DWBB 2021-22 Season

[Jim3k]

Palestra capacity is listed at 8,700, which isn't far off 9,314 and closer to what the Indoor Stadium was listed as back in the day. E.g., our peak home attendance in the 1963-64 season was 8,800, and, as an eyewitness, the place was packed.

This best part of those years was that students like Sage and me could walk in just before tip-off and find a seat no matter how full the place was.

[Phredd3]

3) You fully concede that a player could get injured at any time. Paige could have gotten injured in minute 1. or at any point in the 30+ minutes she played before the game got out of hand. While I agree that geno perhaps could have played her a minute or two fewer, I wholly reject that her happening to get injured in one of those later minutes makes geno an "idiot," or any more culpable than for having played her the whole game at all. It looks worse because it happened in a situation in which one could argue maybe she shouldn't have been in the game, but the injury occurring at THAT moment is likely the roll of a dice, and one could suppose that she were just as likely to get injured at the first possession of the next game.

Actually, this is not true. The likelihood of injury increases with fatigue. Proper training techniques can help minimize that risk, and well-conditioned athletes will tolerate fatigue better on average, but higher fatigue is unquestionably correlated with a higher likelihood of injury. There is definitely a significant random component to injuries, so you can't look at any particular injury and say it was definitively caused by fatigue. But injuries are widely recognized to increase when athletes are fatigued in pretty much every sport.

I don't think Geno is an "idiot", here, but I do think he could learn from this and practice better game-management techniques.

Most importantly, of course, I hope Bueckers is OK.

[DU82]

Palestra capacity is listed at 8,700, which isn't far off 9,314 and closer to what the Indoor Stadium was listed as back in the day. E.g., our peak home attendance in the 1963-64 season was 8,800, and, as an eyewitness, the place was packed.

I could have sworn I saw 6K somewhere, but clearly was mistaken. I was sitting behind the bench area, where there were only six rows of seats (not bleachers) in front of the rail/upstairs area, and knew we have more rows there. Looking at the pictures I took, I see that it’s much closer to Cameron than I thought walking in. The “crowd” of 450 people actually made it look small to me (doesn’t make sense, of course.). Still a classic arena, one of the few that you can say is more historic than Cameron, and I’m glad I finally got to see a game there.

[Kedsy]

I could have sworn I saw 6K somewhere, but clearly was mistaken. I was sitting behind the bench area, where there were only six rows of seats (not bleachers) in front of the rail/upstairs area, and knew we have more rows there. Looking at the pictures I took, I see that it’s much closer to Cameron than I thought walking in. The “crowd” of 450 people actually made it look small to me (doesn’t make sense, of course.). Still a classic arena, one of the few that you can say is more historic than Cameron, and I’m glad I finally got to see a game there.

You didn't see it in its full glory. The Palestra can really rock in a big game with a big crowd.

[CameronBornAndBred]

We'll be closer to 20. I'll say 21, and hoping for even higher.

Perhaps a preview of the coming rankings, Mechelle Voepel (a womens bball writer that I respect) has Duke in her Power Rankings for the first time, and impressively at #14. (Only 16 teams get a spot.)

On the strength of an undefeated record that includes a win over Iowa, the Blue Devils jump into the Power Rankings this week. Freshman guard Shayeann Day-Wilson is averaging 13.1 PPG, 19.7 in her past three games.

https://www.espn.com/womens-college-...te-jumps-uconn

[loran16]

The women debut at number 19 in the AP Poll.

[CameronBornAndBred]

The women debut at number 19 in the AP Poll.

Sweet! (PS, can you share a link? All I can find is the week 4 rankings.)

Edit...finally found it.
https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-wom...asketball-poll

[loran16]

Of note: part of this was other teams around them losing but Notre Dame was ranked 24 last week, took a 20 point loss to number 3 UConn and moved UP to 22. Which suggests voters will be rational should duke lose to SC and not dock us too much.

Link to poll here: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll

[dudog84]

Perhaps a preview of the coming rankings, Mechelle Voepel (a womens bball writer that I respect) has Duke in her Power Rankings for the first time, and impressively at #14. (Only 16 teams get a spot.)


https://www.espn.com/womens-college-...te-jumps-uconn

See, gotta have faith!

But about that article. How is Kentucky the "Team of the Week" for beating West Virginia and Merrimack, neither of which were ranked? How is the "Win of the Week" LSU beating the #14 team by 9 points? And how is the "Coach of the Week" the coach that we upset? Ok, I'll give that last one a bit of a pass since she won her 800th game (after we denied her that win), but even that's more of a lifetime honor than a week honor.

My respect for Voepel (which I also had) just plummeted.

[dudog84]

Quick note: This is the first time we've been ranked since Nov. 1, 2018.

[dudog84]

Bueckers has a tibial plateau fracture. Out 6-8 weeks. Didn't realize Fudd is also out with a foot injury.

[uh_no]

Bueckers has a tibial plateau fracture. Out 6-8 weeks. Didn't realize Fudd is also out with a foot injury.

Aubrey griffin, too.

well at least the rest of the players on the team will have to figure out how to play without her now. So much star watching on offense. Glad Ducharme was aggressive at the end the other night. She and muhl will see a major bump in minutes.

[CameronBornAndBred]

I don't like UConn, but this is sad to see. Bueckers went down in severe pain with a non-contact knee injury.

While I completely hate this for Paige B, I do have to crack a smile when I see that Geno joins us in our mutual distaste.

"You're right. I don't have an answer for why she was in the game. I mean, that could happen at any time. ... I don't like our team without her on the court."

[CameronBornAndBred]

Would love to say you're right, but while Duke is healthily in the AP poll (which of course is the one that I look to most), the coaches don't even have us listed. They do have the baby blues up there at 29th, though. (And reversely barely mentioned in the AP poll.)
So being this early in the season, it's all hard to read the tea leaves for.

The Coaches poll was released today, and as expected, the coaches are all on drugs.

Duke isn't ranked (they are 28th), and the Heels show up at #24. UCONN (this is post PB news) is still #2.

https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/rankings

[DoubleBlue]

The women debut at number 19 in the AP Poll.

Duke was not in the Top 25 in the Coaches Poll for Week 5, but third in the Others Receiving Votes, so that's #28. We'll take it for now. Hopefully moving up with more successes.

[dudog84]

The Coaches poll was released today, and as expected, the coaches are all on drugs.

Duke isn't ranked (they are 28th), and the Heels show up at #24. UCONN (this is post PB news) is still #2.

https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/rankings

I told ya, the coaches don't want to see a re-emergent Duke. Too bad, it's happening anyway.

I used to put more stock in the coaches polls (BB and FB) than the media, but now I see they have agendas. uNC hasn't played, let alone beaten, a ranked team this season. UCLA (ranked 25) has lost to Kent State and South Dakota State (2-4 at the time, and hasn't won since) for pete's sake.

And someone needs to tell them that Ionescu isn't suiting up for Oregon anymore.

[CameronBornAndBred]

At least when it comes to the women's side of basketball, the ACC is a good conference, right? Right?


Tonight in a battle of big time powerhouses, VT lost to Liberty, and UVA lost to American University. The Hokies lost by almost 20, and while Virginia's defeat was closer, they are a really bad team. (Truly a bad night to be a fan in Charlottesville.)

At least Pitt did their part, and beat Coppin State as they should have.

[Phredd3]

At least when it comes to the women's side of basketball, the ACC is a good conference, right? Right?


Tonight in a battle of big time powerhouses, VT lost to Liberty, and UVA lost to American University. The Hokies lost by almost 20, and while Virginia's defeat was closer, they are a really bad team. (Truly a bad night to be a fan in Charlottesville.)

At least Pitt did their part, and beat Coppin State as they should have.

Channel surfing last night I poked in on that game. Man, that was some terrible basketball. American University was hitting a ton of threes, but every player's release was just dead slow, and one of them started her shooting motion from the waist. They had to be WIIIIIIDDDEEE open to even attempt a shot, but they were that wide open over and over again. I have no idea how Virginia couldn't figure out how to be within five feet of a shooter. Meanwhile, Virginia couldn't hit the ocean from a boat. I checked stats this morning, and Virginia shot under 40% for the game, under 10% from three, and under 60% from the line. Oh, and there were 39 combined turnovers.

Painful.

[jtelander]

Duke women's basketball's Lexi Gordon inks WWE name, image and likeness deal
https://www.dukechronicle.com/articl...we-lexi-gordon

[CameronBornAndBred]

Duke women's basketball's Lexi Gordon inks WWE name, image and likeness deal
https://www.dukechronicle.com/articl...we-lexi-gordon

That's pretty cool! Here's the rest of the list.

The following 15 athletes join Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson in WWE’s first-of-its-kind NIL program:

• Carlos Aviles, of Ventura, Calif., a 6-foot-6, 305-pound track & field athlete from Ohio State University
• Haley Cavinder, of Gilbert, Ariz., a 5-foot-6 basketball player from Fresno State University
• Hanna Cavinder, of Gilbert, Ariz., a 5-foot-6 basketball player from Fresno State University
• A.J. Ferrari of Dallas, Texas, a 6-foot, 200-pound wrestler from Oklahoma State University
• Lexi Gordon of Fort Worth, Texas, a 6-foot basketball player from Duke University
• Aleeya Hutchins of Toronto, Canada, a 5-foot-5 track & field athlete from Wake Forest University
• John Krahn of Riverside, Calif., a 7-foot, 400-pound football player from Portland State University
• Glen Logan of Kenner, La., a 6-foot-5, 305-pound football player from LSU
• Isaac Odugbesan of Lagos, Nigeria, a 6-foot-4, 275-pound football player from the University of Alabama
• Mason Parris of Lawrenceburg, Ind., a 6-foot-2, 275-pound wrestler from the University of Michigan
• Masai Russel of Potomac, Md., a 5-foot-5 track & field athlete from the University of Kentucky
• Jon Seaton of Hillsborough, N.J., a 6-foot-1, 285-pound football player from Elon University
• Joe Spivak of Lombard, Ill., a 6-foot, 300-pound football player from Northwestern University
• Dalton Wagner of Spring Grove, Ill., a 6-foot-9, 330-pound football player from the University of Arkansas
• Riley White of Hoover, Ala., a 5-foot-6 track & field athlete from the University of Alabama

I like how many of the names are not from big time schools. The two women at Fresno State and Jon Seaton at Elon standout.