Duke vs Illinois

As much as I dislike the Dukies, I have to confess that with the help of the zebras, the NCAA and the announcers they look like they could be a very good team this year. Which will make Duke losses even more exciting and fulfilling :) Meanwhile the Fighting Bruce Webers...



... continue to impress me. While they lost to Duke by double figures, the game was much closer than the final score because of their offensive "spurtability". I am voting for the Fightning Illinois for next week's BlogPoll Top 25! More on them from the Daily Illini Sports blog and Figthing Illini.com.

The Dookie side of the story can be found at Duke Illustrated (Rivals). An independent account of the game from CSTV. Certainly this Duke is not like the 2006-2007 team, they have more depth and more talent. But what is also emerging is the real reason why Coach K wanted the Team USA job: so he and his three helpers can upgrade their coaching skills by working with other coaches. So they picked up offense from Mike D'Antoni, and they picked up defense from (gasp) Jim Boeheim, their "Orange" zone defense. That explains why all three of his assistants went with him. Of course the official reason was that they would be running drills and such, sure, sure, because four basketball coaches with almost 100 years of basketball head-coaching experience and more as assistants do not know how to run drills :) If you want more from the Duke side of the story, check the Just Duke blog.

On the court, the Dookies look like a formidable opponent, not only because they get most of the 50-50 calls, but because they are talented and versatile and deep. While DeMarcus Nelson is the only Duke I do not dislike at the moment, they have plenty of good or good enough players to win a lot of games. Singler is an impact player, who may not be as loud as the other freshman with his game or his style, but he can get things done. Henderson, yes the broken nose guy, is another solid wing. Zoubek gives them an option to play bigger if they have to. And the list goes on and on and on.

And one parting shot for the Xs and Os fans, Coach Bruchu diagrams Duke's Zone Buster play. Coach Bruchu's blog is an excellent resource for players, fans, coaches, and everyone interested in the Xs and Os of basketball!