Thoughts on Duke vs. Indiana

54-51 was the score. To an outsider looking in, you would think that this game was sloppy. That was exactly what you saw watching the game on Tuesday. Two teams that couldn't do anything offensively.

Duke had a horrific shooting night(31.8%). However, solid defense when it counted made up for their unbelievably bad offensive execution.

The three people who even tried to shoot the ball were McRoberts, Nelson, and Scheyer.

Nelson had a solid night, scoring 19 on 6-10 shooting. Scheyer had a terrible shooting night, but was able to get to the line and score a total of 10 points. And finally McRoberts.....What the
#$%#!!!!! He continues to show terrible finish in the paint. I hate to say it but if he plays like this all year then leaves, I would have to consider him a bust!!!

After all the bull$hit, it is a win against a quality opponent. And they showed the ability to clamp down when it counted.


PLAYER OF THE GAME
DEMARCUS NELSON
He was the bright spot in the game. His points average continues to stay up there. His defense as always was solid.


Next up for Duke will be Georgetown. Time to avenge last years loss. I have on thing to say about this game.......WATCH THE BACK-DOOR CUTS!!!!

Duke vs. Indiana (9e/8c on ESPN)

The Blue Devils come in to this game fresh off a dominating victory against Davidson. The Hoosiers come in winners of two in a row(Chicago State, Indiana State). Duke's only loss was to Marquette. The Hoosiers loss, in a come from behind win, to Butler.

Last season the expectations were high for the Blue Devils, when JJ and company rolled into Assembly Hall. For forty minutes the Hoosiers gave them all they could handle. This game was a true nail bitter for Duke fans. In the end, Duke came out ahead. Josh McRoberts, who played in the heart of Indiana in high school, received relentless booing from the crowd, but had a solid game in the victory. This year, Josh won't have to worry about taunting. The Blue Devils will be in the friendly confines of Cameron Indoor Stadium.

The young and balance Blue Devils have shared the spotlight every game this year. McRoberts is starting to feel more comfortable with the ball, and looking to score. The freshmen are looking like one of the best groups in the nation. They continue to have great performances, and each one has had a significant impact. DeMarcus Nelson, until last game, has been the leading scorer for most of the games. He has stepped up his game, and proved he is the offensive force, that everyone said he would be.

Indiana has a group of Seniors and Juniors as their starting rotation. They are experienced, but the talent level is not that high. Mike Davis didn't leave Kelvin Sampson a powerhouse team to takeover. However, this team can be dangerous at times. Their best player, DJ White, is a big athletic force down low. He hasn't really been challenged to date. If the front court of Thomas, Zoubek, and McRoberts can neutralize White, the Blue Devils will have a great chance to win.

Indiana has a deep rotation, much like Duke. But Duke's talent level is far superior. If they can continue their great shooting, and play the same great defense, they will win this game.


PLAYER TO WATCH
JOSH MCROBERTS

Josh has been playing offense like he should. He is being more aggressive, and finding his role. Look for him down low against DJ White.

Duke Back To Winning Ways

Sorry for the lateness of the review. Hope every one's holiday was great!

After a disappointing loss against Marquette, the Blue Devils went back home to the friendly confines of Cameron Indoor Stadium. They used a balance attack to take apart Davidson, who was 4-2 coming in.

Like most of the season, the minutes were spread out. It seemed like everyone got on the floor at one time or another. McRoberts is starting to look like he knows how to score. He had a solid game scoring 14 points, and grabbing 9 boards. The other top scorer was Jon Scheyer. He had 14 points as well, going 3-4 from the arc, but had a little trouble at the line going 5-9(not good for him).

The other players in double figures were Zoubek and Henderson. Zoubek got back to doing what he does best.....scoring from the post. He scored 12 with 7 boards. He was a little shaky from the field as he went 4-10. Henderson had another solid game chipping in 10 points, and with every game looking like he is finding his way at the college level.

Nelson wasn't the offensive factor he usually is. He had 9 points, however let the other players provide a solid performance. Thomas was limited because of foul trouble.

The freshmen group had another solid game scoring a combined 40 of the 75 points in the game. The balance this team has was present again. The playing time and the scoring continues to be juggled around, and providing us with a very energetic team to watch.


PLAYER OF THE GAME:
Josh McRoberts
Josh is finally showing us that he can be a dominate post player, and a offensive machine. Hopefully he can get more comfortable, and start putting up twenty a game.


Next up for Duke will be a home match up against Indiana. Last year's game was a classic at Assembly Hall. This one will be fun to watch.

Mistakes Catch Up To Duke

The entire game was played at a high level. Each team went back and forth for 35 minutes. However, in the last 5 minutes, Marquette was able to come up with big plays and pull out the victory.

The mistakes of past games smacked Duke in the mouth tonight, as turnovers against a very skilled Marquette team led to fast break points. Marquette went crazy on the offensive glass. Instead of grabbing loose balls, Duke continued to just slap it away, and usually into the hands of a Marquette player. At times Duke got on runs, and looked to pull away. Credit Marquette with never letting in get out of hand, and eventually pulling of the victory.

Down the stretch the Blue Devils had many chance to tie, or get back within striking distance. And in this period, every time McRoberts got the ball, he would miss the lay-up or just turn the ball over. At times it looked like he had come out of his offensive funk of the other games. However, the way he played down the stretch when Duke really needed him was absolutely pitiful.

Nelson started the game on fire. But in the second half was very limited, and couldn't get anything going. The freshmen, which in every other game were terrific, were held in check and never got into a flow.

The box score tells the story of bad shooting. 35.7% from the field(20-56). And 38.5% from behind the arc(5-13).

It would be unfair not to mention Dominic James. The skilled guard from Marquette had a game high 25 points, and came up huge when it mattered most.


PLAYER OF THE GAME:

The Duke player of the game was going to be Josh McRoberts. However, when he couldn't get it done down the stretch he put a sour taste in my mouth. You might not agree but I loved the way David McClure provided a much needed spark to the Blue Devils, and he is my player of the game.


After looking at this game in a few days, you will realize that losing is part of the game. This young team needs to learn from this, and just let the game come to them. Duke will bounce back. The young kids will shake it off. McRoberts will forget it and continue to be a dangerous player. Tip your cap to Marquette and lets move on.

*Next up for the Blue Devils is Davidson on Saturday.

First Hand Review: Duke vs. Air Force

My first Duke game live. What an experience. Kansas City was pro Duke in this one. The minute Coach K made his presence the small arena went nuts.

In the first half it was all Duke. And the shooting percentage shows it. A blistering 73.9% from the field. Lance Thomas was really aggressive on offense. Every time he got the ball down low, he took it up strong, and it usually went in. DeMarcus Nelson continues to impress everyone as he is the go to guy offensively for Duke. Career high for the wing guard with 23 points. Paulus was showing a lot of passion, and every time he hit a three pointer, he was pumping his fist, and banging his chest. However, he had six turnovers, and his defense was lackluster. Paulus made mistakes that he needs to improve on if this team is going to compete with UNC. Looking on, I felt that Jon Scheyer had an off night. However, looking at the box score he had twelve points. However, his shot did look a little off.

The rotation was not as deep tonight, with the five starters of Nelson, McRoberts, Paulus, Scheyer, and Thomas getting most of the minutes. Henderson didn't take a shot, and McClure played 15, and grabbed 5 boards.

Sloppy play, and terrible defense gave the Blue Devils a scare in the second half. The back door cuts were show obvious as I was sitting behind the Falcons basket in the second half. I could watch one player look to cut, and BAM. Two points. This defense has got to improve. A faster team like Marquette could "cut" them up if they are not careful.


PLAYER OF THE GAME:

This game has two players of the game. DeMarcus Nelson for a career high night, and Lance Thomas for his aggressive play down in the paint.


All in all, a great game to watch. If you are a Duke fan and have never seen them play live. YOU MUST GO!!!

Duke will play against Marquette tonight in the finals of the CBE Classic. They will have to play forty minutes of solid basketball to pull this one out.

*Pics from my experience will be forthcoming.

Duke vs Air Force @ KC

Duke comes into tonight's game against Air Force, with a 3-0 mark on the season. They have been playing solid basketball, and are ready to be tested against their best competition this young season.

Air Force which is coming into this game at a 4-0 mark. They got here by blowing out Stanford, in a game that most people thought was Stanford's to lose(I don't really think an upset is a 34 point blow out). Air Force also took down Colorado, in Boulder, this past weekend. Air Force is playing great basketball, and the Blue Devils need to be ready. Air Force always plays good defense, and sloppy play, like we saw Thursday against UNC-Greensboro, will make it difficult for the Blue Devils to pull away. Looking at Air Force's roster you see an experienced team. They have four starters averaging double figures in scoring, and the fifth is just under 9 points a game.

Duke will need to use that great defense they have been showing. Air Force is the type of team that needs to play half court offense. If the Blue Devils can force Air Force to play an up tempo style of game then they should be able to control the game, and win decisively.

I am looking forward to watching the way the freshmen play outside of Cameron. This is a neutral court, however the Blue Devils will not have the Crazies cheering for them non-stop. Hopefully, Duke will realize that they are the better team, and go on to the finals of the CBE Classic.


PLAYERS TO WATCH:

Keep an eye on Brian Zoubek. His size advantage against an undersized Air Force team should give him lots of chances to have a big game.


*I will be in attendance tonight watching, in person, my beloved Blue Devils for the very first time.

*You can catch the game on ESPN 2 @ 6pm central time. The other semi-final game will have Texas-Tech vs Marquette.

Balanced Play, Another Win

The 06/07 edition of the Blue Devils were expected to be balanced. After three games, no one could of expected what they have seen. Going into a game you never know who is going to be the big time player. It has been a long time since the Blue Devils experienced this kind of production from so many different players.

The Blue Devils squared off against the UNC-Greensboro Spartans. Duke coming in was 2-0. The Spartans however were 0-2. The game started out like many people thought it would. Duke dominated, and a balanced attack, seeing many different players score was the key. Once again, Duke, played great defense and held the Spartans to 31.6% shooting on the night. At times however, the Blue Devils were sloppy. Turning the ball over, and not taking good shots. However, the settled down enough to not even let the Spartans in the game.

Looking at the box score of this game, you will see an unbelievable stat. Ten players, that's right, ten players played ten minutes or more. Six players were in for twenty or more. This is the depth that Coach K had been looking forward too.

Zoubek continues to be a solid scorer on the inside. This season he is putting up 11.7 points per game along with 6 rpg. Zoubek will continue to get better as he feels more comfortable in the Duke system. The sky is the limit for this kid.

McClure continues to impress Blue Devil nation as the wild card player of the season. After sitting out last season with a medical red-shirt, McClure has played with great enthusiasm, and is showing everyone why he was a great high school player in the state of Connecticut.

The scoring leaders for this game were Zoubek(17), Henderson(12), Nelson(11), and McClure(11). If you were wondering about Josh McRoberts, he was busy dishing the ball(7 assists). He also went 3-3 from the floor with 6 points.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

David McClure - He continues to find his way in the Duke lineup. He was one rebound short of a double-double. The Blue Devil Blog is on board with McClure as he continues to help this team with great production.

Duke will be playing in Kansas City, Monday, in the Semi-finals of the CBE Classic. They will go up against Air Force. I will be in attendance that night, and am looking forward for my first chance to watch the Blue Devils.




*Come on over to the best Duke forum on the web. The Dukereport.com forum is a great place to talk about Duke basketball with other intelligent fans. Other forums are filled with crap about everything but Duke basketball. Don't deal with it.....YOU DON'T HAVE TOO.

Duke Prevails!!! On to Kansas City!!!

Well after taking a deep breath in the first half, Duke decided to be Duke. After a disappointing first half, with freshmen errors, and a resilient Georgia-Southern team, Duke came the second half with a great mentality. They realized that they are the better team, and made sure that Georgia-Southern remembered it also.

Even though ESPN decided to blackout the first half in my area(SCREW YOU WORLDWIDE LEADER IN SPORTS). They were nice enough to let me watch the second half.

Duke enter this game coming off a balanced win against Columbia. Georgia-Southern scored 116 points in a thrashing of UC Davis.

As the game began, Duke realized that it couldn't take Georgia-Southern lightly. With fast guards they were able to beat Duke's man defense. Dwayne Foreman was the star in the first half, leading the charge for Georgia-Southern, and showing off some great speed. The balanced attack of scoring was not there, like against Columbia, for Duke. They had to just keep from letting Georgia-Southern take off in the first half. However, a late surge in the first and a great last second shot by DeMarcus Nelson, lifted the Devils to a dominating performance for the rest of the game.

Josh McRoberts took a offensive roll for Duke, and ended the game with 16 points off 6-11 shooting. The other bright spot on offense was the emergence of Gerald Henderson. We have all heard of his talent, and he gave us a little taste of it tonight with his 13 points. Nelson continued to prove that he can provide a great offensive season with 16 points.

The Blue Devils shot 32 times from the free throw line, making 22 of those attempts. The free throw shooting could be a little better, but getting to the line this many times is a plus. Duke, who is usually the most disciplined team on the floor committed 20 turnovers. Sometimes the play got a little sloppy, but the Devils were still able to keep it under control. However, when ACC play rolls around they will need to make these mistakes go away.

DUKE PLAYER OF THE GAME:
Gerald Henderson gets the nod. His emergence really showed what he is capable of.

Duke will go on to play UNC Greensboro on Thursday night. The only way to catch the action is to listen to it on Duke Inside Access.

Duke looks Devilish

When I sat down to watch the beginning of the 06/07 campaign, I thought about what could be this year. The Blue Devils have a new look, with many new and young faces. And from what I saw last night, it is going to be an exciting year.

The box score says it all. Coach K, as anticipated, used a balance attack that kept the players fresh. A total of ten players had more than ten minutes of play. All but Zoubek(14 minutes), and Thomas(12 minutes), played more than 15 minutes. A surprise to Blue Devil nation was Greg Paulus getting the start at the point. Apparently playing big time football for four years, helps you heal quickly. This allowed Jon Scheyer, who had been playing the point while Paulus was out, move to his normal wing position. Scheyer let Duke fans know that he will be a future star at Duke. He ended the first half with all of his 12 points, shooting 3-4 from behind the arc.

Scheyer wasn't the only freshmen making noise. As expected, Brian Zoubek was a force down low. When the ball was given to him, he never failed to out hustle anyone guarding him. The result was either two points, or a foul drawn(he was an excellent10-13 from the line). In the short amount of time Zoubek was in(14 minutes) he managed 18 points to go with 6 boards.

The other freshmen star of the night was Lance Thomas, who really came in as a wild card, in which fans didn't know exactly what to expect. He let everyone know that even though he doesn't have a built frame, he can pound the ball down low with anyone. Thomas, who can play the post or run the wing as a true athlete, got 12 hard earned points in only 12 minutes of play.

The other freshmen, Gerald Henderson, didn't have a breakout game. He played for a solid 20 minutes, however looked lost on offense, and didn't seem comfortable at times. He shoot 1-4 from the field, and finished with 4 point.

The "fab four freshmen" totaled 46 points together. A stat that everyone is excited to see.

Another bright spot on this game was DeMarcus Nelson. Who is the senior member of this team, even though he is a junior. Nelson who has been hampered by injuries his previous two years, looked to be back 110%. Nelson screamed down the floor on every play. And early on in the game received a great pass from Paulus, and slammed it hard, bringing the crowd to its feet. Nelson needs to work on his free throw shooting, where he went 3-8. However, the enthusiasm that he displayed in the game is a welcome sign for the fans.

All in all a great opening performance for the Blue Devils. McRoberts didn't force the offense, and let his freshmen counterparts display their talent. McRoberts will break out whenever he wants to. When that happens watch out. The amount of depth on this team is unbelievable.

Duke will have a bigger test tonight, as they square off against a solid Georgia-Southern team, in the second round of the CBE Classic. You can catch this one on ESPN 2 at 7et/6ct.



*Come on over to the best Duke forum on the web. The Dukereport.com forum is a great place to talk about Duke basketball with other intelligent fans. Other forums are filled with crap about everything but Duke basketball. Don't deal with it.....YOU DON'T HAVE TOO.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!!

Duke Nation, it is time to rejoice. Paint that face blue, get out the retro number 24 Dawkins jersey, and show the country that you bleed royal blue.

It is time for another season of exciting Duke Blue Devil basketball. It has been eight months since LSU beat Duke in the sweet sixteen, and put an end to a season filled with enormous expectations.

But forget about it. It is time to move on. JJ and Sheldon are gone. The new Duke Blue Devils are ready to write their own bit of history.

Coming into the season the national press sees the Devils as a "just out of the top ten" team. We all know how smart the so called experts are.

But as every Duke fan probably feels, they don't care if we're favored to win it all, we are just excited to watch the future of Duke basketball. This is a very young team that will be extremely exciting to watch. Strap the seat belts, and hold on. It is going to be a wild ride.

The Blue Devils will open Sunday Nov. 12th with the opening of the CBE Classic. Which first two rounds will be played at regional sites. The Durham region which Duke is hosting will put Duke against Columbia, while the other game in Durham will put Georgia Southern against UC Davis.
The semifinals and finals will be played in Kansas City(I have the pleasure to be going to watch them play).

As for the first game of the season, The Devils Den has the game preview here.

Time to get the game face on!!!!

My Thoughts On....

Kyle Singler:

Last Friday, one of the most coveted recruits in the Class of 2007 made his decision. And I am sure if you were anywhere near a Duke fan, you would of realized what he said in his press conference. "I will be going to Duke University", Singler said, as he put on a blue hat with the familiar devil on the front. The two year journey that had many Duke fans on the edge of the cliff, and back again finally ended. And oh how sweet it is!!!! Singler will an unbelievable asset, and is added to a class that already include Oak Hill's Nolan Smith, and Taylor King from Mater Dei. Never has a three man class looked so good. Singler will come to Duke and will be given the opportunity to contribute right away. I for one look forward to the Kyle Singler era beginning at Duke next fall.



WELCOME TO DUKE, KYLE!!!!!



Blue-White Scrimmage:

Sunday night the annual Blue-White game between Duke players in white, and Duke players in Blue........and both of them with a little black mixed in. The big star(pun intended), was Brian Zoubek. The 7 footer from Jersey came in to Duke overshadowed by the other Duke freshmen. However, Zoubek lit up the score board and let Duke nation that he was going to be a star at Duke. I remember what Dickie V said in a Duke game last year. Howard Garfunkel, who is one of the greatest evaluators of talent in all of basketball said that Zoubek was going to be a star at Duke. Want to know about Garfunkel's cred? He said the same thing about a silky smooth shooting guard from Roanoke, Virginia that went to Duke. Anybody know how that turned out? The rest of the Blue Devils cast showed that this young and athletic team will be a huge surprise this year.

Shaw Bears:

The Blue Devils will play their first exhibition game tonight at Cameron Indoor. I have no information on Shaw, and I really don't think anyone cares.....

My prediction: Duke 120 Shaw 40. If this is right I better get my props.