Here We Go Again...

After a ten day layoff where exams dominated both my life and the Dukies life, it's time to get going yet again and I'll tell ya, Coach K didn't make it easy on his team. When other teams in the ACC are scheduling Coastal Carolina and High Point, Duke schedules Kent State and Gonzaga within 2 days of each other.

Coach K loves to do this: schedule a mid-major and then a very good team two days later to simulate what the beginning of the NCAA Tournament will be. Now, I think they will beat Kent State tonight but again, you can't take this opponent lightly. They played undefeated Butler, winner of the Preseason NIT, and took them to double-overtime on the road before they lost and they played a Greg Oden-less Ohio State team on the road even until about the 6:00 minute mark in the 2nd Half where Ohio State went on a vintage spurt.

Their top player is the younger brother of Antonio Gates, who screwed me royally this week in FF, and is supposed to be an absolute stud. They don't have a guy over 6'7'' so Duke will need to take advantage of their size. According to Coach K, on his daily radio spot, he has introduced some new things into the offense, which he feels confident will propel his team forward offensively. We'll see.

As for Gonzaga on Thursday night, I will be there so they better not lose! Granted though, I need to bring some tissues because I'm in the nosebleeds. This will be a tough game for a number of reasons: 1) Gonzaga is a very good team this year, they have beaten North Carolina already and should be ready to go after a bad loss against Georgia 2) it will be Duke's 2nd game in 2 days and 3) they will not a have a practice day before Gonzaga because they will lose Wednesday as a travel day. Basically, with Gonzaga, it boils down to two guys: Heyfelt, who will present matchup problems and Ravio, who when he's on, they are unbeatable. If he's off, he can shoot them out of a game so fast. It should be a tough game but hopefully they will pull it out. I will preview the Gonzaga game tomorrow after I get a feel for how they play against Kent State.