Zoubek is showing signs of rounding into shape and improving his game after being hampered with the foot issue. I see nothing wrong with him taking away from any Albany bulk or size advantage with Singler and any 3 perimeter players. We can use King and McClure to spell the inside players while we should have a big advantage on the wings. When we get to Pitt, Thomas would be a big help but we will have to see what is going on with his ankle.
This is extremely misleading. Elton Brand and Kyle Singler are both 6'8" -- were they remotely similar? You conveniently left out the players' weights. Blair is an absolute load -- 6'7", 265. He has been fantastic as a frosh and is a force on the blocks. Sam Young is incredibly powerful at 6'6". He's listed at 215 pounds, but he is all muscle -- way more physical than Duke's guys of similar height. You have Biggs (6'8", 240) confused with Diggs (6'10" -- plays less).
heyoooo. watch out for this guy.
I think he meant it more figuratively as in "he's finding his game." He is also probably getting into game shape, but that has little do with his weight. That was just cause he couldn't run and whatnot while he was out.
I believe that at some point this year we will have to rely on Zoubek. I think the Albany game would be a good opportunity to both test him, and maybe build a little confidence in him. King, Scheyer and Smith all know that they will get their minutes later on.
I vote for Zoubs!
"it's over"
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---Over the Rhine
Holy Cow! I got my info from espn.com and it didn't list the weights of the players. They may not be tall but they gots some beef!
In any event, I think we should still have the overall advantage. What I have seen so far from Pitt this year I wasn't overly impressed. Don't get me wrong, I think they are a talented team, but they just don't jump out at you. What do I know though?
"The future ain't what it used to be."
This is a great but very overlooked point. Listen guys, Duke is going to face bigger teams very often this year. I think the minute we start trying to match up with them is the minute we get out of what we do best and disaster follows. For as many matchup problems as Duke will have with bigger teams, those same teams will have matchup problems to deal with themselves. I say make them matchup with us.
Someone asked Jay Bilas about UNC-Duke on an ESPN chat today and he said that while UNC is the more talented team, Duke can definitely beat them. Bilas then went on to say that whoever wins will be the team who can best dictate the pace of the game and control the style in which the game is played. And I agree 110%.
i like that. I also like the thought of maybe playing zoubs against albany so he can get a some experience guarding smaller players and we can see what he is capable of in that situation (who cares who matches up with who in the albany game, ya know?)
WRT the bilas comment, in terms of dictating pace and style, doesn't UNC want to run just like us?
Yes, UNC wants to run. But they also would like to pound the ball inside in the half-court offense. Duke would like to deny the passing lanes and keep UNC from pounding the ball inside and force them to attempt to score more from the perimeter.
Pitt is going to run... we are going to run faster. I think the best replacement would be Jon or Taylor. Pitt has NO size and run just like us. Sounds good right? I say test the water with Taylor King. If he catches fire early then it will be HUGE in MSG. If he misses one or two early then fine. He has certainly earned the chance with his recent play (especially on defense).
Exactly, dictating style is not the same as merely running or not.
For Duke on defense, what we want to do is force the other team to set up their offense far from the basket. We want opposing guards to be giving up the ball with long passes and passing to players who are not in their usual/comfortable place on the floor. We like to force the opposing big-men to put the ball on the floor and take shots from places outside the lane. we force the oppising guards to take bad shots at uncomfortable angles and on the move.
On offense, Duke wants to spread the floor and slash to the basket or take open jumpers. We don't tend to dump the ball into the post unless our post-players are in excellent scoring position already. We don't rely on our post-guys to create their own shot with the ball in their hands the way Hasbro and some other big men do.
A big beefy team like Pitt is going to have real trouble figuring out how to guard Duke. Our slashers (Henderson, Scheyer, Nelson) are almost impossible to keeop out of the lane and are adept at hitting shots on the move (especially Henderson). Our big men can step out and create matchup nightmares on the perimeter if opposing big-men follow them out there because of our ability to hit the three (Singler and King) or drive (Singler again). What's more, when our big men step out it creates more room for the slashing guards. If Pitt goes zone, we bomb over it with Paulus, King, Scheyer, Singler, Nelson, and Henderon. I'll be honest, unless we are just stone cold from the outside, I am not sure how opposing teams stop us from getting points (aside from really slowing the game down). It will take superior defensive guards and mobile big-men. There are not many teams in the land who can do that.
--Jason "I tell ya, this team makes me all GGLC " Evans
Yes but interestingly Pitt is one of the few teams in the country that has that combination. I'm waiting till after the Albany game (and after my finals end) to write stuff, but I grew up in Pittsburgh and had season tix for Pitt for 10 years so I still root for them against all but 1 team, and mobile bigs and superior defensive guards would describe this team very nicely. Not saying they have the talent to beat Duke, but they're going to be a very good test of how good Duke's offense is. (Except for the fact that the only guy they have who can really match up with Gerald, Keith Benjamin, comes off the bench, they're going to probably have to put Levance Fields or Mike Cook on him to start the game, and Fields is too short and Cook is too slow...)
As much as i love Scheyer, and he does drive this year, I think you can consider Singler to be a slasher more than Jon...Jon's more of a perimeter shooter who can drive on occasion and who's quick to the ball.
Course Singler does everything (Slash, play the post, Shoot the 3...)
Pitt looked awfully strong today aginst Oklahoma State. The freshman Blair is a load and a half! It will be the toughest test to date by far. I expect that Pitt will dominate the boards and the test is whether they can keep up with all our shooters. IT is going to be an awesome game!