Duke plays Marquette Tuesday the 23rd at 7:00pm in what will be the
final home game for Alana Beard, Iciss Tillis and Vicki Krapohl. I've
written at length what those three women have meant to this program so
I'll say no more about that. It would be incredible to get one last
sellout at home for them, and in a setting where the team will need every
bit of support. For you out-of-towners, the game will be on ESPN2. The
Marquette Golden Eagles defeated an Old Dominion team with superior
talent on Sunday, thanks to their determination and a sticky zone defense.
Playing in Conference USA against some excellent basketball teams, they
won't be the least bit intimidated against Duke. They've had to match up
with the great Chandi Jones of Houston, for example, one of the most
prolific scorers in the nation. They've had to face the intimidating post
presence of Sandora Irvin of TCU, and the explosive offense of DePaul.
This is a battle-tested team that knows how to win. Coach G
talked about their defense, a matchup zone with a lot of traps thrown in to
keep teams off-balance. Marquette does not have a lot of size, especially
in their backcourt, and will look to force Duke to take contested jumpers.
They will try to minimize turnovers in an effort to neutralize Duke's
superior team speed. Marquette wants a game in the 60's or so and has
good balance on offense, with players who can hit the three, go off the
dribble or post up. Post defense will be key #1 for Duke. They have to
shut down Marquette inside in order to force long jumpers; the hope is
that Duke's superior size will give them an edge in the rebounding
department. My guess is that this will be a grinding defensive game.
Duke must be patient and try to find gaps in the zone to set up their bigs
and shoot judiciously. However, if Mo Currie is open anywhere inside the
three point line, she should try to shoot it in order to set up her drive.
This game is no gimme. As I like to reiterate every year that Duke hosts
an NCAA tournament game (and this will likely be the last time that
happens), 12 seed San Francisco came into Cameron in 1996 and upset Duke.
Since that time, no foe can ever be overlooked.
Today's links: