What will beat Duke come March?
- Thread starter FurdTurgason
- Start date
I think it’s gonna take a well balanced team with great coaching (sorry Cal you’re out). They’ll get scouted all year and weaknesses exposed by tourney time but even having the map to beating Duke will require a highly skilled team with speed and power.
They got no point guard sticks out to me
They are very very talented. Short bench and one key injury away from being above average.
Not sure they have a tough stretch coming up vs. ranked opponents. Will be interesting to see if other teams take anything that UK did and use it for success.
UK dominated Duke in the 1st and 2nd half when the whistle wasn't being blown. We all remember that long stretch of what felt like 7-10 minutes of foul call on KY. That is when Duke made their run and got out to that 9 point lead.
I think an aggressive team that isn't being called for fouls all game will have a great chance to upset Duke in March.
UK dominated Duke in the 1st and 2nd half when the whistle wasn't being blown. We all remember that long stretch of what felt like 7-10 minutes of foul call on KY. That is when Duke made their run and got out to that 9 point lead.
I think an aggressive team that isn't being called for fouls all game will have a great chance to upset Duke in March.
I’m going to say another night of them shooting 20% from 3 will doom them.
Were you not listening last night when Bilas, Shulman and the other ESPN folks were trying to convince you that Duke was as deep as they have ever been?
I think they are on the outskirts of injury city. I don't wish it on any of them but the cramping issues speaks to lack of proper conditioning.
If not injuries, it’ll be fatigue. They won’t need to go balls out like they did in the first half last night for probably 95% of their schedule, but they showed they can’t sustain that intensity.
Yep, they don't have a go to guy you want running a play down the stretch. Apparently so much so Scheyer would rather a green freshman get the ball 8 feet behind the 3 point line and just "make a play."
UK played 10 guys and as of right now, has a legit 9-man rotation in big games.
duke used an 8-man rotation and one guy did diddly squat. That's a 7-man rotation. Imagine the 2011-2012 team if any one of our starters went down or rotation pieces couldn't fill in to give our starters breathers. That season breaks down quickly. The bluecifers' biggest challenge will be staying healthy enough to get enough Q1 wins. They will have to do this while pitting scrawny kids against guys who are much more mature than them.
Furthermore, Pope is deliberate with his substituting. He's said something to the effect of playing too many minutes consecutively can increase the risk of an ankle injury. I don't know about you guys, but I don't see a lot of breathers for that team with what is realistically a 7-man rotation. duke had a game time decision on one of their players for a foot injury. If he's able to play, that should help depth.
But yeah, one injury and duke is in trouble. Doubly so if the injury is to one of their guards. They also need to win plenty of games against Q1 opponents, which won't be easy to do once they get in conference and actually start gelling.
It's so scarily similar to the precarious situations we saw in the early days of Cal's tenure. Harrellson gets hurt in 2010-11? Done. Nerlens Noel goes down? No longer an NCAAT team. Now, duke could be fine this year, but playing an older, more physical team last night already took out two of their guys. I think Amari might've actually dislocated that dude's shoulder with that one screen in the 2H.
How many times have more mature teams beaten up a crop of Cal freshmen in recent memory?
OFTEN.
duke used an 8-man rotation and one guy did diddly squat. That's a 7-man rotation. Imagine the 2011-2012 team if any one of our starters went down or rotation pieces couldn't fill in to give our starters breathers. That season breaks down quickly. The bluecifers' biggest challenge will be staying healthy enough to get enough Q1 wins. They will have to do this while pitting scrawny kids against guys who are much more mature than them.
Furthermore, Pope is deliberate with his substituting. He's said something to the effect of playing too many minutes consecutively can increase the risk of an ankle injury. I don't know about you guys, but I don't see a lot of breathers for that team with what is realistically a 7-man rotation. duke had a game time decision on one of their players for a foot injury. If he's able to play, that should help depth.
But yeah, one injury and duke is in trouble. Doubly so if the injury is to one of their guards. They also need to win plenty of games against Q1 opponents, which won't be easy to do once they get in conference and actually start gelling.
It's so scarily similar to the precarious situations we saw in the early days of Cal's tenure. Harrellson gets hurt in 2010-11? Done. Nerlens Noel goes down? No longer an NCAAT team. Now, duke could be fine this year, but playing an older, more physical team last night already took out two of their guys. I think Amari might've actually dislocated that dude's shoulder with that one screen in the 2H.
How many times have more mature teams beaten up a crop of Cal freshmen in recent memory?
OFTEN.
That is what I kept saying leading up to our game. I thought that would be a big advantage for us with them turning it over a lot, but didn't work out that way.
What will it take to beat UK come March, should be the question 
Exactly.
They will regret not paying Roach.
Foster will never lead this team to a title.
Point guard. And freshmen wilting on the big stage.
Same thing that cost them Tuesday night. Their youth. Freshmen dominated teams are longshots to win the title. Cal proved that most every year except one.
I agree and I assume KY and Gonzaga will both be undefeated when they play on 12/07/24 …