Let's talk about the Cardoso effect because the numbers don't tell the complete story. As Debbie Antonelli pointed out on the broadcast Sunday, Duke was deliberately avoiding challenging Cardoso inside. We only finished with 3 blocks in that game, 2 from Fulwiley on perimeter players. Duke settled for perimeter shots and pull-up jumpers and rarely if ever posted up. So all the whining on social media about the free throw disparity was completely unjustified (ACC fans did a lot of whining last weekend).
On the other end of the court, did you notice that UNC and Duke didn't play zone? When was the last time we played two opponents in a row who played man defense exclusively. Why? The answer is Cardoso. It's simply too easy for the lob to beat the zone and Cardoso to convert an easy basket.
View attachment 470009
UNCarolina and Duke were detemined to keep a player between Cardoso and the basket. That means playing man. They preferred Kamilla catch the ball in the low post with her back to the basket and at least have to dribble. We did a better job against Duke of getting her the ball and letting her draw fouls. Thus Duke's bigs were in foul trouble late.
Another benefit of forcing teams out of zone is Fulwiley can beat just about anyone off the dribble. Duke has some very good perimeter defenders and they were struggling to stay in front of her.
Dawn was diplomatic in asking Paopao if she wanted to return. It wasn't just a case of seeing if Fulwiley could figure it out, she was killing it out there. The game was tied when she came in the 4th. Having several options is a good problem to have.
Edit to add: Notice in the twitter video, Richardson hit a 3 against Paopao to tie the game and then Fulwiley came in. Dawn made a tough call to get a better on ball defender in there late.