DURHAM - Coming off a national championship and starting the 2010-11 season meant that Coach Mike Krzyzewski had a lot to say as he addressed the media for the first time this season. Coach talks of agents, last seasons team, this years challenges and so much more in this interesting audio interview. We hope you enjoy hearing from Coach as much as we did.
Just press play -
The after effect of Austin Rivers recent commitment will be felt for some time to come. Face it, Duke Basketball Recruiting has been stellar of late with talented kids like Kyrie Irving and Austin Rivers committing back to back. As soon as this seasons basketball analyst get a chance, they'll have to and in some cases be forced to give these guys big props which will lead to some pretty serious exposure for the program. Then again, Duke already has all of their basketball games televised every single season.
Coach Krzyzewski has been on a roll of late winning Gold for Team USA, the 2010 national championship and the recruiting trail. Sometimes one needs to stand back and appreciate his tremendous achievements. The man loves a challenge and the pressure of being at the top is just fine by him. Duke will be ranked number one in the country going into the season in the polls, but as always it'll be fun in the early season to see how Krzyzewski molds the 2010-11 team.
Duke Assistant Coach Chris Collins has been on a bit of a roll too for the aforementioned Irving and Rivers are players he was the lead assistant on. Each prospect is assigned a particular lead assistant while being recruited and it's obvious that Collins did a heck of a job helping close on two sensational guards. We can only hope to see them in the same backcourt one day.
The anticipation for Countdown for Craziness is building like a slow fever as fans anticipate Friday, October 15th, the start of the college basketball season. Last seasons event was special in that it was not only the first, but the beginning phase of a magical title run, or the first stop on memory lane if you will. This years CTC will be just as good if not better, for Duke has a new banner to officially show off. If that weren't enough the recently signed Austin Rivers will lead a bevy of prospects and future teammates into the old girl. Do you think that'll bring a strong reaction from the Crazies? Let's not forget the 2010-11 team itself coming out to a died in the wool royal blue festive bunch of fanatical fans. Who knows what antics Nolan Smith will be up to this year? Topping last years Dawkins short-shorts spoof and his Titanic bit will be tough but I think he's up to the challenge. Simply put, the event is a must for any Duke fan. Have you got your tickets yet?
And in a little NBA talk, new Chicago Bulls star Carlos Boozer will miss eight weeks due to a broken hand this season. The Bulls are depending on the Booz to put them over the hump this season Former Dukie JJRedick signed a 19 million dollar contract in the off season, got married and has a rap album coming out. Glad he hasn't been doingmuch
After last seasons championship, Nike coined a slogan "Order is Restored." Well, they are certainly on to something and one simply has to look at projected All American teams to realize it. Kyle Singler's return has him picked as a consensus first team choice and some taut him as the likely winner of the player of the year award. Nolan Smith is on most second teams and newcomer Kyrie Irving is projected on some second teams and no lower than third. When's the last time Duke had three legitimate first team All American possibilities? I'll end this weeks Monday Musings letting you ponder that question.
It's time for another edition of Monday Musings where I talk about whatever comes to mind with concerns to the Duke Athletic programs.
Tide rolls in, Tide rolls on, Tide rolls out
When Alabama fans travel, they do so in force and when their fan base got wind that they could feel Wallace Wade Stadium the trip was considered a tourist event for many of their fans. Waves of Crimson filled the Triangle area this past weekend where they boosted the local economy by six millions bucks. In all honesty, it was closer to an Alabama home game than a Duke one for the crowd was 60-40 from my vantage. It was mere seconds before one realized that Duke didn't stand a chance against a superior team. Fans watched on as several athletic plays made one realize that this Bama team was just down right nasty good. As the dust cleared from a 62-13 day and what seemed like the longest first quarter ever the Bama fans slowly packed up and headed back to the Deep South where they'll take on Arkansas in a dandy matchup.
In comes Army
It won't take long for Duke fans to miss the huge crowds from the Alabama game for there will be plenty of tickets available when Army rolls in. And you know what? They can run the ball and the Blue Devils have trouble stopping the run. This has become a stressful situation for the football team for they so badly need this win and it adds a ton of pressure. Despite Duke's early struggles they open as a 6.5 favorite.
Live and learn
One day down the road when Sean Renfree looks back on the Alabama game, he will realize the many lessons he learned. Renfree rushed some passes on Saturday where film shows he could have held the ball a full two seconds or so more. One must remember just how young Renfree is and that he is a tireless worker. There is no doubt that he will be a really good quarterback as his career progresses.
Devils entertain recruits
We've already listed the names of several football prospects which visited campus this past weekend, but hoops was at work as well. A key PG prospect Quinn Cook was on campus where he hung out with players, namely Nolan Smith. Marshall Plumlee was seen towering over fans at the game as well and while I did not see Michael Gbinije, he was there. There were a couple of more names as well which we will cover as the week goes on.
Duke Baketball casts a huge shadow
No matter how ballyhooed the football game can be in Durham, basketball casts a huge shadow over athletics at all times. Cameron Indoor Stadium saw about three thousand visiting fans at one time or another this past weekend and Coach K was honored at midfield at the half for winning another Gold for Team USA. The excitement is already upon us and it should be for this years team will be the pre season number one ranked team in America. Alabama fans who recognized Duke players were asking for their autographs as if they were celebrities and there were plenty of comments overheard. FWIW, the pre season magazines are hitting the stands hard and Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith ad Kyrie Irving are all on the first three All Americans teams in each one. Oh, and ESPNU will televise part of Countdown to Craziness.
Scalpers took a bath on Game Day
Scalpers are a necessary evil for folks always need tickets but when dealing with them you often feel like a shower is in store. In short, they make used card salesmen look appealing. Many of them made a killing with on line services leading up to the game but everywhere you turned on game day tickets were available below face value. This often happens when anticipation outweighs the desire for the game has been called a sell out keeping many folks in front of their flat screens at home.
Pick the score contest winner
Tom4Duke was this weeks winner predicting a 62-17 Alabama win. You can win one month of BDN Premium by sending us your Duke-Army pick via Twitter this week and being the closest to the score. If you nail it, we'll give you three months of premium access. The rules are simple - 1- you must have the winner, 2- be the closet to the actual score of both teams. Example - You pick Duke to defeat Army 24-17 and the score is actually Duke 28-24, you are 11 total point off and of course the lower the number, the better for you. Had you picked Army to win, you would have been automatically out.
The 2010 USA Men’s World Championship Team fought through adversity, fended off a second half attack and edged host and defending world champion Spain 86-85 on Sunday night inside the Magic Box in Madrid, Spain. Playing in a raucous stadium filled to its 10,960 capacity, the USA’s charge was led by Player of the Game Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder), who posted game-highs of 25 points and 10 boards, and also had a pair of key blocks in the closing seconds.
Also in double digits were Derrick Rose (Chicago Bulls), who scored 13 points, including the game’s final two points from the line; Lamar Odom (Los Angeles Lakers) notched 12 points and nine boards; and Chauncey Billups (Denver Nuggets) tossed in 10 points.
“This is something I’m never going to forget … never,” said Rose.
“I got to hit them,” he recalled about what he was thinking during his game-clinching free throws. “As your legacy goes on or the way you want your legacy to finally end, this is something that some people are going to remember.”
The U.S., now 3-0 in its three exhibition games, will travel to Athens tomorrow to prepare for its final exhibition game against Greece on Aug. 25 at 7:00 p.m. local (12:00 p.m. EDT live on ESPN).
“Great crowd, two excellent teams playing their hearts out and we felt fortunate to win. We made one more play then they did and that’s how good the game was,” said USA and Duke University head coach Mike Krzyzewski. “We were trying to learn about our younger players so we started a different lineup.
“Before we talk about the outside (players), Lamar Odom should be our starting center. He’s finally into shape I think to play at this level. Curry has been out so we wanted to give him a chance and we already know what Rondo and Granger can do, and Love was out. The doctor wanted to keep him out because of hitting his head and because it’s back-to-back, so that was a precaution. That was our plan tonight, just to take a better look at our team.”
Trailing since the first basket of the game, Spain took its first lead of the night, 82-80, with under two minutes to play on a Felipe Reyes layup. Durant countered to knot the score 17 seconds later and after Ricky Rubio tossed the ball away the U.S. had a shot to pull ahead again, but Odom’s 3-pointer was off the mark and Spain had the ball back.
However Reyes missed his next attempt and Odom secured the rebound. With seven seconds left on the shot clock and 32.99 seconds to play in the game, Rose nailed a driving bucket and the U.S. was back in the lead, 84-82.
Following a Spanish time out, Juan Carlos Navarro was fouled driving to the hoop. He converted on the 3-point play to give his side the lead once again with 27.82 ticks on the clock.
Rose shook off a determined defensive effort by Rubio and was fouled as he drove to the basket. Ignoring the deafening roar of the crowd, he calmly stepped to the line and swished both his attempts with 16.92 to go.
“He made two big free throws and like I told him after the game, those were really big confidence-wise for him and the rest of the team to know that we got a guy we can go to down the stretch,” said Andre Igoudala (Philadelphia 76ers).
Spain again called time, which enabled the hosts to advance the ball to half court.
“We’ve practiced a lot with the zone and we used zone on all under out of bounds which were good. Then from the timeout Jim Boeheim said let’s go orange” said Krzyzewski on what the plan was out of the final time out. “We call it orange with respect for Jim, he said he doesn’t have any buildings named after him in Syracuse so we’ll name the zone after him. I agreed with him, but it was his suggestion and the guys did a good job with it.”
After inbounding the ball, the Spaniards moved the ball around and finally Rubio found room to attempt a 3-point attempt. However, there wasn’t enoughspace as Durant partially deflected the shot. The rebound was bobbled around and Spain came up with it, but Durant was again there to block Rudy Fernandez’ 3-point attempt and the clock expired with the U.S. collecting its third victory in as many exhibition games.
“I just wanted to cover a much ground as I could and help my teammates out,” said Durant about the game’s final possession. “I saw Ricky Rubio open in the corner and I just wanted to use my length to get out there and tip the shot. I was able to get a finger on it and I had the ball and it kind of slipped out of my hand and Rubio got it back and threw it to Fernandez and I just didn’t want to jump and get a foul on a 3-point shot so I stayed down and kind of timed it pretty well and I was fortunate enough to get a block and the game was over. I just wanted to do something to help my team win.”
The USA, which opened up a 16-3 gap to start the game, held a 45-33 lead at the midway break.
Spain charged out of the locker room and in addition to hitting 6-of-7 from the line, knocked down a couple of threes and in the span of almost five minutes, to close the gap to 55-53.
The U.S. came back to life. Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City Thunder) scored to start the USA on 8-1 run that was capped by consecutive baskets from Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors) that left the Americas holding a 63-54 lead. After a pair of Spain baskets, the Americans closed the third quarter’s final 1:05 with a 6-0 spurt to open a double-digit, 69-58, lead with 10 minutes to play.
Plagued by fouls most of the game, the U.S. picked up three quick ones in the first 1:12 of the fourth quarter. Trying to stay out of the bonus and keep Spain off the line, the USA’s defense sagged and Spain battled its way back into the game as the hosts outscored the red, white and blue 20-11 over the opening seven minutes in the fourth and then tied the game at 80-all with 2:37 to play.
The USA had a much better shooting night against Spain than Saturday night’s contest against Lithuania, hitting 48.5 percent (33-68 FGs) from the field, while holding Spain to 41.8 percent (28-67 FGs). However, the U.S., which owned the glass 39-27, sent Spain to the line for 29 attempts and the hosts converted on 24 (.828). In contrast, the American men made 14-of-18 from the line (.778).
Spain was led by Navarro’s 20 points, Marc Gasol had 17, Reyes tossed in 16 off the bench.
“It was a tough game. On their home court. We just fought through adversity and came out with a win,” said Westbrook.
“First off it was a fun game, one of those games that was a learning experience for us, coming over here and playing one of the best teams in the world,” stated Durant. “I think we made key plays down the stretch and we also played together as a team and stuck together through tough times. So it was a good test for us.”
The 2010 USA World Championship Team assistant coaches are Syracuse University’s Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim, Portland Trail Blazers head coach Nate McMillan and Toronto Raptors head mentor Jay Triano.
All four of the USA’s pre-World Championship friendlies are part of the new Global Community Cup, which will include all USA Basketball exhibition games played outside of formal international competitions. Along with the games, the Global Community Cup features a social responsibility element that will highlight USA Basketball’s commitment to giving back to communities in the U.S. and abroad.
The official 12-man USA roster that will compete in the 2010 FIBA World Championship, which will be played Aug. 28-Sept. 12 in Turkey, must be submitted to FIBA at the technical meeting that normally is held the day prior to the start of the competition.
For photo's and additional coverage visit USABasketball.com
Austin Rivers was the morning's high scorer with 29 points during the first day of the Nike EYBL Peach Jam in Augusta, South Carolina, Recent diary entries brought about a lot of questions and Duke and UNC fans wanted answers. Well, BDN wasted little time in acquiring them right away. Check out the following lengthy interview and stay tuned to BDN for real time updates on our premium members message board. With Andrew Slater's in depth Shabazz Muhammad interview and now this one, BDN is quite simply the place to be for the best coverage out there. Check out our trial offer which last just 24 more hours or go ahead and get the best value by joining for a year. Check out our coverage of the prospects you want the hear from and our in person analysis of the events. After all, you have to get out here and see the prospects to be able to talk about them, right?
So, what is your list of schools?
Duke, North Carolina, Florida, Kansas and Kentucky. Those are the five I had and those are the ones here watching me right now.
You decided to push your decision back ...
Basically I just want to see how people do this year at the schools I'm looking at. I'm just going to wait for the college season to start and watch a little bit of the ball and after a couple of weeks or so, make my decision. I feel like it is important to me to just wait a little bit longer. I'm looking for playing time and want to come in and impact the team. I want to play for a team that goes up and down and attack.
Have you talked with UNC lately?
I talked to [private] Roy Williams a couple of times but it's been a couple of months since he called but when I was playing for Team USA I was out of touch.
You mentioned Harrison Barnes and Kyrie Irving in your latest diary entry, can you speak of those two?
Well, I'm friends with Harrison Barnes but we don't talk on the phone or anything like that. I'm real good friends with Kyrie but not because he goes to Duke. I've been playing with him at these camps from the start, so I have developed a good relationship there. I'm also friends with Kendall Marshall and my best friends are Marshall, Kobongo and Irving.
Your Dad said you would slow down in the AAU tournaments and take in the Showcase but not the AAU Nationals.
Yeah, just the Nike Showcase. I just felt like I needed a break and just want to get stronger but after being in LA and with Team USA for 13 days and here ... that should be enough for the summer.
So, there really isn't a timetable. Will you just make a decision when it feels right?
Basically, yeah. When it comes to mind and I feel like it and know that this is the school for me I will make the decision.
Do you plan to take a visit to UNC?
I do plan on taking a visit North Carolina in late August right before school starts because I haven't been up there and later on that year we'll see if they get another visit. I might then go to Kentucky.
Will you vist Duke as well on that trip?
Probably, because they are eight miles apart and it's the right thing to do. I went to Duke a couple of months back but not North Carolina, so this will be like a double header.
Does it upset you that some coaches are not here to watch you from the five schools you mentioned?
I don't like them less or more because of this. I like them and I hope they feel the same way because I am interested in them.
What is it like playing in front of coaches?
I try to block it and not try to change my game when they are here. I'm just trying to win
Do you like it when coaches come to watch you?
Yeah, it shows that they are interested in me and that they want to recruit me. I don't know who was here today.
The Duke coaches were the only ones here.
Really? I like that Coach K was here to see me.
A while back people considered Duke to be the favorite. Some are saying that has changed and that you have cooled a bit on them.
I have an interest in a lot of schools right now. I have the best relationship with Florida and Duke because I have been recruited by them the longest, but Carolina, Kentucky and Kansas are in the picture and I am not favoring anybody right now. I really haven't even talked to my father about it and he doesn't even know. I really don't know where I am going yet. Right after AAU starts that's when I will sit down with my family and coach and figure out whats best for me.
Do internet rumors bug you?
I just laugh at people who tell me like I am going overseas to play and stuff like that. The internet really confuses people sometimes.
Your parents are here to support you ...
Yeah they do a lot to support me, especially my mom. She is the person that keeps the family together and my Dad really keeps busy with his job.
So, mom is the rock?
Yeah, shes the rock, the man of the hours really.
You mentioned relationships with other coaches, would you like to build more of them?
Yes, yes. I would like to build relationships with Coach Calipari and Coach Self.
You do not seem as dependent on your outside shot in game one like you have in the past.
Yeah, I've tried to mix it up a little bit. I have a really good right hand floater and a left hand floater, I've been working on that. You will see me use that throughout the tournament.
Which school has been recruiting you aggressively in the past two months?
Duke is the most aggressiveness. We have a good relationship that is building and we talk once a month and have a good conversation of about 45 minutes or better. They really show that they care. North Carolina sends me a lot of letters that Roy Williams writes and stuff like that, so it's all good.
When did you first hear from UNC?
Three and a half or four months ago when I first talked to North Carolina, at the end of my school year. I talked with Coach Williams after the initial contact.
In your diary you mention Kyrie possibly turning pro early and it seems as if that was a major concern. Is it?
Yes, to be a championship team I want to have some good players. Kyrie is that good and he may go to the pros after one year but how will it affect me? It wouldn't keep me from going to Duke. They are always going to have good players and they are building their program and they will be ranked number one this year so we'll see how they do. Duke will always be in the spotlight.
And what of those banana yellow Nikes?
Yeah, they're terrible. They sent us a fluorescent pair. What can you do? [/private]
Real time updates continue from the King City Classic where Coach K and Chris Collins checked out future Blue Devil Michael Gbinije during the morning session. Catch all the action as it happens with Duke's hot prospects and commitments by joining Blue Devil Nation Premium.
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We have already talked with Shabazz Muhammad, Alex Murphy, Marshall Plumlee, Kaleb Tarczewski during coverage from Adidas Nations and were checking out the LeBron James Skills Academies before that where Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith enhanced their skills. And some new names which could surface in the class of 2010 and detailed interviews are forth coming. And we will be headed to the Peach Jam on Monday where we once again, hit the AAU circuit like no other Duke site.
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