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Here are a pair of previews of Saturday’s Duke-Virginia matchup from our boards.
The Duke preview is by CDu. The second is by Virginia fan Wahoo2000. Unlike a lot of boards we really like when fans from other schools post here. It just adds so much perspective gives us insights we don’t get as Duke fans.
Here are two excerpts, first from CDu and then Wahoo2000. To read the full posts head over to the boards.
CDu:
“We all know UVa by now. They play a super-slow pace. Their offense is extraordinarily deliberate, really working to get the best shot possible. Defensively, they play the pack line defense, which inherently slows the game down as they force you to work extra hard to get good shots. They are still elite defensively, but REALLY bad offensively this year, as they just don’t have the weapons they have had in years past. That said, they’ve been much better in recent weeks than they were in December and early January.
“On offense, they don’t do much well. Arguably, they don’t do anything WELL, and do very little even okay. They systematically don’t attack the offensive glass (that’s a program philosophy), they don’t draw fouls (running their sets, shooting jumpers, and not offensive rebounding tends to mean fewer fouls drawn), and they don’t shoot 3s well as a team. And this year they have even become turnover prone. So they rely HEAVILY on the defense.
“Defensively, they do EVERYTHING well, except for forcing turnovers. They don’t allow you to offensive rebound, they block your shots, and they contest everything. They allow teams to attempt a lot of 3s, but they have held teams to a low percentage on those 3s. They also don’t send you to the line at all. And they block a lot of shots. It’s a typically great defensive team under Bennett.”
Wahoo 2000:
“Player by player:I doubt he plays much in this matchup, but Caffaro’s ceiling is waaaaay above Salt overall. He might never be the defensive player that Salt was, but his offense will be light-years ahead. I’d put his potential as about HALFWAY between Salt and Tyler Hansborough. Not much emphasis on offensive post play these days, but he’s extremely crafty around the basket and uses his body quite well. For reference - Caffaro made the all tournament team at FIBA U18 americas championship in 2018 alongside these names:”