Duke-Villanova, the (not so) secret scrimmage Post Game Thread

[Bob Green]

Villanova posted some highlights from their side

https://twitter.com/VUCoachJWright/s...533287941?s=20

It appears Villanova won 100-0.

[uh_no]

Villanova posted some highlights from their side

https://twitter.com/VUCoachJWright/s...533287941?s=20

that's rough. in 1 minute of play, we lost 22-0...extrapolating to an 880-0 loss in a 40 minute game.

So much for this season.

[ClemmonsDevil]

It appears Villanova won 100-0.

It was the best of scrimmages. It was the worst of scrimmages.

[kidA]

Wow- Duke could not stop them.

So what we see is that both of these teams can play offense. There were a couple of plays on the Villanova offensive video where I thought our guys could’ve made Ds, but didn’t seem interested. A little concerning. What I find interesting is that between the two teams, neither video had too much in the way of defense, at all. Is that the nature of a PR video? Is that the nature of the early season before the kids learn defense? Are both teams unstoppable on O? Like others have said, the videos are great to get you psyched but are not very informative about what we will be seeing during the season

[jv001]

So what we see is that both of these teams can play offense. There were a couple of plays on the Villanova offensive video where I thought our guys could’ve made Ds, but didn’t seem interested. A little concerning. What I find interesting is that between the two teams, neither video had too much in the way of defense, at all. Is that the nature of a PR video? Is that the nature of the early season before the kids learn defense? Are both teams unstoppable on O? Like others have said, the videos are great to get you psyched but are not very informative about what we will be seeing during the season

It looked like both teams were holding back somewhat on defense in an effort to keep from injuring one of the opposing players. Defense wasn't even played with the intensity of a YMCA/ Rec league game.

GoDuke!

[CrazieDUMB]

It looked like both teams were holding back somewhat on defense in an effort to keep from injuring one of the opposing players. Defense wasn't even played with the intensity of a YMCA/ Rec league game.

GoDuke!

I noticed that the defenses rarely left their feet to challenge plays at the rim, which likely speaks to the desire to avoid injury.

These one-sided videos are funny though - yesterday I thought duke goes undefeated with no margin of victory less than 10. Today? K probably gets canned before January

[MarkD83]

This is such a wonderful example of how the "truth" is hidden by our biases. Duke highlights for Duke fans and Nova highlights for Nova fans...

[sagegrouse]

This is such a wonderful example of how the "truth" is hidden by our biases. Duke highlights for Duke fans and Nova highlights for Nova fans...

Look at each video as a "Coming Attractions" trailer for the respective programs in the 2021-2022 season.

Kindly,
Sage
'The fact that Duke was "out of the box" within hours suggests that Villanova was in a reaction mode'

[Duke79UNLV77]

Villanova posted some highlights from their side

https://twitter.com/VUCoachJWright/s...533287941?s=20

Even in their video, Savarino doesn't miss a shot.

[mkirsh]

I actually find the video encouraging to some degree. It’s obviously SUPER limited but in most highlights we did a good job cutting off the initial drive but got beat in rotation out to shooters. Likely an easier problem to address than not being able to guard the ball. For what it’s worth from a 1 min video (not much).

[scottdude8]

I actually find the video encouraging to some degree. It’s obviously SUPER limited but in most highlights we did a good job cutting off the initial drive but got beat in rotation out to shooters. Likely an easier problem to address than not being able to guard the ball. For what it’s worth from a 1 min video (not much).

I had a similar reaction. Obviously highlights packaged by Nova are going to show them scoring, but from what I saw it wasn't like they were blowing by our defenders or getting wide open looks. As others have said, it certainly seemed like we were playing conservatively to keep healthy, so we weren't closing out on threes with the effort we would in a regular season game, or contesting at the rim. But I saw Trevor staying with his man quite nicely and forcing contested, challenging buckets... yes, they went in so they're highlights for Nova, but they also point to his ability to defend which is a major unknown at this point.

We'll know a lot more come Saturday... now if only I wasn't stuck in Canada without access to ACCNX to watch the game

[jaywilliams22]

Posted on Duke's basketball instagram account today - AJ Griffin is practicing with a 5 of Paolo, Wendell, Trevor Keels, and Theo John. Great to see!

[Phredd3]

I actually find the video encouraging to some degree. It’s obviously SUPER limited but in most highlights we did a good job cutting off the initial drive but got beat in rotation out to shooters. Likely an easier problem to address than not being able to guard the ball. For what it’s worth from a 1 min video (not much).

Agreed, but 'Nova had some excellent ball rotations, including one drive and pass back followed by three more passes to get the perfect look. They had above-average ball movement, for sure. I'm sure their fans were as encouraged as we were.

[scottdude8]

New video posted on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKbrAYGXnvA

[scottdude8]

New video posted on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKbrAYGXnvA

Takeaways:
- Looks like AJ was warming up with the squad, and got a little bit of a sweat going in the locker room before gametime. Seeming more and more like the injury was indeed relatively minor.
- A couple looks at the high/low game with Mark and Paolo. In his limited action last year Mark showed a really impressive ability to make plays from the high post since he can see over the defense (and with his wingspan no one can get in his passing lane). That action with him and Paolo could be DEADLY.
- More confirmation that it wasn't a "complete game", but various mini-scrimmages under various situations. So the final score/stats may not be the most indicative of how we did.
- Lots of smiles on the court. That's always good to see.
- That said, confirmation that Paolo got 29/12 in the post game interview!!! Can you imagine how psyched we'd be if that was his line in the first game of the season, or even the first exhibition of the season?

I'm happy that the experts have us as a borderline Top 10 team right now. Let them sleep on us.

[Billy Dat]

New video posted on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKbrAYGXnvA

You know you have a well-resourced program when your player, standing in a cold recovery tub at an NBA practice facility, says, "You know, the cold tub is a little small but..."

[AGDukesky]

I am going to try to fully enjoy my unbridled optimism about this season right up until our first bad performance…

[uh_no]

I am going to try to fully enjoy my unbridled optimism about this season right up until our first bad performance…

Unfortunately, I have to imagine our odds of making it to december undefeated are hovering somewhere around 0% and 0.0% (okay, maybe it's not THAT bad, but I'd bet some pies we lose one of those 3 games)

[Acymetric]

Unfortunately, I have to imagine our odds of making it to december undefeated are hovering somewhere around 0% and 0.0% (okay, maybe it's not THAT bad, but I'd bet some pies we lose one of those 3 games)

You can lose without having a bad performance.

I'm not afraid of any of those three teams personally (although they are certainly good and we could lose to any or all of them).

[ClemmonsDevil]

I am going to try to fully enjoy my unbridled optimism about this season right up until our first bad performance…

I am in the unbridled exuberance camp.