“Not Our Rivals!“
That was the chant the Cameron Crazies taunted the Maryland Terps with Saturday afternoon, after another home whipping. In reality though, I would have to disagree. Outside of North Carolina, there is no other team I enjoy watching go down to defeat to the Blue Devils.
In fact, Duke’s two biggest wins this decade have both come against Maryland, both in 2001. Of course I’m speaking about the 10-point in one minute comeback in Maryland and then the Final Four win that year.
SO WHAT DID I SEE SATURDAY
(This will have to be quick. I’m on vacation).
ZOOOOUUUUUBBBBEEEEKKKK. I guess the senior likes to start. Brian Zoubek, owned the paint, scoring 16 and grabbing a career best 17 rebounds. Most of his points came off his eight offensive rebounds.
The fact is, Zoubek was the most important player on the court. When Maryland went on their one 10-0 run in the second half, they did it with Zoubek on the bench.
Mason’s confidence grows. The stats won’t knock you over (seven points, three boards), but in his 17 minutes of action, he’s clearly starting to get a better understanding of the offense. He’s holding the ball less and both of his missed shots were decent shots, they just didn’t go in.
Jon Scheyer > Greivis Vasquez. At least for one night, Scheyer was the better player. He scored 22 on 6-12 shooting, including 3-4 from three and 7-8 from the line. He turned it over only once all game. Vasquez scored 17 points, 15 in the second half. He had four assists to three turnovers. In reality he could have had 8-9 assists, but is teammates missed so many open shots.
Andre Dawkins played 10 minutes. Sure he won’t 0-3, but we don’t care. Keep shooting them, kid. The shot will return.
Turnovers = loses. During Duke’s four-game winning streak, the Devils have only turned the ball over 37 times (9.3 per game). Keep it under 10 and you’re going to win a lot of game.
With this win, Duke takes control of the conference. Looking at Duke’s remaining schedule, there is little reason not to believe the Devils can’t finish undefeated. They got three road games (Miami, Virginia and Maryland). While they can’t sleep on either Miami or Virginia on the road, they will be favorite in both. Heading to Maryland will be tough and despite just beating them by 21, I can see Duke losing that one.
That would put Duke at 26-5, which will be good enough for a second seed. I’m sticking with my guns and hoping that Duke ends up in the same bracket as Kentucky.
The simple fact is, of all the top-four seeds (assuming it’s Kentucky, Kansas, Villanova and Syracuse), Duke isn’t better than any of the four. Those teams are clearly more talented.
Yet if Duke can reach the elite eight, I’ll take my chances against a team of freshman (no matter who talented they are), who struggle to hit the long ball.
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