Congrats to NWMSU!
I think it shows that basketball is more complex than the vertical jump and athletic ability of individuals.
On a given night, a top level D2 school can hang with a high major D1 school.
Duke has elite coaching and players.
To offset the athetic talent, IMHO one has to be able to have a good night shooting threes relative to the D1 team.
NWMSU hit 15-34 or 44%. Duke shot terriblly from three. (2-16)
However, Duke caused 21 turnovers to committing 14.
Congrats to NWMSU!
I think it shows that basketball is more complex than the vertical jump and athletic ability of individuals.
On a given night, a top level D2 school can hang with a high major D1 school.
Duke has elite coaching and players.
To offset the athetic talent, IMHO one has to be able to have a good night shooting threes relative to the D1 team.
NWMSU hit 15-34 or 44%. Duke shot terriblly from three. (2-16)
However, Duke caused 21 turnovers to committing 14.
NWMSU only shot 4 FTs (2-4). Duke hit 13-22 FTs.
Thought that Duke was getting calls NW wasn't at times thru the game...didn't really see NW getting calls that Duke wasn't at all. Usually, those even out thru the game. Of course, that could be the product of some homerism on my part.
Thought that Duke was getting calls NW wasn't at times thru the game...didn't really see NW getting calls that Duke wasn't at all. Usually, those even out thru the game. Of course, that could be the product of some homerism on my part.
Duke looked pathetic from 3.
Fun game to watch, NW play their arses off!
Coach k. Press conference. Very informative.
reporters kept pressing for reason for close game...
Coach said nwmsu is very very good team that plays 5 out offense which is not seen in Power 5. Said they can play with anyone and beat most of them...
I'm under the understanding that all of these we are talking about are exhibition games.
It is likely that d1 versus d2 will always be exhibition. Otherwise it would hurt the critical strength of schedule calculation to get into ncaa tournament. If even if d2 school is comparable, d2 teams usually play only 1 d1 team a year so there is insufficient sample size.
Some think exhibition, by definition, means d1 players are not trying hard to win. To answer that question one has to watch the game and make that assessment on a case by case basis. Most fans can tell if a team is not trying
Otherwise it is a circular argument.
d2 team loses? D1 will always win.
d2 team wins? D1 was not trying.
therefore d1 teams will always beat d2 teams.
example of a type of fallacious reasoning.
Congrats to NWMSU!
I think it shows that basketball is more complex than the vertical jump and athletic ability of individuals.
On a given night, a top level D2 school can hang with a high major D1 school.
Duke has elite coaching and players.
To offset the athetic talent, IMHO one has to be able to have a good night shooting threes relative to the D1 team.
NWMSU hit 15-34 or 44%. Duke shot terriblly from three. (2-16)
However, Duke caused 21 turnovers to committing 14.
NWMSU only shot 4 FTs (2-4). Duke hit 13-22 FTs.
Here are a couple of ways to tell how important Duke took the outcome of this game. By all accounts, Duke's team is going to largely revolve around their returning PG Tre Jones and three incoming freshmen (Carey, Hurt and Moore) with returning starters White, O'Connell and De'Lauerer as their 5th starter/primary depth along with another FR Stanley also as depth (although Duke will probably play a bunch of players). To close the game Coach K had his starting PG and team leader Jones on the bench as well as White, O'Connell and Delauerer opting instead to have deep bench players Robinson (1.2 PPG last year) and Goldwire (.9 PPG last season) on the floor at the end of the game. I'm sure both Goldwire and Robinson are fine individuals, but in a real Duke basketball game, they probably aren't going to sniff the court at the end of the game unless Duke is up by 40...Also doubt that in a real game, Coach K is going to have his starting PG and team leader sitting on the bench along with his 5th starter and all his primary depth at the end of a 6 point contest.
For comparison, NMSU started the game with Hudgins, Hawkins, Welty, Bernard and Finley as their starting 5...the five on the court at the end of the game were Hudgins, Hawkins, Welty, Bernard and Dreamer.
Bottom line, for NMSU this game was a big deal and they pulled out all the stops...For Duke this game was not a big deal and the players they had on the court reflected that.
Did Duke want to lose? No, Coach K and Duke NEVER want to lose. Was Coach K willing to do anything to win an exhibition game? Clearly the answer is no given the players he had on the court at the end of the game. At the end of the day, I think both teams got exactly what they wanted, NWMSU got the ability to crow about how they "almost" beat Duke AT Duke and Coach K got to see how his freshmen and a couple of end of the bench players respond in a "close" game. Also Coach K got an excellent "coaching point" to better focus a team that might be starting to believe their pre season hype. Worth noting that Duke beat DII Fort Valley State by 49 points last night.
I can tell you that Evansville played an 8-man rotation (none of their freshmen), and USI was missing two starters. USI only attempted eight 3's all night and made only 2. The newly moved 3-pt line in D1, IMO, had a lot to do with that.
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