Duke MBB v Dusquesne game thread

[cape cod]

is on ESPN, also.

[rasputin]

is on ESPN, also.

Well, isn't it our birthright to have every game on ESPN?;)

[mgtr]

Well, isn't it our birthright to have every game on ESPN?;)

Certainly, since Duke gets all the calls!

[roywhite]

Certainly, since Duke gets all the calls!

Or maybe this game the Dukes will get all the calls.

[-jk]

What's the over/under on the commentators mixing up the schools?

The Dukes are currently showing as a solid mid-major (http://www.mratings.com/cb/compare.htm), coming in at an average of #117. Of course, it's still early for all these systems: Duke's #1 on Sagarin and #19 on Pomeroy, and we have the smallest standard deviation (thanks to a UNC outlier on Pom).

A little info from Duquesne's weekly press release (http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/duqu/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/weekly-release.pdf), released before they beat SC Upstate last night:


Duquesne is one of the youngest teams in the nation with eight scholarship freshmen and 12 underclassmen ... the Dukes have shot over 50 percent (54.2% overall) and handed out at least 20 assists in all three games this season ... the Dukes are shooting just .542 from the foul line (39-of-72), while opponents have missed just five of 49 attempts (.898) ... senior guard Aaron Jackson, who entered the season as the only player on the DU roster with a 20-point game, has scored 20 in each of DU’s past two games ... he added a career best seven steals at Saint Francis, Pa. and posted his third career double-double (10 rebounds) vs. Furman ... Jackson, a Bob Cousy Award nominee has 20 assists and six turnovers in three g. ... Jackson’s 36 career double-digit scoring games are six more than the rest of the roster combined (Bill Clark 15, Saunders nine, Jason Duty, Jimmy Sherwood & Eric Evans two each) ... DU is 24-10 when scoring 80 or more points in 62 games under Ron Everhart ... the Dukes are averaging 12.0 steals and forcing 21.0 turnovers/g. ... the Dukes have assisted on 63 of 96 field goals (65.6%).

-jk

[Bob Green]

We face a couple of potentially strong opponents in December: Purdue and Xavier; so this is our last tune-up game. Yeah, I know, you should never look past an opponent but I'm an Internet Bulletin Board junkie not a coach or player so it is okay. I expect we will see Coach K experiment with various line-ups with the players deep down the rotation seeing major minutes after the top half of the rotation builds a substantial lead early. At least that is how I see it playing out.

[ice-9]

We're playing a lot of A10 teams this season... URI, soon the Dukes, and later Xavier. That's cool because all three teams are solid, but I do wish we could play more opponents from other conferences (e.g. Pac-10 and Big 12).

[DevilDan]

I'm just glad we get the game here (west coast) on ESPN. I've seen only the MSG games so far, and have to say that while hopeful for the season, I'm not overly excited about the way our guys played in New York.

Kyle looks bigger, stronger, and tougher; Nolan looks like a real gamer in the making; and Brian looks to be ready to contribute. But beyond that... I just hope that team hustle and team chemistry carries us thru, as we meet Purdue and Xavier in the next couple of weeks. I saw Purdue and UNC yesterday, and they look very, very strong. I think we'll need our best game (and lots of "D") to win at Purdue.

I don't EVEN want to talk about Carolina yet ( they looked THAT good against an savvy Notre Dame team last night ). But back to Purdue and Xavier ... I'm glad we have Coach K, who will give our guys a gameplan that, if executed, WILL WORK against those two powers.

It should be interesting -- but for the moment -- HAPPY THANKSGIVING to ALL on DBR ....
G O D U K E ! ! ! ! !

[DS810]

Hey guys, Duquesne fan here. Considering I'm a bit of a Duke fan myself, I thought I'd drop by to preview what you'll see out of Duquesne tomorrow.

The Dukes are somewhat similar to the Rhode Island team that came into Cameron a couple weeks ago. We're one of the youngest teams in the country with eight scholarship freshmen, and seven of the eight have seen big minutes so far. Duquesne is a pretty small team with no real dominating presence inside to fight and battle for rebounds, but there's plenty of athleticism to go around from the guards. The Dukes are led by two studs that could play on any team in the country: Aaron Jackson and Damian Saunders. Coach Everhart's gone with the same starting lineup in all four games to start off the year and I expect Friday's game to be no different. Here's a quick blurb on each...

-Aaron Jackson (6'4" Sr. Guard): Aaron's a stat-stuffer. He leads the Dukes in nearly every offensive category and he plays his guts out every minute he's on the floor. He's Duquesne's only scholarship upperclassman (0 scholarship juniors) and is the lone holdover from the old regime. He's a true leader and a joy to watch. The ball will be in his hands a ton.

-Damian Saunders (6'7" So. Forward): Saunders was Marquette commit, but did not qualify academically. Duquesne snatched him up and Damian hasn't looked back. He's a high-flying super-forward that hits the boards hard and has a nice stroke from deep. He can fly down the court on the fastbreak, but will be quite undersized down low against Duke's big bodies.

-Bill Clark (6'6" So. Guard/Forward): Billy's a scrappy do-it-all player that can handle the 2, 3, or 4. He's not the prototypical leaper, but he gets his share of rebounds. Clark is Duquesne's best shooter, although he's absurdly streaky. He can come out tomorrow and start off the game hitting six 3's in a row or miss every shot he takes. He could be the x-factor that decides whether this is a 10 or 30 point game.

-Jason Duty (6'1" Jr. Guard): He's a walk-on guard that's way too slow to play against the likes of Duke, but he dropped 17 points in the first half against USC Upstate on Tuesday. Duty's a solid shooter, but he'll be exposed big-time if he plays too many minutes on Friday.

-B.J. Monteiro (6'5" Fr. Guard/Forward): B.J. is a silky smooth freshman that is still learning his way around the basketball court. He was Connecticut's high school Player-of-the-Year last season and was recruited heavily by a bunch of high-majors. He's shown that he's a phenomenal passer. The potential's definitely there, but he tends to blend into the action at this point.

That's the lineup that will likely play the first five minutes or so, then Everhart will dip into his bench and play three freshman early.

-Eric Evans (5'10" Fr. Point Guard): Eric is a fearless undersized point who will be a truely outstanding point in the A-10. He makes some highlight reel plays, but will just as quickly turn the ball over with some bonehead plays. He'll be the first player off the bench for the Dukes, replacing Jason Duty and letting Aaron Jackson move over to the 2-guard spot. He's going to be a great one, but it's not his time yet.

-Melquan Bolding (6'4" Fr. Guard): Bolding is a soaring wing with athleticism through the roof. He commited to Rick Pitino and Marquette last winter before decommiting and signing with Duquesne. He's a little light on actual basketball skills at this point, but he's a Rivals 150 recruit who will only get better. He's too passive right now, so he won't play a major role.

-Rodrigo Peggau (6'8" Fr. Forward): Think (and I hate to say it here, but) Hansbrough-lite. He's a guy a lot of you might have heard off because he was heavily recruited by Duke before a knee injury ended his 2007 season and turned teams away from him. He's been practicing with the team for a little less than two weeks, but from what we've seen, he oozes with potential. He's a banger and he's become a fan favorite for throwing his body all over the floor diving for loose balls. He's plays with a fire under his butt and unbelievable passion. If he's somewhat healthy tomorrow, he could log 20-25 quality minutes.

This is a Duquesne team with loads of talent, but I'm not going to lie to myself and say that there's a chance we'll come out with a victory. When there's eight freshmen that have played a whopping four college games, this will be more of a learning process than anything else. There's a good chance we'll come out rather shell-shocked, but I think they'll come around later in the game. Duquesne will try to run Duke off the floor and if Coach K's guys are hitting the long-ball, it'll be over in a hurry.

Prediction: Duke wins by 25 points, jumping off to a huge first half lead over a brutally inexperienced Duquesne squad.

I'll check in to see if you guys have any questions or comments for me.

Thanks, and good luck tomorrow!!! (take it easy on us!)

[shadowfax336]

I played against Duty in High School... He's not anywhere near the same class athletically as anybody Duke has.

[jimsumner]

Thanks for the write-up. A couple of points.

"He commited to Rick Pitino and Marquette last winter before decommiting and signing with Duquesne. " Louisville? Or Crean and Marquette?

"-Rodrigo Peggau (6'8" Fr. Forward): Think (and I hate to say it here, but) Hansbrough-lite. He's a guy a lot of you might have heard off because he was heavily recruited by Duke before a knee injury ended his 2007 season and turned teams away from him."

I've never heard his name in connection with Duke. He certainly was not heavily recruited by Duke.

Note that the majority of students are gone for Thanksgiving so it will not be a typical Cameron crowd. Will be interesting to see what kind of energy level we come up with but 3 o'clock on a holiday Friday. The Duke team may have to generate their own energy.

[RelativeWays]

Thanks for the insight DS810. After all the chest thumping for the SIU game (which I know was supposed to be for fun) its nice to have a fan for the other team come in and drop some knowledge without the ESPN message board philistine shenanigans. Good luck tomorrow and for the rest of the season, regardless of the outcome. It won't hurt my feelings if you drub URI.

[Acymetric]

Can't wait for this game, should be a great way to get pumped for the football game Saturday!

Also, wanted to bring attention to my post on the ticket exchange board in case there are people that don't frequent it. I have 2 extra tickets, if you're interested check out the Ticket Exchange board and shoot me a message.

[CameronBornAndBred]

I'm heading off to Durham tomorrow, to join my dad in Cameron. Looking forward to seeing the team live, I haven't since the blue-white. I'm hoping for lots of minutes for the freshmen, Miles has looked much more confident the last couple games. Gonna be a great Duke weekend!

[DS810]

Thanks for the write-up. A couple of points.

"He commited to Rick Pitino and Marquette last winter before decommiting and signing with Duquesne. " Louisville? Or Crean and Marquette?

"-Rodrigo Peggau (6'8" Fr. Forward): Think (and I hate to say it here, but) Hansbrough-lite. He's a guy a lot of you might have heard off because he was heavily recruited by Duke before a knee injury ended his 2007 season and turned teams away from him."

I've never heard his name in connection with Duke. He certainly was not heavily recruited by Duke.

Note that the majority of students are gone for Thanksgiving so it will not be a typical Cameron crowd. Will be interesting to see what kind of energy level we come up with but 3 o'clock on a holiday Friday. The Duke team may have to generate their own energy.

Error on my part. He was a Louisville commit. Got my thoughts crossed between Bolding (UL) and Saunders (Marquette).

As far as Peggau goes, I don't believe he was offered a scholarship by Duke, but there definitely was mutual interest (according to his HS coach).

[DukePA]

I'll be hanging out in the grad student walkup line today (in front of CIS). Stop by and say hello if you're going to the game.

GO DUKE!!

[dukeballer2294]

Will Paulis play today or will k give him more rest?

[riverside6]

I had heard he was going to play today, but it was from a few days ago.

Live Stats for the game are here (http://www.scacchoops.com/ViewHDGame.asp?hSchedule=1870)...starting lineups have been posted.

[Bluedog]

Will ESPN ever learn that a typical basketball game requires more than a 2-hr timeslot and thus they shouldn't schedule them back-to-back in that span? Gah! They should have a 15 minute leeway period, and if the game ends early, just have some extra studio analysis or a sportscenter update. Doesn't look like the TN-Gtown game will be done by 3....Also, Monroe has looked good today. I assume the tipoff is at 3 sharp, right?

Last year was especially painful with all the OT games before ours...What game was it were we didn't get coverage til the second half? I realize that as Duke fans we're spoiled with all these games on national TV, but if they schedule them, I'd like to see them in their entirety.

[_Gary]

Arghhh. Short rant here. I hate when Duke plays behind any game involving a dad-blamed Big East school. Those games seem to always go long because the Big East schools do nothing but foul, foul, and foul some more. This darn Georgetown/Tennesse game is gonna go long - big time, unless someone starts pulling away quick. We'll miss the first 5 to 10 minutes of the Duke game for sure. Both G and T are in the bonus at the 11+ minute mark so you know this game isn't going to move too quickly. And of course there's always a great chance the game will go into OT and we'll literally miss the entire first half. Ughhh.

Ok, rant over.

P.S. Oops, Bluedog beat me to the punch.

[Bob Green]

During the pre-game show, on the radio broadcast, Coach Krzyzewski stated that Paulus was better and would play. He also stated that Nolan Smith was battling a sore back so we are a little beat up at the point.

[dukeballer2294]

ESPN just announced 1 minute to tipoff

[dukeballer2294]

it sucks that we will miss the first couple minutes of the game but man Tennessee has made some clutch 3's

[_Gary]

it sucks that we will miss the first couple minutes of the game but man Tennessee has made some clutch 3's

Thank the Lord! If not, this game would have gone on that much longer.

[DevilDan]

It's halftime, and DUKE is in a steady offensive flow -- it's hard to pick a star, because all of our guys have had their moments (especially Lance Thomas).

But twice the announcer (Bob Picozzi, who does sports reports on KNBR San Francisco--my turf) has called the venue Cameron Indoor Field House -- did I miss something? I hope the building hasn't changed in name -- to have DUKE INDOOR STADIUM or CAMERON INDOOR STADIUM has been a distinct pleasure for the last 50 odd years -- tell me it isn't so, somebody ... ! HA !

Who else has a STADIUM for Hoops ?

(the game is going so well, I HAD to find something to complain about !)

GO DUKE !

[DukieInKansas]

Did I really just see Zoubek make a steal, dribble down court, and score? Sweet!

[_Gary]

Glad to hear Nolan doesn't look like his back is hurting him too bad. That's an injury we just couldn't afford (no offense to Greg).

[_Gary]

I know it's only Duquesne, but I'm petitioning for Marty to get some solid PT from this point on. He's really playing well today.