Nothing else needs to be said. Time for Mark Pope and this team to send a message to the college basketball world tonight. CATlanta is going to be rocking!
Beat Duke
- Thread starter JimboBBN
- Start date
I feel💪 But remember, this game doesn’t define the season brotha..
PS … I feel good about tonight 😼🔥🔥
PS … I feel good about tonight 😼🔥🔥
This. Dook wins tonight and the series is tied 12-12. 😐
Let's go Cats. Beat Duke!
Rip them up and tear them to pieces.
Rip them up and tear them to pieces.
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I feel good about tonight. That said a single digit loss wouldn’t bother me, all new team new coach, got to keep it realistic. . Now a double digit blow out, I’m getting nervous.
I haven’t watched Dook one bit this year so I truly have no idea. Heck, only gotten to see a handful of minutes from each Kentucky game. But really liked what I’ve seen. Go CATS!!!
I haven’t watched Dook one bit this year so I truly have no idea. Heck, only gotten to see a handful of minutes from each Kentucky game. But really liked what I’ve seen. Go CATS!!!
I think this is where 99 percent of BBN stands right now. Hoping for a win but wouldn’t be upset with a close loss. If we get blown out, the honey moon is probably over.
Listening to Leach this morning, the Duke play-by-play guy sure made Duke sound like the team to beat this year. Deep, can shoot, athletic, long …
I’m in lisbon at the moment. That 2am ripoff is gonna be rough but I have to try.
You could easily replace "Duke" with "Kentucky" when describing them as "deep, can shoot, athletic, long...".
One area we're better - passing/assists, especially from our big men.
And we are much more of a threat from the perimeter than Puke.
He also said they have a top recruiting class (three lottery picks on draft boards) and a mix of veteran player.
They look good from what I’ve seen.
But they don’t look unbeatable. A much faster version of their team might be unbeatable, or nearly so. But they don’t have that; from what I can tell they start to wobble when they start to lean in that direction.
And they don’t have the 1–5 speed and clarity with passing to compensate for that lack of dynamic team speed. At least not nearly to the same level we do.
I could be wrong. I’m not a guy who gets paid for this. They certainly do have some fast, crisp passing and they absolutely have snipers. And maybe they will dominate us one-on-one beyond what I’m expecting, including keeping Flagg out of cramping territory.
But I like our chances. Humble little not-paid-for-my-opinion me, the more I watch Duke this year, the better I like our chances.
But they don’t look unbeatable. A much faster version of their team might be unbeatable, or nearly so. But they don’t have that; from what I can tell they start to wobble when they start to lean in that direction.
And they don’t have the 1–5 speed and clarity with passing to compensate for that lack of dynamic team speed. At least not nearly to the same level we do.
I could be wrong. I’m not a guy who gets paid for this. They certainly do have some fast, crisp passing and they absolutely have snipers. And maybe they will dominate us one-on-one beyond what I’m expecting, including keeping Flagg out of cramping territory.
But I like our chances. Humble little not-paid-for-my-opinion me, the more I watch Duke this year, the better I like our chances.
Yes it does, we havent beat them since 2015 and they have won 9 of the last 11.
Im putting all my big blue eggs in this basket tonight.
FYI UK leads 12-11 all time.
I’ll be using my big blue eggs to teabag Duke fans.
I was nervous when coach K, Zion and RJ were there. They are not and i actually am not a bit nervous about this game this year this early. Matter fact im more confident about us winning this game as the game gets closer. I think tonight Pope restores order in college basketball once again.
Feels like Coach has put in the work to earn a win like this. Can’t damn wait. LFG.
Figures I got about 3 hours sleep last night ( leg pain) and we play til near midnight tonight, ok 1145 . But I'll be there , rooting like heck
How do you figure? They assist on higher percentage of made baskets than us and shoot slightly better from 3 than us this year? Just feeling like the passing/shooting claims are an imaginary advantage. Hope I’m wrong.
I'm picking the Cats to win. Mainly because Pope has been virtually perfect at everything so far in his tenure and hasn't failed yet. I'm riding with the hot hand!
We are #1 in the nation in assists at 26.5 per game
They are 62nd at 18 per game
They are 1.8% better 3 point % (41.8-40)
To be honest we have looked good and they have looked good but playing small schools is not an indicator. But I feel good about UKS talent and hard nosed veteran players.
I’m actually extremely nervous about this game
Trying to decide if the anxiety is a good thing…means I truly care now. Probably the one real negative I have about Kentucky Basketball now…lol
Trying to decide if the anxiety is a good thing…means I truly care now. Probably the one real negative I have about Kentucky Basketball now…lol
I have watched Duke a couple of times, and I gotta say I'm not that impressed. Maybe I'm missing something but Cooper Flagg seems to get the benefit of a lot of calls he doesn't really deserve.
Put Oweh on Flagg all game. He gives up height not really strength and is only player who can move with him . Cooper still gets points but Oweh limits them as much as possible. Garrison or arr get torched . Oweh 1-1. Then Garrison or Amari help inside
Should Kerr floor slap in front of Flagg to give dUKe a taste of their own medicine? 🤣
I thought so too(3 pt shooting), but the stats on ESPN has Duke taking more 3s and hitting a higher percentage through 2 games.
Duke is very tall. Like nobody on the team under 6'5". None that play any major minutes.
I stand by the idea of full court pressure defense from the beginning.
First make them big asses prove they can handle the rock under full court defense.
Second get into their legs as they have cramp issues as I've noted.
I stand by the idea of full court pressure defense from the beginning.
First make them big asses prove they can handle the rock under full court defense.
Second get into their legs as they have cramp issues as I've noted.
They shot the three better than us by three quarters of one percent.
Which they should have done if they hope to have any tiny chance of hanging with us. Because their toughest opponent so far was weaker than our weakest opponent so far by KenPom rating.
If they have any advantage from assists as a higher percentage of made baskets, it’s already neutralized by them also having nearly double the percentage of turnovers per assist that we have.
What’s more, their assists tend to be dump-offs, whereas ours are very often the end of a series of three or four snap passes. That will matter because against a tougher opponent it’s harder to get dumpoffs whereas passing around repeatedly will deform most defenses about the same, especially if every nearly passer is a legitimate perimeter threat.
Duke
vs. Maine (KP 241) 3 pt pct 37.9 Assists 17 turnovers 13 96-62
vs. Army (KP 279) 3 pt pct 44.7 Assists 19 Turnovers 8 100-58
Avg from three 41.7 on 28/67
Total 36 Assists 21 Turnovers
Kentucky
vs. Wright State (KP 184) 3 pt pct 45.8 Assists 30 Turnovers 7 103-62
vs. Bucknell (KP 213) 3 pt pct 36.1 Assists 23 Turnovers 15 100-72
Avg from three 40.95 On 24/60
Total 53 Assists 22 Turnovers
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I hope part of Pope's game prep was watching the '92 and '98 games w/ the team. Make sure they grasp the historical significance of UK vs. Dook
The only thing I’d add is that exhibition games don’t matter much but Duke beat the absolute brakes off of an Arizona State team that just took Gonzaga to the wire.
Honestly to me I discount that not because it was an exhibition game but because how weak must Arizona State have been if Duke looked that good against them but then tightened up so much against mighty Maine?
The truth is it’s early and we have to take everything we’ve seen so far with a grain of salt. I’ve just seen encouraging things from us and nothing from Duke that doesn’t wind up getting highly qualified when you run it through a reality check. Then when you add trends that seem to survive early-season fog of war, like they’re a little careless with the ball and we have pickpockets, and Scheyer isn’t a strong defensive coach (neither is Pope but defensive rating over roster stars definitely favors Pope), and experience weighs heavier over talent earlier in seasons, I see more reasons to be optimistic than to be worried.
Nope, there is more to the percentages than just that 41.8 vs. our 40.0.
They have two guys that have 100%, but are only 2/2 and 1/1 respectively. Then there are a couple 50% dudes who are 7/14 and 4/8 (not bad). Those two 100% outliers are bumping their % to appear slightly better than ours.
We are 24/60 over two games and they are 28/67. Really not that much difference, and don't forget Wright St. decided to guard heavy on the perimeter, allowing us to go inside at will. Both of Duke's cupcakes allowed them to shoot however may they wanted.
Again, the numbers need more than just side-by-side numerical comparison.
You're slightly wrong, but only because you're choosing to look at numbers vs. numbers after only 2 games against totally different competition and competitive scenarios. See my response just above this one.
There is more to the 3-pt numbers than just 41.8 vs. 40.0 or 28/67 vs. 24/60.
