Duke Blue Devils: Bring On Yale
The Duke Blue Devils play Yale tomorrow and look for ways to stop Makai Mason and Company.
The Duke Blue Devils are one step away from the Sweet Sixteen and they prepare to face Yale tomorrow. Based on seeding, it is the friendliest matchup that the Blue Devils could get. However it is going to be a tough matchup for Duke as it also proved to be a tough matchup for Baylor.
March Madness has a sense of humor. A couple of days ago, I spent much of my ‘Road to Anaheim’ article on the Baylor Bears. Very little was spent on Yale. Naturally it is Yale who comes out the winner and now I have to do this all over again.
So how did the Yale Bulldogs beat Baylor?
One, Makai Mason had a huge game. He scored thirty-one points, and only two of those shots were three pointers. He drew a number of fouls and hit all of his foul shots. There was no answer for him.
The rest of Yale’s work was done down low. Brandon Sherrod (6’6” 240) put in ten points and his post mate Justin Sears (6’8” 205) had eighteen points. Sears had a three pointer too to show some flexibility out there.
So there are the matchups that Duke has to answer. Can you stop Mason and the interior? The answers are mixed.
In the interior, Duke should benefit from having more size for the second straight game. Brandon Ingram is listed taller and has to be longer than Sears. That means that the defensive matchup should not be so bad unless Ingram loses Sears from time to time.
Similar things could be said about the center spot where Marshall Plumlee will have to police the much shorter Sherrod down low. While Sherrod could use leverage creatively, most likely Plumlee will be able to block shots and get rebounds.
The hardest matchup for Duke is another huge game for Mason. The 6’1 guard averaged sixteen points game with a reasonable three point shot. Most of his work against Baylor was done inside the arc, meaning that his cover will have to keep track of him. That could Derryck Thornton or Grayson Allen, depending on what Duke decides to do.
Duke will most likely counter Mason by scoring with their own guards. Hopefully Luke Kennard finds his shot. Like the Wilmington game, they should try to get Plumlee in good spots for passes. They should avoid turnovers and dumb fouls.
That said, this is a very winnable game for Duke. A victory would send them to Anaheim and a potential matchup with either Oregon, Holy Cross, St. Joe’s, or Cincinnati. With Duke’s current luck it will probably be Cincinnati waiting for them (Note none of those teams have played second round games as of this writing).