I guess we watch different games.
I saw Arizona destroy Duke last night and I had no thought of Kyryl and we almost had him. I thought of what a player Derrick Williams is. (This could be tainted by having seen him twice at the L.V. tourney and, so, already knowing that he was the real deal.)
Notice how AZ had guys who could drive and how they played defense. Strong.
Was surprised at Duke's lack of outside shooting and ability to penetrate. Maybe it was just a strong game for AZ and a poor one for Duke but Duke looked like they don't have much talent.
Duke can't handle athletic teams. Gets them every time. K has a system, but the system gets run over by athletes.
I think it had much more to do with the fact that Zona shot 54% from the field and 60% from 3 (and much higher %s in the 2nd half). Also, Duke seemingly went cold in the 2nd half. Duke was able to beat a number of very athletic teams this year, including UNC twice. This seems more like a situation where Zona was stupid hot from the field
No, it has to do with Duke struggling against athletic teams.
Tell that to Marquette, Kansas State, Maryland (twice), UNC (twice), and Clemson
In the 5 games Duke lost this year, their opponents shot nearly 50% from the field and 48.5% from 3, while Duke shot just 39% from the field and 25.7% from 3 in those same games. Now, can part of that be attributed to the other side being athletic and playing better defense? Perhaps. But it I think it shows more that Duke was cold from the field in those games. Duke's defense, like most teams, feeds off of its offense. When they are not hitting shots, they don't press as much on defense.
While I think it is safe to say that Duke has a higher chance of losing to a more athletic team than a less athletic team, that does not mean that simply because a team is athletic Duke will struggle against them. In each of the games Duke lost, they the opponent shot much better from the field and from 3. In fact, in only 1 of the games (VT) did an opponent shoot under 40%