Game Thread [2021-22] 2 Duke vs. 7 MSU (NCAA Tournament 2nd Round)

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

Sunday, March 20, 5:15pm ET, CBS

The only living coach with a greater legacy than Coach K will be the one to retire him.

Line should be around Duke -6.

 

[krsmith16]

Izzo?! Hahahaha. More like tom jizzo, amirite?!?1

 

[rome8180]

Izzo?! Hahahaha. More like tom jizzo, amirite?!?1

Dumb Jizzo from East Landfill, Pissagain.

 

[Pantone287]

Paolo v. Hauser should be an infuriating end to Paolo's Duke career, as well.

Worth noting that Roach led the team in minutes tonight (35), and Keels only got 21. Roach was also a +19 and Keels a fucking +3, with 6 on 7 shots and 1/4 A/TO. It'd be nice if he randomly has one of those games where he hits a bunch of shots, but he's not trending well.

Moore being hurt would end all hope, as it probably means 40 minutes of Keels. He had a sneaky good game with 13-6-6 on 3-4 3PT.

Whatever. Who cares, at least we didn't lose in the first round, right?

 

[LastHearth]

Izzo will end K’s career, I’ve made my peace with it.

 

[dukebluedevils05]

Just announced that we'll play at 5:15 on CBS.

 

[physicsfactor]

Opens at Duke -6.5

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

A tidbit that will make this sting even worse: MSU is 1-6 this season against the Kenpom top 30. They had a terrible season. Duke is 4-2. But the two losses were their last two tries (UNC, VT).

 

[Pantone287]

Bingham (their 7' senior center) appears to be the best player in the country. 26.8% DRB, 12.7% block rate, and shoots 40% from three (albeit on low volume). Izzo really was sandbagging by giving him inconsistent minutes until March.

Their starting backcourt, OTOH, looks pretty terrible. Both guys (Hoggard and Christie) have a TS% below 50 and shoot 23% and 33% from three. They were a combined 0-6 from 3 with three assists tonight.

Their two forwards (Brown and Hauser) seem like their best offense, and both take and make a lot of threes. Seems like the matchup will likely be decided on how Paolo and AJ/Moore do with them, and how Mark deals with Bingham being a shooting threat.

 

[dukebluedevils05]

Brown was in a nasty shooting slump a few weeks back and has rebounded lately, just in time to end K’s career.

 

[dukeboy911]

Guess this is the preferred matchup for Duke. Only fitting that K doesn’t take advantage. Spartans by 3.

 

[rome8180]

Bingham (their 7' senior center) appears to be the best player in the country. 26.8% DRB, 12.7% block rate, and shoots 40% from three (albeit on low volume). Izzo really was sandbagging by giving him inconsistent minutes until March.

Their starting backcourt, OTOH, looks pretty terrible. Both guys (Hoggard and Christie) have a TS% below 50 and shoot 23% and 33% from three. They were a combined 0-6 from 3 with three assists tonight.

Their two forwards (Brown and Hauser) seem like their best offense, and both take and make a lot of threes. Seems like the matchup will likely be decided on how Paolo and AJ/Moore do with them, and how Mark deals with Bingham being a shooting threat.

The obvious thing to do here is to sag way off their guards. Maybe we can bait them into taking too many shots. Even if they don't bite, that will have the added benefit of keeping them out of the lane. They seemed to be pretty good at penetrating from what I saw tonight.

K will do none of this.

 

[StopThePumpFakesShav]

I don’t see how Moore wont play given he finished the CSU game. We would be fucked if he didn’t

 

[Slap the Floor]

 

[rome8180]

Another benefit of sagging off their guards is that it will conserve energy. MSU is way deeper than we are. That's partially because Izzo doesn't seem to recognize who his best players are. He has seven players averaging between 7-11 points. Nine guys play over 14 mpg.

 

[Slap the Floor]

 

[Slap the Floor]

KenPom has us at 72% favorites going into tomorrows game.

 

[Slap the Floor]

Regardless of the result tomorrow, this is the preferable matchup compared to Davidson. Michigan State isn't elite at anything except for the defensive block %, which ranks #22 in the nation according to KenPom. They have a very good 3pt shooting %, but they are #275 in the nation in the percentage of their shots taken from 3, and #220 in the percentage of their points (29.8) that come from 3. Even what Michigan State is good at (making 3's) is diminished because Izzo's offense doesn't use it enough. They are #35 in offense and #59 in defense. Whereas Davidson was bad defensively but had an elite offense rated near the top 10 in efficiency.

They are terrible at forcing turnovers- #303 in the country- and are almost as bad at not protecting the ball offensively, ranking #224 in turnover percentage. They are #210 in experience, and #192 in minutes continuity, both good results for this young Duke team.

Overall, this matchup is worrisome only because the thought of K losing his final game to Izzo is nauseating, but this is as good of a match-up we could've hoped for from the teams on the 7 line, with the exception of USC.

 

[childress22]

This is exactly the kind of game Theo John was brought here for.

Moreover, I'm pretty sure the Hauser brothers were kind of bitchboys when they quit on Marquette and pouty their last season there anyway -- esp Joey. Let Theo at Hauser.

 

[DurhamSon]

This Italian munchkin is gonna crow hard in the post game presser after putting K to pasture. He’s been waiting to finally get his tormentor in a submission pose for a long time. 2019 was one thing, but he wants revenge for the 2015 FF and he’ll see knocking K out forever as recompense. Even if per form he gets destroyed in the next round. It’s nauseating to imagine.