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Shades
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
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ArtBest23
Joined: 02 Jul 2013
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 Posted: 02/19/23 3:31 pm ::: |
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| Tight game. 47-45 in the 4th Q.
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ArtBest23
Joined: 02 Jul 2013
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| Posted: 02/19/23 4:04 pm ::: |
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Duke ekes out a 56-52 win.
Duke couldn't score down the stretch, but UVA helped them out by missing a bunch of easy or open shots too. In the last seven minutes of the game, Duke scored a total of 6 pts (two shots, two free throws), while UVA scored a whopping 7.
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readyAIMfire53
Joined: 20 Nov 2004
Posts: 7441
Location: Durham, NC
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| Posted: 02/19/23 7:50 pm ::: |
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| ArtBest23 wrote: |
Duke ekes out a 56-52 win.
Duke couldn't score down the stretch, but UVA helped them out by missing a bunch of easy or open shots too. In the last seven minutes of the game, Duke scored a total of 6 pts (two shots, two free throws), while UVA scored a whopping 7. |
Hard to believe Duke beat Notre Dame, isn't it?
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Follow your passion and your life will be true down to your core.
~rAf
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Fighting Artichoke
Joined: 12 Dec 2012
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| Posted: 02/19/23 9:05 pm ::: |
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| readyAIMfire53 wrote: |
| ArtBest23 wrote: |
Duke ekes out a 56-52 win.
Duke couldn't score down the stretch, but UVA helped them out by missing a bunch of easy or open shots too. In the last seven minutes of the game, Duke scored a total of 6 pts (two shots, two free throws), while UVA scored a whopping 7. |
Hard to believe Duke beat Notre Dame, isn't it? |
Not really. Duke is capable of playing really well. Today was not one of those days.
Duke is having an excellent year, but like most college teams, they'll have clunkers, like they did against UConn and again today. Luckily Virginia has been pretty much defanged by the loss of McLean and Brunelle. Notre Dame was fortunate to face Virginia when neither of those players could play (McLean injured already, Brunelle suspended).
Duke is still in the driver's seat for the ACC regular season title, as they earned the tie-breaker via their win @Notre Dame. NC State looks very beatable right now, but they're a proud bunch. It really depends on whether they are healthy enough. And UNC, well Duke should be licking their chops at the chance for payback. If Duke doesn't sweep, they could still win the regular season title if Notre Dame falls to GTech or @Louisville. I think Duke wins a 3-way tie with Irish and the Hokies if they are all 14-4 in conference.
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ArtBest23
Joined: 02 Jul 2013
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| Posted: 02/20/23 2:34 am ::: |
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| readyAIMfire53 wrote: |
| ArtBest23 wrote: |
Duke ekes out a 56-52 win.
Duke couldn't score down the stretch, but UVA helped them out by missing a bunch of easy or open shots too. In the last seven minutes of the game, Duke scored a total of 6 pts (two shots, two free throws), while UVA scored a whopping 7. |
Hard to believe Duke beat Notre Dame, isn't it? |
Actually not at all. When Lauren Ebo got hurt, it made ND's offense entirely one dimensional. And at that point in time neither Bransford nor Prosper had the experience to adequately fill in for the loss of Mabry either. And it took until the past two games for Watson to actually learn to play the low post in Ivey's offense. So they were struggling at the time.
Even so, with ND suddenly down two main pieces, both the NCSt and Duke losses still went down to the wire. I'm sure you disagree, but I'm confident that if Ebo had not gotten injured, the outcome of those games would have been different. And now Ebo's back, and Watson is more experienced and effective in the low post, and ND is stronger with Bransford and Prosper playing and with Citron taking on the 3pt shooter role, than they were before with Mabrey playing. So I feel good about where things stand. But no, I'm not surprised that Duke beat ND when it did, I'm more surprised a healthy Duke team struggled to barely beat a shorthanded ND team.
BTW, with Ebo playing just 13 minutes today (and getting 10 pts and 6 rebounds in that limited time) ND beat Pitt by FORTY on the road. In contrast ND without Ebo and without Watson yet having the position under control only beat Pitt by 6 in South Bend.
Having to play Louisville at the Yum Center next week probably concerns me the most.
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readyAIMfire53
Joined: 20 Nov 2004
Posts: 7441
Location: Durham, NC
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| Posted: 02/20/23 12:57 pm ::: |
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| Fighting Artichoke wrote: |
| readyAIMfire53 wrote: |
| ArtBest23 wrote: |
Duke ekes out a 56-52 win.
Duke couldn't score down the stretch, but UVA helped them out by missing a bunch of easy or open shots too. In the last seven minutes of the game, Duke scored a total of 6 pts (two shots, two free throws), while UVA scored a whopping 7. |
Hard to believe Duke beat Notre Dame, isn't it? |
Not really. Duke is capable of playing really well. Today was not one of those days.
Duke is having an excellent year, but like most college teams, they'll have clunkers, like they did against UConn and again today. Luckily Virginia has been pretty much defanged by the loss of McLean and Brunelle. Notre Dame was fortunate to face Virginia when neither of those players could play (McLean injured already, Brunelle suspended).
Duke is still in the driver's seat for the ACC regular season title, as they earned the tie-breaker via their win @Notre Dame. NC State looks very beatable right now, but they're a proud bunch. It really depends on whether they are healthy enough. And UNC, well Duke should be licking their chops at the chance for payback. If Duke doesn't sweep, they could still win the regular season title if Notre Dame falls to GTech or @Louisville. I think Duke wins a 3-way tie with Irish and the Hokies if they are all 14-4 in conference. |
Nice, even-handed analysis! It's not widely known, but one of Duke's senior leaders - Elizabeth Balogun - has been playing through an upper leg (possibly hamstring) injury the past few games. Yesterday vs UVA was Elizabeth's best game in awhile. She had been ineffective both offensively and defensively with uncharacteristic slowness on defensive, allowing way too many easy buckets. She is a MAJOR cog in the Duke effort on both sides. On defense, she is the post anchor, despite being undersized at 6'1. It's been her being right on time with defensive rotation - and setting the tone for the entire team to be immediate with correct shifting on every ball movement that has led to this defense being called "smothering." Without Balogun being on time, the whole defensive effectiveness falls apart.
On offense, it's Balogun's movement to open spots that is crucial, as well as her high 3 pt%, especially for a player in the post. Duke does not have accurate shooters as Kara chose to focus on athleticism and defensive ability. It has been Balogun's movement and ability to hit from wherever she gets the ball that has been crucial to Duke scoring enough points to win games. Without that, Duke players have been driving in, getting smothered and don't have an open player to pass to, leading to turnover after turnover. What looks to be pure sloppiness is actually a failure of the offense to move to open spots on the drive leaving the driving player with zero options.
With Balogun having her best game yesterday bodes well for the upcoming NC State and UNC games at home. This team is in desperate need of some good, cohesive practices so the players are moving synchronous to each other. Right now they are randomly scattering, which rarely leads to anything good.
For those watching the Duke/NC State game Thursday, look for how the defense shifts when Duke center Kennedy Brown hedges way up. If nobody immediately appears to defend the paint, that means Duke's defense is way off and it will be hard for Duke to win. Also, if Duke keeps losing the ball when driving into the paint, then Duke is not moving on offense. Both of these things should be cleaned up with some strong practices and not having to travel until leaving for the ACC tournament (an hour away) next week.
Again, we Duke fans fully recognize this team does not have a go-to shooter and we're very pleasantly surprised at how well this team is doing!!! Nobody saw that coming, even die hard Duke fans. All credit to the coaching staff for developing and teaching a well timed system on both offense and defense as well as bringing in players who would buy into the system 100%. However, the entire system falls apart when a key player like Balogun is unable to play her part perfectly. It increases the pressure on the other senior leader - Celeste Taylor - pressure that few players could sustain their level of play through. It is highly uncharacteristic for Celeste to miss so many free throws and a sign the pressure was breaking her down.
_________________
Follow your passion and your life will be true down to your core.
~rAf
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