[MV72018]

Preview:

After a very much needed road win at Wake Forest, we now head to another of the 4 North Carolina ACC schools: Duke.  This game will be a much bigger challenge, and given that we squandered a big lead against Wake Forest and barely hung on….well, you get the picture.

Duke is ranked 16th, Massey has them at 13.  They are 14-4 with their best win coming over Kansas State (giving them their only loss,) and their worse loss coming at South Florida.  The other losses were all to highly ranked teams: South Carolina, Maryland, and North Carolina.  Duke is not always a good shooting team, but they rarely have to be, even though they have talented offensive players.

On Thursday night Duke demolished a very good Cal team.  You can see more on that in another thread here on the Cardboard.  The score was 72-38.  Cal had 16 baskets and 31 turnovers.  Krimili had 6 turnovers and Suarez 7.  Duke had 15 steals but that was not the only factor—they just played a sound, aggressive, close defense that absolutely frustrated Cal’s ability to pass or move the ball, and Cal wilted under the pressure.

Duke is coached by Kara Lawson, who many of us know from her years as a sports broadcaster.  But before she did that Kara was an outstanding guard who played for Pat Summitt, and she still worships her idol and emulates her philosophy: focus on defense, rebounding, and turnover margin and the rest will take care of itself.

We played Duke last year at Maples and eeked out an 82-79 overtime win.  In that game Brink had 29, Iriafen had 27, and Jump had 15.  Needless to say, those 71 points are all gone.  Duke, on the other hand, has most of its key players back, although they did lose Kennedy Brown.  But they also gained an outstanding freshman who is leading the team in scoring.  Our team this year is far less experienced and talented than our team last year.  Duke's team this year is more experienced and more talented than its team last year....

On offense Duke is well balanced, forcing opponents to play sound one-on-one defense.  Ashlon Jackson, Toby Fornier, and Reigan Richardson all score about 12 ppg, and they have 5 more players all averaging 6 or more a game.  The same players don’t lead the scoreboard every night. 

Jackson is a 6’0” junior guard, formerly a McD AA.  41 of her 77 field goals this year have been three pointers, which she makes at a 42% clip.  That is a lot for a team that doesn’t have to score that much.

Toby Fournier actually leads the team in scoring and she is not a starter. She is a 6’2” freshman forward, the No. 10 player in her class.  She is shooting 54%, almost all from inside.

Reigen Richardson is a 5’11” senior guard also scoring in double digits, from all over. 

Jadyn Donovon is a 6’ guard/forward who leads the team in rebounding. 

Recently, Oluchi Okanawa—a 5’10” sophomore guard-- has been coming off the bench to very good effect, although she had only 6 against Cal. 

I could go on...the roster is loaded and surprisingly interchangeable. 

I went back to watch the Cal game and was astounded at the quality of the Duke defense on the perimeter.  The only way to transfer the ball was via hand off, and that was sometimes uncertain.  I don’t think we have seen a team with the same quality of perimeter defense this year.  It will be critical to drive past that defense and generate some fouls and layups.  I wonder if Tess Heal will ever get an open three point shot...and whether she is quick enough to get by the long, quick Duke defenders.  We will find out!

"It will be critical to drive past that defense and generate some fouls and layups." And who on the team is capable of doing that? Nunu? Bosgana on an assigned mission? I'd be surprised if we score more than 50.

[MV72018]

Preview:

After a very much needed road win at Wake Forest, we now head to another of the 4 North Carolina ACC schools: Duke.  This game will be a much bigger challenge, and given that we squandered a big lead against Wake Forest and barely hung on….well, you get the picture.

Duke is ranked 16th, Massey has them at 13.  They are 14-4 with their best win coming over Kansas State (giving them their only loss,) and their worse loss coming at South Florida.  The other losses were all to highly ranked teams: South Carolina, Maryland, and North Carolina.  Duke is not always a good shooting team, but they rarely have to be, even though they have talented offensive players.

On Thursday night Duke demolished a very good Cal team.  You can see more on that in another thread here on the Cardboard.  The score was 72-38.  Cal had 16 baskets and 31 turnovers.  Krimili had 6 turnovers and Suarez 7.  Duke had 15 steals but that was not the only factor—they just played a sound, aggressive, close defense that absolutely frustrated Cal’s ability to pass or move the ball, and Cal wilted under the pressure.

Duke is coached by Kara Lawson, who many of us know from her years as a sports broadcaster.  But before she did that Kara was an outstanding guard who played for Pat Summitt, and she still worships her idol and emulates her philosophy: focus on defense, rebounding, and turnover margin and the rest will take care of itself.

We played Duke last year at Maples and eeked out an 82-79 overtime win.  In that game Brink had 29, Iriafen had 27, and Jump had 15.  Needless to say, those 71 points are all gone.  Duke, on the other hand, has most of its key players back, although they did lose Kennedy Brown.  But they also gained an outstanding freshman who is leading the team in scoring.  Our team this year is far less experienced and talented than our team last year.  Duke's team this year is more experienced and more talented than its team last year....

On offense Duke is well balanced, forcing opponents to play sound one-on-one defense.  Ashlon Jackson, Toby Fornier, and Reigan Richardson all score about 12 ppg, and they have 5 more players all averaging 6 or more a game.  The same players don’t lead the scoreboard every night. 

Jackson is a 6’0” junior guard, formerly a McD AA.  41 of her 77 field goals this year have been three pointers, which she makes at a 42% clip.  That is a lot for a team that doesn’t have to score that much.

Toby Fournier actually leads the team in scoring and she is not a starter. She is a 6’2” freshman forward, the No. 10 player in her class.  She is shooting 54%, almost all from inside.

Reigen Richardson is a 5’11” senior guard also scoring in double digits, from all over. 

Jadyn Donovon is a 6’ guard/forward who leads the team in rebounding. 

Recently, Oluchi Okanawa—a 5’10” sophomore guard-- has been coming off the bench to very good effect, although she had only 6 against Cal. 

I could go on...the roster is loaded and surprisingly interchangeable. 

I went back to watch the Cal game and was astounded at the quality of the Duke defense on the perimeter.  The only way to transfer the ball was via hand off, and that was sometimes uncertain.  I don’t think we have seen a team with the same quality of perimeter defense this year.  It will be critical to drive past that defense and generate some fouls and layups.  I wonder if Tess Heal will ever get an open three point shot...and whether she is quick enough to get by the long, quick Duke defenders.  We will find out!

"It will be critical to drive past that defense and generate some fouls and layups." And who on the team is capable of doing that? Nunu? Bosgana on an assigned mission? I'd be surprised if we score more than 50.