Tag Archives: Coach K

BDN Premium Team and Recruiting Update

December 1, 2009 Mark Watson

Mason Plumlee was officially cleared to play late yesterday afternoon. Plumlee has been practicing and went full throttle yesterday. His wrist is still a concern but the consensus is that he is ready to go. How much time he logs against Wisconsin remains to be seen, but looking at match-ups and front court depth, there is good reason to think we'll see the freshman on the court.

Duke has prepared for [private] a tough game against Wisconsin, knowing it will be a physical man's game. Lance Thomas stated that Duke would not back down from anyone in a confident manner during a media gathering yesterday. Thomas hopes to build on his performance against UConn and said that he always played like that in practice and that it was now translating to the court.

As you know by now, Brad Beal gave Florida his verbal and many feel Duke backed off. Well, they may have in the end after it became apparent that Beal would choose the long time favorite Gators. One must remember that Beal was ready to commit to Florida before Duke started recruiting him. The Devils made efforts to get him on campus but that never materialized. The Beal family was unable to make a visit due to financial reasons and despite the fact he grew up a JJ Redick fan, the top notch prospect never seemed to let others in past last July. With Duke involved with Rivers, they could afford to back off of Beal, who is a perfect example of watch what a player does, not what he says. For whatever reason, it is clear now that Beal was always Florida's to lose.

Speaking of Austin Rivers nothing has changed here either. As we told you long ago, he will make it to a Duke game this season and during his high school season he is unlikely to make any big moves. In short, he may not officially back off UF until after his season is finished but that, of course, can change. The Devils feel that Rivers fits their program in every way and Krzyzewski wants to coach him. It was Rivers and company who originally contacted Duke and Doc wants to make sure his son goes to the right school to develop his skills. Duke has had loads of success with kids who have NBA lineage.

Nothing has changed with Duke and Roscoe Smith since my last update. Oak Hill plays an active schedule and the Blue Devils are looking for a time to get him on campus where he can attend a game. Smith will not be making a sudden decision and he has until spring to decide. Nate James started working on Smith last June and their relationship is part of the reason why Duke has a legitimate shot at landing a player they could really use.

Duke also remains very active with Quincy Miller and they stay in touch on a regular basis. Despite recent reports, Miller will not be pulling the trigger anytime soon.

So whether you guys like it or not, there simply isn't a lot going on with recruiting because both the prospects and Duke are in season. You can expect some visits in the near future and we will let you know as they are solidified, so there is no sense in asking over and over again about some kids. In short, if there is anything different than what I have been throwing your way, I will let you know. I will not run with anything until I have thrown it past enough sources to know it is legit information.

With football season over, BDN can now concentrate on hoops alone and that means we'll be bringing you some good December coverage. We will attend at least three holiday tournaments and that means firsthand views of kids and interviews. So our premium side is about to take off again after a lull period where, in all honesty, little is going on so it's hard to report something where there is nothing.

I will be chiming in again soon so, until then, let's pull the Devils through. [/private]

Duke Basketball

Duke 68 UConn 59 – Coach K quotes

November 27, 2009 Duke Sports Information

Connecticut Duke Basketball BDN will have more coverage to come but until then, here is Coach K's post game comments-

MODERATOR: Coach will make an opening statement and then he'll take questions.

COACH MIKE KRZYZEWSKI: It's a big‑time game. Shots were so hard to come by. Open shots. Both teams are very, very good defensively. And you know, you get by one guy and you can't ‑‑ it's hard to get to the bucket. You know? And we've not experienced a team like that this year.

But we rebounded very well. We played outstanding defense. And I thought Thomas and Zoubek were the difference‑makers for us. Because I mean they both had 11 rebounds. And Zoubek I thought had the biggest play in the first half where he got the offensive rebound and kicked it out to Singler for a 3 because points were tough to come by. And in the second half he got one, and I don't know how he got it out to Scheyer in the corner. He got it through about four guys and Scheyer hit that 3. And so on two of his offensive rebounds we got 6 points.

We didn't give up a 3 today. So when you get two possessions in this game, where you get 6 points, that's a lot. We missed 53 shots and we had 56 rebounds. You know, that's a very unusual game.

But it's a game where both teams played with a lot of heart and we feel very privileged to have won this game and the NIT Championship with the Carlesimo name on it. The Carlesimo family is like family to me and my family. The trophy is named after one of the great, great men in college basketball history. So it was nice to see Lucy. We call her "Lucia" from the Barcelona Olympics. That's a good thing.

Any questions.

Q. Doug Gottlieb called your team alarmingly unathletic. Did you think today answered that question pretty emphatically?

COACH MIKE KRZYZEWSKI: He should be an expert on alarmingly non‑athletic. So I'll have to take a look at that a little bit closer because it comes from an expert who actually knows what it feels like to be alarmingly non‑athletic.

Actually, we're pretty athletic; we're just not as athletic as Connecticut. Singler is a really good athlete. Lance, Miles. Jon is not leaping tall buildings with a single bound but he's a real good athlete. But I wouldn't call us like this athletic team, but we're not amazingly non‑athletic. And I would rather not get into a discussion with Doug because I have respect of his stature and he should have his arguments with people of similar stature. That would be a good thing.

Q. Stopping the transition was obviously a key. How did you do that in the first half?

COACH MIKE KRZYZEWSKI: Well, we didn't for a while. Walker, he's a jet. We had Wojo scout for this team and I said, "You said he was quick, you didn't say that he was that quick." And we adjusted our defense. What we normally do with a point guard like that is try to corral him at half court with the second big, you know, just to hold him back. And we couldn't get back in time to do that. So after the first TV time‑out, instead of 21 which is our half‑court defense, we went top of the key 11 and just said, "Get back. Don't worry about corral." Everybody is responsible for corralling him, and I thought the rest of the game we did a fairly good job of it.

Q. 25 offensive rebounds on a team like UCONN with their size and athleticism; what do you chalk that up to?

COACH MIKE KRZYZEWSKI: Well, we're big too. Non‑athletic but very big. And so ‑‑ Zoubek and Thomas were huge. We do run sets where our perimeter guys take shots. They took a lot of shots and they should take lot of shots. Our big guys are accustomed to know when those guys take their shots. So we've been working a lot on trying to position ourselves in places where we might get that reshot.

Q. Did you notice anything as far as UCONN leaking out early?

COACH MIKE KRZYZEWSKI: They did.

Q. Was that something you could take advantage of?

COACH MIKE KRZYZEWSKI: I didn't think we could take advantage of ‑‑ I just didn't want ‑‑ they beat us a couple of times early. They blew by us for about six minutes. And then we knew ‑‑ we knew we shouldn't fast break, try to fast break with them the whole game unless we got a turnover.

Q. Meaning that if they're going ‑‑

COACH MIKE KRZYZEWSKI: No, no, we have an extra guy on the boards to crash. We discussed that. But I don't think that was ‑‑ the guys who got the most offensive rebounds were the guys that had on their bigs. They almost made some big plays. We couldn't put the ball back in the basket. A lot of it has to do with their shot‑blocking ability.

Q. In the second half, especially in the second half, even when their guards would get into the lane, can you talk about your help defense?

COACH MIKE KRZYZEWSKI: That's again the big guys were coming over. And at least if they didn't take charges, they were trying to take charges, they got a few blocks. But they distracted the shooter. Kind of like how they did to us.

I thought shooters in the lane today was not a good place to shoot the ball. You know, there was a lot of distractions defensively being made by both teams for those shooters.

Q. Can you talk about Jon Scheyer's game? 19‑5‑5.

COACH MIKE KRZYZEWSKI: Jon is a terrific player. He's a terrific basketball player. He has a great feel for the game. And because he's almost an automatic free‑throw shooter, he's dangerous especially at the end of the game. He values the ball. And although he's not making a lot of great passes, he's not making hardly any turnovers. And he makes simple passes and I think ‑‑ now he has four turnovers for the year. He's the most important player we have, Jon is. Just because he has to have the ball so much.

Q. Kyle, 2‑of‑12, 6 points, he shoots 29 percent. I told you those numbers coming into the game.

COACH MIKE KRZYZEWSKI: I would have been very worried or mad at you. I would have told you to go talk to Doug Gottlieb. You don't have to do that by the way. I won't punish you like that.

Kyle made two bad fouls. I think the nature of the game he slapped down twice and he just can't do that. From then on, we're massaging the game and then he gets three. And so you talk ‑‑ I hate to talk with words like "flow" ‑‑ he never got in the rhythm of the game. He never got in the rhythm of the game. But still, defensively he was on Robinson. I mean, they kind of negated one another. Robinson ‑‑ their perimeter is very, very athletic. Robinson is a big‑time athlete.

Q. When you win a game like this, do you leave here feeling pretty good?

We'll have more on the game a bit later but here are Coach K's post game comments.

COACH MIKE KRZYZEWSKI: Oh, yeah, we feel great. We played against two different types of teams and two teams that I think are going to be in contention in their conference coverages.

We're still missing one of our kids. Mason Plumlee who I think will be a big addition to our team.

The other kid I want to mention is Andre Dawkins. Both of these games he didn't play like a freshman. He was very, very good, very good in both games. And that gives us a little bit more depth on the perimeter.

THE MODERATOR: Last question?

Q. What kind of role do you foresee for him as this develops and he gets more experience?

COACH MIKE KRZYZEWSKI: He got good time today. He's playing behind our three best players. So the fact he's going to be the first guy off the bench. He can play off those guys because he's as good a shooter as we have. And then if we ever did want to go small and put Kyle at the four, he could be ‑‑ we did have that lineup in for a little bit.

But then the fouls ‑‑ actually, we got a big bucket when we had Kyle at the four. And then we got in foul trouble and we had to get away from it. Andre has been really good for us.

Thank you.

Duke Basketball

Three point barrage carries Duke past Radford 104-67

November 21, 2009 Mark Watson

Andre Dawkins had a career high of 20 points - BDN Photo

The Duke Blue Devils nailed 18 three points shots [tied a school record] in route to a 104- 67 thumping of Radford on Saturday afternoon in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Freshman Andre Dawkins hit 6 of 8 from beyond the arc on his way to a career high 20 points.

"Whenever I put it up, I thought it was going in. I had a lot of confidence in my shot," said Dawkins.

Nolan Smith who dropped in 20 points and garnered 7 assists said of Dawkins, "Andre played a great game. He came out with a lot of confidence and was ready to shoot the ball."

The Blue Devils used a 23-4 run in the first half which broke the game open, helping them carry a 59-34 edge into halftime and they never looked back.

Radford's Art Parakhouski kept his team int he game for a while and earned high praise from Krzyzewski after the game. The hulking Parahouski finished the game as the high scorer with 23 points to go with his 13 rebounds.

The win was Duke's most complete game of the season, especially on the offensive end where several numbers stand out.

Duke had three players, Singler, Scheyer and Smith with 7 assists a piece and the team totaled 25. Duke was 16 of 17 from the free throw stripe and hot 18 of 32 three point shots, a 56.3% clip.

Miles Plumlee had his second straight double-double with numbers of 12 points and 11 rebounds. His teammate Brian Zoubek had back to back games of 9 rebounds as well.

Duke All American Kyle Singler struggled with his shot on his way to 13 points, but his game was well rounded in that he added 7 rebounds and 7 assists.

His sidekick Jon Scheyer scored 18 points to go with his 7 assists as well. Ryan Kelly added a career high 9 points and 5 rebounds playing effective minutes.

"The guys are playing hard and we are getting better. We are a good basketball team. We will be excited to play in New York," said Kryzewski to the blue Devil Nation in his post game comments.

Duke is now 4-0 on the young season and they will take on Arizona State in the semi finals of the NIT. The winner plays either UConn- LSU.


	RADFORD	DUKE
Points	A. Parakhouski 23	N. Smith 20
Rebounds	A. Parakhouski 14
Assists	A. Johnson 4	K. Singler 7
Steals	B. Smith 2	A. Dawkins 3
Blocks	A. Parakhouski 3	R. Kelly 2

Stay tuned for the Blue Devil Nation Locker Room Report

Duke Basketball

Official Game Notes – Radford at Duke

November 20, 2009 Duke Sports Information

Game 4

Duke (3-0) vs. Radford (2-0)

Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009 • 3:00 p.m. • GoDuke.com

Cameron Indoor Stadium (9,314) • Durham, N.C.

The Opening Tip

Duke (3-0), ranked ninth in the AP preseason poll and eighth in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll, faces Radford (2-0) on Saturday, Nov. 21 at 3:00 p.m. Saturday’s contest will be shown live on GoDuke.com Inside Access with Reese Edwards and John Roth calling the action.

The Last Time Out

Duke posted its 71st consecutive non-conference home win on Tuesday with a 101-59 decision over Charlotte at Cameron Indoor Stadium. With the win, Duke advanced to the semifinals of the NIT Season Tip-Off (Nov. 25-27) at Madison Square Garden.

Junior Nolan Smith made his season debut against the 49ers, scoring a career-high 24 points to go along with five rebounds, five assists and two steals. Jon Scheyer added 20 points, six rebounds and five assists in the win, while Kyle Singler added 17 points.

Sophomore Miles Plumlee posted career-highs in points (15), rebounds (11), assists (2) and steals (2) on Saturday. Brian Zoubek came off the bench to score nine points and match a career-high with 13 rebounds, including eight offensive boards.

Six different Blue Devils made three-pointers against Charlotte as the team went 12-of-21 (.571) from deep in the contest.

Series History

Duke is 1-0 all-time against Radford with a 99-63 win in Lexington, Ky., on March 13, 1998 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

Numbers Game

l The Blue Devils have won an NCAA-best 71 consecutive non-conference home games.

l Duke has won 31 straight home games against unranked opponents, dating back to a 68-67 loss to Florida State on Feb. 4, 2007.

l The Blue Devils have won 14 straight games and are 27-9 all-time against Big South opponents. Duke posted a 74-49 win over Big South foe Coastal Carolina on Monday.

l Duke is 49-14 when ranked ninth in the AP poll. The Blue Devils have won eight straight games when ranked No. 9 in the country.

l The Blue Devils are 99-10 in the month of November under Coach K. Duke has won 19 straight games in the month, dating back to a Nov. 21, 2006 loss to Marquette.

l Junior Nolan Smith went 9-of-15 from the field, including 2-of-3 from three-point range, in a career-best 24-point effort against Charlotte. Smith missed the first two games of the season while serving a suspension for a violation of rules pertaining to summer league participation.

l Sophomore Miles Plumlee and senior Brian Zoubek combined for 24 points and 24 rebounds in 40 minutes of action in the win over Charlotte. The post duo is averaging 21.7 points and 17.0 rebounds per game, while shooting 64.3 percent (27-of-42) from the floor, for the season.

l Jon Scheyer has 14 assists and zero turnovers in 103 minutes of action on the year. The Northbrook, Ill., native has a 1.78:1 assist-to-turnover ratio in 107 career games.

l Sophomore Miles Plumlee is averaging 11.7 points and 8.7 rebounds per game after recording 1.8 points and 1.4 rebounds per game a year ago. He has scored in double figures in all three games this season and registered his first career double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds on Tuesday against Charlotte.

l Junior Kyle Singler had 17 points on Tuesday and has now scored in double figures in 18 straight games dating back to last season. Overall, Singler has reached 10 or more points scored in 62 of 74 career games.

l The Blue Devils have shot 50.0 percent or better from the field in two of three games this season. Duke is 421-30 under Coach K when shooting 50.0 percent or better from the field.

l Duke has limited its last two opponents to 31.3 percent shooting (36-of-115) from the field. The Blue Devils also held Coastal Carolina and Charlotte to 11-of-38 (.290) shooting from behind the three-point arc.

l The Blue Devils are averaging 39.3 points in the paint per game and own a +17.3 points per game edge on interior scoring of the year. Duke has scored 40 or more points in the paint in two of its first three games.

l Jon Scheyer (1,397 points) and Kyle Singler (1,120 points) are the highest returning career scoring tandem in the ACC with 2,517 career points. The duo is averaging 36.0 points per game on the season.

Duke Basketball

Duke coasts to a 74-49 win over Coastal Carolina by playing solid defense

November 16, 2009 Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – Kyle Singler had 23 points and 11 rebounds and No. 9 Duke beat Coastal Carolina 74-49 on Monday night in the first round of the NIT Season Tip-Off.

Freshman Andre Dawkins had 13 points and Jon Scheyer and Miles Plumlee added 10 apiece for the Blue Devils (2-0).

They held the Chanticleers to three field goals during a 14-minute stretch of the first half, put themselves up by 25 points with a 24-11 spurt midway through the second and cruised from there to a second-round matchup with the Elon-Charlotte winner Tuesday night.

Mario Edwards scored 12 to lead the Chanticleers (1-1). Their coach, Cliff Ellis, beat Duke three times from 1987-90 during his decade coaching at Clemson. But that didn't translate onto the court for a Coastal Carolina team seeking its first win against an Atlantic Coast Conference team since 1987.

But on a night when the Blue Devils once again were short-handed due to an injury and a suspension, Singler was there to keep them rolling. The ACC's preseason player of the year followed his 20-point performance in the opening win against North Carolina-Greensboro with even bigger numbers, scoring 15 in the first half and finishing 8 of 14 in 36 minutes.

Dawkins, a freshman with a quick trigger from long range, hit two 3-pointers during the overwhelming second-half spurt. The first made it 50-28 with 11 minutes left and pushed Duke's lead into the 20s.

The Blue Devils extended their NCAA-record nonconference winning streak at Cameron Indoor Stadium to 70, claimed their 30th straight win at home against an unranked team and improved to 19-2 in the preseason NIT, a tournament they have won three times.

Coastal Carolina, which was playing its first game against a top-10 team since a 43-point loss to No. 7 Florida in 2002, fell to 1-28 against the ACC and lost its sixth straight road game. The Chanticleers were without three first-year players — including South Carolina transfer Chad Gray — who were serving one-game suspensions for violating undisclosed team rules.

Duke had just eight players in its rotation because guard Nolan Smith sat out the second of his two-game suspension for playing in an unsanctioned summer league and 6-foot-10 freshman forward Mason Plumlee remained out with a broken left wrist. Smith is expected back for the second-round matchup.

Without them, the Blue Devils pushed their lead into double figures to stay by scoring 10 straight points midway through the first half and forcing the Chanticleers into some miserable shooting.

Coastal Carolina reeled off six quick points in the first 2 minutes — but managed just six more during the following 14, when they were held to 3-of-22 shooting while allowing Duke to take a 26-12 lead. The Chanticleers attempted their only two free throws of the half at the 2:20 mark.

Duke Basketball

NIT Opening Round – Official Game Notes for Coastal Carolina at Duke

November 15, 2009 Duke Sports Information

Game 2 l NIT Season Tip-Off First Round
Duke (1-0) vs. Coastal Carolina (1-0)
Monday, Nov. 16, 2009 l 7:02 p.m. l ESPNU
Cameron Indoor Stadium l Durham, N.C.

The Opening Tip
Duke (1-0), ranked ninth in the AP preseason poll and eighth in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Poll, faces Coastal Carolina (1-0) on Monday, Nov. 16 at 7:02 p.m. in the opening round of the NIT Season Tip-Off. Monday's contest will be televised by ESPNU with Mike Gleason and Jimmy Dykes calling the action.

The Last Time Out
Duke opened the season with a 96-62 win over UNC Greensboro on Friday, Nov. 13 at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Junior Kyle Singler led five double-figure scorers with 20 points for the Blue Devils. He was 9-of-15 from the floor and added five rebounds, two assists and two blocks in the win. Senior Jon Scheyer closed the game with 18 points and four assists, while Brian Zoubek had 14 points and seven rebounds. Duke also received double-figure scoring efforts from Lance Thomas (14) and Miles Plumlee (10).

Series History
Duke and Coastal Carolina are meeting for the first time on Monday.

NIT Season Tip-Off History
Duke is 18-2 all-time in the NIT Season Tip-Off tournament, including a 10-0 mark in first and second round games played at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils have won eight straight games in the tournament. Duke won NIT Season Tip-Off championships in 1985, 2000 and 2005.

Numbers Game

The Blue Devils have won an NCAA-best 69 consecutive non-conference home games.
Duke is 23-2 in in-season tournaments over the past nine seasons. The Blue Devils have won seven straight in-season tournament games.
The Blue Devils have won 13 straight games and are 26-9 all-time against Big South opponents.
Duke has won 29 straight home games against unranked opponents, dating back to a 68-67 loss to Florida State on Feb. 4, 2007.
Jon Scheyer (1,367 points) and Kyle Singler (1,080 points) are the highest returning career scoring tandem in the ACC with 2,447 career points. The duo combined for 38 points in Duke's season opening win over UNC Greensboro.
The Blue Devils shot .597 (37-of-62) from the field against UNC Greensboro, their highest field goal percentage since Dec. 17, 2007 when they shot .603 (38-of-63) against Albany. The 37 made field goals are also the most since that game.
Senior Jon Scheyer had 18 points and four assists (zero turnovers) in 37 minutes against UNC Greensboro. He is now averaging 18.5 points per game since becoming Duke's starting point guard with 12 games remaining in the 2008-09 season. Scheyer also has 33 assists and just 14 turnovers (2.4:1 assist-to-turnover ratio) in that span.
Sophomore Olek Czyz recorded career highs in minutes (24), points (6), rebounds (6), assists (3) and steals (2) in the win over UNC Greensboro. Czyz, a native of Gdynia, Poland, scored all six points off dunks on Friday.
Duke posted a 44-26 rebounding edge in the season opener against the Spartans. Five players grabbed five or more rebounds with Miles Plumlee leading the way with nine boards.
The Blue Devils grabbed 15 offensive rebounds on 30 missed shots (25 from the field and five from the foul line) on Friday.
Duke senior class of Jon Scheyer, Lance Thomas and Brian Zoubek
combined for 44 points, 17 rebounds, eight assists and four steals in the season opener. The trio was 15-of-23 (.652) from the field and 12-of-14 (.857) from the foul line in the win.
Freshmen Andre Dawkins and Ryan Kelly each had eight points, three rebounds and a blocked shot in their collegiate debuts.
Sophomore Miles Plumlee had career highs in points (10) and rebounds (9) and also matched a career best with three blocks against UNC Greensboro.
Duke is 47-14 (.770) when ranked ninth in the AP poll. The Blue Devils have won six straight games when ranked No. 9 in the country.
Monday's game will be the final game of a two-game suspension for junior guard Nolan Smith. Smith is serving a suspension for a violation of rules pertaining to summer league participation.