Duke @ Wisconsin

[dante]

Kaminsky is also what, 22? Obviously dude isn't saying he's as good as Dirk is right now.

Was Dirk doing all that when he was 22?

Here is a funny story from Chuck about Dirk when he was 18

 

[HuskyBballFan]

Okafor gets all the attention, but Duke's guards are outstanding. Tyus Jones is Tyler Ennis on steriods - just as poised, but a much bigger threat to score.

They beat the #4 team in the country by double digits in their building with Winslow doing nothing and Okafor only playing 27 minutes.

Still waiting on nelson's analysis of how they can't possibly be better than last year's team.

 

[jibsey]

Here is a funny story from Chuck about Dirk when he was 18

The SEC stuff is LOL.

 

[CTBasketball]

The biggest factor in the Duke game will be scoring more points than them.

 

[BUHusky]

The biggest factor in the Duke game will be scoring more points than them.

Thanks John Madden.

 

[superjohn]

I think people are going a little overboard, yes they are very good but far from unbeatable. While Duke looked very good last night I thought Wisconsin looked pretty bad, they were slow and out of control at the same time on offense. Dekker was invisible and their defense was softer than baby poo, I expect us to play way better D.

 

[HooperScooper]

Duke shot 65%. I didn't see the game. Do you think it was more Duke just having a tremendous shooting night (it happens sometimes, see 1985 NCAA Championship) or is Wisconsin's defense suspect? Teams don't normally shoot 65% for a whole game.

 

[johnhuskies95]

Duke shot 65%. I didn't see the game. Do you think it was more Duke just having a tremendous shooting night (it happens sometimes, see 1985 NCAA Championship) or is Wisconsin's defense suspect? Teams don't normally shoot 65% for a whole game.

Duke is a lot like 2011 Pitt in that they just hit a lot of tough shots. They have a lot of guys that can create for themselves. They didn't even have a lot of assists last night, they just have about 4 really good individual offensive players every time they're on the floor.

 

[RipCity]

Duke shot 65%. I didn't see the game. Do you think it was more Duke just having a tremendous shooting night (it happens sometimes, see 1985 NCAA Championship) or is Wisconsin's defense suspect? Teams don't normally shoot 65% for a whole game.

That's about our FG% from the last two games added together.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Duke shot 65%. I didn't see the game. Do you think it was more Duke just having a tremendous shooting night (it happens sometimes, see 1985 NCAA Championship) or is Wisconsin's defense suspect? Teams don't normally shoot 65% for a whole game.

People saying Wisconsin played poorly are just looking to downplay what was, honestly, a pretty tremendous performance by Duke last night. If UConn had put on that performance I can guarantee you superjohn would not be chalking it up to Wisconsin playing poorly.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

People saying Wisconsin played poorly are just looking to downplay what was, honestly, a pretty tremendous performance by Duke last night. If UConn had put on that performance I can guarantee you superjohn would not be chalking it up to Wisconsin playing poorly.

Exactly. Did Florida, Michigan State, and Villanova "just play poorly" against us last year in the tournament? Or did we maybe have something to do with that?

 

[Silk31]

Based on that performance Duke is gunna steamroll us in NJ

This is Coach K's most talented team in recent memory but the one thing I will tell you is that they will face tougher D with us than what Wisconsin offered up. You can't be help but think UK and Duke are in a different league at the moment but we'll give it to good ole college try anyway

 

[mauconnfan]

Duke shot 65%. I didn't see the game. Do you think it was more Duke just having a tremendous shooting night (it happens sometimes, see 1985 NCAA Championship) or is Wisconsin's defense suspect? Teams don't normally shoot 65% for a whole game.

They are a very good team who had a tremendous night. Jones is not Ennis on steroids either, actually don't think he's as good but he was good last night. They all were but I've seen them carried by Winslow when none of them were shooting well. Oh yeah and Cook is a different player this year, shooting it real well while playing more 2G, he's the difference believe it or not!

 

[Inyatkin]

Duke can't be good, because some guy on the Boneyard said they lost their best player from last year and will therefore be terrible.

 

[CTBasketball]

Based on that performance Duke is gunna steamroll us in NJ

This is Coach K's most talented team in recent memory but the one thing I will tell you is that they will face tougher D with us than what Wisconsin offered up. You can't be help but think UK and Duke are in a different league at the moment but we'll give it to good ole college try anyway

Our defense this year has been the worst in program history since 2006-2007.

 

[Gurleyman]

Our defense this year has been the worst in program history since 2006-2007.

Can't agree with that at all. We completely swallowed up Dayton and Texas in the second half (both shot less than 30 percent after the break).

 

[superjohn]

Our defense this year has been the worst in program history since 2006-2007.

Transition defense but our halfcourt defense has been downright suffocating at times.

 

[Marat]

Transition defense but our halfcourt defense has been downright suffocating at times.

UConn needs both

Can't agree with that at all. We completely swallowed up Dayton and Texas in the second half (both shot less than 30 percent after the break).

UConn will need to defend both halves (transition + halfcourt) at level 10.

 

[Gurleyman]

UConn needs both

UConn will need to defend both halves (transition + halfcourt) at level 10.

It's early in the year - we have a lot of new pieces, so we're making some mistakes and learning from them. A healthy Purvis (who we've only had for two of five games) will also probably give us more end to end athleticism for our transition D.

As much as we'd like everyone to play at peak intensity and focus every minute of every game, athletics typically doesn't work that way. There are going to be lulls and lapses, and individuals will have to learn from mistakes losing their man on screens or shake bad habits of not converting to defense well enough. But the best teams can go to level 11 when they need that little extra umpph, and we've shown that a couple times already.

 

[UConn17]

They are a very good team who had a tremendous night. Jones is not Ennis on steroids either, actually don't think he's as good but he was good last night. They all were but I've seen them carried by Winslow when none of them were shooting well. Oh yeah and Cook is a different player this year, shooting it real well while playing more 2G, he's the difference believe it or not!

Completely agree. Jones played really good last night but isn't even their most important guard! Quinn Cook is much improved from last year; he's a really good shooter. Winslow is an athlete with a bunch of skills, but still needs to put it together...reminds me of Hamilton (maybe not quite as skilled but stronger and more athletic). It's amazing how efficient their offense is without being a great passing team tbh. Great individually skilled players who just make shots.

 

[James]

Our transition defense is putrid, cerebral pg's like a tyus jones will eat that up with pushing the tempo. Jones sure knows how to stop and go and thats what worrys me when he faces boatrights/samuels tight pressure. samuel for sure can't check him, and boatright will have to bring the goods for us to contend. as in not running smack dab into screens

 

[Stainmaster]

Duke can't be good, because some guy on the Boneyard said they lost their best player from last year and will therefore be terrible.

They also didn't make it as far as we did in the tournament last season, so we're automatically better.

 

[Gurleyman]

Our transition defense is putrid, cerebral pg's like a tyus jones will eat that up with pushing the tempo. Jones sure knows how to stop and go and thats what worrys me when he faces boatrights/samuels tight pressure. samuel for sure can't check him, and boatright will have to bring the goods for us to contend. as in not running smack dab into screens

Jones played extremely well yesterday, especially for a freshman, but he was 5-23 from the floor in his four games before that, so let's not act like he's some unstoppable force that we have to pray to the basketball gods that we can merely contain.

 

[BUConn10]

If the guys dont step up their defense, especially in transition, December 18th could get very ugly. My nightmare is being embarrassed by Duke in a big Neutral court game like that with America watching. It would really deflate the energy and feed the haters a great deal of ammo.

 

[Matt (Chicago)]

This. I wouldn't be surprised if this is a double digit win for Wisconsin.

spot on with that prediction!!