A different story line is emerging this week as No. 6-ranked Duke (6-0) prepares to visit Wisconsin at 9:15 p.m. Wednesday in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.
The traditional take on Duke against a muscular team like Wisconsin in recent years would to examine whether the Blue Devils can use their speed and perimeter shooting to offset their opponent's physicality. But a look at the lineups for Wednesday's game shows that Duke is just as beefy as the Badgers.
Centers Miles Plumlee of Duke and Jon Leuer of Wisconsin both are listed at 6-foot-10 and 240 pounds. Wisconsin does have an edge in girth at power forward with 6-8, 245-pound Keaton Nankivil against Duke's 6-8, 225-pound Lance Thomas.
But at small forward, Duke's Kyle Singler is 6-8 and 235 pounds and has an advantage of two inches and 27 pounds over Tim Jarmusz.
The Blue Devils also will have Brian Zoubek (7-1, 260) and probably Mason Plumlee (6-10, 230) coming off the bench.
"We're big," said Duke guard Nolan Smith. "So we have to be physical. Our big guys, they have a lot of fouls to give. With Zoubs, Lance, Miles, and whenever Mason comes back (from a fractured wrist), we have a lot of fouls to give with our big guys. So they can be as physical as they want and not worry about their playing time. We're going to take fouls and we're going to be physical against teams. So no more calling Duke 'soft.' "
Coach Mike Krzyzewski acknowledged before the season that Duke has not been a strong rebounding team in the past. But this season, the Blue Devils are outrebounding opponents by 9.8 rebounds per game after demolishing Connecticut on the boards in a win Friday in the NIT Season Tip-Off final.
Thomas, a senior, said Duke is prepared to establish a physical presence again at Wisconsin.
"I'm not backing down from any one of those guys," Thomas said, "and I'm not going to let my teammates (back down)."
In other words, Duke won't rely just on its skill, because it has the size to match even a physical team like Wisconsin.
Comments
Finally a lot of depth with big men! Deep run in the NCAA's...
Wed, 12/02/2009 - 10:10 — boxsterboy247I've been to all the Duke home games this year + the team has looked very very good. Of course, I'm interested in seeing how the team does against more top 25 opponents like UConn. We now have 5 tall athletic basketball players, not just big guys. Zoubek at 7'1" is a monster down low, but he still seems to get a lot of cheap fouls called against him. Miles and Mason are both solid big men at 6'10" each. Lance Thomas at 6'8" reminds me of Grant Hill. He's such an athlete + can really go sky high (11 rebounds against UConn!). Kyle Single at 6'8" is also a great basketball player and can create lots of easy shots off the dribble.
In previous NCAA Tourneys, Duke has been upset by weaker teams when their big men got into foul trouble. With 5 big men who are all going to be getting 20+ minutes, we can afford to have one or two big men foul out + not miss a beat. I think that's the biggest reason why Duke will go very deep in the NCAA's this year... Final 4, extremely likely... Another NCAA Championship possible.... It'll be Duke and UNC dominating the season... yet again...
Soft
Tue, 12/01/2009 - 22:45 — gvillegatrsoft
Come on! "Tall" or "big".....
Tue, 12/01/2009 - 15:31 — DrFish...does not mean "tough" or "ability to bang" under the boards. UConn is but a shell of the team it has been in recent years as far as big men go, and the only thing that game proved was that UConn continues to be up-and-down in the early season.
Black&Blue Devils...
Tue, 12/01/2009 - 15:17 — occasionalHallelujah, finally some size and muscle to go with the perimeter shooting! Not since Banks, Gimenski and Denton have the Blue Devils had so much inside game top to bottom.