DavidBenAkiva
01-20-2020, 12:10 PM
My first inclination to understand a team is to look at the data. One way to think about Duke this season is in context to all the other Duke teams over the years. There are several optimistic posts on twitter I see floating around that show some of Duke's best teams had a string of bad games in January. So it made me wonder, how does this Duke team stack up against recent examples? Here's what I found, based on pure win-loss.
10129
A few things jump out.
Based on the schedule and results, this Duke team had a typical November and December. The loss to SFA was an outlier, but it is typical for Duke to drop at least one game early in the season and then coast in December.
What it also shows is that Duke two most recent National Title teams turned it on in February.
This Duke team has some tests in February, starting with a road game at Syracuse, a home matchup against FSU, and then road trips to NC State and Virginia. It is a hard schedule overall than what Duke has faced in the conference. Will this Duke team respond? I think they can. Duke is favored in all its remaining games. Health will be a factor, as will matchups. But I think it is too early to know how good this particular Duke team will be. After a tough week, I am squarely in the wait-and-see mode.
10129
A few things jump out.
Based on the schedule and results, this Duke team had a typical November and December. The loss to SFA was an outlier, but it is typical for Duke to drop at least one game early in the season and then coast in December.
What it also shows is that Duke two most recent National Title teams turned it on in February.
This Duke team has some tests in February, starting with a road game at Syracuse, a home matchup against FSU, and then road trips to NC State and Virginia. It is a hard schedule overall than what Duke has faced in the conference. Will this Duke team respond? I think they can. Duke is favored in all its remaining games. Health will be a factor, as will matchups. But I think it is too early to know how good this particular Duke team will be. After a tough week, I am squarely in the wait-and-see mode.