Duke Women's Basketball 2024 (5-1)

[CameronBornAndBred]

Kicking this one off too.

[Phredd3]

I wish there was something to talk about. Nothing to see between the open practice (which was almost three weeks ago now) and Opening Morning in about ten days, and the program just doesn't say anything. For a media-savvy program, they certainly aren't very good at hyping up the start of the season. Or maybe they are just super active on Twitter and Insta, neither of which I use.

[CameronBornAndBred]

#11 Duke opens the season in Cameron this morning, playing Radford at 11am. The game is on ACCNX.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Duke plays tonight at 7 on ESPN+, at Liberty. I don't expect a blowout, but it would be nice.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Duke's a "longshot", but we're mentioned.

5 teams that could win the NCAA women's college basketball title this season (and 3 long shots)

Duke Blue Devils
Head coach Kara Lawson has the defense, but can the Blue Devils consistently find enough offense to help itself out? Duke lost eight of its 12 games last year by single digits, including a Sweet 16 loss to UConn after upsetting Ohio State. Improving from the 3-point line and limiting turnovers could propel them through the tournament.

Senior guard Reigan Richardson is one of four starters to return as well as Sixth Player of the Year, sophomore forward Oluchi Okananwa. Lawson signed No. 9 ranked recruit Toby Fournier, a 6-foot-2 forward from Canada who became a dunking sensation at 14 years old.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/5-teams-th ... 08856.html

[CameronBornAndBred]

Liberty provided a REALLY good test for the Blue Devils, with it being only a 2 point game at half time. Lots to work on, but also lots to be happy about. Final score 83-67.

[Phredd3]

Liberty provided a REALLY good test for the Blue Devils, with it being only a 2 point game at half time. Lots to work on, but also lots to be happy about. Final score 83-67.

Solid result, but the way we got there scares me a little about taking on Maryland. Hopefully we've got this, but there's lots of cleanup to do before we take on the #18 team in the country.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Liberty provided a REALLY good test for the Blue Devils, with it being only a 2 point game at half time. Lots to work on, but also lots to be happy about. Final score 83-67.

Solid result, but the way we got there scares me a little about taking on Maryland. Hopefully we've got this, but there's lots of cleanup to do before we take on the #18 team in the country.

Looking at Maryland's box score against Coppin State, they are likely saying the same thing. They won at home 70-47, but only the 2nd quarter was a blowout. They lost the 4th and the others were separated by single digits.

[Phredd3]

Liberty provided a REALLY good test for the Blue Devils, with it being only a 2 point game at half time. Lots to work on, but also lots to be happy about. Final score 83-67.

Solid result, but the way we got there scares me a little about taking on Maryland. Hopefully we've got this, but there's lots of cleanup to do before we take on the #18 team in the country.

Looking at Maryland's box score against Coppin State, they are likely saying the same thing. They won at home 70-47, but only the 2nd quarter was a blowout. They lost the 4th and the others were separated by single digits.

I'd love to take a lot from that, but much of that lead in the fourth was lost by the deep bench. Also notable that, although the first quarter was close, the second quarter was an absolute curb stomping. I'm not surprised the third was a little closer, and notably, Maryland did not give back even a part of the lead in the third. They punched 'em, and held 'em down, just like a good team should. We had to do the job twice.

But, as you said in the first place, there's a lot to be happy about for us, too, including the performance of our bench, and in particular, the fact that both Fournier and Wood scored in double digits for the second game in a row. I love to see that!

[CameronBornAndBred]

Huge game with #18 Maryland today. Unfortunately I'll miss it.
I'll record it and try to stay spoiler free.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Huge game with #18 Maryland today. Unfortunately I'll miss it.
I'll record it and try to stay spoiler free.

I zipped through it because every time I watched something awful happened.

[Phredd3]

Huge game with #18 Maryland today. Unfortunately I'll miss it.
I'll record it and try to stay spoiler free.

I zipped through it because every time I watched something awful happened.

Yeah, it was kinda brutal. The worst part about it was that it was such a winnable game against a very good team. We just didn't have the composure we needed next to the bucket, and the only people who seemed to be able to draw fouls couldn't shoot free throws. Jadyn is so funny. She always takes a little warm up "shot" before every free throw. The warm up is done with really nice form. Then she promptly hurls the actual free throw up there with a trebuchet. She shows she knows what to do, then doesn't do it.

Ah, well. Nothing to be done but to review the film, get back to work, and dispatch Dayton before the next tough true road game next week.

[CameronBornAndBred]

The women are back home vs Dayton tonight. Game is on ACCNX at 7.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Duke wins 84-49, and while I only got to watch the 4th, it wasn't pretty.

16 TOs, 47% FT shooting, only 50% overall shooting.

That's not a game at home against a lower level team to crow about.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Duke plays South Dakota State at 3:30 today. They may sound like a lowly team, but they are undefeated (including against Wisconsin and Creighton) and it's at their house.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Helluva win today in front of a sold out crowd. Jadyn Donovan with an amazing career high 23 points, and they were all needed as Duke won it 75-71.

Two other ranked ACC teams lost to unranked opponents today, with both State and Stanford suffering the defeats.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Toby Fournier took Belmont to the woodshed with a great 25 point performance. She even nailed her only three!

Duke wins by 32 79-47. Belmont is a good team, so this was a really solid victory.