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Next up for Duke is a very tough matchup in Washington, D.C. with #1 Michigan, and that game is going to be a really big challenge.
To an extent, these teams mirror each other. For one, Jon Scheyer and Dusty May have no interest whatsoever in Small Ball. They’ve both gone big.
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Scheyer started his Duke career with 6-11 Kyle Filipowski and 7-1 Dereck Lively. Last year, he had 7-1 Khaman Maluach, 6-11 Pat Ngongba, 6-9 Cooper Flagg, 6-9 Maliq Brown and no one smaller than 6-5.
This year, Duke starts 6-11 Ngongba and 6-9 Cameron Boozer up front, augmented by Brown.
In his first year at Michigan, May started 7-0 Vlad Goldin and 6-11 Danny Wolf, both now in the NBA.
This year?
Michigan starts 7-3/255 lb. Aday Mara, 6-9/240 lb. Yaxel Lendeborg and 6-9/250 lb. Morez Johnson up front. It’s one of the rare times that Duke, under Scheyer, will not have a size advantage, but we’ll get back to that.
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Both teams also like to play man defense, and both tend to switch a lot. Neither team is necessarily great from the bonusphere but either can heat up from there. However, Michigan has typically shot poorly from behind the line in the second half, or if not poorly, at least not as well as in the first half.
And Michigan’s starting backcourt, while a bit smaller than Duke’s, is still very good.
Blue Devil fans will remember Elliott Cadeau from his UNC days. He’s another Hubert Davis refugee who has thrived in a new environment. Cadeau is doing a really nice job as the Wolverine point guard. He’s averaging 10.1 ppg and 5.5 assists.
And Nimari Burnett is a solid 6-5 senior who, like Cadeau, shoots well from outside (Cadeau is hitting 40.4% of his threes while Burnett clocks in at 39.8%).
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We think Duke can compete with Michigan’s backcourt, but it might not be like we’ve seen the last couple of games. Why?
Because Scheyer could sic Dame Sarr on their point guards. And Sarr was stunning against both Clemson and Syracuse.
That may not work against…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/next-1-michigan-dc-part-140100476.html
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Publish date : 2026-02-19 14:01:00
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