<div align="center"> Who? (1)Duke @ (2)Texas When? December 10th, 1:30 EST Where? CBS</div> This would be the type of matchup you would expect in March or April. Well it's December and you have the rare case that the number one team in the country will go and play the number two team in the country on their home court. What a matchup this should be, you got Sheldon Williams going off against LaMarcus Aldridge, Daniel Gibson and JJ Redick in the same game, this should be a great one for any college hoops fan. <u>The Lineups</u> <font color=""Blue"">Duke Bluedevils</font> <div align="center"> <font size=""2""><font color=""Blue""><font face=""Verdana"">(Greg Paulus, Sean Dockery, JJ Redick, Josh McRoberts, Shelden Williams)</font></font></font></div> After a half court shot had to save them at home against Virginia Tech, and after having Memphis almost knock them off in the Preseason NIT Final, there have been a lot of question marks going around the nation on if Duke should be the number one team in the country or not and you know JJ Redick in crew are hearing the talk. The Bluedevils should come out on a mission to prove to the whole nation that this isn't a fluke that they are the number one team and what better way to do that is to beat the number two team in the land on their home court. Freshman point guard Greg Paulus is off to a great start this season on both ends of the court, don't be surprised if he does indeed contain Daniel Gibson. <font color=""DarkOrange"">Texas Longhorns</font> <div align="center"> <font size=""2""><font color=""darkorange""><font face=""Verdana"">(Daniel Gibson, Kenton Paulino, Brad Buckman, PJ Tucker, LaMarcus Aldridge)</font></font></font></div> Many believe this Texas team led by soph's LaMarcus Aldridge and Daniel Gibson is the number one team in the country. They have possibly the most rounded lineup in the country with Mr. Gibson and Aldridge along with PJ Tucker and Brad Buckman. They also have a solid contributer on the bench in Mike Williams, who last year was a top 50 recruit. The Longhorns are going to try to get Gibson started early and try to get him going against the freshman Greg Paulus, if not look for Texas to feed Tucker and Aldridge in the post. <u>Prediction</u> Not only do I think Texas has the better team but I definitely think Texas will be pumped against the number one team in the land. Everybody knew just clicking on the preview that I was taking Texas it was just a matter of how much but I don't think the crowd let's Duke get into their offense, Texas takes advantage of that early, takes a early led and doesn't look back. Texas - 75, Duke - 70.
ESPN.com says Texas and Duke play Saturday at 1:30pm on CBS. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/schedules?date=20051210 I got Texas over Duke -- 70-65.
This should be a dandy, to bad I'm going to miss it to go play my last tourney game then watch Adrian Oliver
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TwinTowers:</div><div class="quote_post">Yeah thats what I thought, it was in the Medowlands and on CBS.</div> Thanks for the update, I just found that out myself, a slight change in the final score has been edited
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">They have possibly the most rounded lineup in the country with Mr. Gibson</div> I see Dickie V has influenced you. LOL. Great preview, I like the prediction, Duke is definitely vulnerable and Aldridge should give Shelden a lot of trouble in the paint ala Marco Killingsworth. LaMarcus Aldridge wants to make a case for himself in being the #1 player in next year's draft. This his opportunity to shine against one of the best defensive big men in the game infront of a national audience. I think Texas is going to win this game a lot easier than people expect. I'm calling a blowout win for the Longhorns.
Nice preview, C.K., but why would you attack the fact that Duke has had some early scares, yet you don't mention that Texas has had its fair share of scares too. Didn't you watch them play West Virginia or Iowa? They probably should have lost to West Virginia, but in the final minute of the game, Heber missed the front end of a 1-1, Pittsogle missed the front end of a 1-1, and then Pittsnogle missed yet another 1-1. The Mountaineers could have won that game very easily but just choked. Then in the Iowa game, the Hawkeyes had the lead with about five minutes left but just shot themselves into a hole (33% FG). That game came very close to being a Longhorn loss. So while Duke has cut it close a few times so far this year, you can say the same for Texas. I'm picking the Longhorns in this game, but I feel like they're overrated. Villanova and Connecticut are the best teams in the nation right now; neither Texas nor Duke can hold a flame to them. Sheld<font size=""3"">e</font>n Williams vs. LaMarcus Aldridge could be the matchup of the year though, and with an impressive performance, Aldridge boost his stock in the draft enough to be the #1 pick.
You know JJ Redick is a great shooter, you know he's going to be the 1st option in the Duke offense, and yet the Longhorns can't find him on defense. He's lighting it up against he Longhorns with 22 points already. 45-33 Duke leads at the half.
Does anyone on Texas want to guard Redick? He is putting on a shooting clinic in this one; he's got 30 pts with a little over 14 minutes still remaining...
Duke is killing them now. Actually though, I think both teams are overrated, and 'Nova/UConn are the real 1/2. Texas last year lost in the 2nd round of the tournament. This year they should have lost to WVU and then scraped by Iowa (who hasn't been doing that well). Meanwhile, maybe Duke is just a team that likes to win close most of the time this year (Drexel, Indiana, etc.) but they still rightfully would have lost to VT if not for a lucky halfcourt heave.
WOW!!! Duke wins this one-sider 97-66 thats amazing for all of the people who were doubting Duke. Duke earns the #1 spot now.
Texas was dominated in this game. They didn't take advantage of any matchups and let Duke dictate the game. Tucker should have used his size advantage on JJ Redick to get him in foul trouble. Instead he camped out on the perimeter until the end of the game, when Texas was down by 20+. Daniel Gibson was very disappointing, you have a freshmen guarding you, yet Gibson was passive all game. LaMarcus Aldridge proved he's not worthy of being the #1 pick today. Shelden Williams did a nice job of embarrassing him. JJ Redick 41 points and 9 treys, amazing game for him.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TwinTowers:</div><div class="quote_post">WOW!!! Duke wins this one-sider 97-66 thats amazing for all of the people who were doubting Duke. Duke earns the #1 spot now.</div> I don't really know if I'd say that the game was "amazing for all the people who were doubting Duke", because I still don't feel they're the #1 team. There's no question that they're an elite team, but I agree completely with Fast Luck; Connecticut and Villanova are the top teams in America, and what you saw today was just one overrated team beating the hell out of an even more overrated team. I'm not trying to bash Duke though. I definitely think they're one of the best three or four teams in the nation, and J.J. Redick is without a doubt the best player in college basketball; I don't see how anyone can say that he's not going to make it in the NBA after watching this game. Shelden Williams also abused LaMarcus Aldridge. There was a lot of talk about LaMarcus Aldridge potentially being the #1 pick in the draft headed into this game, but his chances of being picked that high were really hurt tonight. He's an amazing prospect with his size, length, quickness, shooting touch, and shot blocking, but he's also very raw and innexperienced. He made a few really stupid defensive mistakes, like buying the pump fake from Shelden Williams all the way out on the perimeter. He could still go #1 though based on his potential, but it'd really help his game to stay another year or two at Texas. He'll be a great prospect next year if he stays and the probable #2 pick behind Greg Oden. I still don't see what's so special about Daniel Gibson. You always hear "experts" talk about how much better he makes his teammates, but I didn't see any of that today. In fact, in almost every game I've seen him play, he hasn't really shown that he has the skills you want to see out of your point guard, just the ones you want to see out of a wing. He's a great scorer and has great ball handling, but his decision making was pretty ugly at times, and I really feel like his court-vision and playmaking ability are overrated.
Not a whole lot to say about this game that hasn't already been said; I felt heading in that Texas was fantasticly overrated as the #2 team in the nation, and they proved it. Duke finally put together a game that you'd expect from a #1 team. Redick was fantastic.
