How to beat Duke

[BUConn10]

Okafor 25 points (10-14), 20 boards, 2 steals, 3 blocks. He's gonna be a handful.

 

[jfuchs91]

The one thing that gives me hope about this game is Kevin Ollie's game-planning. Even though we've been undermanned in the post the past few years, we've managed to largely negate our opponents' ability to score in the post by doubling and recovering with our overall team quickness. Think to the Michigan State and Florida games last year. Hell, even against Texas earlier this season. We were much smaller than all of those teams, but managed to own the paint defensively, taking away the highest percentage shots on the floor.

Ultimately, this Duke squad has the perimeter shooters to make us pay for doubling and I'm not sure we have quite enough offensive firepower. But people tend to overlook that defense is half the game, and UConn's defense (when they're motivated) can keep them in games against anyone.

 

[caw]

Honestly they are number two for a reason. They have a ton of talent.

There are a few ways UConn can attack them but the best thing may be to run off of misses. Okafor is a beast and a heck of an offensive player but he's not the fastest to get back on defense. He also seems to get winded relatively quickly. If Brimah can stay out of foul trouble that will be an advantage UConn may be able to exploit. Brimah must not leave his feet early against Duke.

Have to hope they shoot as well from three as they did today, they missed numerous open threes.

Not sure if Boat starts on the freshman or the senior. They start two PGs so that's going to be interesting.

They have mediocre free-throw shooters amongst their starters, so that could also play a role.

 

[Sandeman]

we just lost to yale and gave up 80 pts to coppin state ( I dont know wtf that state even is )
and you seriously think we can beat Duke?

I love Uconn but there is no chance of us beating duke.
we have no 1 that can rebound
brimah isn't strong enough to deal with duke down low
we turn the ball over like crazy
we shoot the 3 terribly
to even compete with duke, we need Brimah and Boat on the floor at all times.
as soon as either 1 goes to the bench it's gonna be a horror show.

You bring nothing but doom and gloom. Honestly, I wake up in the morning sometimes to read this board....reading your posts is the equivalent to someone pissing in my cheerios and finding an underdeveloped chicken fetus in my eggs. Please do us all a favor and stop trolling this board. Your user name and attitude are a a disgrace. You are the anti-Uconn.

 

[Greathusky]

we just lost to yale and gave up 80 pts to coppin state ( I dont know wtf that state even is )
and you seriously think we can beat Duke?

I love Uconn but there is no chance of us beating duke.
we have no 1 that can rebound
brimah isn't strong enough to deal with duke down low
we turn the ball over like crazy
we shoot the 3 terribly
to even compete with duke, we need Brimah and Boat on the floor at all times.
as soon as either 1 goes to the bench it's gonna be a horror show.

That's what they said in '99.

 

[jibsey]

Question? Are we better than the 13 points Elon lost by? Because if we are we have a decent shot.

 

[8893]

Question? Are we better than the 13 points Elon lost by? Because if we are we have a decent shot.

History has shown time and again that the law of transitive property has little-to-no application in sports, especially not college basketball.

 

[CTBasketball]

History has shown time and again that the law of transitive property has little-to-no application in sports, especially not college basketball.

Although! College football rankings beg to differ!

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Nope--we just have to be consistent. We have a senior PG who needs to lay down the law against the freshmen PG. This is a great chance for Boat to go against a "1st round pick". This gives a lot of Uconn players chances to step up. Texas has a VERY good team and we simply blew the game--gave it away. Anyone predicting a Uconn team being blown out this year will be wrong.

Texas reminds me of Louisville last year. A team that UConn just has a match-up issue with. Duke is winnable, just was last year's run against Michigan St, Florida, and Kentucky were winnable (at least to KO, the team and UConn nation if not ESPN) if UConn brings it's A game. I think the key will be to keep UConn's big s out of early foul trouble against Okafor. I would almost prefer to see Nolan in early, keep the game within reach, and the 3 quick fouls he picks-up in the first 10 minutes hopefully make the refs happy enough so that they treat Brimah fairly.

Oh, and UConn is DOOMED!

 

[8893]

Although! College football rankings beg to differ!

Good point. I suppose it also matters to some extent in CBB rankings, to the extent that it figures into SOS and RPI. To be more precise, what I should have said is that it has little-to-no predictive value in terms of the outcome of any particular game.

 

[CallMeBruce]

That's what they said in '99.

Nope.

 

[jibsey]

Sometimes refs seem to call things tight early and then let them play. That's why I would not like Brimah on Okafor for the first half of the first half. I admit, I'm grasping here but WTH.

 

[intlzncster]

Texas reminds me of Louisville last year. A team that UConn just has a match-up issue with. Duke is winnable, just was last year's run against Michigan St, Florida, and Kentucky were winnable (at least to KO, the team and UConn nation if not ESPN) if UConn brings it's A game. I think the key will be to keep UConn's big s out of early foul trouble against Okafor. I would almost prefer to see Nolan in early, keep the game within reach, and the 3 quick fouls he picks-up in the first 10 minutes hopefully make the refs happy enough so that they treat Brimah fairly.

The big diff here is that last year's wins came on the back of a yearlong trial by fire. The team had taken some beatings over the course of the year and finally came together at the right time. This year's team is far from gelling at this point; they haven't yet adjusted to big losses in personnel, and new pieces are still getting their flow back. Both of those factors have been further compounded by injuries.

It will be very tough to win this game. Not impossible, but very tough. Win or lose, it will be interesting to see how UCONN plays.

 

[Greathusky]

Nope.

Well yeah we were 9 1/2 point underdogs in 1999. You could count the analysts on one hand who gave us a shot.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Well yeah we were 9 1/2 point underdogs in 1999. You could count the analysts on one hand who gave us a shot.

The 1999 UConn team was worlds better than this year's squad. It has nothing to do with how much better Duke is than we are this year.

 

[Kembacity]

we just lost to yale and gave up 80 pts to coppin state ( I dont know wtf that state even is )
and you seriously think we can beat Duke?

I love Uconn but there is no chance of us beating duke.
we have no 1 that can rebound
brimah isn't strong enough to deal with duke down low
we turn the ball over like crazy
we shoot the 3 terribly
to even compete with duke, we need Brimah and Boat on the floor at all times.
as soon as either 1 goes to the bench it's gonna be a horror show.

No self-respecting UConn fan should ever feel this way...

Has our history ever shown you that any team can beat any other team? All it takes is getting things to click for one game... and if you don't sometimes expect UConn to play down to inferior competition year after year, you havent been paying attention to the early season games throughout your fandom

Bottom line, this is a total clown point of view to have for a Husky fan. I'm fine with other teams' fans thinking this way, but they don't have the history we do

 

[GlastonTim]

No self-respecting UConn fan should ever feel this way...

Has our history ever shown you that any team can beat any other team? All it takes is getting things to click for one game... and if you don't sometimes expect UConn to play down to inferior competition year after year, you havent been paying attention to the early season games throughout your fandom

Bottom line, this is a total clown point of view to have for a Husky fan. I'm fine with other teams' fans thinking this way, but they don't have the history we do

Well said!

 

[Huskybass]

I am pretty sure the key to beating Duke is to outscore them.

 

[huskymagic]

Feed the bigs like I have been saying. Unleash Amida to cause havoc on Duke. Boat locking Tyus Jones in the half court, and playing off the ball as a 2 guard focusing on scoring and locking Jones down. D-Ham continuing to play as our point forward, and our perimeter defense on the 3-point shooters. We have a quickness and speed advantage that we need to take advantage of against Duke.

 

[8893]

Feed the bigs like I have been saying. Unleash Amida to cause havoc on Duke. Boat locking Tyus Jones in the half court, and playing off the ball as a 2 guard focusing on scoring and locking Jones down. D-Ham continuing to play as our point forward, and our perimeter defense on the 3-point shooters. We have a quickness and speed advantage that we need to take advantage of against Duke.

 

[polycom]

The issue with UConn isn't can they win? It's will they have the will to win? Will UConn take it upon themselves to take it personally to rebound and box out Duke or will we get the lazy UConn team that refuses to close out on 3 point shooters.... It remains to be seen.

 

[scrappy2.0]

I expect us to show up and win. I dont even see this as an upset. We had two losses we shouldve won--now its our turn to take 1 back. I expect high intensity starting the game with press and traps and taking the ball inside to draw fouls on their bigs.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I expect us to show up and win. I dont even see this as an upset.

Well, at least you're looking at it rationally.

 

[ColoradoUCFan]

My gutt says throw a zone on them to keep the ball out of Okafor's hands. My brain says that I've never seen us run a good zone d this year.

 

[mauconnfan]

The issue with UConn isn't can they win? It's will they have the will to win? Will UConn take it upon themselves to take it personally to rebound and box out Duke or will we get the lazy UConn team that refuses to close out on 3 point shooters.... It remains to be seen.

Depending on the defense we play and assuming there will be some double downs on Okafor (like Brand in 99) they will get open looks from 3. Choose your poison at times but you're right, they need to close in on the 3's much more often than Coppin game. Then again the CSU game saw many open 3's off of TO's. Ultimately for UConn they will need to keep the TO's in the 10 or under range to compete because they aren't a good transition defensive team and need to keep Duke in the half court game. As Fishy said this need to be a 50 pt / 60 pt brawl!