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View Full Version : WBB - Regional Final - Duke vs. UConn Tuesday 3/29 7pm



DU82
03-27-2011, 06:18 PM
After a solid win today, Duke takes on the overwhelming favorite (regardless of what Geno tries to say) UConn Huskies Tuesday at 7PM (just saw the time flashed on the screen on ESPN.)

killerleft
03-28-2011, 12:33 PM
After a solid win today, Duke takes on the overwhelming favorite (regardless of what Geno tries to say) UConn Huskies Tuesday at 7PM (just saw the time flashed on the screen on ESPN.)

Hey! Wake up! Let's get this thread revved up for our Women.

This is Duke's 9th Regional Final in 14 years. The seniors are leading the way, Karima Christmas is on fire, the freshmen are very good and getting better. I doubt UConn is thinking they'll run us out of the gym again, and with good reason. I seriously think we can beat them.

What do you folks think? By the way, if you're a bandwagon jumper, now's a great time. This year's freshman class is great, and Coach P has more excellent talent on the way!

Go Duke!

stillcrazie
03-28-2011, 01:17 PM
Hey! Wake up! Let's get this thread revved up for our Women.

This is Duke's 9th Regional Final in 14 years. The seniors are leading the way, Karima Christmas is on fire, the freshmen are very good and getting better. I doubt UConn is thinking they'll run us out of the gym again, and with good reason. I seriously think we can beat them.

What do you folks think? By the way, if you're a bandwagon jumper, now's a great time. This year's freshman class is great, and Coach P has more excellent talent on the way!

Go Duke!

I follow the team closely, root for them like crazie, and go to as many games as I can. That being said, I will be extremely surprised if we beat them. I know that UConn is not as solid as they have been in the past, but I think they are a more experienced team than we are and obviously they beat us badly earlier this season. Our offense has been known to struggle and if they defend us well, it is going to be a long night.

No one hopes I am wrong more than I do. LET'S GO DUKE!!!

uh_no
03-28-2011, 01:25 PM
I follow the team closely, root for them like crazie, and go to as many games as I can. That being said, I will be extremely surprised if we beat them. I know that UConn is not as solid as they have been in the past, but I think they are a more experienced team than we are and obviously they beat us badly earlier this season. Our offense has been known to struggle and if they defend us well, it is going to be a long night.

No one hopes I am wrong more than I do. LET'S GO DUKE!!!

Very fair assessment. To note though, Uconn's offense has struggled of late as well. Tiffany hayes has been down for several games, and how she goes, the team goes. I worry that duke makes the mistake of trying to run with uconn....there isn't a better running team in the country than them.

killerleft
03-28-2011, 02:02 PM
Certainly UConn will be favored, but the potential is there for Duke to beat them. And, as y'all noted, we must bring a very good offense with us tomorrow night.

MCFinARL
03-28-2011, 03:11 PM
I'd feel more optimistic about our chances if we had any consistent, reliable shooters who could be counted on to hit open shots most of the time when they are available. But I do think it should be a much better game than last time--I am optimistic that our usually very solid defense can give UConn a little more trouble than they did last time, and if we build confidence by playing well early, anything can happen. Maybe it will be an advantage that we will come into the game with relatively little pressure, as compared to some years when we have been expected to win and not been able to do so.

stillcrazie
03-28-2011, 03:35 PM
I'd feel more optimistic about our chances if we had any consistent, reliable shooters who could be counted on to hit open shots most of the time when they are available. But I do think it should be a much better game than last time--I am optimistic that our usually very solid defense can give UConn a little more trouble than they did last time, and if we build confidence by playing well early, anything can happen. Maybe it will be an advantage that we will come into the game with relatively little pressure, as compared to some years when we have been expected to win and not been able to do so.

I think our best chance will be if Jasmine and Chelsea go into takeover mode and if Christmas plays like she did vs. DePaul. It wouldn't hurt if Krystal and Ali could convert the easy buckets, but that might be asking too much.

91_92_01_10_15
03-28-2011, 04:14 PM
Tuesday is 3/29.

-jk
03-28-2011, 04:44 PM
Tuesday is 3/29.

Fixed, thanks.

-jk

Cameron
03-28-2011, 08:59 PM
I'm not sure why, but top-seeded Pat Summit and Tennessee getting rolled 60 to 48 by Notre Dame makes me happy. Happy is probably not the word. Maybe it just helps me better understand that even the game's Gods can just have an "off night." Getting dunked on repeatedly the other night NBA Hangtime-style would certainly qualify.

We have been blessed with too much and it's very easy to forget that. Very easy.

wandalee
03-28-2011, 09:06 PM
Hey! Wake up! Let's get this thread revved up for our Women.

This is Duke's 9th Regional Final in 14 years. The seniors are leading the way, Karima Christmas is on fire, the freshmen are very good and getting better. I doubt UConn is thinking they'll run us out of the gym again, and with good reason. I seriously think we can beat them.

What do you folks think? By the way, if you're a bandwagon jumper, now's a great time. This year's freshman class is great, and Coach P has more excellent talent on the way!

Go Duke!

I agree, Killerleft! And the love should start on the front page of DBR. The main article was posted prior to the DePaul game Sunday afternoon. Duke has a great women's program.
UConn is definitely a favorite, but anything could happen. UT is going down right now, so...

PumpkinFunk
03-28-2011, 09:25 PM
I'm not hugely confident about this game. I watched the first time we played UConn, and saw them go up 22-2 on us. The question to me is which Duke comes out - the one that lost 3 games in 3 weeks, the one that was down at the half against NC State, or the one that's been rolling strong since the end of the season? If the good team shows up, we have a fighting chance. If not, we're in trouble.

Buckeye Devil
03-28-2011, 10:03 PM
and I sometimes find it painful to watch. But I hope that Duke beats UCONN in the tournament. I find Auriemma to be a big whiner. and if Duke doesn't beat them, I hope that someone else can take them down.

DevilHorns
03-28-2011, 10:51 PM
UCONN women absolutely own us. I hope that we can use whatever revenge factor to propel us over Geno's gang. Not feeling too good about it though.

uh_no
03-28-2011, 11:13 PM
UCONN women absolutely own us. I hope that we can use whatever revenge factor to propel us over Geno's gang. Not feeling too good about it though.

They haven't been doing as much owning of late...not sure if you've watched either of their past two tournament games, but they are far from being dominant. Perhaps they can get the swagger back against duke, but I'm thinking what happened several months ago will not be repeated.

-bdbd
03-28-2011, 11:29 PM
They haven't been doing as much owning of late...not sure if you've watched either of their past two tournament games, but they are far from being dominant. Perhaps they can get the swagger back against duke, but I'm thinking what happened several months ago will not be repeated.

Just think "Miracle on Ice," a team beaten badly just weeks earlier comes back to pull the upset over the overconfident Russians. U-Con certainly has looked vulnerable of late. From memory, against G'town on Sunday they were DOWN BY EIGHT with about eight minutes to go, and certainly didn't have it sewn up until the final minute. Certainly some good tape in the last few games for Coach P and staff to study successful strategies versus U-Con. The ladies need to be focused and on their game. But it certainly CAN BE DONE! :eek:

Go Duke!

uh_no
03-28-2011, 11:39 PM
Just think "Miracle on Ice," a team beaten badly just weeks earlier comes back to pull the upset over the overconfident Russians.

I'm not sure that a) Uconn is overconfident (listen to geno or any of the players in the post game pressers...they talk all about how not dominant they are....despite having 1 loss on the year) b) there is any similarity to the miracle on ice, russia showed no signs of losing prior to the US blasting them, and Uconn has been playing weakly of late....given they only have 6 players who play....this is understandable....also if you recall, duke beat uconn several years ago, so any win over the huskies would not be unprecedented.

Even if the huskies were to get by duke I'm not sure they could beat ND for the fourth time this year....not how they're playing now anyway (I don't think duke could beat them either....but w/e)

go uconn

CameronBornAndBred
03-29-2011, 05:17 PM
BTTT.
I have no assumptions that we are going to win..but I do have an assumption that we CAN win..and that is a very different feeling than I would have had if we played them last year. If anything, this should be fun. Win, we go on, lose..we still have had a great season.
GO DUKE!!!

uh_no
03-29-2011, 05:40 PM
BTTT.
I have no assumptions that we are going to win..but I do have an assumption that we CAN win..and that is a very different feeling than I would have had if we played them last year. If anything, this should be fun. Win, we go on, lose..we still have had a great season.
GO DUKE!!!

Great assessment. The feeling of dominance is not there right now with this uconn team. It certainly was (in my opinion at least) after the stanford loss, but right now, they could lose to anyone who plays a good game.

Indoor66
03-29-2011, 06:52 PM
About 15 minutes 'till they tee it up. Watch ESPN!

uh_no
03-29-2011, 06:53 PM
About 15 minutes 'till they tee it up. Watch ESPN!

they're settling this on a golf course????

throatybeard
03-29-2011, 07:37 PM
Well, at least we've weathered the initial uppercut.

You just can't give them opportunities to run. We look like wildebeests in concrete shoes trying to get back on defense when they run.

Duvall
03-29-2011, 07:43 PM
Some brutal officiating here. Refs aren't about to call Moore for three fouls in a half.

wgl1228
03-29-2011, 08:23 PM
It amazes me that in a 5 on 5 sport that a team can be so dominant. Are the pickings really that slim in womens basketball?

Saratoga2
03-29-2011, 08:33 PM
The kids just can't hit any shots. UCONN is not that dominating. If the kids had hit shots they would have been in the game.

Duvall
03-29-2011, 08:34 PM
It amazes me that in a 5 on 5 sport that a team can be so dominant. Are the pickings really that slim in womens basketball?

No, UConn just has better coaching than most everyone else.

licc85
03-29-2011, 08:46 PM
women's college basketball is such an oligopoly. There's only like 3 big programs and they get all of the best recruits year after year. The Uconn win streak isn't really even that much of an accomplishment to me . . with their caliber of players, its amazing they didnt reach something like that a lot sooner. Comparing that to John Wooden's streak is just an unbelievably stupid notion.

Well, this game is almost over, Maya Moore is just too good. They dominated us . .

thanks seniors rima, kyrstal, and jasmine! GO DUKE

wandalee
03-29-2011, 08:51 PM
Less than 2 minutes to go and Geno still has starters in. Why! They destroyed us!

Great season for our ladies. Jas, we'll miss you.

miramar
03-29-2011, 08:56 PM
The women should feel proud of two straight ACC championships and elite eight appearances. Nevertheless, it's a shame to end three straight years shooting in the mid twenties and scoring under 50. Maybe next year.

OZ
03-29-2011, 08:58 PM
No, UConn just has better coaching than most everyone else.


Admittedly, we played like baby seals tonight, but Seth Iceberg could coach UConn to a NC.

Duvall
03-29-2011, 09:05 PM
Admittedly, we played like baby seals tonight, but Seth Iceberg could coach UConn to a NC.

I really don't think so. Aside from Moore, UConn's players look better than they are because they know what they are doing.

jv001
03-29-2011, 09:08 PM
For two years now, I've watched the Duke women shoot like they have blind folds on. They even have a hard time hitting lay ups. Maybe they need a shooting coach in the off season. GoDuke!

DukieInKansas
03-29-2011, 09:16 PM
Thank you, Blue Devils for a great season. And a special thank you to the seniors for 4 great years.

uh_no
03-29-2011, 09:47 PM
Less than 2 minutes to go and Geno still has starters in. Why! They destroyed us!


Take a look, they really only have 6 serviceable players on the game, and at 5 minutes left, they put in the 7th never plays ever player, then at 3 minutes the casey peters type came in. They really don't have the luxury of a second line of players that they can put in when the starters are blowing people out. They only have 9 scholarship players altogether i believe.

That said, Maya came out as soon as was feasible.

DevilHorns
03-29-2011, 10:20 PM
I hate being right on this one. UCONN absolutely owns us.

Congrats on a great year Lady Devils. Sometimes the bracket doesn't break the right way...

dukelifer
03-29-2011, 11:19 PM
I hate being right on this one. UCONN absolutely owns us.

Congrats on a great year Lady Devils. Sometimes the bracket doesn't break the right way...
Not sure which is worse- losing to the most dominant program and the best player in WBB by 35 or losing to a team you beat three times during the regular season and not being able to go to the FF as a result. I think Baylor's loss is probably worse. Duke is absolutely unnerved by UCONN- it is some sort of hex I am convinced.

uh_no
03-29-2011, 11:22 PM
Not sure which is worse- losing to the most dominant program and the best player in WBB by 35 or losing to a team you beat three times during the regular season and not being able to go to the FF as a result. I think Baylor's loss is probably worse. Duke is absolutely unnerved by UCONN- it is some sort of hex I am convinced.

the hex? one of the best defenses in the country against an offense prone to going cold. Gotta feel bad for the dukies, they picked the wrong night to get uconn again (after they were cold so often late). Good recruiting class coming in for duke + maya gone....bodes well for the future.

Anyway, its so hard to beat a team 3 times in a year let along 4.

You heard it here first: ND will beat uconn in the semifinal.

Kfanarmy
03-30-2011, 12:03 AM
the hex? one of the best defenses in the country against an offense prone to going cold. Gotta feel bad for the dukies, they picked the wrong night to get uconn again (after they were cold so often late). Good recruiting class coming in for duke + maya gone....bodes well for the future.

Anyway, its so hard to beat a team 3 times in a year let along 4.

You heard it here first: ND will beat uconn in the semifinal. as you're a CONN fan is this just trying to play down your own expectations

uh_no
03-30-2011, 12:25 AM
as you're a CONN fan is this just trying to play down your own expectations

I take offense to that. I probably watch more women's basketball than just about everyone else on this board.

I just watched Texas A&M beat up baylor after losing to them 3 times (though playing them tough) during the year. Not only is the same situation playing out for Uconn, but until tonights game, Uconn has not played particularly well...especially against big east opponents both in the BE tourney and the NCAA tourney. ND looked phenomenal last night and I think they will win, Uconn's poor performances of late coupled with their lack of a bench will get them.

And please don't call me a liar again.

Kfanarmy
03-30-2011, 12:37 AM
I take offense to that. I probably watch more women's basketball than just about everyone else on this board.

I just watched Texas A&M beat up baylor after losing to them 3 times (though playing them tough) during the year. Not only is the same situation playing out for Uconn, but until tonights game, Uconn has not played particularly well...especially against big east opponents both in the BE tourney and the NCAA tourney. ND looked phenomenal last night and I think they will win, Uconn's poor performances of late coupled with their lack of a bench will get them.

And please don't call me a liar again.

Must have missed where I called you a liar...I simply said you are a UCONN fan...and ASKED if you were trying to play down you're expectations...pls reread there Huskey.

-bdbd
03-30-2011, 12:43 AM
the hex? one of the best defenses in the country against an offense prone to going cold. Gotta feel bad for the dukies, they picked the wrong night to get uconn again (after they were cold so often late). Good recruiting class coming in for duke + maya gone....bodes well for the future.Anyway, its so hard to beat a team 3 times in a year let along 4.

You heard it here first: ND will beat uconn in the semifinal.

Thanks Uh No. I was going to point out that Duke has a strong Frosh class, and the #1 recruiting class incoming next year -- including the nation's #1 prep player, a big center who perfectly fills a need. The future looks very bright for Duke, indeed. (And if anyone cares, U-con will likely take a step back from their current lofty perch next year -- but still be top-5 good). Have no fear fellow Devils...

But, Uh No, you know I still disagree with you on the "need" to play your starting 5-6 stars for a full 38 minutes when up by 35 (just like they did last month). And I'm pretty sure the vast majority of fans would agree with me. You can ALWAYS choose to take your starters out, and play players #7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 (or #6). Who cares if the last couple aren't all scholarship players???! (and he's not even playing all the scholly players, really) Now, if on ther other hand, he wanted to send everyone else a message, then that is how you do it.... No mercy.

Congrats to the ladies on a very good season. One game (or two) doesn't change that. And there really are great things coming over that horizon... :D



P.S. Anybody picking anybody other than U-con to win the ladies tournament is just plain nuts! Their men, on the other hand, might be fighting an uphill battle...

uh_no
03-30-2011, 12:56 AM
But, Uh No, you know I still disagree with you on the "need" to play your starting 5-6 for 38 minutes when up by 35 (just like they did last month). And I'm pretty sure the vast majority of fans would agree. You can ALWAYS choose to take your starters out, and play players #7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 (or #6). Who cares if the last couple aren't all scholarship players???! (and he's not even playing all the scholly players, really) Now, if on ther other hand, he wanted to send everyone else a message, then that is how you do it.... No mercy.


I don't think it's really sending a message when that's how he plays every game. Take a look at most every game this year, and the 3 bench players see very few minutes in most situations (in the purdue game, they got 2 minutes each, despite uconn being up by 24).

The bottom line is Geno is there to win it, and he likely thinks there is benefit to having those 6 players play all but the last couple of mintues (frankly the rest are terrible....relative to the other 6). He may be working on sets, or just preparing them physically for when they NEED to play 50 full minutes, like they will have to next weekend.

Consider for instance, if he pulled the starters (he doesn't even have enough players to pull all the starters anyway...) with 10 minutes left in every game....then they would be prepared to play 30 minute games...their bodies would be used to it. How do you prepare to play 40 minutes? by playing 40 minutes all the time. Tonight's game was no exception.

Frankly, he is really good at what he does (winning championships) and I think it is unfair to criticize this move in a game like this.

And yes, Uconn will be down, no doubt. They've been to 4 straight final 4's, and may (hope so) add a 3rd national championship. You can't stay on top forever. After their other 3 peat, it took them 5 years to get back, so we could perhaps be looking at some time before uconn gets back on top again. That said, they still have all the pieces of some great teams, except the super talented wonder player (maya, diana). Baylor will win the next two with griner.

calltheobvious
03-30-2011, 01:27 AM
I don't think it's really sending a message when that's how he plays every game. Take a look at most every game this year, and the 3 bench players see very few minutes in most situations (in the purdue game, they got 2 minutes each, despite uconn being up by 24).

The bottom line is Geno is there to win it, and he likely thinks there is benefit to having those 6 players play all but the last couple of mintues (frankly the rest are terrible....relative to the other 6). He may be working on sets, or just preparing them physically for when they NEED to play 50 full minutes, like they will have to next weekend.

Consider for instance, if he pulled the starters (he doesn't even have enough players to pull all the starters anyway...) with 10 minutes left in every game....then they would be prepared to play 30 minute games...their bodies would be used to it. How do you prepare to play 40 minutes? by playing 40 minutes all the time. Tonight's game was no exception.

Frankly, he is really good at what he does (winning championships) and I think it is unfair to criticize this move in a game like this.

And yes, Uconn will be down, no doubt. They've been to 4 straight final 4's, and may (hope so) add a 3rd national championship. You can't stay on top forever. After their other 3 peat, it took them 5 years to get back, so we could perhaps be looking at some time before uconn gets back on top again. That said, they still have all the pieces of some great teams, except the super talented wonder player (maya, diana). Baylor will win the next two with griner.

With several days between tonight and UConn's next game, there's no substantive physiological advantage to playing 35 minutes tonight versus 38, especially in a game that was completely decided by what, the twelve-, fourteen-, sixteen-minute mark of the second half? And against a team whose will had been broken, I fail to see how those minutes were useful from a mental standpoint, either.

I've come to expect this type of thing from Geno, so it's not like I'll even remember this tomorrow, but I don't care if his reserves are JV Girls quality. When you're up 30+ with five minutes to go, it's patently absurd to risk an injury to a player of Moore's quality. Do you really think--and do you think Geno really thinks--that leaving Moore and Co. on the floor for mop-up duty increased his chances of victory next weekend? I just don't find that notion compelling at all.

uh_no
03-30-2011, 01:41 AM
Do you really think--and do you think Geno really thinks--that leaving Moore and Co. on the floor for mop-up duty increased his chances of victory next weekend? I just don't find that notion compelling at all.

Having watched Geno for the past 20 years, everything he does with the team is a deliberate decision geared towards winning the national title.

The guy mandates that after every 3 pointer, one player high fives every other player on the bench. Do you think that will increase chances of victory next week? I don't know, I wouldn't do that.

Geno has a system, it is an amazingly and terribly efficient system for doing one thing, and thats winning national titles. Since 1995, he's won 7/15 championships and accumulated the 2 longest win streaks in the history of women's basketball. John Wooden was similarly quirky, starting each season by teaching the kids how to put on their shoes and socks. Do I have any idea how that correlates to winning championships? No. Geno's played this way for 25 years, and I doubt he's changing now.

The philosophy is, we don't care who you are, we're coming at you 100% for 40 minutes. You could be NJIT or Stanford of whomever else. If you get blown out, we really don't care. If teams don't want to get blown out, they need to get better.

Call it arrogance or unsportsmanlike, but the guy has more final fours than he does losses over the past 4 years, is 102-1 over the past 3 years, and has 7 titles. Whatever he does works. (also of note, the last time Uconn didn't make the sweet 16? 1993. and they've been to 15/17 elite 8's in that span)

DunkOnYou
03-30-2011, 06:19 AM
I've been to almost every Duke Women's home game for >20y, and quite frankly the past 2 seasons have been tough to watch despite the wins. I enjoy the wins and I'm glad we win, but I sometimes walk out of Cameron shaking my head when we win on "volume shooting". Last night was not a dramatically "down" shooting night for this season; it was probably in the lower tertile, but not aberrant for this season. It's not that we miss completely open shots (we do), but much more that against quality teams we get forced to take off-balance, crazy, wild, ridiculous shots that make us look like middle-schoolers or driveway players. Coach said in pregame that they needed to make the game "look ugly" on the defensive end (ie, bang and play "physical") and be in "attack mode" on the offense (I thought we were). But, an attack with a shot that doesn't get rim doesn't work. Shooting <30% against a quality opponent who can rebound means you need a lot of shots to win. So, here's hoping that we develop a better offensive strategy that leads to makeable shots.

In my view, Women's basketball over the past 5-10y has seen a rapid transformation to much stronger and faster players. But, with hand checking and banging now more prominent, this has really favored the defense much more than the offense. Once the Women's coaches figure out how to use the strength and speed to benefit the offense, the game will be better and we'll see a more flowing offense against a good defense, making the game more fun to watch.

calltheobvious
03-30-2011, 11:39 AM
Having watched Geno for the past 20 years, everything he does with the team is a deliberate decision geared towards winning the national title.

The guy mandates that after every 3 pointer, one player high fives every other player on the bench. Do you think that will increase chances of victory next week? I don't know, I wouldn't do that.

Geno has a system, it is an amazingly and terribly efficient system for doing one thing, and thats winning national titles. Since 1995, he's won 7/15 championships and accumulated the 2 longest win streaks in the history of women's basketball. John Wooden was similarly quirky, starting each season by teaching the kids how to put on their shoes and socks. Do I have any idea how that correlates to winning championships? No. Geno's played this way for 25 years, and I doubt he's changing now.

The philosophy is, we don't care who you are, we're coming at you 100% for 40 minutes. You could be NJIT or Stanford of whomever else. If you get blown out, we really don't care. If teams don't want to get blown out, they need to get better.

Call it arrogance or unsportsmanlike, but the guy has more final fours than he does losses over the past 4 years, is 102-1 over the past 3 years, and has 7 titles. Whatever he does works. (also of note, the last time Uconn didn't make the sweet 16? 1993. and they've been to 15/17 elite 8's in that span)

Good post. You convinced me.

I think if you'll re-read it, you'll have a deeper understanding of Wooden and his shoe-tying exercise.

Rudy
03-30-2011, 02:35 PM
I was hoping UConn would come in sort of asleep, like they did against Georgetown, and our ladies would hit a higher than usual percentage. Oh well.

Best wishes especially to JT, whom I watched often in her h.s. career as well as at college.

dukelifer
03-30-2011, 04:04 PM
the hex? one of the best defenses in the country against an offense prone to going cold. Gotta feel bad for the dukies, they picked the wrong night to get uconn again (after they were cold so often late). Good recruiting class coming in for duke + maya gone....bodes well for the future.

Anyway, its so hard to beat a team 3 times in a year let along 4.

You heard it here first: ND will beat uconn in the semifinal.

All true- but this Duke team lost only two games outside of UConn. One was a game against UNC they could have won and the other was against MD at MD where they were not at full strength- but got killed. Yes they won some close game- but they also showed an ability to put some huge number of points on the board- against decent teams. against FSU- *7 pts, against Mia 82 pts, against UNC 81 pts. The women had some issues with scoring- but UConn had two crushing runs against them in the two meetings and Duke had huge scoring droughts in both games. Looking at UConn D against common opponents - clearly UConn is excellent on that end of the floor and I did not appreciate it until I looked more carefully. Whatever they do seems to be very effective against Duke.

CameronBornAndBred
03-30-2011, 05:21 PM
Thank you ladies for a great season...and a huge thanks to Jasmine, Krystal and Karima for staying after G recruited them and then left. Best of luck to all three of you in your bright futures!

DukieInKansas
03-30-2011, 06:48 PM
<snip>
Consider for instance, if he pulled the starters (he doesn't even have enough players to pull all the starters anyway...) with 10 minutes left in every game....then they would be prepared to play 30 minute games...their bodies would be used to it. How do you prepare to play 40 minutes? by playing 40 minutes all the time. Tonight's game was no exception.
<snip>


The UConn roster lists 10 players. Is one of them injured and unable to play? If not, then I think he could pull his starting line and still have 5 players on the court. How do they run practices if they don't have enough players to run 5 on 5?

(Unfortunately, they could have probably put 4 on the court in the last 5 minutes and still won. I'm not trying to knock our team - it just wasn't to be last night.)

I'm not arguing with how Geno decides to substitute his players as it obviously works. I don't have to like it, however. :D

uh_no
03-30-2011, 07:33 PM
The UConn roster lists 10 players. Is one of them injured and unable to play? If not, then I think he could pull his starting line and still have 5 players on the court. How do they run practices if they don't have enough players to run 5 on 5?

(Unfortunately, they could have probably put 4 on the court in the last 5 minutes and still won. I'm not trying to knock our team - it just wasn't to be last night.)

I'm not arguing with how Geno decides to substitute his players as it obviously works. I don't have to like it, however. :D

Caroline Doty tore her ACL before the season began. It is typical for women's teams to practice against male practice teams (in cameron there is even a picture of the guys on the practice team next to the mens bathroom on the first floor)

I think the right mind set as a duke fan in this situation is not "why is Geno a jerk," but what do WE have to do as a program to compete with a team like that which only has to play 6 players the entire game and wins by a combined 71 points in two meetings? The players are there for duke, that's for certain, and P is bringing in more. The thing is, scant few teams have been able to answer that question over the past 5 years, so I for sure don't know what the answer is, and am glad I'm not an opposing coach tasked to figuring it out.

stillcrazie
03-31-2011, 08:29 AM
Caroline Doty tore her ACL before the season began. It is typical for women's teams to practice against male practice teams (in cameron there is even a picture of the guys on the practice team next to the mens bathroom on the first floor)

I think the right mind set as a duke fan in this situation is not "why is Geno a jerk," but what do WE have to do as a program to compete with a team like that which only has to play 6 players the entire game and wins by a combined 71 points in two meetings? The players are there for duke, that's for certain, and P is bringing in more. The thing is, scant few teams have been able to answer that question over the past 5 years, so I for sure don't know what the answer is, and am glad I'm not an opposing coach tasked to figuring it out.

I totally agree with this. I have no problem with Geno and don't care how many players play how many minutes. I'd like to know - can we play at the highest level and beat the elite teams? As a #2 seed you'd think the gap would not be that great, but we have obviously not been able to bridge it yet. We have the talent coming in, now I think the burden is going to fall on the coaching staff to get the team in position to compete with the UConns, Stanfords, Baylors, etc.

CameronBornAndBred
03-31-2011, 10:28 AM
We have the talent coming in, now I think the burden is going to fall on the coaching staff to get the team in position to compete with the UConns, Stanfords, Baylors, etc.

P on the 5 freshmen...


"What a great experience to go to the Elite Eight in year one," McCallie said. "And to be so terribly disappointed, to not compete and not do what we wanted to do, that is something that will be carried into the summer."

And the incoming...



"You have to have a paint presence," McCallie said. "Eight lousy points doesn't cut it. There's not a balance to it.





"There's no doubt that Elizabeth and Amber will have huge roles and opportunities coming to Duke next year."

http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story/12567166/article-McCallie-focuses-on-future-of-Devils?instance=main_article

By the way, Elizabeth Williams was voted NPOY. She was also voted MVP of the McDonald's game and set a scoring record.
http://www.maxpreps.com/news/XP6mV1s7EeCkhgAcxJSkrA/elizabeth-williams-sets-mcdonalds-scoring-record,-leads-east-to-easy-win.htm

uh_no
03-31-2011, 12:42 PM
P on the 5 freshmen...



And the incoming...




http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story/12567166/article-McCallie-focuses-on-future-of-Devils?instance=main_article

By the way, Elizabeth Williams was voted NPOY. She was also voted MVP of the McDonald's game and set a scoring record.
http://www.maxpreps.com/news/XP6mV1s7EeCkhgAcxJSkrA/elizabeth-williams-sets-mcdonalds-scoring-record,-leads-east-to-easy-win.htm

I have no doubt that the incoming freshmen are great. Theres no deason for duke fans not to be optimistic next year

Kfanarmy
03-31-2011, 01:27 PM
I totally agree with this. I have no problem with Geno and don't care how many players play how many minutes. I'd like to know - can we play at the highest level and beat the elite teams? As a #2 seed you'd think the gap would not be that great, but we have obviously not been able to bridge it yet. We have the talent coming in, now I think the burden is going to fall on the coaching staff to get the team in position to compete with the UConns, Stanfords, Baylors, etc.

It is just a reality that sooo many young girls are not encouraged to play competitive sports so that by the time College rolls around there are very few elite players available to recruit. The drop off is immense between the top three or four teams in recruiting and the rest of the field. Once a team gets to the top of national recruiting, coaching skill becomes more important. UCONN has been getting a tremendous amount of talent from a very limited pool...in Reality Geno's in-game coaching has had to be better than only a handful of coaches...not to say he isn't incredible, but his coaching ability is really hard to judge as so few coaches (2 maybe three) have been in a position where inhuman effort wasn't required to compete with the talent he has on the floor.

uh_no
03-31-2011, 01:56 PM
It is just a reality that sooo many young girls are not encouraged to play competitive sports so that by the time College rolls around there are very few elite players available to recruit. The drop off is immense between the top three or four teams in recruiting and the rest of the field. Once a team gets to the top of national recruiting, coaching skill becomes more important. UCONN has been getting a tremendous amount of talent from a very limited pool...in Reality Geno's in-game coaching has had to be better than only a handful of coaches...not to say he isn't incredible, but his coaching ability is really hard to judge as so few coaches (2 maybe three) have been in a position where inhuman effort wasn't required to compete with the talent he has on the floor.

There are other teams, though, that have had top recruiting classes, better than uconn some years for sure, but who still don't compete. I think duke's next class will be a huge test case for this hypothesis. Geno might not always have the top draft class, but he is effectively able to hand pick the kids he wants in his system (and we've seen kids he missed on who wanted out when they couldn't take it). So there is more that goes into his recruiting decisions than simply the top 4 kids in the country. Now, when a diana taurasi or maya moore comes along, no doubt he goes balls to the wall to get the kid (sometimes committing secondary recruiting violations....guess he learned from the best with calhoun across the hall :P) For example, I bet he would have killed to have the girl who went to duke instead (elizabeth williams i think is her name), especially with maya moore gone.

In the end, Geno has set the standard, and everybody else is trying to meet it. Right now P is doing a great job of trying to get there, starting on the recruiting trail. I'm still shaky as to whether she has the right system to succeed though. The next couple of years could do a lot to change my opinion, with two top recruiting classes in a row and one of the top players, that should be butter zone for a great team. They should have a team that can compete on that top echelon of teams next year, especially with geno and the angry puppies set for a down year.

DukeBlueNikeShox
03-31-2011, 05:57 PM
UConn will be even better in the future. The have the 2011 NPOY (Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis) who will step into Maya's role immediately. They also have verbals from the #1 2012 player, 6'4" combo shooting guard/small forward Breanna Stewart from Syracuse and top forward Morgan Tuck. UConn's also in the leader for former SuperSonics' Xavier McDaniel's daughter, 6'2" Xylina. In the 2013 class, they are the favorite for #1 6'2" Diamond DeShields, daughter of former MLB player Delino DeShields. She's drawing comparisons to Candace Parker.

DukeBlueNikeShox
03-31-2011, 06:05 PM
I think P made a big mistake this year by not letting Chelsea run the point. I know Jas was a senior and an All-American type of player. However, I believe she would have been much better at the 2 on offense, where she could have concentrated on just scoring. Chelsea is taller, has better vision, and can make better passes. Liston is a sharpshooter. If she had been on the court and just spotting up (even as a decoy), other teams would have respected her. This way, Jas and Chelsea would have had more 1 on 1 opportunities to score and pass efficiently.

stillcrazie
03-31-2011, 08:58 PM
UConn will be even better in the future. The have the 2011 NPOY (Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis) who will step into Maya's role immediately. They also have verbals from the #1 2012 player, 6'4" combo shooting guard/small forward Breanna Stewart from Syracuse and top forward Morgan Tuck. UConn's also in the leader for former SuperSonics' Xavier McDaniel's daughter, 6'2" Xylina. In the 2013 class, they are the favorite for #1 6'2" Diamond DeShields, daughter of former MLB player Delino DeShields. She's drawing comparisons to Candace Parker.

Interesting. I remember DeShields well. Don't forget, however, that we had the #1 recruiting class last year and possibly this year as well. Elizabeth Williams is widely considered #1 in her class.

DunkOnYou
04-03-2011, 09:09 AM
Gotta see both stats get better. Missed FT is hard to fathom. Making shots in the paint would be a start for FG%. Only UNC missed more shots than us.

FREE THROW PCT G FTM FTA Pct
1. BOSTON COLLEGE 33 423 567 .746
2. FLORIDA STATE 32 527 749 .704
3. VIRGINIA 35 578 826 .700
4. NORTH CAROLINA 37 566 817 .693
5. MIAMI 33 567 825 .687
6. WAKE FOREST 32 432 647 .668
7. NC STATE 31 439 662 .663
8. GEORGIA TECH 35 416 638 .652
9. MARYLAND 32 496 761 .652
10. DUKE 36 461 714 .646
11. CLEMSON 30 273 434 .629
12. VIRGINIA TECH 30 337 561 .601

FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGES G FGM FGA Pct
1. BOSTON COLLEGE 33 966 2106 .459
2. FLORIDA STATE 32 826 1889 .437
3. MARYLAND 32 845 1953 .433
4. MIAMI 33 934 2182 .428
5. NORTH CAROLINA 37 1076 2516 .428
6. GEORGIA TECH 35 873 2064 .423
7. NC STATE 31 878 2079 .422
8. DUKE 36 939 2241 .419
9. VIRGINIA TECH 30 691 1761 .392
10. VIRGINIA 35 811 2088 .388
11. CLEMSON 30 666 1741 .383
12. WAKE FOREST 32 764 2002 .382