A Biased Duke Fans Guide To The Elite 8

Fueled by equal parts sour grapes and equal parts Ny-Quil here is my biased and informed opinions about the final seven games remaining in the NCAA Tournament.

Saturday’s Games

Butler v Florida – since I hate Billy Donovan’s hair this is an easy game to pick, I’m going with Butler. The Bulldogs are the only team with a chance to make a repeat trip to the Final Four and I think they will.
Butler has taken out a one seed, so taking out a two seed should be no problem. After a skid where they lost 4 of 5 in late January, Butler has won 12 straight games and 8 of their last 9 NCAA games.
The overseeding of Florida finally catches up with them as the Butler defense holds them under 60 points.
Man-child coach Brad Stevens gets it done again and the Bulldogs book their tickets for Houston.

Arizona v UConn – tough choice. Do I choose the team that knocked Duke out, or do I choose a team I hate marginally less than UNC because of the 1999 Championship game?
I am going to choose the Arizona Wildcats. Sean Miller found a way to expose Duke’s weaknesses and he will find a way to shut down Kemba Walker and his UConn teammates.
The Huskies ninth game in 18 days finally catches up with them as Arizona runs wave after wave at them and shreds their defense like they did to Duke.
And no, Sean Miller is not coming to NC State.

Sunday’s Games

Kansas v VCU – oh how I really want to pick VCU, but Kansas looked really good in the dismantling of Richmond.
The Rams Cinderella journey finally ends after 4 wins and Shaka Smart becomes the hot new coach in the country. And no, he’s not coming to NC State either.
Kansas takes apart their fourth straight double digit seed and roll into the Final Four as the only one seed remaining in the tournament.

Kentucky v UNC – toughest choice for me. Is there anyway I can choose for both teams to forfeit?
Since that isn’t going to happen, I have to pick Kentucky because I cannot in good conscience choose the Tar Heels. Ever.

Final Four
Arizona v Kentucky – after beating Duke and UConn, beating Kentucky is no problem for Arizona.
Derrick WIlliams continues his great play as he takes apart another defense and Lamont Jones becomes the first player named MoMo to play in a championship game.
Kentucky’s freshmen are run off the court by all the Arizona sophomores and Sean Miller gets his shot at a National Championship.

Butler v Kansas – yes, its true, Butler gets back to the final game as they take out Kansas who has trouble with their first single-digit seed. Bill Self and company fall short again as Butler passes Gonzaga as America’s favorite non-BCS team.

Championship Game

Arizona v Butler – in a match-up of the two teams that Duke defeated for their most recent National Championships, the little guy takes on the big guy.
The Wildcats and Bulldogs play a game for the ages that eventually goes into multiple overtimes.
Butler makes every mid-major conference team proud by cutting down the nets as they keep Derrick Williams from imposing his will on the game.

So, there you have it. Last years runner-up wins it all in Houston and Butler puts together a 11-1 two year run in the NCAAs. On their trip to the White House, Brad Stevens is mistaken for an intern and becomes another in a long list of coaches who are not going to become NC State’s next coach.

Duke v Arizona Preview

First up for the Duke Blue Devils are the Arizona Wildcats.

To move on to the Elite Eight Duke must stop Derrick WIlliams, the best player in the country you’ve never heard of. If it wasn’t for Jimmer, he would have been the talk of the West coast and a reason to watch a college basketball game AFTER SportsCenter during the year.

The problem for Duke is that they have no one inside who matches up with WIlliams. He is too quick and has too much range to be guarded by Ryan Kelly or the Plumlees, so that means the job of defending him will fall to Kyle Singler.

It will be Singler’s toughest job of the season, even tougher than when he had to guard Harrison Barnes.

Williams is bigger and stronger than Barnes, and he may be bigger and stronger than Singler. It should be easy for Singler to cover him out on the perimeter, but when he goes inside, Duke will most likely double-team him and force him to give up the ball.

The Arizona sophomore averages over 19 points a game and is the only Wildcat who scores in double digits, he also has twice as many turnovers than assists. So Duke will look to try to contain him and force him to give up the ball, if they do then they have a real good shot at moving on to the Elite 8.

Another test for Duke will be making threes against Arizona. The Wildcats rank nationally in the top 10 of 3-point field gold percentage allowed and for Duke to move on, they need to make their threes. Something they had trouble with against Michigan in the round of 32 as they shot just 5-of-20.

The good news for Duke is that they present plenty of problems for Arizona, namely the back court of Nolan Smith and Kyrie Irving. Coach K has said that Irving will see ‘significantly more minutes’ going forward in the NCAA Tournament, something that many Duke fans, myself included, thought was near impossible just a month ago.

Smith was his normal spectacular self, dropping 24 on Michigan, after playing barely more than a half in their opening round game. The ACC Player of the Year will need to continue the strong play against Arizona. Irving, on the other hand, didn’t score from the field until the last two minutes of Michigan game, yet he was still effective. His basket may have been the most important of the game.

Duke also has the experience factor in their corner. The defending National Champions have two seniors in the starting lineup, while Arizona didn’t even make the NIT last year. There is also the coach factor. Coach K has four rings, while Sean Miller is the only coach in this bracket without a National Championship.

Another stat that shouldn’t be over looked is that Arizona was 5-6 against teams in the NCAA Tournament, while Duke was 10-3. Arizona is 0-2 against teams still alive, while Duke is 4-2.

If Duke is able to contain Williams and they make their threes than the Blue Devils will move on and play again on Saturday. Duke by 12.

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