Spread: Duke -6.5<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nOpponent KenPom:<\/strong> 1 (1 offense, 5 defense, 266 tempo)
Opponent Evan Miya: <\/strong> 1 (1 offense, 5 defense, 251 tempo)
Opponent Bart Torvik: <\/strong> 2 (1 offense, 6 defense, 270 tempo)
Opponent NET: <\/strong> 1 (11-3 Q1, 18-3 Q1\/Q2); Q1 opponent for the Tide
Opponent RPI:<\/strong> 5
Opponent Best Win:<\/strong> No. 3 Auburn (H)
Opponent Worst Loss:<\/strong> No. 24 Kansas (N)<\/p>\nUA Ken Pom<\/strong>: 6th (4 Off, 28 Defense, 1 Tempo)
UA Evan Miya<\/strong>: 5th (3 Off, 24 Defense, 1 Tempo)
UA Bart Torvik:<\/strong> 5th (3 Off, 26 Defense, 1 Tempo)
UA NET Ranking:<\/strong> 6 (14-8 Q1, 22-8 Q1\/2)
UA RPI<\/strong>: 2
UA Best Win: <\/strong>No. 2 v Houston (N)
UA Worst Loss: <\/strong>No. 28 (N) Oregon<\/p>\n
\nCliff Notes on Duke: <\/strong>Imagine UConn with a lot more favorable whistles, a helluva lot better perimeter shooting, and a generational talent who is almost always going to be the single best player on the court every night \u2014 because he\u2019s the best player in the game. They are patient in the half-court offense, and absolutely strangle teams inside the perimeter. If there is a weakness in this bunch, it\u2019s that they don\u2019t like to run, and they will surrender decent looks on the perimeter. <\/p>\nHiring youth in Durham brought with Scheyer\u2019s arrival a more modern offense. The Blue Devils run your bog-standard 5-out, ball-screen offense that we\u2019ve seen many times before. However, when I say \u201cball screen\u201d I mean that in the most promiscuous way imaginable. You will rarely see the Devils not setting a screen to flash a Horns look for a midrange jumper (they love the top of the key), or setting up drives by any of their four ferocious backcourt terrors. Unlike many 5-out teams, however, Duke will dribble at the top of the key and run a delay before Scheyer signals the play in \u2014 think of it like football, where the OC is calling the play in at the line of scrimmage. The Duke staff wants to get a look at what the defense is doing on each trip down the court before it decides what to do with the basketball. <\/p>\n
In particular, the Devils run a lot of high screens for that Horns curl. The motion of the curls, frequently opens up the guards for easy 15-footers from the free throw line. Duke also loves the brush screens, where the 4 is playing the baseline or wing, and then screen-and-rolls to the inside \u2014 often penetrating to set up the kickout to one of the many shooters. Teams have been murdered trying to stop interior penetration all season long, because the Devils are simply too good at every spot on the floor to rotate over to help. If you leave a shooter open playing help defense, the Blue Devils will <\/em>find them. And if you don\u2019t help, then you\u2019re setting up one-on-one against some of the most talented players in the country. <\/p>\nThe double ball screens with big bodies opens up a variety of ways to do damage. It\u2019s not schematically revolutionary, but with Duke\u2019s talent, it doesn\u2019t have to be:<\/p>\n