The Duke Blue Devils take to Coach K Court this evening for their first exhibition game of the season against Florida Southern.  For the record FSU is the reigning Division II National Champion.  It will be interesting to see how the staff uses their personnel as we are sure to see plenty of experimenting with varying line ups.  Look for the Blue Devils to concentrate on the basics and not show their true hand before regular season contests.  This will also mark the first game that Duke will play under the newly unveiled 2015 National Championship Banner in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Ingram and Allen Earn ACC Pre Season Honors

Incoming freshman Brandon Ingram was tabbed as the ACC Rookie of the Year in the recent media voting in Charlotte this past Wednesday.  Ingram also made the 1st Team All ACC team.  Rising sophomore Grayson Allen was selected to 2nd Team All ACC just two points out of being names to the 1st team.  As a team, the Blue Devils were picked pre season third in the league by the media.

One More Go For Coach K

USA Basketball most recently announced that the coming Olympics would be the last for Mike Krzyzewski as the head coach.   He will be handing over the reigns after successfully righting the ship for the program moving forward.  During the recent media day in Charlotte, Krzyzewski said that future head coach GreggPopovich would play a role in the coming games in Rio and that he would do the same during his four year tenure.  Krzyzewski also mentioned that he thinks a college coach could again be at the helm one day in that coaching against the same guys (coached) in the NBA could be a perceived advantage for a coach in the league.  Krzyzewski also spoke to the sacrifices the likes of LeBron James had made for the program, showing his appreciation for the dedication of the NBA's best players commitment for Gold.  I bet you didn't know that Krzyzeewski has been on 14 different Team USA teams as a staff member.  He is 75-1 as the head man off USA Basketball and currently holds a 63 game winning streak against the worlds best teams.

Let's not talk about the freshman just yet ...

Krzyzewski batted away questions during media day with concern to his incoming freshman class on an individual basis.  On the other hand he did talk of them as a whole saying they had to run their own race.  And run they will do in that Duke returns just 24% of their scoring from a season ago.  One of the things to watch for Duke this season will be who takes shots for Duke.  The Duke Coach said it was hard to talk about his freshman until they had some actual games under their collective belts.

It's all about the health ...

When asked about keys to the season, Mike Kryzyzewski wasted not time saying staying healthy was the key.  Duke will likely be settling into to a seven or eight man rotation in the coming weeks and they are somewhat thin at certain spots like the point guard position.  One of the main reasons in their championship run a season ago was that the team remained healthy past the usual nagging injuries or that their players remained in the line up.

A very special visitor....

Duke will get a very special visitor in this weekend in Harry Giles.  He is quite simply a potentially dominant player in any league and he has long been recruited by the Blue Devils.  This will be Giles last official visit and a decision about his collegiate destination will be coming sooner rather than later.  While no official word on his announcement has been set as of yet, speculation is that an Oak Hill game on ESPNU could be the time.  He recently visited Kentucky who some feel are in his top two, but I feel confident that Duke may well be his choice when the dust clears.

Other tidbits ...

Duke will dress seven McDonald's All Americans, the most of any team in the nation.  The Blue Devils had 18 players on opening day NBA rosters.  There was not one mention or question about Krzyzewski having set the NCAA record for wins a season ago during ACC Media Day.  Not having the hype hanging over the team's head may help a young team this season.  Krzyzewski made it clear that his veteran players are the leaders at this time going into the season and they best understand what he wants from his players.  Duke holds an .837 winning percentage this decade which is the best in the land.  Duke has been in the A.P Top 25 for 155 consecutive weeks, the most of any program.  The home game against Louisville this season will be the 1000th game played in Cameron Indoor Stadium.