WBB: Duke 67, Hampton 51, NCAA First Round

[burnspbesq]

Nearing the under-four media timeout, Duke has an offensively-challenged Hampton team in a hole they may not be able to shoot their way out of. Duke 28-13.

[burnspbesq]

Hampton has ten offensive rebounds, which is not good. Other than that, the Pirates haven't shown they can compete with Duke.

[Furniture]

Looks like more Hampton fans than Duke fans at Cameron!

[rtnorthrup]

I didn't get to see the game, but it looks like we were actually outscored in the second half. Also, got no bench contribution.

Good win, but we will need to be stronger in the next round.

[DU82]

I didn't get to see the game, but it looks like we were actually outscored in the second half. Also, got no bench contribution.

Good win, but we will need to be stronger in the next round.

I'll mention that Allison was key off the bench. Disruptive on D, with four offensive rebounds and a couple of assists. Chloe didn't add much, though. KJ had a couple of good plays, and also not so good plays. We really only play seven at this point, and have since Chelsea went out.

When I see a game like this, I forget that even though we think the ACC refs are bad, this reminds us that there aren't 32 decent sets of 3 refs out there for the women's game.

[dukelifer]

I didn't get to see the game, but it looks like we were actually outscored in the second half. Also, got no bench contribution.

Good win, but we will need to be stronger in the next round.

The ridiculous layoff cannot help. Duke relaxed and let Hampton and their incredibly vocal crowd back in the game- but in the end Duke took care of business.

[Bob Green]

I enjoyed the game. Hampton made their 2nd half run after Elizabeth Williams went to the bench with her 3rd foul. Once EWill came back in the game, Duke quickly took control. Tricia Liston hit some key shots and Haley Peters played a strong game as well. Peters is a tough player. Hampton is a good team, but Duke is a very good team.

[burnspbesq]

Coach P said in the run-up to today's game that Hampton is the best 15 seed she has ever seen, and that was a completely accurate assessment. That team would more than likely have finished sixth in the ACC this year. They're undersized and don't have a consistent perimeter threat, but they can defend, they can get into the lane, and they can hit the glass. It was a little scary when they went on the run that cut the Duke lead to six with EWill on the bench with three fouls. Enter EWill, 8-0 run for Duke, game effectively over.

We just had too much talent, and too much size, for the Pirates to keep up.

[Bike4Fun]

It was not good that we were overwhelmed by Hampton fans. A generous estimate is that we had about 2-dozen loyal Duke students who go to most of our Women's games, standing at midcourt on the Student side. That's pretty much it, for the students. While it was really fun to have such energetic visitors (loved their band's National anthem version), had Hampton stayed a little closer, it could have been really bad for us to be visitors in our own house. The girls never looked panicked when we started poorly in the second half and while the Hampton fans got appropriately loud and excited. I'm hoping that the students fill the bleacher section for Tuesday at 7pm. Okay, how about at least half full?

[-bdbd]

Why the poor turnout? Not like the men's game conflicted....

Yes, we must take advantage of home court on Tuesday!!

FWIW, watching MD on TV some here in DC yesterday, Comcast was less than a third full as well.

Congrats to the ladies - survive and advance! But let's redouble our focus for Tuesday now...

:D

[B-well]

Looks like more Hampton fans than Duke fans at Cameron!

You have to look upstairs to find the Duke fans who stick with the Womens team - game in and game out - all season long.

On Sunday, the seats in the bleachers downstairs were loaded with Hampton fans, overpowering the few Duke students present.

If the Duke students don't show up on Tuesday night, the lower level seating will look like a wasteland - to the TV audience, but worse - to the Duke players.

This is a fine group of student athletes playiing at a very high level and they deserve great support from their fellow students.

[msdukie]

Duke students stopped attending women's games after the 2007 season (save UNC, Maryland, UConn games).

The fan base now consists almost entirely of supporters from Durham and alums.

[burnspbesq]

The three and four seeds in our region went down tonight. No. 6 Nebraska beat No. 3 Texas A&M, and No. 12 Kansas beat No. 4 South Carolina.

[Lid]

Duke students stopped attending women's games after the 2007 season (save UNC, Maryland, UConn games).


And even those games are minimally attended at best. At the Maryland game this year (I think that's the one), they tried to keep a prime swath of the bleachers open for students, pushing out the general admission season ticket holders that are there every. single. game. They kept insisting the students would come because there was free pizza, right up through the national anthem. At that point they finally admitted no students were coming and allowed people into that section, but by then many had left to get seats elsewhere (end zones upstairs). End result: Cameron looked sparser than it really was for a nationally televised game, and the loyal fans were a bit annoyed. Bird in the hand, and all that.

I used to be irritated that the students don't show up, but generally, I think DWB has done a good job of recognizing that they can cultivate an extremely loyal fan base from Durhamites, employees and families. It would be great if the students came and created a raucous atmosphere (the Hampton game was SO much fun! ... only for the other team), but until/unless that happens again, I'll continue to enjoy my prime cheap seats and yell my (older) head off with my family.

See you there tonight!