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[2018-19] Kentucky (at Indianapolis), Army, Eastern Michigan

SeanMayTriedToEatMe

SeanMayTriedToEatMe

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The latest and potentially most disappointing season of Duke basketball starts with a bang and then features some tune-up games before the Maui Jim Maui Invitational.

Tell all 30-40 people who read Duke-Forum what you think of these games here!


KENTUCKY

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Tuesday, November 6, 9:30pm ET, ESPN
Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN (home to the Indiana Pacers and Indiana Fever)

Kenpom Information
Duke 78, Kentucky 77 (53% chance of Duke winning)
Kentucky: overall 7, offense 6, defense 6

Crowd Atmosphere
Mostly Kentucky fans, who live for nothing more than to love Kentucky basketball and boo Duke, as well as leftover Michigan State and Kansas fans who are primarily sticking around to boo Alex O'Connell, Jack White, Joey Baker, Antonio Vrankovic and Brennan Besser.

Hot Take Material
1. Will Z1on continue to perform like a god-alien, or will Kentucky's length get the better of him like so many otherwise great Duke players of the past?
2. Will Bolden's testicles finally descend against a good opponent?
3. Can Javin actually shoot, dribble and/or catch the ball in a real game now?
4. How much heroball does Barrett have in him, for better or for worse (probably for worse)?
5. How much heroball does Reddish have in him, for better or for worse (probably for better)?
6. What is Calipari going to do with three point guards who all want to play in basketball games?
7. Is Kentucky going to be nationally relevant this season, or will they merely coast through their terrible conference again?
8. Will Duke's man-to-man defense be bad, or will it be terrible?


ARMY

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Sunday, November 11, 1:00pm ET, ESPN
Cameron Indoor Stadium

Kenpom Information
Duke 91, Army 65 (99% chance of Duke winning)
Army: overall 223, offense 212, defense 241

Fact You Will Continue to Be Told by ESPN
Michael William Krzyzewski (nicknamed "Coach K"; born February 13, 1947), the current head coach of Duke men's basketball, played and coached at Army.


EASTERN MICHIGAN

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Wednesday, November 14, 7:00pm ET, RSN/WatchESPN
Cameron Indoor Stadium

Kenpom Information
Duke 83, EMU 65 (95% chance of Duke winning)
EMU: overall 113, offense 124, defense 103

Why You Might Remember EMU if You're Old
In 1996, Duke suffered one of their most embarrassing NCAA Tournament losses up to that point, to 5'5" Earl Boykins and 9-seed EMU in the first round. This loss has since been completely overshadowed by the tremendous losses of the Josh Hairston Era (to 15-seed Lehigh in 2012 and 14-seed Mercer in 2014).
 
TS9 said:
*Shitty announcer before Duke-UK tips*

"No matter what happens tonight at the polls, we're guaranteed a blue wave this Election Night in Indianapolis!"

That's all I've got.
Click to expand...
Shitty announcer stumbles across this thread before the game, uses your line, considers himself a genius on air, returns to TDF’s Game Write Ups by Sean (R) before every announcing gig, goes on to be most successful Duke basketball analyst of all time. TDF viewership increases by 1.
 
SeanMayTriedToEatMe said:
Crowd Atmosphere
Mostly Kentucky fans, who live for nothing more than to love Kentucky basketball and boo Duke, as well as leftover Michigan State and Kansas fans who are primarily sticking around to boo Coach K, along with Alex O'Connell, Jack White, Joey Baker, Antonio Vrankovic and Brennan Besser.
Click to expand...

One small omission there.
 
It's going to be a lot of fun when we beat Kentucky with the 4 recruits Calipari went all in for:

Barrett, Reddish, Zion, and Marques Bolden.
 
I just don't see how UK can guard RJ/Cam/Zion.... I feel like this is just a mismatch at the wing positions.

Like PJ Washington cannot guard Zion or RJ - they will take him off the bounce everytime.

Also - Keldon Johnson being their best perimeter defender, I can't see him chasing RJ and Cam around all night. Plus - Tyler Herro will be exploited and dogged over and over by Cam.

And plus we have #Stones
 
To me, this game boils down to AOC and Jack White making 3's in their limited minutes.
 
I'd like to see how the Devils can fare on the boards against UK. RJ & Cam must not give Herro open looks.

Tre needs to keep Green in front of him, which will be a challenge
 
I'm very bullish on this team, but, just a couple of thoughts.

1.) I think our interior defense/rebounding is being underestimated. Javin is a very good rebounder, and while Marques isn't great, he's still a near 7'0 that can decently protect the rim. Both of them are upperclassmen, and in addition, we have the best rebounding PG we've had in years, and we fill out the starting line-up with 6'8, 6'7, and 6'7. Height doesn't mean good rebounding team, but I don't think this team resembles 2014 in regards to defense/rebound. Amile Jefferson was a 6'9 sophomore that couldn't protect the rim, especially in that scheme, and Jabari was a soft freshman at the 4 who didn't want to play defense, and everyone was in a scheme that didn't fit the team's personnel.

By all accounts and from what little we've seen, this team has bought in to playing defense, and they have the right personnel for the defensive scheme they're running. There is rebounding and rim protection on the interior from two experienced players, both are juniors, and there are very talented freshman who seem to be buying in more similarly to 2015 than other one and done teams we've had.

2.) Our role players are completely underappreciated I think both within the Duke fanbase (TDD) and with other fanbases. This is to be expected by other fanbases to be honest. But our role players consist of 4 players all who have played at Duke. Javin and Jack White are clearly comfortable and embracing their roles- they aren't seeking the ball or the offensive glory. Alex O'Connell is our scoring punch off of the bench, and is in his second year at Duke. We don't know what we will get from Bolden but we really just need him to protect the rim a little bit and get some rebounds and put back points. Anything else from him such as becoming a high level rebounder, continuing to run the floor hard every possession and becoming a real defensive presence on the interior would just be bonus points. I think everyone on this team from the returning guys all the way through the freshman understand their roles. Even Tre Jones knows he doesn't need to score and is just trying to be the best facilitator/leader he can be.

The pieces on this team fit. Jack White is a stretch 4 off of the bench who is versatile defensively. Javin is a big who rebounds at a high level and is versatile defensively. Despite struggling as a freshman defensively, O'Connell is a scoring punch off the bench we need, especially versus zone's due to his shooting ability. He may not be a great defender, but at an athletic 6'6 at the very least he's versatile. Bolden is a big rim protector.

None of our role players are going to get disgruntled with their roles, and I bet all of them will embrace it. This feels like the most "complete" Duke team we have had in a while and players buying in makes it more fun than having guards like Gary Trent Jr who should be high level 3 & D on the perimeter, but instead refuse to play defense and want to get more post-ups. Wtf. Or Derryck Thornton who can't shoot but wants to be placed in continuous high ball screens with the offense centering around him despite his lack of shooting and poor feel/IQ for the game.

The one thing we lack IMO is a competent back-up ball handler, but this could be off-set by Cam Reddish and Barrett, and to be honest even a little bit of Zion, but it's still not clear if any of them will translate well as decent ball handlers at this level without turning it over a lot.

I'm excited, I think we win by double digits. Kentucky's roster is a complete mess and ours isn't. Kentucky's roster in terms of the pieces just not working together well remind me of our 2017 team, but UK has less talent, imo.
 
in case anyone cares, this season I plan on doing some youtube videos breaking down some of our games. I don't think I'll be talking in them, but I'll just be trying to maybe highlight some things that are important that may go unnoticed are not as frequently talked about. Hopefully I'll get around to doing it, I wanted to do it last year especially when we switched to zone.

I would really in particular love to make a video on

our game versus UVA's packline!!!

just kidding, lol.
 
Not sure where to put this, so I'll just put it here in anticipation of a new season. I don't think my ass was ever as clenched as hard as it was during the final couple minutes of this game.



lmao @ 3:54. Matt Howard got his revenge the following year!
 
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