How far will Duke go?

Dallin Cuff from ESPN and of course the Daily Wager. I watched them on TV the other day. They were breaking down the tournament. Let's start with the good for us here and then we'll get to NC State, which we don't know yet if it's good or not. They're in the field.

That's good. The Blue Devils were a machine from opening tip. It took them about two and a half minutes to score, but once they did, man, they were all over what I think is a pretty good Oral Roberts team. It took Duke two and a half minutes to score.

It took Oral Roberts eight minutes to score. That's the problem here and that's the problem for a lot of other teams. Duke defensively has length. They've got versatility. They've got athleticism. They've got rim protection. That side of the ball has really grown for this group while their offense has continued to develop.

Guys are comfortable in their roles as they've been fully healthy now and that was probably the most resounding performance in the first round. I will say this as you mentioned the Daily Wager. I am shocked.

I shouldn't say I'm shocked because the numbers and the Vegas have leveled up. Tennessee all year. Tennessee is a shell of what it was earlier in the year. That line is almost only three points right now, so I've already hammered it hard for Duke tomorrow and I suggest anybody likes to like to dabble. Do the same because Duke is playing at a very elite level and Tennessee is playing it in middling level at best and they're playing without their point guards.

The Kaiser was out for the season. I just that line just seems off to me. Usually when that happens, Vegas win, but I don't care. We're going big.

Maybe there's Christmas can be taken care of right here in March. So here's the thing about Duke and I am as guilty about this as anything I had made it a determination in my mind in January. Having watched them X amount of times already this year that I just don't think they're dynamic enough in the backcourt. Can't beat anybody off the dribble. Can't get to the rim and now while we're still not seeing necessarily that part of their game.

Jeremy Roach gets in the lane whenever he wants to. And Derek Whitehead is providing what we thought he might provide at the beginning of the year, but never had a chance to because of injury. But now they're getting that more dynamic ability from Whitehead and Lively's healthy and Phillip out.

They've got a lot of weapons. But I think just the better team and the team that's playing in form and to your point, understanding your role is really important. And I think when you come in with a bunch of guys are three guys in the top seven of the prospects in terms of the nation last year with Philadelphia Whitehead. Lively, you have all these expectations and anticipation and then you have injuries. These guys have settled into their roles and they kind of understand like March Mitchell understands what he needs to do on both ends.

So policy, how when they need to play through him Lively. I'm not going to get the ball. I got to go get mine or offensive rebounds. I'm going to protect the rim. That's exactly what I'm going to do. I'm going to remove it. I'm going to be a problem to reach Whitehead. I'm going to make shots.

I'm going to be an aggressive wing player. That is Shire. John Shire told me back in October. We need him because he's different than anybody. We got and that is absolutely true. He's showing that now at times. Everybody is where they need to be in that.

This is what you want to do peak at the right time. That's what Duke's doing down cuff from ESPN is joining us here on the Adam Gold show before we look back. Let me look ahead real quick to NC State and their matchup today against Creighton.

I know Creighton's good. I keep waiting for state to put consistent games together where their back court is dominant. They've got they've got a pro in turquavian Smith. I think Jarkelle Joyner has been their best player this year.

Casey Morsell's got some experience from Virginia, but I love his game. I'm just waiting for them to put it all together. Good performances. They came back in a game against Carolina and dominated down the stretch at home in a game.

They won convincingly. Those guards are special. DJ Burns provides something in this game that's important to with Ryan called Brenner. He's a big rim protecting big for Creighton. I wonder if DJ can get into his body potentially get him into any foul trouble because when he's out of that team, that team is very different. Creighton lost six in a row during the course this year and call for a result with mono for three of those games and then getting back to full health.

Anybody had that disease. That's hard to come back from right away. That team is a top 10 level team. I actually love Creighton. This is the difference between your bracket and betting. I have Creighton in my bracket going to the lead. It hasn't beaten Arizona in the Sweet 16.

Obviously they wouldn't have to go through that path anymore. NC State is getting five or five and a half points. I love that bet today. I like NC State to keep it close and they can't win. I think whoever wins this game beats Baylor and goes to the Sweet 16.

NC State has all the components. Can they defend consistently enough against a Creighton team that really can score too? This should be a fun up and down game with a lot of skilled players on the floor. That to me, again another team I've been watching all year, their half court defense for the most part has been better than it's ever been under Kevin Keats. But when it's not there as it wasn't in both games against Clemson, one in the ACC tournament and the other in the second to last game of the regular season which was a total head scratcher.

When it's not there, they're terrible on that end of the floor. But if they're good, they can be super dynamic. Is it too knee jerk? I know how people want to process things.

We want to make declarative statements all the time. Is it too knee jerk to say Virginia under Tony Bennett and the way they play is not conducive to March? I think it's kind of knee jerk. I think there are certain things about it that certainly lend itself to not being as successful.

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C-Store for exact offers. Well, I can't say that's true because they won a national championship in 2019. So that can't be true when you've gone six and six. The difference with this team, and I've said it all year, and this is last year too, they were not elite defensively. Like for his style of play and how slow they play, you have to be elite defensively.

And that's what he's had most years. But this year they were top 30 in the defensive efficiency, usually top five. You could straight line drive them. You could beat your guy to dribble and the help would not be there in time. They weren't as physically imposing. And playing without Ben Vander Plaats, once he got broke his hand before the ACC Tournament, changed that team because because they weren't so good defensively, they had to outscore teams at times. And they had to make shots. Like usually UVA can win games without making shots.

Not this year's team. They weren't dynamic on the ball. They didn't have a guy who could just give the ball to and go.

So you had to make shots. And when they did that, they were very good. When they didn't, they weren't so good. And you saw their offensive struggles down the stretch.

You saw Furman, a team that was able to score and not be completely uncomfortable trying to get the shots that Furman wants in the spots they want. And that's become a consistent problem. They don't have any pros on that team. And that's also a problem too. They've played with pros before.

They don't have pros now. So it's a talent thing and it's a defensive ability thing. So it's not necessarily a system. The system can win, but you've got to have dudes. Like Coach K used to always say, the players win.

You've got to have dudes. Yeah. I think the misnomer is that the tournament is about coaches. I think the tournament is about players and coaches, but mostly players. I really do.

I think it shows up in March if you don't have quality, just to use a soccer term, if you don't have quality, it shows up in March more than it shows up in November, December, January, and February. Who do you like? Is your Final Four still intact, by the way? Yes, my Final Four is intact.

I have Alabama. I think they will manage to handle all the off-the-court stuff that's going to continue to come at them in waves. I think they can handle well enough because I think they're such a dynamic team on the court on both sides of the ball. Alabama coming out of that region, playing Marquette in the region, beating Duke actually in the Elite Eight in my bracket. Then I have Gonzaga coming out of a brutally loaded West, and then I have Texas coming out of the other part.

They have the final region, Texas against Gonzaga, or Texas against Bama in the final, and Bama cutting down the nets in Houston is how I'm going right now. Injuries are critical in this thing, man. You've seen it with Houston already. They're dealing with injuries. Miami, Northshad, O'Mear, Kansas, Kevin McCuller.

You've got guys all over the place, the big teams that are hurt, so folks should really pay attention to that if you're going to throw some shekels on some games. I wonder if Jim Larronega will look at what happened with Marcus Sasser in Houston and sit Northshad, O'Mear. I know they might not beat Drake either way.

Exactly. That's going to be a tough game, regardless of who's playing for Miami, but if you take a chance and sit O'Mear, just in case, because it's really, I think they could get to a Final Four if they're healthy. I think they could, too. One of my picks I would have loved to make is them go really deep. I'd have them going to 3-16 still, despite this injury, but you can't sit him.

If he can go, you've got to give him everything you can. That's how good Drake is. Drake is one of those teams that they weren't playing Miami. If they played any other five-seats, I would have them winning that game.

I shouldn't say that, but I do. Any other five-seats, I'd have Drake winning outside of Duke, but this is a problem right now with the Miami team. I think that's a very tight game. I did play Miami minus two, but that is a very outstanding basketball game, too, and that's kind of a coincidence.

Dallin Cuff, ESPN and the Daily Wager, I appreciate your time, man. Enjoy the rest of the tournament. We'll talk again. Have a good one. We'll see you next time.