Category Archives: Duke Basketball Recruiting News

Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Recruiting News

Hairston, Irving, Thornton named Gatorade Players of the Year

Josh Hairston, Tyler Thornton Gatorade Players of the Year
Josh Hairston and Tyler Thornton named Gatorade Players of the Year in their state - copyright BDN Photo

The 2010 Duke Recruiting class currently consists of three players and all were named Gatorade players of the year in their state.  Josh Hairston [6-8 forward] was voted the top player in Maryland.  Hairston transferred to Montrosse Christian Academy from Courtland HS in Virginia and enjoyed a very successful year.

Kyrie Irving was named the top player in the state of New Jersey where he played for St. Patrick's and he of course will run the point guard spot at Duke next season.  Irving was also named to the McDonald's All American team.

Tyler Thornton [6-2 guard] led his Gonzaga Prep school to the title and was named Gatorade player of the year District of Columbia.

Blue Devil Nation congratulates the three incoming Blue Devils for their success on the hardwood this season.

Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Recruiting News

Carrick Felix to Duke

It is now official that Carrick Felix is the newest Duke Blue Devil.  Felix is a 6-6 athletic swing man from Southern Idaho Junior College.  Felix visited Duke Sunday until early this morning, meeting with admissions who accepted him into Duke.  Felix will have three years of eligibility left.  Felix excels in the classroom and he looks forward to expanding that education while in Durham.  Nate James was the lead assistant in the newest Blue Devils' recruitment.  In fact, James assisted Duke as the lead recruiter with Michael Gbinije as well.  Join BDN Premium and talk about this latest news on our members only message board.  This announcement came as no surprise to our members which is one of the many benefits for full site access.

Just added to BDN Premium - How Duke discovered Carrick Felix and how they plan to use him in their system.  Get the real deal inside.

Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Recruiting News, Duke Football

Monday Morning Musings – Hoops, football, prospects, verbal

Just another Monday morning for the Blue Devil Nation. The men whipped the Hokies, the women whipped the Terps to win the ACC regular season, Duke signs a football prospect, two prospects visit during the basketball game a spring football update and of course, the young lady profiling in the pic above is our cheerleader of the week.

A lot of people will call  Duke's 67-55 win over Virginia Tech ugly, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  Shooting just 29% Duke had their second worst game from the field this season and still won.   Of course, they beat UConn as well shooting 28%.  So, you can't hit your shots and win.  That's a beautiful thing for a Duke fan.  The Duke defense held Virginia Tech to 55 points.  That's a beautiful thing to Mike Krzyzewski.

Duke won the battle of the boards - again.  History shows this is a rarity which means this is the best rebounding team Krzyzewski has coached at Duke. In fact, this team is 20-2  when they win the battle of the boards this season

Have you heard that Brian Zoubek had 16 boards last evening?  Yeah, I figured you had.  Amazing effort, huh?  You'll hear from the "Zoubinator" shortly for we caught up with him to get some post game comments last evening.

At 11-2 in conference, Duke is in complete control of their destiny in a bid to claim the ACC regular season title.  Duke goes on the road to Virginia and then Maryland before closing the season out at home against North Carolina.  A split on the road and a win over UNC  would almost assuredly lock it up for Duke.  Maybe they'll win them all, but then again, Duke cannot overlook anyone down the stretch.  Maryland is right there with Duke in the standings, while Virginia needs a win to boost their NCAA hopes and UNC just needs wins and are playing for their tournament life, even if it is the NIT.

There goes that Conner Vernon again!  After making a splash as a true freshman, the wide receiver caught the only touchdown pass during this weekends closed scrimmage.  A lot of kids fall prey to the sophomore jinx, but if his performance this past Saturday was any indication, he can avoid that.

So, I am watching the scrimmage and something seems a bit weird and then it comes to me, via seeing Thaddeus Lewis on the sidelines.  Duke is breaking in two new quarterbacks and both are green as grass at this time.  FWIW, Lewis told me he'd be heading to the NFL Combine and we wish him luck.  We wish Duke's two new quarterbacks well too.

Speaking of Sean Schroeder and Brandon Connette, both had their moments.  Schroeder ran the scout team last year while Connette was still in high school.  Connette seems to be the better runner to go with good size but Schroeder was comfortable and threw the ball well.  We'll have an interview with Schroeder up shortly.

There were sixty prospects on campus on Junior Day for Duke Football and Duke got a good one to verbal in Jalen "Scoot" Simmons, a running back with 4.5 speed out of Charlotte.  He picked the Blue Devils over UNC, NCSU, Clemson and a couple of SEC schools.

Props to the women's basketball team for almost clinching the ACC title with a win over Maryland.  The Terp's disrespected the women, walking through them as they got into position for the nation anthem and so Duke gave them a Christmas present.  No, not a real present.  They unleashed Karima Christmas

Finally, the prospects attending last nights Duke-Virginia Tech basketball game were Marshall Plumlee and Michael Haynes.  For more on that, might I suggest you join Blue Devil Nation Premium for full site access?  That's where we talk about the other sport known as recruiting.

-

BDN Premium Articles, Duke Basketball Recruiting News

High School Hoops 2010 Edition No. 8

ky8-300x254This edition of High School Hoops 2010 includes a Holiday Tournament action wrap up and coverage of teams recommencing their normal game schedules. There are updates on committed Duke players Tyler Thornton, Josh Hairston, and Kyrie Irving as well as information on prospects Roscoe Smith, Austin Rivers, and J.P. Tokoto. [private]

Kyrie Irving: St. Patrick traveled to beautiful sunny San Diego (I love that city) to participate in the MaxPreps Holiday Classic and Irving came away as the Most Valuable Player as St. Patrick won the National Division with a 66 – 43 victory over Newark Memorial (CA).

In earlier games, the Celtics defeated Ironwood Ridge (AZ) 83 – 35 and Centennial (CA).

This ESPN article has been linked on message boards all over the Internet so most everyone has already seen it but here it is again for anyone who hasn’t already read this exciting statement:

“Irving will be the best point guard prospect heading to Duke since Jason Williams laced them up for the Blue Devils.”

How sweet does that sound?

Josh Hairston: On Saturday evening, Montrose Christian defeated St. Stephen’s/St. Agnes 79 – 50. There is no news on individual performances prior to Blue Devil Nation going to press with this article, but there is a great post from Studlee10 on the Premium Message Board describing the action.

Tyler Thornton: Gonzaga defeated Rice (N.Y.) 67 – 55. Rice was coming off their 55 – 54 Championship performance over Kinston at the GSK Invitational. Gonzaga defeated Kinston 84 – 64 in Honolulu on December 22.

Roscoe Smith: Oak Hill Academy traveled to Portland to compete at the Les Schwab Invitational. In their first game, Smith recorded a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds as Oak Hill defeated Sunset 94 – 66.

Oak Hill took care of Oregon City 80 – 67 in the second round. Smith was limited to six points and three rebounds in the game.

In the semi-finals, Smith recorded his second double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds as Oak Hill defeated Westview 72 – 58.

Westchester (CA) defeated Oak Hill 52 – 47 in the Championship Game. Smith finished with six points and seven rebounds.

Austin Rivers: Winter Park traveled to Birmingham, Alabama to participate in the T-Mobile Invitational. In the first round, Butler (AL) defeated Winter Park 60 – 58. In the consolation game, Winter Park defeated Kentwood (WA) 72- 52. Kentwood is Josh Smith’s school, but Smith did not participate due to being injured.

Winter Park is sitting at the top of the Orlando Sentinel’s Super 16 rankings.

J.P. Tokoto: It was a rough two days for Menomonee Falls at the Wisconsin Basketball Yearbook Shootout at the Al McGuire Center in Milwaukee. On day one, Menomonee Falls fell to Arrowhead 67 – 66 in overtime, and on day two, they fell to Catholic Memorial 68 – 63. Tokoto delivered a good individual stat line in both games but he struggled from the free throw line.

Against Catholic Memorial, Tokoto scored 23 points with 17 rebounds, three blocked shots, and five steals, but went 3 – 11 from the free throw line. In the overtime loss to Arrowhead, Tokoto scored 18 points.

Menomonee Falls is now 6-3 on the season with J.P. Tokoto averaging 18.2 points per game.

[/private]

Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Recruiting News

High School Hoops 2010 Edition No. 5

Tyler Thornton 3This edition of our running feature on high school basketball action starts off in our nation's capital with coverage of the D.C. Classic. The Gonzaga Eagles featuring future Blue Devil Tyler Thornton are hosting the tournament. Also participating is perennial California powerhouse Mater Dei the alma mater of current Villanova and ex-Blue Devil Taylor King and Carolina's Travis and David Wear. [private]

This week’s coverage begins with links to a tournament preview and quarterfinal game results. The preview has information on all eight teams. In the quarterfinals, Tyler Thornton scored 18 points in Gonzaga’s 83 – 69 victory over Jesuit (Dallas) TX. Gonzaga utilized pressure defense to spark their running game and opened the game up in the third quarter.

In the semifinals, Gonzaga faced Calvert Hall (Baltimore) and came away with a 66 – 51 victory. Tyler Thornton scored 16 points and Gonzaga once again used a blistering defense to lead from start to finish.

The Championship Game featured Gonzaga versus Mater Dei. Tyler Thornton scored 18 points and earned MVP honors as Gonzaga used an 11 – 0 run in the fourth quarter to come from behind and win the championship 62 – 59. Thornton turned a critical steal into a coast to coast basket to improve Gonzaga’s lead to 61 - 57.

Josh Hairston scored 10 points and Montrose Christian cruised to a 74 – 25 victory over Liberty. On Saturday, Hairston scored 17 points as Montrose defeated St. Mary’s Ryken 74 – 59.

Quincy Miller scored 25 points in the opening game of the Best of the Midwest Shootout to lead Quality Education Academy to an 87 – 82 victory over Brehm Prep.

Roscoe Smith recorded a double-double of 21 points and 13 rebounds as Oak Hill Academy defeated Carolina Forest 100 – 52. Coach Krzyzewski was in attendance.

Winter Park High School is ranked # 3 in the Orlando Sentinel's Super 16. The Orlando Sentinel has another Austin Rivers feature article posted. On Saturday, Rivers led all scorers with 18 points as Winter Park defeated Montverde Academy 55 -52 in the Hoops with a Heart Classic. Monteverde was ranked # 1 in the Super 16.

Christ School trounced Asheville HS 70 – 35. Marshall Plumlee scored seven points for the Greenies.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a Greater Metro Conference preview article posted. This is the conference which includes J.P. Tokoto and Menomonee Falls HS. In Friday night action, Tokoto scored 14 points as Menomonee Falls defeated West Allis Hale 72 – 47.

Trey Zeigler scored 21 points and pulled in eight rebounds, but Mt Pleasant was routed, 65 – 38, by Saginaw Arthur Hill.

Looking at the week ahead, Gonzaga and Montrose Christian will be in Honolulu for the Iolani Classic starting on Thursday. On Friday, Christ School will be participating in the Chick-fil-A Classic and Winter Park will be at the City of Palms. [/private]

Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Recruiting News

High School Hoops 2010 Edition No. 4

Austin RiversBlue Devil Nation continues its season long coverage of high school basketball with updates on Austin Rivers, Josh Hairston, Tyler Thornton, J.P. Tokoto, Trey Zeigler, and Marshall Plumlee. The High School Hoops articles will be a weekly feature at Blue Devil Nation as they were the past two years; Edition No. 4 is being posted just four days after Edition No. 3 due to a significant volume of activity taking place on the hardwood these past few nights. Blue Devil Nation encourages everyone to check back late Sunday evening for High School Hoops 2010 Edition No. 5. [private]

Austin Rivers earned MVP honors at the Rotary Tip-Off Classic as Winter Park HS won the championship. Rivers scored 20 points, in the championship game, as Winter Park defeated Winter Springs 59 – 32. In the semi-finals, Winter Park defeated Oak Ridge 71 – 57. The Orlando Sentinel has a video recap posted. Rivers scored 28 points and drained seven 3-point shots in a 70 – 43 opening round victory over Lake Brantley.

In his next game, on Tuesday (Dec 8), Rivers scored 21 points in a 75 – 34 victory over Colonial.

Josh Hairston played his debut game at Montrose Christian in the Caron Butler Invitational in Washington D.C. Hairston scored 26 points as Montrose defeated Theodore Roosevelt HS 63 – 47. Theodore Roosevelt was 2 – 0 coming into the game. Montrose Christian and Hairston’s next game is on Friday night.

Tyler Thornton drew an offensive foul with 28 seconds remaining to seal Gonzaga's 64 - 59 victory over Carroll High. Thornton scored 16 points, including going 6-6 from the charity stripe, and delivered four assists in the game. He is shooting 90.9 percent from the free throw line through three games. Gonzaga and Thornton will be back in action on Thursday evening.

J.P. Tokoto scored 19 points as Menomonee Falls defeated Milwaukee Marquette 56 – 36. Menomonee Falls and Tokoto will be back in action on Friday night.

Trey Zeigler was the leader in scoring and rebounding with 30 and 13 as Mt Pleasant defeated Midland 69 – 46. He also dished out seven assists. In this article, from The Morning Sun, Mt Pleasant Coach Sam Taylor states, “Trey was solid. But it won’t be his best game of the season I can tell you that.” Duke University representatives attended the game to scout Zeigler (I heard through the grapevine it was Nate James, but I cannot confirm who was in attendance). Here is another recap of the action.

Marshall Plumlee grabbed nine rebounds to go along with four points as Christ School opened conference play with an 80 – 67 win over Rabun Gap. Plumlee is averaging 7.6 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks per game through the first nine games of his junior season.

In case any of our faithful readers have not already seen this article with two embedded videos, here is a Kyrie Irving preview from MassLive.com. [/private]