Monthly Archives: September 2012

Duke Basketball

Duke releases 2012-13 Men’s Basketball Schedule

Duke Senior Ryan Kelly, Lance King Photo

DURHAM, N.C. – Duke, in conjunction with the Atlantic Coast Conference, released its entire 2012-13 men's basketball schedule on Monday. All 31 games on the regular season schedule will be televised with 22 contests appearing on the ESPN family of networks.

The Blue Devils, with 10 letterwinners and seven players with starting experience returning from last year's team that finished 27-7 overall and 13-3 in the ACC, face another challenging schedule in 2012-13 with 11 contests against NCAA Tournament teams from a season ago.

Duke opens the season on Friday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. against Georgia State on ESPNU. The Blue Devils then travel to the Georgia Dome in Atlanta to square off against defending national champion Kentucky in the Champions Classic on Tuesday, Nov. 13 (9:30 p.m. – ESPN).

Coach K’s group will also compete in the Battle 4 Atlantis in Nassau, Bahamas for the first time this season. Duke will play Florida Gulf Coast at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Nov. 18 in the event before heading to the Bahamas for a Nov. 22 matchup with Minnesota. The Blue Devils’ second round contest will be against either Memphis or VCU with Louisville, Missouri, Northern Iowa and Stanford comprising the other half of the bracket. The championship game of the Battle 4 Atlantis is slated for Saturday, Nov. 24 with AXS.tv and NBC Sports covering all the action.

For the second straight year, Duke faces Ohio State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge with the Buckeyes coming to Durham for a Wednesday, Nov. 28 tilt (9:30 p.m. – ESPN). The Blue Devils’ other remaining non-conference home games including Delaware (Dec. 1), Cornell (Dec. 19), Elon (Dec. 20) and Santa Clara (Dec. 29).

Duke also has neutral site non-conference dates with Temple on Dec. 8 at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J. and Davidson on Jan. 2 at Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte.

Duke's ACC slate starts on Saturday, Jan. 5 at Cameron Indoor Stadium against Wake Forest. The Blue Devils will also welcome Clemson (Jan. 8), Georgia Tech (Jan. 17), Maryland (Jan. 26), N.C. State (Feb. 7), North Carolina (Feb. 13), Boston College (Feb. 24), Miami (March 2) and Virginia Tech (March 5) as part of their 18-game conference schedule.

Conference road games in 2013 feature trips to N.C. State (Jan. 12), Miami (Jan. 23), Wake Forest (Jan. 30), Florida State (Feb. 2), Boston College (Feb. 10), Maryland (Feb. 16), Virginia Tech (Feb. 21), Virginia (Feb. 28) and North Carolina (March 9) for the Blue Devils. The regular season finale at North Carolina will be the site of ESPN’s College Gameday.

The 2013 ACC Tournament will be March 14-17 at the Greensboro Coliseum. Duke has won eight ACC regular season championships and 10 of the last 15 ACC Tournament titles. The Blue Devils have compiled an impressive 192-48 league record over the past 15 seasons, with a 36-5 mark in the ACC Tournament.

Duke opens the 2012-13 preseason on Oct. 19 with Countdown to Craziness. The Blue Devils will then play Western Washington (Oct. 27) and Winston-Salem State (Nov. 1) in exhibition games prior to the start of the regular season.

Duke Football

Duke players frustrated with team’s performance at Stanford

STANFORD, CA - BDN spoke with several Duke players after their 50-13 loss to Stanford in California. Veteran defensive backs Walt Canty and Ross Cockrell were visibly frustrated with the team's performance, and sophomore WR Jamison Crowder, despite over 100 yards receiving on the game, was equally disappointed in his and the team's effort.

Jamison Crowder

Walt Canty

Ross Cockrell

Duke Football

BDN Rapid Reaction: Stanford dominates Duke, 50-13

It was a long night for QB Sean Renfree and the Blue Devils in California - BDN Photo

STANFORD, CA - What momentum the Blue Devils had after their opening week win against FIU was quickly taken away by Stanford on Saturday night, as the Cardinal cruised to a 50-13 victory. Stanford took control of the game as soon as they touched the ball, with Drew Terrell's early 76-yard punt return TD setting the tone. The Blue Devil offense struggled mightily, picking up just 4 first downs in the first half; the offensive struggles led to a busy night for redshirt-freshman punter Will Monday, who finished with 7 punts on the night, averaging 47 yards per punt. Stepfan Taylor paced the Stanford offense on the ground, totaling 70 yards on 14 carries and 1 touchdown. Josh Nunes effectively managed the Cardinal offense and finished with 275 yards on 16 for 30  passing with 3 touchdowns and 1 interception. After looking vulnerable in the second half against San Jose State, senior LB Shayne Skov returned to lead the Stanford defense to a dominant performance against the Blue Devils.

For the game, Duke gave up 373 yards in total offense, and were outgained 27 to 92 in total rushing yards. After taking a 23-3 halftime lead into the locker room, Stanford came out and put the game away quickly in the 3rd quarter, going up 37-7 after a Renfree pass was tipped for an interception deep in Duke territory. Renfree's night was over after his second INT was returned 79 yards for the TD in the middle of the 3rd quarter. He finished the game 28-40 for just 200 yards and 2 interceptions.

As they did against Stanford last year, the Duke offense finally found the end zone on a drive orchestrated by 2nd string QB Anthony Boone. Brandon Connette muscled his way in from the 4-yard line to cut it to 43-13 in the closing seconds of the 3rd quarter, but it was much too little, too late.

Turnovers keep game out of reach

While the Duke offense was sputtering, turnovers kept the game out of reach. Renfree threw two interceptions and Boone added one of his own in the 4th quarter. The little traction that the offense was able to get in the second half was quickly stalled, leaving the Duke defense with their backs against the wall. The Blue Devils added a late fumble to close the game. Though Duke is improved from years past, their margin for error remains slim, and they are unlikely to win games unless they win the turnover battle.

Connette continues red zone success

After setting a Duke freshman record with 8 rushing touchdowns in 2010, Brandon Connette has continued his red zone success early in 2012. The redshirt-sophomore punched in the Blue Devils' first TD of the game on a 4-yard run and now has 3 touchdowns on the young season.

Scott has strong showing

Moving to WR in his senior year, nobody knew what to expect from Desmond Scott. The Durham native has looked comfortable catching the ball in his first two starts this year, as he led the Blue Devils with 11 catches for 83 yards on Saturday. Sophomore Jamison Crowder had a strong second half and finished with 10 catches for 112 yards. It appears that Crowder and Scott have emerged as reliable complements to All-ACC WR Conner Vernon.

Martin puts up points

True freshman kicker Ross Martin looked sharp in his first road game, converting on two field goals of 29 yards for Duke's first points of the night. He's now 3 out of 4 and a perfect on 6/6 on PATs (bad snap not included) for his young collegiate career.

Duke defense inconsistent

The Blue Devil defense gave up just one touchdown in the first half, but a ton of yards of total offense. They held the Cardinal to 3 field goals in the red zone, but also allowed 3 touchdowns through the air. Ross Cockrell had another strong game, picking off Josh Nunes in the 2nd quarter. Walt Canty piled up 9 tackles, including 1.5 tackles for loss, and Kenny Anunike added a sack. Overall, however, the Stanford offense was able to score quickly and often throughout the game.

Duke will travel home tonight and begin preparations for the Bull City Gridiron Classic next Saturday night at 7 PM against NC Central in Wallace Wade Stadium.

 

 

 

Duke Football

Friday Night Lights – Duke Verbals shine

Welcome back to another edition of Friday Night Lights. This week Blue Devil Nation starts its roundup in Florida:

Parker Boehme threw four touchdown passes and rushed for a fifth as Sandalwood defeated Wolfson 41-12. Boehme completed 27 of 44 for 275 yards. This video clip includes one of Boehme's touchdown passes. The Sandalwood highlights start at the 3:00 mark.

Johnell Barnes caught a 43 yard touchdown pass in Dunbar's 48-34 win over Lehigh in Fort Myers, Florida.

Fort Myers High School took to the road on Friday night, traveling to Naples to defeat Golden Gate High 37-23. Quarterback T.J. Douglas ran for 77 yards and three touchdowns.

Next up is the action which took place out on the West Coast:

In La Puenta, California, Darren Andrews rushed for 78 yards including a 40-yard run on Bishop Amat's first play from scrimmage in a 34-24 victory over La Mirada.

Joseph Ajeigbe rushed nine times for 148 yards and two touchdowns as Norco routed Rancho Cucamonga Etiwanda 42-13. Ajeigbe scored on a 25-yard sweep in the 1st quarter and a 33-yard run in the 4th quarter.

After the game, Ajeigbe commented, "We are doing a good job of spreading the ball out more and utilizing all our weapons. Coach Gerhart scheduled good competition in pre-season so we can prepare for league play. The defense is doing a good job as well."

Moving down to Georgia, Walker defeated North Cobb Christian 54-14. Walker defensive lineman Mike Ramsay told Blue Devil Nation, "Our game went great! We won 54-14. I recovered a fumble early in the game. We picked off a pass late in the 1st quarter and ran it back to go up 14-0. Our RB ran for 277 yards and 4 touchdowns."

In Texas, Mansfield High beat Keller 35-0. Mansfield offensive lineman Austin Davis stated, " We won 35 to 0! We dominated and rushed for 400 yards! Our defense did great. We did really good all around. I played a good game and muscled my man around! Go Duke!"

Finally, we finish this week's edition with a look at action in Virginia:

Jake Kite caught touchdown passes of 68 and 16 yards, but Hidden Valley fell to Lord Botetourt 22-14. Overall, Kite caught four passes for 105 yards. The 68 yard touchdown is included in these video highlights.