Duke Blue Devils....ALL Nolan Smith!

Just crushed through 3 Duke games on the ol' PVR last night. Watched their games v. UAB, @ FSU and @ NC State. This'll be a quick take, but Duke has it all in a wide open year where any team in the nation can win come Madness time. They have the All-Adolph Player of the Year leading candidate in SR. PG Nolan Smith, a certifiable wingman in SR. F. Kyle "Goose" Singler and a versatile combo of big men in the Brothers Plumlee and surprisingly SO. F Ryan Kelly. They have consistent timely contributions from shooting guards, SO. Seth Curry and SO. Andre Dawkins.

Duke starts and ends off of Nolan Smith at the point. They start three-quarters of their possessions with a simple on-ball screen for Smith and on 80% of those screens, Smith just drives it to the hole and scores. Their second option is Goose coming off of a pick-n-roll for a 3 pointer or easy 15 footer from anywhere on the court. Both players have averaged over 20 ppg since the injury of All-World freshie PG, Kyrie Irving, who's probably gone for the rest of the year with a torn tendon in his Big Toe.

Their bigs will be a presence in the blocks with the Brother Plumlee (SOPH. Mason and JR. Miles). If the opposition has a presence in the blocks like FSU did in Duke's loss, then it'll be up to Nolan and Kyle to take over as the bigs will be neutralized. All Duke big men are foul prone to any drives/shots in the paint. If this is the case, then they should make those penetraters pay with no easy layups ala the 90's Knicks/Pacers serie's. Although, they have the most complete team in the nation, leave it to Coach Krasinski-errrr-Sha-chevrolet-ski to not add any personality to the post fouls. That's so Duke of you Coach AMEX!!

It's pretty simple on how to beat Duke. Other than the aforementioned post match-up neutrality and foul prone-ness, the Duke high-pressure man-to-man defense can be used aginst itself, as many teams have had great success penetrating the ball to the paint. Once a Duke post steps up on the drive, then the easy dish is open for an opposing player under the bucket. Maryland, Virginia had success in close games v Duke, and that's how FSU disected Duke in a lucky win in Tallahassee. NC State ran this dribble penetration 4 times in their game on Wednesday, and it worked everytime. Hey Head Coach, Sidney Lowe, once your players develop any toughness stronger then the consistency of jell-o, then maybe you can call a play that even your soft and athletic NC State Wolf Pack players can be successful on. Poor play calling Lowe, poor!

That's one thing with a wide open Madness this year, not only does Duke have one of, if not the most complete teams in the nation, but they also have great timing in playing in the softest ACC since Oliver Miller's belly!

If an opposing team takes advantage of the dribble penetration-n-dish plays that have had been successful v Duke, they'll have to find a way to weather the daily Nolan Smith storm. At this point, I haven't seen anyone able to contain his drives, let alone stop them. Nolan Smith doesn't get many garbage time hoops either, as most are very timely in being a great ATS spread cooler hoop or in keeping Duke in the game with those stone 3's late in the FSU game.

Duke does add the odd Syracuse style 2-3 zone and can cut the shot clock off with an OK 3/4 full court press. When they have the lead, Coach K will use clock and shorten the game down. With this Coach K management and Nolan Smith's cooler abilities, for the time being vs. any ACC team, the Dukie's look like a team that will usually cover regardless of the spread. (Although, these games will have a high sweat factor, just like last nights beat down of Wake Forest)
Duke has it all, as painful as it is to say, as opposed to the inconsistencies of the youth of Ohio State's Jared Sullinger or KU's Morris Twins. Right now, we're looking at a Pitt/Duke strong hold on the All-Adolph Top 10 rankings which is coming soon.

Stay mad!!!

Insanity Report out!