It’s a lot of scratch, not everyone can afford it….but I agree, if you have the money then go.
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Don’t sleep on LJ as a perimeter defender. Knueppel looks tough to stop but he won’t find ANY easy paths to the basket against us
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I hope it goes that way.
My thought is Knueppel (and Flagg for that matter) might aim to just plow into the lane (using size and good ball handling) and end up drawing a lot of fouls because of it.
Might not work against us like it has against Duke’s opponents this year (and I hope it doesn’t) . But it can be concern if the officiating calls it that way enough times.
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This is going to be the longest week of my life. I may rewatch the Tennessee game to help pass the time.
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Agree completely. My point is it will be extremely difficult for them to get to the rim vs any of our players. The question is can we stay out of foul trouble in the process
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You should re watching some of our older games, that’s how I’ve been passing time
This is what I’ve watched so far:
Vs Kentucky 2019
Vs Illinois 2022
Vs Arizona 2022
Vs Villanova 2022
Vs Rutgers 2021
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Watch us v Duke last year. I read we didn’t blitz or really do our usual defense
Certainly not sleeping on him as you guys have plus defenders at every position. That said, his size and advanced defensive metrics tag him as the “worst” perimeter defender (of an otherwise amazing group). Duke will try to exploit any weakness it can in the lineup on the floor. If that’s going after Tugler to get foul #2 in the first half, they will attack it. If it’s hunting switches to get Cryer on Flagg, they will attack it. It’s a very cerebral group and they play connected.
That said, you guys just need to play your normal game. It’s more than good enough to beat Duke.
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Where are you watching those? YouTube?
the march madness youtube channel has a bunch of old tournament games and the big 12 channel has a bunch of our regular season games up
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UH about to whoop them.
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I 
agree. So much so, I’ve purchased my ticket already for Monday.
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Just play our defense.
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I mean, I’m sure that’s true but how many 1 seeds have faced like the 9 instead of 8 which is honestly a toss up. Duke this season is an example, they have played the 4 and 2 seed and are facing another 1 seed. Baylor at the 9 would be the only “lower seed” they have played. Also if Florida wins the only lower seed would be Tech instead of St John’s and realistically Tech should have been a 2 seed instead of St John’s
Facts:
Duke has lost three games.
So they are not invincible as the press wants us to believe. Do you remember a team was that deemed to win the Final Four twice?
We can all speculate one way or the other but we all know one thing. Whichever team has adjusted to play this game with the most aggressive defense has a real chance to win. Our team this season has multiple options like we have not seen with any CKS team. We are not “reduced” to one style of defense. We have multiple options. I love it that Mylik has a few days between games. He is the X factor for me.
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One thing I haven’t seen mentioned that is adjacent to this, is that whoever wins the first game between Auburn and Florida, their fans are going to be rooting for us. Duke is one of the most hated teams in sports, not just college basketball. And I’m sure that Auburn and Florida both feel better about their chances against us than Duke.
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For me the two main things I will be looking at early on in the game
- How tight the refs are calling the game against us - we are going to know pretty quickly if they are going to let us play our trademark defense or we will be in foul trouble and throwing our hands in the air like ‘WTF’ all game
- Want to see us hit a couple 3s in the first 8-10 min to give us confidence in the 3 and that we can push the score a bit if needed to counter Duke if they go on an offensive run and we get behind
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Agreed. I starting getting a bad feeling about the officiating last night after watching a clip of some sports casters on ESPN talk up Duke as a high-scoring exciting team to watch. Stephen A. specifically made a comment about the contrast of play between their “exciting” brand of basketball compared to Houston’s slow-paved defensive style.
Now, I don’t know how many people in the networks agree with Stephen A. but if that’s the general view, I could see Duke getting the whistles in their favor to reach the finals. If we have to play against the zebras, too, it certainly won’t be the first time, right?
One thing you eluded to that I’m looking for as well is whether we get off to a fast start. Specifically, I want to see prior and Roberts knock down some shots. Roberts is going up against the 7’2” shot blocker while Cryer can be hot and or cold depending on the defense.
I’m also curious to see how Uzan plays. We need him to knock down some shots to loosen up the defense for everyone else. I want to see if he can get around his man and drive the lane for some floaters and dishes against a much taller team.