MBB: Duke v Rhode Island (NCAA 2rd, 2:40 PM/CBS) Pre-Game and In-Game Thread

[awhom111]

We are the second game in Pittsburgh and will on CBS. The first game tips at 12:10pm ET so look for ours to be 2:40pm or later.
http://www.turner.com/pressroom/cbs-...mes-saturday-0

[subzero02]

We are the second game in Pittsburgh and will on CBS. The first game tips at 12:10pm ET so look for ours to be 2:40pm or later.
http://www.turner.com/pressroom/cbs-...mes-saturday-0

Basically the same bat time and same bat channel. It worked the first time.

[kAzE]

The Arizona upset really illustrates how the NCAA tournament isn't decided by big men. You gotta have great guard play on both sides.

I think we can reasonably expect solid performances from Grayson, so I'm hoping this is the start of a hot streak for Duval.

[fan345678]

I saw the off-day beer discussion, but if anyone is looking for a great daytime hangout with cigars and coffee, the Leaf & Bean in the Strip is your place. Plenty of lunch options around, too.
Actually, if you go, message be because I need a photo from there to settle an argument.

Sorry if that's off topic. Rhode Island is neither a road nor an island. Discuss.

[gocanes0506]

The Arizona upset really illustrates how the NCAA tournament isn't decided by big men. You gotta have great guard play on both sides.

I think we can reasonably expect solid performances from Grayson, so I'm hoping this is the start of a hot streak for Duval.

You have to have good guard play. Good big men would be more important, if you actually feed them the ball. Guards are too selfish these days and are taught to make the play.

We lost the first half big lead yesterday because we got complacent and jack up threes, instead of the pounding the ball to the big men asking for the ball. Countless times our big men are in good position and dont get the ball.

[jv001]

You have to have good guard play. Good big men would be more important, if you actually feed them the ball. Guards are too selfish these days and are taught to make the play.

We lost the first half big lead yesterday because we got complacent and jack up threes, instead of the pounding the ball to the big men asking for the ball. Countless times our big men are in good position and dont get the ball.

I thought we played well through out the game. The defense looked better in the 2nd half and I was happy to see Grayson, Trevon and Gary shooting those wide open threes. We'll need for those guys to make around 35% or better going forward. Defenses will try to take away our big guys. It was great to see a different offense from the turnovers that came from forced passes in previous games. I want to see a balanced offense, inside scoring and open 3 pointers. If the 3 ball is not falling then go to Marvin and Wendell down low. Just please don't force the passes. GoDuke!

[devilsince1977]

They are 7 - 6 vs NCAAT teams. They lost to UVA by 15. The rest of the games were against teams in the 7 to 16 seed range.

[devildeac]

Best one by far is Victory 's Hop Devil! Drank it all last weekend (but not during the unc game, as I was driving to the coast...)

Apparently, according to a poster on Ymm, Beer, Java Cask is quite a concoction.

[CDu]

So I originally posted this along with the Oklahoma scouting report in the Phase VII thread. It now belongs here:

The Rams are... probably a bit overseeded. They are #49 in KenPom and #55 in T-Rank. Their general profile is more similar to that of San Diego State (an 11 seed) or OK State, Miss St, Nebraska, and Boise St (who all missed the tourney). So they are perhaps a bit fortunate to be seeded as high as they were. Not a bad team, but probably not a team that should be seeded on the 7 line (or even 8 or 9 line). Probably a 10 or 11 seed. The Rams don't play terribly fast, but they play tenacious defense in their man-to-man and even apply some full-court pressure. What they do as well as basically anyone in the country is force turnovers. They aren't big, but they are very pesky. And turnovers fuel their offense. That said, they don't rebound great and they don't defend the 2 very well, and they foul a lot (as expected of a team that forces turnovers). And offensively, they don't do anything particularly well except for avoid turnovers. They did beat Seton Hall (neutral site) and Providence (home), and lost close at Alabama. But they more or less built their resume by beating the teams that they should beat in the A10 rather than anything truly impressive out of conference.

Center: Andre Berry (6'8", 275lb senior) is the man in the middle. Berry has developed into a useful post scorer for the Rams this year after being a rarely-used backup the previous two years. He's a BIG body inside. Not a terrible rebounder, but not as good as his size would suggest either. Berry is very foul prone, which is why he plays just 18 mpg. The other big is Cyril Langevine (6'8", 225lb sophomore). Langevine is the team's best rebounder and shotblocker, and pretty good at both. Unfortunately, he is even more foul prone than Berry. Langevine isn't an explosive athlete, but he's a clever post player defensively. His offensive game is primarily putbacks and finishes at the rim, but he can occasionally hit a jumper. I would expect both of these guys to have trouble with our size on both ends of the floor, provided we can protect the ball and make this a half-court game. The "break in case of emergency" option is Ryan Preston (6'7", 230lb junior JuCo transfer). Preston is a rugged warm body who just steals minutes as needed. When in, he rebounds, blocks shots, and fouls. The backup emergency backup is Mike Layssard (6'8", 255lb sophomore). Layssard pounds the defensive glass... and fouls.

Forwards: Do not exist. Rhode Island is a four-guard/wing team, almost exclusively. Okay, technically they sometimes play one forward: Nicola Akele (6'8", 215lb junior from Italy). Akele doesn't play much, but when he does he plays the stretch 4 role. He's a career 39% 3pt shooter. He doesn't do much else though, besides foul.

Wings: The Rams have a ton of these guys. The team's star is Jared Terrell (6'3", 215lb senior). Offensively, Terrell reminds me a little of Grayson Allen now. He's a very strong, athletic scorer who doesn't wow you with nuance in his game. Mostly an in-your-face style of scorer. He was not a great shooter until this year, but he has really improved this year. He shoots 42% from 3 and 82% from the line. Defensively, he is a versatile, physical, athletic defender who can generate turnovers. If he was a couple of inches taller, I would say he had a nice NBA career ahead of him. But size will be his concern at the next level, and he isn't a good enough ballhandler or passer to play PG. Still, he's a fantastic college player. Beside Terrell on the wings is EC Matthews (6'5", 200lb redshirt senior). Matthews has been a remarkably consistent player at URI at the season level, averaging 13-14 ppg, shooting around 42% from the field, and getting about 4 rpg. Matthews is a lanky, rangy wing rather than an explosive athlete. But he's a capable scorer, especially in the pick-and-roll game. Despite his solid skills and physical profile, though, he's turnover prone and often loses discipline defensively. He is a streaky shooter, and when he's on he can be a dynamite scorer. The third wing is Stanford Robinson (6'4", 200lb senior transfer from Indiana). Robinson is a lanky, aggressive defender and rebounder from the wing. He leads the team in steals and rebounds. He's also a streaky shooter, but is capable from distance. He is a big part of URI's defensive toughness, and is a dangerous weapon lurking to make a steal at all times.

Guards: Jeff Dowtin (6'3", 170lb sophomore) is the starting PG. Dowtin is a terrific 3pt shooter and a solid playmaker leading the team in assists. Dowtin isn't an explosive athlete, but rangy and smooth. He's terrific with the ball in his hands though, and very capable off the dribble as well as shooting 3s. Dowtin isn't quite as proficient at steals as some of his teammates, but isn't a liability on that end of the floor given his size at PG. The Rams do include a couple of other PGs, Jarvis Garrett (6'0", 175lb senior) and Daron "Fatts" Russell (5'10", 165lb freshman). Garrett is lightning quick and a terrific ballhandler who has developed into a pretty good 3pt shooter while at URI. His role has diminished with the arrival of Dowtin, but he's a capable D1 starting PG who now comes off the bench. Behind Garrett is Russell, who is a classic playground PG from Philly. He's tiny, but lightning quick with terrific ballhandling skills. Offensively, he's fearless, for good and for bad. He can be a creative shotmaker, but he is undisciplined and sometimes his confidence exceeds his abilities. He was terrific in a win over Providence and the loss to Alabama. But at other times, he's been abysmal (1-10 against St Joes, 1-8 in a loss to Davidson, 0-8 against UMass, 0-6 against, etc.). Defensively, he personifies the identity of this team, with extremely pesky full-court man pressure and opportunistic quick hands to get steals. If we face URI, he's a guy to keep an eye on, as he is quite capable of igniting that team. He had a big second half against Oklahoma.

This has the potential to be a very stressful game watching our guards try to avoid turnovers and get the ball to our bigs, who should have a huge advantage down low. We need to be strong with the ball, and make good decisions. If we do that, we should win. If we let them build confidence by turning the ball over and letting their guards get easy buckets, we'll be in trouble.

[gocanes0506]

I thought we played well through out the game. The defense looked better in the 2nd half and I was happy to see Grayson, Trevon and Gary shooting those wide open threes. We'll need for those guys to make around 35% or better going forward. Defenses will try to take away our big guys. It was great to see a different offense from the turnovers that came from forced passes in previous games. I want to see a balanced offense, inside scoring and open 3 pointers. If the 3 ball is not falling then go to Marvin and Wendell down low. Just please don't force the passes. GoDuke!

My point was more that guards are important but big men have diminished in today's game with the 3 pointer.

Since, RI's guards are very good. I hope we try to make them play a half court game. In doing that, we need to make sure we go inside early and often. It will compact their defense and prevent fast break chances, 2 fold. 1. being no long rebounds from inside shots and 2. more of their guys will be playing defense within a 10-15 foot radius preventing run outs.

Try playing a compacted 2-3 zone on D as well. Their 3 point shooting is okay at 35%. They are very effective at driving the lanes. We dont want MBIII and WCJr getting in foul trouble early trying to defend drives or giving up easy dunks. If they make the 3 pointers then you extend.

On O, go inside and drive the lanes. They go 8 deep. Get them in foul trouble early to extend the bench.

[jv001]

My point was more that guards are important but big men have diminished in today's game with the 3 pointer.

Since, RI's guards are very good. I hope we try to make them play a half court game. In doing that, we need to make sure we go inside early and often. It will compact their defense and prevent fast break chances, 2 fold. 1. being no long rebounds from inside shots and 2. more of their guys will be playing defense within a 10-15 foot radius preventing run outs.

Try playing a compacted 2-3 zone on D as well. Their 3 point shooting is okay at 35%. They are very effective at driving the lanes. We dont want MBIII and WCJr getting in foul trouble early trying to defend drives or giving up easy dunks. If they make the 3 pointers then you extend.

On O, go inside and drive the lanes. They go 8 deep. Get them in foul trouble early to extend the bench.

Good game plan. I too don't want to put pressure on our defense with bad passes leading to turnovers. On offense, take what their defense gives us. If we can get the ball low, I'm all for that because we have the best front court in the tournament. I'll take a repeat of yesterdays game. GoDuke!

[Bluedog]

Rhode Island is neither a road nor an island. Discuss.

While RI as a whole isn't an island, it certainly does have islands! (But that's not why it's called Rhode Island admittedly). Another factoid: its official name is actually "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations." It's the ONLY state in the country that isn't simply "State of" (45 states) or "Commonwealth of" (4 states) and then its commonly referred to name.

Now back to your regular scheduled programming...

Go Duke!

[gocanes0506]

On offense, take what their defense gives us!

It’ll be interesting to see how Hurley defends both dominant bigs. He’ll keep his 4G look because he only has 1 big man on the bench.

My assumption is this:

They gamble off of Duval and try to quickly double the big man to prevent a turn to the basket.

Both bigs are good at turning away from double teams and passing.
the non ball side big man will have a mismatch if they act fast enough. The non ball side big man will need to dive hard under the basket, sealing his man. Whoever the diver is should be within 5 feet of the basket in solid position. This should be the first look from the big man with the ball.
Can Duval have a repeat performance from deep? He should be the 2nd look from the big man being trapped. Duval will have the option to drive the ball if the big man with the ball catches it about 12 feet from the basket and the diving big man seals his man down low.
Allen and GT should have open looks as well as the defense rotates to double the big man. Also they will get open looks if Duval looks to drive and the help defender comes down. Can they hit them like yesterday?

[Spanarkel]

I thought we played well through out the game. The defense looked better in the 2nd half and I was happy to see Grayson, Trevon and Gary shooting those wide open threes. We'll need for those guys to make around 35% or better going forward. Defenses will try to take away our big guys. It was great to see a different offense from the turnovers that came from forced passes in previous games. I want to see a balanced offense, inside scoring and open 3 pointers. If the 3 ball is not falling then go to Marvin and Wendell down low. Just please don't force the passes. GoDuke!

I'm not trying to be a smart aleck, and I hope/pray that we don't have to consider this on Saturday(or any of our 4 games after that), but at what point does a team prudently abandon the 3 ball? For an individual player I think 1/6-7 is time to stop trying the trey, but for a team collectively?

[FerryFor50]

Our definite size advantage will trump their potential turnover advantage. My Bolden prediction is a 17 point win. We must make our free throws because they will be forced to foul us in the post early and often.

I dunno. Somehow, Iona managed not to foul us too much, despite being undersized.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

I dunno. Somehow, Iona managed not to foul us too much, despite being undersized.

Marvin is 6-11 - apparently nothing ever done to him by someone 6-9 or shorter is considered a foul...

[MCFinARL]

I thought we played well through out the game. The defense looked better in the 2nd half and I was happy to see Grayson, Trevon and Gary shooting those wide open threes. We'll need for those guys to make around 35% or better going forward. Defenses will try to take away our big guys. It was great to see a different offense from the turnovers that came from forced passes in previous games. I want to see a balanced offense, inside scoring and open 3 pointers. If the 3 ball is not falling then go to Marvin and Wendell down low. Just please don't force the passes. GoDuke!

I agree. I might worry more about how many threes we took yesterday if so many of them hadn't been wide open shots. What I don't want to see--and didn't yesterday--is the guards just passing the ball around aimlessly until somebody has to force either a bad pass into the post or a well-guarded three near the end of the shot clock.

[CDu]

One good thing is that this Rhode Island team isn't a great 3pt shooting team. Terrell, Garrett, and Dowtin are all good 3pt shooters on the season, but the rest are streaky at best. EC Matthews is certainly capable of getting hot (like he did yesterday), and Fatts Russell can occasionally blow up too. But on average, they are both below-average 3pt shooters (Russell well below average).

They shot about as well as they could hope yesterday. If they shoot their average, they lose yesterday. And if they do that tomorrow, they will likely lose as well, unless we just hand the ball to them 20+ times.

[weezie]

I think it was Miller that commented, " they better grow a lot over night". I really liked his commentary. I'm so glad we didn't have to listen to all those ESPN guys and Elmore. GoDuke!

Gosh, ain't that the truth?! It's approaching enjoyable!

[FerryFor50]

One good thing is that this Rhode Island team isn't a great 3pt shooting team. Terrell, Garrett, and Dowtin are all good 3pt shooters on the season, but the rest are streaky at best. EC Matthews is certainly capable of getting hot (like he did yesterday), and Fatts Russell can occasionally blow up too. But on average, they are both below-average 3pt shooters (Russell well below average).

They shot about as well as they could hope yesterday. If they shoot their average, they lose yesterday. And if they do that tomorrow, they will likely lose as well, unless we just hand the ball to them 20+ times.

I think defensively, Duke will be fine. They'll extend the zone out and morph it into a 3-2, if necessary.

The issue, as you said, will be turnovers.

Which Allen and Duval do we get tomorrow? The Iona ones? Or the Virgina Tech ones?