Well, this certainly qualifies as a "bold prediction"

[scottdude8]

From SI.com (https://www.si.com/college-basketball/2019/02/14/bold-predictions-unc-duke-fsu-indiana-lsu-iowa-state):

EMILY CARON: NORTH CAROLINA SWEEPS DUKE IN THEIR HOME-AND-HOME SERIES
Hear me out: the Tar Heels haven’t swept Duke since 2008–09. They’ve split the regular season series for the last three straight seasons, but this year—the year the Tar Heels are least expected to dominate the Blue Devils—my bold prediction is that they’ll walk away with two statement wins. The Blue Devils freshman four have proved almost impossible for ACC contenders to beat—they just took two wins from Virginia, who beat Roy Williams’s crew this week and then had an improbable comeback at Louisville—but Carolina is playing some of its best basketball of the season. Given the intensity of this rivalry, the history and the fact that the Tar Heels have talented seniors like Luke Maye and Cameron Johnson—who you can know would do just about anything for a win at Cameron Indoor—this could be the year. Plus UNC has freshman Nassir Little (given that he bounces back from the ankle injury he suffered Monday night against Virginia) and Coby White, who have something to prove against Duke’s dominant rookies.

That's pretty a pretty "bold" assertion with your only support being "the seniors will want to win in Cameron" and "UNC has good freshmen too". Nothing about the actual matchups, recent history, anything.

I've said it before in other threads, but ever since I first watched the Tar Heels closely in their embarrassing loss to Michigan, I've thought we match up extraordinarily well against them. Their offense runs through Coby White, yes, but we've excelled against teams who rely on their PGs thanks to Tre's defense. Our 1-5 switching is going to make it harder to get the open 3s that Williams and Johnson rely on. I'll take Marques Bolden over Brooks in the paint any day of the week. And if Luke May is going to guard Zion, and vice versa, that's a HUGE advantage for us on both ends of the floor... Maye relies on being either bigger (so he can post up) or quicker (so he can drive/shoot 3s) than the opposing PF guarding him, and anyone who says either of those applies in a Maye/Zion comparison needs to get their eyes checked.

P.S.: Ironic that Emily Caron was the one who wrote this after we had recently held her up for praise on this board (and on the main site) for her article focusing on Jack White.

[howardlander]

From SI.com (https://www.si.com/college-basketball/2019/02/14/bold-predictions-unc-duke-fsu-indiana-lsu-iowa-state):

That's pretty a pretty "bold" assertion with your only support being "the seniors will want to win in Cameron" and "UNC has good freshmen too". Nothing about the actual matchups, recent history, anything.


I guess we'll see. There is a fine line between bold and stupid...

[budwom]

I guess we'll see. There is a fine line between bold and stupid...

yup, no mocking from me until she's demonstrably wrong.

[ndkjr70]

I don't mind the prediction. It's her job to be bold and get clicks.

I do mind that she's presumably paid to write articles, and does so with a poor grasp of the English language. That whole segment reads like someone who put their thoughts in another language through google-translate and pasted the result.

[DukieInBrasil]

From SI.com (https://www.si.com/college-basketball/2019/02/14/bold-predictions-unc-duke-fsu-indiana-lsu-iowa-state):

That's pretty a pretty "bold" assertion with your only support being "the seniors will want to win in Cameron" and "UNC has good freshmen too". Nothing about the actual matchups, recent history, anything.

I've said it before in other threads, but ever since I first watched the Tar Heels closely in their embarrassing loss to Michigan, I've thought we match up extraordinarily well against them. Their offense runs through Coby White, yes, but we've excelled against teams who rely on their PGs thanks to Tre's defense. Our 1-5 switching is going to make it harder to get the open 3s that Williams and Johnson rely on. I'll take Marques Bolden over Brooks in the paint any day of the week. And if Luke May is going to guard Zion, and vice versa, that's a HUGE advantage for us on both ends of the floor... Maye relies on being either bigger (so he can post up) or quicker (so he can drive/shoot 3s) than the opposing PF guarding him, and anyone who says either of those applies in a Maye/Zion comparison needs to get their eyes checked.

P.S.: Ironic that Emily Caron was the one who wrote this after we had recently held her up for praise on this board (and on the main site) for her article focusing on Jack White.

yeah, her analysis was pretty weak. As to your comment on matching up with them, even though they run their offense thru C White, he's not really a PG even though that's the position he's nominally playing. I've watched uNC a little bit this year, and C White certainly is quite good but i'm not sure he's a dynamic enough playmaker to stress Duke's defense, ie. i think Tre can keep him in check defensively. The Zion-Maye matchup certainly screams advantage Z, but Maye has built a fine college career out of being misunderestimated. Cam v. Cam seems like a good matchup, although their Cam is far better shooter, our Cam is better at pretty much everything else. Bolden v. whoever their C is seems like a wash, although defensively Bolden has certainly shown pretty chops lately when not guarding PGs. RJ v Williams seems like advantage RJ, particularly if he resists the urge to drive regardless of situation. RJ has improved a lot within the team concept, and if he stays in that mind frame, i think he'll win that matchup too. I don't think our bench gives us very much other than defensive energy, and i don't know anything about their bench.
To me, and i'm not original in saying this, this game will be largely determined by whether Duke's defense can cause open court turnovers, and since uNC likes to play fast and is pretty loose withe ball, i think Duke can exploit this and win.

[Reddevil]

From SI.com (https://www.si.com/college-basketball/2019/02/14/bold-predictions-unc-duke-fsu-indiana-lsu-iowa-state):

Maye relies on being either bigger (so he can post up) or quicker (so he can drive/shoot 3s) than the opposing PF guarding him, and anyone who says either of those applies in a Maye/Zion comparison needs to get their eyes checked.

Yep and Maye has trouble anytime someone more athletic guards him. I think that will be the case all day long. On the other hand it's Duke/unc so throw out the records, facts, matchups, opinions, etc. It will be epic as usual.......which is why an article predicting these contests is laughable.

[CDu]

To me, and i'm not original in saying this, this game will be largely determined by whether Duke's defense can cause open court turnovers, and since uNC likes to play fast and is pretty loose withe ball, i think Duke can exploit this and win.

It will likely come down to the following things:
1. Can we force them to play half-court offense
2. Can we keep them off the offensive glass
3. Can we keep their 3pt shooting percentage down
4. Can we turn them over

They have a bunch of guys who can shoot, but only one (two if they decide to put White and Woods in together) guy who can dribble. They turn it over a lot. But they shoot REALLY well and rebound REALLY well.

We should win each game, and we're about a 50/50 chance to sweep. We could lose either game. It's not out of the question for us to get swept, but I'd consider it exceedingly unlikely. Torvik gives it like a 7% chance of happening, which feels a little high to me. But 3-5% seems reasonable.

[Troublemaker]

Give the writer credit. Some of those other predictions from her peers are *not* bold. Indiana is currently projected by Bracket Matrix to make the NCAA tournament, for example, and it's also not bold to pick the field over one team in a conference tournament, as one person did picking the rest of the Pac-10 to beat Washington.

Emily Caron actually was a team player and make a bold prediction -- UNC to sweep Duke -- keeping in mind that this article is probably the editor's idea and not beloved by all the writers who have to force a bold prediction. Good for her.

[CameronBornAndBred]

It's the job of BOLD predictors to pick something that they know is not very likely. They are a fun diversion, and I have nothing wrong with it. I've seen plenty in the past that were picks in our favor.
My only quibble is this line, which makes no sense in that she argues against herself.


The Blue Devils freshman four have proved almost impossible for ACC contenders to beat—they just took two wins from Virginia, who beat Roy Williams’s crew this week and then had an improbable comeback at Louisville—but Carolina is playing some of its best basketball of the season.

So in other words, Carolina, in playing their best basketball of the season, couldn't beat the team that Duke beat twice. Well, gee, then of course Duke is going down with that sound reasoning.

[uh_no]

yup, no mocking from me until she's demonstrably wrong.

Arriving to a correct conclusion via invalid means doesn't make a bad argument a good one.

And this would still be a bad argument even if UNC won both games. It would have been like saying in 2000 "you should buy apple stock because I like fruit." Sure ultimately the outcome was correct, but it doesn't validate the line of reasoning.

[Rich]

yeah, her analysis was pretty weak. As to your comment on matching up with them, even though they run their offense thru C White, he's not really a PG even though that's the position he's nominally playing. I've watched uNC a little bit this year, and C White certainly is quite good but i'm not sure he's a dynamic enough playmaker to stress Duke's defense, ie. i think Tre can keep him in check defensively. The Zion-Maye matchup certainly screams advantage Z, but Maye has built a fine college career out of being misunderestimated. Cam v. Cam seems like a good matchup, although their Cam is far better shooter, our Cam is better at pretty much everything else. Bolden v. whoever their C is seems like a wash, although defensively Bolden has certainly shown pretty chops lately when not guarding PGs. RJ v Williams seems like advantage RJ, particularly if he resists the urge to drive regardless of situation. RJ has improved a lot within the team concept, and if he stays in that mind frame, i think he'll win that matchup too. I don't think our bench gives us very much other than defensive energy, and i don't know anything about their bench.
To me, and i'm not original in saying this, this game will be largely determined by whether Duke's defense can cause open court turnovers, and since uNC likes to play fast and is pretty loose withe ball, i think Duke can exploit this and win.

Also forgetting Duke's sixth man, at least for game one. I consider that to be a pretty big factor in these games. UNC's crowd in their home game too, but to a lesser extent.


It would have been like saying in 2000 "you should buy apple stock because I like fruit." Sure ultimately the outcome was correct, but it doesn't validate the line of reasoning.

Exactly why I did, hence, my DBR name! :cool:

[budwom]

Arriving to a correct conclusion via invalid means doesn't make a bad argument a good one.

And this would still be a bad argument even if UNC won both games. It would have been like saying in 2000 "you should buy apple stock because I like fruit." Sure ultimately the outcome was correct, but it doesn't validate the line of reasoning.

Analyzing her line of (non) thinking gives her too much credit...I just want her conclusion to be wrong, no matter how fatuous her reasoning.

[Troublemaker]

It's the job of BOLD predictors to pick something that they know is not very likely. They are a fun diversion, and I have nothing wrong with it. I've seen plenty in the past that were picks in our favor.
My only quibble is this line, which makes no sense in that she argues against herself.

Unless she argued for using the transitive property to predict games, I don't see an actual contradiction.


Arriving to a correct conclusion via invalid means doesn't make a bad argument a good one.

And this would still be a bad argument even if UNC won both games. It would have been like saying in 2000 "you should buy apple stock because I like fruit." Sure ultimately the outcome was correct, but it doesn't validate the line of reasoning.

Her argument is weak and unpersuasive but I don't think it's actually invalid. She's basically saying UNC holds a motivational edge -- the seniors badly want to win in Cameron, and the freshmen badly want to prove that they're as good as Duke's freshmen.

I don't agree with her about a motivational edge, but -- again, keeping in mind what this is, an editor asking the writers to force a bold prediction and throw together a quick blurb about it -- I can't really criticize it much. If I had to try to support UNC sweeping Duke, I probably couldn't do it in one paragraph, either, assuming I could do it at all :-)

[CrazyNotCrazie]

The formula for journalism in the 21st century is to throw a lot of crap against the wall and hope something sticks and in the meantime get people to click through and read your hot take. No one will remember the countless times you are wrong, but if you are ever right, you can parade that success around forever and act like you are Nostradamus.

The odds of UNC sweeping us are not very good, but it is far from impossible - much crazier things have happened. On paper we are a better team but they are not a bad team. And if we play like we did for the middle 20 minutes against Louisville, we will lose games. As others have noted, I will refrain from calling her crazy until there is 0:00 on the clock after our first win.

[uh_no]

Unless she argued for using the transitive property to predict games, I don't see an actual contradiction.



Her argument is weak and unpersuasive but I don't think it's actually invalid. She's basically saying UNC holds a motivational edge -- the seniors badly want to win in Cameron, and the freshmen badly want to prove that they're as good as Duke's freshmen.

I don't agree with her about a motivational edge, but -- again, keeping in mind what this is, an editor asking the writers to force a bold prediction and throw together a quick blurb about it -- I can't really criticize it much. If I had to try to support UNC sweeping Duke, I probably couldn't do it in one paragraph, either, assuming I could do it at all :-)

probably should have used soundness :)

and then we'll have some post hoc fallacies were UNC to win.

[DavidBenAkiva]

It will likely come down to the following things:
1. Can we force them to play half-court offense
2. Can we keep them off the offensive glass
3. Can we keep their 3pt shooting percentage down
4. Can we turn them over

They have a bunch of guys who can shoot, but only one (two if they decide to put White and Woods in together) guy who can dribble. They turn it over a lot. But they shoot REALLY well and rebound REALLY well.

We should win each game, and we're about a 50/50 chance to sweep. We could lose either game. It's not out of the question for us to get swept, but I'd consider it exceedingly unlikely. Torvik gives it like a 7% chance of happening, which feels a little high to me. But 3-5% seems reasonable.

When I think about this Carolina team, #2 on your list is the one that gives me pause. Roy's smart, but he doesn't have the personnel to match up with this Duke team this year. Last season, he was able to use Theo Pinson to guard to Marvin Bagley III to the detriment of the Blue Devils. This year, though, he has to pick his poison.

My best guess is that, if he is healthy, Nassir Little is the one that ends up guarding Zion Williamson more than others. Little seems to like the challenge and has the size and length to at least bother Zion a little by poking the ball away or trying to body him in the post. If Luke Maye ends up on Zion more often than not, advantage Duke. He'll just scoot right around Maye or go over the top.

But the rub with Little on Zion is that it leaves a major mismatch against either Reddish, who is quicker and starting to feel that off-the-ball action - or R.J., who can body up against either of Kenny Williams or Cam Johnson. And UNC doesn't have the rim protection to stop R.J. or Zion at the rim. And if Brooks or Sterling Manely are in, Duke doesn't have to worry about either floating out to the 3-point line like how Louisville was able to do with their bigs on Tuesday night.

And none of this involves the Tre Jones-Coby White matchup. Jones has shut down future NBA point guards, like Shamorie Ponds. White is not any bigger or faster. While White has had a really great freshman season, he is sort of the straw that stirs the drink for UNC. When he is cold or absent from games against high major opponents, UNC often struggles. Against UVA on Monday night, he scored 17 points, but did that on 3-11 shooting from 3 and 6-19 overall to go along with 2 assists and 3 turnovers. He scored just 4 points in the first matchup against Louisville at Chapel Hill, again turning the ball over more than dishing it out. The same was true of the matchup against Kentucky in December. He was more of a non-factor against Michigan and their excellent defensive point guard Zavier Simpson, scoring 12 points with 4 assists and just one turnover. I'm not sure what was going on against Texas, where White scored 33 points. Nobody else came to play that day. Something that White does really well is split screens. He's really great at it, in fact. When the screen comes, he will jump in between it and create an open lane to the basket. But Duke switches everything, so that's not going to be as open to him as it normally is. Tre Jones and the Duke defense is particularly well-suited to frustrating the leading scorer for UNC this year. There is not much UNC can do to hide their point guard in the matchup.

But Duke does struggle on the offensive glass. That's an area where UNC excels, too. It's one of the reasons that I think UNC might keep this game closer than it ought to be, all things being equal. We'll see what happens.

[luvdahops]

It will likely come down to the following things:
1. Can we force them to play half-court offense
2. Can we keep them off the offensive glass
3. Can we keep their 3pt shooting percentage down
4. Can we turn them over

They have a bunch of guys who can shoot, but only one (two if they decide to put White and Woods in together) guy who can dribble. They turn it over a lot. But they shoot REALLY well and rebound REALLY well.

We should win each game, and we're about a 50/50 chance to sweep. We could lose either game. It's not out of the question for us to get swept, but I'd consider it exceedingly unlikely. Torvik gives it like a 7% chance of happening, which feels a little high to me. But 3-5% seems reasonable.

KenPom puts the odds of a UNC sweep at 5% right now, versus 56% for a Duke sweep and 39% for a split of the two games. Seems about right to me.

[TKG]

It will likely come down to the following things:
1. Can we force them to play half-court offense
2. Can we keep them off the offensive glass
3. Can we keep their 3pt shooting percentage down
4. Can we turn them over


Yes, we CAM!

[sagegrouse]

I don't mind the prediction. It's her job to be bold and get clicks.

I do mind that she's presumably paid to write articles, and does so with a poor grasp of the English language. That whole segment reads like someone who put their thoughts in another language through google-translate and pasted the result.

Do you mind, ndkjr70, if I copy your second sentence and apply it whenever I want to make a devastating comment on someone's written work?

Kindly,
sage

[uh_no]

Do you mind, ndkjr70, if I copy your second sentence and apply it whenever I want to make a devastating comment on someone's written work?

Kindly,
sage

try this instead:

The whole segment is read as someone who translates their thoughts into another language through google translate and inserts the result.

[JasonEvans]

...Carolina is playing some of its best basketball of the season.

Well, I'm not so sure about that.

The Heels needed OT at home to beat a very mediocre Miami team. It was a game they could have easily lost had they not made some improbable 3s down the stretch. They followed that up with a home loss to Virginia. No great shame in that, but it wasn't exactly a game in which Carolina looked like a team that was likely to go on the road and beat a team that had just beaten Virginia fairly convincingly.

I'm not saying the Heels have no chance. That would be foolish. But I suspect they will be about a 10-12 point underdog in Cameron.

-Jason "if the assignment was to pick something bold, she certainly succeeded at that" Evans

[Kedsy]

On the other hand it's Duke/unc so throw out the records, facts, matchups, opinions, etc. It will be epic as usual...which is why an article predicting these contests is laughable.

Actually, in the Duke/UNC rivalry, the better team usually wins. Upsets occur, of course, but are not more frequent (and in many cases are less frequent) than they occur in, e.g., Duke/Wake Forest, Duke/NCSU, Duke/Clemson, Duke/FSU, Duke/Miami, etc. When the talking heads say "it's the Duke/UNC rivalry, throw out the record books," it's really just hype.

It's possible the Duke/UNC games have closer final margins than in other series (I never researched that, so I can't say either way). And home/road appears to matter less for Duke/UNC than for other series. But still, in Duke/UNC games the higher ranked team usually "escapes" with a W.


But Duke does struggle on the offensive glass. That's an area where UNC excels, too.

I assume you mean Duke struggles on the defensive glass? Because Duke ranks 8th in the country in offensive rebounding percentage (UNC ranks 27th).

[HereBeforeCoachK]

Yes, we CAM!

I'm keeping my Zi - on item 2, the offensive rebounding. I think if we tre yard enough we can achieve number one.

[DavidBenAkiva]

Actually, in the Duke/UNC rivalry, the better team usually wins. Upsets occur, of course, but are not more frequent (and in many cases are less frequent) than they occur in, e.g., Duke/Wake Forest, Duke/NCSU, Duke/Clemson, Duke/FSU, Duke/Miami, etc. When the talking heads say "it's the Duke/UNC rivalry, throw out the record books," it's really just hype.

It's possible the Duke/UNC games have closer final margins than in other series (I never researched that, so I can't say either way). And home/road appears to matter less for Duke/UNC than for other series. But still, in Duke/UNC games the higher ranked team usually "escapes" with a W.



I assume you mean Duke struggles on the defensive glass? Because Duke ranks 8th in the country in offensive rebounding percentage (UNC ranks 27th).

Yes, thanks, Duke struggles on the defensive glass (in part because the team is super aggressive and effective at blocking shots).

[elvis14]

So I decided to read some IC after our last game. Their frustration and fear was delicious. Here's a few things that I find cute:



Once upon a time in HS/AAU Nas Little had a good game against Zion. He was able to poke the ball away from Zion once and Zion got frustrated (might have even cried and called his Mom). They claim Nas got in his grill and Zion backed down like a little lost puppy. Therefore, they are convinced that they win that matchup easily. Nas has shut down Zion before (he poked that ball away that one time) and can do it again (if Roy let's him on the court for more than 10 min).
The Cheat faithful are convinced that Coby is going to run roughshod over Tre. In the matchup of freshman PG's they have a big advantage in their minds because apparently all Tre is useful for is dumping a few balls to Zion for cheap assists.


Then on other threads they like to discuss how both of those guys should stay at CheaterU because neither is really NBA ready (yet they are simultaneously much better than our OAD players) . They also like to act like Luke Maye is an all American on one thread and then admit to how bad his defense is in another (and his shooting percentages are down).

Oh, BTW, UNCheat is apparently the only clean program in the country and the only reason we sign talent is because Nike and Duke have worked out a deal to pay players. Who knew? I learn so much on IC, it's fascinating. For example that whole fake class thing was a bunch of N+O made up BS over a few easy/legit courses. They were legit because the players really did have to write their own papers and turn them in (unlike at Duke where our athletes hire people to do all their work for them and they aren't really students because of OAD). Who knew? Fascinating! Enlightening!

Here's my bold prediction. Duke sweeps the cheats and one of the two games wont be close for most of the second half.

9F

[MChambers]

Too early to discuss the UNCheat-Duke game. Wait until Sunday.

[jv001]

So I decided to read some IC after our last game. Their frustration and fear was delicious. Here's a few things that I find cute:



Once upon a time in HS/AAU Nas Little had a good game against Zion. He was able to poke the ball away from Zion once and Zion got frustrated (might have even cried and called his Mom). They claim Nas got in his grill and Zion backed down like a little lost puppy. Therefore, they are convinced that they win that matchup easily. Nas has shut down Zion before (he poked that ball away that one time) and can do it again (if Roy let's him on the court for more than 10 min).
The Cheat faithful are convinced that Coby is going to run roughshod over Tre. In the matchup of freshman PG's they have a big advantage in their minds because apparently all Tre is useful for is dumping a few balls to Zion for cheap assists.


Then on other threads they like to discuss how both of those guys should stay at CheaterU because neither is really NBA ready (yet they are simultaneously much better than our OAD players) . They also like to act like Luke Maye is an all American on one thread and then admit to how bad his defense is in another (and his shooting percentages are down).

Oh, BTW, UNCheat is apparently the only clean program in the country and the only reason we sign talent is because Nike and Duke have worked out a deal to pay players. Who knew? I learn so much on IC, it's fascinating. For example that whole fake class thing was a bunch of N+O made up BS over a few easy/legit courses. They were legit because the players really did have to write their own papers and turn them in (unlike at Duke where our athletes hire people to do all their work for them and they aren't really students because of OAD). Who knew? Fascinating! Enlightening!

Here's my bold prediction. Duke sweeps the cheats and one of the two games wont be close for most of the second half.
9F
Just more reasons to hate the cheats. If anyone wants to know what one ex-tar heel player player thought of the fraud, I suggest they google Don Eggleston former unc basketball player. You'll find a letter he wrote to his university on November 24.2014. Eggleston played at Carolina 1967-1971. He was a bench player for Smith. In his letter, he really bashed his former school and called for resignations from all parties involved, including Roy. Mr. Eggleston has reportedly received death threats from idiot cheat fans. I knew him from days we played rec-league basketball and he seemed to be a standup guy. I think he's a practicing attorney in Greensboro these days. My hats off to him for his take on the years of fraud. GoDuke and 9F

[budwom]

^ ha, I absolutely remember Eggleston...not much of a hoopster, but it sounds like his moral compass is operative.

[jv001]

^ ha, I absolutely remember Eggleston...not much of a hoopster, but it sounds like his moral compass is operative.

Unlike some cheats. GoDuke!

[roywhite]

Too early to discuss the UNCheat-Duke game. Wait until Sunday.

Well, there's another game to be played in the meantime, no doubt, but is trashing and game planning for the Heels ever inappropriate? Do we ask the kids not to tent until the other games are complete?

9F

[JayZee]

I don't mind the prediction. It's her job to be bold and get clicks.

I do mind that she's presumably paid to write articles, and does so with a poor grasp of the English language. That whole segment reads like someone who put their thoughts in another language through google-translate and pasted the result.

As my daughter would say - Savage!

- This would have been a like, but I got the dreaded you must spread comments around. What are the rules on that?

[cato]

Actually, in the Duke/UNC rivalry, the better team usually wins. Upsets occur, of course, but are not more frequent (and in many cases are less frequent) than they occur in, e.g., Duke/Wake Forest, Duke/NCSU, Duke/Clemson, Duke/FSU, Duke/Miami, etc. When the talking heads say "it's the Duke/UNC rivalry, throw out the record books," it's really just hype.

It's possible the Duke/UNC games have closer final margins than in other series (I never researched that, so I can't say either way). And home/road appears to matter less for Duke/UNC than for other series. But still, in Duke/UNC games the higher ranked team usually "escapes" with a W.

This is exactly why I haven’t even started thinking about Carolina. I’m worried about State.

[Devilwin]

More worried about State right now. We will cross the UNC bridge when we come to it, but as for now, I cannot entertain any notion of them beating us.:cool:

[JetpackJesus]

So I decided to read some IC after our last game. Their frustration and fear was delicious. Here's a few things that I find cute:



Once upon a time in HS/AAU Nas Little had a good game against Zion. He was able to poke the ball away from Zion once and Zion got frustrated (might have even cried and called his Mom). They claim Nas got in his grill and Zion backed down like a little lost puppy. Therefore, they are convinced that they win that matchup easily. Nas has shut down Zion before (he poked that ball away that one time) and can do it again (if Roy let's him on the court for more than 10 min).
The Cheat faithful are convinced that Coby is going to run roughshod over Tre. In the matchup of freshman PG's they have a big advantage in their minds because apparently all Tre is useful for is dumping a few balls to Zion for cheap assists.


Then on other threads they like to discuss how both of those guys should stay at CheaterU because neither is really NBA ready (yet they are simultaneously much better than our OAD players) . They also like to act like Luke Maye is an all American on one thread and then admit to how bad his defense is in another (and his shooting percentages are down).

Oh, BTW, UNCheat is apparently the only clean program in the country and the only reason we sign talent is because Nike and Duke have worked out a deal to pay players. Who knew? I learn so much on IC, it's fascinating. For example that whole fake class thing was a bunch of N+O made up BS over a few easy/legit courses. They were legit because the players really did have to write their own papers and turn them in (unlike at Duke where our athletes hire people to do all their work for them and they aren't really students because of OAD). Who knew? Fascinating! Enlightening!

Here's my bold prediction. Duke sweeps the cheats and one of the two games wont be close for most of the second half.

9F
A brave soul you are. Next time you're tempted to visit IC, I suggest following King Arthur's lead.
https://media1.giphy.com/media/zeuvXLQYKrqLK/200.gif?cid=3640f6095c5b73db74366e6a4158893a

[elvis14]

This is exactly why I haven’t even started thinking about Carolina. I’m worried about State.


More worried about State right now. We will cross the UNC bridge when we come to it, but as for now, I cannot entertain any notion of them beating us.:cool:

You guys do realize that you talking about and/or thinking about the UNCheat game will have no bearing on the game Saturday, right? Since we are not actually playing in the game, it's OK for us to talk about multiple games and focus on multiple games. Seems as though our worries don't change the focus of the actual players. Just wanted to make sure that we are all clear on that before someone asks for another thread to be closed down because the NCSU game hasn't been played yet.

[ACCfaninVirginia]

So I decided to read some IC after our last game. Their frustration and fear was delicious. Here's a few things that I find cute:



Once upon a time in HS/AAU Nas Little had a good game against Zion. He was able to poke the ball away from Zion once and Zion got frustrated (might have even cried and called his Mom). They claim Nas got in his grill and Zion backed down like a little lost puppy. Therefore, they are convinced that they win that matchup easily. Nas has shut down Zion before (he poked that ball away that one time) and can do it again (if Roy let's him on the court for more than 10 min).
The Cheat faithful are convinced that Coby is going to run roughshod over Tre. In the matchup of freshman PG's they have a big advantage in their minds because apparently all Tre is useful for is dumping a few balls to Zion for cheap assists.


Then on other threads they like to discuss how both of those guys should stay at CheaterU because neither is really NBA ready (yet they are simultaneously much better than our OAD players) . They also like to act like Luke Maye is an all American on one thread and then admit to how bad his defense is in another (and his shooting percentages are down).

Oh, BTW, UNCheat is apparently the only clean program in the country and the only reason we sign talent is because Nike and Duke have worked out a deal to pay players. Who knew? I learn so much on IC, it's fascinating. For example that whole fake class thing was a bunch of N+O made up BS over a few easy/legit courses. They were legit because the players really did have to write their own papers and turn them in (unlike at Duke where our athletes hire people to do all their work for them and they aren't really students because of OAD). Who knew? Fascinating! Enlightening!

Here's my bold prediction. Duke sweeps the cheats and one of the two games wont be close for most of the second half.

9F

No way he can keep up with Zion. I would expect Duke to sweep, with margin being 10+ each game, final margin depending upon whether Coach K puts in the bench the last 5 minutes.

[BandAlum83]

No way he can keep up with Zion. I would expect Duke to sweep, with margin being 10+ each game, final margin depending upon whether Coach K puts in the bench the last 5 minutes.

Especially given that Zion will, in all liklihood pay 35 minutes or so, and Little will play about 10

[CDu]

No way he can keep up with Zion. I would expect Duke to sweep, with margin being 10+ each game, final margin depending upon whether Coach K puts in the bench the last 5 minutes.

Jack Salt did not outplay Little. Little got hurt 2 minutes into that game with an ankle injury. It was in no way a reflection of his level of play.

Now, I think we will win at least one against UNC, and probably both. But using Little’s performance against UVa as any sort of reasoning for that is faulty. Unless you want to make the argument that he might still be limited next week with the injury.

[Neals384]

You guys do realize that you talking about and/or thinking about the UNCheat game will have no bearing on the game Saturday, right? Since we are not actually playing in the game, it's OK for us to talk about multiple games and focus on multiple games. Seems as though our worries don't change the focus of the actual players. Just wanted to make sure that we are all clear on that before someone asks for another thread to be closed down because the NCSU game hasn't been played yet.

Wait. What??? You mean all this talk isn't jinxing us for the State game?

[Troublemaker]

You guys do realize that you talking about and/or thinking about the UNCheat game will have no bearing on the game Saturday, right? Since we are not actually playing in the game, it's OK for us to talk about multiple games and focus on multiple games. Seems as though our worries don't change the focus of the actual players. Just wanted to make sure that we are all clear on that before someone asks for another thread to be closed down because the NCSU game hasn't been played yet.


Wait. What??? You mean all this talk isn't jinxing us for the State game?

We'll never know. Scientifically, you would want to play out the NCSU game a thousand times. For some of those thousand times, we on DBR talk about Duke vs UNC beforehand, and for others, we don't. Then compare the results. Unfortunately, we'll only get this one data point tomorrow.

[Reddevil]

We'll never know. Scientifically, you would want to play out the NCSU game a thousand times. For some of those thousand times, we on DBR talk about Duke vs UNC beforehand, and for others, we don't. Then compare the results. Unfortunately, we'll only get this one data point tomorrow.

We are all part of a collective energy, a force if you will. All thoughts and actions can tilt the balance of reality itself. So wear your lucky shirt, pants, socks, shoes, slippers, etc. Change the position of your recliner or move to another part of the room when you deem it necessary so that guy will miss (or make) the front end of that one and one. It all matters. Oh it most assuredly matters.;)

[Rich]

We are all part of a collective energy, a force if you will. All thoughts and actions can tilt the balance of reality itself. So wear your lucky shirt, pants, socks, shoes, slippers, etc. Change the position of your recliner or move to another part of the room when you deem it necessary so that guy will miss (or make) the front end of that one and one. It all matters. Oh it most assuredly matters.;)

I generally agree with you, but have always wondered how this all works when you DVR the game and watch it after it's finished, but before you know the final score. I'm pretty sure that my singular behavior has sufficiently shifted the balance of the cosmos such that I've changed the course of some games after they've been completed.

[kako]

I like this article. I hope there are more like it.

Not that I agree (I don't), but I never want a Duke team ever approaching overconfidence. Stay hungry, don't believe the hype, strike back at the haters, never think anything is your birthright. I just hope the team doesn't start focusing to prove articles like this wrong before focusing on State this weekend.

9F

[camion]

I generally agree with you, but have always wondered how this all works when you DVR the game and watch it after it's finished, but before you know the final score. I'm pretty sure that my singular behavior has sufficiently shifted the balance of the cosmos such that I've changed the course of some games after they've been completed.

I sometimes wonder if I'm responsible for slow starts in games.

My habit is to DVR and not start watching until the game nears halftime. I'll then watch "efficiently" from the beginning, skipping commercials and halftime talk so that I'm catching up and generally am watching in real time late in the second half. That correlates well with the slow start, fast finish tendency of this team.


Unless it doesn't.:confused:

[BandAlum83]

We'll never know. Scientifically, you would want to play out the NCSU game a thousand times. For some of those thousand times, we on DBR talk about Duke vs UNC beforehand, and for others, we don't. Then compare the results. Unfortunately, we'll only get this one data point tomorrow.

I guess you missed the quantum physics discussion and the impact of observation on an event. Although we didn't touch on the impact of advance discussion or non-discussion, jinx and no jinx in the world of quantum physics.

All that is to say, I wouldn't discount the impact of any hijinx on the outcome of any game we are not an active party to.

[BandAlum83]

I sometimes wonder if I'm responsible for slow starts in games.

My habit is to DVR and not start watching until the game nears halftime. I'll then watch "efficiently" from the beginning, skipping commercials and halftime talk so that I'm catching up and generally am watching in real time late in the second half. That correlates well with the slow start, fast finish tendency of this team.


Unless it doesn't.:confused:

Multiply that by my viewing habits and it squares the force.

I haven't decided on the in-game chat. I feel it's important to constantly remind people that "we got this" when the chat gets negative. The problem is, will my positivity upon the chat room provide enough to alter the balance, or will the incessant negativity serve to undermine my enjoyment of the game and positive Duke vibes put out into the universe.

I have erred on the side of pretty much avoiding the chat room. It can really be a buzz kill. I also avoid even looking at the ingame thread once the game has started, and I NEVER go back and look after the fact.

[scottdude8]

I know enough to know when I was wrong. I was wrong here. Most of us were. Bravo, Emily Caron. I hope the people over at SI give you a bonus for this one, although it came with the major caveat of an exploding shoe.

[CDu]

I know enough to know when I was wrong. I was wrong here. Most of us were. Bravo, Emily Caron. I hope the people over at SI give you a bonus for this one, although it came with the major caveat of an exploding shoe.

Eh, no. Unless she knew Duke would lose Zion, it wasn’t a great prediction.

[kAzE]

Eh, no. Unless she knew Duke would lose Zion, it wasn’t a great prediction.

There's only one logical explanation for this. She must have sabotaged his shoe.

[fan345678]

This was basically like saying in March 1912 that the Titanic and Lusitania would be obsolete by 1916.

[Troublemaker]

There's only one logical explanation for this. She must have sabotaged his shoe.

She couldn't have known that it would've caused an injury that kept him out of both games, though.

The timespan -- missing exactly UNC I to UNC II, then returning -- and the absurd nature of the shoe blowup suggest something supernatural was going on.

Perhaps Duke fans across the internet shouldn't have generated negative mojo by giving her crap for what obviously was a throwaway blurb in a throwaway column forced upon the writers by editorial.

Or perhaps, as has been suggested elsewhere, Roy made a pact with a demon (sealed with a kiss) or maybe Satan itself.

[uh_no]

Eh, no. Unless she knew Duke would lose Zion, it wasn’t a great prediction.

yeah...i think i said up thread that just because someone's conclusion ultimately was correct does not mean their logic was sound.