DWB blue - white game crowd

[bluedevilsince72]

I didnt get a chance to go to the Womens Blue - white game but was able to watch the highlights. It looked like the crowd was extremely small. Did anyone go to the game? Be curious to see if the crowds will be smaller this year after everything that has gone on with McCallie in the offseason.

[DU82]

I didnt get a chance to go to the Womens Blue - white game but was able to watch the highlights. It looked like the crowd was extremely small. Did anyone go to the game? Be curious to see if the crowds will be smaller this year after everything that has gone on with McCallie in the offseason.

Contrary to what I thought I was going to do back in the summer, I did renew my WBB season tickets (at half the previous price) and attended the B/W scrimmage to support the players.

The crowd wasn't very big, as you mentioned. I've attended the B/W scrimmage on and off over the years, I've never really seen a big crowd (same with the exhibitions.) When the scrimmage started, I was one of eight people on the bleachers across from the benches. There were more people on the bleachers behind the benches, though. I didn't get a good look at upstairs, but it didn't look/sound very full. The band and cheerleaders were there, of course. Nice cheers for the players. I think about four people cheered for Coach P (it was noticeable the lack of cheering for her compared to the players. Only providing an observation, not an editorial comment here. Please don't make this the focus of this thread, or else it's the last report for the season.)

A few interesting things. Ten players played, five on each side. Haley Gorecki is still out, a later announcement said they hope she'll be back sometime in December. Sofia Roma, the transfer from Wagner, didn't play either. I don't think she was hurt, just sat out to make it five on five. The men on the scout team filled in as needed, but I will say that the women are in great shape for the most part, and everybody but Crystal Primm played 37-40 minutes (Crystal looked to have leg cramps, as she went out a few times and the trainers were working on stretching. Still played 33 minutes.) Lynee Belton, still wearing a large knee brace, stayed in as long as anybody.

The first quarter included the three primary ball handlers on one team. Lexie Brown didn't shoot well, but played well. Kyra Lambert has certainly improved from last season, looking for her shot a bit more, which isn't always necessarily a good thing (she didn't shoot well, either.) Rebecca Greenwell started slow, but later her shot was definitely on, as teammates found her running off screens to get open. In later quarters, situations were different, and in one quarter was isolated as her team's primary ball handler. Other than mop-up time, at least one of Lexie and Kyra need to be in at all times. Rebecca and Crystal's handles were not great. There wasn't much visible improvements from Crystal or Faith Suggs, and I'd expect they're at the bottom of the ten for the playing rotation (Haley will likely pass both of them once she's back to speed.)

Leaonna Odom, the one freshman that will play (Emily Lambert tore her ACL in practice, and is out for the year) showed promise. A slasher with a long/lean body, is something the team hasn't had in a long while (not sure of a comparison, in fact.) As a freshman, she'll be up and down, but it's an interesting addition. She will play a lot.

Up front, Oderah didn't have a very good game, but we know what she brings by now. I hope she's more consistent. Kendall Cooper is back, and has added a move or two inside. Again, not a lot of change from previous years though. Erin Mathias showed the most improvement. She has added a fairly decent mid-range jumper, and was more aggressive taking the ball to the basket, either with drives or a baby hook (Cooper showed a jump hook, too.) Lynee Belton moved much better than I had expected, and showed some of why she was so highly ranked before she got hurt.

Overall, a decent showing. A lot of good players, but no real star unless Odom or Brown breaks out. That'll limit the team against the top teams like ND, USC (Columbia), and Kentucky. I think the upper-middle of the ACC pack ranking is probably accurate, and I'd project an 7-9 seed in the NCAA.

Oh, and the best player in the arena on Sunday was definitely Alana Beard (yea, that's cheating!) She was sitting in the bleachers just enjoying the day and the scrimmage.

[summerwind03]

THanks for that great report. I learned a lot.

[jimsumner]

Good report.

One quibble.

I suppose the term "star" is subject to differing definitions.

But I think Duke has two.

Greenwell was second-team All-ACC last season. She told the media that she is healthier than she's ever been at Duke and it shows. The addition of Brown means Greenwell will play more off the ball. Assuming she stays healthy, she's going to have a big season.

And Lexie Brown was third-team AP All-America two seasons ago at Maryland.

One would hope she could at least duplicate that at Duke.

That seems like a star to me.

As a general rule, I try not to draw too many conclusions from intra-squad games. Too much zero sum. We should know more after this Sunday's game.

Duke begins the season unranked for the first time in a generation, although Duke did pick up some support in both the coaches and media polls. Sixth place preseason in the AP poll, which should be more than enough to get back to the Big Dance.

If they can play to that level.

The talent is there to make some noise. Maybe not Elizabeth Williams-Chelsea Gray-Alexis Jones-Tricia Liston-Haley Peters-on-the-same-team-level-talent. And the schedule is pretty tough, South Carolina and Kentucky again and the ACC is really good.

But Duke has seven McDonald's All-Americans. SEVEN.

I'm going into the season with the attitude of "clean slate" let's see what happens. Let see what happens.