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
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
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.
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!
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!
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.
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
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.
Did I miss them in the brackets or did they actually not make it?
i think this is as good as we could have wanted.
still have to play the games, though.
both at CBS and ESPN are saying that UCLA has the easiest path to the final four. hmmm
Best case for me - I already had (good) tix to the games in DC! Now, I need to figure out when the game is . . .
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?