Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski addresses the media with the latest news.
Category Archives: Duke Basketball
ACC Record 26 Dukies in the NBA
DURHAM, N.C. – With the 2020-21 NBA season tipping off tonight, the Duke men’s basketball program boasts an ACC record 26 former players on opening-day rosters.
The Blue Devils have had as many as 25 players on NBA rosters during each of the last two seasons, which was the ACC record until the 26 for this season. The list was compiled from the NBA’s official opening-day rosters (including two-way and inactive lists) and includes any Blue Devil that played and finished their college basketball careers at Duke.
Duke’s 26 are spread among 17 NBA franchises, including three each in New Orleans (Brandon Ingram, J.J. Redick, Zion Williamson), Portland (Harry Giles, Rodney Hood, Gary Trent Jr.) and Memphis (Grayson Allen, Tyus Jones, Justise Winslow). Three other clubs – New York (RJ Barrett, Austin Rivers), Detroit (Jahlil Okafor, Mason Plumlee) and Sacramento (Marvin Bagley III, Jabari Parker) boast multiple Blue Devils.
The three newest-minted NBA players – Vernon Carey Jr. (Charlotte), Tre Jones (San Antonio) and Cassius Stanley (Indiana) – represented the 98th, 99th and 100th Blue Devils all-time to have their names called in an NBA draft.
Duke’s 26 NBA players represent 5.3% of the 495 listed on opening-day rosters across the NBA. All have been coached by Hall of Fame head coach Mike Krzyzewski, who has seen 67 Blue Devils drafted in his four decades at Duke – including 41 first-round picks to lead all active coaches.
Through the 2019-20 season, Coach K’s former Duke players have accumulated a staggering $2 billion in NBA contracts. Lottery selections who played for Krzyzewski at Duke have combined to earn more than $1.6 billion in contracts, an average of nearly $60 million per individual. These figures don’t include the recent five-year, $195 million max contract extension signed by Jayson Tatum, nor the five-year $158 million max contract extension inked by Brandon Ingram.
Coach K’s 28 lottery picks represent an NBA Draft record for both a coach and a school.
Tatum inked his new deal on the heels of breakout season in 2019-20 that saw him become the fifth Blue Devil to earn a spot on an All-NBA Team, and at 22 years old, became the youngest Boston Celtic to garner All-NBA honors.
Williamson joined Tatum with their first career All-NBA honors as Williamson was tapped as a first-team All-Rookie pick. Duke has boasted at least one NBA All-Rookie pick in five straight seasons and eight of the last nine. Tatum and Ingram each were named to the NBA All-Star Game for the first time in their young careers.
In addition to his spot in the All-Star Game, Ingram was named the 2019-20 NBA Most Improved Player as the 22-year-old became the first player with New Orleans, and the first Blue Devil, to garner the award.
Quinn Cook capped last season by securing his second career NBA title as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers. Cook was also part of the Golden State Warriors’ 2018 title run and became the sixth different Blue Devil to win a total of eight NBA titles. He and Shane Battier (2012 and 2013 with the Miami Heat) are the only multiple NBA title winners to play at Duke. At least one Blue Devil has won an NBA title in five of the last nine NBA seasons, including Kyrie Irving in 2016 with the Cavaliers.
Duke’s and Coach K’s ties to the NBA run deeper than just the players on the floor. Including former Blue Devil Quin Snyder as the head coach of the Utah Jazz, 26 of Coach K’s former players, assistant coaches, staff and managers occupy positions on NBA coaching staffs or in front office positions.
Blue Devils in the NBA (26)
Grayson Allen -- Memphis Grizzlies
Marques Bolden – Cleveland Cavaliers
Marvin Bagley III -- Sacramento Kings
RJ Barrett -- New York Knicks
Vernon Carey Jr. -- Charlotte Hornets
Wendell Carter Jr. -- Chicago Bulls
Quinn Cook -- Los Angeles Lakers
Seth Curry -- Philadelphia 76ers
Harry Giles -- Portland Trail Blazers
Rodney Hood -- Portland Trail Blazers
Brandon Ingram -- New Orleans Pelicans
Kyrie Irving -- Brooklyn Nets
Tre Jones -- San Antonio Spurs
Tyus Jones -- Memphis Grizzlies
Luke Kennard -- Los Angeles Clippers
Jahlil Okafor -- Detroit Pistons
Jabari Parker -- Sacramento Kings
Mason Plumlee -- Detroit Pistons
Cam Reddish -- Atlanta Hawks
J.J. Redick -- New Orleans Pelicans
Austin Rivers -- New York Knicks
Cassius Stanley -- Indiana Pacers
Jayson Tatum -- Boston Celtics
Gary Trent Jr. -- Portland Trail Blazers
Zion Williamson -- New Orleans Pelicans
Justise Winslow -- Memphis Grizzlies
Duke Checks Positive Gains in ACC Opener
When the dust cleared on last evening's Duke win over Notre Dame in the ACC opener the team checked off a lot of positive boxes. Let's take a look at that.
- Duke Responded. After facing some adversity where they were clearly outmatched in early season losses to Michigan State and Notre Dame the Blue Devils reached deep in practices to improve. Duke came out of the gate against an Irish team coming off a win at Kentucky with immense focus and laid the groundwork for what can come. Duke responded to Jalen Johnson being sidelined by injury and questions on when they might start to come together as a more cohesive unit.
- Steady Matthew. The one player who has shown up in every game and becomes a team leader and a go-to guy is Matthew Hurt. His consistency to date has been solid and the team started to grow around him in their first ACC win of the season.
- Maturation. Stop me if you have heard this before. Duke is young. But really, they are. Duke played older last evening and got contributions from pretty much the whole team. You could see the beginning sides of a group coming together. Sure, there is a long way to go, but becoming a solid team has to start somewhere. We may look back at this game as a catalyst despite many traps and lessons to go.
- Jeremy Roach. Roach looked comfortable as he develops his role and gets back to the player he was before an injury sidetracked him during his high school senior season. Roach is his best when he attacks the lane and when he learns his teammates, the assists will increase.
- DJ Steward. DJ made the fanbase smile almost as wide as he does in post-game interviews. The very likable Steward has a nice game and it will only get better. He is battling despite his body not catching up to his talent at this stage in his career. The future is bright here.
- Jaemyn Brakefield. Let me remind you Brakefield came out of high school a year early. Thank goodness for Duke. Brakefield has been steady with timely three-point makes and being very efficient when on the court.
- Staff Adjustments. Duke did an excellent job in recent practices in getting the team focussed and playing with purpose and poise. Duke came out of the gate strong in last evening's win and that propelled them to the victory. This was a hurdle game for the team and they checked the box in getting past the challenge.
Duke Whips Irish – Highlights
Duke wins their ACC opener.
Oats Apologizes for Coach K comments
Ironically, an ACC basketball team in Clemson took it to Alabama on the hardwood yesterday just before Nate Oats issued an apology to Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski in the post-game press conference. https://www.al.com/alabamabasketball/2020/12/alabama-coach-nate-oats-apologizes-to-mike-krzyzewski.html
The Crimson Tide head man took some unusual shots at Krzyzewski after he elected to cancel the remaining non-conference basketball schedule this season.
The short-sighted criticism without the facts drew plenty of attention to Oats. In fact, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim ripped him after his team walloped Boston College in their ACC opener.
Excerpt -
“I kind of want to publicly apologize to Coach K for what I said,” Oats said. “I assigned a motive to him and a decision made for his team, which I shouldn’t have done. I actually felt terrible about it as soon I got out of the press conference, I reached out to him.
“He was gracious enough to return my call. We had a good talk on the phone. I got the utmost respect for him as a coach. He’s done unbelievable. Shoot, he’s an Olympic [coach]. When we played there my first year as a head coach at Buffalo, he was great to me, my family and my wife. She was going through a cancer battle at the time. He helped [former Buffalo coach Bobby] Hurley early in his career. Coach Hurley in turn hired me. He’s done a lot of good things for me.
Anyhow, if you read the article at AL.com you may even see more head-scratching information where Oats speaks of how Krzyzewski actually helped him early in his career.
Needless to say, it was not a good week for Oats who brought it all on himself. The Duke decision to cancel one of two games was a well thought out decision for what was best for the program and players.
Duke will travel to South Bend for its ACC opener against Notre Dame on the 16th of December. The Irish are coming off a win over Kentucky in Rupp Arena.
Why Tonight’s Game is Important for Duke
The verdict after two games into the basketball season is that Duke is young. And young teams take time to gell with one another to work in unison for wins.
We all know by now and some before now that when the ball tiped off on the season that it would take this team a bit of time to figure out what or who it wants to be. As that development is happening the early season schedule is as daunting as ever with the recent loss to a veteran Michigan State team and Illinois looming early next week.
Unlike seasons past, Duke did not have many games against non-powerhouse opponents before taking on the Spartans. And it showed for they're a new team trying to learn one another preferences on the court.Unlike seasons past, Duke did not have many games against non-powerhouse opponents before taking on the Spartans. And it showed for they're a new team trying to learn one another preferences on the court.
Add to the fact, head man Mike Krzyzewski is experimenting with lineups and combinations to the fray and we are presented with a live learning curve during games.
Some games allow him to grow his roster and find out who is ready or wants to play. Tonight's match up with Bellarmine (7:00 ACCNX, FOX Sports South) is one such game.
The Duke staff has likely worked a lot with film from the last contest and they want to see which players show the ability to learn from such lessons. And the games come quick, so this team is learning many things on the fly.
Teams like Duke, which are breaking in a lot of new players needed their traditional exhibition games and most certainly their non-conference scheduled games. Duke lost their scheduled season opener with Garnder-Webb due to COVID testing issues and that single game being canceled hurt with invaluable development.
Fortunately for Duke, the game with Garnder-Webb has been rescheduled for Sunday, December 6th in Cameron. I say fortunate because Duke needs all the experience they can get before the ACC begins.
There is no word yet whether this Saturday's canceled game with Elon, again due to COVID issues will be rescheduled.
Back to tonight's game versus Bellarmine. Firstly, you cannot get back on the court quick enough as a player after a loss and this should be a game where Duke can look deeper into combinations.
Duke needs to see some things go right and they should be able to implement their will against a Bellarmine team which despite being a former Division II power is picked near the bottom of their conference via pre-season projections.
The Blue Devils hope to see some guys step up tonight or bounce back if you will. Joey Baker, DJ Steward, and Wendell Moore need to get off the skid, where none of their shots was falling against the Spartans.
Duke will likely continue to develop Matthew Hurt into a go-to guy this season while developing duel threats upfront where he teams with talented freshmen Jalen Johnson.
The one position which needs to be better is the point guard spot where Jeremy Roach has been a bit slow out of the gate while Jordan Goldwire contributes there as well. But this position needs to distribute better to get the motor running.
So, yes, this Duke team desperately needs the experience from tonight's game to experiment and prepare for the coming schedule where the ACC despite its top teams all having early losses, seems better than expected.
Duke will be playing the Knights for the first time in regular-season play. They own an exhibition win over Bellarmine where Duke played the defending Division II national champs which is a common practice to open the season under Mike Krzyzewski.