The season ended for the Duke Blues in the second round of the NCAA tournament as the lost to West Virginia 73-67.  Duke played a good first half as they took a five point lead into the locker room, but in the second half they could not make a bucket, and forgot what their lockdown defense was.

The three point shots were not falling for the Blue Devils. After hitting two of them early in the game, then went on a 0-15 streak from beyond the arc.  I thought around the 6-7 minute range, they were pressing too much and jacking up three point shots when they could have continued driving to the basket and picking up fouls.   Maybe it would have been a little bit closer of a game atleast.

It sucks to see Senior DeMarcus Nelson go out like this.  He played a terrible tournament and will take a lot of crap for his gameplay and the way Duke played.  We all know Nelson is a lot better player then he showed late in the season.

All in all, I wish we could have seen the Blue Devils advance but I figured it was a long shot the way they had been playing lately.  Nelson is the lone Senior that the team will lose, so the Blue Devils will have a lot of experience coming back.  That can only take you so far though, they need to get a big man to play downlow if they want to get any better.

We will continue blogging during the off-season and hope you continue to come and leave comments.  Stay strong Duke fans.

Ok, yes I will admit that Duke got very lucky tonight against Belmont.  To be honest, Belmont should have won this game and I actually felt sorry for them when they threw the last ball away to DeMarcus Nelson.  It was like I didn’t believe what happened…  Yet, I’m sitting here happy that Duke won, but still pissed off at how poorly they played.

First off, DeMarcus Nelson, you need to step up like the Senior you are.  You have been around the Duke program long enough to know when you should take the game over.   Yet, that didn’t happen and good thing Gerald Henderson was around to pick up for you.

Speaker of Henderson, what a game for him.  He came up with the big shot and the big stop on defense late in the ballgame that the Blue Devils really needed.  Without Henderson, the Blue Devils lose this game without a question.

Another player that really needs to step if the Blue Devils want to have any shot during the next round is Freshman Kyle Singler.  Singler has looked lost out there the last three to four games and isn’t knocking down the open shot.  I would like to see him drive to the basket more and get to the free throw line to get some points from the charity line.

I’m happy for the win tonight, but still upset at the same time.  I really don’t like Duke’s chances against the winner of the Arizona / West Virgina match.  I think Duke loses out in the second round, with another bad performance in the NCAA Tournament.  What do you think Blue Devil fans?  Do you agree with me?

It was what most Duke fans and the players were not expecting but the Duke Blue Devils lost in the semi-finals of the ACC tournament to the Clemson Tigers 78-74.  The previous day, the Blue Devils had beaten Georgia Tech 82-70 to move into the semi-finals.

I won’t blog much about the Georgia Tech game as Duke contolled that game for the most part as they held a 20 point lead in the game.  That lead dwindled down and Tech gave Duke a pretty good game in the second half before Duke held on for the win.

As for the Duke / Clemson game, where do I start lol?  Duke was ice cold from beyond the arch as they only hit 6 of 26 shots from three point land.  This Duke team lives and dies by the three point shot, and on Saturday they died by it.

Inside play was also a big factor as to why Clemson got the victory.  Duke has got to rebound the ball better, and get more points down low.  I just don’t see that adjustment being made this season as the Blue Devils head into the big tournament.

Hopefully Kyle Singler and company will step up on Thursday when the Blue Devils take on Belmont in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.  If not, we could see another early exit by the Blue Devils.

It was Senior Night at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday night as the Duke Blue Devils hosted the hated rivals the North Carolina Tarheels.  It and up and down game, it was North Carolina who came out on top with a 76-68 victory over the Blue Devils.  Duke battled back in the second half but a late rally by Carolina pushed them over the edge.

One thing that really hurt the Blue Devils was not making a basket in the last five minutes of the ballgame.  Someone needed to step up and take control to get the ball in the bucket those last five minutes.  I gotta give Carolina credit where it is due, and they shut down the opposing team and ended up winning the ball game.

I really thought that DeMarcus Nelson would come out and have a better game to be honest.  Maybe the Senior had some crazy nerves as it was Senior night but I would have thought he would get rid of those after a few minutes and then play a great game.  Nelson was held to six points on only 3 of 12 shooting.  Not the type of game he wanted to play that is for sure.

We just might see another game between to the rivals during the ACC Tournament in the next week.  Duke will have to battle their way through the tournament to have that shot however.  They need to play a lot better basketball then they have the past two weeks if they want that rematch.

It sure wasn’t a good game for the Duke Blue Devils on Saturday afternoon as they barely beat an unranked North Carolina State Wolfpack.  With the 87-86 victory it gave Coack K his 800th career win but he wasn’t too sure it was going to happen on Saturday as the players just weren’t responding like he had hoped.

DeMarcus Nelson and Jon Scheyer led the Blue Devils with 19 points each.  Both made key baskets late in the game to push the Blue Devils to victory.

Greg Paulus hit a couple huge three’s during the Blue Devils comeback as well and finished the game with 15 points.  Kyle Singler and Gerald Henderson helped out with 12 points each as well.  I really think that Singler could have taken the game over if he had wanted too and put up atleast 25 points.  They just couldn’t stop him driving to the basket and getting layups.  I think Singler should have kept taking the ball the basket and it wouldn’t have been as close of a game.

A win is a win so we have to be glad for that.  The win kept the Blue Devils in the hunt for a #1 seed depending how they close out the last two weeks of the season.

It was a low scoring game by Duke standards on Wednesday night as they beat the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 71-58 at Cameron Indoor Stadium.  The Blue Devils took a 33-27 lead into halftime before pushing their lead into the double digits in the second half.

Duke is used to making a good percentage of their three point shots, but they were just not falling against Georgia Tech.  The Blue Devils only shot 2 of 15 from beyond the arc, their worst performance of the year, but they were will able to come away with the victory and that is what you have got to like about this team.  You have to adapt to how the game is going, and make adjustments and that exactly what they did.

Four Duke players scored in doubel figures as Gerald Henderson and DeMarcus Nelson led the way with 15 points each.  Kyle Singler and Greg Paulus weren’t too far behind with 13 and 11 points.  I really like the fact that Henderson was more agressive on the offensive end of the court, his wrist must be feeling better even though he will require surgery on it at the end of the season.

The victory put Coack K at 799 career victories and he will go for his 800th win on Saturday as the Blue Devils will play at North Carolina State.  The game will tip off at noon eastern time and be seen on CBS.

The Duke Blue Devils got back to the winning ways on Saturday afternoon as they defeated the St. Johns Red Storm 86-56 at Cameron Indoor Stadium.  Duke had previously lost their last two games and needed to get a win at home and that is exactly what they did.

Kyle Singler was the leading scorer for the Blue Devils who had four other players score in double figures.  Singler scored a game high 16 points, while Nolan Smith and Gerald Henderson both scored 13 points.  Jon Scheyer finished the game with 12 points while Brian Zoubek scored 11 points.  It was nice to see the balanced scoring attack come back for the Blue Devils even though DeMarcus Nelson and Greg Paulus didn’t score too many points.

Up next for the Blue Devils will be a Feb 27th game against Georgia Tech at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Hopefully the Blue Devils can start up another winning streak and carry some momentum into the last 4 games of the regular season and into the ACC Tournament.

The Duke Blue Devils have hit a brick wall the last two ball games against Wake Forest and Miami.  Playing both games on the road, the Blue Devils have been unable to come away with wins as they are now tied with North Carolina for first place in the ACC.

Duke fell behind early as Miami was playing lights out basketball in the first half.  The highest scorers in the first half of the Blue Devils only had six points which is unheard of for a Duke player.  Heading into halftime the Blue Devils were already down 41-36 and it quickly grew to a 20 point lead in the second half as the Hurricanes went on a 15-0 run that Duke had no answer for.

I will give the Blue Devils credit for battling back after being down 20 points in the second half.  Sophomore Jon Scheyer had a career high 27 points, and DeMarcus Nelson really stepped up his play in the second half as he finished with 19 points.

I really believe that Coack K needs to sit Gerald Henderson down for atleast one or two games so he can let his wrist heal up.  Henderson isn’t doing much on the offensive end of the ball like we are used to seeing.  Usually he is at the free throw line four or five times a game, but he just isn’t taking the ball to the basket as much with the hurt wrist.

Duke can overcome this little slump on Saturday when St. Johns makes a visit to Cameron Indoor Stadium.  The game can be seen on CBS and will tip-off at 4:00 eastern.

Duke Blog

It was not the outcome that Duke wanted on Sunday night as Wake Forest used a fast paced offense and big rebounding advantage to defeat the Blue Devils 86-73.  Duke was in foul trouble all game and before the final whistle blew, five Blue Devil players had fouled out of the ballgame.  They had their chances but they could not make the layups that they usually do, and only shot 13 of 25 from the free throw line while Wake Forsest shot 27 of 38.

You could really tell from the get go that Wake Forest was going to control the game with their fast paced offense.  Duke could never stop the ball as the Demon Deacons attacked the basket all night long.  Give Wake credit as they took it right to the Blue Devils and the Blue Devils did not have a answer tonight.

Nolan Smith led the Blue Devils in the scoring column as he scored 21 points.  Most of Smith’s baskets in the second half were on quick layups as Wake did not want to foul him.

DeMarcus Nelson finished with 18 points while Kyle Singler wasn’t far behind with 17 points.

Greg Paulus and Gerald Henderson never got going in the game.  Henderson is battling a wrist injury that he sustained in the North Carolina game.  I have to wonder if he will sit out a game or two and let it heal up so he is 100% healthy heading into the ACC Tournament.

The Blue Devils will try to rebound on Wednesday night as they travel to Miami to take on the Hurricanes.  The game will start at 9:00 eastern and can be seen on ESPN Full Court. 

It was an up down game for the Duke Blue Devils on Wednesday night against Maryland as they held off the Terrapins 77-65.  The Blue Devils were leading the game 41-30 at halftime, and quickly pushed the lead to 46-30 within the first few minutes of the second half, but that was when Coach Williams for Maryland called a timeout and the Terrapins went on a big run.

As the Duke lead went down to two points around the eight minute mark, freshman Kyle Singler took over.  He quickly pushed the lead back up to four with a nice layup as he drove by the defender on the baseline and from that point forward the Blue Devils never looked back.  Singler finished the game with a career high 26 points.  Single went 6 of 9 from beyong the arc and 10-17 overall.  Great game as the freshman continues to grow in the Duke system.

Greg Paulus had another good night shooting the ball as well.  Paulus finished with 20 points on 5 of 11 shooting including four three pointers.  He did have some trouble defending Vasquez of Maryland but overall he did a good enough job to get the win.  Speaking of Vasquez, have we seen a much more cocky player lately?

Two other Blue Devil players were in double figures as Jon Scheyer scored 13 points and DeMarcus Nelson scored 12 points.

One player who hasn’t been scoring as much lately has been Gerald Henderson.  Don’t just look at the scoring column though, Henderson is playing some great defense and really helping out the team in that fashion.  I do wish he would stop trying for the electric dunk, and lay the ball in as he attacks the basket.

Duke will next be in action on Sunday as they travel to Wake Forest.  The game will be seen on Fox Sports Net.