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  1. #41
    Quote Originally Posted by Kewlswim View Post
    Hi,

    I think there is a perception, with some merit, that Duke is weak and vulnerable. So, a team is happy to see us on their line. However, the ACC was the number one ranked conference in the nation for a reason and the Devils have done well against non-ACC foes.

    I think this could be just what the Dr. ordered. However, I seem to remember hearing they have quick, athletic guards. I am not sure they have faced the kind of defense Duke can play. I think it boils down to this--if Duke comes ready to play they can make some noise in this draw (I am believing that more and more), however, if they sleep walk through it, it will be an early exit.

    I have confidence in Coach K. Don't forget, the team will be rested too. We are a caged, hurt, angry animal ready to let loose. I hope that at least.

    GO DUKE!

    Wounded animals are always the most dangerous!

  2. #42
    because of there personel and ours of course i would be upset if the season was over, and i understand vcu might be a tough matchup we should beat them easy

  3. #43
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    I like this draw. We should be able to keep our Sweet 16 streak alive. And if UCLA gets upset, maybe an Elite 8 appearance...

  4. #44
    I don't think K's scheduling was necessarily bad. From another perspective, this was a very young team and if they started off with a bunch of losses, it would not have been good for the confidence of the team. Marquette was a wake-up call and it was pretty obvious after tough games against Air Force, Gonzaga, Indiana, etc. that this was not the same Duke team as in the past. I'm pretty sure the players were aware of this and not just the fans. I do agree we should go on the road a bit though as it seems we never play road games out of conference anymore.

  5. #45
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Allawah, NSW Australia (near Sydney)

    Dream draw

    Quote Originally Posted by OZZIE4DUKE View Post
    No easy games when you are a 6 seed, but I am thrilled with our first weekend possibilities! With improved defense and good shooting, we'll make it to the Sweet 16. UCLA as a potential opponent in that game presents a challenge, but one that can be met.

    That we didn't get a killer game for our second round (not taking VCU for granted here, but I certainly expect us to beat them) is very surprising to me. The "committee" didn't screw us for a change!


    Duke's draws have never upset me in the past but this one unbelievable. In Buffalo, winnable games in the first two rounds, will be favored in the 2nd round if we get that far -- for a SIX seed. Incredible.

  6. #46
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Hudson Valley
    Bwahahahahaha!

    OK got me - but he can't get names right either

  7. #47
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Washington, DC
    This may be an overreaction because in high school I lived 2 miles from vcu, but they are a dangerous first round matchup. If we don't come to play, we are done.

  8. #48
    Quote Originally Posted by devildownunder View Post

    2. Which is why I DO NOT like the scheduling we did OOC this year. K, as he has done routinely in the recent past, played a weak OOC schedule relative to the ones he used to play in the 90s; however, he made sure it would still benefit us on selection Sunday by making sure we teams that were very strong within their much seaker conferences. And all at Cameron or on neutral courts, too. No real road games. Now, on selection sunday, this is great strategy. You beat those teams in your own building then they go back and dominate their lower-tier conferences and your RPI soars because of your opponents' winning percentages. Where is hurts you, however, is in the development of your team during the season. After several games against a depleted George Mason, Kent State and a bunch of other "mid-majors," right in nice, comfy CIS, this team was not prepared to go on the road and play in the ACC. One need only look at how we performed on the road in the first half of conference play this year to confirm this. Our first ACC road game was a 74-63 (i think) loss to Georgia Tech.
    First of all-- because of our big name and TV, we often play teams on neutral courts. Look at the ACC/BIG 10 challenege-- we've often been in Chicago rather than a home court. And we play big names in Madison Square Garden etc.

    But with more and more pre-season tournaments, and more random big name neutral site games, you just don't see big names going to true road games. It's not like every other big name out there played tons of great true road games.

    True, if we played at Gonzaga, or at Illinois or something we might've been better prepared for ACC road games. BUT, with such a young team, K admitted that this was the most home weighed schedule in a long time (since the 50's i think).

    Botton line, we had one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the nation, and in conference we played AT a 1 seed, two 4 seeds, one 5 seed, and one 7 seed. And you want our schedule to be harder?

    You can look at our backloaded ACC schedule in a positive way and say that the early ACC games are easier and our time to develop.

  9. #49
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Allawah, NSW Australia (near Sydney)

    that's the main thing

    Quote Originally Posted by dukeisawesome View Post
    I don't think K's scheduling was necessarily bad. From another perspective, this was a very young team and if they started off with a bunch of losses, it would not have been good for the confidence of the team. Marquette was a wake-up call and it was pretty obvious after tough games against Air Force, Gonzaga, Indiana, etc. that this was not the same Duke team as in the past. I'm pretty sure the players were aware of this and not just the fans. I do agree we should go on the road a bit though as it seems we never play road games out of conference anymore.
    It is the road part that bothers me most as well. These are freshmen and I think keeping them in front of their adoring fans for as long as possible and taking them on the road only when the league dictates that you must gives them a false sense of confidence. I do agree with you that you wouldn't want to give them a brutal start, like at Florida and Kansas this year, but they needed to go into a couple of truly hostile road gyms against some real competition early, so that they got a more realistic sense of where they were and where they needed to go. This team was not ready for conference play out of the gate this season, IMO, and I do fault K's scheduling for that to some extent.
    Last edited by devildownunder; 03-11-2007 at 08:05 PM. Reason: because I'm captain typo today

  10. #50
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Allawah, NSW Australia (near Sydney)
    Quote Originally Posted by drion97 View Post
    First of all-- because of our big name and TV, we often play teams on neutral courts. Look at the ACC/BIG 10 challenege-- we've often been in Chicago rather than a home court. And we play big names in Madison Square Garden etc.

    But with more and more pre-season tournaments, and more random big name neutral site games, you just don't see big names going to true road games. It's not like every other big name out there played tons of great true road games.

    True, if we played at Gonzaga, or at Illinois or something we might've been better prepared for ACC road games. BUT, with such a young team, K admitted that this was the most home weighed schedule in a long time (since the 50's i think).

    Botton line, we had one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the nation, and in conference we played AT a 1 seed, two 4 seeds, one 5 seed, and one 7 seed. And you want our schedule to be harder?

    You can look at our backloaded ACC schedule in a positive way and say that the early ACC games are easier and our time to develop.
    Players don't develop until they see a need to do so. Blowing out Columbia, Georgia Southern and UNC-Greensboro in consecutive games at home doesn't make them see anything.


    We play big games in MSG or the Meadowlands every year because that's what K wants to do. Scheduling is almost entirely up to him. Yes, someone on the other side has to say yes but if K wants to go play somebody real, in their house, the opportunity is always there. Lute Olsen has been trying to bait K into picking up their series again for years. He won't do it. And as for the mid-majors K loves to bring into Cameron these days, if K wanted to play one of those games on Venus, the other team's AD would book flights on the space shuttle. He is in complete control of exactly where or when he plays any of those teams. And the only place he plays any of them in CIS. I do not think this does anything really for our team's development. RPI points, yes, but not development.

    And I'm not talking about scheduling like Tom Izzo did a few years back where you play the entire top 25. I'm just saying that, what if we went to Kent State instead of playing them at home this year. And then we also dropped the Temple series and replaced them with a true home-and-home series with, say, UCLA, Arizona or LSU (all of whom we used to visit regularly), well then I think this year's schedule would have been much better.
    Last edited by devildownunder; 03-11-2007 at 07:52 PM. Reason: copy editing and added a line.

  11. #51
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Allawah, NSW Australia (near Sydney)

    Sweet 16 is within reach

    It's not unrealistic at all with this draw. How sweet would it be after this season to see the evil smurfs get upset again and actually have a game to watch in the second week(end?) while they sit at home.

    OMG, it's almost too delicious to contemplate!

  12. #52

    VCU's strengths

    Although I have not seen them play- they appear to be guard oriented and three are seniors and shoot well from three. I don't think they have much of an inside game. Lately- we have been hurt by size- so while I expect a tough fight- McBob is a tough matchup for them. A lot will depend on how he plays.

  13. #53
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Durham, NC - Since 1985

    Note... MD and Davidson also in Buffalo....

    Could be an interesting crowd with Terps fans there as well.

  14. #54
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Allawah, NSW Australia (near Sydney)

    shooting

    Quote Originally Posted by dukelifer View Post
    Although I have not seen them play- they appear to be guard oriented and three are seniors and shoot well from three. I don't think they have much of an inside game. Lately- we have been hurt by size- so while I expect a tough fight- McBob is a tough matchup for them. A lot will depend on how he plays.
    apparently, VCU has quick guards and shoots a lot of threes. I think the key to the game will be their 3pt shooting. I expect us to back off a bit at the outet so they can't penetrate as easily. But if they start hitting shots, K will have to tighten up the D, which will lead to blowbys, layups and foul trouble.

    A good strategy to employ would be to identify their best shooter and put the best on-ball defender, probably DN, on him and play that guy tight. Tell everyone else to back off and hope they don't get red hot.

    Offensively, it's probably a matter of patience and getting mcroberts to look to score.

  15. #55
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Allawah, NSW Australia (near Sydney)

    Terp fans????!!!!

    Quote Originally Posted by Delaware View Post
    Could be an interesting crowd with Terps fans there as well.
    Crap, so much for our homecourt edge in upstate NY then. I hadn't looked at the bracket closely enough to see that. Oh well, hopefully we'll have the pleasure on Saturday of becoming the first 6-seed to get booed off the floor after knocking off a 3.
    Last edited by devildownunder; 03-11-2007 at 08:04 PM. Reason: tinkered a bit

  16. #56
    They have alot of good guards.

    Their two tallest guys are 6'7. Should be able to beat them inside all game long(IF McRoberts is playing like he did in the 2nd half against St.)

    They have a 6'10 and a 6'8 guy but they play about as much as Zoubek does. So they are a non-factor.
    Last edited by DukeBlood; 03-11-2007 at 08:05 PM. Reason: Correction

  17. #57
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Denver
    Having caught them on TV a couple of weekends, VCU CAN win this game.

    They play fast and hard and will attack. Their coach is a Donovan protege.

    It could be real frustrating or it could be a spring board game for the team.

  18. #58
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Allawah, NSW Australia (near Sydney)
    Quote Originally Posted by DukeBlood View Post
    They have alot of good guards.

    Their two tallest guys are 6'7. Should be able to beat them inside all game long(IF McRoberts is playing like he did in the 2nd half against St.)

    They have a 6'10 and a 6'8 guy but they play about as much as Zoubek does. So they are a non-factor.
    Hopefully, big Z will see a lot of minutes in this game. I think we should slow it down, play halfcourt and pound it inside all day.

  19. #59
    Quote Originally Posted by devildownunder View Post
    Hopefully, big Z will see a lot of minutes in this game. I think we should slow it down, play halfcourt and pound it inside all day.
    Exactly what i had in mind. Josh and Brian need to dominate inside. Lance even needs to see some time pounding it inside. VCU's strengths are in their guards and up-tempo play.

    So slowwwwwwwwww it down!@

  20. #60
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Allawah, NSW Australia (near Sydney)
    Quote Originally Posted by DukeBlood View Post
    Exactly what i had in mind. Josh and Brian need to dominate inside. Lance even needs to see some time pounding it inside. VCU's strengths are in their guards and up-tempo play.

    So slowwwwwwwwww it down!@


    Hopefully that would also mean fewer turnovers for us. Of course, none of this is all that tough to think of, so I wouldn't be surprised to see VCU press, or at the very least pressure and trap Paulus as hard as they can. That would help force tempo, too. But with time to prepare, hopefully we'd see our bigs flashing to the center court area regularly to break full-court pressure and produce easy baskets.

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