Date 3/23 || Time 2:40 || Venue Lenovo Center || Video CBS
Duke plays #9 Baylor on Sunday for a spot in the Sweet Sixteen and that means an on-court reunion with former Blue Devil Jeremy Roach, a very popular member of the Brotherhood indeed.
Baylor finished at 20-14 and 10-10 in the Big 12. The Bears are always going to be tough as long as Scott Drew is in town but since winning the natty in 2020-21, Baylor has not been as potent as it was. It doesn’t mean they’re not dangerous – of course they are – but since winning the title, the Bears have finished 27-7, 23-11, 24-11 and, so far this year of course, 20-14.
They have also not gotten out of the first weekend of the NCAA tournament lately, bowing out three straight years in the round of 32.
However, keep in mind that Baylor has been without big man Josh Ojianwuna since losing to Johnny Dawkins’ Central Florida 91-76 on February 8th.
In his absence, the Bears have had to turn to a familiar face: former Miami big man Norchad Omier.
A sort of latter day Wes Unseld, Omier can play inside at 6-7/240 because he’s athletic and extremely powerful.
In their win against #8 Mississippi State, Baylor started Omier, Jalen Celestine (6-7/215 senior), Langston Love (6-5/210 junior) and an all-freshman backcourt of VJ Edgecombe (6-5 freshman) and Robert Wright (6-0 freshman), with Roach now coming off the bench.
We haven’t watched this team a lot, but we do know that Scott Drew is a very good coach and that he typically has his team playing at or near its collective ability.
And Edgecombe is a phenomenal talent who is projected as a lottery pick this June. He’s very, very good.
Against Mississippi State, White played 31 minutes, shooting 8-15/1-3 for 19 points. He also had three rebounds, two assists and one steal.
Edgecombe had 14 points on 3-8/2-6 shooting.
Duke is likely to have some difficulties with Edgecombe and Omier. Edgecombe’s talent was underscored in the Mississippi State game by a dunk that he missed. It was a stunning play – he just miscalculated. The guy is the real deal though.
And Omier Duke fans know well. He has a significant size disadvantage against 7-2 Khaman Maluach and 6-9 Cooper Flagg, but he’s capable of getting anyone in foul trouble. It won’t surprise us if Mason Gillis spends some time guarding him.
Baylor also has to guard Duke’s bigger guards. We honestly aren’t sure how solid of a defender Edgecombe is but Roach obviously knows Proctor and Caleb Foster well. And while we think White looks like a pretty solid young point guard, he’ll have to guard much bigger players and get around them on defense, too. It doesn’t always matter, but sometimes it does.
Keep in mind too that Baylor is a solid three point shooting team, with Jayden Nunn hitting 40.9 percent. Celestine gets 35.7 percent, Wright 35.6, Edgecombe 34.5 and Roach 33.6. Both Omar Adegbola (6-4 freshman) and Davidson Hubbard (6-5 senior from Charlotte) clock in at 33.3 percent.
Nunn is above average, but you can’t rule any of those guys out as three point shooters, and all it takes is for one guy to heat up to change everything.
Duke’s size advantage should help and certainly did against Mount St. Mary’s, with the Blue Devils winning 93-49.
However, what was even better than that was this: 21 of 35 baskets were assisted and Duke had just two turnovers for the entire game. That’s just brilliant.
We have often said that you shouldn’t look at a great game and think that it’s the norm. It’s not. It’s the exception. Did Duke play a great game against the Mountaineers?
Yes and no.
Duke played with tremendous unity and discipline, as the two turnovers suggest, and a 43 point win obviously indicates that the Blue Devils played well against a smart and competitive team.
But it wasn’t the peak for this team.
Duke won with Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel, Sion James, Mason Gillis and Isaiah Evans combining to shoot 2-21 from three point range. The Blue Devils shot 14-37 from behind the line and Tyrese Proctor hit 6-8 and Caleb Foster was 3-4.
In other words, those guys hit nine of Duke’s 14 successful threes.
It’d probably be good if other guys hit some too, but as long as the baskets come, it doesn’t really matter where they come from.
However, there’s always a chance they don’t, and if that happens, then Duke will probably be in a grinder, which means that defense will probably be the deciding factor.
But don’t overlook this: Roach, as much as anyone, knows how things work for Duke. He knows the plays and the tendencies, and Drew will surely ask him about that stuff.
Speaking of Drew, he said recently that every coach would like to have four point guards if he could. Well, Duke kind of does.
The guards, classically defined, are Proctor and James, and strictly speaking, James is the point guard. However, in many respects, it’s Flagg and when Flagg went out a couple of times this season, Knueppel picked up for him. And obviously Proctor was the point guard last year and Foster has done his time there as well.
Beating Baylor is never going to be easy, but hopefully Duke’s advantages, along with its potent defense, will carry the day and help the Blue Devils to the Sweet Sixteen.
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