Two points:
1. Your recess line has more insight than you realize. The media onslaught of the past few weeks has turned up zero stories of tripping incidents when Grayson was in high school, as far as I can tell. Maybe every reporter is too dumb to look (possible) or found nothing and stayed quiet (unlikely). It would be nice to definitively shoot down every dopey argument I read in DBR about how Grayson can be excused for his immaturity at college if he was mature in high school...
2. There is life without ESPN television, but you have to watch with your ears. GoDuke lists Blue Devil IMG Network affiliates here and a link to online streaming for registered users here.
Oh, and let's amend the thread title to indicate the game is at 12 noon ET and on ESPN for us gluttons for punishment.
One positive about Saturday is that Louisville won't treat the Duke game like Va. Tech and FSU did. Obviously this game is important and the crowd will be nuts but Louisville saves their vitriol and enthusiasm for the Kentucky game. This one will be a distant 2nd for their fan base.
excited to see how we come out. i think we'll come out fighting even if it isn't enough... too often people conflate execution with effort.... i see guys out there busting their butts to make this work, even if it looks bad when they can't execute. i think they'll come out expecting to win this game and an excited to watch that happen.
lgd
I'd like to see Grayson initiate the offense better than he did against FSU.
I'll give credit to FSU defense as that's the first time we've seen that all year.
Alternatively, it would be interesting to see Tatum bring the ball up the court.
FSU pressed Grayson and Frank, the guy they had guarding Tatum just let Tatum take the ball up court.
I'd love to see Tatum value the ball more, and not foul post steal.
I'd love to see Giles seem more actively engaged and not just (what looks like to me) jogging up and down the court.
Might not be possible without Amile, most of all I'd love to see a team chemistry that translates to confidence on the court. A return of Duke swagger, if you will.
A realization of the pre-season juggernaut we were forecasted to be.
Win or lose, want to see that Duke spirit and fight for the entire game.
Let's Go Duke!
I'm still waiting for FerryFor50 to weigh in here about the umm, "physical" nature of the Cardinals' press.
[redacted] them and the horses they rode in on.
Before Amile's injury, he was used to help beat the press. I know that Louisville is a much better pressing team than any of our opponents we've played so far this season and will be new to our freshmen. I think Jayson will be the player Coach Capel uses for that task. One player cannot beat a press consistently unless your name is Hurley or Tyus. It's going to be interesting: 1) Do we use zone as our primary defense and risk losing the rebounding game. Plus, we've not been very good when we've tried it this season. But that's been a small sample of use. However that small sample has me worried about using it. 2) If we play man2man, do we guard 25 feet from the basket? If we do that, I think dribble penetration will kill us. We've not shown we can be very successful playing that kind of D. 3) Do we use the packline D that we used in 2010. This is the Virginia defense that they have mastered to perfection. We have 2 days to work on something and I hope this is the way we go. I'm sure Coach K while not at practices is probably in touch with the coaching staff daily. We need a good effort to win this road game. GoDuke!
You fine people have given me the distinct impression that we're going to win this game.
Nothing incites bodily violence quicker than a Duke fan turning in your direction and saying 'scoreboard.'
I think Grayson has been doing a great job as PG. I think when Jayson brought the ball up court against FSU, the results were, um, less than stellar.
(a) we did not use the packline in 2010, or anything close, really;
(b) the packline is a very complicated defense that takes waaaaay more than two days to master;
(c) we will not be using the packline on Saturday.
You do realize Duke didn't do that against FSU, right? (At least not during the competitive portions. We may have extended when down big.)
There are like 3 copies of the game on youtube if you want to check for yourself.
The problem with the defense against the Noles was NOT that Duke pressured the ball far from the basket.
Actually, the team that DID extend their defense and was super aggressive in the passing lanes was FSU. They had easily the more aggressive of the two defenses.
People do realize that, right?
i love this 'pack line' D. Ours in 2010 wasn't the UVA packline. Just a 'sag off the perimeter' m2m I think. We can't seem to get on-the-ball stoppers any more ... We struggle most years to stop dribble penetration yet our 2010 team wasn't supremely fast in the perimeter. Scheyer. Singler etc ?? So we sagged in our m2m and it worked. Let teams shoot 3s and see what happens. It worked in 2010. Louisville would be a great team to,do this with. And this Duke team may need to learn that D after watching BC and VT and FSU all blow by our perimeter. That's not Amile missing... I mean the lack of ability to,stop the initial dribble penetration. Even the BC guard went off on us. Painful to watch. Maybe just back up half a foot at the point of attack when on D? To discourage the opponent driving and encourage long Js. Seems to me this would be an opponent to,try that
I'll believe we win when I see it. They beat UK, they are for real
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
Ha! I'm flattered because I've not even yet tried to be persuasive. If I were going to make an expanded case against zone, it would go something like this:
1. Repetitions. We need them. In 2015, the freshmen were healthy and had played every game, every exhibition, and didn't miss a month of practice healing. Heading into Louisville, they had 16 games under their belt, and they had played very good m2m defense in most of them (which people forget) against opponents like Wisconsin, Michigan St, and UConn. Harry has only played 6 games; Jayson/Marques 9 games, and they have also missed practice when they were out. Let's continue getting m2m repetitions in, no? (Note: I'd have no issue with throwing in a zone for a few possessions as a curveball maneuver.)
2. Opportunity. Louisville has a mediocre offense that doesn't spread you out, i.e. they play two non-shooting bigs together. This is an opportunity for Duke to play well in m2m and gain confidence. Neither Harry nor Marques has experienced playing m2m well against a good opponent; Jayson at least has the Florida game under his belt.
3. Poor Game Theory.
a. Actually, this probably has nothing to do with game theory, but I'm somewhat amused when people use terms they're not that familiar with.
b. You know who else has noticed some similarities between the 2015 team heading into Louisville and the 2017 team heading into Louisville, besides internet message board posters? Rick Pitino. He's going to be prepared for and expecting Duke to play zone, is he not? Especially since Duke has occasionally played zone over the past two years ever since the 2015 game.
c. If Louisville's greatest offensive strength is offensive rebounding, why are we playing zone when they will be prepared for it?
d. There's the sad "45-yr-old in the nightclub" aspect to this. 2015 was great and should be cherished forever. Cherished, not awkwardly re-created. (Come to DBR for hard-hitting basketball analysis, folks!)