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Thread: Duke v. UNC

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
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    Durham

    Duke v. UNC

    Sunday will mark another great matchup between Duke and UNC. Both teams are coming off of losses (Carolina plural) and will be fired up to play a great game. Keys to the game for Duke:

    1. Rebound! Carolina has lost 4 of 6 games when out rebounded.
    2. SCORE! All of Carolina's loses have come when the opposing team has scored 80 points.
    3. Give the ball to Henderson. Gerald Henderson is Duke's most athletic player, he can make shots that no one else on the team can (i.e. Maryland game). He wants to play hard. Coach K just needs to give him more minutes.
    4. Allow Greg Paulus to play the 2 position sometimes. He is scoring so well right now, it would be great to let Scheyer or Henderson bring the ball down the court and find GP3 for a 3.
    5. It's time to get physical, physical! GT absolutely man-handled UNC last night in Atlanta. They fouled perfectly by not allowing many 3-point opportunities. The were rough with Carolina's guards and shut down Reyshawn Terry.

    Duke is going to beat Carolina... if they can do a few of these things.

    GTHC GTH!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
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    Detroit, Michigan
    The task of beating Carolina on Sunday is going to be our toughest assignment for the season. UNC is gonna be out for blood on their home court especially following last night’s loss to GT. Coach K, must, and he probably will, make sure that our intensity level at least matches theirs during the opening few minutes. If we allow them to build an early lead the task will get exponentially harder. Our biggest difficulty however will be defending their front line when Hansbrough and Brandan Wright are on the court at the same time. We have only one player, in McRoberts who has a shot at slowing either one of them down, but that still leaves the other of the two free to wreak havoc down low, as Wright torched us a few weeks ago. If McRoberts gets in foul trouble again things will get very very difficult for us. In addition to this, for us to win, our outside shooters Scheyer and Paulus absolutely need to be knocking down their three point attempts.

  3. #3
    What worries me most about beating UNC is our ability to score. To your point above, you mention that scoring over 80 points recently has beaten UNC. Unfortunately, Duke has only managed to score over 80 twice this season, both times against teams far less talented than UNC (Miami and Columbia). So I doubt seriously we will break 80 against UNC unless the game goes into overtime.

    The Charlotte paper for the last Duke/UNC game suggested that Duke's magic number was 71. Hold UNC under 71, and Duke has pretty good odds to win. Give up more than 71, and Duke will probably lose. I think that is probably still a valid watermark for our next UNC game.

    Having said that, I think it puts the onus much more on our defense than on our offense. Since I think Duke is incapable of dropping 80 on UNC, they will have to hold UNC well below their 7 game average of 84 ppg to have a shot. As a point of reference, Duke averaged around 71 ppg over the same period. People probably won't like the conclusion, but I think we have to slow the game down and reduce the number of possessions and transition opptunities to get the final score in that range.

    Hello stall ball my old friend...
    "There can BE only one."

  4. I completely agree with the comment regarding "stall ball". Against MD, it really wasn't that great that we scored 77; it was an indication that we ran with MD, which meant that we were taking out of our preferred pace and comfort zone. We didn't control tempo and we must control tempo in order to win.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
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    Los Angeles
    Quote Originally Posted by dukediv2013 View Post
    Sunday will mark another great matchup between Duke and UNC. Both teams are coming off of losses (Carolina plural) and will be fired up to play a great game. Keys to the game for Duke:

    1. Rebound! Carolina has lost 4 of 6 games when out rebounded.
    2. SCORE! All of Carolina's loses have come when the opposing team has scored 80 points.
    3. Give the ball to Henderson. Gerald Henderson is Duke's most athletic player, he can make shots that no one else on the team can (i.e. Maryland game). He wants to play hard. Coach K just needs to give him more minutes.
    4. Allow Greg Paulus to play the 2 position sometimes. He is scoring so well right now, it would be great to let Scheyer or Henderson bring the ball down the court and find GP3 for a 3.
    5. It's time to get physical, physical! GT absolutely man-handled UNC last night in Atlanta. They fouled perfectly by not allowing many 3-point opportunities. The were rough with Carolina's guards and shut down Reyshawn Terry.

    Duke is going to beat Carolina... if they can do a few of these things.

    GTHC GTH!
    In response to your points:

    1) I think that we can outrebound them, especially given the way that they have rebounded lately. We have the hard-nosed rebounders necessary to get it done.

    2)However, I don't think that we can score more than 80, and don't think that we want to get into a game where we are trying to do so. Even playing more guys, as we have recently, we are not as deep as they are and we don't want to get into a run and gun style of game.

    3) Henderson has been playing very well, but I don't think that he can handle many more minutes. His asthma limits him to 3 minute or so stretches, I believe.

    4) Paulus has been running the offense well, we don't want to take him off the point, especially to bring the ball down court. We rarely create offense off that first pass, so why have a shakier ball-handler (such as Gerald) bring it up? The way our offense has been running, he takes his shots in the flow of the overall offense, and part of why it's been working for him is that he has the ball so much he can choose the best times to shoot. Some of his passes on Wed were sick. Scheyer just needs to hit the spot-up 3 consistently, something which I think he will improve upon.

    5) We definitely need to play physically, and if the statements before the last game are any indication, our team tends to do so. However, I think that it works both ways, as Greg (and others) have trouble at times holding onto the ball when they are bumped hard/fouled, but no foul is called.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Durham
    There's no way Duke is going to get to 80 points against UNC, and if they do, then they're playing right into UNC's hands. We saw what happened with 77 points against Maryland. If we can't run with Maryland, then we certainly can't run with UNC (even if MD beat UNC). I certainly agree with the Henderson comment; I absolutely love the way that kid plays. The reason Coach K might not be playing him as much might have to do with his asthma, though. I think Duke should keep the score around 70 points, but I don't think that necessarily means stall ball. It means stall ball within the last 3 minutes if we're up more than 5 or 6, but only then. Duke isn't an up and down team, but that doesn't mean we're a stalling team, either. Our chances in this game might rely most heavily on Josh and Lance's ability to stay out of foul trouble. If they can do that, there's no reason we can't win this game, provided we match the high intensity UNC is bound to bring Sunday. A lot of "ifs" but a Duke "W" is certainly feasible...

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
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    Watching carolina Go To HELL!
    Quote Originally Posted by dukediv2013 View Post
    Sunday will mark another great matchup between Duke and UNC. Both teams are coming off of losses (Carolina plural)

    GTHC GTH!
    The exact same, but opposite, of the Feb. 7th game. The home team has a two game losing streak, the visiting team has lost one. Once again, the home team will lose this game!
    Ozzie, your paradigm of optimism!

    Go To Hell carolina, Go To Hell!
    9F 9F 9F
    https://ecogreen.greentechaffiliate.com

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Carolina Beach NC

    I called 8-8 when we were 2-2. I don't think anyone else did

    When asked to give our predictions way back in January when we were 2-2, most said 10-6, 12-4, 9-7 and of course OZZIES 14-2 call.I may be mistaken, but I think I'm the only one who said 8-8. I tries to check it, but could not search the old system. Anyway, I don't like saying this, but I think we lose by double digits Sunday. Don't ask for reasoning, I just think it will happen. I hope I'm wrong.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Quote Originally Posted by imagepro View Post
    When asked to give our predictions way back in January when we were 2-2, most said 10-6, 12-4, 9-7 and of course OZZIES 14-2 call.I may be mistaken, but I think I'm the only one who said 8-8. I tries to check it, but could not search the old system. Anyway, I don't like saying this, but I think we lose by double digits Sunday. Don't ask for reasoning, I just think it will happen. I hope I'm wrong.
    Here's a link to the thread, imagepro. You sure did have 8-8. Actually, looks like a couple of others did as well (kcfan1, mapei). I certainly was wrong with 10-6. Argh -- those UVA and FSU losses were killers.
    New board, new start, imagepro. Hope to read more good stuff from you in the future.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Norfolk, VA

    9-7

    I predicted 9-7 and once we beat Carolina on Sunday we will have achieved that mark. I believe it will be very difficult for us to score 80 points on Carolina but that is my benchmark for the game. We need to hit on all 8-cylinders offensively and outrebound Carolina. Due to Carolina having Hansbrough and Wright, Thomas and Zoubek are going to have to contribute and assist McRoberts and McClure inside. McClure played Hansbrough very strong in the first meeting. Scheyer and Paulus must knock down the 3-ball and Nelson and Henderson must be aggressive on the baseline and down the lane. Of course, we must play strong defense for 40 minutes.

    It all sounds so simple on paper!

    Go Duke, Beat Carolina! GTHC, GTH!

    Bob Green
    Yokosuka, Japan

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Durham, NC - Since 1985

    I beleive my 9-7 prediction will be a winner...

    We'll just get there in a much different way than I suggested!

  12. #12
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    Feb 2007
    Quote Originally Posted by Jumbo View Post
    Here's a link to the thread, imagepro. You sure did have 8-8. Actually, looks like a couple of others did as well (kcfan1, mapei).
    I predicted 8-8 as well, but it wasn't on that thread. But I did post it on 1/10 according to the archives. Oh well, it's not something I'm happy about, but it was hard for me to see the team doing better than .500 after those first two ACC games.

    Gary

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Quote Originally Posted by Gary View Post
    I predicted 8-8 as well, but it wasn't on that thread. But I did post it on 1/10 according to the archives. Oh well, it's not something I'm happy about, but it was hard for me to see the team doing better than .500 after those first two ACC games.

    Gary
    Well, let's hope you and all the other 8-8 people end up wrong!
    BTW, good to see you back.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Quote Originally Posted by Jumbo View Post
    Well, let's hope you and all the other 8-8 people end up wrong!
    BTW, good to see you back.
    Oh, how I hope I'm wrong!!! No doubt about that. And while I'm at it, let me say for the record that I don't think a UNC win is anywhere close to automatic. If I just had to wager the house on a straight win/lose bet I guess I'd take the Holes, but if I could get 6 points I'd take Duke.

    Good to see you back as well.

    Gary

  15. #15
    I also had 8-8, although I thought we would win 1-2 more at home, and lose 1-2 more on the road than we have. I have gotten more optimistic about our team's performance since then - I think we will get to the ACC semis and I think we are 50-50 for the sweet sixteen, with an outside chance at the elite eight.

  16. #16
    Looks like my prediction of holding UNC under 71 points was spot on, considering we scored 72. Too bad our Defense couldn't hold them.
    "There can BE only one."

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