Obama watches G-Town roll Duke

Posted on 30. Jan, 2010 at 1:08 pm by Meerkat in Basketball, BIG East Basketball, NCAA Basketball

#7 Duke 77 ….. #11 Georgetown 89

The Hoyas got back-slapped on Monday by the Orangemen –so redemption was mandatory on their home court this Saturday. A Blue Devil team lookin for a large road win began the game by trying to establish an inside game. Most likely lookin to soften the underbelly of the Hoyas front court via foul trouble. But denial was on the menu for the Dukies.

The Hoyas were focused and made life for the Dukies on the offensive end difficult. On the other end, Georgetown was executing almost whatever they wanted. Hoya PG Chris Wright was very determined in getting the ‘W’ and he did whatever had to be done throughout the game. Wright broke ankles to drive the lane, hit a 3, played relentless D, and showed a leader’s poise. Georgetown’s C Greg Monroe flashed his NBA skill set this afternoon handling the rock superbly. Monroe dribble-drove, passed out of doubles, and hit jumpers — he earned some NBA cash for his presidential performance.

By the 4:46 mark in the 2nd half, it was 80-61, translation –Dukies taking the big-fat-greasy-L. It was clear that Duke just doesn’t have the slasher to get to the basket and draw fouls … like they had in Gerald Henderson a year ago. From now on when the Dukies face a good defense like G-Town’s, they are really gonna struggle getting their shots if they aren’t lights out from the arc.

Overall, it was big-3 vs big-3. G-Town’s Wright (21 pts), Freeman (20 pts), Monroe (21 pts) simply bested Duke’s Scheyer (17 pts), Smith (19 pts), Singler (18 pts).

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

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Louisville 74 ….. #9 West Virginia 77

What should have been a solid road victory for Pitino’s Cardinals –turned nightmare at the end. Two bad calls by the officials gave the Mountaineers the ball back-to-back when it should have been Louisville’s. I’m sure Coach Pitino was fuming after the double zeros were displayed. A win on the road against a #9 WVU would have been a huge boost for Louisville’s resume going into March.

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Marquette 70 ….. #19 UCONN 68

The Huskies are a turnover machine (16). UCONN should take notes from Marquette on ball-handling (2). A drop out of the top 25 is a sure thing now for the Huskies. On the other hand, a big road victory for the Golden Eagles.

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#4 Syracuse 59 ….. DePaul 57

Escape from Rosemont! Syracuse almost dropped a big one against Depaul –trailing until the 3:31 mark of the 2nd half. Once with the lead, the Cuse didn’t look back.

I just love ESPN360 so I could catch the last 5 minutes of this thriller. Got to see Cuse F Wesley Johnson throw down a viscious dunk and enjoy another Orangemen display of unselfish basketball. These kids got real Final Four ability.