MBB: Duke-FSU Pregame and In-Game Thread

[sagegrouse]

Here's a thread to post your thoughts for Wednesday's game against Florida State.

I have two questions:

1. Which of the four big men will shine on Wednesday night? It seems like a different one or two each game (kudos to LT for the last game). 7-1 Solomon Alabi is a skilled big man who will make a ton of money in the NBA, and Chris Singleton may be playing even better. Zoubs has been effective against Alabi in the past.

2. Is there any chance that Duke can begin the FSU game with the same offensive and defensive efficiency as in the 2nd half against the Tigers?

sagegrouse

[RoyalBlue08]

In Coach K's comments following the last game, he mentioned how often the ACC season comes down to which team is more rested and ready to go coming into the game. I had never given this much thought before, but hopefully given FSU had to play on Sunday and now has to travel to Durham will give Duke an advantage.

Go Duke!

[RainingThrees]

Zoubs could be a very important factor in this game. Last year he played good defense on Alabi and we need him to do it again. Even if he gets 0 points as long as Alabi can be contained, that is a successful night. On the offensive end, our guards could be affected by FSU's size, Nolan's teardrop is the perfect weapon against opposing bigs. i think Mason is going to get some pt to try to take Alabi to the perimeter and maybe get him in foul trouble.

[pfrduke]

FSU is a tough matchup for a team (like Duke) that has been having some recent struggles placing ball in basket. They're the toughest team in the country in terms of field goal % defense, and have length from the 2 through the 5 (plus starts guys at 3-5 who are taller than ours, one of the only teams where that will be the case). Offensive execution and getting good shots (rather than forced looks) will be a big key.

[camion]

In Coach K's comments following the last game, he mentioned how often the ACC season comes down to which team is more rested and ready to go coming into the game. I had never given this much thought before, but hopefully given FSU had to play on Sunday and now has to travel to Durham will give Duke an advantage.

Go Duke!

Not to look ahead, well okay it is looking ahead, but Georgetown will have 4 days off going into our game Saturday while we will have only two. Is this significant? Maybe, maybe not. Personally I'd rather have the extra two days to prepare and play at home.

[CDu]

FSU plays a bruising style. They rotate four guys who are 6'8" or taller at the 4 and 5 spots and often go with 3 big guys. They'll probably put Singleton and DeMercy on Singler, and have Alabi, Reid, and Gibson rotate at the 4/5 spots (along with some time for Singleton at the 4). On the perimeter, they have a couple of really good shooters (Dulkys and Snaer) and a couple of streaky shooters that can be dangerous when they get hot (Singleton and Kitchen). They don't, however, have a very dynamic offense, as only Kitchen has the ability to beat his man off the dribble.

They are a tall team across the board - Kitchen is the shortest of their regulars at 6'4" - and they play very physically defensively. If FSU has its way, it'll be an ugly game. They like to muck it up inside, where their height and physical style are to their advantage.

We've got a big edge in talent on the perimeter. If our post guys can control their fouls and not get killed on the glass (or with blocked shots), we should be in good shape. If we let their bigs have their way inside or if their outside shooting is on, it could be a tough game.

[DeBlueDevil]

Wow. I don't even know where to start with the importance of the next few games on the outcome of this season for us. The next 3 games (FSU,GTOWN, GT) will prove to be a huge test for our team and I think after these games we will truly know how good of a team we have. All 3 games will not lack a huge dose of physical play and deep down I truly believe this is the toughest stretch of games we have this season. If we can get out of these 3 games with a winning record of 3-0 or 2-1 that would be huge going into the games against BC and UNC. Can we hang in there and grind out 3 wins and ride the momentum the rest of the season? Or will we just get too beat up and have to deal with some tough losses and hope to find ourselves come tourny time?

With that said, we typically play ok against Alibi (spelling). I think that is key to this game. Thankfully we are at home and we tend to play better in our house so we will need to get the fans into the game early and weather the storm because FSU will most likely come out ready to play. In the end, I think if we can get good games out of the 3 S's and the big men continue to be consistent by platoon as they have so far, i see us getting out of this game with a tough W. Personally, I'd love to see the Plumlees have a great game we need them! But we absolutely have to match their toughness or else it may be a long game.

[jv001]

I hope to see our guys going to the free throw line more. As physical as FSU plays this might be the game that sees us getting some calls to go our way. Jon and Kyle have been mugged on a few occasions and we've had some ticky tack fouls called on us. I think we also see Jon come out of his shooting slump this game. Just got a feeling. Go Duke!

[duke4life32182]

Duke wins 82-70. They may have us in size, but that leads to us having more speed. Look for Nolan to have a big night and I think this is the game that Singler gets out of his funk. Go Duke!

[flyingdutchdevil]

Wait a sec - isn't this game at home? Duke is one of the best, if not the best, team at home this year. Perfect record. With crazies bored with not having a home game in a week and a half, they'll be pumped. I think the more important question is if FSU can match up the intensity of the crazies rather than if Duke's bigs can match with FSU's. I really think this will be a crazy game from the home front.

P.S. There is an awful, awful, awful looking movie coming out called 'The Crazies'. It's a remake. The few times I saw it I chuckled - thought of our crazies. They should have cast them in the movie - would have made it more appealling...

[Kedsy]

I think the fact that Florida State is so big and are used to being so much bigger than their opponents will help Duke. We're pretty much the same size as them, so their height doesn't give them the advantage they're used to, and not having that advantage could make them feel a little off-balance. I'm hoping that plus playing at Cameron might knock them back a bit at the beginning of the game. I'd much rather play a team like this than a small team that spreads the floor with four-out, one-in.

I'm looking for a big game from Kyle, as he gets to play against a bigger player and not the small, quick ones that seem to give him trouble.

On the other hand, I have an uneasy feeling about surprising performances from Michael Snaer and/or Xavier Gibson. Don't ask me why.

[roywhite]

I'm an optimist, but I think Duke wins this by a good margin. Get the lead early and FSU doesn't have the scoring punch to catch up IMO. Toney Douglas was a big-time scorer who didn't mind the pressure of playing in Cameron---don't think they have anybody like him now.

[MChambers]

I think the fact that Florida State is so big and are used to being so much bigger than their opponents will help Duke. We're pretty much the same size as them, so their height doesn't give them the advantage they're used to, and not having that advantage could make them feel a little off-balance. I'm hoping that plus playing at Cameron might knock them back a bit at the beginning of the game. I'd much rather play a team like this than a small team that spreads the floor with four-out, one-in.

I'm looking for a big game from Kyle, as he gets to play against a bigger player and not the small, quick ones that seem to give him trouble.

On the other hand, I have an uneasy feeling about surprising performances from Michael Snaer and/or Xavier Gibson. Don't ask me why.

At least about height. According to Pomeroy, Duke is #2 in Average Height and #8 in Effective Height, and FSU is #1 and #10 in these categories. (There are a lot of big teams in the ACC this year, BTW.)

From the little bit I've seen or heard, Gibson seems to make a lot of bonehead plays, but Snaer seems very talented.

[pfrduke]

Toney Douglas was a big-time scorer who didn't mind the pressure of playing in Cameron---don't think they have anybody like him now.

This is a good game for Duke to amp up the pressure on D a little bit. Kitchen is, I think, the only player on the roster with more assists than turnovers in ACC play, and FSU has had real turnover problems this year - in five conference games, they've turned it over more than 25% of their possessions 3 times, two of those being more than 30% of their possessions. On the season as a whole, they've had 10 of 19 games with more than 25% turnovers, and another 3 with more than 20%. Forcing turnovers and getting points in transition will be key to counteracting their half court defense, which is very good.

[SilkyJ]

I'm an optimist, but I think Duke wins this by a good margin. Get the lead early and FSU doesn't have the scoring punch to catch up IMO. Toney Douglas was a big-time scorer who didn't mind the pressure of playing in Cameron---don't think they have anybody like him now.

I find it so hard to try and predict games like this. This may be obvious, but its all about which Duke shows up: the one that guarded Tracy Smith and State or the one that guarded Clemson/Connecticut.

Its a wonder to me that we could shutdown UConn's big, athletic frontline and then give up all those point to an undersized state team...or at least a State team that was smaller than us.

I just want to see more progress out of MP1/2. Them playing well in March is the difference between Sweet 16 and FF, imo.

[jv001]

Something I would like to see from the Crazies against Fl ST. is for them to be Louddddddddddddddddddddd!.Concentrate on being loud more so than being creative. Everyone knows how clever our fans are, but I like it when they are loud from the tip off until the final horn sounds. I know Coach K has addressed this as well. When the Crazies are bringing their best game, the players feed off this. Wednesday's game would be a good start for our wild and crazy fans to really bring it. Go Duke!

[Bob Green]

We need to breakout of our 3-point shooting slump. Earlier in the year, we were shooting over 40% from behing the arc but we shot ~25% over the past five games. Knocking down some 3-pointers will be a key factor against the Seminoles.

[CDu]

I find it so hard to try and predict games like this. This may be obvious, but its all about which Duke shows up: the one that guarded Tracy Smith and State or the one that guarded Clemson/Connecticut.

Its a wonder to me that we could shutdown UConn's big, athletic frontline and then give up all those point to an undersized state team...or at least a State team that was smaller than us.

I think this had less to do with the size and more to do with the skillsets. NC State was able to spread the floor with shooters AND had two guards who could beat our guards off the dribble AND had a very talented big man. And they hit a ton of jumpshots. UConn didn't have anybody inside who could score, and they couldn't hit any shots. Clemson had one awesome player, but didn't have the perimeter threats to stretch the defense.

I think our team will do pretty well against teams that are big and like to crowd the lane. That's where the strength of our team lies - in our size. I think that, relatively speaking, we'll have trouble against teams that spread the floor and attack off the dribble and hit the 3s (think Villanova), because three of our bigs aren't great on-ball defenders, and aren't great at rotating from the perimeter to the post. In this case, we miss being able to play Singler at the 4 and Thomas at the 5, because they're better/more versatile defenders than the Plumlees (at least right now) and Zoubek.

I just want to see more progress out of MP1/2. Them playing well in March is the difference between Sweet 16 and FF, imo.

I agree. I think this team can do damage as is, but we'll be a lot better off if at least one and possibly both of the Plumlees to step up. As I said before, I think teams like Villanova and Texas give us matchup problems by spreading the floor. To combat that, we need to create matchup problems for them. And the key to that will be having guys like the Plumlees (who have higher ceilings than Thomas and Zoubek) to succeed. In other words, we need our mismatch advantages to outweigh the opponents' mismatch advantages.

[jv001]

I think this had less to do with the size and more to do with the skillsets. NC State was able to spread the floor with shooters AND had two guards who could beat our guards off the dribble AND had a very talented big man. And they hit a ton of jumpshots. UConn didn't have anybody inside who could score, and they couldn't hit any shots. Clemson had one awesome player, but didn't have the perimeter threats to stretch the defense.

I think our team will do pretty well against teams that are big and like to crowd the lane. That's where the strength of our team lies - in our size. I think that, relatively speaking, we'll have trouble against teams that spread the floor and attack off the dribble and hit the 3s (think Villanova), because three of our bigs aren't great on-ball defenders, and aren't great at rotating from the perimeter to the post. In this case, we miss being able to play Singler at the 4 and Thomas at the 5, because they're better/more versatile defenders than the Plumlees (at least right now) and Zoubek.

Have to agree that teams with good guard play give us trouble. Clemson and Uconn did not have that. Villanova, Kentucky, Kansas, Syracuse could give us big problems. But they could give most teams problems. The help defense will have to be very good for us to beat teams like those. The ACC does not have as many great guards this year. Thank God. So I think we win the ACC but could struggle in the NCAA tourney with a bad match up. Go Duke!

[lpd1982]

I have been watching waaay too much college basketball lately and I find it unsettling how differently each game is callled. And if it is hard for me to get in the flow of what's what, imagine how hard it must be for the players to figure out the rythm of each and every game. Fast whistles and everyone's in foul trouble and that could be tough for us on Wednesday. If the refs are letting the game reach its own level and we don't play tough at the outset, we could get behind. When the refs are even handed we seem to do best.

Not only within the ACC, but even from one of our games to the next the refs decision-making seems quite variable. Not whining, just saying inconsistant calls appear to me to be a factor in wins and losses and how we play as a team. Predicting a win and a big, loud, enthusiastic crowd.

And I meant 'affect'