Your Basketball Team's Update Thread

[Dr. FLK]

They appear to be the most one-dimensional Dook team I've seen in a long, long time. They play no perimeter defense. The Plumlees are dominant, until they play someone with actual big men. Their guards (outside of Rivers) don't even look interested in penetrating. But when they are hot from the 3, watch out. I think that someone like Kentucky would beat them by 15+.

I've been saying this since early in the year. They aren't very good defensively, they don't have anyone who is good at distributing the ball, and their big men look real good against other teams that are weak inside but they disappear against strong inside teams.

Great minds think alike.

[Sports Guy]

Its going to depend on matchups.

While I do agree that the Plumlee's don't score a lot against teams with good inside play, they do rebound very well...ie playing the Zoubek role.

This is a team that is 4th in the NCAA in offensive efficiency...You aren't just a good 3pt shooting team to be 4th in the country in that stat.

But, their perimeter defense remains a big issue and they are only 78th in defensive efficiency. Just to put that in perspective, since 2003, the lowest they have been is 20th(for a full season) and have been in the top 10 in all but 3 of those seasons(11th and 15th the other 2 seasons outside of the top 10).

There is no doubt that their defense will be their undoing in the tourney...what round that happens in will depend upon the matchup they have.

They can score with anyone and in most games, Rivers will be the best player on the court, so if they get hot, they could go very deep into the tourney. But if they play a perimeter oriented team with good athleticism, they could easily get beaten.

The thing is, they have shown they are capable of playing good defense...they just haven't shown it on any kind of a consistent basis.

NC St ended up shooting 44% last night...they were in the mid 50's in the first half. They scored 27pts in the second half. Duke did a good job against Stoglin and the Terps the other day.

I do think the defense will get better but, as I have been saying all year, they have to do a better job in team defense. What I don't get is why K isn't going to the zone a lot more. He doesn't have perimeter players with enough speed or athleticism to stay with quicker teams. If he goes to the zone more and collapses on teams inside, I think it will make Duke a better team.

[Sports Guy]

BTW, one thing people are overlooking are the teams Duke has beaten this year.

They have beaten Belmont, Michigan, Michigan St, Virginia, Kansas and UNC...and 4 of those wins came on a neutral or road court.

That is 3 of the top 7 teams in the country according to the kenpom.com rankings. Belmont is 26th, UVA is 23rd and Michigan is 24th.

That's a very good resume.

2 of their losses came to a team ranked second and one ranked 25th(OSU and FSU)...and a 3rd loss came to a team ranked 34th, Temple.

[Frobby]

BTW, one thing people are overlooking are the teams Duke has beaten this year.

They have beaten Belmont, Michigan, Michigan St, Virginia, Kansas and UNC...and 4 of those wins came on a neutral or road court.

That is 3 of the top 7 teams in the country according to the kenpom.com rankings. Belmont is 26th, UVA is 23rd and Michigan is 24th.

That's a very good resume.

2 of their losses came to a team ranked second and one ranked 25th(OSU and FSU)...and a 3rd loss came to a team ranked 34th, Temple.

They played a tough out-of-conference schedule this year, so I expect a pretty good seeding come NCAA tournament time. Still, I feel they have too many flaws to go very far in the tournament.

[Sports Guy]

They played a tough out-of-conference schedule this year, so I expect a pretty good seeding come NCAA tournament time. Still, I feel they have too many flaws to go very far in the tournament.

Have you watched college bball this year?

Most of the country is extremely flawed...even the top teams are loaded with weaknesses.

I am not disagreeing with Duke's issues...I talked about them before the season even started. They are problematic.

But they have proven they can beat some of the best teams in the country. They have proven that they can win games against teams that can exploit their weaknesses and they have the best coach in the world.

Again, it comes down to matchups.

In LUnardi's latest bracket, he has Duke as a #2 seed playing Bucknell and the winner of Harvard and Vandy. Vandy has some good guard play but not a lot of size. They could pose some issues but I like Duke's chances of getting to the sweet 16. In their half of the bracket, the 3 seed is Michigan, a team that can give Duke a ton of issues because of their style of play and athleticism but they have beaten them twice in the last year.

[Frobby]

Have you watched college bball this year?

Most of the country is extremely flawed...even the top teams are loaded with weaknesses.

I am not disagreeing with Duke's issues...I talked about them before the season even started. They are problematic.

But they have proven they can beat some of the best teams in the country. They have proven that they can win games against teams that can exploit their weaknesses and they have the best coach in the world.

Again, it comes down to matchups.

In LUnardi's latest bracket, he has Duke as a #2 seed playing Bucknell and the winner of Harvard and Vandy. Vandy has some good guard play but not a lot of size. They could pose some issues but I like Duke's chances of getting to the sweet 16. In their half of the bracket, the 3 seed is Michigan, a team that can give Duke a ton of issues because of their style of play and athleticism but they have beaten them twice in the last year.

The short answer is, I don't watch much college basketball except when Duke is playing, until the NCAA tournament rolls around. But I know what a legit national championship contender looks like, and through 25 games, Duke looks nothing like one. Maybe they will gel at the right time, but I'm skeptical.

I agree that the tournament is about matchups, but I'd pay no attention to how Lunardi would seed the teams. It will look totally different on selection Sunday. Could Duke make the Sweet 16? Of course they could. But they aren't a shoe-in by any means, even if they get a very good seed. And when you are talking about a team that has made the Sweet 16 12 times in the last 14 years, that is saying something.

[Pedro Cerrano]

If there is ever a year for Calipari to get a National Title vacated 5 years from now, this is the one. No real dominant teams. Kentucky is head and shoulders better than anyone else (except maybe UNC). If he can't get it done this year than I don't know that he ever will.

[Sports Guy]

Wichita State is beastly.

[PrivateO]

Tu Holloway led Xavier with 32 points to beat the Dayton Flyers 86-83 in overtime last night. He had an incredible 360 reverse 3 pointer in overtime. Lyons chipped in with 20 and Wells also had 12. The Muskies really needed this game to continue their NCAA hopes. With last night's win, Xavier continues the longest active Division 1 streak of consecutive .500 or better conference records at 29 seasons. Next up for Xavier is a big game (aren't they all important?) at UMass on Tuesday.

Dayton has not won in Cincinnati since 1981. The Jimmy Carter streak continues.

[Sports Guy]

This Boston College team is one of the worst ACC teams I have ever seen.

I am amazed that FSU lost to them.

[Pedro Cerrano]

Austin Rivers shaken up in the dook/FSU game. Should be OK.

[square634]

Just watched on ESPN3 as my Penn Quakers pulled off the upset at Harvard to pull even in the loss column in conference. Of course this is probably bad for the league because Harvard is pretty good and every loss will affect seeding. In other news, Zack Rosen is really great, but I'm not sure he can pull a Jeremy Lin because he is smaller.