March Madness conversation: WEST Region

[Duvall]

Why do you want Ucla? I think that's a horrendous matchup for us. It would be nice to beat them but they're not on my list of teams I think we'd fare well against.

Well, you have to play someone good in the regional final.

UCLA has played four close games in the last couple of weeks, so maybe they're flirting with a loss. But even if not, Duke can worry about them after trying to make it through the first three rounds.

[superdave]

What time is the game Thursday?

I like our matchups. Xavier at #3 is favorable compared to others and WVU/AZ is also doable.

Super "Survive and Advance" Dave

[dukemsu]

Let's see, the Big Ten got four bids. Certainly not a banner year.

I'm not saying I disagree. Just making an observation.

[grc5]

Because they have absolutely no guard depth. NONE.

Yes, they are loaded up front with Love and company, but you got to play somebody to get to the final four. Did you think they just handout final fours?

If not UCLA, do you think we match up better with Kansas or Memphis?

Who are Miami and Wake's backup guards? I like our chances against UCLA, but Collison alone is a handfull...

[devildownunder]

Because they have absolutely no guard depth. NONE.

Yes, they are loaded up front with Love and company, but you got to play somebody to get to the final four. Did you think they just handout final fours?

If not UCLA, do you think we match up better with Kansas or Memphis?

I think our best matchup out of the No.1s is the heels. ha! But of the teams you mentioned I guess Ucla isn't such a bad choice. It's tempting to say Memphis because I think they are extremely vulnerable to slow tempo and a half-court style but I don't think we have the personnel to exploit that.

[SMO]

I love our draw and I love playing in DC. Takes a little pressure off not playing in the same building as UNC, feels like an ACC road trip, and the competition on that part of the bracket isn't that great compared to some others. I think the West is the weakest bracket overall. Let's get through next weekend then see what happens!

[yancem]

All in all, I think that Duke has a very reasonable draw. Either W.Va or Arizona will be challenging but if we play like we are capable we should be able to beat them. I don't know a lot about Xavier but I'm pretty sure I would rather play them than Louisville, Stanford or Wisconsin. I'm not sure that UCLA would be my first choice to the #1 opposite us but they have looked fairly mortal the last couple of weeks and at this point don't know how realistic a F4 run is for Duke this year.

One thing to keep in mind is that 3 final fours in a row is pretty rare and very difficult. This could play to Duke's advantage (if we can return to form and start playing like we did earlier this year).

Here's to hoping that K is able to rest and rebuild the teams psychy over the next several days. A healthy Henderson and a more confident and rested Singler will be needed!

[superdave]

Does anyone think K will switch things up and move Scheyer/Zoubek/Smith into the starting lineup and bring Singler/Henderson/Thomas off the bench just to get the team feisty? Singler is a little banged up and switching things up could give them a new feel and light a fire.

[Tchoupitoulas]

Not trying to jinx us by assuming we get this far. But the key is how we do against UCLA's defense. They do not have a prolific offense at all and seem to win most of their games scoring in the 60s or low 70s. Hopefully if we get that far K can figure something out to get our offense back on track.

Tchoupitoulas

[SMO]

Does anyone think K will switch things up and move Scheyer/Zoubek/Smith into the starting lineup and bring Singler/Henderson/Thomas off the bench just to get the team feisty? Singler is a little banged up and switching things up could give them a new feel and light a fire.

That sounds like an interesting tactic. I think Singler would respond. Typically not a NCAA tourney tactic, but I bet it would work.

[Jumbo]

that game was months ago. wisky has played 10 straight. But it looks like the committee gave us a ton of credit for what we did the first three months of the season. Good for us.

Considering the circumstances, I don't think we can be in any way disappointed with our fate this march.

The committee also realized that the Big 10 is awful. Look where all the Big 10 teams got seeded -- lower than just about everyone expected.

[yancem]

Does anyone think K will switch things up and move Scheyer/Zoubek/Smith into the starting lineup and bring Singler/Henderson/Thomas off the bench just to get the team feisty? Singler is a little banged up and switching things up could give them a new feel and light a fire.

I would be surprised to see Scheyer in for Henderson due to his wrist. I would like to see Zoubek get the starting nod over Singler to take some of the pressure off him but then you have Zoubec and Thomas playing together and I'm not sure how that would work.

[Jumbo]

Because they have absolutely no guard depth. NONE.

Yes, they are loaded up front with Love and company, but you got to play somebody to get to the final four. Did you think they just handout final fours?

If not UCLA, do you think we match up better with Kansas or Memphis?

One game at a time, please. I'll be thrilled with the opportunity to play UCLA.

[arydolphin]

One game at a time, please. I'll be thrilled with the opportunity to play UCLA.

Well said Jumbo. Everyone should take the Coach K approach: The NCAA Tournament is really 3 4-team tournaments. We have to win the first one this weekend to get to the next one. Survive and advance.

[dukemsu]

The committee also realized that the Big 10 is awful. Look where all the Big 10 teams got seeded -- lower than just about everyone expected.

Yes, the Big 10 is horrible. Surprising that IU got that 8 seed, though. Most of us in Big 10 country thought Purdue and MSU would be in the 5/6 range.

The real surprise to me (and I'm not saying I disagree) is that Wisconsin-the champion of both the regular season and tourney-only got a 3. That tells you what respect (or lackthereof) the Big 10 gets nationally.

[kramerbr]

Did I miss them in the brackets or did they actually not make it?

[grossbus]

i think this is as good as we could have wanted.

still have to play the games, though.

[Tappan Zee Devil]

both at CBS and ESPN are saying that UCLA has the easiest path to the final four. hmmm

[mapei]

Best case for me - I already had (good) tix to the games in DC! Now, I need to figure out when the game is . . .

[devildownunder]

I love our draw and I love playing in DC. Takes a little pressure off not playing in the same building as UNC, feels like an ACC road trip, and the competition on that part of the bracket isn't that great compared to some others. I think the West is the weakest bracket overall. Let's get through next weekend then see what happens!

I never like it when we play in North Carolina. It's much better for us to be in the Northeast, ideally in New Jersey. I know many think it's more valuable to be close to home but playing in front of hostile crowds as a high seed in the first two rounds of the tourney can't be good for the players' mindset, can it?