2018-19 Duke Women's BB

[jimsumner]

Don't get to see them too much here; coverage of Duke WBB is extremely rare these days. I recognize some of the same refrains from years passed however. Good to great defense paired with a struggling offense prone to bad and worse turnover stats. The drift toward the bottom of the ACC seems inexorable.




At this point, that is Duke Women’s Basketball. It really takes an extremely strong defensive effort for them to win consistently against the better (not best of) NCAA teams. Don’t ever really see them having a great offense or taking great care of the ball on a day-in day-out basis.


This is a realistic hope. 13 games into the season, they stand 12th of 15 ACC teams. I don’t really see them making the NCAA tourney at this point. Do you?

That UNC can make the tourney?

Hope springs eternal. Maybe Duke can turn the programmatic tide.

I think this season depends largely on McCallie's coaching abilities. There's a lot of talent on this team. Not Chelsea Gray, Elizabeth Williams-level talent. But enough to go .500 or better in the ACC. But it's a young team, with a point guard who's still learning the job and a very-talented junior forward still prone to taking walk-abouts at the worse time.

This team can be very good if a lot of reasonable scenarios go well. But there's not much wiggle room.

[uh_no]

I think this season depends largely on McCallie's coaching abilities. There's a lot of talent on this team. Not Chelsea Gray, Elizabeth Williams-level talent. But enough to go .500 or better in the ACC. But it's a young team, with a point guard who's still learning the job and a very-talented junior forward still prone to taking walk-abouts at the worse time.

This team can be very good if a lot of reasonable scenarios go well. But there's not much wiggle room.

well put.

[throatybeard]

ESPN Bracketology has us out right now, "next four" out.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

I think this season depends largely on McCallie's coaching abilities.

Then this team is in a lot of trouble. ‘Nuf said.

[ehdg]

I think this season depends largely on McCallie's coaching abilities. There's a lot of talent on this team. Not Chelsea Gray, Elizabeth Williams-level talent. But enough to go .500 or better in the ACC. But it's a young team, with a point guard who's still learning the job and a very-talented junior forward still prone to taking walk-abouts at the worse time.

This team can be very good if a lot of reasonable scenarios go well. But there's not much wiggle room.

Hate to say this but I don't see this team making the Dance. I'm still not sold on McCallie and her coaching abilities. I'm still in the camp that wonders why she wasn't replaced when her coaching was being questioned and reviewed either last year or the year before. I was quite surprised that she was retained then and not dismissed/replaced at that time.

[uh_no]

Hate to say this but I don't see this team making the Dance. I'm still not sold on McCallie and her coaching abilities. I'm still in the camp that wonders why she wasn't replaced when her coaching was being questioned and reviewed either last year or the year before. I was quite surprised that she was retained then and not dismissed/replaced at that time.

at the time she would have had to be bought out. The extension made less sense to me...but she also seemed to have made some changes and was having a good year...

...and then she lied about the chronicle misquoting her.

anyway

WRT tournament prospects, it's going to be an uphill battle for duke. They are currently 0-3 against teams Creme at-large tournament teams. The upside of the ACC, however, is you get looots of opportunities to beat tournament teams. UL, miami, FSU, syrause, VT, ND. Duke needs to win a couple of those, and even then, 2-7 against at-large teams is not a great look. However, if they avoid losses to the rest of the league, and a couple of those other teams have some bad losses, Duke can certainly move in. The problem is that Duke hasn't showed a propensity to beat teams that they ought thus far. The losses to NW, washington don't look great, and the closer-than-they-ought-to-have-been games against maine and perhaps even marist, give me reserve.


If I had to put a pie on it, i'd say out. If losing by 12 to state is what we're hanging our hat on at this point in the season, it's not promising.

[CameronBornAndBred]

at the time she would have had to be bought out. The extension made less sense to me...but she also seemed to have made some changes and was having a good year...

Yup. Her contract runs through 2020 and this season will be a very good test of her true coaching ability. With a decent but not elite class coming in next year, I can see Dr. White giving her the opportunity to run the course, but if this current team under performs lowered expectations, I could also see him making a change.
There is no denying that recruiting has gone down. Coach P regularly brought in top classes, but that is no longer the case. Currently, for the second year in a row, we don't have any 5* signees. You can be the best coach on the planet, but you can't win in women's basketball without elite players.

http://www.espn.com/high-school/girl...150/class/2019

[Phredd3]

You can be the best coach on the planet, but you can't win in women's basketball without elite players.

Is a hanging antecedent a grammatical error?

[chrishoke]

The Cards hit 4 of their first 5 threes - Duke steadies the ship a bit but trails 18-11 after one quarter.

[chrishoke]

35-23 Cards at half.

[chrishoke]

15 first half TOs. Unreal.

[burnspbesq]

15 first half TOs. Unreal.

Not at all. Louisville is an elite defensive team. They will do that to better teams than Duke.

That said, it would be nice if Goreki would stop trying to play heroine ball. Repeatedly driving into the teeth of the defense is not a winning strategy.

[chrishoke]

Not at all. Louisville is an elite defensive team. They will do that to better teams than Duke.

That said, it would be nice if Goreki would stop trying to play heroine ball. Repeatedly driving into the teeth of the defense is not a winning strategy.

Elite or not, at least 10 TOs were unforced, trying to make plays that were obviously not there - similar to the Gorecki drives you mention. It's hard not to blame it on poor coaching.

[chrishoke]

Final 73-51 bad guys. Good crowd in Cameron to see the debacle.

[buddy]

16 made shots, 24 turnovers is a guaranteed prescription for losing. Had several chances to make it a game, but every time we turned the ball over or forced an unmakeable shot. Our post play is awful. Jade had 7 points and 7 turnovers. She seems to have little court sense, can't feel the double team coming. Haley forced absolutely everything. Leonna decided to play today, and did for three quarters, then went on walk-about. Can't blame her, she wasn't getting much help. Besides the failures of coaching I do not see any leadership on this team. I will be shocked if we are not in the play-in round of the ACCT. I would like to be wrong, but no matter how good Louisville is (and they are good) I have rarely seen a Duke team get dominated so handily at home. It's gonna be a LOOONNNGGG season.

[chrishoke]

16 made shots, 24 turnovers is a guaranteed prescription for losing. Had several chances to make it a game, but every time we turned the ball over or forced an unmakeable shot. Our post play is awful. Jade had 7 points and 7 turnovers. She seems to have little court sense, can't feel the double team coming. Haley forced absolutely everything. Leonna decided to play today, and did for three quarters, then went on walk-about. Can't blame her, she wasn't getting much help. Besides the failures of coaching I do not see any leadership on this team. I will be shocked if we are not in the play-in round of the ACCT. I would like to be wrong, but no matter how good Louisville is (and they are good) I have rarely seen a Duke team get dominated so handily at home. It's gonna be a LOOONNNGGG season.

Good summary, unfortunately.

[CameronBornAndBred]

The Cards hit 4 of their first 5 threes

I was not able to watch, but I can tell a lot by the box score, and again, threes are a big part of the story. Louisville hit 50% of their threes, 12-24. Duke? We took a mere 13 attempts, and made only 2 of them.
That is a scoring difference of 36-6, a huge 30 point gap that is very hard to make up.

I don't know what our season 3 point shooting percentage is, but a quick look at a few box scores says it can't be above 30%.

[Kedsy]

I don't know what our season 3 point shooting percentage is, but a quick look at a few box scores says it can't be above 30%.

Including tonight's game, our season 3-pt shooting pct is 32%. Our opponents are shooting 31%.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Including tonight's game, our season 3-pt shooting pct is 32%. Our opponents are shooting 31%.

Thanks much. One is more surprising than the other. (The former, not the latter.)
I love our D. But, (without looking anything up), I'd guess that the opponents numbers are skewed. Take out the teams that we are "supposed" to beat, and I'd bet that 31% is much higher. Heading into ACC season, that is important.
If it weren't for the defense the women play now, some of those games would be depressing blowouts. We are now entering play that if we don't match the defense with offense, those blowouts are going to come to a sad fruition. And I'm an optimist, believe me!

[jv001]

Thanks much. One is more surprising than the other. (The former, not the latter.)
I love our D. But, (without looking anything up), I'd guess that the opponents numbers are skewed. Take out the teams that we are "supposed" to beat, and I'd bet that 31% is much higher. Heading into ACC season, that is important.
If it weren't for the defense the women play now, some of those games would be depressing blowouts. We are now entering play that if we don't match the defense with offense, those blowouts are going to come to a sad fruition. And I'm an optimist, believe me!

I know you are an optimist and I respect you for it. You know more about Duke Women's BB than me and it shows in your posts. To me it seems that recruiting has been going down hill for a while now and it hit rock bottom right about the time Coach P was investigated by the Duke Administration. Please correct me if I'm wrong. The players that could put points on the board and could handle the basketball quit coming to Duke. Was it because of our coach or some other reason. I'd really like to know. GoDuke!