Other People’s Basketball 2021-22 - Sacrifice to the Weaufx Gods

[DavidBenAkiva]

Brain Rauf at Heat Check MBB wrote up about Duke's defense, which is worth a read. He highlighted the way Duke funneled action into the post where Mark Williams and Theo John were waiting. His assessment overall is that Duke appears to have an elite defense.

What made me post this here is the assessment of Ohio State and their backcourt struggles against Akron. Duke faces Ohio State in Columbus in the ACC/B1G Challenge this year. Ohio State's best players are in the frontcourt, which is where Duke is also strong. With Trevor Keels and Wendell Moore, Duke might have a clear advantage in the backcourt in this matchup.

https://heatcheckcbb.com/rauf-report...-opening-week/

[brevity]

Friday - 11:30PM EST
2- UCLA vs 4- Villanova

This game went into overtime, which means that Villanova fans in Philadelphia stayed up until about 1:52am to see their team lose.

[Billy Dat]

This game went into overtime, which means that Villanova fans in Philadelphia stayed up until about 1:52am to see their team lose.

I taped it and watched it this morning. It was a really hard-fought war between two elite squads. I came away impressed with both.

The championship program Jay Wright has built is enviable. Just like other programs of its ilk, like Duke, you know when they take the floor that you are going to have to play really well to win. They are undersized this year, but the crew of Gillespie, Moore, Samuels, Dixon, Slater and Daniels can beat anyone. They only seem to go 6 deep so that may be a problem. UCLA looks like they have picked up right where they left off. Jaquez and Campbell are the gritty heart, Juzang is the gifted scorer, Bernard is a solid starting role player who can also fill it up for stretches, they brought in C Myles Johnson from Rutgers...they are really tough.

[tommy]

I taped it and watched it this morning. It was a really hard-fought war between two elite squads. I came away impressed with both.

The championship program Jay Wright has built is enviable. Just like other programs of its ilk, like Duke, you know when they take the floor that you are going to have to play really well to win. They are undersized this year, but the crew of Gillespie, Moore, Samuels, Dixon, Slater and Daniels can beat anyone. They only seem to go 6 deep so that may be a problem. UCLA looks like they have picked up right where they left off. Jaquez and Campbell are the gritty heart, Juzang is the gifted scorer, Bernard is a solid starting role player who can also fill it up for stretches, they brought in C Myles Johnson from Rutgers...they are really tough.

Agree. I watched the whole game too and those are both Final 4 level squads and they played a very high level game last night. Neither of these teams is going to lose more than a couple of games. UCLA picked up right where they left off and they’re so good that stud freshman Peyton Watson barely got off the bench and it’s not because he’s overrated or something. He’s very good but this team is just very solid. And Nova really is relentless at both ends. Both teams very well coached and it’s not hard to imagine these teams meeting again in the Final 4 for the first time in 51 years.

[brevity]

Harvard and Iona keeping it close in overtime (ESPN3). Stars are on the sidelines, though: Tommy Amaker vs. Rick Pitino.

[TKG]

Dartmouth > Georgetown 69-60.

[accfanfrom1970]

Harvard and Iona keeping it close in overtime (ESPN3). Stars are on the sidelines, though: Tommy Amaker vs. Rick Pitino.

Johnny wins (against Miami), Tommy loses.

[AGDukesky]

Watching Texas @ Gonzaga. It has been the Timme show early with 11 points in the first six minutes. The Zags move the ball so nicely and Texas settling for a ton of 3s with not much success.

[rsvman]

Timme is wrecking Texas almost singlehandedly. He has 18 and it is still the first half. Chet Holmgren with, like, maybe 2 or 3 boards and no points. Nembhard playing well.
I feel like we will need Theo to physically shove Timme out of the low post all night to have half a chance to compete with Gonzaga.
For right now, though, I think Paolo is preferable to Chet.

[SlapTheFloor]

Was Gonzaga seriously just playing "Every Time We Touch" just now?

[Saratoga2]

Timme is wrecking Texas almost singlehandedly. He has 18 and it is still the first half. Chet Holmgren with, like, maybe 2 or 3 boards and no points. Nembhard playing well.
I feel like we will need Theo to physically shove Timme out of the low post all night to have half a chance to compete with Gonzaga.
For right now, though, I think Paolo is preferable to Chet.

I watched Teas/Gonzaga for a while but it was too late for this old guy and I will watch the taped game this morning. Gonzaga looked like a mature team and were getting good looks every time despite Texas being good sized, quick and athletic. Texas did a better job in the second half so it will be interesting to see how they adjusted. My first impression is that Duke is not ready for them, particularly our front court. Duke has a lot of room for improvement so let's hope they can find some front court mojo.

[UrinalCake]

I think John on Timme and Paolo on Chet gives us the best chance at defending them. But maybe Mark will gain some confidence over the next three games. I do think we have an advantage in the back court. Will be a great game that I’m looking forward to, but we definitely have work to do to prepare.

[Billy Dat]

Drew Timme is unbelievably annoying. He’s obviously good, but his celebrations are obnoxious. Texas will take longer to gel. We will have our work cut out for us in Vegas.

[dukelifer]

Drew Timme is unbelievably annoying. He’s obviously good, but his celebrations are obnoxious. Texas will take longer to gel. We will have our work cut out for us in Vegas.

Timme is going be a handful for Duke. He is very skilled. Right now I am most worried about the rebounding.

[CameronDuke]

Wagner beat VCU 58-44 last night in Richmond on VCU’s homecoming.

May be a long year for the VCU Rams this year.

[Saratoga2]

I did watch the game this morning. No doubt about Timme. While he is slow changing ends of the court he is very experienced and makes low post moves that no single Texas defender was capable of stopping. I don't know how coach K will deal with the problem, but I doubt Williams or any single defender will have much luck. Maybe Theo can play him more physically and keep him from getting deep.

Even without Timme, the Zags are a formidable team capable of playing even or beating most top tier teams. They will go against UCLA so that will be a must watch.

Meanwhile, Duke has a lot of talent and athleticism. Just need time to develop as we have no really experienced player who ranks with Timme. Moore is the closest we have and we need to keep him healthy.

[AGDukesky]

Drew Timme is unbelievably annoying. He’s obviously good, but his celebrations are obnoxious. Texas will take longer to gel. We will have our work cut out for us in Vegas.

Totally agree- he panders to his fans and seemed to have a different gesticulation for each made basket.

The biggest differences between Gonzaga and Duke on offense was Gonzaga’s abilities to feed the post and penetrate and dish. Gonzaga got great looks. Duke has defenders who can make Timme work harder than Texas, but our guys might get in foul trouble as he is crafty and knows how to use his body. Right now I think we simply will not be able to score with Gonzaga but we have a couple weeks to improve.

[SlapTheFloor]

I did watch the game this morning. No doubt about Timme. While he is slow changing ends of the court he is very experienced and makes low post moves that no single Texas defender was capable of stopping. I don't know how coach K will deal with the problem, but I doubt Williams or any single defender will have much luck. Maybe Theo can play him more physically and keep him from getting deep.

Even without Timme, the Zags are a formidable team capable of playing even or beating most top tier teams. They will go against UCLA so that will be a must watch.

Meanwhile, Duke has a lot of talent and athleticism. Just need time to develop as we have no really experienced player who ranks with Timme. Moore is the closest we have and we need to keep him healthy.

I will be interested to see if Mark's length can bother Timme. He has great footwork and a nice touch, but he's not a phenomenal run/jump athlete. If Williams can avoid leaving his feet, and stay between Timme and the basket, he might make him a little less efficient down there.

[howardlander]

Timme is wrecking Texas almost singlehandedly. He has 18 and it is still the first half. Chet Holmgren with, like, maybe 2 or 3 boards and no points. Nembhard playing well.
I feel like we will need Theo to physically shove Timme out of the low post all night to have half a chance to compete with Gonzaga.
For right now, though, I think Paolo is preferable to Chet.

I saw a few minutes of this game and was not impressed at all with Holmgren. He just didn't seem to have either the quickness or strength to compete at this level. Very small sample size though.

[AGDukesky]

I saw a few minutes of this game and was not impressed at all with Holmgren. He just didn't seem to have either the quickness or strength to compete at this level. Very small sample size though.

He had fairly solid numbers in the first game but against the more talented teams he will struggle. It did seem like Gonzaga made a concerted effort to feature Timme and did not really try to get Holmgren involved. His inability to create his own offense (like Banchero) is the biggest difference so far. I’ve said before that Chet is overrated now because of his ceiling being so high and simply has to get stronger to justify the ranking. He has skill and will likely be a good pro but I doubt he shows much more than flashes this year (and of course having the game of his life against Duke). It also doesn’t help his stats that the rest of his team, and particularly a center, are so good.