Well it was coming off two straight losses so no surprise if the practices were a bit more uh, spirited, than usual.Duke has had arguably their two best defensive games with Bagley hugging the pine the last two games, and Grayson Allen suddenly looks like he knows how to play basketball again. Interesting.
Xavier stinks. No nba talent just an old physical team with little talent. 22 year olds playing 18-19 year olds. Best win is against Cincinnati who is a mirror image of them. Getting waxed 3-4 in a season is not a good sign. Nova has its usual 4 guys who shoot 40 percent from three and they take over 50 percent of their shots from there. They defend, pass well and have experience and at least one nba guy in bridges and maybe two if you think Brunson can defend and can his shot off there. Nova has zero depth right now, however.And beat the #2 team and lost to the #1 team by 2 points.
For all the commentary, it's a long season and this team has a lot of talent. That said, as reflective of all the top 10 losses this week to unranked teams, there will be no favorites in the tournament this year. No one really knows what Nova or Xavier are.
One note on Duke's D: they are up to 43rd by kenpom after being below 100 for a while.Agree it’s a wide open ncaa because there are not any really good teams. Unless Duke coaching staff can figure out a way to have them play as a team on D. Lots of mediocre in the top 16 it seems.
It seems this has been the case in several of the past 5-7 years, and then what ends up happening is the sweet 16 is made up of 13 top 3j/4 seeds and a couple "cinderellas" who just knocked out a 3 mediocre top 3/4 seeds. It's parity within the top 16 but for a 8-15 seed to knock out 2 in a row to make the sweet 16 is challenging, so by the time the second weekend rolls around its the same old clowns who have been bouncing between number 5 and number 15 in the polls all seasonLots of mediocre in the top 16 it seems.
Duke/Cuse: hold my beerPitt scored 7 points in the first half against UVa this afternoon
I noticed Lunardi had Xavier and Villanova as 1 seeds? Xavier is awful. No pros, bunch of grad transfers, got waxed three times...is cbb really that bad this year???On a positive up to #13 in adjusted D. I'd rather have had a W though. May cost them a 1 seed.
Yeah kind of. Some of the top dogs have lost more than expected. Nova has beaten Xavier twice which helps Xavier from a paper resume perspective but fails the eye test.I noticed Lunardi had Xavier and Villanova as 1 seeds? Xavier is awful. No pros, bunch of grad transfers, got waxed three times...is cbb really that bad this year???
Agree with thisI think with a win over Carolina and a loss in the ACCT finals Duke is a 2-seed. If they fall short of that they could fall to 3 and if they win out and one of the other Top 4 stumbles they could still get a 1.
thanks. I watched Xavier play Villanova for about 8 minutes. They literally couldn't compete any position athletically. And villanova is not exactly brimming with NBA talent.Yeah kind of. Some of the top dogs have lost more than expected. Nova has beaten Xavier twice which helps Xavier from a paper resume perspective but fails the eye test.
Agree with this