Game Thread [2021-22] 2 Duke vs. 3 Texas Tech (NCAA Tournament S16)

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

Thursday, March 24, 9:45pm-ish ET, CBS

Bryson Williams (#11) turns 24 next month and is in his 6th year in college. He is 1 of 7 interchangeable parts in Texas Tech’s #1 defense, all measuring 6-6 to 6-8 and all capable of guarding every position. He is their best offensive player - a unanimous 1st Team All-Big 12 selection - and he is about to make Paolo Banchero his son.

It’s appropriate that Coach K will have his career ended at the hands of a defense he could never dream of putting together in his final years, and at the hands of a player who is 4.5 years older than his one-and-done projected top 3 draft pick.

Duke might be an underdog for the first time since the Gonzaga game. Line should waver between Duke -1 and Texas Tech -1.

 

[mkvl04]

TT surely does get away with fouling

 

[Devilsforlife]

Texas Tech is basically 2017 South Carolina on steroids. We will be lucky to score 60.

 

[DurhamSon]

S16 and regular season title is probably above the line of completely embarrassing season, so that’s good. Much better to lose to a team I think makes a FF run than a prick like Izzo.

A dignified exit is all we can hope to achieve and that’s within sight now

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

Looking at some metrics, I take back the underdog statement. I think this might be an exact pick ‘em in Vegas.

 

[DurhamSon]

Also thought the game was Thursday? Was the CBS graphic wrong?

 

[krsmith16]

I only watched last couple minutes, but i saw a big, beefy guy that looks the type that gives Mark fits.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

I don’t know. I was assuming Friday but you’re probably right, to accommodate Gonzaga’s side of the bracket.

 

[DrKlahn]

This game feels destined to come down to the last 2-3 possessions.

It is Thursday night. I hope it is the earlier game. I’m sure that the Nantz crew will be following them to SF.

 

[dukebluedevils05]

I only watched last couple minutes, but i saw a big, beefy guy that looks the type that gives Mark fits.

Santos-Silva. I think he's also in his 5th year. Transferred from VCU a couple years back. Not much of an offensive threat away from the basket from what I've seen, which is good. I also seem to recall that he's pretty mechanical in the paint when trying to execute a post move and isn't much of an above the rim dude, just thiccc and strong as fuck.

 

[TS9]

Borrow some football players this week and play 5-on-8 in practice. Unless our defense does that thing where it makes the opposing offense better, I’m not sure either side has a clear advantage in this one.

We’ll probably lose, of course, but in these sorts of good-offense-vs-good-defense games, I’d generally rather have the good offense.

 

[dukebluedevils05]

Their whole thing is to not allow middle drives under any circumstances. They force EVERYTHING to the baseline where they want to bring the second defender and set up a trap and have everyone else pinch in. They go all out to deny middle entry drives.

I was watching some video on their defense a month or so back and it was basically saying that the key to beating their defense is being able to effectively utilize skip passes without turning it over. Use a skip pass, then the extra pass from there and you've created an advantage. A whole lot easier said than done, no doubt.

 

[DrKlahn]

It’s safe to say that Duke hasn’t seen a defense in the ballpark of TT statistically. The best that Duke saw was Kentucky (in a game that was far too early to be useful) and UNC. Those defenses have an efficiency rating that is around 10 points per 100 possessions worse than TT. The question is, Is there a point where the quality of the defense doesn’t matter because we know Duke has the talent to generate points and we also know they are going to take 15-20 possessions off every night?

 

[best4heisman]

Not that it negates your point, but Gonzaga is an elite defense. Within about 5 points of Texas Tech.

 

[DrKlahn]

You’re right, they are better. But also a way too early game.

 

[mkvl04]

Their whole thing is to not allow middle drives under any circumstances. They force EVERYTHING to the baseline where they want to bring the second defender and set up a trap and have everyone else pinch in. They go all out to deny middle entry drives.

I was watching some video on their defense a month or so back and it was basically saying that the key to beating their defense is being able to effectively utilize skip passes without turning it over. Use a skip pass, then the extra pass from there and you've created an advantage. A whole lot easier said than done, no doubt.

Have to go and re-watch but I swear I saw ND drive the middle. Maybe it was because ND can shoot so it allowed them to drive due them rushing out to the shooter

Defensively though we need to rebound and force them to shoot. ND mixed in zone with man at times

 

[DurhamSon]

Just do what we did against elite UVA defenses and make a lot of threes, duh

 

[aiw]

69-68 L 67 possessions 46%

 

[torontoduke]

Going to be rough. Damn

 

[childress22]

Kinda sorta reminds me of our Utah matchup in 2015. Utah had one short guy and one tall guy (Poeltl) to go with their bunch of wing-sized guys, but they were tough on defense.