Duke Vs. Michigan In Quarterfinals

[Young Warrior]

Raise your hand if you had "Can Michigan upset Duke in a second round NCAA Tourney game" on your bingo card of 2023 lax forum topics.

[44WeWantMore]

The three UM attackers are quick, speedy and talented. I think they can take Duke.

Duke’s attack is *sort of* talented as well. Do you think they can ‘take’ Michigan, too?

Of course they can. They are arguably the best team in the country. The only discussion is whether it is realistic to be unsurprised at an upset. Or to put it another way, which upset of the big 3 would be least surprising?

[coda]

The three UM attackers are quick, speedy and talented. I think they can take Duke.

Duke’s attack is *sort of* talented as well. Do you think they can ‘take’ Michigan, too?

Of course they can. They are arguably the best team in the country. The only discussion is whether it is realistic to be unsurprised at an upset. Or to put it another way, which upset of the big 3 would be least surprising?

One thing that hasnt been mentioned is goalie play. Michigan has gotten excellent goalie play, since inserting the Freshman into the starting line up. Helm has been a bit up and down recently. He is the weakest Goalie of the big 3 (Duke, UVa, and ND). Recipe for an upset is possessions (Michigan has an excellent face off unit) and uneven Goalie play. For Michigan to win they need to win the middle of the field and goalie play.

[Finster]

The three UM attackers are quick, speedy and talented. I think they can take Duke.

Duke’s attack is *sort of* talented as well. Do you think they can ‘take’ Michigan, too?

Of course they can. They are arguably the best team in the country. The only discussion is whether it is realistic to be unsurprised at an upset. Or to put it another way, which upset of the big 3 would be least surprising?

I think the least surprising upset will be Army over PSU.

[coda]

The three UM attackers are quick, speedy and talented. I think they can take Duke.

Duke’s attack is *sort of* talented as well. Do you think they can ‘take’ Michigan, too?

Of course they can. They are arguably the best team in the country. The only discussion is whether it is realistic to be unsurprised at an upset. Or to put it another way, which upset of the big 3 would be least surprising?

I think the least surprising upset will be Army over PSU.

Yes. Here are the lines from Draft Kings
PSU -2
Duke -3
UVa -3.5
ND -4.5

[molo]

What has Michigan done to get here? They won the Big 10, beating the defending NC, and followed that up with a road win against last season’s runner up, playing without their top midfield scorer. Duke, who I like mist fans, consider certainly a top three team if not simply the best team in the country, showed they are postseason ready by fending off an underseeded UDel team. Show me a Duke weakness because I can’t find one, and as nice as it would be to beat them in Philly, I’m not crazy about a third game against them.
Naso is an AA FOGO, but Michigan’s tandem proved in the Maryland game that sometimes two very good FOGOs can be better than one excellent one. Can the Wolverines continue their improbable run? Can they do it without Cohen? Did UDel expose Duke as a little vulnerable, or did the Hens just give them a wake up call?
Pulling for Michigan but expecting the number one seed to advance by something like 15-12.

[coda]

What has Michigan done to get here? They won the Big 10, beating the defending NC, and followed that up with a road win against last season’s runner up, playing without their top midfield scorer. Duke, who I like mist fans, consider certainly a top three team if not simply the best team in the country, showed they are postseason ready by fending off an underseeded UDel team. Show me a Duke weakness because I can’t find one, and as nice as it would be to beat them in Philly, I’m not crazy about a third game against them.
Naso is an AA FOGO, but Michigan’s tandem proved in the Maryland game that sometimes two very good FOGOs can be better than one excellent one. Can the Wolverines continue their improbable run? Can they do it without Cohen? Did UDel expose Duke as a little vulnerable, or did the Hens just give them a wake up call?
Pulling for Michigan but expecting the number one seed to advance by something like 15-12.

The biggest weakness on Duke is their goalie. I am goigng to exclude Merrimack, because that was just a complete mismatch. Helm has saved 45% of the shots he has faced over the last 4 games, 42 of 93. Low of 37% vs ND and his high was 50% vs UVA and Delaware. Upsets are usually highly reliant on Goalie play (see Maryland vs Army this year), that maybe Duke's Achilles heel this year.

[molo]

Could be. Remember, he was pulled once fairly recently.

[Hoxwurth]

What has Michigan done to get here? They won the Big 10, beating the defending NC, and followed that up with a road win against last season’s runner up, playing without their top midfield scorer. Duke, who I like mist fans, consider certainly a top three team if not simply the best team in the country, showed they are postseason ready by fending off an underseeded UDel team. Show me a Duke weakness because I can’t find one, and as nice as it would be to beat them in Philly, I’m not crazy about a third game against them.
Naso is an AA FOGO, but Michigan’s tandem proved in the Maryland game that sometimes two very good FOGOs can be better than one excellent one. Can the Wolverines continue their improbable run? Can they do it without Cohen? Did UDel expose Duke as a little vulnerable, or did the Hens just give them a wake up call?
Pulling for Michigan but expecting the number one seed to advance by something like 15-12.

In addition to FOs, Michigan has had some success in winning ground balls. However, Michigan has also had some turnover problems. Against Duke, Michigan will need to avoid repeating Delaware's mistakes of running into double teams and failing to keep the ball moving.

In fairness to Michigan, I think they beat Cornell with Cornell playing its A- game. There's hope.

[Farfromgeneva]

Would love to see UM take down dook but they don't have a pole like Grant (#81 Delaware). O'neill had a pedestrian day by his standards and the only time he found the net Grant was on the sideline. Wil be pulling hard for UM but I see some matchup problems for them.

If Duke doesn't have the ball, it won't matter much of what O'Neill does.

Duke's defense is its Achilles heel, and Michigan has a very good offense that requires more than just one good cover pole. All three of their attack can dodge, shoot, and dish. Now you also see their midfield getting over the top and down the alleys to force defenses to slide.

If Rowlett and Wietfeldt tilt the field and wear down Naso, Michigan can play from ahead. That forces Duke to be hyper efficient on offense and not panic.

That will be the key to the game. I don't think Michigan's defense can hold up in a 50-50 possession kind of game. If they can tilt possessions to 55+%, their offense is going to make life really hard on Duke.

Intriguing matchup for sure. Ill maintain that Oneill is a underrated and most willing passer as his 39 assists attest so Wolves can't send help as they did with Kirst because ball would rotate. Might be wrong but dont see Duke having as many dodgers in their supporting cast as Cornell .On D , Duke doesn't have a Adler but their poles are considered to be good m2m but do see breakdowns once you get them sliding. Naso has only been under .500 once this year (LaSalla ) Maybe he gets worn down by UM duo but edge may be likelier in goalie play looking at impressive 62% by UM frosh in last three games against good comp. Michigan clearly on a roll , should be a helluva game

I want this game to be close, but I don’t think it will be. I see Duke winning by a decent margin.

Hard to say , but Duke playing a less than satisfactory 1st game, would concern me that they likely perform much better in the 2nd one. No guarantee, but We shall see.

I do wonder if Duke playing Merrimack a week ago while UM has difficult but strong opponents going in mattered for round 1 but at round 2 everyone should be ready.

[BlueJaySince1947]

Michigan will beat Dook...

[GaitsRightHand]

Cohen will be back.

[coda]

Cohen will be back.

May I ask where that information comes from?

[GaitsRightHand]

Cohen will be back.

May I ask where that information comes from?

Someone close to program. Was only a one-game suspension.

[coda]

Cohen will be back.

May I ask where that information comes from?

Someone close to program. Was only a one-game suspension.

thank you

[gymman1031]

Here we go. Unlike the first game today, will this game go down to the final seconds or even beyond?

[CU77]

I wouldn't bet on it.

Oh, and last week, announcers harped all game on how Cohen was out and that this was just like Steph Curry being out; this week Cohen doesn't even get a mention in the pre-game hype.

[DocBarrister]

Hunter Taylor is in the groove and keeping things close.

DocBarrister

[jhu06]

Michigan absolutely looks the part of a quarterfinalist and maybe more. So much credit to that program. Tremendous growth. Duke goalie has had some really nice saves.

ESPN dropping the ball in predictable form. Cotter says Michigan is in its 6th year in d1 and when Michigan scored its first goal they could have had a list of some notable goal scorers from the other quarterfinalists first appearances in the round of 8.

[HopFan16]

How is there no shot clock on the screen? It's the quarterfinals! Everyone at ESPN involved in this broadcast should be completely embarrassed