Duke's Achilles heel was, is, and will be, even without Coach K, that they don't have a point guard. For all his foibles, Allen has tried to fit in there and has done all right, but he's not a true PG, and in a league dominated by point guard play (Berry, Perrantes at UVA, Quen Snyder, Smith, even the BC kids), you have to have one.I've seen NC State in person a handful of times this year. They are legitimately garbage.
Against UNC, at UNC, Joel Berry held Dennis Smith to 11 points and six turnovers. It was clear, and has been clear, that while Smith is an excellent talent, he will get destroyed by experienced teams because NC State's coaching sucks, their game plan sucks and the other players that he plays with? They suck. UNC beat NC State, at UNC, by 51 points. It was a great day at the Smith Center but never competitive.
Duke appears to have all of their guys back, expecting the team to come together and turn into that juggernaut DukeSox predicted. I know they had some early season struggles but with the whole team healthy now they are going to be scary.
And the Duke teams of the past that were actually good would have slammed them. This Duke team is missing something.This game really illuminates that in terms of reputation there is Duke, then the rest of The Conference. NC State, a team going nowhere this season in terms of postseason, got themselves way more hyped up to play Duke than any other teams in the triangle.
Absolutely agree on both pointsAnd the Duke teams of the past that were actually good would have slammed them. This Duke team is missing something.
Chase Jeter - an experienced, inside big man - was out with a herniated disk. He would have helped immensely last night defending against NC State's bigs who kept throwing down dunks. So, not quite exactly "whole team healthy".Duke appears to have all of their guys back, expecting the team to come together and turn into that juggernaut DukeSox predicted. I know they had some early season struggles but with the whole team healthy now they are going to be scary.
Yeah I had them around 10-8 before the home loss to State, now I am thinking 9-9Look at the schedule - if they don't ASAP, then it's a meander and a season like a couple years ago when Kentucky was an #8 seed and went pretty far ideally
Indefinitely?Coach K has banned the Duke players from their locker room and forbid them from wearing Blue Devils gear.
http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2017/1/26/14402548/duke-coach-k-bars-locker-room-bans-wearing-team-clothes
That was extremely sad news to learn when I read it. The Capel Family is one that means a lot to both Duke and UNC, so to see their patriarch going through this, who was a fine coach in his own right, is tough.Powerful story written by Jeff Capel and his father who has been diagnosed with ALS.
http://www.theplayerstribune.com/jeff-capel-duke-the-tree/
Well played.Indefinitely?
If they keep losing it sure is. Still winless on the road in the conference pending today. They may end up going like 7-11 in conference or something in which case they may well get excluded unless they may a deep run in the ACCT.If they lose to WF, is Duke's NCAA spot in jeopardy as they move into the harder portion of their schedule? Their only win over a currently ranked opponent is Florida. Obviously, they still have good opportunities for quality wins against ND, 2 UNC, and FSU. But as of right now, they don't have many quality wins at all.
I'm not losing sleep yet; it's a long conference season and there are going to be ups and downs, but it's mine (and Roy's) chief concern. It's the kind of thing that gets you bounced weekend one b/c your shooters go a little cold and you have bad luck or get outworked grabbing offensive rebounds.Defense is going to be the downfall of this UNC team. Can they outscore 6 tournament teams in a row?
Which sort of sucks. Kevin Knox, last recruit that could salvage next years recruiting class, was scheduled to visit this weekend. Now he'll be up the weekend of the 18th vs Virginia.Sounds like the Heels and Irish will be playing Sunday instead of tomorrow evening b/c the Orange County water system dropped anchor.
http://www.wral.com/official-water-in-chapel-hill-will-not-be-safe-for-at-least-24-hours/16498975/