By Derek DeBurger
Louisville will come back to the KFC Yum! Center to play the No. 12 Duke Blue Devils in a meeting of blue-bloods.
Both teams will be coming off of bad losses—Louisville’s blowout vs. Wake Forest, and Duke losing to Pitt in Durham for the first time in almost 45 years.
Tuesday will be one of the few times this season that the Cards will undoubtedly be the less talented team on the court. Duke has one of the most impressive rosters in all of college basketball, full of potential NBA players. Their star player, center Kyle Filipowski, leads the Blue Devils in points, rebounds, blocks, and shooting percentage. Filipowski leads the frontcourt for Duke, while guards Tyrese Proctor and Jeremy Roach control what very easily could be the best backcourt in the country.
Duke has a better offense than Wake Forest. The Blue Devils score 81.6 points per game off of an impressive 16.4 assists per game. KenPom has Duke’s offensive efficiency as the 11th-best in the country, the second-best offensive team on Louisville’s schedule after Kentucky.
Duke is also a good defensive team, 37th in the country according to KenPom, with the size and athleticism to run multiple defensive sets effectively. With Louisville’s up-and-down results against the zone defense, expect to see a healthy mix of man-to-man and zone looks from the Blue Devils. Duke’s defense isn’t the most aggressive in the world—they would rather stay in front of their man and force a bad shot than take a chance to get a turnover. This doesn’t bode well for the Cards. They’ve done a good job holding onto the ball this season, so a disciplined defense will test their limits.
If Louisville doesn’t keep it close early, the crowd won’t do them any favors and this game could quickly go the way of North Carolina and Kentucky.
I’m not expecting a win, and I’m not getting my hopes up for a competitive loss, either.
