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Michael Gbinije transferring to Syracuse

Cliff — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 15:01:44 +0000

Freshman Michael Gbinije has been granted a full release from his scholarship at Duke and will be transferring to Syracuse. You may be thinking how can Gbinije transfer to Syracuse as they will be a member of the ACC Conference in a couple of years? Well Coach K gave Mike a full release and had no blocks on schools that he could transfer too. Mike will also only have to sit out one year as Syracuse is not a current ACC Conference member.

I can understand Mike wanting to transfer due to lack of playing time during his Freshman season. But you have to remember that you are a true freshman that saw limited minutes due to the other guys on the roster. Sometimes you just have to wait your turn.

I do wish Mike well up at Syracuse where he will be playing with quite a few of his friends where they will be able to play bingo at partybingo.com. Just don’t do well against Duke!

Basketball season comes to an end

Cliff — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 17:05:44 +0000

The 2011-2012 college basketball season has ended and the Kentucky Wildcats took home the championship after defeating Kansas last night down in New Orleans.

It was a up and down year for our Duke Blue Devils as the were knocked out of the NCAA tournament in the 2nd round as Lehigh shocked everyone to pull off the upset. I’m not going to say much about that screw up other then you gotta come to play every game no matter who your opponent may be. Sure the Ryan Kelly injury hurt, but that’s not the reason for the loss.

The high points of the season would be Austin Rivers knocking down the three point shot of Tyler Zeller as Duke defeated North Carolina on their home floor. Hell of a shot by the Freshman, it’s too bad that will be the highlight of his Duke career as he has elected to sign with a agent and head to the NBA.

A few other high points were victories over Kansas and Michigan State. Both programs had good teams and Duke was able to beat both them. Once again, no matter the opponent the guys have to step up play to their capabilities. Duke could beat any team (ok maybe not Kentucky) if they play there game and lock down on defense.

The season went about as expected to me minus the loss to Lehigh. When you lose players like Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith there will be a little bit of a rebuilding process with the way Coack K likes his teams to play. We all hoped Austin would fill in nicely and he did as the season went along but I’m not sure he was the best guy for the team as he has a different mentality on the court than most Duke basketball players have due to the way Coach K likes to play the game.

Hopefully the coaching staff secures a few more commitments for the upcoming class and we will see Duke bounce back and have a strong 2012-2013 season. Please follow us on Twitter as we tweet through out the off season.

Duke #2 Seed in the South Region

Cliff — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 14:27:49 +0000

Duke received the #2 seed in the South region on Sunday and will play their first two games in Greensboro, NC. The second round match up will have Duke facing off against Lehigh on Friday night at 7:15 EST and be broadcast on CBS. The Blue Devils will bring a 27-6 record into the game while Lehigh has a 26-7 record.

I don’t think the guys will have any problems against Lehigh. However, a second round match up against either Notre Dame or Xavier could give the team some trouble.

Many people thought that Duke would be put in the East bracket but the NCAA chose the South with a possible match up against Kentucky if both teams advance that far. One team that I do not want to face is Baylor. They are an athletic type of team that would give Duke all sorts of problems in my opinion.

So with the region full of Kentucky, Wichita St, UNLV, Notre Dame, Baylor, Indiana, Uconn and Iowa State who do you think advances? I’d have to say Kentucky at this point.

Austin Rivers First Team All ACC

Cliff — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 20:27:38 +0000

Freshman star Austin Rivers has been named to the first team all ACC team. It wasn’t the only accomplishment for Austin as he was named to the all rookie team in the conference as well. You would have to assume that he would also add Freshman of the year to his accomplishments once that award is announced.

Mason Plumlee & Seth Curry were 3rd team All-ACC picks as well.

Congrats to all three players!

Mason Plumlee and Michael Gbinije ACC Academic First Team

Cliff — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 20:24:04 +0000

Some good news for Mason Plumlee and Michael Gbinije as they were both named ACC Academic First Team members by the ACC Conference on Friday. To be eligible for consideration, a student-athlete must have earned a 3.00 grade point average for the previous semester and maintained a 3.00 cumulative average during his academic career.

Congrats to Mason and Michael!

Duke falls to North Carolina

Cliff — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 20:20:41 +0000

Wow. That was one butt whooping the Tar Hells put on Duke Saturday night in Durham. The lack of rebounding, bad defense and the in ability to knock down the three point shots hurt Duke as they lost 88-70. It was bad right from the get go for Duke as Carolina easily controlled the game and knocked down open shots to start off. On the other end Duke couldn’t buy a basket and it left Duke fans hoping someone could push the reset button on the game.

I do have say that Miles Plumlee came to play and played great in his last game at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Senior shot 7-9 from the field and scored 16 points. Little brother Mason led the team with 17 points.

Carolina showed Duke what happens when you don’t have a small forward and guys that can rebound the basketball over defenders. Second chance points killed the Blue Devils. Time to learn to box out and not just try to jump higher than the opposing team to grab the rebound.

Not a whole lot to say about the game as you can see. I’m looking forward to the ACC Tournament where Duke will be the #2 seed and play the winner of Clemson and Virginia Tech on Friday night. The tournament is being played in Atlanta this year. Follow along with us through the tournament on Twitter @JustDukeCom

Duke gets revenge at Florida State

Cliff — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:03:54 +0000

Duke did exactly what they wanted to do down in Tallahassee and that was get some revenge on Florida State who beat the Blue Devils on their home court 33 days earlier. In a tough atmosphere the Blue Devils never broke and led for most of the game as they went on to beat the Seminoles 74-66.

Andre Dawkins was hot from beyond the arc as he shot 6-9 on three pointers and finished with a team high 22 points. Austin Rivers wasn’t far behind has he chipped in with 20 points of his own. Anytime FSU got close, it seemed that Dawkins or Rivers would answer with a nice bucket that would quite the crowd and extend the Blue Devils lead. That’s exactly what good teams do. Bend but don’t break and get the victory.

The win kept the Blue Devils (24-4, 11-2) tied with No. 7 North Carolina for first place in the Atlantic Coast Conference while Florida State (19-8, 10-3) dropped a game behind.

Enjoy those “Beat Duke” shirts FSU students! Maybe you can wear them to an upcoming baseball game.

@JustDukeCom

Austin Rivers and Duke beat North Carolina

Cliff — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:33:42 +0000

All that really needs to be said: Duke 84 North Carolina 83

Duke picks up a few more wins

Cliff — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:54:26 +0000

I finally got some spare time and updated the ACC, AP and ESPN/USA standings that are posted over on the right side of the blog. Duke comes in at #7 in the AP poll and #5 in the ESPN/USA Today poll. Not a bad place to sit in the middle of conference play.

The guys were able to pick up wins over Maryland and St. Johns in the last week. The victory over the Terrapins was very good because it came on the road and in a venue where we have seen the Blue Devils struggle in. The home game against St. Johns could have turned out the same except St. Johns had a strong second half and only lost by seven points. Had Duke locked down on defense in the second half, both wins would have been great. However we really can’t complain picking up back to back wins at this point in the season.

Next game will be Feb 2nd at Virginia Tech. Let’s keep up the momentum and pick up another ACC conference win!

@justdukecom

Why Duke has been struggling

Cliff — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:32:20 +0000

So the guys haven’t been playing well as of late. Close calls in conference games isn’t new but the way things are happening is new. The one thing that is really standing out to me is the lack of defensive play. Guys are not getting back, not communicating and thus playing like crap on the defensive end of the court. opposing teams with quick guards have been able to get into the lane either knock down shots or dish it off to their teammates for layups. Time to lock down on the defensive end guys.

One other thing we have noticed as fans is lack of a true leader out on the court. There isn’t that Jon Scheyer or Nolan Smith. Someone the guys can really look up too. The team is so young that mistakes will happen but you are in conference play now so it’s time to cut back on those mistakes and not get in such a hurry. Let the game come to you and good things will happen.

Tonight, Duke is favored by 23 points over visiting Wake Forest. Time for the guys to lock down on defense and let the game come to them on offense. Settle down, knock down the open shots and pick up another conference win!

@JustDukeCom