MBB: Duke @ Virginia Pre-Game and In-Game Thread

[DevilWearsPrada]

Any thoughts on the upcoming UVa mens game on Feb 16, Wed night in HOOville...aka Charlottesville?

UVa gave us a good game earlier. Came to play hard. And did in the first half. Then Duke got it together, and sent the Cavaliers (YaHoos, WaHoos, WhoseHoos) back to HOOville.

I do like their new arena. And the UVa folks were nice too. Thats a pleasantness anywhere in the ACC league.

[wilson]

I do like their new arena.

Plus, it's named after the greatest bassist/father of the American navy that I know of.

[MChambers]

Any thoughts on the upcoming UVa mens game on Feb 16, Wed night in HOOville...aka Charlottesville?

With Scott and Sherrill out, UVa is woefully thin inside, and really doesn't score much inside. Accordingly, I assume that the key will be shutting down the three point shot, which generally is one of Duke's strengths, although less a strength this year than in some previous years.

I'd also like to see Andre have a breakout game. You may recall that he had a big game against Virginia back in January, when we were really struggling. In fact, I think Coach K said it was Andre's best game of his career.

[Indoor66]

Plus, it's named after the greatest bassist/father of the American navy that I know of.

Nice thought, but not quite accurate.

[Bluedevil114]

I have tickets to this game on Wednesday. I have been to the last three games that Duke has played at UVA. Their crowd sits on their hands and the place does not get very loud. A beautiful building but UVA just does not have the horses to stay with Duke. I am expecting a 20+ point victory. With Curry, Kyle and Nolan shooting well...it should not stay competitive very long. I would love to see Dawkins come out of his funk and hit one early and earn some minutes Wednesday. Kelly has been playing great but I love when we go small...so many options.

[-bdbd]

I have tickets to this game on Wednesday. I have been to the last three games that Duke has played at UVA. Their crowd sits on their hands and the place does not get very loud. A beautiful building but UVA just does not have the horses to stay with Duke. I am expecting a 20+ point victory. With Curry, Kyle and Nolan shooting well...it should not stay competitive very long. I would love to see Dawkins come out of his funk and hit one early and earn some minutes Wednesday. Kelly has been playing great but I love when we go small...so many options.

I'm in northern VA and debating taking the 90 minute drive over to Charlottesville for the game. Have never seen the new stadium, but I do like the school, campus. Is it likely they will sell out the place for Duke? How hard will it be to get tix? Do they have scalpers around? Any Duke gathering before/after the game.

Like the other post, I don't see UVA's interior game being able to hang with Duke's for 40 minutes. Unless Nolan's eye remains a problem, AND his fill-ins have off nights, expect Duke to be starting to put a little distance by halftime.

[NSDukeFan]

I don't expect a blow out in this one. I guess I usually don't on the road in the ACC (Wake this year being the exception.) Also, I expect UVa to play hard and reasonably smart as Bennett seems to be doing a good job coaching. They did get blown out by Maryland at home (84-62) but their other games have been much closer. Pomeroy (who has Duke up to #2 after KU's loss last night) has Duke winning 74-60 which seems like a reasonable prediction to me. Like others, I would like to see Dawkins have a nice game, and of course continued strong performances from Curry, Mason, Miles and Ryan. Hopefully, the team can get ahead early and Josh can get some minutes as well.

[4decadedukie]

This is not critical, but since UVa lost at Cameron a month ago, freshman guard Billy Baron has opted to leave the program and transfer to URI (where, I believe, his father coaches). This will not have a significant impact in on-court performance, however, one has to question if it has any "locker-room" influence.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/cav...uva_plans.html

[KaHOOnah]

I'm in northern VA and debating taking the 90 minute drive over to Charlottesville for the game. Have never seen the new stadium, but I do like the school, campus. Is it likely they will sell out the place for Duke? How hard will it be to get tix? Do they have scalpers around? Any Duke gathering before/after the game.

Like the other post, I don't see UVA's interior game being able to hang with Duke's for 40 minutes. Unless Nolan's eye remains a problem, AND his fill-ins have off nights, expect Duke to be starting to put a little distance by halftime.

Two things:
1) UVa, for all its faults inside, doubles the post better than any other team in the ACC. That, in turn, has hurt us with teams who've been able to find an open shooter outside, provided said shooter actually hits shots. I'm not as concerned about you guys beating us up on the low block for too many points as I am about 3 point defense as a result of too readily doubling the post. We do, however, give up a lot of offensive boards, which I'm sure will hurt.

2) If you drive down, you'll have no problem whatsoever finding tickets from a scalper outside the JPJ. Just don't cheer too loudly

[ChicagoCrazy84]

With every one of our easier games, I, much like a lot of other folks on here say they'd like to see guys like Dre and Ryan and those guys get touches and get out of their "funks." While I would love to see Andre go for 20, I don't see it happening so with these games (especially this one) I want to see our guys fine tune their defense and play a full 40 min. We didn't see that against NC State, UNC, and to a lesser extent...Miami. I think our D could be a lot more consistsent and with Scott and Sherrill out, this is the game to extend our defense and play more aggressive.
We have a nice opportunity to get on a good roll. We get past the Cavs and we're back at home for the next 2 games. I hate to look ahead, but we could go into that VT game sitting at 12-1 and 26-2 overall which is pretty gosh darn good.

[BlueDevil2022]

I too would love to see Andre get it going in this game. This maybe is something that should be on a seperate thread but does anyone else see that it is no wonder he is in a funk? He played as well as anyone outside the two All-Americans for the first two months of the season. (Obviously Kyrie was better, but that is true of almost everyone in the country) Now he is playing 10 to 15 minutes a game and moving down the depth chart. I know that his defense is not on par with Nolan and Kyle, but he seems to have lost what little swagger that he had. A player's confidence is very important. When he was playing 25 to 30 minutes a game he was able to get into the flow of the game and his shots were falling. Now he seems to be looking over his shoulder waiting to see when he will get benched again. I worries me that he might transfer since the backcourt next year will be overflowing with talent. Does anyone else see this happening? He has all the talent needed to be a very very good college player, I would hate to see it on display in a uniform other than our beloved Blue Devils!!!!!

Go Blue Devils!!!!!

[Kedsy]

I worries me that he might transfer since the backcourt next year will be overflowing with talent. Does anyone else see this happening? He has all the talent needed to be a very very good college player, I would hate to see it on display in a uniform other than our beloved Blue Devils!!!!!

Why do so many people say stuff like this, with no basis other than a guy's minutes went down for a couple games?

Andre played 13 and 15 minutes in his last two games, it's true, but the three before that he played 26, 20, and 27.

[-bdbd]

Two things:
1) UVa, for all its faults inside, doubles the post better than any other team in the ACC. That, in turn, has hurt us with teams who've been able to find an open shooter outside, provided said shooter actually hits shots. I'm not as concerned about you guys beating us up on the low block for too many points as I am about 3 point defense as a result of too readily doubling the post. We do, however, give up a lot of offensive boards, which I'm sure will hurt.

2) If you drive down, you'll have no problem whatsoever finding tickets from a scalper outside the JPJ. Just don't cheer too loudly

KaHOOnah -

Thanks. May do just that (re scalper). Yeah, I always think of myself as a "guest" in someone else's house and, while still happily rooting for Duke, would never be loud/boorish in some else's place. Really looking forward to checking out the new digs! Now if we could only get those heels fans to behave similarly when they invade Wallace Wade Stadium every other year...

[OldPhiKap]

This would be a great game for Kyle to start the final push.

Now's the time.

[CBDUKE]

KaHOOnah -

Thanks. May do just that (re scalper). Yeah, I always think of myself as a "guest" in someone else's house and, while still happily rooting for Duke, would never be loud/boorish in some else's place. Really looking forward to checking out the new digs! Now if we could only get those heels fans to behave similarly when they invade Wallace Wade Stadium every other year...

I was at the game last year (and will be again tomorrow night). There was a whole lot of Blue in the stands and at times we were louder than the Hoos. I hope it is that was this time as well.

[moonpie23]

i hope that ryan kelly and seth continue to play well...we're gonna really need that extra boost

[wilson]

Nice thought, but not quite accurate.

Yeah, I know. But wouldn't it be much cooler if the arena was named after the Zeppelin bassist and/or the father of the American navy?

[BlueDevil2022]

Why do so many people say stuff like this, with no basis other than a guy's minutes went down for a couple games?

Andre played 13 and 15 minutes in his last two games, it's true, but the three before that he played 26, 20, and 27.

Yeah, you are right!!! It is not like he played 10 and 13 minutes the two games before that. Oh wait, he did only get those minutes. Including 1 minute in the entire second half vs UNC and Wake. In all games before that he was on the floor for at least 18 minutes. I was just saying that it would be nice for him to get hot this game and continue to stay hot. We are not in practice so we do not know that whole story. Would just like to see the kid get back on track and be the type of player that I think/hope he can be.

[Kedsy]

I was just saying that it would be nice for him to get hot this game and continue to stay hot.

Well, no, that's not what you were "just saying." You were speculating that he might transfer based on nothing more than his minutes were down in a few games.

We all want Andre to play well. Why can't we leave it at that?

[Duke: A Dynasty]

Well, no, that's not what you were "just saying." You were speculating that he might transfer based on nothing more than his minutes were down in a few games.

We all want Andre to play well. Why can't we leave it at that?

Wow once again here we go... Actually it was what he was "just saying". Go re-read the post. The entire post he was talking about Dre's "funk" and how he has not been performing as of late. You chose to pick out the very last sentence or two were all he said was that he was worried Dre would think about transferring and he left it at that. No speculation at all just a fan wondering what has happened with Dre as of late.

ps. We do all want Dre to play well and nobody else had a problem with what was said so why don't you just leave it at that.