Category Archives: Duke Basketball

Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith to train against the US Men’s team

Singler signs for fans after the Duke Basketball Banquet. Singler and Smith will plya for the US Select team

DURHAM, N.C. – Duke seniors Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith have accepted invitations from USA Basketball to participate on the USA Men's Select Team that will train against 2010 USA Men's World Championship Team finalists during camp in New York City. Singler and Smith both participated with the USA Select Team during July’s training camp for the USA World Championship Team in Las Vegas.
 
Joining the Duke tandem on the Select Team are JaJuan Johnson (Purdue); Jon Leuer (Wisconsin); Shelvin Mack (Butler); Chris Singleton (Florida State); Howard Thompkins (Georgia); Mike Tisdale (Illinois); Kemba Walker (Connecticut); and Chris Wright (Dayton). Villanova head coach Jay Wright will also return to direct the 2010 USA Select Team in New York.
 
"One of the great developments of our Las Vegas camp was the USA Select Team which consisted of juniors and seniors out of the college ranks that we brought in to scrimmage against the USA National Team.  Lorenzo Romar and Jay Wright did a terrific job of coaching the select players in Las Vegas. It worked so well we've decided to bring to New York a smaller group of players from that Select Team to do the same thing.  They were very valuable to us and it's a great experience for them," said USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo.
 
The 10 returning members of the USA Select Team will gather in New York on Aug. 9, and train against the USA World Championship Team finalists on Aug. 10 (1-3 p.m. EDT at John Jay College); Aug. 11 (1-3 p.m. EDT at John Jay College); Aug. 12 (time and site TBD); and Aug. 13 (11 a.m-12:30 p.m. EDT at the New York Knicks practice facility, Tarrytown, N.Y.).
 
While all 10 Select Team members gained USA Basketball experience during the July 19-24 USA National Team training camp in Las Vegas, six of the selected collegians also boast of prior USA Basketball experience. Mack and Thompkins were members of USA Basketball's 2009 U19 World Championship Team that finished 9-0 in New Zealand to claim the gold medal.  Additionally, Singler and Smith were teammates on the USA's 2006 U18 Team that captured gold at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship and they were again teammates on the 2007 USA Junior National Select Team that defeated an international select team in the Nike Hoop Summit.  Walker was a member of the 2008 USA FIBA Americas U18 Championship Team that collected a silver medal and was named MVP of the tournament, while Johnson has USA Basketball experience through the 2009 USA Basketball Trials.
 
Featuring players from nine different colleges, Duke is the only institution to boast two players. The 10 Select Team players include five who will be seniors in 2010-11 and five who will be juniors.

BDN goes 1 on 1 with Duke sophomore Andre Dawkins

Andre Dawkins - Photo copyright BDN

DURHAM, N.C. - Duke sophomore Andre Dawkins hopes to make a big contribution for the 2011 Duke Blue Devils and he's prepping at the N.C. Pro Am which goes into its final week.  Dawkins talks of the freshman, his off season workouts, the pressure of possibly being number one and much more in BDN's latest [private] player interview.

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BDN, covering the Duke beat. [/private]

Nolan Smith drops 43 points at the N.C. Pro Am

Ryan Kelly continues to show improvement. Photo copyright Rick Crank special to BDN

DURHAM, N.C. - There were some solid individual efforts during Tuesday evenings N.C. Pro Am but it was Nolan Smith who stole the buzz.  Smith looked over to his Dreamwork's coach and  bench with 5 seconds on the first half clock of his game, he then turned and left three pairs of sneakers on the court as he weaved through the defense to score at the buzzer as the crowd showed their approval.

Smith would go on to score 43 points and his moves dazzled the crowd bringing them to their feet or drawing multiple reactions.  In short, there was nobody who could stop Smith from invoking his will.  Smith told BDN after the game that he had been working non stop to improve and touched on his preparation to go to New York to be with the U.S. Select team.

Smith had help from two Plumlee brothers, no, not Miles and Mason, but Mason and Marshall.  The youngest Plumlee a rising senior at Christ School Arden started the game by jumping center and scored 6 points to go to go with 2 blocks.  His brother Mason brought about some of the evenings loudest roars of approval with his emphatic dunks and ability to handle the ball in the open court.

Plumlee [Mason] finished with 15 points, grabbing 7 boards and his most impressive stat was his team high 5 assists.  BDN also got word that Mason and Miles were selected as counselors at the Adidas Nations event and they will head to Minnesota where their brother Marshall will play in the event.

All of the Blue Devils had their moments in the win which included Nolan putting it off the backboard for Mason to throw down a dunk.  Mason matched up most of the evening with Jawad Williams.

The next game featured four Blue Devils where the three freshman faced off with Ryan Kelly's team.  On this night Kyrie coasted along with 13 points but he had moments where he showed I can do what I want when I want.  He dished several assists and his teammate Tyler Thornton added 4 points.

Josh Hairston scored 12 points and is averaging 15.0 ppg in his last two outings.  One might think that these Dukies played on the winning team but it was a gallant effort by Ryan Kelly which enabled his depth shy D-One team to defeat Hendrick 79-75.

A late Irving bucket cut the lead to two in a sea saw affair, but that was as close as they would come for Kelly answered by finishing off an alley-oop dunk.  Kelly finished the game with 21 points.

"We just got out in transition and played confident.  I've been working hard all summer and being able to showcase that work is great.  It was just our night," said Kelly.

In the night cap Miles Plumlee took to the court where he was greeted by former Los Angeles Laker and current Atlanta Hawk Josh Powell.  The current NBA star coming off a championship scored a game high 27 points and at times taught Plumlee a lesson.  But the eldest Plumlee never backed down and got his shot off with a variety of moves on his way to 19 points.

Plumlee had to play the whole way in the middle where his team had to add two players due to no-shows.  The athletic Plumlee can only benefit from playing tough competition.

Andre Dawkins and Seth Curry attended the games but did not play.  The N.C. State guys are preparing to go to the Bahama's while the UNC guys were once again no-shows.  BDN learned from a good source that the Heels would be there for the play offs.  The games continue this coming Tuesday as the event starts to wrap up.

Be sure to sign up for BDN Twitter for the latest updates from the Pro Am and the recruiting trail.  And we have more on Nolan Smith coming your way in the morning.  BDn's stats differ a bit from the official stats but we assure you they are accurate.

 

BDN checks in with Duke’s Mason Plumlee

Duke's Mason Plumlee chats with BDN - Photo rights Rick Crank, BDN

DURHAM, N.C. - The Blue Devil Nation caught up to Duke's rising sophomore Mason Plumlee during the N.C. Pro Am last evening.  We talked to Mason about his off season efforts work, his thoughts on the freshman, his brother Marshall and more.

Mason's stat line for last night - 15 points, 7 rebounds, 1 block,1 steal, 5 assists.  Stay tuned to BDN  for a full report on last evenings action and a talk with Nolan Smith who dropped 43.

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BDN goes 1 on 1 with Duke Freshman Josh Hairston

Josh Hairston throws down a dunk at the N.C. Pro Am - Photo Rick Crank for BDN

DURHAM, N.C. -Duke freshman Josh Hairston is starting to adjust to college life and the rigors of non stop basketball.  Hairston has joined fellow freshman Kyrie Irving and Tyler Thornton and their team is on display at the N.C Pro Am.  Hairston struggled in his first game out of the gate going against the likes of Josh Powell of the L.A. Lakers but he regrouped and bounced back with an 18 point effort in his last outing.  BDN caught up to Hairtson to get his thoughts -

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Monday Musings – ACC Operation Football, media guides, future schedules and AAU Basketball

BDN is at ACC Operation Football today while Andrew wraps up his AAU coverage in Las Vegas. Busy week ahead, so stay tuned.

Are you ready for some football?  You better be for ACC Operation Kickoff got underway in Greensboro, North Carolina.  For many fans, the media gathering  signals the start of ACC Football season. 

 The votes are already in for the projected order of finish in the conference and the player of the year and the results will be released at 3:30 today.  I went with Florida State in the Atlantic and Virginia Tech in the coastal but it wouldn't surprise me if Georgia Tech, Miami or North Carolina won the Coastal for they are that even.  Could all of them go 6-2 in the conference?  We'll soon know.

- Electronic media has a huge presence in Greensboro and there are signs that we are in the infancy of a new age of convergence.  There will be some trial and error in the effort to merge new and old but in the end it's a necessary progression.  But there are concerns and you can bet that the ACC will control who they allow access to for it seems everybody has a team blog these days.

One change is the fact that Duke will no longer print a glossy media guide.  That's right collecting purist's, those yearbooks are for now a thing of the past.   I'll miss those old black and white glossy guides but there is an upside.  Duke has produced the most informative guide in the conference for pure information.  No photo's or glitz, just information.

 In April, the NCAA passed a law which no longer allows schools to send traditional media guides to prospects or recruits.  For many schools, this was an opportunity to show off their program.  I doubt that's the reason for Georgia Tech and Maryland's bare bones offerings. [I had a little crow for breakfast for Georgia Tech's offering is here today as is Maryland's]

Maryland produced it's basketball media guide on DVD-R and put out a few pages for football.  But as paltry as there information for media is, it's still better than Georgia Tech who provided a few stapled pages from a copier that could use some ink.

North Carolina trimmed their 2011 Media Guide down as did some of the other school but those I have not mentioned were all  average or above average in their offerings.  Okay, let me get to the point.  Media members need hard copies to facilitate their best work.

You see a lot of stuff on PDF files, but have you ever tried to open that during or after  a game while still being able to access to your article? The navigation is awkward at best especially for long documents.  May the hard copies live forever.

- The Duke Men's Basketball Coaches are winding up their viewing of AAU events this week.  Coaches James and Collins are in Orlando for the Showcase and  AAU Nationals.  As you may have seen in our tweets or updates if you are a member, Kryzyzewski took in Murphy and Muhammad in Las Vegas while juggling his Team USA duties.  Lot's to come for members of BDN Premium this week.

- And be sure to tune in to ESPN 3 at 7:00 EST tonight, for Michael Gbinije and Team Takeover will face Each One led by Austin Rivers. 

Here is a look at the 2011, 2012 Duke Football schedules -

2011 Duke Football Schedule

Home - Richmond, Stanford, Tulane, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest

Away - Florida International, Boston College, Miami, North Carolina, Virginia

2012 Duke Football Schedule

Home - Florida International, Memphis, N.C. Central, Clemson, Miami, North Carolina, Virginia

Away - Stanford, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest