Duke Basketball

Duke Basketball

There are still a lot of unknowns when it comes to Duke and Arizona this time around, but one thing seems clear: Duke has an advantage in experience.

Arizona has one senior, five juniors, six sophomores and three freshmen.

Sophomores Derrick Williams, Solomon Hill, Kevin Parrom and MoMo Jones are four of the top six in terms of minutes played.

They obviously haven’t had immense tournament experience, something perhaps belied by comments Jones has made prior to the game:

“This last month-and-a-half, two months, I’ve talked a lot of junk. I’ve backed it up. To be honest with you, I don’t think anyone wants to look me in the eye.”

“I’m pretty sure there are going to be heated moments. People are going to be in each other’s face. People are going to be pushing each other for rebounds. People fighting. Elbows thrown. I mean, it’s the Sweet 16. You’re fighting to win a national championship. You’re fighting to get to the Elite Eight. You’re fighting to live another day.

“At this point, you play as physical, as nasty, as hard, and with all the dedication, that you have. That’s what we do, and that’s what we’ve done all season. So it’s not going to be anything different for us.”

“A lot of people think that (physical play) is not going to work because we are playing Duke. Duke is just another basketball team. Duke is a great program, just like we’re a great program. There really isn’t a difference between Duke and Arizona. Whether we’re playing Duke or Georgetown or Washington in the Pac-10 championship, it’s all the same.” Read Whole story....