MBB: Duke vs. Georgia Tech (ACCT, Thu 3/13, 12pm ET, ESPN) Pregame and In-Game Thread

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The Blue Devils have the top seed in the ACC Tournament, and will face the 8-seed Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in Thursday's first quarterfinal game at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, airing at noon ET on ESPN (streaming link, listen, live stats).

To celebrate the day of the quarterfinals, here's a short story. I originally wrote it last year, and have made a few corrections for this year.

Central Elementary, Albemarle, late one Thursday morning in March. I remember it well: I was bored and anxious in my classroom. My ears perked up as I heard the familiar squeaking of the audiovisual cart. It was the librarian, wheeling in that amazing invention that would connect us to the outside world: a wireless router.

"Okay, class," said the teacher. "It's time for the ACC Tournament quarterfinals. Put away your books and pull out your tablets and phones. You can use my ESPN Plus account to log in. If the student next to you didn't bring a device, move your desks so you can sit together and share a screen."

As we waited for the first game to start, I observed the allegiances in the room. A lot of blue, most on the lighter side. Some in red, and not very many in gold and black. A defiant few in orange with white paw prints. There was one kid wearing a vintage Tyler Hansbrough T-shirt, and even his fellow light blue pals were making fun of him.

The familiar music started and we relaxed in our seats. Ah, the New York Life T. Rowe Price ACC Tournament on ESPN Plus. The unmistakably authoritative Canadian voice of Dan Shulman. The dulcet tones of Californian Jay Bilas. The Massachusetts inflection of Dave O'Brien. The wisdom and verbal restraint of Cory Alexander. To this day, such a vivid part of my distinctly Southern childhood. Sail with the Plus!

I'll put together a brief dossier on Tech a little later, but feel free to discuss the matchup here.
 
brevity said:
I'll put together a brief dossier on Tech a little later...
Click to expand...

This quarterfinal is a rematch of a much earlier game, just as the conference season was getting started. On December 21, a couple of weeks after Georgia Tech lost their ACC opener in Chapel Hill by 3 points, they hosted Duke in Atlanta and lost by 26 (82-56: recap, box score, highlights, full replay).


Since then, the Yellow Jackets got worse (going 2-4 in their next 6 ACC games) and then better (winning 9 of their last 13). They are the only ACC team to beat both Louisville and Clemson this season, and they did it in back-to-back games.

Tech's roster has dealt with more than its share of injuries, with only sophomore starters Naithan George and Baye Ndongo appearing in every game. You're thinking, boo-hoo, that happens to every team, but Evan Miyakawa released a startling graphic on Monday about lost production due to injuries. Look carefully for the GT logo; it's literally out of bounds, above the chart's title.


This is not where I say, "Oh, but they're all healthy now and truly dangerous." This is where I actually say, "A bunch of players are still out, but they're so used to this by now that they've become leaner and stronger." Head coach Damon Stoudamire has settled on a smaller rotation that seems to be working, and I'm sorry to say this, but you could draw some parallels with what Kevin Keatts did at NC State last season.

PROBABLE STARTERS

6-3 senior guard Lance Terry #0 (15.0 pts, 3.0 reb, 1.7 ast, 1.2 stl)
6-9 sophomore forward Baye Ndongo #11 (13.6 pts, 9.1 reb, 1.5 ast, 1.0 stl, 1.0 blk)
6-3 sophomore guard Naithan George #1 (12.4 pts, 4.1 reb, 6.5 ast, 1.0 stl)
6-8 redshirt junior forward Duncan Powell #31 (11.4 pts, 5.5 reb, 0.8 ast)
6-5 freshman guard Jaeden Mustaf #3 (8.4 pts, 2.8 reb, 1.7 ast, 1.0 stl)

TOP RESERVES
6-9 redshirt freshman forward Ibrahim Souare #30 (2.9 pts, 3.8 reb, 0.2 ast)
7-2 senior center Ryan Mutombo #12 (2.3 pts, 2.7 reb, 0.2 ast, 2.0 blk)
6-8 freshman forward Darrion Sutton #10 (1.1 pts, 1.5 reb, 0.6 ast)

BENCH PLAYERS

6-6 redshirt sophomore forward Emmer Nichols #35 (0.8 pts, 0.3 reb, 0.0 ast)
6-4 sophomore guard Marcos San Miguel #33 (0.8 pts, 0.0 reb, 0.0 ast)
6-7 freshman wing Dyllan Thompson #32

INJURED/OTHER

6-2 senior guard Javian McCollum #2 (12.2 pts, 2.7 reb, 3.4 ast, 1.3 stl) -- concussion, return unknown
6-7 senior guard Kowacie Reeves Jr #14 (9.3 pts, 2.5 reb, 1.0 ast, 1.2 blk) -- foot injury, return unknown
6-8 senior forward Luke O'Brien #9 (6.4 pts, 4.4 reb, 0.6 ast) -- toe injury, return unknown
6-11 freshman center Doryan Onwuchekwa #45 (3.5 pts, 4.9 reb, 0.8 ast) -- personal reasons, return unknown

The healthy sophomores were rewarded earlier this week, as Baye Ndongo was named to the All-ACC Third Team, while Naithan George was an All-ACC Honorable Mention and finished third in voting for Most Improved Player. Also, Duncan Powell was runner-up for Sixth Man of the Year; he starts now, probably out of necessity.

To get to play Duke, Georgia Tech had to defeat 9-seed Virginia on Wednesday. Despite surrendering a double-digit lead in the closing minutes, and allowing a game-high 27 points from Cavaliers star Isaac McKneely, the Jackets got the win at the free throw line (66-60: recap, PDF box score, highlights, full replay). Powell scored 21 on 9-of-14 shooting to lead the team. Ndongo and George each put up a double-double of points and rebounds; Ndongo also had 4 blocks, while George added 8 assists.


Ryan Mutombo missed his fourth straight game; I don't know if he's injured or just out of the rotation. Meanwhile, Jon Rothstein made a point of reporting that Javian McCollum continues to be out with a concussion, after over a month without seeing action. Maybe that non-news will change on Thursday?

Bart Torvik predicts a 20-point victory for top seed Duke, 82-62. Kind of similar to December's 82-56 outcome in Atlanta, except this game is in Charlotte and Tech is 6 points closer. Here are several recent stats for both teams -- not including Wednesday's GT-UVA game -- to help illustrate the comparison. Thanks as always to Sports Reference and the other sources linked below.

TABLE 1

CategoryGeorgia Tech (17-15, 10-10 ACC)Duke (28-3, 19-1 ACC)
Points Scored73.7 (186th nationally)83.5 (12th)
Points Allowed72.6 (208th)61.4 (6th)
Scoring Margin (NCAA.com)+1.1 (201st)+22.1 (1st)
Bench Points (NCAA.com)18.8 (221st)21.5 (137th)
Total Rebounds37.3 (79th)38.9 (25th)
--- Offensive Rebounds11.0 (146th)11.4 (113th)
--- Defensive Rebounds26.3 (62nd)27.5 (21st)
Assists14.9 (96th)17.2 (14th)
Assist/Turnover Ratio (NCAA.com)1.22 (153rd)1.80 (5th)
Steals5.9 (282nd)6.9 (167th)
Blocks3.6 (124th)3.7 (116th)
Turnovers12.2 (233rd fewest)9.5 (14th fewest)
Personal Fouls16.2 (119th fewest)16.1 (111th fewest)
Field Goal Percentage44.2% (212th)49.1% (13th)
2-Point FG Percentage50.1% (247th)57.7% (16th)
3-Point FG Percentage33.9% (196th)38.7% (12th)
Free Throw Percentage68.1% (310th)78.4% (17th)

TABLE 2

CategoryGeorgia Tech (17-15, 10-10 ACC)Duke (28-3, 19-1 ACC)
NET Ranking (NCAA.com)#113 (NET Summary)#1 (NET Summary)
--- Strength of Schedule74th60th
--- Quad 13-67-3
--- Quad 20-77-0
--- Quad 34-19-0
--- Quad 49-15-0
KenPom (Ken Pomeroy)#97#1
--- Offensive Efficiency163rd2nd
--- Defensive Efficiency66th4th
--- Tempo104th253rd
Fastbreak Points (NCAA.com)9.1 (199th)11.5 (88th)
T-Rank (Bart Torvik)#97 (T-Page)#1 (T-Page)
--- Experience1.537 (319th)0.961 (361st)
--- Talent33.451 (96th)80.841 (3rd)
--- Average Height77.841 (79th)79.783 (1st)
--- Effective Height81.109 (62nd)82.241 (8th)

NET quadrants explained:

The quality of wins and losses will be organized based on game location and the opponent's NET ranking.

Quadrant 1: Home 1-30, Neutral 1-50, Away 1-75
Quadrant 2: Home 31-75, Neutral 51-100, Away 76-135
Quadrant 3: Home 76-160, Neutral 101-200, Away 135-240
Quadrant 4: Home 161-353, Neutral 201-353, Away 241-353
Click to expand...
Ken Pomeroy defines efficiency as an extrapolated measure of points scored (offensive) or allowed (defensive) per 100 possessions against an average opponent. The more points you score and the fewer points you allow, the better. Tempo refers to the number of possessions per 40 minutes against an average tempo: the higher the rank, the faster the tempo. Faster isn't necessarily better; Houston is among the 5 slowest teams, and is KenPom #3.
Click to expand...
Bart Torvik offers some clarification in the comments here.

Experience "is based on class year (3 for senior, 0 for freshman) with caveat that it actually counts how many years a guy has played 10 games in, so if a guy is listed as a soph even though he's played two full years already, he'll count as a junior."

Talent "is based on composite recruiting ranks weighted for minutes played."

Effective Height "is an attempt to calculate minute-weighted height of the 4s and 5s. So it's basically the average height of the tallest 40% of minutes."

Average Height "includes all minutes, not just the bigs."
Click to expand...
 
brevity said:
This quarterfinal is a rematch of a much earlier game, just as the conference season was getting started. On December 21, a couple of weeks after Georgia Tech lost their ACC opener in Chapel Hill by 3 points, they hosted Duke in Atlanta and lost by 26 (82-56: recap, box score, highlights, full replay).


Since then, the Yellow Jackets got worse (going 2-4 in their next 6 ACC games) and then better (winning 9 of their last 13). They are the only ACC team to beat both Louisville and Clemson this season, and they did it in back-to-back games.

Tech's roster has dealt with more than its share of injuries, with only sophomore starters Naithan George and Baye Ndongo appearing in every game. You're thinking, boo-hoo, that happens to every team, but Evan Miyakawa released a startling graphic on Monday about lost production due to injuries. Look carefully for the GT logo; it's literally out of bounds, above the chart's title.


This is not where I say, "Oh, but they're all healthy now and truly dangerous." This is where I actually say, "A bunch of players are still out, but they're so used to this by now that they've become leaner and stronger." Head coach Damon Stoudamire has settled on a smaller rotation that seems to be working, and I'm sorry to say this, but you could draw some parallels with what Kevin Keatts did at NC State last season.

PROBABLE STARTERS

6-3 senior guard Lance Terry #0 (15.0 pts, 3.0 reb, 1.7 ast, 1.2 stl)
6-9 sophomore forward Baye Ndongo #11 (13.6 pts, 9.1 reb, 1.5 ast, 1.0 stl, 1.0 blk)
6-3 sophomore guard Naithan George #1 (12.4 pts, 4.1 reb, 6.5 ast, 1.0 stl)
6-8 redshirt junior forward Duncan Powell #31 (11.4 pts, 5.5 reb, 0.8 ast)
6-5 freshman guard Jaeden Mustaf #3 (8.4 pts, 2.8 reb, 1.7 ast, 1.0 stl)

TOP RESERVES
6-9 redshirt freshman forward Ibrahim Souare #30 (2.9 pts, 3.8 reb, 0.2 ast)
7-2 senior center Ryan Mutombo #12 (2.3 pts, 2.7 reb, 0.2 ast, 2.0 blk)
6-8 freshman forward Darrion Sutton #10 (1.1 pts, 1.5 reb, 0.6 ast)

BENCH PLAYERS

6-6 redshirt sophomore forward Emmer Nichols #35 (0.8 pts, 0.3 reb, 0.0 ast)
6-4 sophomore guard Marcos San Miguel #33 (0.8 pts, 0.0 reb, 0.0 ast)
6-7 freshman wing Dyllan Thompson #32

INJURED/OTHER

6-2 senior guard Javian McCollum #2 (12.2 pts, 2.7 reb, 3.4 ast, 1.3 stl) -- concussion, return unknown
6-7 senior guard Kowacie Reeves Jr #14 (9.3 pts, 2.5 reb, 1.0 ast, 1.2 blk) -- foot injury, return unknown
6-8 senior forward Luke O'Brien #9 (6.4 pts, 4.4 reb, 0.6 ast) -- toe injury, return unknown
6-11 freshman center Doryan Onwuchekwa #45 (3.5 pts, 4.9 reb, 0.8 ast) -- personal reasons, return unknown

The healthy sophomores were rewarded earlier this week, as Baye Ndongo was named to the All-ACC Third Team, while Naithan George was an All-ACC Honorable Mention and finished third in voting for Most Improved Player. Also, Duncan Powell was runner-up for Sixth Man of the Year; he starts now, probably out of necessity.

To get to play Duke, Georgia Tech had to defeat 9-seed Virginia on Wednesday. Despite surrendering a double-digit lead in the closing minutes, and allowing a game-high 27 points from Cavaliers star Isaac McKneely, the Jackets got the win at the free throw line (66-60: recap, PDF box score, highlights, full replay). Powell scored 21 on 9-of-14 shooting to lead the team. Ndongo and George each put up a double-double of points and rebounds; Ndongo also had 4 blocks, while George added 8 assists.


Ryan Mutombo missed his fourth straight game; I don't know if he's injured or just out of the rotation. Meanwhile, Jon Rothstein made a point of reporting that Javian McCollum continues to be out with a concussion, after over a month without seeing action. Maybe that non-news will change on Thursday?

Bart Torvik predicts a 20-point victory for top seed Duke, 82-62. Kind of similar to December's 82-56 outcome in Atlanta, except this game is in Charlotte and Tech is 6 points closer. Here are several recent stats for both teams -- not including Wednesday's GT-UVA game -- to help illustrate the comparison. Thanks as always to Sports Reference and the other sources linked below.

TABLE 1

CategoryGeorgia Tech (17-15, 10-10 ACC)Duke (28-3, 19-1 ACC)
Points Scored73.7 (186th nationally)83.5 (12th)
Points Allowed72.6 (208th)61.4 (6th)
Scoring Margin (NCAA.com)+1.1 (201st)+22.1 (1st)
Bench Points (NCAA.com)18.8 (221st)21.5 (137th)
Total Rebounds37.3 (79th)38.9 (25th)
--- Offensive Rebounds11.0 (146th)11.4 (113th)
--- Defensive Rebounds26.3 (62nd)27.5 (21st)
Assists14.9 (96th)17.2 (14th)
Assist/Turnover Ratio (NCAA.com)1.22 (153rd)1.80 (5th)
Steals5.9 (282nd)6.9 (167th)
Blocks3.6 (124th)3.7 (116th)
Turnovers12.2 (233rd fewest)9.5 (14th fewest)
Personal Fouls16.2 (119th fewest)16.1 (111th fewest)
Field Goal Percentage44.2% (212th)49.1% (13th)
2-Point FG Percentage50.1% (247th)57.7% (16th)
3-Point FG Percentage33.9% (196th)38.7% (12th)
Free Throw Percentage68.1% (310th)78.4% (17th)

TABLE 2

CategoryGeorgia Tech (17-15, 10-10 ACC)Duke (28-3, 19-1 ACC)
NET Ranking (NCAA.com)#113 (NET Summary)#1 (NET Summary)
--- Strength of Schedule74th60th
--- Quad 13-67-3
--- Quad 20-77-0
--- Quad 34-19-0
--- Quad 49-15-0
KenPom (Ken Pomeroy)#97#1
--- Offensive Efficiency163rd2nd
--- Defensive Efficiency66th4th
--- Tempo104th253rd
Fastbreak Points (NCAA.com)9.1 (199th)11.5 (88th)
T-Rank (Bart Torvik)#97 (T-Page)#1 (T-Page)
--- Experience1.537 (319th)0.961 (361st)
--- Talent33.451 (96th)80.841 (3rd)
--- Average Height77.841 (79th)79.783 (1st)
--- Effective Height81.109 (62nd)82.241 (8th)
Click to expand...
Great write up as always. The thumbnail on that video is hilarious. Prime example of that stout Virginia defense that never (gets called for) fouls. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
I am ok with 9-10 players in this game. Hopefully Torvik is right. Need to avoid injuries. Maliq needs to be careful with that shoulder. Hoping Duke shoots lights out and plays a solid game with stifling defense.
 
brevity said:
The Blue Devils have the top seed in the ACC Tournament, and will face the 8-seed Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in Thursday's first quarterfinal game at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, airing at noon ET on ESPN (streaming link, listen, live stats).

To celebrate the day of the quarterfinals, here's a short story. I originally wrote it last year, and have made a few corrections for this year.

Central Elementary, Albemarle, late one Thursday morning in March. I remember it well: I was bored and anxious in my classroom. My ears perked up as I heard the familiar squeaking of the audiovisual cart. It was the librarian, wheeling in that amazing invention that would connect us to the outside world: a wireless router.

"Okay, class," said the teacher. "It's time for the ACC Tournament quarterfinals. Put away your books and pull out your tablets and phones. You can use my ESPN Plus account to log in. If the student next to you didn't bring a device, move your desks so you can sit together and share a screen."

As we waited for the first game to start, I observed the allegiances in the room. A lot of blue, most on the lighter side. Some in red, and not very many in gold and black. A defiant few in orange with white paw prints. There was one kid wearing a vintage Tyler Hansbrough T-shirt, and even his fellow light blue pals were making fun of him.

The familiar music started and we relaxed in our seats. Ah, the New York Life T. Rowe Price ACC Tournament on ESPN Plus. The unmistakably authoritative Canadian voice of Dan Shulman. The dulcet tones of Californian Jay Bilas. The Massachusetts inflection of Dave O'Brien. The wisdom and verbal restraint of Cory Alexander. To this day, such a vivid part of my distinctly Southern childhood. Sail with the Plus!

I'll put together a brief dossier on Tech a little later, but feel free to discuss the matchup here.
Click to expand...
Did that vintage Tyler Hansbrough T-shirt have some red spatters on it. If not it wasn’t authentic
 
MarkD83 said:
Did that vintage Tyler Hansbrough T-shirt have some red spatters on it. If not it wasn’t authentic
Click to expand...

I like to think there was a Duke fan in my classroom, outnumbered of course, wearing a T-shirt with an illustration of little kid Gerald Henderson saying to little kid Tyler Hansbrough, "Got your nose."

Anyway, after I posted my game preview above, I got in my car for an errand, and listened to the Duke Basketball Roundup Bites #99, where @blazindw and @JasonEvans looked ahead to Thursday's quarterfinal.


They made a good point that I felt was worth repeating here: Damon Stoudamire had two starters, Lance Terry and Naithan George, play all 40 minutes against Virginia, while the other 3 starters each played 33-35 minutes.

Jason Evans: "This Georgia Tech team has found five guys they like, and those guys are playing heavy, heavy minutes. That is a huge difference between what Duke does and what Georgia Tech is going to do, and again, I think it matters that these guys are going to have less than a 24-hour turnaround to when they play next."

I mentioned Georgia Tech's shortened rotation and linked to the box score of their win over Virginia, but I failed to put those two together.

In his postgame presser, Damon Stoudamire was asked about the short rest before his next opponent. (I haven't come across a YouTube video to embed, but there's a replay on ACCNX -- start around the 12-minute mark -- and the ACC website has a full transcript.)

David Teel, Daily Press: "Damon, when you turn around in 24 hours and play the No. 1 ranked team in the country, will you be able to be as loose and free offensively or do you have to be more structured?"

Coach Stoudamire: "Well, I think that Duke is a team that -- obviously, they're different. They're long. They're athletic. I look forward to the game, though, to be honest with you. At the end of the day, the one thing I do know going into this game is that we're playing our best basketball of the season. If we weren't, maybe I wouldn't feel the way I do, but I feel as confident as I've ever felt about this group of guys. It's going to be a task, but we'll go in there, and we can't fear them. We've got to do the things that we need to do. It's a challenge, but I think that we're all looking forward to that."
 
brevity said:
I like to think there was a Duke fan in my classroom, outnumbered of course, wearing a T-shirt with an illustration of little kid Gerald Henderson saying to little kid Tyler Hansbrough, "Got your nose."

Anyway, after I posted my game preview above, I got in my car for an errand, and listened to the Duke Basketball Roundup Bites #99, where @blazindw and @JasonEvans looked ahead to Thursday's quarterfinal.


They made a good point that I felt was worth repeating here: Damon Stoudamire had two starters, Lance Terry and Naithan George, play all 40 minutes against Virginia, while the other 3 starters each played 33-35 minutes.

Jason Evans: "This Georgia Tech team has found five guys they like, and those guys are playing heavy, heavy minutes. That is a huge difference between what Duke does and what Georgia Tech is going to do, and again, I think it matters that these guys are going to have less than a 24-hour turnaround to when they play next."

I mentioned Georgia Tech's shortened rotation and linked to the box score of their win over Virginia, but I failed to put those two together.

In his postgame presser, Damon Stoudamire was asked about the short rest before his next opponent. (I haven't come across a YouTube video to embed, but there's a replay on ACCNX -- start around the 12-minute mark -- and the ACC website has a full transcript.)

David Teel, Daily Press: "Damon, when you turn around in 24 hours and play the No. 1 ranked team in the country, will you be able to be as loose and free offensively or do you have to be more structured?"

Coach Stoudamire: "Well, I think that Duke is a team that -- obviously, they're different. They're long. They're athletic. I look forward to the game, though, to be honest with you. At the end of the day, the one thing I do know going into this game is that we're playing our best basketball of the season. If we weren't, maybe I wouldn't feel the way I do, but I feel as confident as I've ever felt about this group of guys. It's going to be a task, but we'll go in there, and we can't fear them. We've got to do the things that we need to do. It's a challenge, but I think that we're all looking forward to that."
Click to expand...
Good response from Coach Stoud.
 
Based on live stats, here are the officials assigned to the ACC Tournament so far.

TUESDAY
Game 1: ND 55, Pitt 54 (Tony Henderson, Tommy Morrissey, Jeff Pon)
Game 2: Cal 82, VT 73 OT (Eric Lewis, Justin Porterfield, Isaac Barnett)
Game 3: Syr 66, FSU 62 (AJ Desai, Mark Schnur, Jerry Heater)

WEDNESDAY
Game 4: GT 66, UVA 60 (Lee Cassell, Tommy Morrissey, Mark Schnur)
Game 5: UNC 76, ND 56 (Roger Ayers, Clarence Armstrong, Jemel Spearman)
Game 6: Stan 78, Cal 73 (Bill Covington Jr, Ted Valentine, AJ Desai)
Game 7: SMU 73, Syr 53 (Ron Groover, Bert Smith, Justin Porterfield)

If the women's tournament last week is any indication, the ACC can just rotate in new refs on Thursday as well as reuse some of these. I saw one official's name for 3 straight days, and others who only worked once. One of the refs in the championship game (which featured NC State) also worked the Wolfpack's quarterfinal. I even saw a person listed twice for the ACC Tournament, and then I happened to see her name the next day in a broadcast of a Big Ten tournament game. There's no rhyme or reason here.

Out of fairness, and for the sake of rest, I would have guessed that anyone who worked the evening session on Wednesday (like fan favorite Ron Groover) is unlikely to work a day session game (like Georgia Tech-Duke) on Thursday. But take note of Mark Schnur, who officiated the last Tuesday game and the first Wednesday game. Anything goes?
 
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