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Duke, Purdue and Michigan State

Wasn't Duke pretty far down in AdjD as of a couple weeks ago? Is the zone the big factor in their improvement?

It is crazy... were bouncing between the 50s and the 70s.

I think the zone helps.

I think some of the guys have gotten better.

There are likely a few factors.

It is nice to see, as a Duke fan. National title teams usually share some common characteristics, and being ranked in the 60s in AdjD on Kenpom ain't one of them;)
 
Someone on our board posted this:

As a final tidbit, as for MSU's current ranking in the computer models, the #1 ranked Kenpom team (pre-tournament) has only won the National Tile twice in the past 16 years (Kansas in 2008 and Kentucky in 2012). But, the winner has been in the Top 6 in 13 of the 16 years. The exceptions were Syracuse in 2003, and UCONN twice in 2011 and 2014. MSU's current Kenpom rank is #5.

Odds are that the winner will come from the top 6 in KenPom when the tournament starts 2 weeks from today. Good chance your national title winner comes from the group of Duke, Nova, Purdue, Virginia, MSU and whichever team gets that 6th spot.
 
It is crazy... were bouncing between the 50s and the 70s.

I think the zone helps.

I think some of the guys have gotten better.

There are likely a few factors.

It is nice to see, as a Duke fan. National title teams usually share some common characteristics, and being ranked in the 60s in AdjD on Kenpom ain't one of them;)
OK I thought they were pretty far down.

One of the reasons I wanted to avoid Duke was that I assumed that their young talent would come along defensively...but I didn't expect the turnaround to be that abrupt.

I thought they looked good in the zone last night (despite the loss). Is the 3/4 court pressure new as well?
 
It is crazy... were bouncing between the 50s and the 70s.

I think the zone helps.

I think some of the guys have gotten better.

There are likely a few factors.

It is nice to see, as a Duke fan. National title teams usually share some common characteristics, and being ranked in the 60s in AdjD on Kenpom ain't one of them;)
Didn't the defensive improvement coincide with Bagley missing games? Does he struggle with team defensive concepts? Because he certainly has the athleticism to be a plus defender.
 
For duke it seems to be a perfect storm of going to the zone then playing a few teams that struggle some offensively. No doubt they have played much better D since the switch but when you watch them that zone is far from air tight. Its lulled teams into settling for contested 3s instead of attacking inside and off the drive. I was shocked to see how far they've climbed in his D-rankings, not sure I buy into them being a Top 15 defensive team in the country.
 
Someone on our board posted this:

As a final tidbit, as for MSU's current ranking in the computer models, the #1 ranked Kenpom team (pre-tournament) has only won the National Tile twice in the past 16 years (Kansas in 2008 and Kentucky in 2012). But, the winner has been in the Top 6 in 13 of the 16 years. The exceptions were Syracuse in 2003, and UCONN twice in 2011 and 2014. MSU's current Kenpom rank is #5.

Odds are that the winner will come from the top 6 in KenPom when the tournament starts 2 weeks from today. Good chance your national title winner comes from the group of Duke, Nova, Purdue, Virginia, MSU and whichever team gets that 6th spot.
Someone on our board posted this:

As a final tidbit, as for MSU's current ranking in the computer models, the #1 ranked Kenpom team (pre-tournament) has only won the National Tile twice in the past 16 years (Kansas in 2008 and Kentucky in 2012). But, the winner has been in the Top 6 in 13 of the 16 years. The exceptions were Syracuse in 2003, and UCONN twice in 2011 and 2014. MSU's current Kenpom rank is #5.

Odds are that the winner will come from the top 6 in KenPom when the tournament starts 2 weeks from today. Good chance your national title winner comes from the group of Duke, Nova, Purdue, Virginia, MSU and whichever team gets that 6th spot.
if you gave me those five plus a sixth team, I would definitely bet on that group over the field.
 
For duke it seems to be a perfect storm of going to the zone then playing a few teams that struggle some offensively. No doubt they have played much better D since the switch but when you watch them that zone is far from air tight. Its lulled teams into settling for contested 3s instead of attacking inside and off the drive. I was shocked to see how far they've climbed in his D-rankings, not sure I buy into them being a Top 15 defensive team in the country.

Beat Michigan State playing zone, without Bagley
 
K was mixing zone and man without pressing. We would be losing, go to zone and come back and win. He's realized mixing man and zone wasn't working and went to zone exclusively. So, he basically simplified the defense.

The press and zone is also forcing a lot of turnovers.
 
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