Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hey there, Duke fans. Welcome to DBR Bytes episode number 156. We're back. We told you we'd be back.
Chapter 2: What is the significance of the Elite Eight matchup against UConn?
We're here to preview a big, big Elite Eight matchup against the UConn Huskies. I am Donald Wine. I'm your host for this episode. I have Jason Edwards with me. Jason, in the 10 minutes since we recorded the last episode, you have put on a hat. So that is the change we have.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, folks could see. They would see that I'm wearing a Duke hat. I don't know why I put on a Duke hat. It was just sitting... next to my computer, so I picked it up and put it on. Hey, I got a question for you, Donald. Do you know what happened on this date exactly 36 years ago?
Was it the greatest play in the history of college basketball?
You are correct, sir. Grant Hill to Christian Laettner. I was standing right behind Grant on the play, as I've said many, many, many times in this podcast. On this date in 1992, Christian Laettner hit the shot.
It will live forever. I forgot that it was March 28th, but as soon as you started, I knew exactly where you were going. But guess who, Jason? It's not just us in this episode, as we alluded to in the last episode. Scott Rich is back with us because Scott sits in enemy territory, at least for the next 48 hours. He lives in Connecticut and is obviously well-versed with the UConn Huskies.
Scott, what's up, man? How's it going?
You know, we just said March 28th was a day that will live in Duke sports history. I really hope March 27th lives in Duke sports history for the Caleb Foster game. That was just a medical slash will miracle that we all witnessed last night. And regardless of what happens over the next 10 days... That deserves its spot in Duke basketball lore.
Caleb Foster deserves immortality for what he put himself through, body and mind, to play yesterday, let alone play in a manner that won us the game. I'm still blown away, you know, 12 hours later.
I want to know what Source 3 was used. I mean, just for future reference, in case... Might ever need it for something.
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Chapter 3: How did the Duke women achieve their dramatic victory over LSU?
John's in February and then also in the Big East final. They then lost to, or I'm sorry, they lost to Creighton and they also lost to Marquette on the last game of the regular season. And to get to this point, they beat the 15 seed Furman, they beat seven seed UCLA, and then they beat last night Michigan State by four.
And what was the game that they started out up pretty solidly and then Michigan State got back into the game and then it became a back and forth affair all the way down to to essentially making some big buckets at the end to win by four. They're 10th in Ken Palm, and again, this is... I will also say this, and Scott, you can probably attest to this.
This is a game that a lot of UConn fans have been looking forward to because throughout the last couple years, all we hear is... Duke is ducking UConn. And I've heard it all year long. And now... Are you kidding me? Come on. Yes, we understand this, right? We understand what it really is. And honestly, they've been talking. We've talked about that on the show.
They've been talking about trying to set something up. And both coaches have said, we're in talks to try and figure something out here, whether it's a neutral site, whether it's a home-and-home or whatever. But I think this is, again, a lot of people looking forward to. It's an old rival... Old rivalry reheated. And Duke right now, this is a game that they want to win.
This is a game to get back to the Final Four. We didn't want it. I know we wanted an easy road, but we didn't schedule the schedule we did because we wanted the road to be easy. We are ready for the cobblestones and the gravel ahead of us.
So let me say one thing about UConn fans, to your point. And for those who aren't aware, I'm a professor at UConn. I've been here for, I've lived in just outside stores for about two years now. University of Connecticut is an amazing university. I love my students. I love my colleagues.
They write your paycheck, man. Be careful. They write your paycheck.
Exactly. I'm making sure. I'm still up for tenure in a few years. I have to bite my tongue a little bit. So I'm prefacing it with that. UConn fans are very different from UConn students and UConn employees. That is one thing that I think not everyone is aware of is that because UConn is sort of the
school of the essentially that's the large university of all of New England there are a lot of UConn fans who aren't UConn students just like you would think of for other big public institutions
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Chapter 4: Who is Tarris Reed and why is he crucial for UConn's success?
Yeah.
But he is an X factor. If he picks this game to be a game where he goes off, he can cause real problems for Duke.
Yeah, so for those who aren't aware, Braylon Mullins is a guy who missed the first portion of the season due to an ankle injury he suffered in practice. He didn't debut until the very end of November against Illinois. And UConn fans were sort of talking of Braylon Mullins like, oh, just you wait until Braylon Mullins gets back. Essentially, the team was sort of constructed around him.
Chapter 5: What are UConn's strengths and weaknesses heading into the game?
having the dead-eye shooter of Braylon Mullins, almost stepping right into the Liam McNeely role of last year. They're very, very similar players, very similar archetypes.
Yeah, that's a great comparison for sure.
The thing about Braylon Mullins is he has not shot the ball well for the last month. The last time he shot two for five last night against Michigan State for 40% from three. The last time he shot 40% or better from three in a game was February 21st against Villanova. He has shot in the 20 to 30 percentage range over the last month. In the first round against Furman, he was 0 for 8 from 3.
Braylon Mullins is a guy who is a Deadeye three-point shooter, but has not been showing it of late. You do not want to give him an open look and have him see one go through and have that reactivate. But he is a guy who the performance has not met the reputation at least over the last month.
The last guy I want to very quickly mention off the bench for UConn, because this is a guy who I think is a potential pivot point for this game, is Eric Ryba. Eric Reiba is a seven-foot-plus freshman center. He's a German kid. He was sort of the next Donovan Klingon-type guy that Danny Hurley brought in. A lot, a lot of fanfare. He is also extremely, extremely raw as a big.
I was at the Duke Arizona, or the Duke Arizona, I wish, the UConn Arizona game in Gampel Pavilion early on in the season. That was UConn's first loss of the year. It was their only non-conference loss. It was a game where Terrace Reed didn't play. He was a late scratch because of injury. And Eric Raibo was sort of thrust into the spotlight.
I hate to rag on a young freshman, but Eric Ryba almost single-handedly lost UConn that game. He was out of his depth. He was lost defensively for much of the game. And while he ended up having some good offensive numbers because he made a couple of threes that were sort of like, why the heck is he shooting that okay it went in threes?
For much of the game, UConn was playing four on five on offense, where they couldn't really do anything with Eric Ryba besides stick him in the corner and try to run something four on five. It was very, very bizarre. And I imagine part of it was, hey, Terrence Reed was a late scratch. We never expected this guy to be playing 30 minutes at this stage of his career.
And he has improved significantly over the course of the year. But that said, if Eric Ryba is on the court for 15, 20 minutes, that is something that Duke can take advantage of with our interior scoring capability. Eric Ryba is going to be a great player. He may be a great player as soon as next year.
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