TWO DUKIES PICK THE ACC

Volume X, Number XIII – December 31, 2006

Welcome to this edition of the tenth (it's crossed the line from generating wan smiles to causing outright grimaces of pain), yes, we said tenth, season of Two Dukies Pick the ACC. Rob and Matt invite you to sit back, reflect on what we hope was a very nice 2006, and hope for a better 2007. [Clink.] Here's to it.

The TWO DUKIES name and material are, for some absurd reason, affiliated with http://www.dukies.com, and for even more preposterous purposes, copyright 2006-2007 Rigel Enterprises, Ltd. All rights reserved, including the right to offend as we see fit.

Matt's comments in blue.
Rob Mac K's selection in green.

SAN JOSE STATE (1-10, 0-0 Western Athletic) @ #5 DUKE (11-1, 0-0)

I won't take up much of your time - - this doesn't look to be much of a contest. The scheduling is interesting, as is the fact that Duke and SJSU have never played before. RoadDukie has been to see a San Jose State home game, and it seemed to be a typical WAC/MWC-type atmosphere below the level of, say, Nevada, San Diego State or New Mexico. The program itself does not have much tradition, and has not played a team rated as highly as Duke in many a year.

A classic trap game, particularly with Lance Thomas unlikely to play with a nicked-up ankle? Anything's possible, but the Spartans have beaten only Cal Poly SLO, and have dropped eight of their ten setbacks by double digits. 6-4 sophomore Devonte Thomas, recently inserted into the starting lineup, shows promise, but there isn't much team scoring (64.3 ppg), and the shooting line looks pretty bad - - .387/.651./298. Zoicks! That's before you add Duke's defense into the equation. Once that's done, and you factor in the Spartans' 1/1.5 A/TO ratio, you'd have to be pretty silly to predict a Duke loss here. Stranger things have happened, of course - - but not many. Perhaps Zoubek and Pocius can get some key minutes? DeMarcus may wish to pour it on against a team that is at least within hailing distance of his hometown, too. Happy New Year!

Duke 73, San Jose State 54.

Duke 72, San Jose State 52.

 Last Edition: Rob 1-0 (1.000) Matt 1-0 (1.000) Guests 0-0 (0.000) This Season: Rob 11-1 (0.917) Matt 11-1 (0.917) Guests 1-0 (1.000) TD in Guest Editions 2-0 (1.000)