Dukes are predicted to win 87-73 per KenPom.

UMBC has a really bad offense and doesn't shoot well from anywhere. They do offensive rebound well and turn teams over. I want to see at least a decent performance defensively each half. Dukes have really struggled on D in the second half. With an unadjusted DRtg in the 2nd half of 128.7, which if that was what they did in the first half as well would be the absolute worst defense in college basketball
 

Last edited by Brian (12/03/2013 4:15 pm)

Thanks Brian & Phoenix.  I would take a 14 point win, anything less would be disappointing against this team.  In addition to seeing if we improve defensively I want to see if the coaches had a chat with the team about sharing the basketball.  BTW looks like Watkins started practice on Monday, but won't play against UMBC but may ready to play against Penn State.

The way UMBC plays, our Smurf backcourt should be an advantage. My gut, which is ample and occasionally a good guesser, tells me McKoy will have a good game if he is aggressive near the glass, and Ridenour will play a key role in ... a ... hmmm ... 15 point win. Dukes 96-81.

No one asked my opinion..........but, if UMBC presses from the locker room on out Ovie Soko may set a Duquesne University Men's Basketball scoring record.  I say this only because I can envision a Greentree type game of race horse basketball if the Dukes are pressed.  A huge difference in this Duquesne team is that all of the starters are decent to good to very good ball handlers from rim-to-rim with Ovie being very good in the open floor!!!  That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

Last edited by grammudder (12/04/2013 12:58 pm)

CLK wrote:

Last year the Dukes struggled against teams that pressed.  This year there are more ball handlers on the team so hopefully we won't see Colter constantly getting trapped like last year.  Knowing that UMBC wil start pressing from the locker room trying to force turnovers, if this team is not ready to handle the press tonight it will be on the coaches.

Indeed. But if Colter has a game with a lot of turnovers, and a lot of rushed bad shots, then he may find himself playing behind Ridenour, which in the long run may not be a bad idea.

Soko was a no show. Awful free throw shooting again.
11/22 from the line for the frontcourt. White, Colter, and Jerry Jones came to play.

We gave up 51 points to this team in the second half.  Game day coaching and preparation was bad.  The coaching in the last two minutes was especially horrible. White should have been the guy getting the inbound passes not McKoy.

I've heard of "good losses."

Are we saying we had a "bad win"?

Colter played his best game as a Duke. Jerry Jones stepped up. Man, we'd better learn to hit FTs.

Well, we proved we can dominate the community colleges or poor sisters of major programs. This team is not getting better. How do you play such poor defense in the second half?

CLK wrote:

We gave up 51 points to this team in the second half.  Game day coaching and preparation was bad.  The coaching in the last two minutes was especially horrible. White should have been the guy getting the inbound passes not McKoy.

CLK, even crazier is that we gave up 39 points in the last 10 minutes of this game.  That is just inexcusable. The Dukes are now #329 (out of 351 teams) in Adjusted Defensive Efficiency according to Pomeroy's stats.

Thoughts from the stands...

     I presumed we would have a little let down after the PItt loss.  But what bothered me was that in the last 10 minutes, we didn't get back to where we should have as far as defending.  I do agree with one of the things Ferry said on his post-game show though.  He said that you practice free throws every day and look for consistency.  If you harp on it too much then it stands out in the players minds and becomes a problem.  I actually agree with this.  If you look at the first few games our free throw shooting was fine.  Our bigger problem is again defense.  If you watched PSU the other night they are legit.  They could have beaten PItt and I don't know if their style of play is something we can handle.  As far as the empty stands, it again comes down to winning.  Usually there are a lot more adults.  There weren't.  A lot of them were missing also which is a real problem.

     Going back to the fact it took Ferry 6 years to bulid a winner at his last school.
    Hey, remember when RE interviewed for the PSU job before being fired at DU?  Not trying to make any hidden comments, just thought about it since we are playing them

Last edited by FAM (12/05/2013 10:16 am)

ElDuque wrote:

FAM, when you play the style of offense that Ferry's Dukes play, FT shooting is very important, even if you hit most of your shots.

This is true. Ferry's offense results in his teams being fouled a lot. If they can finish those inside shots in traffic, plus be strong from the line, they'll win a lot of games. if not, they'll struggle. I hope Watkins is healthy, and ready to play, as we are very thin inside. Watkins and Robinson were the main reason for optimism, as they are our two highest rated recruits, and they play positions where it has been hard for us to land good players.