In the other Sunday game (other than Duke-FSU, that is), State
jumped all over Wake Forest and pretty
much embarrassed them. Actually it was kind of astonishing at times,
particularly Anthony Grundy, who looked great. Not good, great.
That leads to a logical followup - is
State for real? Are they as good
as they looked against Wake? Our hunch is yes, they are. They are
deeper than Duke, possibly stronger inside, and play great defense. One of the
telling factors may be free throw shooting: Duke leads the conference; State's
percentage is abysmal. However, they
look like a real team, albeit with a couple of key weaknesses (like most
teams), and in our eyes, definitely
on the rise.
Wednesday will be the biggest game of the year thus far: King of the Hill vs.
the Young Turks. Duke will need all the help they can get from the
Crazies, so we hope you guys are in rare form. It'll be interesting to see
who Duke puts on
the explosive Grundy, who sleeps with his eyes open, according to Lenox
Rawlings, and who bears a strong resemblance to Dennis Rodman. Plays kind of
like a shorter, young Rodman, with the exception of the rebounding, not that his
rebounding is bad, but Rodman is a freak.
He also is pretty sure Duke can be had: "I think they're very
beatable," he told the N&R. "If you come out and match their
intensity and not be scared of them, I think a lot of teams can beat them."
He's right to an extent, but it hasn't happened much lately.
Meanwhile, as noted previously Wake's struggles continue, as do UNC's and
Maryland's.
We didn't realize
Ed Cota had hurt his hamstring. That's a critical injury and bound to hurt,
along with Lang's being slowed earlier.
Maryland
continues to struggle to win games, going 0-the season so far, certainly not
what they - or anyone else - expected. Lonnie Baxter, who was so great
early, has apparently run into his limitations lately. Terence
Morris has also been a bit off. However, from what we've seen Steve Blake is
an excellent point guard. He at times has trouble with quicker guards, but
understands the game beautifully.
Next up for Maryland - Wake Forest, with an increasingly angry Dave Odom, who
apparently thinks his team isn't working hard enough.