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2008 ACC Championship Recap by Rob CloughThe UNC Tar Heels won their fourth straight ACC title at Duke's expense, but it
was through no fault of effort on the part of the Devils. Indeed, it was a
tight contest throughout most of the first half, and the Heels didn't really
put the game away permanently until the game's final minutes. Both teams
seemed fatigued and made a lot of tired-looking mistakes and took tired-looking
shots. The difference here was that the Heels were not only better
conditioned-seeming, but were better at playing through their fatigue and
staying aggressive. That aggressiveness (and some mistakes on Duke's part)
helped the Heels dominate on the foul line, hit shots when open and clean up on
the offensive boards. Even when Duke made mistakes or seemed out of the game,
they never quit hustling or attacking the basket. They played some of their
loosest, aggressive basketball when they were down by double figures.
Let's look at the preview points and how Duke did in each of them. Duke's
offense didn't do much to keep the Heels off-balance in the first half, but
they were able to spring Jasmine Thomas and get her better looks at the basket
(especially jumpers from the elbow) in the second. Duke tried more mid-range
jumpers than usual, which did help to mix it up a bit, but Chante only took 1
shot away from the basket. In "Be who you are", Duke tried to run some breaks
that were too hurried and resulted in turnovers. That folds into "play
aggressively, not recklessly", because those plays were reckless gambles that
didn't value the ball. Duke was killed in the "don't lose track of the
shooters", as starting UNC guards Heather Claytor and Cetera DeGraffenreid
combined for 5-9 shooting from three. Those were all created by others, and
were wide-open. UNC exploited Duke's matchup zone by passing into the post and
then relocating it back out for an open shot--exactly what they had done in
their first two meetings with Duke. While Larkins didn't go crazy against
Duke, she didn't really have to--she scored and rebounded when needed to, but
was pretty much at just a "5" out of "10"--she didn't have to come up with a
huge performance.
Another problem was that in their game plan, Duke didn't vary much from past
meetings. They came out in their basic zone, mixed it up with some man and
then tried several zone variations. There was little trapping or pressing,
which was perplexing because DeGraffenreid got in early foul trouble and backup
Italee Lucas was clearly uncomfortable making decisions. Rather than try to
trap her on the sidelines or double her on every possession, she was mostly
left one-on-one. One possible wrinkle could have been a triangle-and-two, with
defenders chasing DeGraffenreid and Larkins. That would have been an
especially
effective defense with shot-happy players like Jessica Breland in the game. Of
course, the Heels are a confident, consistent team that might have been able to
handle anything Duke was throwing at them, and young DeGraffenreid played
magnificently.
Joy Cheek got Duke off to a good start with an early post-up and three, and
Wanisha Smith put Duke up 10-6 with a three. In the early going, Duke's
offense
looked smooth and confident. UNC battled back with open threes by
DeGraffenreid, and Claytor. An early sequence saw Smith turn the ball over and
Jasmine Thomas foul Heel reserve Trinity Bursey in transition. Duke couldn't
take advantage of several UNC turnovers and missed shots until Bursey missed a
three and Keturah Jackson found a streaking Waner in transition to cut the lead
to 16-14. Krystal Thomas stuck back a Cheek miss to make it 18-16, but the
Heels went on a 6-0 run to open up some breathing room. UNC's inside game
went to work here, as Pringle scored, rebounded and blocked a shot, while
Larkins stuck back a DeGraffenreid miss. Rashanda McCants put the Heels up by
9, but Thomas relocated out to Waner for a crucial three that cut the lead to
27-21.
Chante Black kept Duke close with 4 straight free throws to scale the lead back
to 4 and DeGraffenreid went out of the game with her 3rd foul. The Heels got
easy looks to push the lead to 7, but Black & Karima Christmas kept attacking
and getting to the line. A foul shot by Christmas made it 35-31 with 3:41.
Duke used some aggressive trapping on an inbounds play and Waner stepped in
front of a Bursey pass. As she had the ball, she was falling out of bounds and
tried to call a timeout. When it wasn't granted and the ball was turned over,
she slammed it to the floor in front of the ref and was whistled for a
technical. She was immediately taken out of the game and didn't return until
the final seconds of the half, despite this being her first foul. As a result,
and due in part to foul trouble, Duke's lineup in the last 3:30 of the half
were
the three freshmen (Thomas, Thomas and Christmas), Keturah Jackson and Carrem
Gay. This group is not exactly an offensively-oriented lineup, and the results
were predictable: a 6-2 UNC run to end the half. This was despite 2 turnovers
and 3 misses by the Heels--the opportunities were there, but this young Duke
lineup turned the ball over three times. They did give it their all,
especially the ever-hustling Christmas, but the Devils didn't have the
firepower to make a real dent. UNC led 41-33 at the half and had huge edges in
points off turnovers and second-chance points (12-3 and 13-2, respectively).
Larkins helped boost the Heels to a quick 12 point lead in th second half, but
the rested starters for Duke led a comeback. It started with a Cheek basket
over two bigger players, a rebound and another basket by Cheek on a feed from
Smith. Nish then sank a jumper to cut it to 6 and McCants took a tough shot.
Black grabbed the board and Waner delivered a nice pass that Chante adjusted to
and used a hesitation move to score on. Five minutes into the half, and Duke
had cut the score to 47-43. On Duke's next possession, the sagging defense
allowed Clayton a wide-open shot on a relocation pass from McCants. That
energized the slumping Heels and kicked off a 9-0 run that kept Duke at arm's
length the rest of the game. Breland and DeGraffenreid both hit a pair of free
throws and Pringle got a big stickback to make it 56-43.
Duke didn't give up, as Black had another basket and Jasmine Thomas sank two
short jumpers. Krystal Thomas had a nifty stickback to make it 9, but the
Heels
converted from the foul line and threes from Lucas and DeGraffenreid pushed the
lead up to 16. Once again, the Devils regrouped. The Heels got sloppy and
distracted again, thinking the game over, while Smith, Waner and J.Thomas all
scored. That second score from Jasmine came after a tremendous block on
DeGraffenreid and cut the lead to 8 with four minutes to go. Over the next
couple of minutes, Waner and Thomas missed threes that could have cut the lead
to 7, and the Heels were never threatened again. Larkins was deservedly named
the tournament MVP, while Waner made first team and Smith & Cheek made second
team all-tournament. The players have to be heartened that they were able to
compete so strongly against teams that had handled them with ease in the
regular
season, and should use that feeling to boost their confidence for the
postseason.
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