Anatomy of a Duke Loss

by Jonah Keri
Sat, 22 Mar 2008 at 5:23 PM

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	Win McNamee/Getty A frustrated Duke bench looks on as West Virginia marches to victory in the NCAA tournament's second round.

--Early foul trouble for Wellington Smith and Da'Sean Butler turned out to be a huge blessing for West Virginia. With two of their top three rebounders out, the Mountaineers went small, bringing in sophomore Joe Mazzulla to serve as a second point guard with senior Darris Nichols. All the 6-foot-2 Mazzulla did was rack up 13 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists (vs. his season averages of 5.5, 2.7 and 2.1). Time and again, Mazzulla blew by Duke defenders to get in the paint and snatched multiple boards against taller defenders. Oh, hey look! In our tourney preview we said Duke was vulnerable because of…their lack of size and rebounding, and their inability to stop quick guards.

--Kyle Singler's foul trouble killed Duke. With DeMarcus Nelson laying an egg for the second straight game (3 for 17, eight points combined in the two games), Duke needed a second player to complement Gerald Henderson and score in the lane. When Singler picked up his fourth foul, Duke was forced to fall back on jacking long three-pointers, which proved to be a disaster. The Blue Devils made just five of 22 from a distance, largely because West Virginia knew it didn't have to respect anyone other than Henderson (and at times, Jon Scheyer) inside 15 feet.

--Joe Alexander was a difference maker. He put up too many shots (22 of them), possibly to make up for Butler's absence for much of the game. But he contributed in many other ways. In one second-half sequence, Alexander swatted away a Duke lay-up try, then after Scheyer tied the game at 40, Alexander canned a three, then swatted another Duke shot from close in. He also dished several different Mountaineer teammates for baskets off backdoor cuts, emulating Belmont's offensive approach by using his 6-foot-8 frame to pass over the defense from 20 feet away.

Alexander gives West Virginia a chance against Purdue or Xavier next round. If Alex Ruoff and company can make more threes than they did against Duke (the Mountaineers went 0 for 6 from behind the arc in the first half), this team may not be done yet.

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