Duke will beat Syracuse

[jonvi]

This is going to be one of the most disappointing games of the season. Everyone is expecting this and that. What your gonna get is two teams running into a wall. It's going to look like shit.


After the game everyone will say how much SU and Duke both suck. Truth is....ugly is what SU does. And anyone playing them plays ugly.


Assuming my boy Ennis ankle is a non issue.....Duke will not win this game and won't win the one in Cameron.


What did the op say.....You'll thank me later.

 

[dcZONAfan]

This is going to be one of the most disappointing games of the season. Everyone is expecting this and that. What your gonna get is two teams running into a wall. It's going to look like shit.


After the game everyone will say how much SU and Duke both suck. Truth is....ugly is what SU does. And anyone playing them plays ugly.


Assuming my boy Ennis ankle is a non issue.....Duke will not win this game and won't win the one in Cameron.


What did the op say.....You'll thank me later.

agree with you on the red. highly disagree with you on the blue. you ain't winning in cameron

 

[Runeman]

This is going to be one of the most disappointing games of the season. Everyone is expecting this and that. What your gonna get is two teams running into a wall. It's going to look like shit.


After the game everyone will say how much SU and Duke both suck. Truth is....ugly is what SU does. And anyone playing them plays ugly.


Assuming my boy Ennis ankle is a non issue.....Duke will not win this game and won't win the one in Cameron.


What did the op say.....You'll thank me later.

Yes, that ankle turn was a bad one. He clearly has a sprained ankle, at best. It is amazing, however, just how fast the treatment for a sprain ankle can be effective. Probably should have taken him from the floor immediately to the locker room to start treatment as the game, if I remember correctly, was already in the "win" column for Syracuse.
That said, as I mentioned yesterday, I think this Duke team is much improved, especially now that Plumlee is getting a lot more minutes and playing great. Before that, Duke was too small along the baseline and were being taken advantage of. Along with Plumlee, the emergence of Rodney Hood as a premier player, this Duke team is playing on all 8 cylinders. I haven't seen Duke enough to know what production they get from their bench, but wholly impressed with Plumlee, Parker, Hood, Cook, Dawkins and Jefferson. Could see all 6 in the NBA.
You mentioned ugly, and I agree; Syracuse last night did win ugly and from what I saw, the away win is still a good win. C. J. Fair very quietly got close to 20 as he usually does and Ennis did a good job handling the ball. Cooney threw up multiple bricks. If Ennis can't play, Duke wins. At any rate, IMO, it was the superior weight of the Syracuse bigs that were able to extend a close game into a 10 plus point win down the stretch. Even though Grant didn't score much, I still think that guy will be the key to Saturdays game. He is bigger and stronger than Hood and Jefferson and with Keita and Christmas pounding on Plumlee Grant just might be the person Duke can't cover. Again, Syracuse wins by controlling the offensive glass.

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm taking Duke because I don't see Syracuse wearing them down for their last 5 minute separation and I loooovvvee the 3 point production of that team and if Syracuse extends that 2-3 zone the foul line will be wide open and Parker will have a lot of fun. Fortunately, I have no skin in the game and will thoroughly enjoy my ribs, Lagavulin, and the game.

I'm thinking that Duke is now playing as good as Syracuse and Arizona.

 

[jonvi]

agree with you on the red. highly disagree with you on the blue. you ain't winning in cameron

Yes, that ankle turn was a bad one. He clearly has a sprained ankle, at best. It is amazing, however, just how fast the treatment for a sprain ankle can be effective. Probably should have taken him from the floor immediately to the locker room to start treatment as the game, if I remember correctly, was already in the "win" column for Syracuse.
That said, as I mentioned yesterday, I think this Duke team is much improved, especially now that Plumlee is getting a lot more minutes and playing great. Before that, Duke was too small along the baseline and were being taken advantage of. Along with Plumlee, the emergence of Rodney Hood as a premier player, this Duke team is playing on all 8 cylinders. I haven't seen Duke enough to know what production they get from their bench, but wholly impressed with Plumlee, Parker, Hood, Cook, Dawkins and Jefferson. Could see all 6 in the NBA.
You mentioned ugly, and I agree; Syracuse last night did win ugly and from what I saw, the away win is still a good win. C. J. Fair very quietly got close to 20 as he usually does and Ennis did a good job handling the ball. Cooney threw up multiple bricks. If Ennis can't play, Duke wins. At any rate, IMO, it was the superior weight of the Syracuse bigs that were able to extend a close game into a 10 plus point win down the stretch. Even though Grant didn't score much, I still think that guy will be the key to Saturdays game. He is bigger and stronger than Hood and Jefferson and with Keita and Christmas pounding on Plumlee Grant just might be the person Duke can't cover. Again, Syracuse wins by controlling the offensive glass.

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm taking Duke because I don't see Syracuse wearing them down for their last 5 minute separation and I loooovvvee the 3 point production of that team and if Syracuse extends that 2-3 zone the foul line will be wide open and Parker will have a lot of fun. Fortunately, I have no skin in the game and will thoroughly enjoy my ribs, Lagavulin, and the game.

I'm thinking that Duke is now playing as good as Syracuse and Arizona.

Good call by both of you. I've said all season that Syracuse is on a razors edge with respect to injury. If Ennis is limited, SU has no replacement that can handle the ball.

As far as Duke's 3 point shooters. No team shoots lights out all game against Syracuse. One player will get hot and get his 20....but teams as a whole struggle.

Duke will have to have an inside/outside threat working to win this. Ain't nothing easy against the SU zone.

 

[dcZONAfan]

Yes, that ankle turn was a bad one. He clearly has a sprained ankle, at best. It is amazing, however, just how fast the treatment for a sprain ankle can be effective. Probably should have taken him from the floor immediately to the locker room to start treatment as the game, if I remember correctly, was already in the "win" column for Syracuse.
That said, as I mentioned yesterday, I think this Duke team is much improved, especially now that Plumlee is getting a lot more minutes and playing great. Before that, Duke was too small along the baseline and were being taken advantage of. Along with Plumlee, the emergence of Rodney Hood as a premier player, this Duke team is playing on all 8 cylinders. I haven't seen Duke enough to know what production they get from their bench, but wholly impressed with Plumlee, Parker, Hood, Cook, Dawkins and Jefferson. Could see all 6 in the NBA.
You mentioned ugly, and I agree; Syracuse last night did win ugly and from what I saw, the away win is still a good win. C. J. Fair very quietly got close to 20 as he usually does and Ennis did a good job handling the ball. Cooney threw up multiple bricks. If Ennis can't play, Duke wins. At any rate, IMO, it was the superior weight of the Syracuse bigs that were able to extend a close game into a 10 plus point win down the stretch. Even though Grant didn't score much, I still think that guy will be the key to Saturdays game. He is bigger and stronger than Hood and Jefferson and with Keita and Christmas pounding on Plumlee Grant just might be the person Duke can't cover. Again, Syracuse wins by controlling the offensive glass.

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm taking Duke because I don't see Syracuse wearing them down for their last 5 minute separation and I loooovvvee the 3 point production of that team and if Syracuse extends that 2-3 zone the foul line will be wide open and Parker will have a lot of fun. Fortunately, I have no skin in the game and will thoroughly enjoy my ribs, Lagavulin, and the game.

I'm thinking that Duke is now playing as good as Syracuse and Arizona.

I think you are HIGHLY overrating Marshal Plumlee's abilities. The guy is the exact opposite of his brothers - a big white stiff.

I also think you are overrating the ACC and that might make you think that Duke is better than they are. They are much improved, but I would be very surprised if they made the final four this year.

 

[john01992]

And I'm sure Coach Boo Boo Kitty Fuck named his first born "Flop" in honor of Coach K.

But you're right... I'm sure nothing has changed at asll since K and Boo Boo Kitty Fuck coached together. I'm sure they still run the exact same plays. I'm sure they haven't made any chages... and adjustments. It's all just like they both remember it.

And I'm sure all of Team USA stuff was verbatim from their respective playbooks since the International game is so much like the college game.

did SU stop playing zone or something

 

[dcZONAfan]

did SU stop playing zone or something

SLAPDI...errrrr...YOUJIZZ!!!

 

[Runeman]

I think you are HIGHLY overrating Marshal Plumlee's abilities. The guy is the exact opposite of his brothers - a big white stiff.

I also think you are overrating the ACC and that might make you think that Duke is better than they are. They are much improved, but I would be very surprised if they made the final four this year.

You might be right; at one time I thought the Big10 was the dominant conference, but the way they have played lately; not so sure. Consider Wisconsin losing to Northwestern and Ohio State losing to Penn State. It's hard to determine just how good these teams are once they get into conference play. For example Virginia is now playing good ball; Tennessee beat them by 30 earlier on. Does that have any relevance? To be honest, I can't say which conference is best, they all seem to have 2-3 teams that can play good ball; even the SEC which at the beginning of the year was considered the worst. Not so sure about that anymore either.

I do like Marshal Plumlee and think he helped make Duke a very good team along with Rodney Hood, who I think is great. We already knew about Jabari Parker, so they have some very good players. I suspect a person could make a lot of money betting against any team making the final 4. Even though I like Arizona and think they deserve to be considered a final 4 team, odds are they will get upset in the NCAA because of the 1 and done format. Speaking of Arizona, wonder about your thoughts on last nights game. I thought that Stanford had that game won. I think they only made 1 basket the final 10 minutes or so. Probably the only positive thing I saw for Arizona is Nick Johnson is a great player who does it all. Other than that, any away win is good, that was not, IMO, a solid performance for the Nr 1 team in the country. Really should have lost that game.

If I'm right about the 3 best teams as being Arizona, Syracuse, and Duke; then the ACC has 2 of the 3 best teams and that makes that conference good. My earlier post regarding Syracuse is, IMO, they are due for a wake-up call and they just might get it on Saturday. Arizona got theirs last night and survived.

 

[TrollyMcTroller]

did SU stop playing zone or something

Nope. Last time they did that they got their shit pushed in by LeMoyne.

 

[douggie]

Runeman, as much as I'd like Duke to be a Final Four team they just aren't. They don't have enough Bigs to make a run. They can play great and look like world beaters at any given moment. But they cannot beat teams consistently that match them in athleticism and out size them. Plumlee has gotten better. But he isn't a Brian Zoubek.

 

[Runeman]

Runeman, as much as I'd like Duke to be a Final Four team they just aren't. They don't have enough Bigs to make a run. They can play great and look like world beaters at any given moment. But they cannot beat teams consistently that match them in athleticism and out size them. Plumlee has gotten better. But he isn't a Brian Zoubek.

If Duke wins on Saturday, will that change your mind?

 

[douggie]

If Duke wins on Saturday, will that change your mind?

No. I just don't believe they are good enough to win it all. I've seen every team that Coach K has had since 1981 and I can tell you that this team just cannot win it all. That doesn't mean they can't beat Syracuse Saturday. That doesnt mean Jabari Parker isn't great or that Rodney Hood can't play in the NBA, etc,. 't just means they won't win the NCAA Championship in April.

 

[jonvi]

If Duke wins on Saturday, will that change your mind?

Any team can get hot, so no, I don't think Saturday's game is an end all evaluation of tournament success for Duke or SU. Also it depends on the status Ennis's ankle. He has become as important to SU as CJ.

But so not to just be argumentative...Duke is playing really good ball right now and SU doesn't seem to be. That is not the best sign for SU....but come Saturday....both teams are 0 - 0. It all starts fresh.

 

[douggie]

Ennis finished the game at Wake Forest. I don't see that kid sitting out or being on crutches for the game Saturday. The Cuse will be in full strength mode. Including a record crowd.

 

[dcZONAfan]

You might be right; at one time I thought the Big10 was the dominant conference, but the way they have played lately; not so sure. Consider Wisconsin losing to Northwestern and Ohio State losing to Penn State. It's hard to determine just how good these teams are once they get into conference play. For example Virginia is now playing good ball; Tennessee beat them by 30 earlier on. Does that have any relevance? To be honest, I can't say which conference is best, they all seem to have 2-3 teams that can play good ball; even the SEC which at the beginning of the year was considered the worst. Not so sure about that anymore either.

I do like Marshal Plumlee and think he helped make Duke a very good team along with Rodney Hood, who I think is great. We already knew about Jabari Parker, so they have some very good players. I suspect a person could make a lot of money betting against any team making the final 4. Even though I like Arizona and think they deserve to be considered a final 4 team, odds are they will get upset in the NCAA because of the 1 and done format. Speaking of Arizona, wonder about your thoughts on last nights game. I thought that Stanford had that game won. I think they only made 1 basket the final 10 minutes or so. Probably the only positive thing I saw for Arizona is Nick Johnson is a great player who does it all. Other than that, any away win is good, that was not, IMO, a solid performance for the Nr 1 team in the country. Really should have lost that game.

If I'm right about the 3 best teams as being Arizona, Syracuse, and Duke; then the ACC has 2 of the 3 best teams and that makes that conference good. My earlier post regarding Syracuse is, IMO, they are due for a wake-up call and they just might get it on Saturday. Arizona got theirs last night and survived.

I was horrified by the way we played yesterday. Number one thing was that we kept playing hero ball and driving to the hoop against 3 guys, and instead of dumping it off to an open man like we have done all season we kept forcing up terrible shots. Also we were awful hitting our FTs and, no matter how good a team is that will very often come back to haunt you come tourney time (memphis).

That being said, we rarely blow Stanford out when we play at Maples, regardless of whether there is a large gap in talent (as there is this year) between the two teams. The fact that we won and might have played our worst game of the season simply gives me more confidence that we will pull out any game in the closing minutes. We have done it time and again this season, often in hostile environments. We simply lock down on D and have enough guys who make clutch plays, especially NJ who I think might be the most clutch NON DOUG MCDERMOTT basketball player in the country.

Similarly to 'Cuse, winning ugly has been our MO in conference play, and as long as there is still a 0 in the loss column the only bad part about that is my heart rate at the end of games. But to be honest this was only the second time all season (@ Michigan) that I actually thought we might lose the game. Every other game (including being down 18 in the first half to Drexel at MSG) I had not one doubt we would win. That's pretty good 21 games into the season.

 

[dcZONAfan]

No. I just don't believe they are good enough to win it all. I've seen every team that Coach K has had since 1981 and I can tell you that this team just cannot win it all. That doesn't mean they can't beat Syracuse Saturday. That doesnt mean Jabari Parker isn't great or that Rodney Hood can't play in the NBA, etc,. 't just means they won't win the NCAA Championship in April.

god damn douggie you have to be the most sensible Duke fan I have ever come across...it's actually a very strange feeling, agreeing with everything a Dookie says...

 

[Runeman]

Any team can get hot, so no, I don't think Saturday's game is an end all evaluation of tournament success for Duke or SU. Also it depends on the status Ennis's ankle. He has become as important to SU as CJ.

But so not to just be argumentative...Duke is playing really good ball right now and SU doesn't seem to be. That is not the best sign for SU....but come Saturday....both teams are 0 - 0. It all starts fresh.

Ennis finished the game at Wake Forest. I don't see that kid sitting out or being on crutches for the game Saturday. The Cuse will be in full strength mode. Including a record crowd.

Jonvi, my point is Duke is a much better team and if they win on Saturday, it validates them as a potential final 4 team. No one can simply pencil in a team, regardless of how good they are. To beat Syracuse in the Dome is not easy. Have to believe it takes some time getting used to playing ball in a football stadium which means the court is not framed the same as basketball arenas. Two weeks ago, no one gives Duke a chance in the Dome; now there is some doubt.

Douggie; you did not answer my question.

 

[redseat]

One could also expect for Duke to come out and fall flat on their faces and SU to shoot lights out and win. I wouldn't be shocked by this either. Duke has been playing good ball the last few games but at one point this will have to stop (this is basketball after all) and SU is a team that I think could stop Duke.

 

[jonvi]

Ennis finished the game at Wake Forest. I don't see that kid sitting out or being on crutches for the game Saturday. The Cuse will be in full strength mode. Including a record crowd.

We'll see on ennis. One thing I know about SU is they will not put out any real injury information. At best we may hear it's a game day decision, or he will play. They will not tell us he will be out prior to submitting the line up. And we will not know the true extent of the injury. until he goes for surgery...if required.

Reference the record. I'm not sure which one your writing too...the attendance or the 21 - 0 mark. To me the 21 - 0 mark is the most important. SU's never made it. And getting that win over Duke would be the cats ass.

Hope you're right on Ennis. If he's healthy, SU should be all over Duke, don't care how good Duke is playing.

 

[Runeman]

Don't know if you saw that ankle turn, it really looked like a severe sprain. At first, I thought he broke it, but being as he kept on playing; really was limping, it's probably a sprain. Still can't believe he stayed in that game. Surely someone on that bench is as good as a one-legged Ennis. Had he rolled it again, could have really been serious; if not already.