Game Thread [2020-21] Coppin State at #9 Duke

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

Saturday, November 28, 2:00pm ET, ACC Network Extra

Coppin State is a historically black university located in Baltimore. The basketball team is #332 on Kenpom. It is best known for a 15-over-2 upset in the 1997 NCAA Tournament. Beating this mediocre Duke team (by Duke standards) would immediately become the the program's crowning achievement.

Coppin State's neighbors, the Baltimore Ravens, a franchise that is worth billions of dollars and has every possible resource to control COVID-19, has failed to avoid a massive outbreak. The Ravens had extremely strong incentives to stay COVID-free this week, as they head into a primetime Thanksgiving matchup with their hated rivals, the undefeated Steelers, but the Ravens are currently dealing with at least 10 cases and were forced to cancel practice on Tuesday.

In order for Duke to play this week and have valuable game reps before a tough test against Michigan State (#11 on Kenpom), Coppin State will need to achieve something the Ravens couldn’t come close to: avoid having even one case of COVID. Making matters more impossible, Coppin State plays two games in a tournament this week before bringing whatever is inside of them to Durham. Those games are scheduled to take place in West Virginia, where COVID hospitalizations have increased 53% over the past two weeks. The opponents are scheduled to be Marshall, the host of the tournament, and Arkansas State, obviously from the state of Arkansas, where COVID hospitalizations have increased 38% over the past two weeks.

Thoughts and prayers to Duke basketball.

 

[rhfarmer]

As always, insightful analysis of Duke's opponent, COVID-19.

 

[DrKlahn]

 

[DrKlahn]

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

On to Michigan State.

 

[deepdarkblue]

Good game!

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

Michigan State has a decent shot at making it to the Duke game without a COVID case. They are staying home until then, opening with Eastern Michigan tonight and then Notre Dame over the weekend, and that will be the most important factor.

EMU is in what some racist people would call the “ghetto” of Ypsilanti, which doesn’t bode well. Notre Dame’s President chose to attend the Red Wedding of COVID events, the maskless Amy Coney Barrett nomination ceremony at the White House, Notre Dame football fans chose to rush the field after beating Clemson, and the state of Indiana isn’t particularly known for taking COVID seriously, so I wouldn’t be too optimistic about Duke playing basketball by Tuesday.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

The NCAA chose to start the season exactly on the busiest travel day of the year. They chose to end the season right before the time the consensus believes vaccines will become widely available. Very difficult to be more incompetent than this.

 

[dukebluedevils05]

 

[deepdarkblue]

"for now"

I eagerly await the cancellation of the canceled cancellation.

 

[StopThePumpFakesShav]

We are gonna keep getting SMTTEM game threads for games that don’t get played. Maybe for the best.

 

[aiw]

 

[krsmith16]

We are gonna keep getting SMTTEM game threads for games that don’t get played. Maybe for the best.

He should wait til halftime to do the mich st preview.

 

[rome8180]

I think we should only agree to play if we see our Kenpom rating start to slip.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

 

[aiw]

 

[rome8180]

FYI, it seems like the only way to watch this is through the WatchESPN app, as far as I can tell. ACCNX is ACCN's streaming platform, so I don't think your TV provider will have it. YouTubeTV doesn't, despite carrying ACCN.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

Duke is favored by 36.5.

Duke isn’t just competing against the other team, or against the spread this season. Everyone is competing against Gonzaga. Anything less than a 50+ margin will be disappointing.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

Coppin State is obviously terrible. What they do worse than anything else is jack up bad 3s—they’re almost always taken by bad shooters and/or contested shots and/or off-the-dribble shots. They’re bad FT shooters and bad 3pt shooters (so just bad shooters), and they still take a ton of difficult 3s. The classic Coach K defense should be ideal in this game.

Duke’s main benefit from playing this awful opponent will be learning more about the roster as 3pt shooters. Coppin State chooses not to defend the arc. This is also their best chance to keep the game close—let Duke experiment and find out whether guys like Roach and Moore are good high volume 3pt shooters.

Their coach is Juan Dixon, who won as many national titles and more ACC Player of the Year awards than his college rival, Jason Williams.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

Line has moved to Duke by 39.