Originally Posted by
Bob Green
Our first round game with State is 48 hours away so I thought I would try and generate some game discussion. Duke beat State 79-56 during the season, but E. Atsur did not play. State is not a deep team and the unavailability of Atsur significantly hurt the Wolfpack. For Thursday's game, we will be without our top reserve.
On paper, we are much stronger than State with an RPI of 14 to State's 114, and a SOS of 3 to State's 53. We have a 8-9 record versus teams in the Top 50, while State's record is 3-11. Both teams went 4-6 over the last 10 games of the regular season.
How do we beat State? 1) State has the ability to knock down the 3-ball (I validate that statement by referencing their win over Carolina) so we will need to play strong perimeter defense. 2) We must convert turnovers into transition points. 3) We must value the basketball to make the most of every possession and score second chance points via offensive rebounding. 4) Finally, we will need to avoid foul trouble. Thomas and Zoubek must be productive off the bench and they can't be if they are in foul trouble.
So, if we accomplish those four objectives we will advance and get a second chance at Virginia. Go Duke!!!
Let's talk basketball.
Bob Green
Yokosuka, Japan