WBB: Duke 78, Winthrop 50

[burnspbesq]

The Eagles probably aren't as good as Penn, and Duke played better than it did on Friday night.

Interior defense was superb; Duke tied its single-game record with 16 blocked shots.

Stevens went for 18 and 14, with eight blocks. Greenwell had 17, on 5-10 from the floor (all from beyond the arc) and 2-2 from the line. Salvadores looked much more comfortable, going for seven points (on 3-6 from the floor and 1-2 from the line) with four assists. All of the freshmen looked more comfortable.

Duke was +15 on the glass, including 22 offensive rebounds.

Still too many turnovers (23), and too many offensive rebounds surrendered (19), but Duke ALWAYS has too many turnovers. Might as well just get used to it.

Now for the first real test: Texas A&M on Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. at Cameron.

Meanwhile, up the road a piece, the Sylvias are 0-2 for the first time in program history after losing to Oregon earlier this afternoon.

[Class of '94]

The Eagles probably aren't as good as Penn, and Duke played better than it did on Friday night.

Interior defense was superb; Duke tied its single-game record with 16 blocked shots.

Stevens went for 18 and 14, with eight blocks. Greenwell had 17, on 5-10 from the floor (all from beyond the arc) and 2-2 from the line. Salvadores looked much more comfortable, going for seven points (on 3-6 from the floor and 1-2 from the line) with four assists. All of the freshmen looked more comfortable.

Duke was +15 on the glass, including 22 offensive rebounds.

Still too many turnovers (23), and too many offensive rebounds surrendered (19), but Duke ALWAYS has too many turnovers. Might as well just get used to it.

Now for the first real test: Texas A&M on Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. at Cameron.

Meanwhile, up the road a piece, the Sylvias are 0-2 for the first time in program history after losing to Oregon earlier this afternoon.

Not trying to troll you (serious question), do you think based on what you've seen that this team will be able to compete and beat the super elite teams like ND and Uconn (hoping for just competing with in regards to UConn); or is this team about a year away from doing that? The high number of turnovers concern me and to some extent scare me because if this team is turning the ball over this much with teams like Penn and Winthrop, I am worried that this team is going to get blown out the gym against better competition. That being said, the season is very young and they have a lot of time to grow and improve on those turnover numbers. I am hoping that with "real" guards on the squad again, these turnover numbers will go down as our young and inexperienced guards gain more experience.

[Kedsy]

Not trying to troll you (serious question), do you think based on what you've seen that this team will be able to compete and beat the super elite teams like ND and Uconn (hoping for just competing with in regards to UConn); or is this team about a year away from doing that? The high number of turnovers concern me and to some extent scare me because if this team is turning the ball over this much with teams like Penn and Winthrop, I am worried that this team is going to get blown out the gym against better competition. That being said, the season is very young and they have a lot of time to grow and improve on those turnover numbers. I am hoping that with "real" guards on the squad again, these turnover numbers will go down as our young and inexperienced guards gain more experience.

Based on what we've seen so far, I think we can compete with the top teams, though I'm not sure we'll be able to beat teams like Notre Dame and UConn. Our defense is really good, and even the top teams should have difficulty scoring against us. On offense, at least in the Penn game (I didn't see the Winthrop game), most of the turnovers were of the dead ball variety, and a lot of them were offensive fouls or traveling calls on bigs (our bigs committed 14 of the 24 TOs against Penn). And while those sorts of turnovers are a concern, they're not as big a concern as the live ball turnovers that teams like UConn and Notre Dame turn into fast-break points before you can blink. From what I've seen, Kyra seems to take pretty good care of the ball (although her a/to ratio is 7/4, which isn't terrible but isn't great), but I am a little bit concerned about her ability to run an effective offense against a top ten team. Perhaps once Angela gets to full speed, having both her and Kyra in the lineup will change things (although right now, Angela's a/to ratio is a less-than-compelling 4/6).

Ultimately, because our D is so good, we should compete with the top teams. Whether we can win might depend on whether Azurá realizes that she's one of the best players in the country and decides to step up and take over the game. If that happens we should have a chance against anybody. Although if we get disheartened and give up a 20-2 run like we have in the past against UConn, then who knows?

[jimsumner]

Duke doesn't play UConn this year. But they do play South Carolina, on the road.

Texas A&M is the highest-profile non-ACC team to visit Cameron this season and they show up Wednesday night.

So, we should know more soon.

Frankly, I think Duke will have a tough time with the Aggies. Duke is really young, McCallie hasn't come close to figuring out the best rotations and Salvadores is at least a month behind. Duke had five different players playing point guard yesterday (not at the same time, fortunately) and five different centers. There are a lot of possible permutations and I think McCallie will give folks a few weeks before she starts compressing the rotation. And Belton should come back sometime next month, which should be a good thing long term but could complicate things short term.

It might take some time. Once Salvadores gets up to speed, she, Stevens and Greenwell will be a formidable combination. IMO, the keys for Duke being successful this season are managing turnovers--two dozen a game is not sustainable--and finding a reliable center, maybe a couple.

[burnspbesq]

Not trying to troll you (serious question), do you think based on what you've seen that this team will be able to compete and beat the super elite teams like ND and Uconn (hoping for just competing with in regards to UConn); or is this team about a year away from doing that? The high number of turnovers concern me and to some extent scare me because if this team is turning the ball over this much with teams like Penn and Winthrop, I am worried that this team is going to get blown out the gym against better competition. That being said, the season is very young and they have a lot of time to grow and improve on those turnover numbers. I am hoping that with "real" guards on the squad again, these turnover numbers will go down as our young and inexperienced guards gain more experience.

Watch me do my Will Monday impression!

I have no idea right now. Ask me again after the A&M and South Carolina games. It would be great if we could get one from ND, but the games against FSU and Louisville are actually more important in terms of ACC and NCAA tournament seeding.

[jimsumner]

The sixth-ranked FSU women lost their opener tonight to Florida and lost star guard Letica Romero to a high-ankle sprain. Duration, TBD. But she's a huge loss.

FYI

[-jk]

To both: Ouch!

-jk