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Having reviewded the game film of the UMD - Duke game with my team, I truly believe that COach K was outcoached in that game. Williams anticipated the delay that Duke ran against G Tech and decided to play it inside, denying the back cuts that they got against G Tech. Coach K never adjusted and his team stood with 4 players above foul line extended, and the fifth ouside the 3 point line. They held the ball for 25 seconds and went one-on-one with no viable pass options - MD played help defense and stopped the drive 4 successive times.
Once again, in the national semis, I think that Calhoun outcoached K. He kept Okafor on the bench, while K burned a needless first half foul with Williams in the game. Williams was gone at crunch time, and Okafor dominated down the stretch while Duke had no viable inside presence to help hold the lead.
That said, I don't think that K is over-rated. His teams out perform most teams down the stretch of close games. There are few coaches that can hang with him in close games, which is why Duke so successfully makes the final four while others are on the outside looking in. I watch team strategies during the stretch of games, and I see some teams that tend to leave the door open and win despite it, while Duke usually knows how to close the door.
As a result, you rarely see an early round fold like you have seen from other big name programs (KU, Stanford, Arizona). Duke is not the only team with lots of talent, and they are not always the most talented. But they are the most consistent performers on the court in the tournament, year in and year out. And they were the only #1 seed to validate their seed this year.
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