Final Four Review: Duke Pounds W. Virginia in Semi’s

When the number 1 seeds were announced 3 weeks ago everyone believed that the only team not worthy of receiving one was the Duke Blue Devils. Apparently not! Mike Kryzewski has put together a tougher version of the teams he’s had over the past several years. Duke has always had the ability to score, but were always a little “soft” defensively. Not anymore!

Brian Zoubek is one of the true centers in the college game today. He proved how valuable he is Saturday night against a long and athletic West Virginia Mountaineers squad that had ranked 1st in the country in rebounding efficiency. Zoubek pulled down 10 rebounds, and make it almost impossible for the Mountaineers to get to the basket. Kyle Singler had 9 rebounds of his own, and poured in 21 points including hitting 3 of 5 from behind the arc. WVU knew that they only way to beat Duke was to slow them down from the perimeter, but they still allowed the Blue Devils to knock down 13 or 25 from long range.

Jon Scheyer led Duke with 23 points and 6 assists Saturday. This highly anticipated match-up was only close for about the first 10 minutes. Coach K created a solid game plan that was executed to perfection by his players. Setting multiple screens allowed his outside shooters to get open shot after shot. It looked like a three point exhibition for most of the second half as the Blue Devils pulled away late.

West Virginia never looked comfortable defensively. They were allowing easy baskets right from the opening tip, and had to work extremely hard on offense. West Virginia point guard and leading scorer Da’Sean Butler was clearly out of sorts. He made just 2 of the 8 shots he took, and looked as though he may have injured himself in the first half. There were several points early in the second half when he looked to be aggressive offensively which created several trips to the free throw line, but that ended quickly as Duke opened up a huge lead. This forced the Mountaineers into becoming a jump shooting team which they are not.

Wellington Smith was over-matched by the size of Zoubek, and had almost no effect offensively inside the paint. Smith led the team with 12 points followed by Devin Ebanks and his 11. Joe Mazzulla was ineffective most of the game as well contributing just 4 points on 2 of 5 shooting. Regarless of the outcome, the Mountaineers should be proud of their run this year as they weren’t talked about much until they won the Big East Championship against Georgetown. Head coach Bob Huggins will have plenty more opportunities to get this team back to the Final Four in years to come.

Related posts:

1. Final Four Preview: Duke vs. W. Virginia
2. ACC Battle: Duke vs. Clemson Re-Match
3. ACC’s Best Battle: Georgia Tech vs. Duke
4. Kentucky vs. W. Virginia in second round Showdown
5. NCAAB Top-10 Match-Up: Duke vs. Michigan St.

Comments