MBB: Duke vs Louisville, 3/10 6:30 pm ACCN Pregame and In Game Thread

[CDu]

Play Mark Williams in a one-man zone under the basket. I haven't thought through how that would affect other issues on D, but that would certainly force Jones to pull up a lot of the time. I'm sure there are other, mor sensible options. Over the season, Carlik Jones only takes one-third of his shots around the rim (about the same as Roach, less than Moore and less even than Goldwire), and almost half his shots are two-point jumpers, so other teams seem to be able to stop his drive. Duke's defense is not all that good, but are we really among the worst perimeter defensive teams on Louisville's schedule?

The most obvious answer, at least to me, is to have Williams playing drop coverage on screens and having our guards go UNDER all the screens instead of OVER them. Against certain teams, this is a bad strategy, because they can punish you from 3. But against Louisville (whose guards aren't great 3pt shooters), it's a way to prevent drives. It also reduces the risk that we get multiple players out of position either due to switches to defend the driver.

Of course, that goes antithetic to every one of Coach K's defensive principles, which has always been about contesting/preventing 3s. But Louisville is a bad 3pt shooting team, so my preference would be that if they want to shoot 3s off the dribble, so be it. I'd much rather that than to have Jones or Johnson playing downhill and scoring layups, drawing fouls, and/or getting our defense out of position trying to contest their drives.

[Pghdukie]

Being that Duke is the lower seed - any idea on which uniforms Duke will be wearing ? Hopefully not the same as the Keralina game.

[-jk]

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Let's Go Duke!

-jk

[CameronDuke]

Hurt with a swish nothing but net 3!

[CameronDuke]

Good block Hurt!

[CameronDuke]

Good take to the rim DJ!

[CameronDuke]

Good drive and finish Jeremy!

[CameronDuke]

Way to take the charge Wendell!

7-4 good guys at the under 16 media timeout! Another good start from Duke tonight!

[Billy Dat]

Way to take the charge Wendell!

7-4 good guys at the under 16 media timeout! Another good start from Duke tonight!

Yes, solid start. We look confident and ready to mix it up.

[CameronDuke]

Yes, solid start. We look confident and ready to mix it up.

Let’s go baby! We are in it to win it! The boys are buzzin’!

[gumbomoop]

UL already with 4 fouls. Drive it a lot now, don’t wait until late in half.

[CameronDuke]

Hurt with a deuce! He can go inside too folks!

[peloton]

Let’s go baby! We are in it to win it! The boys are buzzin’!

Agreed; I'm liking our defense so far. Come on, Matt - no silly fouls!

[CameronDuke]

And 1 for Big Mark! Good finish big fella!

[peloton]

Bit of a scary (but effective) fast break there.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Solid start. One early foul on Hurt makes me anxious.

[CameronDuke]

Getting a little sloppy on offense boys. A turnover and an air ball. Settle down guys, we are fine. Playing great defense.

[peloton]

Is that 2 air balls by Jordan in the last few mins?

[CameronDuke]

Good hands Big Mark for the deuce! Beats the shot clock!

13-5 good guys at the under 12 media timeout! Duke is up 8 and has held Louisville to 5 points in over 8 minutes of basketball. Keep it up fellas!

[scottdude8]

I think Mark must’ve been reading the board and saw our disappointment in his rebounding numbers last night. Great to see.

With the way they’re shouting, we HAVE to take advantage and build a lead right now. Otherwise we’re just asking for GT to happen again.