For Duke to win it all...(this has to happen)
- Thread starter IPSYCHOSIS
- Start date
Never in the NCAA. Maybe NIT and I guess we could of played 4 times when they had the old Tobacco Road tourney
I just looked it up and I was surprised that Duke and UNC have actually played each other 4 times in the same season in 6 different seasons: 1944, 1959, 1960, 1972, 1979, 1980. Im not sure what event the 4th was played in during those 6 seasons though.
http://goduke.statsgeek.com/basketball-m/opponents/results.php?oid=77
I didn't even finish reading past this post before responding. I will continue reading, but I doubt I find an answer I agree with more than this one
A. Tre Jones has great on-ball defense.
B. RJ & Zion show they can create off the dribble (against college players).
C. The effort of Cam on defense.
D. Zion shows a consistent 3pt shot that other teams are forced to respect. (same with RJ)
E. Who becomes our vocal leader on the court? I would like to see an upperclassman take this role but if it comes from youth that is even more exciting.
F. Can Jack, Robinson, or Vrank step up and give us good mins at the 4/5?
G. No Foot Injuries!
B. RJ & Zion show they can create off the dribble (against college players).
C. The effort of Cam on defense.
D. Zion shows a consistent 3pt shot that other teams are forced to respect. (same with RJ)
E. Who becomes our vocal leader on the court? I would like to see an upperclassman take this role but if it comes from youth that is even more exciting.
F. Can Jack, Robinson, or Vrank step up and give us good mins at the 4/5?
G. No Foot Injuries!
We need to NOT have two atrociously bad shooting games in a row like we did last season in the tourney. It rarely happens, but when it does its nearly impossible to win
If Zion can play the Justise Winslow role then we should win it all. Give us defense, rebounding and average about 12 ppg
Agreed. However, I see zero chance of Zion becoming the defender Justise was. Justise could DO IT ALL, he could shut down a quick perimeter guy if needed. However, I think Zion will be a much better offensive player/rebounder than Justise.
Cam really is the only starter who will be capable of guarding multiple positions (like Justise), he just needs to work a little harder. RJ is an alpha/bulldog, he should be good (not great) on that end too. Tre NEEDS to be a better perimeter defender than his older brother, and everything I've read, he is.
Justise was a swiss-army knife on defense, could guard positions 1-5. The only guy on the roster who I see as capable of that is Javin...and unless Javin really improves, he makes our offense too easy to guard.
Last edited:
The truth is....there is no 'one' thing. There are many. No single team has ever won the championship because of one important ingredient.
I think, (1) we have to be able to defend. Last year we were able to do it in spurts, but not playing man.
Also, (2), IMO, we need Tre Jones to be a true facilitator and point guard. It wasn't necessarily a weakness Trevon had last season, but his inability to be a reliable shooter made him much easier for opposing teams to guard.
And lastly, (3), continuity. None of us are worried about talent. We have a dearth of that. It's them being able to play together and putting the pieces together.
I think, (1) we have to be able to defend. Last year we were able to do it in spurts, but not playing man.
Also, (2), IMO, we need Tre Jones to be a true facilitator and point guard. It wasn't necessarily a weakness Trevon had last season, but his inability to be a reliable shooter made him much easier for opposing teams to guard.
And lastly, (3), continuity. None of us are worried about talent. We have a dearth of that. It's them being able to play together and putting the pieces together.
Mostly from the Big Four & Dixie Classic Tournaments in December, which featured Duke, North Carolina, Wake Forest, and NC State.
We played UNC 4 times during 1979 and very easily could have played them a 5th time, as UNC and Duke were the 1 and 2 Seeds in the East Region... But both teams dropped nail-biters in their first game of the 1979 NCAA Tournament (Round of 32).
We need to shoot at least 38% from 3 as a team. If we can have a couple of reliable outside shots, we will be deadly.
We won’t shoot the 3 well enough to shred UVA unfortunately. This will become our downfall just like this past season imo. Sorry that I’ve become that pessimistic asshole on the board, I really am!
Shooters or pessimistic assholes? Please tell me the former!
Ah, the infamous "Black Sunday." If memory serves, we won two of the 4 UNC games, and the 4th and final game we lost in the ACC TITLE game(remember Jim Sumner's reference to Bob Bender's appendectomy that rendered him unable to go for the championship game?). Duke and UNC were set to square off yet again, but Penn and St.John's knocked the Heels and Devils out the next Sunday respectively(Sumner referenced Kenny Dennard's injury which precluded him from playing vs St.John's).
There really is a tie-in between the thread topic here and the '79 team. '79 edition had enough talent as well to go all the way if variables fell into place to win it all. Injuries befell us however, and that Duke team never quite meshed as well as the '78 team which lost in the final to red hot Jack Givens and Kentucky.
OFC
Similar threads
