PRIME TIME, let's get it!

Illini have strong forward play. This'll be a different challenge but at this point I'll believe in anything.


 

My wife has covid and today is my birthday.Nothing can take away the joy I feel for Duquesne,the school
and our championship basketball team. 
Illinois is talented but at times the team is lackadaisical on defense.Dukes have good chance. Enjoy and
savor this moment.

This Illinois team at times plays like it plays like they need a heart transplant.Big and strong ,good shooters
but lack the heart of a champion at times.

Face wrote:

PRIME TIME, let's get it!

Illini have strong forward play. This'll be a different challenge but at this point I'll believe in anything.


 

Very true. BYU and Illinois are both high scoring teams that sometimes struggle defensively. That's pretty much where the similarities end. BYU was a big team, but that size was somewhat neutralized in their 5 out offense. Illinois is even bigger and takes full advantage of that size. Their smallest starter is 6'6" 210, and only one of their subs who sees regular minutes is smaller than that. For a point of reference, Drame is 6'7 200.

The Illini can knock down 3s too, but they're 20th in the country in points in the paint. Shannon is as good as anyone in the country off the dribble, and they are 29th in the country in offensive rebounds. They aren't a one man though. 4 guys score in double figures, and the most dangerous player outside of Shannon probably does't even start. It was Dainja, not Shannon, who got their run started yesterday. The game was tied with 14:00 left. Then Dainja scored 8 of the game's next 11 points and they never looked back.

Illinois is vulnerable defensively. They are 238th in the country in points allowed per game, and 7 of their last 10 opponents reached 80 points. While they do play somewhat fast, it's not because of tempo. They are 146th in defensive efficiency. The Dukes have played 13 games against teams ranked that low and are 11-2 in those games (Davidson and Princeton the two losses).

There is no doubt the Dukes will come out ready to battle. Hopefully, the refs let the players play, as I expect they will. I think we can slow down Shannon. Clark is a lock down defender, and the help defense has been exceptional recently. We need Necas and Drame to continue to play big and do the dirty work. It will be interesting to see who gets the matchup when Dainja is in. Mahorcic is the only Duke who has the size to battle with him. He's quicker than you'd expect from a guy his size though, so Dixon might be a better matchup. We'll probably see a bit of both. We also need to prevent their runs. They're going to put up points, but we can't let them score in bunches.

The Illini are wildly inconsistent. The best example of that is their two games against Northwestern. They won by 30 at home, but lost in Evanston. They lost to two teams that didn't even make the NIT in Maryland and Penn State. They also have been to the same number of Sweet Sixteens in the last 19 years as the Dukes (I don't think I need to tell anyone how many that is). They may be big, but it's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog. No team in the tournament has more fight than the Dukes, especially not Illinois.

Last edited by luckymcd (3/22/2024 3:45 pm)

I also went to their board and read a lot.  Basically, some of them are very happy that they drew us and aren't worried.  Their take is that their guards can match ours or better and their big men ARE better than ours.  They are talking about the Sweet 16.

FAM wrote:

I also went to their board and read a lot.  Basically, some of them are very happy that they drew us and aren't worried.  Their take is that their guards can match ours or better and their big men ARE better than ours.  They are talking about the Sweet 16.

Not surprising that the fan base of a 3 seed feels confident. Still, it took them some time to put away a 13 seed. Our defense is a challenge for them, especially if the game is not officiated into a foul-fest. Our guys know they can do this and have a burning desire that is palpable.

Duquesne has the 4th longest win streak in the country as of today.

Rayrich wrote:

I didn't have the energy to research it, but i'm guessing if you took the last 9 games of every team in the country that the Dukes are #1 in defensive efficiency. They went from 80 to 25 in that span.

Most of the sites with defensive efficiency are subscription only, so I don't have that information either. Thanks to PhoenixRising, we have the stats before each game though. Comparing the numbers is astounding.

As of St. Bonaventure game on 1/23:
Dukes 3 Point:  Offense 33.5%, 186 in D-1; Defense 35.1%, 257 in D-1
Dukes 2 Point:  Offense 49.4%, 215 in D-1; Defense 48.7%, 109 in D-1
Dukes FT:  Offense 70.5%, 221 in D-1; Defense 70.4%, 132 in D-1
Dukes Adj Defense Efficiency - 103.9; 111 in D-1
Dukes Adj Offense Efficiency - 110.4; 116 in D-1
Dukes Adj Tempo - 67.7; 206 in D-1

As of yesterday vs. BYU:
Dukes 3 Point:  Offense 33.9%, 180 in D-1; Defense 31.7%, 53 in D-1
Dukes 2 Point:  Offense 49.6%, 213 in D-1; Defense 48.4%, 90 in D-1
Dukes FT:  Offense 71.4%, 212 in D-1; Defense 70.7%, 103 in D-1
Dukes Adj Defense Efficiency - 97.5; 28 in D-1
Dukes Adj Offense Efficiency - 106.9; 166 in D-1
Dukes Adj Tempo – 66.3; 251 in D-1

Last edited by luckymcd (3/22/2024 6:39 pm)

Was the Chad Baker ejected for Auburn the same Chad Baker that was a Duke a few years ago?   Seems he is yet to grow up.

townsonkid wrote:

Was the Chad Baker ejected for Auburn the same Chad Baker that was a Duke a few years ago?   Seems he is yet to grow up.

He tacked on a hyphen to his name, but it’s the same guy. The talent is undeniable, the maturity not so much. I was sorry to see him transfer, but he wouldn’t be a good fit on this Dukes team. These Dukes love to muck it up and will battle with anyone in the country, but they do it cleanly.