Second-seeded Duke plays its first game of the 2013 ACC Tournament Friday against seventh-seeded Maryland at 7 p.m. at the Greensboro Coliseum. Basketball beat writers Brady Buck and Andrew Beaton, who will be on the scene covering the games, sat down to talk about this quarterfinal matchup.
Brady Buck: Andrew, Duke has to be pumping its fists a little bit about the opportunity to get a shot at revenge against Maryland after losing to the Terrapins 83-81 in February.
Andrew Beaton: It's important to remember: that loss came without Ryan Kelly. Also without Kelly, the Blue Devils manhandled the Terrapins 84-64 at Cameron Indoor Stadium. This one is on a neutral court.
Mason Plumlee looked overmatched at times against Alex Len in the last matchup, but this time around he gets help from Kelly, who stands at 6-foot-11 and is a deft shotblocker. It will be interesting to see how they handle Len this time around.
BB: Agreed. The added size and space-eating ability that Kelly provides in the paint is invaluable versus Len. Duke, obviously, was at a defensive disadvantage last time as Mason had to play almost the entire game with no other 6-foot-10 plus body in the lineup. Additionally, Kelly is a very cerebral help defender, so it will be a very different ball game this go around.
To me, style of play is big in this matchup. Is it going to be a physical football-esque contest? Or will it be a cleaner, finesse game? The former favors the Terrapins--a team that has struggled at times to generate consistent offense--while the latter favors the Blue Devils.
AB: Yeah, a physical matchup definitely favors Maryland, as we saw in College Park. The Blue Devils sent the Terps to the line 34 times that game, 25 of which they converted on. If you give any team that many free looks, it's going to be tough to beat them.
The other key area, though—and this is where Len plays a critical role—is on the boards. Maryland outrebounded Duke 40-20 in that game. The Blue Devils are used to getting outrebounded—they sacrifice some rebounding potential for gritty perimeter defense—but such a big margin can be difficult to overcome.
BB: And looking forward, the biggest thing for Duke is that 'Sheed needs to regain his confidence. We've seen some uncharacteristically negative body language from him these past couple weeks. If this team wants to make a deep run, 'Sheed has to be playing at a high level.
AB: Absolutely. Even if Tyler Thornton starts again—which it looks like he will—the Blue Devils need 'Sheed to show off his dynamic attacking skills. He played a season-low 15 minutes in Duke's season-finale against North Carolina after playing a previous season-low 17 against Virginia Tech in the game before that.
Thornton undoubtedly brings a sense of grittiness, but 'Sheed is Duke's best breakdown offensive weapon. He showed that scoring 17 points in the second half against Ohio State and in other games, like when he dropped 25 in the home victory against Maryland.
BB: And as Coach K alluded to after the setback in College Park, the team was physically exhausted at the time. The Blue Devils had three fewer days of rest than Maryland in that game. Now Duke plays a Maryland team that played a tough game against the Demon Deacons yesterday just to get here.
We're looking at a revived and refreshed Blue Devils squad now that has had plenty of time to freshen up these last two weeks. I expect Duke to come out sharp, especially given the proximity and familiarity of the Greensboro Coliseum.
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