DURHAM - Gardner-Webb coach Rick Scruggs didn't hesitate to pick between Duke and North Carolina when asked which team gave the Bulldogs a more difficult time.
"Duke shoots it a lot better," Scruggs said Tuesday night after Duke crushed Gardner-Webb, 113-68. "Carolina runs athletes at you, and they're long and athletic, a lot like Duke. But Duke shoots the ball so well. Carolina was 1-for-4 against us from the 3-point line. And the one they hit was at the end of the game, the game was over and we had our subs in."
The Tar Heels defeated Gardner-Webb 93-72 on Nov. 23 in Chapel Hill. North Carolina also has won six of the last seven games in the series with Duke.
But 2009 NCAA champion stalwarts Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green are gone from North Carolina. And Scruggs said some opponent is going to force the Tar Heels (8-2) to make perimeter shots, although Gardner-Webb wasn't athletic enough to do that.
"Duke, it opens up the inside so much because of (Jon) Scheyer and (Kyle) Singler, and the guys that can shoot it so well," Scruggs said. ". . .When you shoot the ball well, everything opens up on the floor."
North Carolina and Duke (8-1) meet Feb. 10 in Chapel Hill and March 6 in Durham. Scruggs said they should be good games because the teams are well coached and intense. Scruggs said the Blue Devils, not North Carolina, were able to open up Gardner-Webb's defense with their shooting ability.
"I think a good team has to be able to shoot and go inside," Scruggs said. "I think you've got to have a good mix of that to be a solid team. Carolina may have it when it's all said and done, but they didn't show it the night we played them."
Ken Tysiac
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Gardner-Webb coach picks Duke over Heels
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35 comments:
Even the sports writers make excuses for the heels.
GO, DUKE!!!
What a joke!! A coach who's team shouldn't even be playing major college basketball giving his advice on who's best.
If he was that smart he would get a job coaching at a real school not some college that should be playing in the community college division.
Only reason he plays these schools is so that they can get the sh.. beat out of them and make money.
when he said, "Carolina only shot 1-4 from 3pt range". What's that saying? It means they only had to take 4 3's the whole game against your lousy team b/c they got inside at will. To act like dook took and made more 3's than Carolina isn't a shock, they've been doing that for years, its how they play. I don't get what he was implying? I think it says more that Carolina only made one 3 in the same game GWU had a guy make TEN 3's and they still lost by 20.
i think duke i a little stronger than unc this year especially at the guards. in the paint unc definetly has the advantage. should be two good games, probably a split.
Oh yeah that is a joke!!! Goof ball, Gardner-Webb is the same team that went into Rupp Arena and beat Kentucky a few years ago, and also played your wonderful Tar Holes to 3 points the last time the played there. Oh and that gfame was won by a 3 pointer at the Buzzer. So I guess Carolina can compete for the community college conference title this year!!! Don't tell Roy I said that he may have me Kicked off this website!
^you do realize they played about 3 weeks ago?
which is why the article was written in the first place?
Goof Ball the game before this year I didn't know you were that dumb!
Duke fans should re-read this before jumping all over Carolina for only haviing to take four threes against GW...
"North Carolina also has won six of the last seven games in the series with Duke."
Singler a Scheyer's outside shooting ability only opens up the inside IF YOU HAVE AN INSIDE SCORING ABILITY!? They had the same last year, and pretty much every year since the adoption of the 3 point line. What's Singler, 6'10"? Another in a long line of soft dook bigs who come to adopt the 3 as a means to stay out of the fray in the paint. Anyone remember Ferry, Leatner, Parks, etc, etc. Making dook more vulnerable is that the only bigs who play around the basket couldn't throw the ball in the ocean from the beach. For the most recent example of living and dying by the three, see Temple defeati Villanova.
Well, it's a good thing dook's shooting opens up the lane for them, you know, since they run SOOOOOO many plays for their bigs.
Pffffft.
dook would be 10 time defending national champs if they crowned the winner in December. The problem is, they don't. Coach K will continue to play his 7 man rotation 35+ minutes a game - in a motion offense, no less - and per usual, they'll be GASSED come mid February.
Same old, same old.
I will say that Scheyer was awfully impressive last night, though.
Dook is always better than UNC in December, literally almost every year. And UNC is better than dook after January, literally nearly every year. Stats don't lie. In the last 3 years Dook is 26-18 after Jan, while UNC is 42-9. Take away the home games and dook is only 16-13 over the last 3 years after Jan!
Funny how we lost our top 4 scorers from last year after a national title and people act like it is surprising that Dook is shooting the ball better than our gang of freshmen. When is Dook going to have an "up" year? You haven't gotten past the Sweet 16 since the first term of the Bush Administration.
Autonomous, thanks for showing us your idiot side by bringing up Ferry, Laettner and Parks. This shows us your lack of knowledge of basketball. Ferry was the ACC POY and played in 3 Final Fours, Parks was an inside player, and didn't play on the perimeter as you alluded to, and Laettner??? Are you seriously going to bash him? Laettner is considered by many to be one of the best college basketball players of all time with 2 National Championships. Yes, it's true that Duke has been a perimeter oriented team as of the last few years without a true dominant big man, but lets not forget about Elton Brand, Sheldon Williams, and Carlos Boozer.
did Roy play anyone 36 mins in the Carolina-GWU game?
I'll hang up and listen.
Laughing at all of these stupid Wal-Mart UNC fans taking offense at what this coach is saying. He's a D1 coach - he knows what he's talking about. It doesn't take a genius to see UNC isn't strong this year - just watch the Syracuse game where they got owned. Not a fan of either team, but at least Coach K doesn't pout about fans in his own building.
G-W fan here, Scruggs is a moron who should have been fired after the Carlos Webb grade scandal, on top of being a mediocre coach.
Also, anonymous at 8:41, the 3-point game you refer to was in the 2005-06 season, G-W played in Chapel Hill at the start of the 2006-2007 season and lost by 50.
The win in Rupp, unfortunately, means Scruggs stays at G-W for as long as he wants, despite the way he talks to faculty and staff members.
For all you National Champion haters, come back to the blog and post your dook love 2-10-09, after another defeat to the Heels. Save your trash talk until you ACTUALLY WIN. Tough to brag about dook considering you haven't won at HOME against the mighty Heels in 4 years!
This is for anyone who think he had him thrown out!
On the scrutinized incident with the Presbyterian College fan on Saturday:
It’s strange that it has gotten a heck of a lot attention, but the good news is that I haven’t had to pay too much attention to it. I haven’t heard it, but people are telling me about it. It was unfortunate. Just to tell you in my opinion what happened… Let me give you some background first. In New York City, when we played Ohio State, it was the absolute worst scenario that I’ve ever had to put up with.
“A couple of guys about 10 feet from our bench screamed and yelled at us all night long. Yelled at our players and would say, ‘Deon Thompson – you stink.’ But they didn’t use the word ‘stink.’ Or ‘Dexter Strickland – you stink,’ but they didn’t use the word ‘stink.’ We had to listen to that garbage all night long and we had two different parents that sort of got a little disappointed, a little upset, could have gotten into a confrontation. The security guards did absolutely nothing and it really ticked me off. So I said, ‘I know we have to put up with that on the road, let’s just go.’ We didn’t say anything. Joe Holladay was sitting two or three feet from the guy, but we didn’t say anything whatsoever.
“Saturday night, all of a sudden, some guy stands up and starts yelling at Deon and it came from behind our bench. And you know how when some things happen, you instantly think of something? My first thought was, ‘Now our parents are having to listen to somebody else, and it’s in our own building.’ And so I turned around and I said, ‘Who said that?’ And about 40-50-60-70-80 people started pointing up at this guy. The guy gets up and starts gyrating with his arms and everything like, ‘Yeah, it was me,’ and that kind of thing. And it really did tick me off. I turned and said something to the ushers behind the bench and they started up through there, and I turned around and coached the game. I have no idea what happened. I never turned around to the guy again.
“But my feeling was immediately that our parents who sit right behind our bench have to put up with that stuff again in our own building. So that was it. And after the game, they told me that they had escorted the young man out. Supposedly what had happened was they had asked him for his ticket and he didn’t have a ticket or wasn’t supposed to be sitting in that seat. Supposedly, and I want to emphasis the word supposedly, he didn’t cooperate as much as they wanted, and they chose to take him out.
“Am I disappointed in the whole thing? Yeah, I’m disappointed that it happened. I’m disappointed that I even reacted to it. But again, in our own building, I don’t think that parents ought to have to listen to somebody chastising their son. And whether that’s right or wrong, that’s the way I am. If it’s wrong, it’s wrong. I hate that it happened. I wish that it never happened. Evidently, people have been getting after us all day [on Monday] or getting after me all day. But I tell you what, if that’s the only thing they’ve got to get after me about, I’m a happy young man… If I’m wrong, then that’s good, but I’m not apologizing.”
I don't want to be critical of UNC on their website...i might be kicked off and banned from posting. so...how bout them TIGERS..LSU!!!
The only thing that bothers me about these ignorant Duke fans is the reason that they lose EVERY YEAR in the first or second round is because they choke and CAN't hit the three. I'll take an inside game all day, even if it means some crappy coach from GW calling us out.
I think all these comments are hillarious!!! Just like I told the drunk ignorant Dook fan last night who was doing the retarded Dook chant in the middle of the bar...win ONE GAME AT HOME then start talking! And by the way...Carolina has 2 loses to TOP FIVE TEAMS!! Who did Dook lose to...Wisconsin? Let me know when you find them ranked in the top 25!
GO HEELS!!!
I'll always pull for my heels but face it, this is not the same team as last year and has a long way to go before March. I've watched the 'heels lose to two very good teams so far this year and also face the fact that Dook looks very, very good as well. I too predict a split this year with one being a lop-sided Dook win. Go 'Heels!!
good grief
such middle-school banter
good grief....such middle school banter
Let me just say this...I was at the game last night, sat right behind the GW bench to be exact. Yes Dook looked really good and Scheyer played fantastic. Keep in mind we are talking about GW for goodness sakes. The Heels played GW early in the year when Roy was simply tinkering with his rotation...5 frosh people!!Dook does have more size this year than in the past and seems to be a little more athletic than normal. With that being said though, they are no more superior than the Heels. Even with the Heels losing 4starters from a NC team, we still have superior talent.
You can go all the way down the line of match-ups for both teams and I could make the argument that the Heels are better at every position except for Scheyer. Our front line of Davis, Thompson, Zeller, Wear Twins along with Henson's length on the wing and Ginyard D...that's as a formidable group as there is going. Drew II is much improved as he has already shown.
Granted the Heels have lost to KY and SU, both of which are top 5. The SU game simply got away from us b/c it was in NY and the crowd got to the young players in the 2nd half. The KY game could have easily been won by the Heels for we had our chances. I expect the UT game to be a tough one as well considering it is in TX. These games will only make the us better come the end of the year. Dook on the other hand plays nobody during the pre-season non-conf games and it has shown the last 7 or 8 yrs.
Trust me, come ACC time, Ole' Roy will have the Heels playing at a top 5 level. How many other coaches in the country can say that after losing 90% of their scoring?? Not many...
So Dook fans, talk your smack and let's see what happens in a couple of months. And let's not forget what is coming in next year!!
P.S. I loved the "Go to hell Carolina chant..." during the GW game. I only wish I could be there for another A$$ whipping by the Mighty Heels!!
Who cares what he thinks. It will all play out over the season. I like UNC's upside more than Duke. Duke is peaking right now. Dont see them getting much better. UNC can get alot better. Question for UNC is how fast will they improve.
The defending National Champs are pretty good for it being a rebuilding year you have to admit. Top 10 with 2 losses to top 5 teams. Syracuse handed to UNC. Kentucky game IMO UNC blew it. They lost game more than Kentucky won it.
Gardner-Webb also just lost 66-95 to UNC-Charlotte.
Obviously they are not the same team that played against UNC earlier this year.
(I went to the UNCC-GW game, it was never even a contest)
But we'll see who wins the UNC-Duke series.(If it is a tie, different arguement)
UNC is young but growing fast due to their tough non-conference schedule (Mich St, UK, Texas) so I am most excited for the last UNC-Duke game of the season.
I have to think when the GW coach said UNC rans big lanky players at his team-much like dook di-he lost all credibility. The guys that makeup dook's inside game are not in the same league as UNC's big men. Had dook's outside shooting failed there would have been a different game even against GW, because their big's are not that good. The younger Plimlee and Kelly will be good players, but Thomas, Zoubek, and the older Plumlee are role players at best at ACC level of talent. UNC has the ability to shoot the long ball, and Drew, Strickland, and Ginyard will prove that before the year is out-maybe Graves and McDonald too..
The coach is really just stating the obvious here. Duke has better shooters, better guard play, and better team defense. Theyre also better than they've ever been at rebounding the ball which has been a huge problem for them in the past. UNC has better bigs, and they definitely match up well with Duke as a team. However, I give the edge to Duke at this point because of their all-around team play and experience/leadership.
Duke also "looked" better than Carolina going into last year's game in Durham...4 Tar Heel players padded their NBA resumes in that game.
We all know the Heels are breaking in new players. UNC has NEVER defended the outside shot well and that kept GW from getting stomp much worse than they did. The Heels have played against a tougher schedule.
UNC will be fine, how about we all wait til Feb before we start talking about which team is better.
Anonymous said...
Goof Ball the game before this year I didn't know you were that dumb!
____________________________________
David Noel was a SENIOR on that team and that game was over 4 years ago.
I mean it's not like storming the court after beating V-Tech...*snicker*
BUT, since we're playing, wanna know what has happened since then?
4 straight Ls for Duke in Hansbrough Indoor Stadium
It's also not like telling Maryland players to go back to the ghetto because their mediocre team beat you at home.
Duke 76
Zags 41
Heels 90
Horns 103
Yeah, Duke > UNC sounds about right! And I'm a Kansas fan!!!
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nice article
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