ESPN has article about Duke's "dominance"

[TomTraubertsBlues]

They have wins over Arizona, who is now 9-5 and Auburn. Auburn is really their sole impressive win. They face ZERO ranked opponents in the ACC. They do play Illinois late in the season, but that is literally their only game against a ranked opponent left. Dominance?

Correction, the Illinois game is an ACC game. I didn't know they had joined, along with Cal and Stanford.

 

[wardlow]

I’ve seen no dominance other than the articles about skinny coop’s monstrous dunk.

I felt it from my house though, thought it was an earthquake.

 

[mcwildcats04]

Put them on a pedestal. Go ahead and crown them as tourney champs. Put all the pressure on them. The epic crash in the tourney will be a thing of beauty.

 

[WeWant9_rivals]

In a year of so much parity and fun stories, espn continues to prop up duke.

 

[docholiday51]

Of course ESPN has an article about Duke, the ACC sucks this year so they have to prop them up somehow. Next they will have an article about how UGA overcame tremendous obstacles including the officiating to beat mighty UK

 

[CatOfDaVille]

Duke in the ACC this year is like Gonzaga in their conference every year. Their only chances to pick up quality wins are OOC, and all the pressure is on Duke in conference. If they slip up they could (should?) have some bad seed-changing losses.

 

[docholiday51]

Duke in the ACC this year is like Gonzaga in their conference every year. Their only chances to pick up quality wins are OOC, and all the pressure is on Duke in conference. If they slip up they could (should?) have some bad seed-changing losses.

Seed changing losses won't happen to Duke. If they lose it should happen but it won't

 

[Fannin12]

Surprised ESPN hasn't ran a story on Coach K's bowel movements since he's been gone!

 

[CatOfDaVille]

Seed changing losses won't happen to Duke. If they lose it should happen but it won't

I know. Wishful thinking. They'll get credit for beating bad ACC teams by 20 and anyone they lose to will just end up ranked the following week.

 

[Trinity45]

They have wins over Arizona, who is now 9-5 and Auburn. Auburn is really their sole impressive win. They face ZERO ranked opponents in the ACC. They do play Illinois late in the season, but that is literally their only game against a ranked opponent left. Dominance?

For whatever reason ESPN has always been a Duke homer, maybe because they have hired so many Dukies over the years.

 

[jc2010]

Flagg was only 17 when we beat them.

 

[ukcatz12]

I think you guys are letting your anti-Duke bias get in the way on this one. They're currently the 3rd or 4th most efficient team in the history of Kenpom. They're an elite team this year, regardless of their conference or if you think ESPN is hyping them up.

 

[billCgmx]

Surprised ESPN hasn't ran a story on Coach K's bowel movements since he's been gone!

From the look on K's face, I'm almost certain he suffers from chronic constipation.

 

[Tayshaun4Three]

I think you guys are letting your anti-Duke bias get in the way on this one. They're currently the 3rd or 4th most efficient team in the history of Kenpom. They're an elite team this year, regardless of their conference or if you think ESPN is hyping them up.

Truth is the truth. They are really good

 

[Possum]

I think you guys are letting your anti-Duke bias get in the way on this one. They're currently the 3rd or 4th most efficient team in the history of Kenpom. They're an elite team this year, regardless of their conference or if you think ESPN is hyping them up.

I think you’re letting your ignorance get in the way of remembering Kentucky beating Duke’s *** in the Champions Classic.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

Two things can be true. Duke is pretty good. But Duke also doesn't need this type of press when there is no reason to believe they are even the best team THIS YEAR.

When you're trying to figure out why UK gets slighted in so many ways, just remember articles like this, that are desperately trying to push the Duke narrative.

 

[yoshukai]

I think you guys are letting your anti-Duke bias get in the way on this one. They're currently the 3rd or 4th most efficient team in the history of Kenpom. They're an elite team this year, regardless of their conference or if you think ESPN is hyping them up.

How many good defensive teams have they played? And no ….you can’t include us .

 

[NociHTTP]

They really should do an article on excited zebras.

 

[ukcatz12]

How many good defensive teams have they played? And no ….you can’t include us .

All Kenpom stats are adjusted for opponent, so that question is already baked in. Duke themselves is the #1 ranked defensive team in the country. Auburn just passed them tonight by 0.07 in the Net Efficiency Rating, but those two teams are heads and shoulders above the rest of the country right now. If you prefer a more homegrown rating, they're #3 on Aike's metric as of 1/5. They're extremely good this year, whether people want to believe it or not.

 

[Juneswoon]

Dook= ESPN= Dickie V. Put this on an auto loop.

 

[TomTraubertsBlues]

I think you guys are letting your anti-Duke bias get in the way on this one. They're currently the 3rd or 4th most efficient team in the history of Kenpom. They're an elite team this year, regardless of their conference or if you think ESPN is hyping them up.

They have 2 losses, and ONE win ovdr a ranked team. You agree that is "dominance"?

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

They have wins over Arizona, who is now 9-5 and Auburn. Auburn is really their sole impressive win. They face ZERO ranked opponents in the ACC. They do play Illinois late in the season, but that is literally their only game against a ranked opponent left. Dominance?

Correction, the Illinois game is an ACC game. I didn't know they had joined, along with Cal and Stanford.

Illinois is Big10.

 

[TomTraubertsBlues]

Illinois is Big10.

I can't win for losing. I had it right, then change it to get it wrong. Derp.

 

[ukcatz12]

They have 2 losses, and ONE win ovdr a ranked team. You agree that is "dominance"?

Did you actually read the article, or are you just getting upset at the headline? The article never mentions them being "dominant" at all. It actually goes into a good amount of detail on why they're so good.

Their four freshmen all rank in the top 10 nationally for points above replacement value. They have by far the best freshmen in the country, and they're not playing like freshmen. It's the best defensive Duke team in long long time according to the metrics and they currently rank as one of the best Kenpom defensive teams of the last decade. Flagg is one of only 11 players in the entire country with a Box Plus/Minus value of at least +5 on both offense and defense.

The article does point out that if they go cold from 3 they're vulnerable, because almost half their field goal attempts are from 3. Which is how we beat them.

But you won't find a single objective measure that has them as anything other than an elite team this year. They're right there with Auburn in the conversation for best team in the country.