My UofL opinions, take them or leave them:
1. UofL plays quite a few players, but I would not classify the team as being "deep." A few kids essentially run up and down the court, then go sit down for a bit. Rinse and repeat.
2. Deng Adel is more than capable of going into business for himself. Adel is UofL's most talented player, but there are times when he will go all out 5 on 1.
3. Ray Spalding is talented, but there have been numerous times where UofL refuses to give him the ball.
4. Q. Snider will have moments where he is solid, and just as many moments where he has cement feet and no playmaking ability/instinct. Put Snider in a clear-out with Duval, and he will get eaten alive.
5. Anas Mahmoud is capable of blocking shots, but he does not have a great deal of "fire in his belly." I was at the UNC game last night, and the kid totally, wholly, and fully quit midway through the game.
6. Padgett, who I find to be a wonderful guy through and through, has moments where he clearly has no flipping idea what he is doing.
7. Greg Paulus is heavily involved in decision-making, and is pretty beloved here in Derbytown, but he has been known to tell players to run a play at the beginning of timeout, then drawn up a completely different set in the huddle, and the players return to action, with no idea what to do with themselves.
8. UofL, despite their physical height, is an awful rebounding team. I have watched them against some pretty inferior talent this season, and there have been countless times where the Cards will simply concede any examples of effort to the opposing team.
9. I honestly believe UofL is stuck in a gray area where they know that this season is the program's last chance for awhile to go to the tournament (no signed recruits, and a solid local kid that attends the same high school as did Ray Spalding, plus, local top-five recruit Romeo Langford, want nothing to do with them), so they want to go out with a bang, but they also are on the brink of missing the tournament, with a brutal ending stretch, and many players just want it all to be over. Since mid-2014, UofL as an institution, has been one dumpster fire after another, and the fan/alumni base is balkanized to a level of almost constant in-fighting.
I think that if Duke lets them hang around, UofL may hunger for their biggest win of the season (they have zero eye-catching victories), but on the other hand, if Duke punches them in the mouth, I suspect UofL will tap out.