Here's the West. The winner faces the East winner in the Final Four.
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- Thread starter BB73
- Start date
According to Seth Davis, Kyrie Irving is going to be back for Dook. He's a supreme talent, but I have a hard time seeing how he'll be able to have a positive net effect. I would think he would disrupt their rotation and force their best player into a role different from the one he assumed to lead them to their #1 seed.
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SloopyHangOn
WhoO WhoO WhoO!
jlb1705;1891701; said:
Odds are he won't really play much if he plays at all, but if you've watched the kid play, regardless of injury, Kyrie Irving IS Duke's best player. I don't think he makes their team significantly better at this point in the season, that is if he does see some minutes, but I doubt that a kid projected to be the #1 overall pick in the NBA draft can have a negative effect on anyones team, especially a Krzyzyzyzyzywesksksksi coached one.
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SloopyHangOn;1891724; said:
I agree. Irving is their best player, and Coach K will know how to work him back into the lineup. He probably won't help Duke much this week, but the potential Final Four matchup between tOSU and Duke is 18 days away, and he could make Duke them a better team by then.
Hopefully Texas knocks off Duke, and then loses to San Diego State.
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GeorgiaBuck2
Lets Go!
Yeah, I don't see it that way. Craft could guard him, and their bigs aren't a threat down in the post. Sully would have a field day against that goof-ball Kelly.
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SloopyHangOn
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GeorgiaBuck2;1891802; said:
It'd probably be a shootout. I could see that game in the high 80s with Sully and Diebs having a field day. I think their defense could cause some issues with anything that's not directly under the bucket or beyond the perimeter. If they shoot well, WITH Irving they're without a doubt going to be difficult to stop. I'm not too sure that Craft on Irving would be the best match-up for Craft and could put him in foul trouble early.
That would sure be a spectacular match-up game though. I'd see it this way:
Craft/Irving - Advantage Irving
Buford/Smith - Slight Advantage Smith
Lighty/Singler - Advantage Singler
Diebler/Curry & Dawkins - Advantage Diebler
Sullinger, Thomas & Lauderdale/Plumlees & Kelly - Advantage Buckeye bigs
Their guards play very good on-the-ball defense, but aren't very fast closing gaps. Sully and Dallas get a lot of feeds inside which means a lot of points in the paint (and most likely a lot of kick-outs to Buford & Diebs). Singler might have his way with whoever is put on him and just like the rest of them if he's shooting well he's hard to stop (and gets a lot of calls). In the end, they can't guard strong post players and we've got 2 of the strongest.
On paper it's a Buckeye win, if they don't shoot we win it going away. If they do it's a close shootout.
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GeorgiaBuck2
Lets Go!
Don't forget about the fouls on Sullinger. The only way I can see them stopping Sully is if they hack him and send him to the line. The fouls will ad up and the Chipmunk may have to take a seat early.
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GeorgiaBuck2;1891813; said:
The other factor is the potential offensive foul calls on Sully. Nobody gets the offensive foul calls like the Duke floppers, and the Plumlees would be dropping like flies every time Sully bumps them inside. If the refs call two of those in the first half, the entire game is changed.
That and the return of Kyrie Irving are the reasons I'd rather not see tOSU meet Duke in the FInal Four.
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MaxBuck
SoCal, Baby!
The problem with Kelly is that he can shoot the 3, much like Tisdale for the Illini. We don't want Sully drawn out there, so Lighty or maybe Buford would draw the defensive assignment.
Irving and Nolan Smith would both have a huge advantage over their Buckeye counterparts (sorry, Will), but we'd have the advantage with Lighty over Plumlee (either one), Diebler over the third Duke guard, and Sullinger over anyone Duke can put on the court.
This would be a very close game, and a very entertaining one.
Irving and Nolan Smith would both have a huge advantage over their Buckeye counterparts (sorry, Will), but we'd have the advantage with Lighty over Plumlee (either one), Diebler over the third Duke guard, and Sullinger over anyone Duke can put on the court.
This would be a very close game, and a very entertaining one.
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