Thursday’s 2025 Sweet 16 Notes And More
Almost time to rock and roll!
Duke faces Arizona in the Sweet 16 on Thursday and it’s going to be a challenge. Arizona is athletic and quick, and they got back into their game against Oregon quickly when they began to pressure the Ducks, turning them over and confusing their former PAC-12 rivals. Could that work against Duke?
Well, maybe.
Here are Duke’s turnovers in the last six games, from the regular season finale in Chapel Hill to the victory over Baylor. These are just the totals. We don’t have a breakdown of how many turnovers ended up in transition baskets.
- UNC - 14
- Georgia Tech - 8
- UNC - 13
- Louisville - 10
- Mount St. Mary’s - 2
- Baylor - 6
It’s not like turnovers is a weakness, but a clever team could make it one. Arizona might struggle with Duke in a half-court game since the Blue Devils are bigger across the board. If they can get out and run and score quickly, the Wildcats will have a better chance.
However, if Duke can minimize turnovers and force Arizona to shoot poorly, odds will go up for the Blue Devils.
Opponents shooting percentages for those games, overall first then three pointers:
- UNC - 39.1/33.3
- Georgia Tech - 42.6/44.4
- UNC - 47.3/17.6
- Louisville - 39.1/26.9
- Mount St. Mary’s - 30.2/18.5
- Baylor - 36.8/32
As for Caleb Love, over at CBS Sports, Zachary Pereles breaks down Love’s stats in wins and losses against Duke, at both UNC and Arizona:
- In five wins: 20.8 points per game, 44% shooting, 36% from 3
- In four losses: 9.8 points per game, 28% shooting, 15% from 3
We’ve talked before about Danny Hurley’s shaky emotional control before. He had an outburst after UConn lost to Florida, telling Baylor on the way off the court that “I hope the officials “don’t [expletive] you like they [expletive] us!”
To make matters worse a staffer threatened the guy who filmed Hurley’s outburst (he has since apologized).
Jason Williams slammed him on ESPN, saying that “[h]e’s the main character in college basketball. There are times that Dan Hurley is a sore loser. That is the reality.”
Jay Bilas questioned his maturity too.
Hurley has been backpedaling, and he also now says that “it’ll be nice to go back to hunting and not being hunted.”
Could be.
Hurley’s two-year run pretty much guarantees him a spot in the Hall of Fame someday, but somewhat like Bob Knight, he can be his own worst enemy (he’s not nearly as cruel as was Knight though).
Houston has been celebrated for its toughness and that may get tested in the Sweet 16. Why?
Well the other three teams in the Midwest are Purdue, Kentucky and Tennessee, and the games will be in Indianapolis.
For Purdue, it’s about 1:20 minutes to Lucas Oil Stadium. For Tennessee, it’s about a six-hour drive. And for Kentucky, it’s a shade under four hours and Big Blue Nation will turn out in force.
And Houston?
It’s about 16 hours, and that’s not counting stops at Buc-ee’s.
To be clear, most fans will fly but it’s more of an investment and more of a hassle. And no matter what the fan base does, Purdue, Kentucky and probably to a lesser extent Tennessee will bring many more fans. It’s an interesting situation for the Cougars.
On Thursday, the BYU-Alabama game has many people geeked up, expecting a huge offensive performance and most people favor ‘Bama. For whatever reason, we like BYU. Call it a hunch.
We also like #1 Florida over #4 Maryland. If you haven’t followed the story, Maryland coach Kevin Willard seems to be quite unhappy with his situation at Maryland and there is speculation that he could take the Villanova job as soon as the season ends for the Terps.
As always, we don’t bet against Duke.
In the nightcap, Arkansas has bounced back from a team that many, including us, doubted was tournament worthy to a Sweet 16 team. It’s been a nice redemption for the Hogs and for coach John Calipari.
However, Texas Tech is a tougher team. We’ll take the Red Raiders over the Razorbacks, largely because they’re terrific defensively and tournament grows conservative and really requires great D.
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Tony Bennett has retired at Virginia but retains an interest in the program’s success. He wrote a nice note to his successor, Ryan Odom. As you probably remember, Ryan coached UMBC when they pulled off the first win by a #16 team. Bennett noted it in his letter, which was pretty funny.
Not surprisingly, a lot of players are leaving. Bennett recruited guys for his slow, deliberate style and Odom wants to move. Now seven players are in the portal and it’s not that big of a deal. In fact, it may be addition by subtraction.
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Now at Miami, former Duke assistant Jai Lucas is trying to build his first team and he’s trying to persuade Jalil Bethea to stick around.
Bethea had a limited role this season but he is talented. He could be a good building block for Lucas and the ‘Canes.
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Jeff Capel’s going to lose a lot of players. Ish Leggett, Zack Austin and Damian Dunn are all out of eligibility, but the Diaz Graham twins, Jorge and Guillermo, as well as Amsal Delalic and Marlon Barnes are all transferring. He’s got a lot of work to do. Plus there are stories that Capel is about to shake up his staff.
Elliot Cadeau put his name in the transfer portal to the surprise of many, but not to his brother, Justin, aka Saucekill, who posted these comments about Cadeau’s portal adventure. We sincerely hope this video is sped up. Saucekill sounds like he’s been sucking helium. Here’s a transcript. It doesn't sound like he’s coming back.