Is this another "team of the century" year for Duke?! | Page 4 | The Boneyard

Is this another "team of the century" year for Duke?!

If Cedric Coward didn't smoke his workouts and opt to stay in the draft ESPN would probably have a camera crew tagging along with Duke this season to film a documentary
 
Inyatkin said:
Yes but did they impress you in a college game in the last 36 hours? That’s clearly the only thing we’re going by
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It's the 36 hour body of work that the committee relies on.
 
uconngb said:
He didn't say who do YOU want. He said who do the media and the NCAA want
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Go look at where the National eyeballs have locked in this year. UM and Duke have been in 7 of the most viewed games.

We’re not on there once.

Let’s see how chalk this tourney goes. My theory is we are moving to very chalk tournaments on the go forward and that Cinderella’s are dead.
 
RuffRuff said:
Let’s see how chalk this tourney goes. My theory is we are moving to very chalk tournaments on the go forward and that Cinderella’s are dead.
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i still think you are going to have some. The Tournament is going to be a coming out party for these kids to get paid big next year.
 
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controlfade said:
i still think you are going to have some. The Tournament is going to be a coming out party for these kids to get paid big next year.
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Maybe - it’ll be an interesting watch.

Between NIL/portal with talent consolidating at the top, feels like the talent gap between the contenders and pretenders is too wide. Last year was the chalkiest tourney ever. I’m expecting a similar trend this year.

I’m expecting few non 1 seeds in Elite 8 that aren’t 2 or 3 seeds.
 
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RuffRuff said:
It's going to take a team with a weird matchup - like an Illinois and their bigs shooting lights out. A team with the size to hang, but shooting upside to make runs. A team with two solid guards. Maybe a Kansas, who can throw Counsel & DP at em, and have some interior size to stay strong in the paint.

They aren't losing before the Elite 8 - bank that.
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Kansas feels like a wild card this year not knowing what they will get from DP. But they have had some impressive wins even without DP playing or playing a full game. They could be a early exit or make a deep run. Not sure which it will be.
 
Donyell 360 said:
Kansas feels like a wild card this year not knowing what they will get from DP. But they have had some impressive wins even without DP playing or playing a full game. They could be an early exit or make a deep run. Not sure which it will be.
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Total wildcard but will be a fun watch. They check a lot of boxes when healthy.
 
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the basic issue with duke is that their offense can get bogged down in clutch moments. their whole thing is throw the ball to boozer and see what happens just like last year with flagg. this just is not a high efficiency play. boozer is not a guy who can score at will when he doesn't have a matchup advantage.
 
uh-no said:
which piece, exactly? reibe and smith have generally proven to be pretty big downgrades from the starters as the season has worn on and seen few minutes.

Ross and Stewart have been good pieces, but inconsistent.

I'm not suggesting duke is loaded on the bench or anything, but our depth hasn't exactly been what's carried us in conference play.
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This is an insane take. Reibe would have started for a bunch of tourney teams this year. Smith had bad games, but he also won us several games. Ross is a defensive stopper, who can spot and shoot the 3 at a high level, and you can you do a lot worse than having him off the bench to spell Mullins. And Stewart, assuming he is healthy, is a very strong off the bench piece who can score and play D and has size. That is a rotation of 9 solid players. You mentioned conference play, but did that bench help us against the non-conference gauntlet we faced? I very much think so. Also, do we have to be reminded that we played several games without our starters? Who do you think came in to fill in the stat line? That is right, the bench guys. We are not 27-3 without a deep team this year.
 
imno1 said:
Scheyer is becoming a really good coach. Some here hate to admit that. But imo even if Duke wins it all, I don’t think they are as good as UConn 24. So team of the Century - No
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being a good recruiter and being a good coach are two different concepts. Can he please win ONE ring before we elevate him to a level he has not yet earned? Goodness, he has how many burger players now?????? He had how many last year????? including two that are ripping the NBA right now.
 
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Iluvsuebird said:
This is an insane take. Reibe would have started for a bunch of tourney teams this year. Smith had bad games, but he also won us several games. Ross is a defensive stopper, who can spot and shoot the 3 at a high level, and you can you do a lot worse than having him off the bench to spell Mullins. And Stewart, assuming he is healthy, is a very strong off the bench piece who can score and play D and has size. That is a rotation of 9 solid players. You mentioned conference play, but did that bench help us against the non-conference gauntlet we faced? I very much think so. Also, do we have to be reminded that we played several games without our starters? Who do you think came in to fill in the stat line? That is right, the bench guys. We are not 27-3 without a deep team this year.
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Screenshot 2026-03-03 at 11.36.15 AM.png
Our bench. Reibe has some really bad numbers. As a barometer, Clingan lead the team in this stat as a freshmen, by a wide margin, playing 13mpg. Reibe's numbers are not great.
 
RuffRuff said:
View attachment 117735Our bench. Reibe has some really bad numbers. As a barometer, Clingan lead the team in this stat as a freshmen, by a wide margin, playing 13mpg. Reibe's numbers are not great.
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Listen man, I am not a nerd. I have no idea what those numbers mean. And I never, EVER, compared anyone on this team with DC, or Andre, or Cam, or Newton. My point stands on its own: watch the damn games and you will see PLENTY of examples of our bench players contributing to MANY wins. Freaking nerds.
 
Iluvsuebird said:
Listen man, I am not a nerd. I have no idea what those numbers mean. And I never, EVER, compared anyone on this team with DC, or Andre, or Cam, or Newton. My point stands on its own: watch the damn games and you will see PLENTY of examples of our bench players contributing to MANY wins. Freaking nerds.
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Lol - I love Reibe, so you don't have to convince me.
 
Iluvsuebird said:
Listen man, I am not a nerd. I have no idea what those numbers mean. And I never, EVER, compared anyone on this team with DC, or Andre, or Cam, or Newton. My point stands on its own: watch the damn games and you will see PLENTY of examples of our bench players contributing to MANY wins. Freaking nerds.
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And we have plenty of examples of our bench blowing it against crappy teams and having to overplay our starters


Dan Hurley has been clear he's not happy with how much he is forced to play his starters.
 
I rely on Hey Adrien for the best analysis, but if I was a Duke fan I'd be concerned with the team's over-reliance on Boozer. He leads the team in Pts, Reb's and Assists (#2 is a distant second in each category), and they only have two other double-digits scorers. Obviously, the NCAA will never let him foul out but would be interesting to see what how the team would respond to him sitting for a long stretch. Would be curious to see if that's happened yet this year (or, if there was a game where he had an off night) and how the rest of the team looked.

Compare that to us where we have three different guys who lead those categories and five that average double-digits (and AK, Ross and Stewie to dog him all night).
 
Seamus84 said:
I rely on Hey Adrien for the best analysis, but if I was a Duke fan I'd be concerned with the team's over-reliance on Boozer. He leads the team in Pts, Reb's and Assists (#2 is a distant second in each category), and they only have two other double-digits scorers. Obviously, the NCAA will never let him foul out but would be interesting to see what how the team would respond to him sitting for a long stretch. Would be curious to see if that's happened yet this year (or, if there was a game where he had an off night) and how the rest of the team looked.

Compare that to us where we have three different guys who lead those categories and five that average double-digits (and AK, Ross and Stewie to dog him all night).
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He averages 2.2 fouls per game and hasn't fouled out once this year. We can likely cross that strategy out.

While a good defender, he's not their safety net that would incur lot's of fouls. And he plays ridiculously smart.
 
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RuffRuff said:
He averages 2.2 fouls per game and hasn't fouled out once this year. We can likely cross that strategy out.

While a good defender, he's not their safety net that would incur lot's of fouls. And he plays ridiculously smart.
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Agreed, not a likelihood. Rare, but not impossible for individual dominance to win it all (eg. Kemba, Carmelo, Purvis). Just pointing out that as we talk "teams of the century", balance is usually important in the NCAAT.

P.S. while I don't care for their '99 team was the "best never to win the NCAAT" meaningless accolade , below is their average(s).

1772559339627.png
 
Seamus84 said:
Agreed, not a likelihood. Rare, but not impossible for individual dominance to win it all (eg. Kemba, Carmelo, Purvis). Just pointing out that as we talk "teams of the century", balance is usually important in the NCAAT.

P.S. while I don't care for their '99 team was the "best never to win the NCAAT" meaningless accolade , below is their average(s).

View attachment 117737
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This Duke team isn't the team of the century. 2024 a better team. Cling would have taken the rim away, they would have been able to handle all of our guards. Boozer would have been an issue. Duke's biggest advantage is they have 4 high plus defenders. 2-5.

If we do get a 1 and a chalk F4, would love Duke to face AZ in the semi, we get a chance at UM. I'd like to see what Duke does against AZ, as they have good guard play and a Peat could likely how his own defensively against Boozer, with Awaka coming off the bench. AZ is probably as well designed a team to beat Duke as is out there, because they have two powerful 4's to throw at Boozer, plus Krivas. Bradley/Burries could be favorable against them as well. Duke's PG's are crummy defenders - Little Booz & Foster.
 
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It's funny. I almost wonder if our strategy with Boozer would be the opposite of what we saw with Edey and Purdue. Double Boozer from multiple spots, constantly changing ball screen defense, and essentially make their other players try to beat us. Easier said than done...
 
temery said:
You could just ignore him, or show a little self-control and not read/reply to his post.

Time to reinstall the two way ignore.
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your suggestion to ignore and show self control requires a maturity/common sense level most of the culprits don't seem to possess
 
If they could not win it last year with the 2nd coming of the Savior and his Robin, what is the guaranty they can win it this year?
 
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