The NCAA tournament is about basketball but also so much more: the fans, bands, cheerleaders, etc. The East Regional is taking place in Washington, DC this weekend and we could not be more excited to be there in person! HoopsHD is all over it and covering all of the angles so you can look forward to a cascade of coverage in the days ahead. Jon Teitel continues our coverage by chatting with as many Duke players as possible as they prepare to face Michigan State in the Elite 8 on Sunday.
Game on:
The day began with Coach Mike Krzyzewski and 3 of his super-frosh (RJ Barrett/Zion Williamson/Tre Jones) on the podium. There was a LONG series of questions/answers with Coach K about the 1-and-done rule and then a few tidbits from the players:
Zion said he could not turn dow a chance to play for Coach K and that RJ has an incredible will to win, Tre said that he recalls watching Duke face Michigan State in the 2015 Final 4 (where his brother Tyus was named NCAA tourney MOP), and RJ talked about his relationship with his father:
A lot of discussion this season has been about the easygoing friendship between RJ and Zion. Based on what I have seen/heard from them this weekend, they indeed seem to be very unselfish and care a lot about the other’s success. Zion made a point of saying that even though RJ did not score a bunch of points in the 1st half of the Virginia Tech game he did have 7 AST, which translated to 7 Duke baskets and was crucial to their victory:
Coach K said that Cam Reddish would be a game-time decision tomorrow and that he would not be doing anything physical today. He confirmed that it was a knee problem but that it was not structural:
I can recognize a perfect segue when I see 1 so I headed directly to the Duke locker room to see what Cam could share about his knee. He said that he tweaked it earlier this month vs. North Carolina but that he wants to play so bad that he is getting an “unbelievable amount of treatment” on it. He was worried about letting his team down vs. Virginia Tech but Zion came over to him and said “we got you”, which the team did by playing super-hard/super-together. His knee is still a bit swollen/stiff but he hopes to be ready to go tomorrow because the Spartans have top-notch guys both inside and outside and an intense coach in Tom Izzo who is “1 of the best out there”. He is trying to be smart about it and not take too many risks, but take a look at his knee and see for yourself:
Duke beat Michigan State 88-81 in November of 2017: the teams combined to make 18 threes but SO PG Jordan Goldwire is the only person on either team who will likely play in Sunday’s rematch (Grayson Allen/Gary Trent/Miles Bridges/Jaren Jackson are in the NBA and Joshua Langford is injured). Jordan said that what he recalls from last year’s game is that the Spartans are very well-coached and crash the glass hard…but that it is a whole new year with mostly new rosters. He knows his team has confidence in Tre’s 3-PT shooting and that after Tre saw a couple go in against the Hokies on Friday he began to have confidence in himself. As far as RJ’s career-high 11 AST in that game, RJ is a capable passer because he knows that opponents will clog the lane to try to stop his great driving ability. He admits it will take a team effort to stop Cassius Winston because he makes his team’s entire offense go. Making the Final 4 would mean a lot: they have been working toward that all year so it would be amazing:
It is always nice to be wanted, but it can get a bit much. The team can barely get a moment to themselves because they attract a crowd even while simply walking down the hallway:
That’s all for now, check back later for continuing coverage.