Posted On: July 11, 2010 By: Cliff Comments: (3)

There will be another Plumlee on the Duke roster in a couple of years as seven-footer Marshall Plumlee as verbally committed to Duke University and will be part of the 2011 recruiting class. In 2011 you will see senior Miles Plumlee, junior Mason and then freshman Marshall all on the same Duke team. Marshall had a great time in June when he spent time in Durham and was able to play some pick up games and also talk with Coack K. That trip pretty much sealed the deal and Duke fans couldn’t be any more happy!

Marshall plays more of a traditional center position so don’t expect to see him out on the wing or driving to the basket as much as his older brothers do. Now the question is can Marshall step in and play down low from day one or will he be a project like Brian Zoubek? If I had to bet, it would be on Marshall stepping in from day one and playing well.

It’s a great time to be a Duke fan that is for sure! Recruiting is doing well and the players are excited to get back into things and winning another national championship!

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Category: Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Recruiting

Posted On: April 29, 2010 By: Cliff Comments: (4)

Last night I had the pleasure of listening to Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski speak to a sold out crowd in Rapid City, SD as he was the guest speaker for the John T. Vucurevich foundation. I never thought that I would get to see Coach K clear out here where I am from (90 miles from Rapid City) and I was lucky enough to find a couple of tickets to the event on craigslist the night before the event. I’m glad I was able to go and my wife even enjoyed it so that was a plus.

A couple of interesting facts that Coach said was that as a high school senior he was set on attending either Creighton or Wisconsin but his parents really wanted him to attend West Point after Bob Knight stopped by for his home visit. He laughed and said that you pretty much did what Coach Knight said because you did not want to have one of your chairs broken in the house especially when you only have four to begin with. Later on Coach k came back to the story and said no chairs were broken only a couch lol.

A good portion of the speech was about coaching the Olympic teams and how he and the other assistant coaches were able to bring the players closer together and get USA Basketball back on the map and winning championships. We were shown a 2.5 minute video clip that was played to the team right after they landed in Beijing which stressed about having no excuses and having each others backs. Hearing how he communicated with players like Kobe Bryant, Lebron James and Dwyane Wade was pretty interesting and you can tell why Coach K is such a great leader.

Toward the end of the event, coach did take some questions from the audience which I thought was pretty cool. One question asked what he was thinking with about four minutes left against Butler in the championship game. Coach K replied “Scared as Hell, fortunate to win. He wanted to just allow the team to play and follow their instincts rather than try to over coach the situation” Now that is having trust and great communication with your team!

Another question that was asked asked what he looks for when recruiting student athletes. His answer to that was three things. Basketball talent, academic talent, and last but not least good character kids. He then mentioned former Duke player Grant Hill winning the NBA Sportsmanship Award for the third time in his career and that is one of the great character guys that he has had at Duke.

Overall, the event was great. Tickets were only $7 for adults and $3 for students. Students and community played a big role in the speech and that is exactly what the Vucurevich Foundation is about. Coach K did a great thing and went around during the afternoon and spoke with all the area basketball teams which I thought was a great thing and played right into the foundation’s goals.

Was anyone else in attendance last night? Leave us a comment with your thoughts if you were please.

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Category: Duke Basketball

Posted On: April 26, 2010 By: Cliff Comments: (1)

Post player Tyler Adams has announced that he will be attending Duke University and be part of the 2011 signing class for the Duke Blue Devils. Adams can bang down low with his 6’9 260 lb frame. Word is that Adams can still add on some muscle to that frame so expect a big boy when he arrives in Durham for the 2012 season. Adams will be able to take up a lot of space and can score multiple ways from 15 feet in his coach says. Sounds exactly the type of player Coach K needed for this class.

Adams is ranked as the 81st player in the 2011 class by Rivals and also a four star recruit.

“Tyler is a very skilled young man, especially in the low post,” said Larry Stamps, Adams’ club team coach with the Jackson Panthers. “He definitely is a low-post center, which is unusual now because a lot of the big kids like to face up. He likes to play down low and has the body to do it.”

Adams joins forward Michael Gbinije of Richmond, Va. as part of the 2011 class. Welcome aboard Mr. Adams!

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Category: Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Recruiting

Posted On: April 19, 2010 By: Cliff Comments: (3)

Good news Duke fans! Kyle Singler announced this evening that he will be coming back to Duke for his senior season and out the NBA on hold for another year. Singler will be the main guy in the Blue Devils offense next year without question and he will be looking to bring back another championship to Durham!

“I love being here at Duke and am excited about next year,” Singler said in a statement released by the university. “I had two great options in front of me, but I did not want to miss out on all of the great things to come in a senior season.”

Singler will be one key component on next years team but we cannot forget about Nolan Smith and the Plumlee brothers. The key to the team is how well Kyrie Irving can step in at the point guard position and if he can do that look for the Blue Devils to be contending all year long!

Thanks for coming back for another year Kyle!

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Category: Duke Basketball

Posted On: April 5, 2010 By: Cliff Comments: (9)

WOW! Don’t have much to say as I’m still shocked over the game. Congrats to the guys for pulling out the victory and props to Butler for almost pulling off the unthinkable. I’m pretty much speechless right now so I’ll just end this post with this:

2010 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!

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Category: Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Game Notes

Posted On: April 4, 2010 By: Cliff Comments: (2)

Duke will be playing for the 2010 NCAA Championship Monday night against the Butler Bulldogs in their home town. You can call it David vs Goliath or a true Hoosiers story for the Bulldogs but no matter what it is going to be one exciting match up in my opinion.

Can Duke win it’s first NCAA championship since 2001 when they defeated Arizona 82-72. In that game, Duke used a 47-39 second half to get by the Wildcats and that is how I see the game against Butler playing out for the Blue Devils.  Sure the 01 team was more stacked with their starting five but this years Duke team has three scorers and four big men that know their roles and play them very well.

Butler will attempt to slow down the game and play in a half court set while chewing up the clock and knock down the open shots that they get. Duke will be fine in the half court I think as it allows their players to get back on defense and not have a speedy point guard running right at the basket drawing fouls or getting wide open layups.

Butlers Matt Howard will be a game time decision as he sustained a mild concussion in their game against Michigan State on Saturday. Don’t expect Howard to sit on the bench and watch his team play in the championship though. Howard will be out there with his teammates as they attempt to pull off another victory and bring the championship back to their school just six miles from Lucas Oil Stadium.

In the end I think Duke just has too much offensive firepower with Nolan Smith, Jon Scheyer and Kyle Singler. Any one of those players can go for 25 points if needed and if they all three score over 15 points like they did on Saturday against West Virginia well then you can expect a 10-12 point victory for the Blue Devils. Current odds have the Devils favored by 7.5 points.

If you are looking for tickets for the game, they are still available and actually pretty cheap in my opinion unless you want to sit on the baseline in the first 20-30 rows. Head on over to Ticket City and check out what they have left for seats.

I will be tweeting live during the game tonight so feel free to add @justdukecom to your twitter account!

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Category: Duke Basketball

Posted On: March 31, 2010 By: Cliff Comments: (5)

Good morning Duke fans. It’s been about a week since I have updated the blog and I apologize for that. Hopefully we will have two more game recaps in the next week and be talking about the Duke Blue Devils as the 2010 NCAA Champions! Duke flew out to Indianapolis on Wednesday as they have to partake in media interviews and get a couple of practices in before they take on West Virginia on Saturday night. The matchup against West Virginia is very interesting and one that I think will come down to the last possession. Currently Duke is favored by -2.5 points and the over/under at 131 points.

I think if Duke can slow down Da`Sean Butler who is averaging 19 points a game they will have a great shot at pulling out the victory. My question is who will be guarding Butler? Nolan Smith or Kyle Singler? Either player will have to be able to contest Butler’s shot and do so without fouling. We all seen what happened when Kyle picked up two quick fouls in the Baylor game, it pretty much took out his rhythm for the entire game and he struggled. Brian Zoubek and Lance Thomas will need to come up big on the boards and hopefully not be shooting the ball as much as they did in Houston (Yes, I’m talking about Lace).

In the end I think Duke escapes with a two point victory and will face Michigan State in the finals on Monday. I really like their chances in that game and bring home the NCAA Championship! Right now tickets are pretty expensive for the games as Butler is driving up the cost of tickets as they are basically playing in their hometown. I recommend you hold out and buy on Saturday but closer to game time and you should score a pretty good deal. I’ll be here at home watching on the tv, but I’ll be rooting for the Blue Devils just like all you!

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Category: Duke Basketball

Posted On: March 21, 2010 By: Cliff Comments: (4)

Duke’s defense was huge on Sunday afternoon as the Blue Devils shut down a hot shooting CAL team in the second round of the NCAA tournament to advance to the Sweet 16 where they will take on Purdue.  Nolan Smith slapped the floor in Jacksonville to get the defense going and he shut down the PAC10 player of the year Jerome Randle as he only allowed Randle to score 12 points. Smith on the other hand scored a team high 20 points as the Blue Devils posted a 68-53 victory.

“I wanted to pick him up as early as I could,” Smith said. “I’ve seen films where he’d come up and shoot from 30 feet while guys are backpedaling. Today I was just up in him. He had to look at me before he looked at the rim tonight.”

Duke showed Sunday afternoon that they can beat teams with defense and rebounding and they don’t need to make 15 three pointers to win a game.

Brian Zoubek came up huge for the Blue Devils as scored 14 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. The 7’1 center is really coming into his own late in the season. As long as he can stay out of foul trouble and grab those rebounds this Duke team will be hard to beat in my opinion.

Kyle Singler chipped in with a quite 17 points on 6 of 12 shooting. However Singler was 1-6 from beyond the arc to go along with Jon Scheyer’s 1-8 from three point land. The three’s weren’t falling but it didn’t matter because Mr. Smith was playing lock down defense on Randle and the Bears couldn’t knock down any shots.

I’m excited for the game on Friday night as Duke will be facing Purdue in San Antonio. It was a good think that Purdue beat Texas A&M in the final seconds because I didn’t want to be playing the Aggies in their home state and I think they have a far more athletic team then the Boilermakers. Duke needs to shut down Kramer and I think they move on in the tournament to face the winner of Baylor and St. Mary’s.

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Category: Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Game Notes