Tennessee Tries to Get Past Red-Hot Duke

The Tennessee Volunteers are preparing for one of college basketball's best young squads, the Duke Blue Devils.

Duke is arguably the biggest brand in college basketball. The Blue Devils are consistently the most watched team in the sport and get an unbelievable about of attention in part of Mike Krzyzewski. This season though, has been far from a typical Duke season.

After a shaky non-conference in which Duke had some impressive wins, Duke started conference play very slowly. They struggled on the road, battled injuries in non-conference and conference play, and had many people raising questions.

Among those questions were casual fans asking if Jon Scheyer should've gotten the head coaching position at Duke. In the last two months, though, the Blue Devils have gotten healthy, they've improved, and Scheyer has been as impressive as a coach could be. The young Duke team has developed alongside their head coach, and now they currently ride a 10-game winning streak into the second round.

In addition to simply developing, the Duke team went through some position and schematic changes to improve. Scheyer moving freshman Tyrese Proctor to the point guard position and playing Jeremy Roach off the ball has allowed Roach to be more in rhythm on his rim attacks. As a result, Duke has been able to limit turnovers and operate more effectively on ball screens, and Roach has gotten back to his form from last March when the Blue Devils went to the Final Four.

Dereck Lively II, Duke C

The challenge for Tennessee will be scoring the ball in the half-court. The Vols' offense has been at snails' pace since Zakai Zeigler went out, and that might not be good news with the way Dereck Lively has been playing. If Lively had been healthy and in game shape the entire season, he would have been the easy pick for national defensive player of the year. As Oral Roberts showed, layups when Lively is the shot challenger are usually misses.

One aspect of the half-court offense for Tennessee is if Duke will be well-prepared for the Vols' off-ball action. Josiah-Jordan James working off screens could be sniffed out. Against Virginia, the Blue Devils could trail Virginia's fade screens and play them into Duke's size. Duke is also athletic enough on the wings to get through pindown screens.

Another problem the Vols could have is who guards Kyle Filipowksi. The freshman forward stands at nearly seven feet tall, can hit threes, and rebounds the basketball at a high rate. Throwing Olivier Nkamhoua or Julian Phillips at him could limit how much Filipowski could put it on the deck, but you'd run the risk of him beating you on the glass.

As always, Santiago Vescovi will be the key for Tennessee. Coach Scheyer spoke very highly of Vescovi, saying how you have to play defense for full possessions against him. Vescovi will not only have to hit shots but make plays and take care of the ball against the Blue Devils.

Overall, Duke has become so much better on both ends in the last two months. Tennessee will not just have to figure out how to get good looks but stop Duke from getting them as well. This Duke team doesn't play like they're young. They're extremely confident players with a ton of skill, and they have a head coach who trusts and believes in them.

If Tennessee can get it done, they'll await the winner of Florida Atlantic and Fairleigh Dickinson in the Sweet 16. For now, Rick Barnes and his team will see if they can rally and get to the second weekend for just the second time in his tenure at Tennessee.

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