WBB: UNC-CH 64, (6) Duke 54

[RockLobster]

Tip-off of Duke's season finale is at 3 PM on Sunday 2/28 at Carmichael Auditorium. TV: FSN.

For those of you who have been following the Olympics, you'll have a bit of a choice to make. The big USA-Canada gold medal hockey showdown is at 3:15 PM on NBC.

Duke is ranked #6 in both polls, boasts an overall record of 24-4, and has clinched the ACC regular season title with a conference mark of 12-1.

The Blue Devils have won six games in a row, most recently an 83-65 decision over Virginia on Friday at Cameron.

UNC comes in unranked, 17-10 (5-8). They've lost two in a row and seven of eight, most recently a 64-57 defeat at the hands of Georgia Tech in Atlanta.

The first meeting between Duke and UNC this season was a 79-51 Duke shellacking of the Heels in Cameron back on February 8. Six players scored in double figures for the Blue Devils as Duke forced 25 turnovers.

GO DUKE! GTHC GTH 9F 9F 9F

[RainingThrees]

I will be heading into hell itself and will be attending this game. Any other Duke fans plan to go into the Dome?

[Duvall]

Any other Duke fans plan to go into the Dome?

Just to be clear, this game will be played at Carmichael Auditorium, not the Dean Dome.

[RainingThrees]

Just to be clear, this game will be played at Carmichael Auditorium, not the Dean Dome.

Okay, I'm not buying the tickets, a UNC fan is and I thought, what the heck? Duke vs Carolina why not go even if it is in Chapel Hill? Our seats will probably be right in the middle of a bunch of UNC fans.

[moonpie23]

i'm not sure that everyone participating in this thread has heard the news....

it is no longer the "dean dome, nose dome dean e smith center, etc.."


it is now THE MASON PLUMLEE Dome and will continue to be that until mason loses a game in that arena...

[buddy]

I'll be there tomorrow. Hope to push the Holes even further down the standings. GO DUKE! GTHCGTH!!

[godukerocks]

Question: Do you guys think Allison Vernerey's career has the potential to unfold in a similar way as Alison Bales' career did? As the season has progressed, Vernerey has become quite a useful presence in the post...will she progress as well as Bales did, or possibly better?

Just food for thought. In terms of the game, we have the better team by far, but Carolina will be ready. Play smart, hard, disciplined, and we will win.

[CameronBornAndBred]

GO TO HELL CAROLINA, GO TO HELL!
I'm hoping the Dukies will show up and represent in the stands today, I have a feeling there will be a good bit of the right shade of blue. Too bad the hockey game is on at the same time, the home audience will be slimmer because of that.

[DU82]

Question: Do you guys think Allison Vernerey's career has the potential to unfold in a similar way as Alison Bales' career did? As the season has progressed, Vernerey has become quite a useful presence in the post...will she progress as well as Bales did, or possibly better?

Just food for thought. In terms of the game, we have the better team by far, but Carolina will be ready. Play smart, hard, disciplined, and we will win.

Allison, as a freshman, is way ahead of where Alison was. (Wow, that actually isn't confusing!) Bales never seemed to have a great sense of the game, and tended to shy away from contact at times, which is ironic as she was the biggest player out there. Vernerey does not appear to be afraid of banging inside, and has a high basketball IQ.

Black and Gay also never seemed to have a good court sense. It seemed that they needed to think about what to do next, rather than go with the flow. Speculating, it may be that they didn't play a lot of ball growing up, until they grew so tall that it was obvious that basketball was their ticket to a great education. On the flip side, they probably never developed bad habits early on (unlike, say, my golf swing), and were clearly coachable and ready to learn. Their development over their four/five years here was very positive.

I think Vernerey will wind up as the best center in Duke history. (I think that title goes to Van Gorp right now.)

[zingit]

Would I be able to watch this anywhere online? I'm a little worried my roommate will want to watch the hockey game.

[Indoor66]

Would I be able to watch this anywhere online? I'm a little worried my roommate will want to watch the hockey game.

Send your roomie to the tavern. :D

[jjasper0729]

not a good sign so far in the first half... not taking good shots (and not making any either) and not able to get rebounds on the defensive end.

[DevilAlumna]

Today is a definite 15d (http://www.duke.edu/~bct1/images/DBRHPR7.1asPDF.pdf).

AKA, Sweet tap-dancing Moses, did you see what Sylvia Hatchell was wearing?!?

[jjasper0729]

duke is shooting 19% at 7 mins to go in the first.. only down 5 (20-15) amazingly

[jjasper0729]

30-26 'holes at the half. Duke is not shooting very well... 'holes have a lot of blocks, but we have a lot of steals. We're getting offensive rebounds, but no points out of them. we've got to really start making some baskets and move on offense to get good shots that we can make

[77devil]

Glad to see the tarheel emblem where Walter Davis launched his infamous shot is gone from the new floor in Carmichael.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Second half looking lots better.
Hey, Sylvia, Shakespeare wants his sleeves back!

[DukeGirl4ever]

Today is a definite 15d (http://www.duke.edu/~bct1/images/DBRHPR7.1asPDF.pdf).

AKA, Sweet tap-dancing Moses, did you see what Sylvia Hatchell was wearing?!?


HAHAHAHAHAHA! That sweater is HORRIBLE!

Thank God Coach P is stylish!

[Delaware]

30-26 'holes at the half. Duke is not shooting very well... 'holes have a lot of blocks, but we have a lot of steals. We're getting offensive rebounds, but no points out of them. we've got to really start making some baskets and move on offense to get good shots that we can make

Duke has just missed 6 straight FT's....

[CameronBornAndBred]

unc is losing players faster than i can count, and they are increasing our deficit. Sigh.

[Duvall]

Execrable. Can't win if you can't score.

[Indoor66]

Duke's offense was pathetic today. Additionally, they could not make free throws.

[jjasper0729]

more than pathetic... they were not in sync and took a lot of bad shots. they looked very spastic out there.

[Duvall]

Would I be able to watch this anywhere online? I'm a little worried my roommate will want to watch the hockey game.

I hope your roommate won the argument.

[GADevilFan]

I DID NOT enjoy watching that game. UGLY. Did not look good at all on offense ... foul shots???

Duke needs to regroup quickly ....

[zingit]

I hope your roommate won the argument.

Actually, no, she decided not to watch it because she had to go to work in the middle of it. So I watched the whole Duke-UNC game. And then got to see the end of the hockey game--and as exciting as it was to see them force overtime, it looks like I didn't miss much there either. So, Duke women lost, USA hockey lost, and now it's up to the Duke men to make today not a total waste of a day!

On the other hand, while I hate seeing Duke lose, I did enjoy hearing the announcers react by saying this may help UNC's case as a bubble team. Haha. Talk of UNC being on the bubble or not making the tournament NEVER GETS OLD! :D UNC is 6-8 in the ACC, so getting in the tournament will probably depend on playing well in the ACC tournament.

[buddy]

This was a horrible loss. Duke had the lead at 40-33, then completely fell apart down the stretch. I kept looking for someone to step up and lead, but with the possible exception of Karima, this team folded like a cheap suit down the stretch. They had neither the physical nor mental toughness to play this game. No post play to speak of. Carolina played a junk defense with a chaser on Jasmine, and she played right along by throwing up playground shots. As well as this team has played, and as tough as they have been, today was a HUGE step back.

[stillcrazie]

Well, I was there, in a sea of tarhole blue. The Carowhina fans did not let me down -- booing every Carolina foul, cursing the refs, cheering every Duke foul as if they just forgot how "bad" the refs were. Especially annoying were the boos for the flagrant foul on Karima Christmas.

We worked our way back from being down the entire first half, took a 7 point lead, the momentum was in our favor. Suddenly, after the foul on Christmas, we started missing FT after FT and let UNC back into the game. Turned the ball over, terrible shot selection, playing with no poise, etc. I am not sure why Coach P suddenly decided to give Selby so many minutes -- I don't think she was ready for it today. AV was doing a good job in the first half and spent a lot of time on the bench in the 2nd -- not sure why.

Somebody (Coach P?) needed to get the team to re-group after the missed shots and remind them of "their identity" as Coach K likes to say. Unfortunately, it didn't happen.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Carolina played a junk defense with a chaser on Jasmine, and she played right along by throwing up playground shots.
As much as I loathe being negative to our players, valid criticism is good criticism, no matter how much you don't want to hear it. I was thinking your exact words "playground shots" while watching. Some of them were so bad they didn't even make it to the height of the rim. We need to have way more focus than that, and concentrate on the basket when we have it down low. As fundemental as that sounds, it's like this team has never understood the importance of getting those shots. I'm sure they actually know it, but they can't prove it. We had a few really pretty plays underneath, but more often than not it was a melee of errors.
Better now than later.

[Devilsfan]

Thank goodness this was WBB.

[miramar]

Fg 26.4%, 3pt 13.6%, ft 54.2%.

[DU82]

Well, I was there, in a sea of tarhole blue. The Carowhina fans did not let me down -- booing every Carolina foul, cursing the refs, cheering every Duke foul as if they just forgot how "bad" the refs were. Especially annoying were the boos for the flagrant foul on Karima Christmas.

We worked our way back from being down the entire first half, took a 7 point lead, the momentum was in our favor. Suddenly, after the foul on Christmas, we started missing FT after FT and let UNC back into the game. Turned the ball over, terrible shot selection, playing with no poise, etc. I am not sure why Coach P suddenly decided to give Selby so many minutes -- I don't think she was ready for it today. AV was doing a good job in the first half and spent a lot of time on the bench in the 2nd -- not sure why.

Somebody (Coach P?) needed to get the team to re-group after the missed shots and remind them of "their identity" as Coach K likes to say. Unfortunately, it didn't happen.

The newly refurbished Carmichael is still ugly.

I guess Sylvia found her football players, since her team sure was physical. And it took us right out of our game. As you mentioned, after the foul on Karima, everything fell apart. It looked like everybody was afraid to shoot, and that included free throws.

I'd have to disagree, I didn't think Allison played well at all. She tried, but couldn't manage inside against the thugs. She needs a summer in the weight room to get stronger. (I remember her mentioning that the American game is much more physical, and today was an extreme example.) She also tends to dribble once or twice once she gets the entry pass, and the little smurf took advantage of that.

I'd also like to know why one official game Jasmine the ball to shoot one of the technicals (Flagrant foul) and then after she made it, another waved it off. It was right there that the string of missed free throws started.

Just looked at the seeding, and we'll play the winner of Maryland-UNC on Friday! Wow, who'd thunk it. We better get tougher before then.

[jjasper0729]

I'd also like to know why one official game Jasmine the ball to shoot one of the technicals (Flagrant foul) and then after she made it, another waved it off. It was right there that the string of missed free throws started.

because with the ejection, unc needed 5 players on the floor. the one official gave jasmine the ball before there were 5 and the whistle blew when she was in the shooting motion so it was waved off. then she missed both.

terrible day of shooting from every perspective for our team

[JG Nothing]

Thank goodness this was WBB.

Nice attitude. :rolleyes:

[stillcrazie]

[QUOTE=DU82;371077]The newly refurbished Carmichael is still ugly.

I guess Sylvia found her football players, since her team sure was physical. And it took us right out of our game. As you mentioned, after the foul on Karima, everything fell apart. It looked like everybody was afraid to shoot, and that included free throws.

I'd have to disagree, I didn't think Allison played well at all. She tried, but couldn't manage inside against the thugs. She needs a summer in the weight room to get stronger. (I remember her mentioning that the American game is much more physical, and today was an extreme example.) She also tends to dribble once or twice once she gets the entry pass, and the little smurf took advantage of that.

I'd also like to know why one official game Jasmine the ball to shoot one of the technicals (Flagrant foul) and then after she made it, another waved it off. It was right there that the string of missed free throws started.

Just looked at the seeding, and we'll play the winner of Maryland-UNC on Friday! Wow, who'd thunk it. We better get tougher before then.[/QUOTE

I seem to remember AV making some solid layups early on. I am excited about her potential. She DEFINITELY needs to hit the weight room and add a few hundred calories to her diet. Seriously, how hard could that be?

Speaking of the smurf, she is listed at 5'6". I know it's easy to lose perspective when you see b-ball players next to each other, but really? Is it possible she is that tall?