MBB: Duke vs. Wisconsin (12/3, 2130 ESPN) Pre-Game and In-Game Thread

[Native]

Big-time road test for our guys this week!

If this were at Cameron I'd be much more confident. The Kohl Center is no joke. Our guys will need to play their best game of the season thus far to win.

[-jk]

...The Kohl Center is no joke...

It's the ball.

-jk

[Bluegrassdevil1]

One of the things that always stands out to me when "good teams" meet in the regular season is the prevalence of rematches occurring in the Final Four, and more importantly, the oddity of one team winning both meetings. I would be quite shocked if Wisconsin did not make the Final Four, and though I am unconvinced that Duke will progress to the last weekend, I do find the relative occurrence of rematches to be quite interesting:

The winner of the regular season matchup is 11 – 3 in the Final Four; however, I did not look beyond 1992 contests, because I am lazy.

2014 FF: UConn vs. Florida; UConn won both games.
2012 FF: UK vs. U of L; UK won both games.
2012 FF: Kansas vs. OSU; Kansas won both games.
2011 FF: UK vs. UConn; UConn won both games.
2009 title game: UNC vs. MSU; UNC won both games.
2007 title game: Florida vs. OSU; Florida won both games.
2004 title game: UConn vs. Georgia Tech: split (no Okafor in GT win).
2001 FF: Duke vs. Maryland; Duke won 3 of 4.
2000 FF: MSU vs. Wisconsin; MSU won all 4 times.
1999 FF: Duke vs. MSU; Duke won both games.
1997 FF: Arizona vs. UNC; Arizona won both games.
1996 FF: UK vs. UMass; split.
1993 title game: UNC vs. Michigan; split.
1992 title game: Duke vs. Michigan; Duke won both games.

Hopefully, wishfully, Duke wins on Wednesday, and the rematch repetition reoccurs for the Blue Devils.

As for the game itself:

1. Duke has a chance to obtain the best non-conference win for any team this season; UNC and Texas have their chances in Rupp, and Gonzaga and Michigan have games in Tucson, but I find the odds of either Wildcat team losing at home to be highly unlikely.

2. Win or lose, Duke will be provided with a fantastic gauge as to where they are as a team.

3. Duke lost at the Kohl not too long ago (2009-2010), so if a loss gets the same result as 09-10, I will be thrilled.

4. Wisconsin, though good, looked less than superior in the Battle for Atlantis.

5. I am concerned about the Badgers having four days to prepare for a home game, whereas Duke will have 48 hours for a tough road test. Why Duke could not have at least played Army yesterday, or not all after Furman, is beyond my comprehension.

6. I do not expect Duke to win (too much inexperience playing on the road against experience), but if Duke keeps it close, it would be difficult to fault the Blue Devils in any way.

[fuse]

It's the ball.

-jk

This remains one of the most eccentric parts of college basketball.

I had forgotten Wisconsin used its own ball.

[bbosbbos]

Watched Wisconsin BB twice this week. They are a good team with a lot of 3 pt shooters and a good slasher, no TOs, very disciplined. Many so called "analysts", including Jay Williams, predict they will beat the fried chicken and win all.

I do not know who gonna win but in K I trust.

[sagegrouse]

It's the ball.

-jk

This remains one of the most eccentric parts of college basketball.

I had forgotten Wisconsin used its own ball.

Now we got to add a category to the home-road discussion, which used to be --
Road game: hostile crowd, opponent's arena, travel.
Neutral game: balanced crowd, neutral arena, travel. (Usually a tournament.)
Home cooking: hostile crowd, opponent's arena, home cooking. (Like a Big Four game.)
Home game; etc., etc.

Now it turns out the ball makes a difference?

[Wheat/"/"/"]

I think this will be a real big test for Okafor's patience and Duke's ability to show a strong inside game against a high level team. He has tons of talent, but he is just 7 games into his freshman season.

He's going to have to really watch his foul situation, because I expect Wisconsin to go right at him.

They are good at getting it inside and have smart, physical players.

I've noticed that Okafor leaves his feet fairly often at the rim on D when he doesn't need to...typical freshman stuff...so I'd coach my guys to pump fake it and then go at him.

If he stays out of foul trouble, Duke should be in it at the end. If not, better hope the shots are falling from deep.

[dukelifer]

Watched Wisconsin BB twice this week. They are a good team with a lot of 3 pt shooters and a good slasher, no TOs, very disciplined. Many so called "analysts", including Jay Williams, predict they will beat the fried chicken and win all.

I do not know who gonna win but in K I trust.

I doubt they will win it all but they are likely to win on Wed. That said- Duke is not a finished product. Looking forward to seeing who steps up when it gets tough up there. Winslow? T Jones? Sheed? This game will help this Duke team win or lose.

[bbosbbos]

I notice that Wisconsin star Kaminsky, 7 feet, is very good, but a little "soft" and not athletic. We can match him with Jahzilla & MP3. Another star is 6-9 foward Sam Dekker. He can shoot 3, slash to the rim and rebound. I do not know if AJ or JW can contain him. Their 3rd star is a senior forward Duje Dukan with good 3 pt. How can we slow him down? We will get the answers in 3 days.

[Saratoga2]

Hostile arena, travel, two days to prep., experience issue. Add to that, they are very good three point shooters, are very well coached and are legitimately rated #2 and we have a very tough test facing us.

On the other hand, Jahlil is really a very special talent and will be a difficult matchup for Wisconsin. I wish our 3 point shooting was a little better at this point. I hope we get our best effort and if we do we certainly have a chance in this one. I wish the kids the best of luck. We shall have a guage of our capability Wednesday night.

[Henderson]

Trap game for Wisconsin. They play Wojo's Marquette team on Saturday and are likely to overlook Duke as a result.

[gurufrisbee]

Wisconsin is a great team. They probably should have won it all last year and only lost on guy from that team. Gasser, Koenig, Jackson, Dukan, Kaminsky, Dekker - so many guys who shoot so well. Anyone will have to be on top of their game to beat them. But I think Georgetown gave a nice game plan for one way to push the Badgers - attack Kaminsky in the paint (NO ONE is as big as Josh Smith - and I know - I knew the kid in high school) and hit your three's. If Okafor attacks well in the paint and we can hit our three's, we've got a good shot.

[jacone21]

Will Duke be sending any other players besides Okafor? ESPN's promos lead me to believe he's the only one making the trip.

[Edouble]

Not a lot of optimism around these parts. I feel pretty confident that we're winning this game. We are the more talented team and we have Coach K. Capel's no slouch either.

[Philadukie]

We need to feed Okafor the ball the way people voted in the wards of early 20th century Chicago -- early and often. Go after their biggest strength in Kaminsky and try to get him in foul trouble. Of course, they'll be attempting the same against Jah.

[MChambers]

We're a very young team, and our three point shooting will be a key. I think it's tough for a young team to shoot well on the road against a top tier opponent, so I'm thinking we'll probably come up short. Didn't we lose at Wisconsin in 2009-2010? That season turned out okay, I think.

[wilson]

Trap game for Wisconsin. They play Wojo's Marquette team on Saturday and are likely to overlook Duke as a result.

I gotta disagree with this. I think the last time Duke was overlooked by anyone was against UNLV in 1991.

[Wheat/"/"/"]

We need to feed Okafor the ball the way people voted in the wards of early 20th century Chicago -- early and often. Go after their biggest strength in Kaminsky and try to get him in foul trouble. Of course, they'll be attempting the same against Jah.

Correct, when you have the best post player in the country, get him the ball in the paint.

What I'm watching for is how.

To date, coach K has sent him low on his own in the 1/2 court and let him seal his guy. Okafor works hard at gaining his spot, and very good at it. He's big, strong and active...and he has been getting good position, but against mainly overmatched guys at this point in the season.

He's going to be facing some big/strong guys from here on out and I'm not convinced he can get the really good position down low on his own consistently enough to cause the sagging Duke wants to open it up for the shooters. I think he's going to need some baseline screens. Every big man benefits from those.

So far, I haven't seen any along the baseline for him in Duke's set offense. Jefferson is not screening, instead giving him space inside to operate, not clogging up the lane for him, and to get a running start on the boards where he excels, or to be an available for the pass coming to the rim when Okafor gets doubled.

Can Duke get it to Okafor in post scoring position consistently? The answer to that will determine just how good this team can be.

[CDu]

Correct, when you have the best post player in the country, get him the ball in the paint.

What I'm watching for is how.

To date, coach K has sent him low on his own in the 1/2 court and let him seal his guy. Okafor works hard at gaining his spot, and very good at it. He's big, strong and active...and he has been getting good position, but against mainly overmatched guys at this point in the season.

He's going to be facing some big/strong guys from here on out and I'm not convinced he can get the really good position down low on his own consistently enough to cause the sagging Duke wants to open it up for the shooters. I think he's going to need some baseline screens. Every big man benefits from those.

So far, I haven't seen any along the baseline for him in Duke's set offense. Jefferson is not screening, instead giving him space inside to operate, not clogging up the lane for him, and to get a running start on the boards where he excels, or to be an available for the pass coming to the rim when Okafor gets doubled.

Can Duke get it to Okafor in post scoring position consistently? The answer to that will determine just how good this team can be.

There is more than one way to get Okafor good post position. The "UNC way" (screening big on big along the baseline) isn't the only way, and it isn't necessarily the best way either. It's just "a" way. Screening big on big along the baseline can often work. But a well-coached team with two capable bigs can handle that simply by switching on the screen and fronting the post.

One can also "create" good post position simply by making a pass to enter the ball from a different angle. Or by running a high pick and post with a guard/wing. Lots of different ways to skin a cat.

Duke hasn't had trouble yet getting Okafor the ball in good post position, and Okafor hasn't had much difficulty establishing post position on his own. When he has struggled offensively (specifically in the Stanford and Temple games) it was because he made poor decisions in attacking a double team or trying to beat the help defender to the spot.

This will be a fantastic test. I'm not terribly concerned with Duke's ability to get Okafor the ball in the post. Nor am I concerned about Okafor's ability to score in the post. My main concern is on the other end of the floor. Kaminsky is a very difficult matchup for Okafor because he likes to pick and pop on the perimeter. That's a terrible proposition for Okafor - a freshman big who is much more comfortable near the basket.

I wonder if Coach K would consider putting Jefferson on Kaminsky and letting Okafor guard the bruising Nigel Hayes - a 6'7" 250 widebody who prefers to work closer to the basket. Of course, Wisconsin could counter by putting Dekker at PF, which would force Duke's hand as Dekker and Kaminsky both prefer the perimeter.

Should be a great early-season test. Given that it is in Wisconsin, I wouldn't be shocked by a loss for our guys. But we certainly have the talent to win, especially on the perimeter where I'd give us the edge at every spot.

[MChambers]

I gotta disagree with this. I think the last time Duke was overlooked by anyone was against UNLV in 1991.

I think Henderson's tongue was in his cheek.