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So Utah just beat Duke

Miami04

Miami04

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That's going to end up being a really nice win for us.

And by "that's" I mean the win over Duke that's coming. And the one already over Utah.
 
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Watch Utah leap over us in polls like Butler.

Interesting thing is that ESPN didn't even have our score on the main page header even though we are ranked

and Coaches poll... forget it. They will probably drop us to 20 for not beating them by a larger margin.

Bias is so blinding...

All we can do is keep on winning and don't give them an excuse to leave us out in March.
 
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Butler beat Purdue as well. Those two wins are paying off big time
 
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Utah is a team that is starting to come together. They'll be a tough out come tourney time. We kept Poeltl in check, but that guy can be dominant. The key for Utah beating Duke were guys like Kuzma and Bonam making great plays down the stretch on both ends of the floor. Where Utah will struggle, like they did against us, is when they play a much more athletic team than they are, and any team with a guy like Jekiri (there aren't many) who can match up with Poeltl helps too.

Duke was without Amile Jefferson which made Utah's advantage in the paint that much more stark. Duke played with 5 guards/small forwards for most of the day, except for when they had Plumlee on the court to counter Poeltl. Grayson Allen wasn't himself either - he was fighting flu symptoms throughout the whole game. If he gets back to form, and Kennard can build off of his performance in the comeback bid against Utah, then they will be a tough matchup on the wings for anyone. Once Duke gets healthy and their Freshmen grow up more...they'll be a much better team. They won't win the title again, because this group of Freshman this year (Ingram/Jeter/Thornton) aren't anywhere near as good as last year's trio. Sweet 16 is about as far as their team can hope to go this year, unless Brandon Ingram just becomes an unstoppable Kevin Durant-esque type of scorer...which I doubt. Duke's run last year was due to the inside presence of Okafor and the shotmaking from Jones/Winslow. Jeter ain't Okafor, Thornton ain't Jones, and Ingram ain't Winslow...yet.

That being said - as long as we can avoid the injury bug and shake off our random bouts with sluggish play, I think we're right there in the Top 3 in the ACC with UNC/UVA. If we can win the games we're supposed to win (specifically stay clean in the non-con slate from here on out--can't afford not to due to the Northeastern loss), not drop any silly games in conference to Wake or GT like last year...and we can win at least 2 of the 3 games against UVA (away/home) and UNC (away), then we're right in the mix to win the regular season title. Top 3 in the ACC will likely yield a tourney seed anywhere from 2-4, depending upon how we show out up in DC for the ACC Tourney. 1 thru 9 in Coach L's rotation just have to stay healthy, play more consistent for 40 minutes, and allow our athleticism and depth to shine thru. By tourney time, this 9-man rotation should be settled, and guys who haven't really shown out yet like Reed, Murphy, Palmer, ICU, etc...should be better, and Amp Lawrence should be playing less like a Freshman and more like a seasoned vet...he's already shown flashes of that.
 
BWCD said:
Utah is a team that is starting to come together. They'll be a tough out come tourney time. We kept Poeltl in check, but that guy can be dominant. The key for Utah beating Duke were guys like Kuzma and Bonam making great plays down the stretch on both ends of the floor. Where Utah will struggle, like they did against us, is when they play a much more athletic team than they are, and any team with a guy like Jekiri (there aren't many) who can match up with Poeltl helps too.

Duke was without Amile Jefferson which made Utah's advantage in the paint that much more stark. Duke played with 5 guards/small forwards for most of the day, except for when they had Plumlee on the court to counter Poeltl. Grayson Allen wasn't himself either - he was fighting flu symptoms throughout the whole game. If he gets back to form, and Kennard can build off of his performance in the comeback bid against Utah, then they will be a tough matchup on the wings for anyone. Once Duke gets healthy and their Freshmen grow up more...they'll be a much better team. They won't win the title again, because this group of Freshman this year (Ingram/Jeter/Thornton) aren't anywhere near as good as last year's trio. Sweet 16 is about as far as their team can hope to go this year, unless Brandon Ingram just becomes an unstoppable Kevin Durant-esque type of scorer...which I doubt. Duke's run last year was due to the inside presence of Okafor and the shotmaking from Jones/Winslow. Jeter ain't Okafor, Thornton ain't Jones, and Ingram ain't Winslow...yet.

That being said - as long as we can avoid the injury bug and shake off our random bouts with sluggish play, I think we're right there in the Top 3 in the ACC with UNC/UVA. If we can win the games we're supposed to win (specifically stay clean in the non-con slate from here on out--can't afford not to due to the Northeastern loss), not drop any silly games in conference to Wake or GT like last year...and we can win at least 2 of the 3 games against UVA (away/home) and UNC (away), then we're right in the mix to win the regular season title. Top 3 in the ACC will likely yield a tourney seed anywhere from 2-4, depending upon how we show out up in DC for the ACC Tourney. 1 thru 9 in Coach L's rotation just have to stay healthy, play more consistent for 40 minutes, and allow our athleticism and depth to shine thru. By tourney time, this 9-man rotation should be settled, and guys who haven't really shown out yet like Reed, Murphy, Palmer, ICU, etc...should be better, and Amp Lawrence should be playing less like a Freshman and more like a seasoned vet...he's already shown flashes of that.
Click to expand...

Dont sleep on UL, I think they are in the ACC Top3...
 
RickRollU said:
Dont sleep on UL, I think they are in the ACC Top3...
Click to expand...
I'm not. I think we're deeper and have more scoring punch than UL right now. And at this point in their careers, as great as Pitino is/was, I'll take Coach L over him head-to-head.

UL is a **** good squad, though.
 
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