WBB: Duke 77, VaTech 33

[burnspbesq]

Duke is off to a flying start, up 23-9 after nine minutes. Hayley may have a double-double by halftime.

[DU82]

Duke is off to a flying start, up 23-9 after nine minutes. Hayley may have a double-double by halftime.

Dominating win, 77-33, and at times it didn't seem that close. Haley and Elizabeth both had 25 points, as they could score at will inside. I think this was the 19th win in a row against VT, which sounds impressive until you see that the Duke win streak against GT and WF is in the 30s and 40s. (Don't have the exact numbers for each streak handy.)

[CameronBornAndBred]

I like this thought by the VT coach.

While some Hokies fans were angry that Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie kept shuttling her starters in until the final five minutes, Hokies coach Dennis Wolff said he never gave it a second thought."We're worried about our team. They're worried about their team," he said."It didn't bother me," he said. "She's got to do what's best for her team. They're playing for a lot."

I have a lot of respect for that. He knows Coach P isn't keeping the reserves on the bench so she can run up the score, she is doing it because Duke is a team that is going to need every game experience it can if we wish to get to the Final Four. There is no way to simulate true game experience in practice, so she does what she has to. The box score shows that the bench (consisting of 5 players) averaged about 15 minutes, so she still did plenty of subbing. She always does, no matter how far apart or how close the game is. P is great at using her bench players. I love the rebound margin, 37-24 in our favor.