MBB: Duke vs. cheating pond scum (3/9 9:00 pm ESPN) Pre-Game and In-Game Thread:

[slower]

If Carter's out, all bets are off. Bolden is not Carter. As always, anything can happen. Facing the Toilet-Water Blues always makes me nervous.

[Billy Dat]

All of their starters played 30 plus minutes. Cool Hand Luke was 1-15. Clamp down on the wings, force Luke to make shots, and defend him aggressively. Grayson appears to be out of his shooting slump; I thought Gary was as well. We are playing very good basketball right now. AND WE'RE GOING TO GET BETTER.

Yes, we need to defend them the say way we did in the second half last week...eliminate 3 point opportunities and let Maye try and play the Bonzi role 10 feet and in. On offense, punish their lack of size with Starvin Marvin who is so hungry he gonna EAT EAT EAT!!!!!

9F!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dr. Rosenrosen]

If Carter's out, all bets are off. Bolden is not Carter. As always, anything can happen. Facing the Toilet-Water Blues always makes me nervous.

Is the Toilet-Water Blues something you get after eating at a questionable hot dog stand?

[dukelifer]

If Carter's out, all bets are off. Bolden is not Carter. As always, anything can happen. Facing the Toilet-Water Blues always makes me nervous.

Yes. This will be an even tougher game without Carter. UNC is among the top 10 teams in the country- despite a couple of head scratching losses. They can win the whole thing again as they have all the pieces and experience. If they get hot- watch out. Duke can beat them but it is never easy. Duke has Bagley and Allen who are excellent but after that- it is a really an adventure as to who will play well. I am worried about Pinson and Johnson most. Both pose different kinds of problems and both are playing well. Duval and Trent need their A games tonight.

[slower]

Is the Toilet-Water Blues something you get after eating at a questionable hot dog stand?

Or just driving through Toilet-Water Blueville.

[DukeWarhead]

Saw some article this am stating that if UnC were to beat Duke and then UVA and Kansas loses, they would get last #1 seed. Bleh. No thanks. We’ll just beat them now.

[left_hook_lacey]

Haven't seen a line for the UNC game yet. Vegas has Virginia as a 7 point favorite over Clempson.

Anyone wanna guess what the Duke UNC line will be?

I think we were 2 or 3 point favorites at Chapel Hell, and 7 or 8 point favorites in Cameron.

I'm thinking we will be 5 or 6 point favorites.

[slower]

Haven't seen a line for the UNC game yet. Vegas has Virginia as a 7 point favorite over Clempson.

Anyone wanna guess what the Duke UNC line will be?

I think we were 2 or 3 point favorites at Chapel Hell, and 7 or 8 point favorites in Cameron.

I'm thinking we will be 5 or 6 point favorites.

So, by "we", you're referring to Duke? Sometimes, it's hard to tell with you.

Sorry if I'm confusing you with another poster.

[PackMan97]

Good luck tonight. The entire fate of the civilized world rests on this game! Don't screw it up!

[left_hook_lacey]

So, by "we", you're referring to Duke? Sometimes, it's hard to tell with you.

Sorry if I'm confusing you with another poster.

I think you must be.

[ns7]

Haven't seen a line for the UNC game yet. Vegas has Virginia as a 7 point favorite over Clempson.

Anyone wanna guess what the Duke UNC line will be?

I think we were 2 or 3 point favorites at Chapel Hell, and 7 or 8 point favorites in Cameron.

I'm thinking we will be 5 or 6 point favorites.

UNC was favored by 1.5 in Chapel Hill. Duke was a 7.5 favorite in Cameron. That implies Duke -3. I think it will be more like -5 based on recent performance.

[slower]

I think you must be.

My apologies, then. There are a few posters around here who seem to have an indecent amount of Tarheel love. Sorry if I misidentified you as one of them.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

My apologies, then. There are a few posters around here who seem to have an indecent amount of Tarheel love. Sorry if I misidentified you as one of them.

The only things I have ever said that could possibly be construed as "not negative" about UNC has been a respect for Berry and Paige over the years. They both seem like legitimately good dudes.

I guess you could construe my statement a few days ago on the board that I would love to see UNC go 36-4, with four increasingly epic losses to Duke by margins over 30 points as some kindness to them, but it's really just because the losses to Duke would hurt that much more.

I know some people here like the idea of removing UNC like a cancer from the rivalry/conference/planet, but I enjoy having a foil, especially an evil foil, even moreso a foil that we get to beat up on a few times a year.

*shrugs*

Let's beat the tar out of those Heels tonight! Send them home licking their wounds, hoping for a three seed, and advancing us to a date with destiny for a #1 seed!

[CDu]

With all due respect to Ken Pomeroy (I think it was him), I don't think our defensive 3pt shooting % is a fluke. In this zone, we are forcing teams farther and farther away from the 3pt line in order to get clean looks. Our guards and forwards are doing an amazing job of covering anything remotely close to the line. Go back and watch how few looks Notre Dame got at the 3pt line. It was impressive. They were consistently being forced to settle for 25ft 3pt shots. And, correspondingly, they missed a bunch of 3s.

We need to continue to do that against UNC. And if we can limit the offensive rebounds, we should do okay. I've seen lots of talk about how our defense looked in the second half in Cameron, but the reality is that we played good defense in BOTH halves (better in the second half, yes, but still good in the first half). It was our offense that struggled in the first half.

If we continue to play offense like we did in the second half against UNC and for the game against Notre Dame, we will be VERY tough to beat. Let's hope our guys are up to the challenge!

[gocanes0506]

Do we come out early with the 3/4 court press? Or do we anticipate them going over it extensively and only use it randomly to throw them off?
Do we try to speed the game up?
Which Duval shows up?
Does Carolina miss as many shots? They move the ball very easy through the zone and get plenty of open jumpers.
Who gets the other big men in foul trouble first?
Can we make free throws?

The holes should be okay. They have played 2 easy games and played a bunch of players. They have also played two games and their starters have averaged 32 minutes in both games.
Im for 3/4 court pressing them most of the game. It keeps them from passing the ball around the zone for 25-27 seconds. 3/4 court gives them about 18-22 seconds once their O is set. Those extra 5-7 seconds is an extra pass or two.
Work inside-out. Get their bigs in foul trouble. At the same time it prevents them from getting into transition from long rebounds. They really feed off getting fast break points. I have noticed the Holes' demeanor and execution go way down when they arent getting into transition every few possessions.
Duval/Allen attack the middle of the D and dish to the big men down low.
Make free throws.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Do we come out early with the 3/4 court press? Or do we anticipate them going over it extensively and only use it randomly to throw them off?
Do we try to speed the game up?
Which Duval shows up?
Does Carolina miss as many shots? They move the ball very easy through the zone and get plenty of open jumpers.
Who gets the other big men in foul trouble first?
Can we make free throws?

The holes should be okay. They have played 2 easy games and played a bunch of players. They have also played two games and their starters have averaged 32 minutes in both games.
Im for 3/4 court pressing them most of the game. It keeps them from passing the ball around the zone for 25-27 seconds. 3/4 court gives them about 18-22 seconds once their O is set. Those extra 5-7 seconds is an extra pass or two.
Work inside-out. Get their bigs in foul trouble. At the same time it prevents them from getting into transition from long rebounds. They really feed off getting fast break points. I have noticed the Holes' demeanor and execution go way down when they arent getting into transition every few possessions.
Duval/Allen attack the middle of the D and dish to the big men down low.
Make free throws.

Much like the last game...

- Get rebounds. This can't be overstated. This is how the launch their offense and extend possessions. They crash the glass with five guys. We can't get caught watching.
- Get back on defense QUICKLY, even on made shots. If they burn us on fast-breaks, those are give away points.
- Watch out for corner threes. That's a frequent weakness of the zone. Now that teams have seen our defense for a few weeks, they will be looking for that open shot.
- Don't make unforced turnovers. Those are killers and we seem to get them in bunches. If Duval can stay steady and feed Allen/Bags, that bodes very well.
- Please oh please hit free throws.

[PackMan97]

UNC was favored by 1.5 in Chapel Hill. Duke was a 7.5 favorite in Cameron. That implies Duke -3. I think it will be more like -5 based on recent performance.

vs The Cuse
36 Berry II
34 Williams
34 Johnson
33 Maye
30 Pinson
bench minutes
8 Brooks
7 Manley

vs The U
35 Pinson
34 Williams
32 Berry II
31 Johnson
30 Maye
bench minutes
9 Brooks
6 Manley


Duke vs ND
17 Carter Jr
38 Bagley III
39 Allen
34 Duval
35 Trent Jr
bench:
6 DeLaurier
19 Bolden
10 O'Connel

I don't know if fatigue will be an issue for the heels, they are right about their average of low 30's for the starters in both games. I think whomever gets to play UVa will definitely have some issues.

[jv001]

1) Keep our turnovers down anywhere 5-10 and don't let those be run out turnovers.
2) Block out. The cheats are a good offensive rebounding team. Make the refs call over the back fouls.
3) Do a good job of locating their three point shooters.
4) Don't let Berry penetrate our zone.

GoDuke!

[UrinalCake]

One of the plays that they ran very successfully against the Syracuse zone was passing into a man at the free throw line and then having him immediately kick out to a shooter on the wing behind the three point line. It was a set play, the free throw line guy didn't hold it and make a decision, he just caught it and passed it out. The defense reacted by collapsing around the middle guy, leaving the shooter wide open. I saw them do this over and over, giving them open threes. Fortunately for us we tend to not swarm that free throw line guy, choosing to leave him open, but I'll be curious to see if they try to do this against our zone.

Also wanted to point out that Berry left yesterday's game briefly after what looked like a turned ankle. Cameron Johnson also left the court when a Miami player came down on him and looked like he jammed his hip or quad. It was a really physical game that I'm sure will have some lingering effects on them, as today will be their third game in three days whereas we got to play a relatively stress-free game yesterday. Despite playing 39 minutes Allen looked pretty rested in his post-game interview on the court. He was barely sweating and had the posture of a professor giving a lecture. But with Carter being hurt and Bagley having jammed his finger, both teams will be pretty banged up.

[Wander]

Saw some article this am stating that if UnC were to beat Duke and then UVA and Kansas loses, they would get last #1 seed. Bleh. No thanks. We’ll just beat them now.

Nah, no way UNC can pass UVA.

I had a dream last night that DeLaurier scored double digits in this game. That's all I have to offer.