H-S | USAToday
Next up for the Blue Devils is Memphis in the finals of the NIT
Tournament.
Memphis will likely start 6-8 F Shawne Williams, 6-7 S Rodney Carney, 6-9
soph Joey Dorsey, 6-6 F Antonio Anderson, and 6-2 soph Darius Washington.
Williams had a coming-out game against UCLA which was really impressive.
Memphis coach John Calipari, like his mentor, Rick Pitino, likes to press,
but so far anyway, and that requires a certain amount of depth. Memphis,
accordingly, has nine guys getting double-figure minutes. They've played
well against UW-Milwaukee, Alabama, and UCLA, winning by 15.3 per game on
average. They've rebounded well, shot reasonably well, and won most
statistical battles. The areas where they haven't done that well are
turnovers (almost 46 in three games). They've also gotten to the line a
lot less than their opponents.
Still, they are athletic, though young, and they are getting used to winning.
Williams is said by some to be the best player at Memphis since Anfernee
Hardaway, and he may present some matchup problems for Duke.
Duke will have a significant problem of its own since DeMarcus Nelson is not
expected to play after an ankle injury against Drexel.
Martinas Pocius will get more minutes as a result, and while he's not as
strong or as accomplished as Nelson, he's a nifty player, and we look forward to
seeing him develop. He's extremely athletic and also really smart.
He passes as well in traffic as anyone.
We're also looking forward to seeing what Josh McRoberts does after a solid
performance against Drexel. He really started to excel and the Garden
would be a great place to keep that going.