if we play Thursday Saturday or Friday Sunday. Which is it?

[pfrduke]

We should know if we play Thursday Saturday or Friday Sunday. Which is it?

Raleigh is Friday.

[OldPhiKap]

I watched Mercer's semifinal against S.C. Upstate and then final tourney game at Florida Gulf Coast. This is a real team that has a bunch of seniors, good guards, and has had a great year. This is a tough game, friends.

[CameronDuke]

Great, thanks.

[Ichabod Drain]

This is my worst nightmare come true... I'll give a rundown on The Bears later when I get home.

[Duke31122]

They are ranked 99th by KenPom and have one avg double figures. I have watched some of their competition and it isn't that great. However they are experienced. We should be able to take them by 10+

[CameronDuke]

The last time we opened the NCAAT versus a team I had never heard of was in 2012 in Greensboro against Lehigh. We play another team I have never heard of in Raleigh this year and I have learned my lesson not to sleep on them. This game is not an automatic win for Duke. I will be one nervous fan all week!

[Edouble]

Their best player is senior Langston Hall, a 6'4" guard averaging 14.7 ppg and 5.6 apg. I would think that Sulaimon will draw Hall on defense, but that Hood may spend time on him as well.

I would imagine that he is not an NBA talent like CJ McCollum was, but not having seen him play, I really have no clue. McCollum, to me, was a nightmare because we didn't have a lockdown defender to keep up with him. Having defended Harris and Warren pretty well over the past few days, I hope we are prepared to stop Hall.

[gumbomoop]

They shoot lots of 3s, 21/game, 37% of their total FGAs; compared (and comparable) to Duke's 22/game and 39% of total FGAs.

[Edouble]

On pins and needles and can't believe we have to wait until Friday night.

Looking at Mercer's starter's size alone, they run out at:

6'2" 170lbs
6'4" 180 lbs
6'6" 200 lbs
6'6" 200 lbs
6'10" 220

I have to think that Jabari being defended by a guy that is 6'6" is a clear advantage for Duke. Amile's counterpart appears to be equally thin at 6'10" 220, so at least Amile doesn't have to go up against any serious beef, although he has actually shown well against bigger guys with his quickness and mobility.

[BronxBlueDevils]

Hi all. My first post after years of shadowing and reading. Please be gentle

Just to note...one of their assistant coaches is a former UNC JV player and coach. His name is Doug Esleeck.

Go Duke

[arnie]

The last time we opened the NCAAT versus a team I had never heard of was in 2012 in Greensboro against Lehigh. We play another team I have never heard of in Raleigh this year and I have learned my lesson not to sleep on them. This game is not an automatic win for Duke. I will be one nervous fan all week!

We haven't suffered major injuries this year, don't have to travel far, the game is Friday which helps and we have good athletes- no excuses if we don't win.

[gofurman]

The last time we opened the NCAAT versus a team I had never heard of was in 2012 in Greensboro against Lehigh. We play another team I have never heard of in Raleigh this year and I have learned my lesson not to sleep on them. This game is not an automatic win for Duke. I will be one nervous fan all week!

You haven't heard of mercer? It's a good school academically nearby in Atlanta (well Macon technically - little south of Atlanta)... They beat FGCU last year and should have been the team in the tourney instead of FGCU but blew it on the tourney weekend. This year they did what they should have last year

Solid solid team. Mercer is Better at guard than inside. The one reason this doesn't worry me as much as Lehigh is we now have have Suliamon and Matt jones and Thornton to defend - vs Lehigh we only had Thornton then. And more importantly we have Parker and hood to score more than the Ryan Kelly type team. Mercer doesn't have a Parker stopper. When we played Lehigh we were reliant on Austin Rivers and more on the three ball. No offense but I would rather rely on a freshman star with strength like Parker than a 2 guard like Rivers. Just more consistent. Parker and hood should always be worth almost 30 pts together

[Newton_14]

You haven't heard of mercer? It's a good school academically nearby in Atlanta ... They beat FGCU last year and should have been the team in the tourney instead of FGCU but blew it on the tourney weekend. This year they did what they should have last year

Solid solid team. Mercer is Better at guard than inside. The one reason this doesn't worry me as much as Lehigh is we now have have Suliamon and Matt jones and Thornton to defend - vs Lehigh we only had Thornton then. And more importantly we have Parker and hood to score more than the Ryan Kelly type team. Mercer doesn't have a Parker stopper. When we played Lehigh we were reliant on Austin Rivers and more on the three ball. No offense but I would rather rely on a freshman star with strength like Parker than a 2 guard like Rivers. Just more consistent. Parker and hood should always be worth almost 30 pts together

We did not have Ryan against Lehigh, which is a big reason why we lost. We had MP1 and MP2 and a bunch of small guards in Rivers, Curry, Thornton. Dawkins or Thornton had to play the 3 and we had no one but Tyler to guard Mccollum.

We are much better equipped for Mercer than we were for Lehigh. Anyone know when we will find out what time the game is? We will know tonight or will it not be announced until tomorrow?

[tbyers11]

We did not have Ryan against Lehigh, which is a big reason why we lost. We had MP1 and MP2 and a bunch of small guards in Rivers, Curry, Thornton. Dawkins or Thornton had to play the 3 and we had no one but Tyler to guard Mccollum.

We are much better equipped for Mercer than we were for Lehigh. Anyone know when we will find out what time the game is? We will know tonight or will it not be announced until tomorrow?

Game times for the first, err, second round usually come out on Sunday night. Start checking the web (or here) in an hour or so if the standard holds.

[FerryFor50]

Mercer is #99 in Kenpom. 116 in offense. 103 in defense.

Best non-conference win? #87 Seton Hall. Langston Hall had 24 in that game. Mercer took 22 threes.

They did play Texas (#39) tough. Lost by 3. Hall had 22 in that game. Mercer took 30 threes.

Lost to Oklahoma (#29) by 14. Hall had only 7 points. Mercer took 28 threes.

Beat #90 Ole Miss. Hall had 17. Mercer took 20 threes.

Mercer appears to be a team that likes the 3. They shoot about as well as Duke (38%). Out of the 1963 shots they took, 721 were from three. That's 36.7% of their shot attempts. Duke attempts a three on 39% of their shot attempts. Mercer seems like they might be a mini-Duke.

They are 112th in the country in FT attempts. They are 9th in the country in defensive rebounding. But they are 177th in defensive rebounds allowed.

Hall averages 10.6 shots a game, but only shoots 39% from the field (ouch). Takes about 6 threes per game (60% of your top scorer's shots are from three? yeesh). Gets to the line about 4.5 times per game. He's a 6'4" senior who has gotten better each year, but Mercer doesn't really have much outside of him. I'm happier we got Mercer than Florida Gulf Coast (who got blown out by NC State).

If we want to compare to CJ McCollum the year Lehigh beat Duke, CJ averaged 21.9 ppg on 44% shooting. He averaged 20 shots per game, but only 6 were from 3. He was primarily a slasher. Hall seems to be a shooter.

[Saratoga2]

Not looking past anyone, but the Duke team has strengths and weaknesses that were guessed at during the start of the season and we have gotten a mixed bag of results since, which should be reflected in who starts and how the substitutions are made. Jabari was thought to be a star quality player and he has exceeded even what most of us had hoped for. His defense is still a little raw but his rebounding has been a big plus.

Rodney Hood was rumored as a really excellent talent who could score and defend. He too has lived up to the billing with the second highest scoring average and defensive capability the coach K praises. One thing to note is that he is thin and not a banger or rebounder.

Rasheed is one of our taller and quicker guards who can defend and can also slash although against a zone his value is reduced as his outside shot is only good not excellent. Another quick but thin guy but one with experience.

Amile was a little bit of an unknown going into the season. He has progressed a great deal with smart positioning for rebounds and now is developing scoring potential. Another guy who is on the smallish size for a power forward and one who can be pushed around by a bigger forward.

Josh is our most experienced forward with some heft but is short for his position and not particularly athletic. He has a tendency to foul at a high rate and big forwards can shoot over him.

Marshall was injured at the outset but has steadily improved in the role of providing a solid defensive presence for the team. Coach says he lacks stamina. I don't see that and when you have a guy more than 6'11" and 260# on a team with small quick guys, he obviously can be used against teams with bigger forwards and centers.

Andre has been a mystery to many of us. Coach pulls him quickly but when given a reasonable chance, he puts up points better than most other guards. Is he really that bad a defender when we watch guards blow by our other starting guards.

Quinn has also had ups and downs but now seems to be back in the grove. Better decision making and better shooting.

Tyler has been starting of late and is a defensive dynamo who also picks up fouls very quickly. Both he and Quinn are small and when on together reduce our chances of rebounding. Tyler doesn't put up many points except in rare occasions.

Then there is Matt who is a bigger guard who is by reputation a good defender but so far hasn't given us the scoring one might have expected given his reputation.

Finally, there is Semi, a gifted athlete with not much experience who has had little chance to shine but has hit shots when given a chance. He has the size and strength to have been brought along but sits on the bench.

Taken together we have a small quick team with a couple or stars but who have a weakness defending large forwards/centers. The team also shows signs of wilting at the end of games. Against Virginia a little more of Marshall, Andre and Matt might have made the game more interesting. Is coach K inflexible with his lineup? I for one hope he expands to a wider substitution policy and reacts when we are clearly getting it handed to us. (9 to 1 rebound over the last few minutes). Losing to Virginia was not the worst thing since they are really good, but not making adjustments going forward would be pretty sad.

[NSDukeFan]

Probably true. Can't know for sure. Ryan was out and that hurt a lot. However, point is I was calling that a "Ryan Kelly type team". I Should have been more clear. I meant that the team that lost to Lehigh was a little slow on D and reliant on 3 shooting. Better of me would have been to say our guard defenders then were ( I think ) Dawkins and Rivers and Seth Curry and Thornton. Thornton the only of those who I consider a truly strong defender.

Now we have Thornton and Matt jones ( though not many minutes) and Suliamon for D on the perimeter plus at the three and four Hood and Parker are long. Through Parker still gets lost in rotations I know. Hood is pretty good on D. Just w Hood OR Parker we probably beat Lehigh.

Wouldn't a "Ryan Kelly type team" be a great shooting, smart, fantastic help-side D team that consistently shows improvement has bigs that handle the ball well and spaces the floor really well?