Your FREE-view Duke hoops preveiw!

HUGE, major, bigtime, XL sized shot of Hokie hoops morale right in the arm after that epic road win over Klempson! We needed that one (very) badly folks.

Which now gives us something of a shot to split vs. the brutal home back-to-back closer of Duke this Saturday then North Carolina next Wednesday.

That’s just a savage two-set of hoops games. But the Klempson win helped our chances in no small way. I fully expect either Duke or UNC ends up in a amped up Cassell Coliseum and finds themselves in a true fight to the finish. My A+ in Sports Psychology is inclined to say that any Duke outcome has a spillover effect on UNC; be that pro (a Hokie upset win) or con (we get beat and or waxed by Duke). Duke is also a bit thinner in 1 through 12 depth to me. Ergo, I’m putting all of my O&M eggs in Coach K’s basket.

(23-5) #3 R.P.I. Duke @ (17-10) #52 R.P.I. Virginia Tech:
TV coverage: 3:30pm ABC
Vegas Line:VT+5.5

Duke at a Glance:

1. 14. Duke is 14th best in Turnovers in all of D-1. Not may steals to pilfer here. However, Duke is oddly enough 14th in Stealing the ball themselves.
2. 20. As in Duke is 20th in Points Scored. Duke will light up your scoreboard if you let ’em.
3. To be 3rd in R.P.I., Duke is only 13th in W-L percentage.
4. 45. Part of that scoring binge is the fact that Duke crashes the offensive glass and is 45th in offensive boards. Again; oddly enough, Duke is 45th overall in Rebounding Margin.
5. Duke’s 4th leading scorer Nolan Smith and his 9 points per game are likely out with a concussion.
6. Duke’s worst ranking is 190th in 3-point FG%. Just a C- team from downtown.

“Certainly Duke is Duke, they are on TV more than Leave It To Beaver re-runs.” What an epic blast that was from Coach Pete Gillian. Duke is still on TV a lot. But Duke’s defense has slipped more than a little bit of late, though their offense is a good as ever and Coach K is indeed having one of his better years as most pre-season rags picked Duke to contend for the ACC title next year; labeling Duke as a year away.

Duke is lead by legacy baller Gerald Henderson, who’s pops stole James Worthy in the 1984 NBA Finals up in Boston (YouTube link).  Gerald is a 6`4“215 lb. 2-guard baller from Merion (Philly) PA. Same area as Kobe Bryant in fact. Gerald is a rising Junior at Duke who not only looks like his pops, he plays like the same. Same very fundamental game from a fluid defensive oriented baller who makes it relatively easy as he leads Duke in scoring this year. Duke is lead in rebounding by their second leading scorer and second leading assist-man, Mr. versatility in one Kyle Singler. Kyle is a 6`8“ 240 lb. power-forward who is semi close to being rightfully called a point-forward. A nomenclature traditionally reserved for small-forwards but rightfully bestowed upon Kyle as Kyle busts 35% of this threes and can pass the rock.

Chipping in in points is tallish 6`5“ 185 lb. Jon Scheyer who took over the Point  from everybody’s favorite poster-child one Greg Paulus (who does well off the Duke bench nowadays).  Jon nets 13 per and leads Duke in assists. After that Duke mostly scores via committee as no other Dukie trumps 8 points per game. But Duke does field one of the true legit Centers in the ACC, even if he has some toe and foot hurts, in one 7` 1“ 285 lb. Pivot, Brian Zoubek, who along with Paulus has accepted a bench role this year (#55 below). Despite the fact that Duke enjoys good size in their frontcourt rotation; Duke is the only team we have played this year that does not have a single player with more than 1 full block per game. Ergo, Duke would not be a bad team to dribble-drive and penetrate upon, or set Allen and Davila up for some looks on the low-post blocks.

On the whole, Duke just might indeed be a year away, as Duke is much better at Home where they play in the Refs pockets than they are on the road. Check it out…

• FG% Margin is 6.5% worse on the road.
• 3-point shooting is 6% worse on the road.
• Rebounding Margin drops by 4 board on the road.
• FT Shooting Margin is 3% worse on the road.

Ergo, Duke is only 1 game north of .5oo on the road this year.

The real reason this game remained life-n-death close for the duration ... was??? Virginia Tech is simply not that good. Period. The wind was the real deal breaker here. Period. Virginia Tech is better than you think; yet plum tuckered out physically and mentally. View Results  Loading ...

But here is the killer part that does afford our Hokies an objective shot at winning this one. Duke has allowed a staggering 56% of opponents shots to tickle the twine in their last 5 starts. To make matters worse, Duke opponents are netting 45% of their trifectas from downtown over the same span. When was the last time you could say that about a Coach K team?!?

All of this conspires to tell me that after the thrilling upset road win vs. the Tigers, we do have a decent shot here folks. It’s not a sure shot however, as Duke has a clear-cut offensive edge. But two of the three main Duke Guard’s can be beaten off the dribble. So look for my boy MD-20-20 (Malcolm Delaney) to live at the FT stripe. Duke is indeed the favorite, but after studying Duke and seeing how the Dukies defense has been very user-friendly of late; coupled with a morale building and Cassell Coliseum deafening win vs. the Tigers; I’m gonna pick the upset. Virginia Tech=77 Duke=73.
“LETS GO!”

“HOKIES!”

b’street.