DURHAM, N.C. – The Duke University Men’s Basketball team will circle the globe in August 2011, with games scheduled in China and Dubai, Vice President and Director of Athletics Kevin White announced Friday.
The team will depart August 14 and tip off August 17 in Kunshan, China, a suburb of Shanghai and the location of a new Duke-affiliated campus expected to open in 2012. On August 19 the team will play in Shanghai’s Mercedes-Benz Arena, former home of the Shanghai World Expo Culture Center.
On August 22, the team will play its third game in China, in Beijing’s MasterCard Center, where Duke Men’s Basketball Coach Mike Krzyzewski led Team USA to a gold medal during the 2008 Olympics. Team USA’s performance in Beijing introduced many Chinese basketball fans to Krzyzewski, the legendary coach known to Duke fans and players as “Coach K.”
On August 26 the team will end its tour with a game in Dubai, one of the cities in which Duke’s Fuqua School of Business has established a significant presence.
“As a global university, Duke is delighted to have this chance to reach out to our passionate fans around the world,” said Duke President Richard H. Brodhead. “The success of our men’s basketball team is a highly visible symbol of Duke’s commitment to excellence every day, across the university, and a wonderful way for people to connect to Duke.”
“This global tour presents Duke University with an extraordinary opportunity to expand our brand across the world, using one of its primary assets – Duke Basketball – as the catalyst,” said White. “The planning process involved several significant university entities, and is yet another example of the incredibly strong collaboration that exists at Duke.
“While the entire schedule is not yet finalized,” White continued, “we are in the process of securing games against formidable competition at each respective location. Mike Cragg, senior associate director of athletics, has been our leader relative to this terribly exciting endeavor. To be sure, he has been both entrepreneurial and tireless in facilitating this exhilarating venture.”
The trip was originally conceived by Fuqua School of Business Dean Blair Sheppard and Greg Jones, Duke’s vice president and vice provost for global strategy and programs, to showcase not only Duke basketball, but also the university’s pioneering business education, health, arts, civic engagement and policy-oriented programs around the world.
The visit to Kunshan will highlight Duke’s partnership with the local government to build a new university that will include programs in business, global health and other disciplines. Construction of the 200 acre facility is currently under way.
The team will conduct youth basketball clinics in China and the United Arab Emirates. It will also visit historic Chinese gardens, the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and the Great Wall of China. In the United Arab Emirates, the team will learn about traditional Emirati culture and commerce as well as about Dubai’s rise as a modern business center. In addition, Duke will produce programs for alumni, prospective students and the public to highlight its work in each region.
At the game in Kunshan, students from Duke’s Cross Continent MBA class of 2012 will have the opportunity to stand in for the Cameron Crazies – the enthusiastic, face-painted Duke students who cheer in Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke’s home court. The game coincides with the final days of the class’s two-week residency in Shanghai.
“We are excited about the opportunity for our team to compete internationally and be exposed to so many significant historical and cultural landmarks,” said Krzyzewski. “From my experience in China with the United States Olympic Team in 2008, I know that this is a nation that absolutely loves basketball. I am thrilled that our players will have the chance to experience a country so rich in tradition first-hand. It should be a trip they remember for the rest of their lives.”
The Duke men’s basketball program broke new international ground just weeks ago with a broadcast in Mandarin Chinese of its Jan. 15 home game versus the University of Virginia. Produced by Duke students, the online radio program marked the first time an ACC basketball game was broadcast in Mandarin.
A limited number of fans will have the chance to join the team for this trip. More information about package sales will be available on GoDuke.com beginning February 24.
DL Carlos Wray says that Duke has stood out to him early.
Football Friday is back for its second week and BDN’s Patrick Cacchio offers up a brief introduction to Duke Football recruiting. Join Blue Devil Nation Premium today to get an inside look at Duke athletics and become a part of our growing community. [private]
We did it! We all survived another week and we’re back for our second installment of Football Friday. Somehow, enough of you read this column last week that they're letting me write it again. It’s all thanks to you, our members, with your emails, your PMs, your tweets, and your Facebooking. And as a big thank you to you, we’ll give you what you want this week – recruiting updates.
Kudos and other random thoughts
I figure I’ll get the simple stuff out of the way first each week. Duke had 13 players named to the ACC All-Academic team, more than twice any other ACC school. In fact, add together any other two ACC schools and you’re still not even close. Virginia and North Carolina? 5 players combined. The 2 Techs? 9 players combined. The Duke players who were recognized are some of the team’s stars on the field - almost all of them are starters. Obviously, having the smartest players doesn’t translate into wins on the field, but academic excellence is an important part of Duke culture, and it’s great to see that as Duke football becomes more competitive, we’re not forgetting our roots (cough, tarheels, cough). Congratulations to all of the well-deserving student-athletes.
I feel obligated to get on my soapbox for a minute and talk about what happened at Toomer’s Corner in Auburn. It’s a great reminder for all of us that our individual actions (and tweets/Facebook posts) reflect on our fan base as a whole. A proud tradition at Auburn has been forever tarnished by one severely misguided Crimson Tide fan. The bottom line is that all of us as fans need to do a better job of cheering for our own team and respecting our opponents, as difficult as that can sometimes be.
Football recruiting 101
For those who have heard Coach Cutcliffe and his staff talk about recruiting, much of the rest of this article may be review, but bear with us, there are big names at the end.
I’m going to go out on a ledge here and assume that if you’re a BDN member, you follow Duke basketball recruiting pretty closely. And why wouldn’t you? All you have to do is find a ranking of the top 25 or so prospects in a given class, read one of Mark’s magnificent basketball updates (or should it be magnificent Mark’s basketball updates?), check out highlights on YouTube, and you’re pretty much a Duke basketball recruiting insider, right? That doesn’t work so well for football. ESPN lists over 15,000 prospects in the class of 2011, and already has about 10,000 prospects in the class of 2012. Unfortunately, Duke cannot just target the top 25 or so from the rankings, since they have to fill out a roster with 85 scholarships. So somehow, we have to sort through all of those football prospects to find our future Blue Devils. I should have asked for more cell phone minutes for Christmas.
Luckily, the list gets broken down several ways. First, each member of the Duke coaching staff serves as the recruiting coordinator for a geographic area. For example, as you might expect, Matt Lubick is the lead recruiter for most of the west coast. Then, within a region, there are only a certain number of FBS-caliber athletes, which can be determined by evaluating game film and transcripts (or paying for a scouting service). At Duke, the next step is probably the most restrictive, and that’s whether or not the student will qualify academically for admission to Duke. The staff will then focus their recruiting efforts on this remaining group of core prospects. Obviously, hundreds of hours of work go into the evaluation process alone, but luckily for us, we don’t have to really start following all of this until Duke starts recruiting a prospect to see if there's a mutual interest. I won't be needing those cell phone minutes after all!
A word on in-state recruiting
Duke was the first to offer Tarboro RB Todd Gurley
Ok, a couple hundred words. A common misconception/criticism seems to be that Coach Cutcliffe and his staff are almost exclusively focusing their recruiting efforts on North Carolina prospects and failing to “leverage the Duke brand” at a national level. This is simply not true, and the numbers prove it. Duke’s current roster has about two dozen players from North Carolina, which is by far the least among the 4 North Carolina ACC schools. The Duke staff has placed an emphasis on in-state recruiting, but it’s by no means exclusive.
There are two primary benefits to Duke’s emphasis on North Carolina and surrounding areas. First, prospects within driving distance of Durham are the easiest to get on campus for unofficial visits, which allow prospects to build relationships with the coaching staff and grow comfortable with the Duke campus. The Duke staff places a lot of stock in the ability to get to know a player at a personal level, and the best way to do that is to have as much face-to-face contact as the NCAA allows. Second, it’s important to a lot of players and their parents that they go to school close to home. This may be more significant for athletes than the average college student, as it is usually important for the player’s family to be able to watch him play on Saturdays. Most college football rosters are made up of a significant number of in-state recruits, and this probably has a lot to do with it.
Breaking down the 2012 board
The Duke staff maintains a recruiting board of a few hundred prospects. Each prospect is evaluated individually by the entire coaching staff and a collective decision is made whether to offer that prospect a scholarship or to evaluate again at a later time in the recruiting cycle. For the class of 2012, there are already well over 100 prospects on Duke’s board, and roughly a third of them have received verbal scholarship offers to date. In addition to the board, there are several hundred other prospects that Duke will invite for unofficial visits to Junior Days, summer camps, and games during the fall as part of their ongoing evaluation process. Keep in mind that just by taking a quick look at Duke’s current roster, it’s easy to see that there won’t be many scholarships available in 2012 (think 15, give or take a few).
So how does the board breakdown? Since I mentioned the in-state emphasis, let’s start there. Duke is currently evaluating or has offered about 30 players from North Carolina, and roughly another 30 players from neighboring states. There are also over a dozen prospects from Florida and Ohio, and another dozen from California and Colorado as well.
Position-wise, Duke has clear needs at QB, RB, and DL in 2012. As such, there are 18 quarterbacks already on the board, 10 running backs (4 with offers), and 16 defensive linemen (8 with offers). The offensive line is a position that is best built by signing a few prospects in each class, and Coach Matt Luke has done a great job getting in early with top prospects. Duke has already offered 10 offensive linemen, all of whom are highly-coveted by programs around the country. Obviously, there are a handful of players that have been offered at other positions, but for now, we’ll just focus on the key areas of need.
Bilal Marshall is the first 2012 QB with a Duke offer
Top targets
QB: Right now, Bilal Marshall is the only quarterback with a Duke offer. Coach Cutcliffe, known as a QB guru for his work with the Mannings, tends to keep his quarterback recruiting close to the vest, but we know that most of the top high school quarterbacks in the country are on his list (Gunner Kiel, Zeke Pike, Bart Houston, Casey Cochran). Even though Marshall seems to be at the top for now, we know that Duke has also been involved with Ian Fisher from Maryland, and that Bart Houston will visit this weekend. Several other top quarterbacks are giving Duke a serious look and it seems safe to say at this point that Duke has a good chance of landing an elite quarterback in this class, though it's too early to say which one.
RB: Keith Marshall is a perfect example of why it’s important for Duke to build its relationships and reputation in-state. Many consider the speedy prospect out of Raleigh’s Millbrook High School to be the top running back in the class of 2012, and Duke was among the first to offer him. It’s too early to tell where his recruitment will go, but he’ll have his pick of schools from around the country and Duke remains in the mix. Another top in-state RB is Todd Gurley, who took in Duke’s win over North Carolina in Cameron Indoor Stadium last week. At this stage in the process, Duke is in good shape with Gurley and will be a major player in his recruitment.
DL: Vince Oghobaase was probably the last elite defensive line prospect to commit to Duke, but early indications are that Duke will land one in 2012. Early on, Duke is in good shape with Carlos Wray, D.J. Reader, Matt Godin, and Allen Jackson. All four look to be solid 4- or 5-star caliber prospects and have all made visits to Durham and came away impressed.
LB: This is another area of need and Duke is in good shape early with two top prospects in Preston Durham and Keilin Rayner.
2011 preview next week
In case you didn’t know, Duke’s schedule was released this week, spring practice kicked off Wednesday, and Duke hosts its second Junior Day this weekend. Oops, probably should have written about those this week, but I had to give you guys what you wanted. I guess we’ll tackle those issues next week. Again, I have to give you a reason to keep coming back (as if my wit and charm aren't enough). Best of luck making it through another week. Until then, WE ARE DUKE.
California QB Bart Houston will visit Duke this weekend
Bart Houston is a 6’4” 201 pound quarterback from Concord, California. As a sophomore starter for perennial powerhouse De La Salle, Houston led the team to a 11-0 record, an 18th straight CIF-NCS title and the CIF State Open Division Title. His sophomore performance was eclipsed by his junior campaign, during which Houston led De La Salle to a perfect 14-0 record and #4 national ranking, completing 66% of his passes for 20 touchdowns with just 4 interceptions. He added 11 touchdowns on the ground while also handling some of the punting duties. Highlights from his junior season can be viewed here.
Colleges have been watching Houston closely the past two years and most scouts have him near the top of their national QB prospect rankings. At this point, Houston is just getting started with his recruiting process and will fly to Durham this weekend for his first unofficial visit to Duke.
BDN: Can you start off by describing the strengths and weaknesses of your game for fans who haven’t had a chance to see you play?
My strength, I have to say, is accuracy. I completed 66% of my passes in the season, and in the post-season I completed 77%. So accuracy and quick decision making, I think those would be my strengths. My weaknesses, I’d have to say, is getting quicker and faster, I’m living with the jump rope.
BDN: Being a quarterback, is there a particular player in the NFL or in college that you compare yourself to or have studied closely?
Well, this is a throwback, but I try to model myself after Johnny Unitas and Bart Starr, so kind of a throwback there. But current ones, I’d have to say Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers.
BDN: Congratulations on your undefeated championship season last year. What are your goals for your team and for yourself individually in your senior season?
My goals for senior year, well nothing less than last year. Win state, and if national championship comes along, then that’d be cool too.
BDN: What are the most important things you are looking for in a college?
I’m looking at outstanding academics and a big football tradition, basically.
BDN: What schools have you recently heard from? Who were the first schools to contact you?
Just in general, I haven’t gotten any offers yet, but Duke, Oregon State, Miami, Wisconsin, UCLA, Penn, Cornell, - those are the big names that I’m hearing from. It’s a pretty diverse group.
BDN: Which schools have you had a chance to visit so far? What schools do you definitely plan on visiting later this year?
I have not, but next weekend I’m taking an unofficial visit to Duke. I will be visiting other people, but I have not scheduled them yet.
BDN: In your contact with college coaches, have any schools stood out to you at this point in the process?
Well, we have friendly conversations, but I haven’t talked to anybody long enough to have a longstanding relationship yet, so we’ll see probably by later in the summer.
BDN: Is there anything else that you think is important for college football fans to know about you?
Okay, there’s one thing. I’m big on the team part of football, and not much of the individual part. It’s more of football a team sport, and it’s not all about me. It’s about everyone else. So you won’t be seeing me playing the hat game on signing day, I just want to make a decision and go. I don’t want to bring much attention to myself.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Nolan Smith had 22 points, seven rebounds and four assists as No. 5 Duke overcame a sluggish start to beat Virginia 56-41 on Wednesday night.
The Blue Devils (24-2, 11-1) won their fifth straight, despite getting just two points from second-leading scorer Kyle Singler. The senior was in foul trouble for much of the game and didn't score his first bucket until the 16-minute mark of the second half.
Duke held Virginia to 15 second-half points and beat the Cavaliers for the seventh straight time.
Mustapha Farrakhan led Virginia with 11 points.
Virginia (12-13, 3-8), which dropped under .500 for the first time this season, has lost three straight.
The teams combined for seven turnovers before the first television timeout and Virginia took a 12-7 lead on Farrakhan's fast-break layup.
Duke answered with a 15-5 run over the next six minutes.
Just before the half, Smith raced out in transition and converted a layup as he was being fouled by Sammy Zeglinski. While standing over Zeglinski, Smith did a little dance. Duke was in control the rest of the way.
Duke led 34-26 lead at the break and clamped down on the Cavaliers in the second half.
Oliver Lumpkin likes Penn State and Ohio State early
Oliver Lumpkin is a 6’4” 280 pound offensive line prospect from Bowie, Maryland. After his standout junior campaign, Oliver was named 2nd Team All-Conference and has received interest from several top college football programs on the east coast. Penn State and Ohio State are his early favorites, but he’s also interested in visiting Duke and North Carolina.
BDN: Can you start off by describing the strengths and weaknesses of your game for someone who hasn’t had a chance to see you play?
Well, sir, I play hard and fast. I’m more of a technician, I’m a very good technician. I’m very good at pass blocking. I have adequate feet, I feel that it could be better. I have a lot of power in my stance and I can explode out of it very quickly.
BDN: What are some of the things you are focusing on this offseason as you head into the fall?
Well what I’m working on this offseason is quicker feet, sir. Quicker feet and power, so I can get off the line faster.
BDN: What are your goals for you team and yourself individually for the fall?
My goals for this fall, is after this season, is to make All-American, the US Army All-American Bowl, and possibly the Chesapeake Bowl, and of course the playoffs.
BDN: What are the most important things you are looking for in a college?
The important factors that I’m looking for in a school have to be the education and the football team. I need to have a good relationship with the coach, I need him to accept me as a person, not just a player with a number on the jersey on his back.
BDN: What schools have you recently heard from? Who were the first schools to contact you?
I’ve been in contact with North Carolina, Duke, Wisconsin, Penn State, Ohio State, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia. Those are the schools that have contacted me and I have contacted them as well. And Alabama.
BDN: Which schools have you had a chance to visit so far? What schools do you definitely plan on visiting later this year?
I was supposed to visit Duke a couple weeks ago but I wasn’t able to. North Carolina wants me to come down to one of their spring practices and Penn State wants me to come down as well.
BDN: Have any school stood out to you so far in the process?
The main schools that I’m trying to attend, or I’m thinking about attending are Ohio State and Penn State, somewhere close to home, but yes, I’m considering all those schools.
BDN: It’s still very early in the process, but ideally, when would you like to make your college decision?
I’ll kind of wait until I see my options because I don’t want to make the wrong decision. This decision basically proves about the rest of my life, what I’m going to be education and who I’m going to be educated by, coaching and academic wise.
BDN: Thanks a lot, Oliver and best of luck to you.
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