Rasheed Sulaimon played "Horse" while visiting Duke. Maybe that helped him win the three point shooting contest at the McDonald's All American game? BDN presents another loaded team and recruiting update article for premium members.

Well, it’s that time of year again when AAU ball cranks up and for BDN that means we’ll be hitting several big events. Austin Rivers decision to sign with an agent and enter the NBA Draft wasn’t that big of a surprise to us and we all wish him luck. Rivers decision is the first thing that will set the future into motion as the staff will be hot on the recruiting trail.  While many Duke fans hate to see Rivers lead, he can help the program at the next level and they will show that shot against UNC several times early on in his pro career.  He joins Kyrie Irving as players kids will really identify with.

I expect Mason Plumlee will (you must be a BDN Premium member to read the 2000 plus word update, so join today!)

Lance King Images

Austin Rivers responds to being named Cosmopolitan’s Hottest 25 players in the NCAA Tournament and talks a little hoops as well via BDN Video -

Almost. Curry heaves a late three that rolls out and Duke heads back to Durham. Lance King Photo

The Duke Blue Devils fell to Florida State 62-59 in the ACC Tournament semi finals in Atlanta, Georgia and fell to 27-6 on the season.  The team will now await the NCAA selection show on Sunday to see which region they’ll play in but it is pretty much a lock they’ll be in Greensboro for their first one or two games.

Duke had a hard time with their bread and butter three point shots in the tournament and today they went 5 of 20 from beyond the arc.  Duke almost tied the ball game on a shot at the buzzer after a defensive play, but the ball rimmed in and out for Curry.  The Blue Devils managed to stay in the game with its free throw shooting where they went 16 of 18 but the Seminoles dominated the boards for most of the second half until late in the game and all the loose balls seemed to go their way in key stretches.

Luke Loucks nailed a three pointer over Josh Hairston with 12 seconds left and Duke failed to score on two possessions with the aforementioned Curry miss and another failed three from Rivers.  The ACC Freshman of the Year led Duke in scoring with 17 points and Curry added 13 as the Blue Devils only two double figure scorers.

It was obvious that the Blue Devils missed Ryan Kelly and that they were at times out of synch on offense without him. Kelly can stretch the floor pulling big men out as a true three point threat.  Kelly is day to day but will likely see limited action in this weeks tournament.

With Mason Plumlee saddled with foul trouble, the Seminoles took advantage in the paint outscoring Duke 34-24.  That forced Miles to take on much of the load and he did grab 11 rebounds and scored 9 points.  Mason ended the game with 8 points and 4 rebounds.  Duke got just 9 points from their bench, 4 for Josh  Hairston and 5 from Quinn Cook while Andre Dawkins continued his struggles going scoreless.

Both teams played hard with maybe the Seminoles making a bit more effort.  Duke was sluggish in the 1st half and a look at the stats would make one think they had trailed by more than 2 points. 

Coach Krzyzewski has done a great job with this team to date but the Blue Devils may have to tweak their offense a bit without Kelly seeing significant minutes.  When Duke needed a stop tonight it just didn’t come and sometimes that’s just the way the ball bounces.  We’ll discuss that a bit later as it’s now time to look forward where all teams are 0-0.

Lance King photo for BDN

The Blue Devils survived the pesky Hokies 60-56 to advance to the semi finals where they’ll take on a talented Florida State team this afternoon.  In the process Duke tied the second longest streak of ACC Tournament victories at 10 consecutive wins.  The Blue Devils defense was the key against the Hokies, holding their opponent to 30.2% from the field.

Duke doubled the production of the Hokies in the paint by a 24-12 margin and their fast break worked as well to a 8 to 3 rate.  But Duke was just 5 of 26 from the three point stripe and that number must improve against Florida State.  The Blue Devils also benefited from going 15 of 18 from the free throw line and that was a huge factor in winning their 27th game of the season.

Tyler Thornton was a vital part of the win as well, despite missing several three pointers.  But the ones he did make were at key moments and he seemed to be there every time their was a loose ball, garnering 3 steals.  Austin Rivers led Duke in scoring wih 17 points and Mason Plumlee played very well scoring 12 points to go with 10 rebounds.

As I hinted to earlier, Duke went small just minutes into the game, rotating the the borthers Plumlee with Ryan Kelly sidelined for the tournament.  You can expect more of that today against the Semionoles winners over Miami.  This will be the rubber match between these two clubs and trust me when I say the Florida State fans travelled well here and they’ve let their presence be known.  Of course, Duke will have all the UNC fans pulling against them as well in that the Heels face rival N.C. State in t he opening game.

There is no doubt that the Duke-Florida State game is likely to go to the wire and it’ll be a tense affair throughout.  The Blue Devils must keep a body on the Seminoles and hold their on in the paint while hitting a better percentage from beyond the three point arc.  So, pull up a chair if you think you can actually sit down during this game and root your Blue Devils on for they’ll need the collective support from the fan base today.

Duke fans were a bit quiet in the arena yesterday and they’ll need to pick up the support as well.  We’ll continue to have post game wrap ups with exclusive video and photo galleries from Lance King, so bookmark Blue Devil Nation now and go up close and personal behind the scenes.  As for our prediction today, we’ll take the Duke Blue Devils 66-64.