Duke Women's Basketball 2023 (22-12)

[CameronBornAndBred]

The box score will show that Duke shot almost 38% for the game, but in reality they shot under 30% for the first half and didn't improve much in the 3rd. By the time they did actually find the bottom of the net a few times, it was far too late. The only thing it did was turn the 25 point blowout into a 72-57 final score.

[gadzooks]

The box score will show that Duke shot almost 38% for the game, but in reality they shot under 30% for the first half and didn't improve much in the 3rd. By the time they did actually find the bottom of the net a few times, it was far too late. The only thing it did was turn the 25 point blowout into a 72-57 final score.

Blergh.

[Phredd3]

The box score will show that Duke shot almost 38% for the game, but in reality they shot under 30% for the first half and didn't improve much in the 3rd. By the time they did actually find the bottom of the net a few times, it was far too late. The only thing it did was turn the 25 point blowout into a 72-57 final score.

The story of the game was defense. This was two teams with elite defenses squaring off against each other. Their defense came to play, and made our offense look pretty bad. Their defense normally allows opponents an EFG of 39.3%. Ours was 41.4% yesterday. They normally allow opponents to shoot just 28.6% from three. We shot 25.0%. They normally allow opponents to shoot 37.3% from two-point range. We shot 42.9%.

Meanwhile, our defense is considered even better than theirs. But NC State normally shoots an EFG of 49.5%, and yesterday theirs was 49.1%. They usually shoot 34.2% from three, and yesterday they shot 33.3%. They usually shoot 48.7% from two, and yesterday they shot 48.8%.

In short, they imposed their defensive will on us, and we did not do the same to them. Defense is supposed to travel well, but we apparently left ours in Durham yesterday. I hope we can find it again on our home court on Thursday.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Duke's failure to show up in Raleigh bought them a trip back to the bubble, as expected.

https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story ... rojections

[CameronBornAndBred]

Duke DESTROYED #23 FSU tonight in Cameron, 88-46.

[CameronBornAndBred]

And with the blowout, we are once again off of Creme's bubble, not only moving up, but leapfrogging our previous "off the bubble seed" from last Friday (he bubbled us again after the State fiasco) of a 9 seed up to an eight.

https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story ... rojections

[Phredd3]

I don't give a fig about Charlie Creme, but last night's win was a thing of absolute beauty. That's probably the best defensive performance I've ever seen from a Duke women's team, period. They are a really, really good offensive team. We had them utterly demoralized.

[lawgrad91]

Big win. Woo to the hoo.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Well, the Bi-Polar Express of a season continues. Had a chance at the end, but the writing was on the wall being down double digits at halftime. (After leading the first)

[Phredd3]

Well, the Bi-Polar Express of a season continues. Had a chance at the end, but the writing was on the wall being down double digits at halftime. (After leading the first)

Such a strange game. We won 3 out of 4 quarters. But that second quarter...WHEW! What a stinker!

[CameronBornAndBred]

69-38 win over Pitt in a solid ACC road victory. Wasn't pretty, and again far too many turnovers, but we shot pretty decently, especially compared to other recent road trips. 49% from the floor, 39% from three.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Duke convinced one person to vote for them in the latest AP poll.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Nice news passed on to me about players making up the future of DWBB.

Arianna Roberson is 1 of 10 semi-finalists for the Naismith girls HS POY. She is ranked #19 by espn, but since 3 of these girls are juniors, these people thinks she's one of the best 7 seniors in the country. Toby is not eligible since she's in Canada, obviously.

https://naismithtrophy.com/2023-24-j...semifinalists/

#1 recruit Sarah Strong also has Duke back on her recruiting list. She had removed us, but then added us once again. Her dad played at State, one of the schools after her, but her mom works for the Celtics so maybe she has some Kara ties?


DWBB plays again tonight after a bye week. They play Wake, who is terrible. Like only won four games all year terrible, and none of those were in conference.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Really big game vs #12 VT in Blacksburg tonight. We'll be in Section 21, chatting away, and hoping that we get off to a much needed strong start.

[Phredd3]

This will do a ton for the resume if we can pull off a miracle sweep. Unfortunately, I think it's going to take close to a miracle to pull this off. Just like last year, I think they are going to be HIGHLY motivated and they've already laid significant groundwork in massaging the officials. We are going to have to be laser focused defensively, and we're going to have to shoot really well to make this a game. VT scores about 78 per game, but I think we'll need to hold them more than ten points below that to really have a chance in this one. That will mean rebounding and limiting turnovers, in addition to getting the defensive rotations just right.

We can do it, but this one is a tough climb. I look forward to seeing how we handle it.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Duke lost in Blacksburg, but they were in the whole game. Lots to be proud about. Losing blows, but there was no shame in this one.

[Phredd3]

Almost a miracle. We had real trouble shooting the ball again, but our defense kept us in it. I'm really proud of this team, and if we can play like that on the opponent's home floor, then we are criminally underrated by those who do tournament seeding. That was a really good game.

[CameronBornAndBred]

DWBB played a very good half of basketball against Notre Dame tonight.


And then they didn't.

[Phredd3]

DWBB played a very good half of basketball against Notre Dame tonight.


And then they didn't.

Turnovers just kill against a good team. 8 TOs in the third, leading to 12 Notre Dame points. Also 10 fastbreak points allowed, at least four of them not off turnovers, but off forced shots in 1-on-3 situations against the zone. If you're going to drive a zone, be prepared to kick or dish. We weren't, and it cost us dearly. We played them even in the other quarters, but once we got down that much in the third, there was no way to come back against a team that is that good.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Despite a gawd awful 27 turnovers, Duke beat the snot out of #17 Syracuse on the road, 58-45. At one point the lead was 20.