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From 10,000 Feet
Date and Time: Monday, May 26, 2014 at 1:00 ET
Location: Baltimore, M.D. (M&T Bank Stadium)
Television/Internet: ESPN2 and WatchESPN have a traditional broadcast; ESPNU has a Spidercam feed
Game "Fun Factor": 6.23 ("Excellent")
log5 Victory Probabilities:
HIGHER SEED | LOWER SEED | FAVORITE | UNDERDOG |
(1) Duke | (6) Notre Dame | (1) Duke // 58.71% | (6) Notre Dame // 41.29% |
These are the longest odds that the Irish have faced since the team's eight-goal setback to Duke at the sunrise of April. (In fact, Notre Dame's dates with Duke are the longest odds that the Irish have faced all season.) Notre Dame, however, has found ways to win in their last six games, pulling out four one-goal victories and eviscerating Maryland in the national semifinals. If the Irish can find a way to keep pace with Duke -- and much of that may turn on Notre Dame working in a possession deficit -- the Irish could end 2014 with a notable upset, one that many would have predicted as "You're drunk!" before the start of the ACC Tournament. Duke isn't a super team -- the era of that kind of team likely died after Virginia's run in 2006 -- but the Blue Devils are as solid as any in Division I, and if Duke approaches its potential it is going to take an incredible effort from Notre Dame to throw the Devils to the side.
What's Your Deal?
Notre Dame
NCAA Tournament First Round: Beat Harvard, 13-5
NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals: Beat Albany, 14-13 (OT)
NCAA Tournament Semifinals: Beat (7) Maryland, 11-6
Spirit Animal: A bald eagle -- quietly majestic and frighteningly efficient at opportunistic carnivorous feeding
Duke
NCAA Tournament First Round: Beat Air Force, 20-9
NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals: Beat Johns Hopkins, 19-11
NCAA Tournament Semifinals: Beat (5) Denver, 15-12
Spirit Animal: A robotic great white shark -- an alpha predator with an emotionless ruthlessness seemingly made in an evil laboratory
Truncated Tempo-Free Profiles
METRIC | NOTRE DAME | DUKE |
Adjusted Offensive Efficiency | 38.25 (8) | 39.51 (4) |
Adjusted Defensive Efficiency | 26.05 (9) | 25.82 (7) |
Possession Margin per 60 Minutes of Play | +0.70 (29) | +4.31 (4) |
Adjusted Pythagorean Win Expectation | 77.45% (6) | 83.00% (2) |
Downloadable Tempo-Free Profile (.pdf) | Notre Dame | Duke |
There were 131,072 ways that the NCAA Tournament could went before the start of the play-in games. It isn't likely that the Irish were picked on many brackets to faceoff against Duke in the national title game, yet here we are: Two of Division I's best teams -- and it's clear that Notre Dame is, despite the rhetoric that seems to surround the Irish, one of the nation's strongest teams -- will decide the recipient of this year's gold trophy. Both teams feature strong offensive and defensive units, but Duke and Notre Dame make their money in different ways at each end of the field. This game has the smell of one that could feature elite play for 60 minutes, an interesting matchup where the combatants are outfitted with capable weapons and depth in assets. Possession margin is likely to play a factor in the outcome, but that doesn't erode the fact that these two ACC rivals have the potential to unleash an explosive display of lacrosse acumen.
Two Things
- Notre Dame has received increased production from the net in its last six games (starting with the Irish's meeting against Maryland in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament). Conor Kelly has emerged as a leveraged tool for Notre Dame's already-solid defense, a keeper that has made more saves -- many of them dramatic -- and increased his save percentage at the apex of the season. Kelly's play between the pipes against Duke's deadly offense is a big key to the Irish's hopes on Memorial Monday, and if the junior keeper can maintain his inspired play he could significantly help Notre Dame's efforts against the Devils:
NOTRE DAME'S GOALKEEPING: LAST SIX GAMES v. SEASON TOTALS (AS OF MAY 25, 2014) METRIC LAST SIX GAMES TOTAL SEASON Saves per 100 Defensive Opportunities 33.33 28.23 (60) Team Save Percentage 52.38% 49.53% (51) Shots per Defensive Opportunity 1.15 1.01 (12) Shots on Goal per Defensive Opportunity 0.64 0.58 (12) Shots on Goal to Total Shots per Defensive Opportunity Ratio 55.51% 57.48% (24) Raw Defensive Shooting Rate 26.43% 29.01% (41) Raw Defensive Shots on Goal Shooting Rate 47.62% 50.47% (51) - There are few teams that both outwork Duke and value the ball better than the Devils. That may seem odd given that Duke is often characterized as a cosmopolitan team that simply drubs opponents with large possession margins, but few teams are as workman-like and careful as the Devils. This isn't the defining nature to Duke's success, but it does help build into how the Blue Devils are able to race past the opposition:
DUKE'S HIDDEN VALUE (AS OF MAY 25, 2014) METRIC VALUE NT'L RANK Turnovers per 100 Offensive Opportunities 36.58 7 Turnover Margin +4.71 19 Unforced Turnovers per 100 Offensive Opportunities 22.25 25 Opponent Caused Turnovers per 100 Offensive Opportunities 14.33 3 Team Run-of-Play Groundball Rate 25.81 49 Opponent Run-of-Play Groundball Rate 17.18 1 Run-of-Play Groundball Rate Margin +8.63 6