[2017-18] Louisville, Syracuse, at VT, UNC

[Inveigle]

Shelden was amazing. That ‘06 team played half the game with Paulus, Redick, and Melchionni together in overplay m2m (yes, I’m a basketball racist), and Duke was still a top-20 defense.

The IandIord was a beast! I toId him one night he made Redick the player he became!

 

[torontoduke]

Man, did they kill UL on the boards. I did not realize it was such a gap - 44-30.

 

[Inveigle]

The UL game was a total beatdown! Grayson was hot, WendeII was a BEAST, K was pissed, THAT'S the way I hope Duke plays in the uNC game and in the tournament! And Javin is active- when he isn't fouling he's disrupting to the other team!

 

[Devilsforlife]

I'll be interested to see how the zone holds up @ VT and vs. UNC. The VT game has the feel of one where they hit 15 bullshit threes no matter how well they're guarded, but if we can contain UNC, the defense will be in good shape for a run in March. It's already ranked higher on KenPom than it was pre-NCAAT in 2015.

 

[StopThePumpFakesShav]

The zone has started out so hot that you almost wish they broke it out in the second round of the NCAAT rather than a month before the tournament when teams have some time to scout its weaknesses. The last three defensive performances, if they had occurred in Rounds 2-4, would have surely been good enough for Duke to get to the F4.

Obviously that's not a criticism of the staff- we had to stop the bleeding and there was no way of knowing that it would start out at its peak effectiveness (I'm gonna assume it cannot get better from here).

 

[TS9]

My question is what K's threshold will be for abandoning the zone in a game. It's certain that at some point, a team is going to shoot well against it, at least for a little while. Is K going to be willing to ride that out, or is he going to revert to M2M in desperation, which I have to assume would lead to disaster.

 

[physicsfactor]

My question is what K's threshold will be for abandoning the zone in a game. It's certain that at some point, a team is going to shoot well against it, at least for a little while. Is K going to be willing to ride that out, or is he going to revert to M2M in desperation, which I have to assume would lead to disaster.

I came here to post this exact thought. Some team will get hot and start to light up the zone. How long will K watch that before abandoning the zone? And how will the m2m look after Duke hasn't played it in weeks?

 

[torontoduke]

My question is what K's threshold will be for abandoning the zone in a game. It's certain that at some point, a team is going to shoot well against it, at least for a little while. Is K going to be willing to ride that out, or is he going to revert to M2M in desperation, which I have to assume would lead to disaster.

I came here to post this exact thought. Some team will get hot and start to light up the zone. How long will K watch that before abandoning the zone? And how will the m2m look after Duke hasn't played it in weeks?

I have to imagine they continue to work on M2M routinely in practice, even if they are no longer applying it during games. The zone has saved them for the time being, and hopefully is a long-term solution....but I cannot see the staff not continuing to work on M2M principles.

 

[deeyoukayeee]

And how will the m2m look after Duke hasn't played it in weeks?

A lot like my golf swing. I can take years off and it will still suck, though not appreciably more than the last round I played.

 

[physicsfactor]

It may have been complete bullshit, but I seem to remember after the 2015 season that Coach K said something about playing some zone that year really helped the guys understand communication and rotations in the m2m, and that was a part of why the defense was so much better down the stretch. So let's hope for the best if they feel they are forced to switch to m2m in the middle of our 2nd round opponent's inevitable shot-making frenzy

 

[rome8180]

Syracuse isn't very good, and it's in Cameron, but I would think they would be at least semi-competent at running a zone offense, right? I mean, they practice against a zone defense all the time.

 

[aiw]

That's my worry about this game. And, the fact that it may be 60 possessions of boredom.

 

[rome8180]

I welcome boredom with this team.

 

[CMon85]

I think Cuse is the game Bagley needs to return. A road game will be pretty intense to return to. I think it's a huge mistake if they rest him until tournament time. Either Cuze, best case, or maybe hold him out until UNC.

 

[StopThePumpFakesShav]

Vegas Insider is listing a line for all of tomorrow’s games except Duke-Syracuse.

 

[Inveigle]

Vegas Insider is listing a line for all of tomorrow’s games except Duke-Syracuse.

They're waiting word from the Godfather; Coach K!

 

[rhfarmer]

!!!!!!

 

[torontoduke]

Vegas Insider is listing a line for all of tomorrow’s games except Duke-Syracuse.

That must be based upon Bagley uncertainty, right?

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

Duke is favored by 13 points against Syracuse. Many books still have no line for this game despite having lines for other games. I don’t think this has anything to do with Carter, given the official Duke statement about him today. I think Bagley has a good chance of playing.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

Everyone has this at -13 now. Kenpom has -13. Sagarin has -14.5. I think Vegas is still placing positive value on Bagley. He is getting closer and closer to being viewed as a net zero player over DeLaurier, Bolden and White, though.