MBB: Duke v Brown (Sat, 12/28, 11:30 am, ESPN2) Pre-Game and In-Game Thread

[DavidBenAkiva]

The long, national nightmare is almost over! I am, of course, referring to the dreaded exam and Christmas/winter break in the college basketball schedule. After playing just 2 games in the past 3 weeks, Duke will look to shake off the rust against its final non-conference opponent of the season before the NCAA Tournament. This is also the final warmup before conference play resumes in earnest.

Duke will be taking on the Brown Bears, a 5-5 Ivy League team hailing from Providence, Rhode Island. Duke is heavily favored in this one. The Bears are coming off 4 losses in their past 5 games against mostly inferior opponents. Their most recent game was a close loss to St John's in New York. The Bears do one thing very well: Get offensive boards. They also block shots at a pretty decent clip, too, so you could argue they do two things well. They are much better on the offensive boards, though, rating 8th in the nation at OR% at 37.8%. This prowess on the offensive boards is fueled by a trio of mostly undersized forwards, including 6'6" SO David Mitchell, 6'6" SR Joshua Howard, and 6'9" JR Matt DeWolf. They are aided by 6'9" SO Jaylan Gainey, who also is a productive shot blocker.

The Bears also feature a number of guards that do ok things. The PG is 6'1" SR Brandon Anderson. He is aided in playmaking by 6'5" Tamenang Choh, although he is more likely to cough up the ball than to dish it out. In fact, the Bears have clumsy paws with the basketball. They are 317th in the nation in TO% on offensive, turning it over on 22.8% of possessions. That should fuel a good number of Duke run-outs and transition opportunities.

Looking through the state, the Bears do not jump out as particularly good at anything else besides OR%. Nor do they look all that bad in any one area besides TO%. They are just ok, as reflected by their 5-5 record. Among their 8-man rotation, they play their top three guards almost the whole time and pair them wtih a rotation of wings and bigs. Anderson is the lead guard and primary scorer, averaging 21 points per contest along with about 4 rebounds and 4 assists. Tre Jones, who missed the last game with a foot strain, will be tasked with slowing down Anderson. I expect that Jordan Goldwire will see a good amount of time as well. Duke will have a serious advantage in the paint with Vernon Carey, jr. being both taller and bigger than anyone that Brown will put on the court. Matthew Hurt will have a fairly significant height advantage as well. I expect to see a lot of scoring in the paint early in this one. If all goes according to plan, this should be a good tune-up before Duke faces stiffer competition in conference.

[devildeac]

The long, national nightmare is almost over! I am, of course, referring to the dreaded exam and Christmas/winter break in the college basketball schedule. After playing just 2 games in the past 3 weeks, Duke will look to shake off the rust against its final non-conference opponent of the season before the NCAA Tournament. This is also the final warmup before conference play resumes in earnest.

Duke will be taking on the Brown Bears, a 5-5 Ivy League team hailing from Providence, Rhode Island. Duke is heavily favored in this one. The Bears are coming off 4 losses in their past 5 games against mostly inferior opponents. Their most recent game was a close loss to St John's in New York. The Bears do one thing very well: Get offensive boards. They also block shots at a pretty decent clip, too, so you could argue they do two things well. They are much better on the offensive boards, though, rating 8th in the nation at OR% at 37.8%. This prowess on the offensive boards is fueled by a trio of mostly undersized forwards, including 6'6" SO David Mitchell, 6'6" SR Joshua Howard, and 6'9" JR Matt DeWolf. They are aided by 6'9" SO Jaylan Gainey, who also is a productive shot blocker.

The Bears also feature a number of guards that do ok things. The PG is 6'1" SR Brandon Anderson. He is aided in playmaking by 6'5" Tamenang Choh, although he is more likely to cough up the ball than to dish it out. In fact, the Bears have clumsy paws with the basketball. They are 317th in the nation in TO% on offensive, turning it over on 22.8% of possessions. That should fuel a good number of Duke run-outs and transition opportunities.

Looking through the state, the Bears do not jump out as particularly good at anything else besides OR%. Nor do they look all that bad in any one area besides TO%. They are just ok, as reflected by their 5-5 record. Among their 8-man rotation, they play their top three guards almost the whole time and pair them wtih a rotation of wings and bigs. Anderson is the lead guard and primary scorer, averaging 21 points per contest along with about 4 rebounds and 4 assists. Tre Jones, who missed the last game with a foot strain, will be tasked with slowing down Anderson. I expect that Jordan Goldwire will see a good amount of time as well. Duke will have a serious advantage in the paint with Vernon Carey, jr. being both taller and bigger than anyone that Brown will put on the court. Matthew Hurt will have a fairly significant height advantage as well. I expect to see a lot of scoring in the paint early in this one. If all goes according to plan, this should be a good tune-up before Duke faces stiffer competition in conference.

Good preview. Thanks for getting this thread rolling! There will be 3 devildeac family members there cheering on the Devils and hoping we're all bigger, stronger, faster and smarter than the average Bears.

[DtrainBuckshot]

Any idea why the start time is 11:30AM?

[Tripping William]

Steven Spieth ain't walkin' through that door.

[budwom]

Any idea why the start time is 11:30AM?

Without the slightest shred of evidence, I will make the educated guess that the three reasons are football, football and football.
With the championship games beginning later in the afternoon, I'm sure ESPN (the deuce has the Duke hoops game) is clearing the decks for the games and the extensive GameDay foreplay.

Shades of Duke football noon games, if you will.

[Sixthman]

Any idea why the start time is 11:30AM?

Television, and more specifically playoff bowl games.

[devildeac]

Without the slightest shred of evidence, I will make the educated guess that the three reasons are football, football and football.
With the championship games beginning later in the afternoon, I'm sure ESPN (the deuce has the Duke hoops game) is clearing the decks for the games and the extensive GameDay foreplay.

Shades of Duke football noon games, if you will.

Except we'll be doing our "tailgating" at Fullsteam after the game.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

What can Brown do for you?

[devildeac]

144-1440718-2.jpg

Ups! Ups! Ups! Ups!

[uh_no]

Except we'll be doing our "tailgating" at Fullsteam after the game.

wish I were back down yet! enjoy! they had lots of good stuff on tap a couple weeks ago.

[BlueDevil16]

Will be interesting to see if Joey can keep up his momentum

[devildeac]

wish I were back down yet! enjoy! they had lots of good stuff on tap a couple weeks ago.

I'm looking forward to First Frost and Bananas Froster (sic). Sadly, Hardy Bois, a blood orange Hazy IPA, is no longer listed.

[TKG]

VC will score 30 and will hit 80% of his shots from the floor.

[uh_no]

I'm looking forward to First Frost and Bananas Froster (sic). Sadly, Hardy Bois, a blood orange Hazy IPA, is no longer listed.

it does not surprise me in the least that those are exactly the two beers I had during my visit.

[devildeac]

it does not surprise me in the least that those are exactly the two beers I had during my visit.

Great minds/palates and all that stuff...

[UrinalCake]

VC will score 30 and will hit 80% of his shots from the floor.

Should be a monster game for him, as Brown does not appear to have anyone who can match up. I’d also love to see Hurt have a big game. He has been consistently solid for us but hasn’t really had that huge break out game and this would be a great candidate for it to happen.

Have we gotten any updates on Tre? Are we all just assuming he’s healthy and will play?

[Music man55]

Here's hoping for a Duke win over Brown tomorrow and everyone staying healthy for the upcoming conference games about to get going for real.

[TKG]

I have not read any updates on Te’s availability but if there is even a twinge in his foot, I hope he remains in street clothes for tomorrow’s game. Brown is ranked number 230 on Kenpom and as we saw against Wofford we have the talent and depth ( and the memory of SFA) to run Brown off the court. If Tre does play, I hope we implement some sort of “load management “.

[DukieInBrasil]

in-game chat?

[uh_no]

in-game chat?

maybe tomorrow.