There seem to be a lot of problems with Duke at the moment. Like a few other 'yarders, I was at the USF-Duke game last night. Here are some observations:
1. Duke took a while to come out of the locker room prior to tip-off and again at halftime. During warm-up drills, the team looked very focused and intense.
2. Fournier uses a shot-put motion to shoot lay-ups, both in warm-ups and in games. No wrist movement whatsoever. Very odd. She seems very uncomfortable at the free throw line, where she does use a lot of wrist action to spin the ball towards the basket. Incredibly long arms and big hands.
3. Delaney Thomas is a beautiful basketball player to watch operate around the basket. Very efficient. Why she doesn't get more touches every game is perplexing. 3 for 3 last night and almost 76% on the season after six games.
4. Jadyn Donovan - what the heck is going on with her? This is a 6'0 starting guard in the ACC who has never attempted a three point shot in her entire college career! Why is she starting - heck why is she averaging 24 minutes a game? Last night the USF defenders completely left her alone - with or without the ball - when she was within two feet of the arc! This allowed the Bulls to collapse their defense anytime Donovan was on the court.
5. The Duke backcourt - nay the entire team - provided no three point threat whatsoever. Not only 4 for 17 the entire game, but only one made three point FG in the first three quarters. The undersized Bulls simply collapsed their defense until Duke could prove they could actually shoot from distance, which only happened when the Bulls were up 21 midway through the fourth.
6. Fuel for the "What-the-Heck-is-Kara-Doing" lynch mob: The refs immediately started off the game calling what appeared to be touch fouls. Okay, so everyone simply adjusts, right? Not so for Duke. Fournier is called for the first foul of the game 77 seconds into the first quarter and is immediately benched for Arianna Roberson, and does not return to the game for almost five minutes. The second Duke fouls goes against Delaney Thomas 47 seconds later and she is immediately replaced by Jordan Wood and does not come back for the rest of the quarter. Roberson (Fournier's sub) commits the third Duke foul 48 seconds after that and is immediately pulled for Riley Nelson and also is also benched for the remainder of the quarter. Brings back recollections of Pat Summit's tough love style at Tennessee.
7. Jose Fernandez attended the game to scout Duke players for possible WNBA draft selections (this is what he told Bull's radio and USF's beat writers last week). He left the arena midway through the fourth quarter with the Bulls up 20. BTW, he says he will also be in attendance for the UConn and South Carolina games in December.
8. This is a much different USF team than the last few years. This year USF plays at a fast pace the entire game and their offense runs through their guards. Their "bigs" are quite undersized, but play tough. Scheduling UCLA, Duke, UConn, South Carolina and Vanderbilt will certainly get them ready for their American Conference schedule.
