This was not an especially memorable year for rookies. I will most steadfastly NOT count newcomers like Lexie Brown and Imani Wright as rookies for this consideration, because that would be stupid. Productivity, skills, and earning playing time vs productive players as opposed to be handed playing time were all considered.
ACC All-Rookie Team
Francesca Pan, Georgia Tech
Danielle Touissant, Virginia
Kobi Thornton, Clemson
Leaonna "Ducky" Odom, Duke
Alex Sharp, Wake Forest
Notes: Pan's the rookie of the year, and an already-struggling GT team would have been dead without her scoring. Touissant has been a big part of UVa crawling out of a hole. Thornton has the size and strength to be a dominant player, and she's started to shed some of that rawness to make life miserable for others. Odom has been electric at times for Duke as an unstoppable force in the open floor. Sharp was inserted into the Wake lineup and proved to be a steadying force at both ends.
Hey, why not an
ACC All-Rookie Second Team
Gabby Cooper, Syracuse
Alayna Gribble, Pitt
Jackie Young, Notre Dame
Jocelyn Willoughby, Virginia
Georgia Pineau, Boston College
Notes: Cooper has been the Orange's only useful frosh and one of their few dependable shooters outside Peterson and Sykes. Gribble is a scorer-rebounder-playmaker and her purpose is to make life easier for the already-overtaxed Brenna Wise. Young has helped a fairly deep Notre Dame team as a slasher and rebounder. Willoughby gives the Hoos some physicality, while Pineau is another triple-threat type that's emerged at BC.
Other awards?
Coach: If FSU beats Notre Dame, then it's Sue Semrau. Otherwise, give it to Wes Moore of NC State if they win their last two games. If he loses both and Duke beats UNC, then Joanne McCallie, unbelievably enough, deserves some consideration.
6th Woman: Let's go with Laura Cornelius of Miami, who started only 6 games and is averaging 9 ppg (third on the team!) in a key playmaking role. Runner-up is Chartrice White of FSU, averaging 9 ppg as the team's backup center.
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
All-ACC
Before, I forget, I wanted to put out my All-ACC teams before the official ones come out (there's one for coaches and media). As always, I do it old-school: first, second and third teams comprised of five players each. Until the rules committee starts allowing ten players at a time on the floor, my teams will have five players apiece on them. I get it: with 15 teams in the league, it's much hard to whittle the talent down without making some hard choices, and having a ten-woman first team makes everyone feel better. That's still not a good reason to do it, however. My teams are positionless. I take into account overall stats and look at ACC stats when trying to choose players. I favor the best players on the best teams whenever possible, and good players putting up inflated stats on horrible teams get penalized accordingly. This year was really hard to do because so many good teams had so much balance, making fewer players stand out than usual. With that said:
All-ACC First Team
Brianna Turner, C Notre Dame
Alexis Peterson, PG Syracuse
Shakayla Thomas, W Florida State
Lexie Brown, OG Duke
Asia Durr, Louisville
Notes: Turner is my POY, I guess. I say that with little enthusiasm. She's the best player on a flawed team. She leads the ACC in FG% and blocks, and is a solid scorer and rebounder. Peterson leads the ACC in scoring and assists, but Turner gets the nod for being on one of the two best teams. Thomas is second-place FSU's best player, Brown has led Duke to third place and Durr is the top scorer on a good team.
All-ACC Second Team
Arike Ogunbowale, F Notre Dame
Brittney Sykes, F Syracuse
Rebecca Greenwell, G Duke
Jessica Thomas, G Miami
Dominique Wilson, G NC State
Notes: Ogunbowale is Notre Dame's top scorer and a great shooter. Sykes is a tremendous all-around player, as is Greenwell, and both have shot well this season. Thomas is Miami's best player, which is a surprise considering that Adrienne Motley is a senior this season. NC State has a lot of balance, but Wilson is the team's sole real slasher and led them to a number of unexpected wins.
All-ACC Third Team
Briana Day, C Syracuse
Mariya Moore, G Louisville
Miah Spencer, PG NC State
Chanette Hicks, G Virginia Tech
Lindsay Allen, PG Notre Dame/Paris Kea, G
Notes: Day has been solid all year and has matured into a fine player. Moore doesn't put up the kind of number one expects given her talent, but she's still a great player. Spencer holds the NC State lineup together, while Hicks has been the leader of a VT club that had NCAA tourney aspirations before tanking. Finally, you have Allen, a senior on the ACC's best team who lead the ACC in assist/turnover ratio, vs Kea, a do-it-all player on a horrible team. If Notre Dame wins the conference, I'll give Allen the call.
All-ACC First Team
Brianna Turner, C Notre Dame
Alexis Peterson, PG Syracuse
Shakayla Thomas, W Florida State
Lexie Brown, OG Duke
Asia Durr, Louisville
Notes: Turner is my POY, I guess. I say that with little enthusiasm. She's the best player on a flawed team. She leads the ACC in FG% and blocks, and is a solid scorer and rebounder. Peterson leads the ACC in scoring and assists, but Turner gets the nod for being on one of the two best teams. Thomas is second-place FSU's best player, Brown has led Duke to third place and Durr is the top scorer on a good team.
All-ACC Second Team
Arike Ogunbowale, F Notre Dame
Brittney Sykes, F Syracuse
Rebecca Greenwell, G Duke
Jessica Thomas, G Miami
Dominique Wilson, G NC State
Notes: Ogunbowale is Notre Dame's top scorer and a great shooter. Sykes is a tremendous all-around player, as is Greenwell, and both have shot well this season. Thomas is Miami's best player, which is a surprise considering that Adrienne Motley is a senior this season. NC State has a lot of balance, but Wilson is the team's sole real slasher and led them to a number of unexpected wins.
All-ACC Third Team
Briana Day, C Syracuse
Mariya Moore, G Louisville
Miah Spencer, PG NC State
Chanette Hicks, G Virginia Tech
Lindsay Allen, PG Notre Dame/Paris Kea, G
Notes: Day has been solid all year and has matured into a fine player. Moore doesn't put up the kind of number one expects given her talent, but she's still a great player. Spencer holds the NC State lineup together, while Hicks has been the leader of a VT club that had NCAA tourney aspirations before tanking. Finally, you have Allen, a senior on the ACC's best team who lead the ACC in assist/turnover ratio, vs Kea, a do-it-all player on a horrible team. If Notre Dame wins the conference, I'll give Allen the call.
Thursday, February 16, 2017
Around The ACC, Part 1
The ACC has seven ranked teams, all of which have crucial flaws but are still interesting to watch and whom could do some NCAA tournament damage. With just three or four games left for more teams, let's take a quick look at them all, from top to bottom, starting with the top three.
Florida State (#4 AP, #7 USA Today, #6 RPI, #10 SOS): 23-3, 11-1 ACC. This is the most balanced team in the ACC, with six players near double-figure scoring. They have an elite slashing wing in Shakayla Thomas (15 ppg), a solid passer and shooter in Letty Romero (13 ppg, 3 apg), a potent gunner in Baylor transfer Imani Wright (11 ppg, 43% 3FG), an experienced point guard in Brittany Brown (9 ppg, 5 apg), a tough forward in Ivey Slaughter (10 ppg, 6 rpg) and a solid post in Chartrice White (9 ppg, 5 rpg). They have three other solid reserves who can soak up minutes. Their starting five is very athletic and spaces the floor like an NBA team. They gave UConn all they could handle, lost to Texas because of some unusually bad foul shooting, and got out-shot by NC State. Other than that, they've beaten everyone. They play Notre Dame in the final regular season game, and the winner of that game will win the ACC.
Strengths: Balanced and efficient scoring, rebounding from all positions, depth
Weaknesses: Susceptible to three point shooting teams, not a lot of skilled size, no dominant go-to player who can bail them out
Notre Dame (#7 AP, #6 USA Today, #2 RPI, #2 SOS): 23-3, 11-1 ACC. The ACC's most dominant program has looked sort of human this year. Don't get me wrong: there's still a ton of talent and they still are beating almost everyone, but the margins are getting slimmer and their efficiency level is not what it once was. The Irish are desperately missing leadership this year, and the kind of glue players (think Madison Cable) who made connecting plays and key shots down the stretch. You would think senior point guard Lindsay Allen would be that kind of player, but it hasn't really happened. She's still good: 9 ppg, 5 rpg and a league-leading 7.5 apg are All-ACC kinds of numbers (second or third team, that is). She's just always been a support player, and that's what she continues to be. The most talented player on the team, post Brianna Turner (15 ppg, 8 rpg) is not the leader type, and she's ideally a second banana type of player despite her talent. That's left Arike Ogunbowale as the alpha player on the team as just a sophomore, which means that the team occasionally suffers some hiccups due to her young mistakes. Still, she's a potent scorer (15 ppg, 42% 3FG) who can put up huge numbers. The team's other big-time shooter is Marina Mabrey (13 ppg, 37% 3FG), though she runs hot and cold. Forward Kathryn Westbeld (9 ppg, 5 rpg), guard Jackie Young (7 ppg, 4 rpg), and guard Erin Boley (6 ppg) round out the main part of the rotation, though veteran guard Mychal Young and veteran post Kristina Nelson get double-digit minutes.
Strengths: Size, balance, playmaking, depth
Weaknesses: Susceptible to the three, no go-to player, not as mentally tough as in recent years
NC State (#15 AP, #18 USA Today, #28 RPI, #55 SOS): 19-6, 9-3 ACC. If NC State holds on to finish in third place, then Wes Moore will deserve serious consideration for ACC coach of the year. This is a rag-tag group of weird players that shouldn't fit together that constantly plays at a surprisingly high level and with unflagging enthusiasm and guts. They are facing a serious problem at the moment: the absence of frosh guard Aislinn Konig (8 ppg, 38% 3FG), who gave the Pack a floor-spacer off the bench. State's bench is very thin in terms of impact play without here, though post Akela Maize, guard Lucky Rudd, guard Kaila Ealey and forward DD Rogers have their moments when pressed into service. The heart of the Wolfpack is their starting five, starting with undersized bigs Jennifer Mathurin (9 ppg, 6 rpg, 30% 3FG) and Chelsea Nelson (11 ppg, 6 rpg), who stand at 6-1 and 6-2 respectively, yet still give opposing posts fits. Dominique Wilson is a multifaceted scorer (12 ppg, 34% 3FG), Miah Spencer (12 ppg, 5 apg, 36% 3FG) makes the team run and Ashley Williams is the team's stand-still bomber (8 ppg, 41% 3FG). Despite their flaws, they are solid across the board statistically and just know how to win, having defeated the top three teams in the ACC as well as having won two recent overtime games.
Strengths: Volume shooting, discipline, mental toughness, teamwork
Weaknesses: Size, quality depth, no rim protection
Florida State (#4 AP, #7 USA Today, #6 RPI, #10 SOS): 23-3, 11-1 ACC. This is the most balanced team in the ACC, with six players near double-figure scoring. They have an elite slashing wing in Shakayla Thomas (15 ppg), a solid passer and shooter in Letty Romero (13 ppg, 3 apg), a potent gunner in Baylor transfer Imani Wright (11 ppg, 43% 3FG), an experienced point guard in Brittany Brown (9 ppg, 5 apg), a tough forward in Ivey Slaughter (10 ppg, 6 rpg) and a solid post in Chartrice White (9 ppg, 5 rpg). They have three other solid reserves who can soak up minutes. Their starting five is very athletic and spaces the floor like an NBA team. They gave UConn all they could handle, lost to Texas because of some unusually bad foul shooting, and got out-shot by NC State. Other than that, they've beaten everyone. They play Notre Dame in the final regular season game, and the winner of that game will win the ACC.
Strengths: Balanced and efficient scoring, rebounding from all positions, depth
Weaknesses: Susceptible to three point shooting teams, not a lot of skilled size, no dominant go-to player who can bail them out
Notre Dame (#7 AP, #6 USA Today, #2 RPI, #2 SOS): 23-3, 11-1 ACC. The ACC's most dominant program has looked sort of human this year. Don't get me wrong: there's still a ton of talent and they still are beating almost everyone, but the margins are getting slimmer and their efficiency level is not what it once was. The Irish are desperately missing leadership this year, and the kind of glue players (think Madison Cable) who made connecting plays and key shots down the stretch. You would think senior point guard Lindsay Allen would be that kind of player, but it hasn't really happened. She's still good: 9 ppg, 5 rpg and a league-leading 7.5 apg are All-ACC kinds of numbers (second or third team, that is). She's just always been a support player, and that's what she continues to be. The most talented player on the team, post Brianna Turner (15 ppg, 8 rpg) is not the leader type, and she's ideally a second banana type of player despite her talent. That's left Arike Ogunbowale as the alpha player on the team as just a sophomore, which means that the team occasionally suffers some hiccups due to her young mistakes. Still, she's a potent scorer (15 ppg, 42% 3FG) who can put up huge numbers. The team's other big-time shooter is Marina Mabrey (13 ppg, 37% 3FG), though she runs hot and cold. Forward Kathryn Westbeld (9 ppg, 5 rpg), guard Jackie Young (7 ppg, 4 rpg), and guard Erin Boley (6 ppg) round out the main part of the rotation, though veteran guard Mychal Young and veteran post Kristina Nelson get double-digit minutes.
Strengths: Size, balance, playmaking, depth
Weaknesses: Susceptible to the three, no go-to player, not as mentally tough as in recent years
NC State (#15 AP, #18 USA Today, #28 RPI, #55 SOS): 19-6, 9-3 ACC. If NC State holds on to finish in third place, then Wes Moore will deserve serious consideration for ACC coach of the year. This is a rag-tag group of weird players that shouldn't fit together that constantly plays at a surprisingly high level and with unflagging enthusiasm and guts. They are facing a serious problem at the moment: the absence of frosh guard Aislinn Konig (8 ppg, 38% 3FG), who gave the Pack a floor-spacer off the bench. State's bench is very thin in terms of impact play without here, though post Akela Maize, guard Lucky Rudd, guard Kaila Ealey and forward DD Rogers have their moments when pressed into service. The heart of the Wolfpack is their starting five, starting with undersized bigs Jennifer Mathurin (9 ppg, 6 rpg, 30% 3FG) and Chelsea Nelson (11 ppg, 6 rpg), who stand at 6-1 and 6-2 respectively, yet still give opposing posts fits. Dominique Wilson is a multifaceted scorer (12 ppg, 34% 3FG), Miah Spencer (12 ppg, 5 apg, 36% 3FG) makes the team run and Ashley Williams is the team's stand-still bomber (8 ppg, 41% 3FG). Despite their flaws, they are solid across the board statistically and just know how to win, having defeated the top three teams in the ACC as well as having won two recent overtime games.
Strengths: Volume shooting, discipline, mental toughness, teamwork
Weaknesses: Size, quality depth, no rim protection
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
State of the Program, 2/15
It's been a while since I've posted anything, and apologies to those hoping to hear more this season. Other (read: paying) opportunities have demanded more of my time. However, I'll post some quick things over the next few days.
Duke is currently 22-4, 10-3 in the ACC. They're ranked #14 by USA Today and #13 by AP. The Devils are #10 in the RPI (accoriding to RealTimeRPI.com) and #11 in Sagarin's ratings. Both of the projected seedings released by the NCAA have shown that Duke will be hosting NCAA tournament games, and I imagine that will stand barring some bad losses. Considering the total chaos the program was in a year ago, what has changed?
In some respects, nothing. Duke's offense remains unchanged: some basic high pick action designed to free up shooters on the wing, some basic actions going to the basket. Simple stuff. The defense shifts between match-up zone and man, with occasional half-court and full-court traps. There are times when the defense will apply active ball pressure, but it's more read-and-react in the zone than anything else. Here are the top ten reasons why this Duke team is playing as well as it is:
1. Offseason coaching additions. Adding a strength and fitness trainer in Ashleigh Beaver for the women's team has made a huge impact on the team's overall level of fitness going into the season, and it may well have had an impact on reducing injuries.
2. The return of Al Brown. After battling illness and a shaky status within the program, Brown is back and Duke looks much better prepared as a result. When Rebecca Greenwell thrice inbounded the ball off the backs of Syracuse players, McCallie noted that this was an Al Brown special.
3. No significant injuries. Frosh Emily Schubert tore her knee prior to the season starting, but she was not going to be a contributor this season anyway. Haley Gorecki was slow to return from her hip injury, until it made sense to simply redshirt her. This has allowed the team to not only figure out roles in the top of the rotation, it's allowed them to expand depth and figure out those roles as well.
4. Frosh becoming sophs. This is especially true of Kyra Lambert, whose ability to run the team has allowed Lexie Brown and Rebecca Greenwell to hunt shots. Lambert has an almost 2:1 assist/turnover ratio and is shooting 40% from three. That said, Crystal Primm is doing a nice job as a wing stopper who likes to attack the basket and Faith Suggs is goofy energy player. They're not just soaking up minutes: they are actually helping to extend leads.
5. Easier schedule. South Carolina and Kentucky both came to Cameron, and the closer match-ups with teams like Syracuse, Louisville, Virginia Tech and Miami were all at home as well. The win over Louisville may have been the most important one of the year, and the fact that it was in Cameron certainly helped.
6. The return of Kendall Cooper. While she's been inconsistent (6 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 38 blocks), there's no question that when focused, Kendall is a great post player. It's all a matter of focus and confidence for her. When she's locked in, she can score and defend against anyone. Her shot-blocking is a huge weapon, especially since she's started to cut down on her fouling.
7. Ducky Power. Leaonna "Ducky" Odom has been a flash of lightning in the front court, as she's attacked the rim, grabbed offensive boards and run the floor faster than anyone since Lindsey Harding. Her range is highly limited on her shot, but she adds a new dimension to the team.She's even starting to adjust to physical opponents by picking her spots and avoiding foul trouble.
8. Help and Recover. To run a good zone, there has to be constant communication. If you don't, then you get wide-open shooters, especially in the left corner. That's killed Duke the last few years. This year, they're still giving up some open shots, but shooters are getting just a little less time to get the ball away. In particular, Duke is doing a much better job zeroing in on hot shooters and forcing lesser shooters to hit shots.
9. Turnovers are down. Duke's only turning the ball over about 15 times a game. That's a testament to better passing and ballhandling across the boar, but also better communication as well.
10. Lexie Brown. Averaging 18 ppg, 48% from the field, 39% from three and 91% from the foul line, Brown has established herself as a legit ACC player of the year candidate. After a rough start to her season, she has taken over a number of games when opponents were able to shut down all the usual basic aspects of Duke's offense. Given Brown an inch of space to work with, and she will get off a three (the right wing is her favorite spot), attack the rim or zip into the lane for a short jumper.
I predicted the losses to FSU and Notre Dame on the road, though the latter was pretty close as the Irish are vulnerable this year. Wes Moore and NC State know how to dictate tempo against Duke, so their win wasn't a complete shock. Duke really handled a Syracuse squad that features two of the top scorers in the league. Miami is the toughest remaining game, though Wake and UNC shouldn't be discounted on the road. Duke will likely be the #4 seed in the tournament, which would mean meeting FSU in the semifinals, something Duke surely does not want.
Duke is currently 22-4, 10-3 in the ACC. They're ranked #14 by USA Today and #13 by AP. The Devils are #10 in the RPI (accoriding to RealTimeRPI.com) and #11 in Sagarin's ratings. Both of the projected seedings released by the NCAA have shown that Duke will be hosting NCAA tournament games, and I imagine that will stand barring some bad losses. Considering the total chaos the program was in a year ago, what has changed?
In some respects, nothing. Duke's offense remains unchanged: some basic high pick action designed to free up shooters on the wing, some basic actions going to the basket. Simple stuff. The defense shifts between match-up zone and man, with occasional half-court and full-court traps. There are times when the defense will apply active ball pressure, but it's more read-and-react in the zone than anything else. Here are the top ten reasons why this Duke team is playing as well as it is:
1. Offseason coaching additions. Adding a strength and fitness trainer in Ashleigh Beaver for the women's team has made a huge impact on the team's overall level of fitness going into the season, and it may well have had an impact on reducing injuries.
2. The return of Al Brown. After battling illness and a shaky status within the program, Brown is back and Duke looks much better prepared as a result. When Rebecca Greenwell thrice inbounded the ball off the backs of Syracuse players, McCallie noted that this was an Al Brown special.
3. No significant injuries. Frosh Emily Schubert tore her knee prior to the season starting, but she was not going to be a contributor this season anyway. Haley Gorecki was slow to return from her hip injury, until it made sense to simply redshirt her. This has allowed the team to not only figure out roles in the top of the rotation, it's allowed them to expand depth and figure out those roles as well.
4. Frosh becoming sophs. This is especially true of Kyra Lambert, whose ability to run the team has allowed Lexie Brown and Rebecca Greenwell to hunt shots. Lambert has an almost 2:1 assist/turnover ratio and is shooting 40% from three. That said, Crystal Primm is doing a nice job as a wing stopper who likes to attack the basket and Faith Suggs is goofy energy player. They're not just soaking up minutes: they are actually helping to extend leads.
5. Easier schedule. South Carolina and Kentucky both came to Cameron, and the closer match-ups with teams like Syracuse, Louisville, Virginia Tech and Miami were all at home as well. The win over Louisville may have been the most important one of the year, and the fact that it was in Cameron certainly helped.
6. The return of Kendall Cooper. While she's been inconsistent (6 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 38 blocks), there's no question that when focused, Kendall is a great post player. It's all a matter of focus and confidence for her. When she's locked in, she can score and defend against anyone. Her shot-blocking is a huge weapon, especially since she's started to cut down on her fouling.
7. Ducky Power. Leaonna "Ducky" Odom has been a flash of lightning in the front court, as she's attacked the rim, grabbed offensive boards and run the floor faster than anyone since Lindsey Harding. Her range is highly limited on her shot, but she adds a new dimension to the team.She's even starting to adjust to physical opponents by picking her spots and avoiding foul trouble.
8. Help and Recover. To run a good zone, there has to be constant communication. If you don't, then you get wide-open shooters, especially in the left corner. That's killed Duke the last few years. This year, they're still giving up some open shots, but shooters are getting just a little less time to get the ball away. In particular, Duke is doing a much better job zeroing in on hot shooters and forcing lesser shooters to hit shots.
9. Turnovers are down. Duke's only turning the ball over about 15 times a game. That's a testament to better passing and ballhandling across the boar, but also better communication as well.
10. Lexie Brown. Averaging 18 ppg, 48% from the field, 39% from three and 91% from the foul line, Brown has established herself as a legit ACC player of the year candidate. After a rough start to her season, she has taken over a number of games when opponents were able to shut down all the usual basic aspects of Duke's offense. Given Brown an inch of space to work with, and she will get off a three (the right wing is her favorite spot), attack the rim or zip into the lane for a short jumper.
I predicted the losses to FSU and Notre Dame on the road, though the latter was pretty close as the Irish are vulnerable this year. Wes Moore and NC State know how to dictate tempo against Duke, so their win wasn't a complete shock. Duke really handled a Syracuse squad that features two of the top scorers in the league. Miami is the toughest remaining game, though Wake and UNC shouldn't be discounted on the road. Duke will likely be the #4 seed in the tournament, which would mean meeting FSU in the semifinals, something Duke surely does not want.
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Game Review: Duke Vs Louisville
Looking at Duke's stats compared to the rest of the ACC has been interesting. Prior to playing Louisville, Duke was #3 in the ACC in scoring, #2 in scoring margin, #1 in FG%, #2 in FT%, #1 in 3FG% and #4 in assists. One might ask: did Joanne P. McCallie do some soul-searching in the offseason and make major changes in her offense? The answer, of course, is no. The schemes are exactly the same: basic high-post screens to free up a penetrating guard or a shooter, entry passes to the post from the wing. Repeat ad infinitum. So why is Duke doing so well? It's for the same reason why Duke did well when they had Chelsea Gray & Jasmine Thomas in the same backcourt, or Gray & Alexis Jones: talented guards who can make smart decisions.
I can't overstate how much the addition of Lexie Brown has meant to the team. Her role her is very different than her role at Maryland, and it's for the best. She is a scoring guard, first and foremost, who happens to be a good passer. When she gets her feet set on the wing, chances are that her shot will go in. Throw in the always-solid Rebecca Greenwell as a big guard who can drive and post up a little in addition to draining long-range bombs and the immense improvement of Kyra Lambert as a sophomore, and you have a high scoring trio (45 ppg) that's hard to entirely shut down. Having Lambert around to run point and initiate the offense allows Brown & Greenwell to hunt their shots. Sometimes they get way too focused in on themselves and forget there are other shooters on the team; I've often seen Kyra jump up down when she was open and someone didn't look her way. The bottom line is that for a team that has to do a lot of broken-play scoring, it's good to have experienced players who can improvise.
I'll address some of the ACC's early wackiness in another post, but when the top two teams in the league both dropped early games to NC State, it means that the league is suddenly much more interesting than I thought it was going to be, at least for now. That meant there was a lot at stake in the Duke-Louisville game, a match-up between #13 and #8, respectively. The Cards got hammered by South Carolina and nipped by Maryland, but they beat Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Syracuse. The latter game saw star guard Asia Durr score over 30 points in the second half alone, as the Cards erased an early double-digit deficit and won going away. Durr, post Myisha Hines-Allen (the reigning ACC player of the year) and big guard Mariya Moore made up Louisville's big three, with Briahanna Jackson acting as the glue player and point guard. It was role players all the way down after that, with the Cards bringing in a variety of big, physical posts that were looking to knock some heads.
Early on, it was laughably obvious that Louisville had easily scouted Duke's every move and had a quick defensive counter. Even if Sam Williams hadn't been McCallie's former assistant, the offense is not all that hard to decipher. They forced Duke to take tough shots, and the Devils made a bunch of them in the early going, which I didn't think was sustainable. Greenwell was held in check, and Ducky Odom was in no way ready for the physical punishment the Cards were dishing out down low. They also blasted Oderah Chidom away from the basket. Meanwhile, Moore kept finding the hole in Duke's zone and was able to get some relatively easy baskets. Moore came into the game shooting 25% from three but wound up nailing 4-8 from long range. Meanwhile, Durr was chucking like crazy (5-18 in the game, 2-12 from three) in an effort to punish Duke's zone. Durr mostly did it off the dribble and shot from the wing instead of running to the corner where there was almost always a wide-open shot (a function of the matchup zone). Moore did almost all of her damage from the corner. The Cards dominated the boards and the paint in the first half, but bad shooting and 8 turnovers limited them to a two point lead.
Then came the wacky play that everyone's seen. Louisville coach Jeff Walz had three of his players wander over to Duke's side of the court before the second half began and line up, except that the Duke players were fooled into forgetting that the two teams changed baskets at the half. Louisville's other two players inbounded the ball for an easy layup, laughing all the way. Duke shook that off and stayed close in the third quarter. There were times when it seemed like the Cards were in control, as they once went up by as many as six. Every time they threatened to pull away, Duke would make a great defensive play or Brown would hit a big shot. Duke decided to wall off the post and then flood the passing lanes by bringing all three guards up high, and that action proved confusing for a Louisville team that was hell-bent on feeding the post. Despite seeming to be in control and forcing Duke to make tough plays, the Cards were up just 44-41 after three quarters.
Duke won the fourth quarter, and the game, because Louisville's defense started to break down while the Devils were now comfortable scoring off broken plays. After both teams blew scoring opportunities, Durr hit a tough jumper to put the Cards up by five with under eight minutes left. Brown found Greenwell for her only three of the game, but it was a momentum-swinger. Duke got a stop and Lambert hit a long two to tie the game and then boldly attacked the basket to somehow give Duke the lead. This is when the game started getting really good. Durr got fouled and hit both, but Lambert found Erin Mathias posting up in great position, and she was able to finish nicely on a seal. Moore hit a big time three to make it 51-50 for the Cards.
After three misses by each team, Lambert came up with a huge steal when the Cards tried to pass into the post yet again. Brown sped up the floor, drew a defender, and then bounced a pass to a wide-open Kendall Cooper (who had a huge game) to put Duke up with under two minutes left. Hines-Allen put Louisville up with a cold-blooded face-up jumper, but Greenwell drove and somehow managed to push her shot into the hoop with under a minute left. Duke played outstanding defense on the next possession, forcing Jackson to take a three that Cooper blocked and Lambert (she was everywhere!) recovered. Duke wasn't in the bonus yet, so Louisville had to burn a few seconds by fouling twice. For some reason, Walz didn't take Jackson out of the game in an obvious fouling position even though she had four fouls, and Jackson was forced to foul automatic foul shooter Lexie Brown when Duke managed to spring her. Brown is the owner of Duke's longest consecutive free-throw shooting streak (45 and counting), and she said the pressure of hitting those free throws in the moment wasn't that big a deal because every free throw is a pressure situation for her now. Having her on the floor (and Louisville not finding a way to foul someone else) was a big bonus for Duke, because she's quite a weapon in this sort of situation.
After Brown hit two, Duke walled off the perimeter, allowing Hines-Allen to lean in for a jumper. Duke sprung Brown long again and she got fouled, hitting both. Without Jackson, Louisville looked a little less organized. Duke fouled on an inbounds play because they had fouls to give and wanted to burn a second or so. Still, the new rule that allows teams to inbounds at mid-court after a timeout late in the game is a tremendous advantage that helped Louisville set up a play. Duke was shadowing all of Louisville's scorers, and reserve guard Sydney Zambrotta had to fling a desperation shot that almost went in, but was instead rebounded by Cooper to finish the game.
This marks a second top-ten opponent that Duke has beaten and a third top-25 foe. Beating the expected third-place team in the league and now owning the tiebreaker over them was actually quite significant for a conference season-opener, especially with the ACC looking more wide open at this point. The league is really tough this year, as 13 teams are currently in the RPI top 100, and 8 are in the top 50. The good news is that Duke has home games against Syracuse, Miami, and Virginia Tech. Notre Dame and FSU (two games I don't think Duke can win) are on the road anyway. NC State is a very dangerous road game.
I can't overstate how much the addition of Lexie Brown has meant to the team. Her role her is very different than her role at Maryland, and it's for the best. She is a scoring guard, first and foremost, who happens to be a good passer. When she gets her feet set on the wing, chances are that her shot will go in. Throw in the always-solid Rebecca Greenwell as a big guard who can drive and post up a little in addition to draining long-range bombs and the immense improvement of Kyra Lambert as a sophomore, and you have a high scoring trio (45 ppg) that's hard to entirely shut down. Having Lambert around to run point and initiate the offense allows Brown & Greenwell to hunt their shots. Sometimes they get way too focused in on themselves and forget there are other shooters on the team; I've often seen Kyra jump up down when she was open and someone didn't look her way. The bottom line is that for a team that has to do a lot of broken-play scoring, it's good to have experienced players who can improvise.
I'll address some of the ACC's early wackiness in another post, but when the top two teams in the league both dropped early games to NC State, it means that the league is suddenly much more interesting than I thought it was going to be, at least for now. That meant there was a lot at stake in the Duke-Louisville game, a match-up between #13 and #8, respectively. The Cards got hammered by South Carolina and nipped by Maryland, but they beat Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Syracuse. The latter game saw star guard Asia Durr score over 30 points in the second half alone, as the Cards erased an early double-digit deficit and won going away. Durr, post Myisha Hines-Allen (the reigning ACC player of the year) and big guard Mariya Moore made up Louisville's big three, with Briahanna Jackson acting as the glue player and point guard. It was role players all the way down after that, with the Cards bringing in a variety of big, physical posts that were looking to knock some heads.
Early on, it was laughably obvious that Louisville had easily scouted Duke's every move and had a quick defensive counter. Even if Sam Williams hadn't been McCallie's former assistant, the offense is not all that hard to decipher. They forced Duke to take tough shots, and the Devils made a bunch of them in the early going, which I didn't think was sustainable. Greenwell was held in check, and Ducky Odom was in no way ready for the physical punishment the Cards were dishing out down low. They also blasted Oderah Chidom away from the basket. Meanwhile, Moore kept finding the hole in Duke's zone and was able to get some relatively easy baskets. Moore came into the game shooting 25% from three but wound up nailing 4-8 from long range. Meanwhile, Durr was chucking like crazy (5-18 in the game, 2-12 from three) in an effort to punish Duke's zone. Durr mostly did it off the dribble and shot from the wing instead of running to the corner where there was almost always a wide-open shot (a function of the matchup zone). Moore did almost all of her damage from the corner. The Cards dominated the boards and the paint in the first half, but bad shooting and 8 turnovers limited them to a two point lead.
Then came the wacky play that everyone's seen. Louisville coach Jeff Walz had three of his players wander over to Duke's side of the court before the second half began and line up, except that the Duke players were fooled into forgetting that the two teams changed baskets at the half. Louisville's other two players inbounded the ball for an easy layup, laughing all the way. Duke shook that off and stayed close in the third quarter. There were times when it seemed like the Cards were in control, as they once went up by as many as six. Every time they threatened to pull away, Duke would make a great defensive play or Brown would hit a big shot. Duke decided to wall off the post and then flood the passing lanes by bringing all three guards up high, and that action proved confusing for a Louisville team that was hell-bent on feeding the post. Despite seeming to be in control and forcing Duke to make tough plays, the Cards were up just 44-41 after three quarters.
Duke won the fourth quarter, and the game, because Louisville's defense started to break down while the Devils were now comfortable scoring off broken plays. After both teams blew scoring opportunities, Durr hit a tough jumper to put the Cards up by five with under eight minutes left. Brown found Greenwell for her only three of the game, but it was a momentum-swinger. Duke got a stop and Lambert hit a long two to tie the game and then boldly attacked the basket to somehow give Duke the lead. This is when the game started getting really good. Durr got fouled and hit both, but Lambert found Erin Mathias posting up in great position, and she was able to finish nicely on a seal. Moore hit a big time three to make it 51-50 for the Cards.
After three misses by each team, Lambert came up with a huge steal when the Cards tried to pass into the post yet again. Brown sped up the floor, drew a defender, and then bounced a pass to a wide-open Kendall Cooper (who had a huge game) to put Duke up with under two minutes left. Hines-Allen put Louisville up with a cold-blooded face-up jumper, but Greenwell drove and somehow managed to push her shot into the hoop with under a minute left. Duke played outstanding defense on the next possession, forcing Jackson to take a three that Cooper blocked and Lambert (she was everywhere!) recovered. Duke wasn't in the bonus yet, so Louisville had to burn a few seconds by fouling twice. For some reason, Walz didn't take Jackson out of the game in an obvious fouling position even though she had four fouls, and Jackson was forced to foul automatic foul shooter Lexie Brown when Duke managed to spring her. Brown is the owner of Duke's longest consecutive free-throw shooting streak (45 and counting), and she said the pressure of hitting those free throws in the moment wasn't that big a deal because every free throw is a pressure situation for her now. Having her on the floor (and Louisville not finding a way to foul someone else) was a big bonus for Duke, because she's quite a weapon in this sort of situation.
After Brown hit two, Duke walled off the perimeter, allowing Hines-Allen to lean in for a jumper. Duke sprung Brown long again and she got fouled, hitting both. Without Jackson, Louisville looked a little less organized. Duke fouled on an inbounds play because they had fouls to give and wanted to burn a second or so. Still, the new rule that allows teams to inbounds at mid-court after a timeout late in the game is a tremendous advantage that helped Louisville set up a play. Duke was shadowing all of Louisville's scorers, and reserve guard Sydney Zambrotta had to fling a desperation shot that almost went in, but was instead rebounded by Cooper to finish the game.
This marks a second top-ten opponent that Duke has beaten and a third top-25 foe. Beating the expected third-place team in the league and now owning the tiebreaker over them was actually quite significant for a conference season-opener, especially with the ACC looking more wide open at this point. The league is really tough this year, as 13 teams are currently in the RPI top 100, and 8 are in the top 50. The good news is that Duke has home games against Syracuse, Miami, and Virginia Tech. Notre Dame and FSU (two games I don't think Duke can win) are on the road anyway. NC State is a very dangerous road game.
Friday, December 30, 2016
Game Review: Duke vs Kentucky
Winter break games are usually a slog. The players are dealing with the aftermath of finals, thinking about going home, etc. No one really wants to be there, and it shows. The game against Elon was certainly evidence of that, as the fired-up Phoenix (featuring noted transfer Maddie McCallie) went toe-to-toe with the disinterested Devils. Duke's frontcourt was especially mediocre, especially on the defensive end where frosh Ra'Shika White outscored the entire Duke starting AND reserve frontcourt. McCallie downplayed the emotional component of this game afterwards, blaming the media for building it up. Why she scheduled a game against her daughter is still a mystery.
The Villanova game was interesting because of their ultra-complex offense that involved multiple weaves and screens. It's always fun to see their coach Harry Paretta, one of college basketball's all-time screamers, on the sideline. The years have clearly mellowed him. I remember sitting behind their bench around twenty years ago in Cameron in a sparsely-attended game, and I have never heard a coach--before or since--light into his players so hard and so often. I felt bad for them. Speaking of which, Villanova is where former Duke player Laura Kurz wound up after she transferred. One of the best pure shooters in Duke history, she was otherwise a bad fit for a Gail Goestenkors team built on quickness and versatility. It didn't help that she had a slow release and a low release point. But if she was open...automatic.
The game itself was not well played. Villanova flummoxed Duke with their offensive sets and the Devils had no answer for their shooters getting good looks. The Wildcats always made the extra pass. The problem was that other than Adriana Hahn (6-13 from three) the rest of the team shot 4-28 from distance. They had the shots, but not the shooters. Duke finally made some adjustments and started jamming shooters, but the Wildcats still made the extra pass and got open looks. The big difference is that Lexie Brown and Rebecca Greenwell are playing at a high level and complement each other nicely. Brown hunts her shots relentlessly and Greenwell has added rebounding at a high level to her skill set.
Kentucky was another very important game for Duke. The Devils picked up a crucial win against South Carolina and needed another win against a ranked opponent going into the ACC season to further shore up their NCAA tourney credentials and start to build a case for hosting the first round. Kentucky lost a lot of players, but still returned Evelyn Akhator (18 points vs Duke last year), Maci Morris (9 points), Taylor Murray (4 points), and star guard Makayla Epps (18 points, 8 assists). The Wildcats crushed Miami and dominated Oklahoma, giving them two wins against ranked opponents to date. They also lost in overtime to Arizona State and Louisville, and lost on the road to Colorado. They are a good, solid team, albeit one with weaknesses.
Epps is a penetrator who does not shoot from long range. Akhator and Rice feed off the passes of others when defenses key on shooters and Epps; they do not create their own offense. Morris, Murray and bench players Makenzie Cann & Jessica Hardin are the team's shooters. A few things became quickly apparent about Kentucky. First, if they go up against teams with the same kind of size, their frontcourt can struggle a bit. Second, if their shooters aren't getting good looks and making them, then the Wildcats are an ordinary team. Without the room provided by shooters creating spacing, it's hard for Epps to operate. Kentucky likes to create offense from defense and run as much as possible, but if you take away transition, they can be greatly slowed.
The first four minutes of the game were a disaster for Duke. Neither team ever looked completely comfortable on offense thanks to being so evenly matched in terms of size and quickness, but Duke's rust and lack of focus was evident with three quick turnovers and two fouls on Ducky Odom in the first four minutes of the game. Kentucky went up 8-2, but coach Mark Mitchell was correct in his estimation that if Kentucky had executed better, they could have been up 15-2. The Devils responded with a 13-2 run as Chidom got the ball down low against Akhator and straight-up ate her lunch. All she had to do was post up, feel her position in space relative to her opponent, and then make a quick & decisive move. Kentucky started fronting her a bit more after that and used the stronger Rice to body her out, but Chidom certainly did a lot of damage.
Duke never trailed again. Part of that was Brown carefully choosing her spots and finding cracks in the defense to exploit. She wound up with 24 points and 5 steals, was money from the foul line (8-8) and generally displayed the ability to score whenever needed. Kendall Cooper came off the bench to provide some solid minutes with scores around the basket. Kyra Lambert drilled a three at the end of the second quarter to extend Duke's lead out to five at the half. Every time Kentucky made a shot or looked like they were ready to get back in the game, Duke responded with cool maturity.
The third quarter was an ugly slog that saw Akhator grab five offensive in a flurry of activity, but she couldn't score. Duke pushed the lead out to nine thanks to a trey from Brown and a basket from Odom on a beautiful pass from Chidom. Kentucky fought back, getting to within two points late in the third quarter. This time around, it was Greenwell who pushed the lead, finally getting a trey to drop. The Devils started the fourth quarter on a 10-0 run to put the game away. Kentucky missed ten shots in a row, while Greenwell and Brown went to work. Duke got contributions from everywhere as they were able to attack the lane, and both Odom and Lambert got opportunities. The backbreaker came after Duke got a stop, up by thirteen with six minutes to go. With the shot clock running down, Cooper got off a hook shot in the lane that dropped through. That margin was way too much for a now-exhausted Kentucky team to overcome. The teams pretty much traded baskets the rest of the way.
The game pretty much came down to Duke making more tough shots and scoring in the paint with greater efficiency. Akhator and burly post Alyssa Rice were a combined 0-6 from the floor and 3-8 from the foul line. The Wildcats outrebounded Duke and had a sizable 21-13 edge in points off turnovers. (Duke had a lot of sloppy handoffs when they ran their halfcourt offense, and multiple post players inexplicably brought the ball down low to their waist and had it stripped.) Duke forced a number of turnovers as well, with some of them being boom-boom turnover sequences from one team to the other. Duke won the paint, 30-22, and keeping Epps out of there during the first half was a big win for Duke. Taylor Murray had 16 first half points (including a couple of treys for this 22% shooter from distance) but regressed to the mean in the second half.
The Villanova game was interesting because of their ultra-complex offense that involved multiple weaves and screens. It's always fun to see their coach Harry Paretta, one of college basketball's all-time screamers, on the sideline. The years have clearly mellowed him. I remember sitting behind their bench around twenty years ago in Cameron in a sparsely-attended game, and I have never heard a coach--before or since--light into his players so hard and so often. I felt bad for them. Speaking of which, Villanova is where former Duke player Laura Kurz wound up after she transferred. One of the best pure shooters in Duke history, she was otherwise a bad fit for a Gail Goestenkors team built on quickness and versatility. It didn't help that she had a slow release and a low release point. But if she was open...automatic.
The game itself was not well played. Villanova flummoxed Duke with their offensive sets and the Devils had no answer for their shooters getting good looks. The Wildcats always made the extra pass. The problem was that other than Adriana Hahn (6-13 from three) the rest of the team shot 4-28 from distance. They had the shots, but not the shooters. Duke finally made some adjustments and started jamming shooters, but the Wildcats still made the extra pass and got open looks. The big difference is that Lexie Brown and Rebecca Greenwell are playing at a high level and complement each other nicely. Brown hunts her shots relentlessly and Greenwell has added rebounding at a high level to her skill set.
Kentucky was another very important game for Duke. The Devils picked up a crucial win against South Carolina and needed another win against a ranked opponent going into the ACC season to further shore up their NCAA tourney credentials and start to build a case for hosting the first round. Kentucky lost a lot of players, but still returned Evelyn Akhator (18 points vs Duke last year), Maci Morris (9 points), Taylor Murray (4 points), and star guard Makayla Epps (18 points, 8 assists). The Wildcats crushed Miami and dominated Oklahoma, giving them two wins against ranked opponents to date. They also lost in overtime to Arizona State and Louisville, and lost on the road to Colorado. They are a good, solid team, albeit one with weaknesses.
Epps is a penetrator who does not shoot from long range. Akhator and Rice feed off the passes of others when defenses key on shooters and Epps; they do not create their own offense. Morris, Murray and bench players Makenzie Cann & Jessica Hardin are the team's shooters. A few things became quickly apparent about Kentucky. First, if they go up against teams with the same kind of size, their frontcourt can struggle a bit. Second, if their shooters aren't getting good looks and making them, then the Wildcats are an ordinary team. Without the room provided by shooters creating spacing, it's hard for Epps to operate. Kentucky likes to create offense from defense and run as much as possible, but if you take away transition, they can be greatly slowed.
The first four minutes of the game were a disaster for Duke. Neither team ever looked completely comfortable on offense thanks to being so evenly matched in terms of size and quickness, but Duke's rust and lack of focus was evident with three quick turnovers and two fouls on Ducky Odom in the first four minutes of the game. Kentucky went up 8-2, but coach Mark Mitchell was correct in his estimation that if Kentucky had executed better, they could have been up 15-2. The Devils responded with a 13-2 run as Chidom got the ball down low against Akhator and straight-up ate her lunch. All she had to do was post up, feel her position in space relative to her opponent, and then make a quick & decisive move. Kentucky started fronting her a bit more after that and used the stronger Rice to body her out, but Chidom certainly did a lot of damage.
Duke never trailed again. Part of that was Brown carefully choosing her spots and finding cracks in the defense to exploit. She wound up with 24 points and 5 steals, was money from the foul line (8-8) and generally displayed the ability to score whenever needed. Kendall Cooper came off the bench to provide some solid minutes with scores around the basket. Kyra Lambert drilled a three at the end of the second quarter to extend Duke's lead out to five at the half. Every time Kentucky made a shot or looked like they were ready to get back in the game, Duke responded with cool maturity.
The third quarter was an ugly slog that saw Akhator grab five offensive in a flurry of activity, but she couldn't score. Duke pushed the lead out to nine thanks to a trey from Brown and a basket from Odom on a beautiful pass from Chidom. Kentucky fought back, getting to within two points late in the third quarter. This time around, it was Greenwell who pushed the lead, finally getting a trey to drop. The Devils started the fourth quarter on a 10-0 run to put the game away. Kentucky missed ten shots in a row, while Greenwell and Brown went to work. Duke got contributions from everywhere as they were able to attack the lane, and both Odom and Lambert got opportunities. The backbreaker came after Duke got a stop, up by thirteen with six minutes to go. With the shot clock running down, Cooper got off a hook shot in the lane that dropped through. That margin was way too much for a now-exhausted Kentucky team to overcome. The teams pretty much traded baskets the rest of the way.
The game pretty much came down to Duke making more tough shots and scoring in the paint with greater efficiency. Akhator and burly post Alyssa Rice were a combined 0-6 from the floor and 3-8 from the foul line. The Wildcats outrebounded Duke and had a sizable 21-13 edge in points off turnovers. (Duke had a lot of sloppy handoffs when they ran their halfcourt offense, and multiple post players inexplicably brought the ball down low to their waist and had it stripped.) Duke forced a number of turnovers as well, with some of them being boom-boom turnover sequences from one team to the other. Duke won the paint, 30-22, and keeping Epps out of there during the first half was a big win for Duke. Taylor Murray had 16 first half points (including a couple of treys for this 22% shooter from distance) but regressed to the mean in the second half.
Sunday, December 4, 2016
Game Review: Duke vs South Carolina
The bottom line of Duke's win over South Carolina is that Duke was as well-prepared to win this game as I've ever seen them in the McCallie years. The game plan was sound, the substitution patterns were sensible and the players were locked in. This is not to say that this was a perfect game, as Duke had to scratch out baskets without many connecting plays (eight assists and thirty field goals), The Devils had 16 turnovers, and were outrebounded by three. USC had 16 offensive rebounds. That said, there were a season's worth of lucky and unlikely shots that went in, but fortune favors the locked-in. After the game, Rebecca Greenwell said that she had never wanted to win a game more than this win in her life, and considering that she made some key errors in Duke's 51-50 loss to USC in Cameron two years ago, that's understandable. It wasn't just Greenwell, though. Oderah Chidom was as mentally tough as I've ever seen her, mentally dialed in for the entire game.
What hurt USC the most, I think, was the lack of a leader to rally around when things went south. The Gamecocks got some fool's gold in the early going when Duke was jittery and nervous, and it showed in their play. A'Ja Wilson scored nine points in the first five or so minutes as USC did a great job of getting her the ball. Kendall Cooper, as I feared, was erratic and couldn't handle her. Duke turned the ball over six times in the first six minutes. USC was jamming Duke's shooters, and other than Chidom sneaking by the massive Alaina Coates for a layup, Duke looked helpless on offense. USC was up 16-5, and coach Dawn Staley thought it was time to continue to grow a very young and shallow bench, as she sat Wilson and Allisha Gray. After the game, she said that she went against her usual substitution pattern and took out Wilson, and that single decision may have cost them the game. Without Wilson as their fulcrum, USC started to freelance on offense and started to jack up threes. Worse, they started turning the ball over, as the speed of Chidom and Ducky Odom started to catch USC off-balance. Indeed, Duke sped up the game just a half-beat for much of the rest of the game, and USC looked uncomfortable with that pace as they started rushing shots.
Duke scored six straight points and Odom stole the ball from a USC reserve with fourteen seconds to go. Things were not exactly calm out there, but Odom passed the ball to Chidom, who squared up from just outside the three point line and buried the shot. Not exactly how they drew it up for Chidom's first career three, but it couldn't have came at a better time as it made the score 16-14. Chidom needled Greenwell after the game that her career three point shooting percentage was now better than hers (1-2, for 50%).
What was strange was how bad USC looked in the second quarter, especially on the defensive end. This was the first game USC had this year where it felt like the players were playing for three different teams. Kaela Davis was able to get away with shooting whenever she felt like it earlier in the year, because she was sizzling from the field, but this was a game where the many deficits in her game hurt USC. For example, a lack of discipline on the defensive end frequently led USC to leave Greenwell in order to attend to Lexie Brown, which led to Becca catching fire. She had consecutive treys that put Duke up by six halfway through the quarter, while USC was trying to catch up by jacking up treys at the other end instead of patiently getting the ball to Wilson.
While USC's bench was faltering, Duke's bench was doing good things. Odom was everywhere and took advantage of some silly cross-court passes to zoom down the floor for a layup. Her speed was such that no USC player could even begin to close on her. Erin Mathias went toe-to-toe with Coates and Wilson and did well. She blocked Wilson and then had a beautiful one-on-one move to score. She confidently stepped into a jumper to put Duke up by eleven late in the half. Lynee' Belton came in and had an assist and was happy to body up the Gamecocks. Duke had a chance to go up by as many as fifteen points but blew some late baskets, and Coates scored with time running down in the half. Still, Duke led by seven at the half.
The third quarter saw USC tighten up their problems, but Duke had figured out how to defend the post. As I suggested in my preview, they walled off the post and fronted Wilson with Mathias. The impatient USC guards tried to lob the ball over Mathias, but Erin surprised them with her leaping as she came up with several steals and deflections. USC's spacing wasn't great and they didn't have great angles of attack; Staley noted that one extra pass was what was needed to get a good look, but Duke managed to make that hard for them. The Gamecocks did start to hit a few outside shots, but Gray missed multiple shots to bring it under five and Greenwell or Odom found ways to respond. Duke ended the quarter on an 8-1 run as Kyra Lambert hit a big shot and USC was utterly stymied. The Devils carried an unlikely eleven point lead into the fourth quarter.
USC cut into the lead as Davis hit back-to-back treys (her only threes of the game) and USC once again cut the lead to five. They had opportunities to draw closer, but Duke made big defensive play after big defensive play, including Brown taking a charge from Gray and Chidom blocking Wilson. Greenwell hit a three and then nailed another jumper to keep USC at arm's length. Mathias went up and forced a jump ball against Wilson and then later came up with another tip steal fronting Wilson. On one play with Duke up 7, Brown took a short jumper, missed, and Chidom batted at the ball like a volleyball player--and it went in the basket.
Then came a weird sequence. Bianca Cuervas-Moore hit her only three of the game to bring USC within six with 1:42 left. USC was then called for a technical for having six players on the floor when the ball was whistled in, and Greenwell hit both freebies. The Gamecocks never threatened again. Greenwell was magnificent with 29 points, 3 boards and 3 steals. Chidom had 15 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks. Wilson wound up with 18 points but only scored nine after the first five minutes of the game. Alaina Coates had just 8 points and 5 rebounds. They put up 26 and 11 combined, less than the 32 and 18 they had been averaging this year. Davis had 14 points on 14 shots and was just 2-9 from three. Gray was solid with 11 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, but she's still not really the leader type at this moment.
Lambert was sneaky-good with 10 points, including some unlikely makes taken with the shot clock running down. She still pounded the ball too much at times, but she did take care of the ball. Odom had 6 points, 6 rebounds and 5 steals. Mathias had 6 points, 4 boards and 3 steals. Duke wound up winning the points in the paint battle 42-32, and as McCallie said afterward, that was the game. It's the first win by Duke against a top-3 team since 2009. This is a win to hang one's hat on come NCAA tournament time, but Duke will likely need to beat Kentucky as well to begin to feel good about their postseason prospects. Still, this was a solid win against a good but flawed opponent, and the fact is is that picked apart their flaws in a way that prior ranked opponents Ohio State, Texas and Louisville could not.
What hurt USC the most, I think, was the lack of a leader to rally around when things went south. The Gamecocks got some fool's gold in the early going when Duke was jittery and nervous, and it showed in their play. A'Ja Wilson scored nine points in the first five or so minutes as USC did a great job of getting her the ball. Kendall Cooper, as I feared, was erratic and couldn't handle her. Duke turned the ball over six times in the first six minutes. USC was jamming Duke's shooters, and other than Chidom sneaking by the massive Alaina Coates for a layup, Duke looked helpless on offense. USC was up 16-5, and coach Dawn Staley thought it was time to continue to grow a very young and shallow bench, as she sat Wilson and Allisha Gray. After the game, she said that she went against her usual substitution pattern and took out Wilson, and that single decision may have cost them the game. Without Wilson as their fulcrum, USC started to freelance on offense and started to jack up threes. Worse, they started turning the ball over, as the speed of Chidom and Ducky Odom started to catch USC off-balance. Indeed, Duke sped up the game just a half-beat for much of the rest of the game, and USC looked uncomfortable with that pace as they started rushing shots.
Duke scored six straight points and Odom stole the ball from a USC reserve with fourteen seconds to go. Things were not exactly calm out there, but Odom passed the ball to Chidom, who squared up from just outside the three point line and buried the shot. Not exactly how they drew it up for Chidom's first career three, but it couldn't have came at a better time as it made the score 16-14. Chidom needled Greenwell after the game that her career three point shooting percentage was now better than hers (1-2, for 50%).
What was strange was how bad USC looked in the second quarter, especially on the defensive end. This was the first game USC had this year where it felt like the players were playing for three different teams. Kaela Davis was able to get away with shooting whenever she felt like it earlier in the year, because she was sizzling from the field, but this was a game where the many deficits in her game hurt USC. For example, a lack of discipline on the defensive end frequently led USC to leave Greenwell in order to attend to Lexie Brown, which led to Becca catching fire. She had consecutive treys that put Duke up by six halfway through the quarter, while USC was trying to catch up by jacking up treys at the other end instead of patiently getting the ball to Wilson.
While USC's bench was faltering, Duke's bench was doing good things. Odom was everywhere and took advantage of some silly cross-court passes to zoom down the floor for a layup. Her speed was such that no USC player could even begin to close on her. Erin Mathias went toe-to-toe with Coates and Wilson and did well. She blocked Wilson and then had a beautiful one-on-one move to score. She confidently stepped into a jumper to put Duke up by eleven late in the half. Lynee' Belton came in and had an assist and was happy to body up the Gamecocks. Duke had a chance to go up by as many as fifteen points but blew some late baskets, and Coates scored with time running down in the half. Still, Duke led by seven at the half.
The third quarter saw USC tighten up their problems, but Duke had figured out how to defend the post. As I suggested in my preview, they walled off the post and fronted Wilson with Mathias. The impatient USC guards tried to lob the ball over Mathias, but Erin surprised them with her leaping as she came up with several steals and deflections. USC's spacing wasn't great and they didn't have great angles of attack; Staley noted that one extra pass was what was needed to get a good look, but Duke managed to make that hard for them. The Gamecocks did start to hit a few outside shots, but Gray missed multiple shots to bring it under five and Greenwell or Odom found ways to respond. Duke ended the quarter on an 8-1 run as Kyra Lambert hit a big shot and USC was utterly stymied. The Devils carried an unlikely eleven point lead into the fourth quarter.
USC cut into the lead as Davis hit back-to-back treys (her only threes of the game) and USC once again cut the lead to five. They had opportunities to draw closer, but Duke made big defensive play after big defensive play, including Brown taking a charge from Gray and Chidom blocking Wilson. Greenwell hit a three and then nailed another jumper to keep USC at arm's length. Mathias went up and forced a jump ball against Wilson and then later came up with another tip steal fronting Wilson. On one play with Duke up 7, Brown took a short jumper, missed, and Chidom batted at the ball like a volleyball player--and it went in the basket.
Then came a weird sequence. Bianca Cuervas-Moore hit her only three of the game to bring USC within six with 1:42 left. USC was then called for a technical for having six players on the floor when the ball was whistled in, and Greenwell hit both freebies. The Gamecocks never threatened again. Greenwell was magnificent with 29 points, 3 boards and 3 steals. Chidom had 15 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks. Wilson wound up with 18 points but only scored nine after the first five minutes of the game. Alaina Coates had just 8 points and 5 rebounds. They put up 26 and 11 combined, less than the 32 and 18 they had been averaging this year. Davis had 14 points on 14 shots and was just 2-9 from three. Gray was solid with 11 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, but she's still not really the leader type at this moment.
Lambert was sneaky-good with 10 points, including some unlikely makes taken with the shot clock running down. She still pounded the ball too much at times, but she did take care of the ball. Odom had 6 points, 6 rebounds and 5 steals. Mathias had 6 points, 4 boards and 3 steals. Duke wound up winning the points in the paint battle 42-32, and as McCallie said afterward, that was the game. It's the first win by Duke against a top-3 team since 2009. This is a win to hang one's hat on come NCAA tournament time, but Duke will likely need to beat Kentucky as well to begin to feel good about their postseason prospects. Still, this was a solid win against a good but flawed opponent, and the fact is is that picked apart their flaws in a way that prior ranked opponents Ohio State, Texas and Louisville could not.
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