Thoughts on Duke

[Fishy]

That is a very good Duke team - very good.

They have some young kids and Ollie disrupted what they wanted to do at times, but they'll be a terror come March.

 

[CallMeBruce]

There are few moral victories, but losing by 10 to Duke >>>>>>>>>>> losing to Yale by 1.

We're trending upwards.

I missed fouls 1 and 2 on Brimah, but man the last 3 were cheap.

Facey is really good.

The first two fouls were stupid, but legit calls. I thought the next two were fouls, but they were the predictable kind that you get when you're going up against someone as much better than you as Okafor is than Brimah. The last one was an absolute nonsense call.

 

[johnhuskies95]

We haven't had a team that physically dominates the full 40 minutes since we lost to George Mason in 06. The 11 and 14 teams were streaky and depended on guards. We got physically killed yesterday. Keep recruiting big 3's, 4's 5's. Miss those days.

The '09 team absolutely dominated teams.

 

[Jaker]

As for Dook, hard to dislike this team, not your typical dook team full of nerds and arrogant pricks, no Reddick, Paulis, or Randolph. I don't think they will be good enough to win the NC, in the end I think AZ and UK will be better.

 

[bobbygt]

What I find amazing is how good Duke has been in the years Uconn has played them. The all time series is now 6-4 in favor of Duke, but look at Duke's postseason results in those victories:

1. 1964- Duke loses to UCLA in the National Championship
2. 1976- Duke was pretty bad that year
3. 1990- Duke loses to UNLV in the National Championship
4. 1991- Duke wins the National Championship
5. 2009- Duke wins the National Championship
6. 2014- ?

Now, you might ask, 'So what?? and 'This doesn't make me feel better.'

It doesn't make me feel better, but I still think it's an amazing occurence.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

While waiting for second half to start was watching the warm ups....Doook drained 8 threes in a row, missed 1 and then hit another 4...when i watched us we made 1, missed 8...it's really scary how bad of shooting team this is.....we need a slow guy that can shoot

That was supposed to be Tolksdorf.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

The first two fouls were stupid, but legit calls. I thought the next two were fouls, but they were the predictable kind that you get when you're going up against someone as much better than you as Okafor is than Brimah. The last one was an absolute nonsense call.

No to mention he took 3 steps to move 90 degrees around the basket and then turned to push-off Brimah for the basket

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Duke is a good well balanced team. Only parts I don't like about them are the usual - ESPN Hype (http://insider.espn.go.com/mens-col...blue-devils-team-ever-college-basketball) and Referee preference. Was happy that UConn played hard and stood with them. UConn does need another ball handler and someone willing and able to shoot, especially 3 pointers. They are young and trying to find an identity after losing 3 of their 4 top scorers from last year. I am confident that they figure out most of these problems later in the season and can win the AAC title so that they can make a good run in the Dance.

 

[Waquoit]

If the jerseys didn't say Duke I might just pull for this team. Even so, my Duke hatred has waned to the point of barely existing. Too many other schools to hate worse.

 

[jibsey]

I realize the politically correct thing to say is that we were just not good enough but the reffing took us out of the game. You cannot establish anything if your starters are on the bench. The second foul on Brimah was a joke and the fifth was a travel or push off by Okafor. Flagrant 1 on TSam when we are making a comeback? That was the biggest joke call I have seen in a while. Never saw a Freshman get calls like the Duke players. That said, we need to improve foul shooting real quick and either need to improve outside shooting or stop taking those shots. Purvis takes many ill-advised shots but at least he is willing to take them. I did a lot of screaming watching Hamilton pass up shot after shot.

Noticed Hamilton passing multiple unguarded wide open 3's in favor of driving (which he does well). We don't have to live and die by the 3, but to be competitive against top teams we need something there just to keep teams from stacking the lane. If Purvis could hit a few open perimeter shots the world could change for us.

 

[CL82]

As for Dook, hard to dislike this team, not your typical dook team full of nerds and arrogant s, no Reddick, Paulis, or Randolph. I don't think they will be good enough to win the NC, in the end I think AZ and UK will be better.

 

[mauconnfan]

That is a very good Duke team - very good.

They have some young kids and Ollie disrupted what they wanted to do at times, but they'll be a terror come March.

Yes it's pretty damn good but you would have to be a bit concerned about the 0 puts off the bench and just 3 names from the bench in the UConn game. In respect to our Huskies he used his starting 5 as much as possible, even sticking with Winslow after he picked up his 3rd early 2nd half. I think he was worried about how gritty and plucky our guys were!

 

[nelsonmuntz]

That is a very good Duke team - very good.

They have some young kids and Ollie disrupted what they wanted to do at times, but they'll be a terror come March.

Meh. Speed kills, and Duke just isn't that fast. In recent years, Duke has made unathletic Lehigh and Mercer teams look like Westhead's Loyola Marymount teams. Okafor is not nearly as quick as Jabari Parker was, so this team has gotten slower in my opinion. If the rest of the ACC ever lived up to its hype, Duke would be in trouble.

 

[UConnDan97]

That is a very good Duke team - very good...they'll be a terror come March.

So will we.

And I truly believe that. The problem for UConn to this point is that we haven't really had the full roster settle into their roles yet. That's mostly due to injuries throughout the year. But when Purvis, Calhoun, Samuel, Hamilton, and others settle into their roles (maybe another month or so), this team is going to be extremely good. Hell, even Boatright has to settle into his new role, from the standpoint that he'll figure out which parts of the game he can trust the others with so that he doesn't have to do it all himself. I really wish that the last few games we played were played in late January or February, where I think we would have generated a different story than the one we did this past month.

Watch out for the Huskies in March and April...

 

[B1GEast]

props to KO, the game plan was there, in place to beat a good dook team. I don't know why so many of our guards pass up on the open shot. If you're a guard and there's no one within 5 feet from you, shoot the damn ball,

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Meh. Speed kills, and Duke just isn't that fast. In recent years, Duke has made unathletic Lehigh and Mercer teams look like Westhead's Loyola Marymount teams. Okafor is not nearly as quick as Jabari Parker was, so this team has gotten slower in my opinion. If the rest of the ACC ever lived up to its hype, Duke would be in trouble.

I can't wait to revisit this. I imagine it'll look a lot like your Clippers prediction.

 

[johnhuskies95]

Meh. Speed kills, and Duke just isn't that fast. In recent years, Duke has made unathletic Lehigh and Mercer teams look like Westhead's Loyola Marymount teams. Okafor is not nearly as quick as Jabari Parker was, so this team has gotten slower in my opinion. If the rest of the ACC ever lived up to its hype, Duke would be in trouble.

You actually have insightful observations a lot of times, but you're so stubborn and hardheaded that it doesn't do a lot of good.

Duke has as much of a claim as anyone does as being considered the best team in CBB. They'll be a top 5 team all season.

 

[Edward Sargent]

1) Last year, it was often said that no player had more on him than Shabazz Napier - I think Boatright has much more riding on him this year and he's not as well equipped. He's not a natural point guard but he drives a square peg into a round hole through sheer will.

Honestly, if anything happens to this kid, we're screwed to hell. If you're a UConn student and you haven't offered to help ferry Ryan Boatright around campus in a palanquin, you better get to it. If he twists an ankle stepping off a curb, you will have us to answer to.

2) I'm throwing in the towel expecting the Brimah/Nolan combo to deliver anything on note in terms of rebounding. They're not good at it - they're not getting better.

Nolan played 22 minutes, did some good work on defense, but good lord, he didn't get a single rebound. In 83 minutes this year, he has seven rebounds. If you're 6'10" and getting regular minutes, they should withhold your food rations if you average one rebound a game.

We really know nothing about Rakim Lubin and he's likely a role player down the road, but I'm guessing he's worth more than seven rebounds in 83 minutes. He doesn't have to be very good to be better than Nolan - would prefer to see him get more minutes. Especially because...

Brimah is just a lousy rebounder. Has no feel for it, no aptitude for it and seemingly little interest in it. He's seven-feet tall and he got one more rebound than you tonight. Which makes...

3) Kentan Facey rarer than a unicorn these days - a UConn big who can rebound. Yale excluded, he's played some of his better games in losses against better competition. The kid shows up. Did he get that much better in the offseason or was he underutilized last year? Dunno, but it makes me want to see Lubin get some more time.

4)

5) Did this for the Texas game, I think, with similar results...

Our four-star kids - 22-47, 54 points, 25 rebounds.

Our three-star kids - 1-7, two points, five rebounds.

For the "It doesn't matter" crowd, better recruits get better faster and better able to face good teams like Duke or Texas. We need another shooter in this class and not one that's a project. (I've almost forgotten that we're still recruiting Stone.)

6) New Jersey is Duke's home away from home.

Or it was...

Duke has won all 10 of its games by at least 10 points, but this one was a lot closer being played in the Izod Center in the Meadowlands sports complex before a near sellout, pro-Huskies crowd.

Name another program that would have outsold Duke for a game at the Meadowlands - I can't. (Please don't say Rutgers or Seton Hall.)

7) Everyone is saying the right things about the foul and foul shot disparity, but come on.

8) Nolan's ability to draw charges is becoming legend. The kid is more proficient at getting run over than almost everyone I've ever met save a friend of mine who has been hit by a car three times.

9) I expected UConn to get curb-stomped tonight and was happy with the effort - not happy with the rebounding, not happy with the disparity from the whistles, but happy with the effort. The effort tonight likely beats West Virginia and Texas and surely handles Yale.

We can't shoot, we can't rebound, we can't pass, we don't value the basketball and our offense is an affront to Dr. Naismith's memory, but I think we're going to be okay here. I forecast another month of solid ugly before things settle in. We'll win via rock fight, steal one of the two big out of conference games and then roll through the AAC.

I'd have loved to have had Texas and Yale in the W column for seeding, but not worried about the tournament, even at 4-4.

I was at the game and thought the crowd was more pro Duke. The 4th and 5th on Brimah and the 5th on Nolan could have been offensive. To put it another way if the roles were reversed they would have been offensive fouls. That having been said OK4 could have gone off for as many points as he wanted against our three bigs. I say 3 bigs because Rocky's contributions actually doubled Phils and Amidah's. Boatright, Facey and Hamilton came to play the rest not so much. Omar has the same flat footed set shot he had last year with the same result, albeit with only a few shots. I wonder if it isn't worth reworking his shot. The defense was great and the effort was there but Boat and 4 good highschoolers (which is what they looked like) were what the offense looks like right now. I agree with you that we may make the tournament but I have a feeling that we are going to have a few more WTFs before we get there. I think we need to win the AAC Tournament. On another note I lived in the Dirty Jerz for 25 years and went to the Meadowlands for Basketball (think Tate George's shot), Football and trotters. WTF did they do to the signage to get back on the Rt 3 East!! the Meadowlands and Dukes home away from home lets bring Maryland back to the Barclay Center or the Cuse to MSG!!! Hell I'd rather see Providence at the Dunk. Anything but that Jimmy Hoffa stinkin Meadowlands.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

props to KO, the game plan was there, in place to beat a good dook team. I don't know why so many of our guards pass up on the open shot. If you're a guard and there's no one within 5 feet from you, shoot the damn ball,

That was one of UConn’s biggest problems last night. No one outside of Boat wanted to shoot. Everyone else look to pass to Boat even when they had open shots. Someone needs to step-up as a second perimeter shooter, which would also take some of the heat off of Boat and the keep the folks inside honest.

 

[sledog]

8) Nolan's ability to draw charges is becoming legend. The kid is more proficient at getting run over than almost everyone I've ever met save a friend of mine who has been hit by a car three times.

He's a closet pukie??