The Duke Chronicle's analysis of the upcoming game is 2 days old.
Duke has nine players who are averaging more than five points per game, and UConn only has four outside of Juhász. This could be the key to victory for the Blue Devils, who like to press and speed up teams, which could tire out UConn come the fourth quarter.
“I think our depth has helped us on [the defensive] end of the floor to be able to press full-court and make things harder for people,” said Lawson.
If Duke can take advantage of this depth and play to its strengths Friday, it will have a shot at defeating UConn.
Here are five things to know before the Phil Knight Legacy tournament begins Friday.
www.dukechronicle.com
It's a nice article. Thanks for posting it. I mean, it's a bit of a "pep talk" for the students and fans, but it's still refreshing.
One thing I notice is how certain incomplete stats are used by many outlets, not just this one. For example:
"The competition this week will bring an additional challenge for the Blue Devils to continue their stout defense. UConn is averaging 90.7 points per game, good for seventh in the country. If Duke is to face Iowa, it is also scoring 90 points per contest. UConn guard Azzi Fudd is having a historic campaign, averaging 30 points per game, second in the country."
Without a "Strength of Schedule" factor, these numbers are meaningless. Our 90.7 pts/g is 7th in the country taken out of context, but I suspect factoring in SoS, we'd be first or second. The same for Azzi's 30 pts/g -- take into account SoS and she's probably leading the country. Of course, SoS is a tricky factor to calculate, but even doing it naively, say by using AP rankings at the time of the games, would probably cull the pretenders.
