Duke - St. John's Predictions

Duke 78

St. John's 62

Kennedy leads the way with 20 points and 8 boards.  Evans with a double double.  Brownlee with 10 and 6.  Mediocre to poor performances from most of the rest of the team.

it may be uglier than that kid

I don't know why you think it's gonna be that ugly (or that much of a beating, to be accurate).  Scheyer hasn't done that well against St. John's, and I think this is a different team without the guard depth.  St. John's has hung with the Dukies for stretches in the last 2 games (before getting their doors blown off 2 years ago, and a little too late last year).

I think Duke will win.  I'm not sure they'll be threatened.  But I also don't think they're going to beat the team by 16.  That requires a Marquette-level of defensive tenacity that Duke, for some reason, hasn't displayed against St. John's.  Hell, consider that Malik Boothe had his highest scoring output from Dec 2008-March 2009 against Duke.  The problem wasn't the Red Storm's scoring (for once), it was the Johnnies' defense.

I think they'll call off the dogs early if they're winning, as they have in the past.

Duke 68 - St. John's 59

I do also hope, whether our boys get crushed or not at Cameron, that the fans and posters don't see the apocalypse and start whining about why couldn't we hang with Duke.  We ain't there yet.  If we lose to Georgia - or the other non-conference games - I'm gonna be pissed as hell.

no after losing to the badgers i think they are gonna be pissed. the gym is gonna be a new thing for the new guys and they are playing on national television. they are gonna be nervous. but if they lose by twenty it isnt the end of the world. the team is still good.

But it's not new for Justin #1, Malik #1, DJ - who had a nice game there 2 yrs ago, Sean...

I think the Siena game showed something.  When they give a hot damn, they don't have to turn over the ball as much as in years past.  It's like they're freelancing in the other games.  or something.

This ain't NC. A 20 loss to a soft Duke team is not something to shrug off.
We should be playing intense man to man defense for 40 minutes.

You don't zone a jump shooting team. Hopefully, we'll have a plan for the game.

duke may be soft but they are talented. scary talented. like i told someone let dele us all 5 fouls and put a duke player on the floor.

I think we are down 10 at the half and then Duke pulls away. Duke 79 SJU 56. Same story this team is going to struggle to score. Team actually needs Mase back and Brownlee should get more PT.

Duke 75, STJ 58.
STJ fans whine like crazy afterward, claim season is over.

I don't know why you think it's gonna be that ugly (or that much of a beating, to be accurate).  Scheyer hasn't done that well against St. John's, and I think this is a different team without the guard depth.  St. John's has hung with the Dukies for stretches in the last 2 games (before getting their doors blown off 2 years ago, and a little too late last year).

I think Duke will win.  I'm not sure they'll be threatened.  But I also don't think they're going to beat the team by 16.  That requires a Marquette-level of defensive tenacity that Duke, for some reason, hasn't displayed against St. John's.  Hell, consider that Malik Boothe had his highest scoring output from Dec 2008-March 2009 against Duke.  The problem wasn't the Red Storm's scoring (for once), it was the Johnnies' defense.

I think they'll call off the dogs early if they're winning, as they have in the past.

3 reasons I don't think Duke will pull the mercy card on St. John's this year as they have in the past:

1.  It's early season, not midseason - Duke is still establishing its own identity
2.  They just lost, and its early season - need to restore confidence with big victory
3.  St. John's has shown to be deep and talented.  Unlike in year's past where Coach K prob felt sorry for Norm, this is year 6 and he has upperclassmen and his guys.  No need for mercy, will just play it as is.


Moreover, people...Duke beat an athletic UConn squad by 9 at MSG where it was basically a split in fans.  Why does anyone have confidence we will win by less than 9 at Cameron?  I know these things don't always translate...but do people think we're better than UConn?

no after losing to the badgers i think they are gonna be pissed. the gym is gonna be a new thing for the new guys and they are playing on national television. they are gonna be nervous. but if they lose by twenty it isnt the end of the world. the team is still good.

agreed - a 20 point loss to duke in cameron doesn't mean much.  just gotta come back win the rest of the non-conference and be ready to man up in the BE.

no legas line yet.

Singler's the only one I think we don't have an answer for.  Not to say that the other guys might not go off, but Singler's the one where I think "i don't know what we have to throw at this guy."  And even then, there are gaps on the interior on defense... I wasn't just cracking wise about Lance Thomas putting up some points against St. John's.

Singler's the only one I think we don't have an answer for.  Not to say that the other guys might not go off, but Singler's the one where I think "i don't know what we have to throw at this guy."  And even then, there are gaps on the interior on defense... I wasn't just cracking wise about Lance Thomas putting up some points against St. John's.

I posted in the comments in the calm before the storm article about my defensive matchups.

Hopefully someone can bother Singler.  I like his game a lot.

Who does Boothe guard and how does Scheyer or Smith not dominate him?

duke may be soft but they are talented. scary talented. like i told someone let dele us all 5 fouls and put a duke player on the floor.

I don't think it's right to hurt a Duke player.
It would probably be considered some kind of gay bashing anyway.

Want to put a Duke fan on the floor, okay. You can't hit them hard enough.

Quote from: kob24 on December 04, 2009, 01:43:41 PM

duke may be soft but they are talented. scary talented. like i told someone let dele us all 5 fouls and put a duke player on the floor.

I don't think it's right to hurt a Duke player.
It would probably be considered some kind of gay bashing anyway.

Want to put a Duke fan on the floor, okay. You can't hit them hard enough.

Try me.