Game Thread [2021-22] Duke at Pittsburgh

[dukeboy911]

5 pt swing on that bunny miss by TCU. God dammit

 

[CK86]

And we've been better on the road than at home this season

It's so weird too how much better they've been on the road and at neutral sites. It's not like a shot or two difference but substantially better outside of home.

 

[rome8180]

And we've been better on the road than at home this season

It's so weird too how much better they've been on the road and at neutral sites. It's not like a shot or two difference but substantially better outside of home.

Like I posted in another thread, it's the difference between the #2 team in the country and the #14 team. A full six points better in adjusted efficiency on the road.

 

[CK86]

And we've been better on the road than at home this season

It's so weird too how much better they've been on the road and at neutral sites. It's not like a shot or two difference but substantially better outside of home.

Like I posted in another thread, it's the difference between the #2 team in the country and the #14 team. A full six points better in adjusted efficiency on the road.

It's crazy. Throw in the fact that they've got 4 losses by a combined 9 points and it's wild how close Duke actually is to being undefeated.

 

[rome8180]

Did not expect Mark to be played off the floor, but whatever. Of course, it comes right after we do a big segment on our podcast hyping him. Called him one of the best players in the country and one of the best Duke bigs ever.

Anyway, that run that pushed it from 55-40 to 82-49 in six minutes was very sexy.

 

[Pantone287]

Fat guys are just his kryptonite.

(I actually think he just didn't really GAF tonight and will be fine, but still, not the most promising sign that he's turned the corner in fat guy defending.)

 

[mkvl04]

Stronger guys

 

[rome8180]

Fortunately, the odds of him being matched up against a good fat guy in the tournament may be fairly low. He's shown that he can guard really good low post players as long as they're not fat (Timme, Bacot).

 

[mkvl04]

So Kansas lost

 

[rome8180]

I'm going to need @DrKlahn or someone to sort the desirability of 1st and 2nd round opponents by weight of their starting center.

 

[Devilsforlife]

The following demons in the ACC regular season have now been exorcised:

2011: Finished 13-3, one game behind UNC. Late February loss @ VT fucked us.
2012: “ - OT loss at home to mediocre Miami did us in.
2013: Finished 14-4, one game behind Miami
2015: Finished 15-3, one game behind UVA despite beating them in Charlottesville.
2019: Finished 14-4, two games behind UVA even though we swept them. Zion’s injury loomed large.
2020: Finished 15-5, one game behind a FSU team we defeated in Cameron. Only needed to hold a 9 point lead against awful Wake with 1:20 left.

Feels good.

Here’s something else that made the drought so damn annoying.

ACC wins from 2011-2020: Duke 132, UVA 131, UNC 125. RS titles in this span: UNC 5, UVA 4, Duke 0. Should have won AT LEAST 2-3, if not more. About fucking time we sealed the deal.

 

[DurhamSon]

The following demons in the ACC regular season have now been exorcised:

2011: Finished 13-3, one game behind UNC. Late February loss @ VT fucked us.
2012: “ - OT loss at home to mediocre Miami did us in.
2013: Finished 14-4, one game behind Miami
2015: Finished 15-3, one game behind UVA despite beating them in Charlottesville.
2019: Finished 14-4, two games behind UVA even though we swept them. Zion’s injury loomed large.
2020: Finished 15-5, one game behind a FSU team we defeated in Cameron. Only needed to hold a 9 point lead against awful Wake with 1:20 left.

Feels good.

Here’s something else that made the drought so damn annoying.

ACC wins from 2011-2020: Duke 132, UVA 131, UNC 125. RS titles in this span: UNC 5, UVA 4, Duke 0. Should have won AT LEAST 2-3, if not more. About fucking time we sealed the deal.

Yup, absolute complete fluke and if you randomly shuffled the record for those teams the last decade across those years, Duke would almost certainly have more titles, and UNC/UVA fewer.

Here they are in ranked order:

'18 UVA 17-1
'19 UVA 16-2
'15 UVA 16-2
'19 UNC 16-2
'14 UVA 16-2
'12 UNC 14-2
'11 UNC 14-2
'15 Duke 15-3
'11 Duke 13-3
'12 Duke 13-3
'17 UNC 14-4
'19 Duke 14-4
'16 UNC 14-4
'13 Duke 14-4
'21 UVA 13-4
'18 Duke 13-5
'16 UVA 13-5
'14 Duke 13-5
'14 UNC 13-5
'13 UNC 12-6
'20 UVA 15-5
'20 Duke 15-5
'17 UVA 11-7
'13 UVA 11-7
'18 UNC 11-7
'17 Duke 11-7
'16 Duke 11-7
'15 UNC 11-7
'21 UNC 10-6
'12 UVA 9-7
'21 Duke 9-9
'11 UVA 7-9
'20 UNC 6-14


There it is, Duke had 5 seasons over that span where they finished with better records than UNC/UVA teams that won the reg season title in other years over that span. And they finished in second place SIX times, to UVA and UNC's once time each. Just remember how many of those second place finishes were the result of poorly time injuries (at the very least '11,'13, and '19), melt downs in easy to win games, etc. Or just the conference's complete inability to beat UVA besides us for a good five years