Hey gang -
I took a flier on Greensboro tix. Asking if anyone has any recommendations of a good local place to hang and watch the game tomorrow. Places I've tried so far have been mostly meh (as the young Turks like to say) Duke alumni site has nothing nearby. TIA
Turk
Little place we used to go to back in college is olde town near uncg, get the chicken philly. They will have games on but not necessarily a sports bar by any means. Also, could try Natty Greens or macs speed shop.
All else equal - would we rather be playing a really good defense and okay offense or vice versa? Still getting my head around two good defensive teams playing each other. Probably comes down to either of: 3 point shooting (making just 1-2 more than the other team) or turnovers that lead to easy offense for the other team... Margin for error is really low in this one.
Gameday! Let’s Go Duke!
I know Jon will have the team laser focused on the Tennessee game. It's one game at a time, survive and advance.
As many others have observed, we will need to play our best defense. We have six players who can play that defense and a couple of additional subs who are adequate. Tennessee is somewhat turnover prone and are not a great shooting team. With our defense and rebounding, we could have more shot opportunities than them. We can't be over hyped on defense and give up gratuitous fouls. Foul trouble could weaken our defense and rebounding.
We know Tennessee will play a physical and be on our offensive players. They are long and quick and well coached. We need to be strong with the ball, be moving without the ball and make crisp passes. We need to be patient and work for good shots, particularly where we have players in place for potential offensive rebounding. When a good shot opens up, take it and finish it strongly or get fouled. With that approach, we should get more quality shots than Tennessee and we know we are a good foul shooting team so if they foul us, we should also have an advantage. We also need to avoid sitting on the ball while the clock runs down and then driving into a crowd. Tennessee is to good on defense for that to work.
How many times in this tournament have we seen players rush down the floor and jack up long shots, not in rhythm and with no rebounders available? Hero ball won't get it done.
As I is was reading your post, the thought about our players picking up their dribbles and getting doubled team into a turnover, came to mind. You addressed another potential problem, letting the shot clock run down and taking a desperation shot that leads to a fast break. We can't come out timid because we could find ourselves down quickly. The Miami and NC State road games come to mind.
GoDuke!
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
I think I’d rather face a good offense/bad defense - our defense can neutralize a good offense and it gives our sometimes-stagnant offense more of a chance. Last year it was the opposite, we wanted to play bad offense/good defense because our offense was so good it could score on anyone, and we were fortunate in getting those matchups against MSU/Texas Tech/Arkansas which fit that profile.
Tennessee does seem like a more physical UVA as someone else stated a while back. Will be a tough game, I am nervous as heck!
Yeah, I really really want to win this game. This game feels like the over/under on whether we have a season that went pretty well, or one that no one in our fanbases can whine about.
If we win today, we are playing with house money.
And that steamed Bob Huggins....whose WVA team was the top of the 2 seeds that year, and Duke was the last of the 1 seeds. It allowed WVA to take Kentucky out in the regional...and might've been a nice factor in Duke winning the Natty that year. Might've been one of the few times Duke caught a break in the seeds/match ups.
Then again, Duke had to play 2nd seed Baylor in Houston for the Regional final, and that was tough. Always thought Duke's best 60 minutes all season...the second half against Baylor and the entire game against WVa in the semis. I thought they were rather poor, but good enough, to beat Butler in the title game...
Tennessee has the tendency to sling the ball all over the place and play pretty recklessly. Chase Vescovi off the 3 point line and pound them on the boards. This should be a game Filipowski asserts himself offensively.