Scouting NCCU/NDSU

[Duke1994]

Does anyone know if one of our assistant coaches will be in Dayton tonight scouting the NCCU/NDSU game in person?

[left_hook_lacey]

Does anyone know if one of our assistant coaches will be in Dayton tonight scouting the NCCU/NDSU game in person?

Probably just sent a cardboard cut out of Zion and sat it in the stands. That's all that is needed for this game.

[Acymetric]

I can't imagine we would have the assistants go through all that travel to scout one of these teams rather than keep them with us working with our players.

[Bob Green]

It seems reasonable to assume the entire staff will watch the game on TV.

[Troublemaker]

I can't imagine we would have the assistants go through all that travel to scout one of these teams rather than keep them with us working with our players.

I wouldn't be surprised if we had an assistant or two there. Duke is going to take every opponent seriously, and the remaining coaches can work with the players while the guys on the trip are scouting.

[brevity]

It seems reasonable to assume the entire staff will watch the game on TV.

And then log in to their secret DBR accounts to read what we have to say.

[Acymetric]

I wouldn't be surprised if we had an assistant or two there. Duke is going to take every opponent seriously, and the remaining coaches can work with the players while the guys on the trip are scouting.

Wouldn't that make this the only game of the season that our coaches traveled separately to do scouting? Duke takes every opponent seriously, sure, but we don't send assistants on scouting expeditions for any of them during the season and I'm not sure why we would start now instead of preparing as we always do.

[DavidBenAkiva]

Does anyone know if one of our assistant coaches will be in Dayton tonight scouting the NCCU/NDSU game in person?

Jordan Sperber, AKA HoopsVision68, put together a video where he provides one scouting review of every team in the NCAA Tournament. Here's what he had to say about NCCU and NDSU:

NCCU: "North Carolina Central's offense revolves around Raasean Davis" a 6'9" senior center from Chicago that is averaging about 15 points, 9 rebounds, a steal and a block per game. You can see him operate as the set man in a pick-and-role in the clip below at about the 7:00 minute mark. NDSU is the very next team.
NDSU: "Vinnie Shahid from North Dakota State likes to reject ball screens to get to his right hand." Shahid is a 5'11" junior guard averaging 13 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals.

[Troublemaker]

Wouldn't that make this the only game of the season that our coaches traveled separately to do scouting? Duke takes every opponent seriously, sure, but we don't send assistants on scouting expeditions for any of them during the season and I'm not sure why we would start now instead of preparing as we always do.

I mean, I can think of at least 3 reasons:
(A) NCAA tournament games are more important than the other games, and coaches can sometimes be anal-retentive. Fire up the jet!
(B) The Synergy clips and film on NCCU / NDSU might not be as plentiful or helpful as for power conference teams, and any extra data could help.
(C) When in Maui or other tournament settings, the coaches are sometimes in the stands watching their next opponent, so they must feel like they get something out of the live in-person experience.

All I'm saying is it's possible. I would probably bet against it, too, but since you're saying "I can't imagine", I'm trying to see if I could... imagine why.

[Acymetric]

I mean, I can think of at least 3 reasons:
(A) NCAA tournament games are more important than the other games, and coaches can sometimes be anal-retentive. Fire up the jet!
(B) The Synergy clips and film on NCCU / NDSU might not be as plentiful or helpful as for power conference teams, and any extra data could help.
(C) When in Maui or other tournament settings, the coaches are sometimes in the stands watching their next opponent, so they must feel like they get something out of the live in-person experience.

Yes...but the key difference is that they are already there. Will you see coaches scouting upcoming opponents before/after some of our games over the course of the tournament? Probably, other schools definitely do this although I can't remember specifically if Duke typically has or not. Will we send them to Dayton? Highly doubtful. (Which is too bad, I assume the OP is in Dayton and was hoping to maybe catch a glimpse of some of the assistants while there, which I admit would be fun)

All I'm saying is it's possible. I would probably bet against it, too, but since you're saying "I can't imagine", I'm trying to see if I could... imagine why.

Your first post implied a much different degree of certainty (in the other direction).

[Troublemaker]

Your first post implied a much different degree of certainty (in the other direction).

No, it didn't. I wrote "I wouldn't be surprised" (which does not imply certainty) and I wrote it in response to your "I can't imagine", which I specifically bolded.

As an aside, I'm getting pretty annoyed at how often I'm sucked into semantics arguments these days. Which probably means I need to retire from DBR soon :-)

Yes...but the key difference is that they are already there.

Agree with that, but the point was that they must get something out of it. And in combination with my first two points, you can kind of see why they might make the trek.

[TruBlu]

Dean Smith showed up at a Duke home game to personally scout Duke. It was a short drive from Chapel Hill, and he probably appreciated getting away from a cheating, smelly program for a while. Not sure which year, or if he did this on more than one occasion. Of course he was warmly welcomed by the Crazies.

[proelitedota]

Anyone watching the game?

[Bob Green]

Anyone watching the game?

Yes. NDSU is knocking down a lot of 3 PT FG and are up 28-20.

[BandAlum83]

Yes. NDSU is knocking down a lot of 3 PT FG and are up 28-20.

I think their true shooting percantage was nearly above 100% at one point!

I bet the under on this. Not looking too good right now.

[uh_no]

(C) When in Maui or other tournament settings, the coaches are sometimes in the stands watching their next opponent, so they must feel like they get something out of the live in-person experience.

I'm sure coaches can glean plenty from watching on TV. If the department had infinite money, sure they'd probably send someone to the game, or even any potential future opponent's game...but cost IS a factor at some point, and time spent not coaching the team IS a factor. The loss of time coaching while travelling to watch a game for 2 hours plus the cost to get there is not nearly enough to offset the marginal value over simply watching on tv.

[Indoor66]

There is also wear and tear on the coaches with all of the travel. That is a questionable return on the human and financial investment.

[Bob Green]

Halftime: NDSU 40, NCCU 34. This is a very competitive game.

[arnie]

I'm sure coaches can glean plenty from watching on TV. If the department had infinite money, sure they'd probably send someone to the game, or even any potential future opponent's game...but cost IS a factor at some point, and time spent not coaching the team IS a factor. The loss of time coaching while travelling to watch a game for 2 hours plus the cost to get there is not nearly enough to offset the marginal value over simply watching on tv.

The $$ cost of one coach traveling to Dayton and back is zilch compared to that spent on endless recruiting trips and all other very costly b-ball activities. I’ll give you the loss of coaching time argument, don’t believe an extra $1k-$2k means anything to the department.

[proelitedota]

I think we might have a tight game in the first half, with us anywhere from down a few points to up 10. We have not put away opponents (event overmatched ones) early in the first half with the exception of Eastern Michigan and Miami.

Let's hope we don't get too tight in the second half and just play our brand of basketball.