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Duke Basketball

Duke Basketball Press Conference Tidbits

Duke Basketball tidbits - Reddish will not play in Canada.

Here are some highlights from Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and players Marques Bolden, Javin DeLaurier and R.J. Barret before the teams trip to Canada.

Quick hits -

  • Marques Bolden said that the freshman are fundamentally sound and know how to do the little things already.
  • Bolden was asked about the transfer rumors a season ago and said it was never a true option for him.
  • Bolden said that much of his offseason work concentrated on his motor and eating habits.
  • Javin DeLaurier worked out with teammate Justin Robinson and his Dad David in the offseason where he took kickboxing lessons and also yoga while in San Antonio.
  • DeLaurier said his role was to lead as an upperclassman and that he joked with Bolden that they were the older guys now.  He joked that the freshman came up and asked if there were practices on Saturdays in which they laughed.
  • The freshman are especially close and work hard and are ready to listen according to DeLaurier.
  • R.J. Barrett said he was excited to return home with Duke and see his friends.
  • Barrett said he had worked on his outside game and hoped people backed off him in games.
  • Barrett said that a big part of his game was to make plays and that he could run the point if needed.
  • Barrett said he has achieved good things while in Canada and grew up watching Andrew Wiggins and that the younger generation now looks up to him.
  • Barrett said Javin was one of the hardest workers he has seen.
  • Barrett said that Krzyzewski just allows him to play and he was one of the funniest guys he knows.
  • Krzyzewski said he just wanted his players to play to their strengths without position worries.
  • Krzyzewski glowed when he talked about Zion Williamson calling him a great player and young man on and off the court.  He said his weight was proportioned to his body type and that he had good lateral quickness.

 

Duke Basketball

Coach K Talks Practices to Date

Coach K

The first Mike Krzyzewski coached Duke team to take an offseason foreign trip was the 1983 group to France.  Freshman at that time could not make the journey per NCAA rules, but that has now changed.

Thank goodness for said changes, in that Duke will rely heavily on freshman this season and two of them in Tre Jones and Cam Reddish will be sidelined for their upcoming Canadian trip.

It was announced earlier today, that Cam Reddish is hobbled by a groin injury and that Tre Jones had yet to recover fully from an issue with his hip.  While both players will be ready to go for the season and are participating in some drills, Krzyzewski will err on the side of caution and sit his prized freshman but did call the injuries minor.

Duke has completed seven of ten allowed practices to date.  "So far, I couldn't be more pleased with the chemistry that has developed and these guys have been really fun to coach," said Krzyzewski.

Krzyzewski also said they have not been pushing conditioning as of yet, stating that his team was in decent shape but the staff did not want to push them too early. "For this trip, it is impossible to put in your entire system, so we are trying to keep it simple and see how our guys play."

As for the veterans, Krzyzewski said that Javin DeLaurier has played great and not just good.  And that Marques Bolden was healthy and adjusting to a new position and how he will be used.

Other notes from his press conference were that Jack White has lost ten pounds and is shooting the ball better per Krzyzewski and Alex O'Connell has been playing well.

The Duke coach also said the team would run a different offense this season with five men out and more motion.  And there was a strong hint that the team would get back to playing some man to man defense.

Before Kryzewsski came out for the media, R.J. Barrett took to the podium.  He was asked if there were instances where he could run the point as a lead ball handler in which he said yes.  Krzyzewski would later say that as well, "Having those two guys (Jones, Reddish) out will hurt our ball handling for the trip and there will be more emphasis with R.J. being out there.  Alex O'Connell will help and Zion (Williamson)  will be all over the place "

Krzyzewski also said this years group would be good defensively and that they would do a lot of things differently than a season ago on offense where he expects the players to have the freedom to create.

Duke will leave for the Toronto area on Sunday where they will play three games in six days.

GAME SCHEDULE
August 15, 2018, 7 p.m. ET Game 1 vs. Ryerson University Hershey Centre 
August 17, 2018, 6 p.m. ET Game 2 vs. University of Toronto Hershey Centre 
August 19, 2018, 3 p.m. ET Game 3 vs. McGill University Place Bell

 

Duke Basketball

Four Blue Devils Tabbed in NBA Draft

 

Marvin Bagley headlines four new Duke players headed to the NBA.

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Duke men's basketball matched a program record with four selections during the 2018 NBA Draft Thursday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, including two of the top seven picks and three first-round selections.

 Freshman Marvin Bagley III went second overall to the Sacramento Kings, while classmate Wendell Carter, Jr. went seventh to the Chicago Bulls. Senior Grayson Allen joined Bagley and Carter in the first round as the 21st pick by the Utah Jazz, running the Blue Devils’ total to 44 all-time first-round picks – the third-best total in history.

 Bagley and Carter coming off the board in the lottery now gives head coach Mike Krzyzewski 25 lottery selections – extending the record for most lottery picks for a school and coach. Duke has boasted a top-3 pick in each of the last five NBA Drafts, surpassing the record of four straight by UCLA between 1974 and 1977.

 Rounding out the four Blue Devils in the Draft was freshmen Gary Trent, Jr., who was drafted by Sacramento in the second round with the 37th overall pick and traded to the Portland Trailblazers. Duke previously had four draft picks in 1986, 1999 and 2017.

 The Blue Devils have had at least one player selected in 31 of 38 drafts under Krzyzewski. Coach K has tutored a total of 61 draft picks since taking over the Duke program in 1980, including a Draft-record 38 first-round selections.

 The Blue Devils have produced 18 first-round picks in the last 10 seasons, including at least one in each of the last eight years. Thirteen of Duke’s last 15 picks, and 20 of the last 25, have come in the first round, including 13 lottery picks.

 Coach K on Bagley:

“Marvin was as good as anyone in college basketball last season. A high double-double guy, and no one runs – as a big guy – any better. He’s shown he can put the ball on the floor, and he can shoot. He’s just going to get better. He’s a position-less big guy, which in today’s NBA is important.”

 Coach K on Carter

“With Wendell, you have that double-double guy, who faced the basket for the first time once he got here to Duke. He can really shoot, and I liken him a lot to Al Horford – he’s taller, but he has a huge upside. He’s an incredible passer for any position, but especially for a big guy. He’s an easy kid to coach and fun to be around every day.”

 Coach K on Grayson Allen:

“In Grayson, you have a 22-year-old mature player. His body of work is there. No player that I can think of has been scrutinized more than him, and has come through it on a huge upside. An almost 2,000-point scorer, an All-American, an Academic All-American, but he has shown he can score the ball. He’s one of the best shooters in the draft, but he can also be a combo – he’s an off-the-charts athlete. He fits in really well in today’s NBA.”

 Coach K on Trent

“Gary is physically ready to play in the league, and he has a huge upside. He is a tremendous shooter. He can really compliment really good players, and he can be an asset to a team right away with his ability to score.”
Duke in the Draft
• Duke has produced a total of 94 NBA Draft picks since 1952.
• Duke has had 61 draft picks under head coach Mike Krzyzewski (since 1981), fourth-most nationally over that time.
• The Blue Devils have had at least one player selected in 19 of the last 21 NBA Drafts, including 30 first-round picks.
• Duke has had at least one player taken in 31 of the 38 NBA Drafts in the Krzyzewski Era.
• Duke players have been selected by 29 of the 30 NBA teams all-time.
• The team to have drafted the most Blue Devils is Detroit (nine), followed by seven for Chicago, and six each for Golden State and Boston. Toronto remains the only team yet to draft a Duke player.

Duke in the First Round
• Duke’s 45 first-round selections are third most all-time, including 38 under Coach K.
• Coach K's 38 first-round picks are the most by a college coach in the history of the NBA Draft.

• Duke has produced a top-3 pick in five consecutive NBA Drafts to set a draft record. The previous record was held by UCLA (1974-77).
• Duke’s 25 NBA lottery picks – all coached by Coach K – are the most by both a college program and college coach.
• An NCAA-leading 20 lottery selections have come from Duke since 1999.
• In the Lottery Era (since 1985), Duke has produced 12 top-three picks; the next-closest total nationally is four (each by Georgetown, LSU, Ohio State, Kansas and Kentucky).
• Duke's 14 top-10 picks since 2000 are the most in the nation in that timeframe, leading Kentucky (12), Connecticut (8), Arizona (8) and Kansas (7).
• Duke has produced at least one first-round pick in each of the last eight years.

Duke Basketball

Coach K on Commissions Release — A Good Starting Point

Earlier today, a Commission on College Basketball made some recommendations.   See article here from ESPN.   

The results have sparked many discussions and debates in a short time after the release.  With one and done being one of many issues, the offering was of major interest to Duke Basketball.

Mike Krzyzewski will be giving his feedback during an NABC call in show.  As he has said in the past, the college basketball world needs a starting point of discussion to implement sweeping changes.

Duke Men's Basketball Coach Mike Krzzyzewski and Athletics Director, Kevin White issued a statement moments ago -

Duke Vice President and Director of Athletics Kevin White:
“To be sure, we want to express our sincere thanks to Dr. Rice and her esteemed colleagues who serve on the College Basketball Commission. Their valuable insight and recommendations provide a starting point, a blueprint so to speak, for the future of college basketball. There is still much work to be done in coordinating the significant effort to make basketball – at all levels of play – the very best it can be. We will fully support those efforts, for they directly impact the best interests of the student-athletes playing the game.”

Duke Head Men’s Basketball Coach Mike Krzyzewski:

“Certainly, the Commission on College Basketball led by Secretary Rice included some of the very best people in higher education, college athletics, professional sports and beyond. Like everyone, we as coaches are looking at the recommendations announced earlier today. We are participating in an NABC conference call tomorrow and should have more to share as an organization by the end of the week. We have consistently said that we’d like to see substantive change in college athletics, particularly within our sport, and this appears to be a starting point for further discussion among the entities who touch basketball at all levels.”

Duke Basketball

Coach K, Bagley, Allen Talk Duke Win

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: Well, we played really well today. I mean, you know, from start to finish. It was one of our best games. And I thought we played in a very mature manner, because we're playing a championship team, a program that has great maturity and toughness, and we showed that today, too. And I'm just glad a lot more of our shots went in than theirs. It was an honor to coach against them and play against them. That was -- they're an outstanding team, and we were an outstanding team today.

I thought we shared the ball real well. We were patient. The big guys were not getting the ball early, perimeter scored, and the big guys started getting the ball. That's the maturity that you like to see and guys making the extra pass, what Wendell did for about three or four exchanges to pass the ball to Javin was beautiful basketball.

And our defense was good. Defense was really good. And we're excited and honored to be going to Omaha, you know? That's such a good thing for our team and we're proud of it, and have a week to get ready. Any questions for them, right.

Q. Marvin, I think for the first 11 minutes or more, you didn't have a shot. I'm just curious, Coach talked about your patience, but how nice is it to have the supporting cast that you do?
MARVIN BAGLEY, III: Everybody was on, so I wasn't really focused on getting my shot. You know, everybody was on -- clicking on all cylinders, and was scoring in different positions. And as long as it says two points with Duke -- going forward, that's all that matters. That's all that I was worried about.

I just tried to stay in the game mentally, still trying to talk on defense, communicate, and, you know, it started to come in the second half and everybody was on in the second half. We got a big lead and we won the game. So at the end of the day, that's all that matters.

Q. Grayson, how would you describe how Marvin played today?
GRAYSON ALLEN: He played really well. Yeah. He ran -- he runs the court so well, and that's -- it really opens up a lot for us in transition, whether he gets the ball or not. Because someone has to get down there and guard him, and that's why we get threes. That's why he gets early posts. That's why we're able to throw it ahead to him and it really opens up our transition.

I mean, when he does get the ball, he was shooting 8 for 10, that's 80 percent, so it's a pretty good percentage to just throw it down there to him. And then he's always on the board, so, another great game from him like we've had from him all year.

Q. Going into the game, what was your game plan defensively as a team and how are you guys able to execute it so well today?
GRAYSON ALLEN: We knew they had two really good scorers in Terrell and Matthews, they are really good shooters, and we didn't want to let them get hot from the three-point. Wanted to try to take away their threes as a team and be more active and try to keep that ball off the middle, two in the zone.

We came out and gave up a three early, but after that I thought defensively we were very active getting our hands on a lot of passes. And Wendell did an amazing job protecting the rim. He's contesting shots and then getting back up and grabbing the rebound, too. When he does that, our zone is a lot better.

Q. Marvin, this being your first two games in the NCAA Tournament environment, just what have you learned going through this first weekend about what the tournament is kind of all about?
MARVIN BAGLEY, III: Our biggest takeaway from just watching and being involved, is that anything can happen. You know, every team is here for a reason and every game is -- anybody could win it. So if we go out, we just got to play hard. We can't assume anything, got to worry about that one game. Have your minds focused on that one thing, take it one day at a time because tomorrow's never promised in this tournament.

That's one thing that I, myself and the rest of my teammates talk about and understand, is that we don't want any game to be our last one together unless it's the last one. So we got to keep continuing to get on this roll and lock in more.

Q. Mike, I'm wondering, having been the number 1 seed as many times as you have, if you had maybe a twinge of empathy for what Virginia went through having the whole arena kind of turn for the underdog and just the pressure that goes with those games?
COACH KRZYZEWSKI: No, I mean, what Marvin just said really applies. And we as coaches know -- I thought Tony did such a great job after the game in expressing his feelings, and really the feelings of what you should feel as a coach. And that is, we all understand that when we go into that arena, some great things can happen. And -- but also, some really difficult things can happen.

And for them, only great things happened this year, so the -- the difference of feeling for them, not just losing, but they've been so damn good, they've been the best team in the country. And then they have an injury, and then you don't have much time to prepare. You don't have any games to prepare for what you're going to do when you have that injury.

So, my heart goes out to him. We've lost in the first round a couple of times, and we've lost to teams that were deserving of winning. You know, like UMBC was deserving of winning, just like when we lost, C.J. McCollum was pretty good and Lehigh deserved to win. Mercer was really good and they deserved to win.

So, I just thought he handled it so well, and what a great example for all coaches to not just handle victory well, but to handle defeat, because you're going to experience both. Hopefully you experience the other guy more than the last guy, so --

Q. They were up, Rhode Island was, after the second media and you go on the 16-3 run which forces the time-out. What was the catalyst for that and what was said that maybe prompted that run?
COACH KRZYZEWSKI: I don't think anything that was said. I thought we were a little bit nervous at the start of the game, and we didn't have the looks that we then had for 36 minutes. And I thought we made this one sub, Javin for Tre. And then when Tre got back in the game the second time, then he was who he's been for the last couple of weeks. And we were playing the zone pretty well.

Terrell didn't get many open looks, and then that helped us focus a lit bit more on Matthews. And the thing that's happened in the zone is we don't give up many free throws, and then we didn't -- we only had that one live ball turnover in the first half, so we were able to set up our defense each time. Our offense always has to help our defense and sometimes it doesn't when we turn it over too much.

Anybody want to hear about the trapezoid lane in international ball? Just -- I've actually, you know, had more to say about it. It was pretty boring, wasn't it? When I walked out of there, I said, all right, I got to tell some jokes or do something.

Q. Mike, can you tell a joke, please?
COACH KRZYZEWSKI: Yeah. John Feinstein's my friend, just -- no, he is.

Q. You may or may not be aware of this, you passed Pat Summitt.
COACH KRZYZEWSKI: Yeah, you know what? I wasn't aware of it until yesterday when somebody told me we tied that, and I don't -- you know. I'm not paying attention to that. And, one, it's Pat -- Pat would have won hundreds of more games if health had not taken her from us. And so that -- someone will have more eventually. You know?

Q. It's still a lot?
COACH KRZYZEWSKI: It's a lot. It means I've been at a good place. I've had great players and have had good health for the most part. I got so many new body parts right now. Two knees, two hips. That's all I'm talking about, but, yeah. It's an honor because she was a pioneer in her sport. Her sport, women's college basketball, took off because of her. And her -- her ability to understand that there needed to be another program, and what Gino established at Connecticut was helped by Pat, because Pat played the games that gave the exposure. And it became then the two of them and it would still be the two of them if she was alive because she wasn't giving anything up to him. So, anyway, it's an honor.

Oh, by the way, I would like to thank all of the volunteers. Pittsburgh was a great site. People were great. Funny thing, they're all dressed in green this morning. By the way, Monday is St. Joseph's day. Dress in red. That's the Polish day. All right? We'll see if they have a parade.

Duke Basketball

Coach K, Grayson Allen, Trevon Duval Talk Win

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: Well, we -- I'm happy with my team, you know? You bring a young team in here, and I thought our guys really handled their first NCAA game very well against a team that has a championship pedigree. You know, Tim's program is one of the best in the northeast and the Iona name in basketball is huge.

And they have a lot of older guys. Obviously, they can put five guards out there, which was tough for our zone to cover for a while in the first half. In the second half we did a much better job of it.

But defensively, we did make them take tough threes and they didn't shoot their normal 40 percent or so from three-point range.

But I thought my guys played well, and proud of them, and we're going to now play against another championship caliber team in Rhode Island.

Q. Grayson, what did you think about how -- your young teammates handled the situation the first time?
GRAYSON ALLEN: I thought they did a great job, mostly because I thought they came out aggressive and confident. I don't think we were nervous or overanxious because of the tournament atmosphere, I thought. We came out very well. We scored the ball to start the game and played hard and had to make an adjustment on defense because of Iona's defense.

This was a game, if we didn't come out like that and didn't come out hard, we could have been down seven, eight points from the get-go because of how they scored the ball. Really proud overall how they came out and just attacked right from the start.

Q. Just a question for Trevon. Could you talk about your emotions going to your first NCAA Tournament game?
TREVON DUVAL: Definitely a little nervous because it's my first NCAA Tournament. Overall, I was just excited and I was ready to play.

Q. Grayson, when you went through your first experience in the NCAA Tournament, what can you really remember from that and just the feeling of doing it as a freshman when you have all of these teammates?
GRAYSON ALLEN: My first role was a little bit different than what I'm telling to these guys, because I was not playing as much. And so my first one, really, I look at my sophomore year in a lot of ways, because that was the first one that I was, you know, fully into playing 30-some minutes a game, you know, you're part of someone else's game plan, whereas my freshman year I wasn't, so, just really trying --

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: Really trying to think that you weren't.

GRAYSON ALLEN: So just really trying to tell these guys -- like prepare them for the atmosphere being inside of it, versus being on the outside of it. Where last year, they were watching the games in high school, during the day, and now you're in it. So it can be easy to get distracted by who is playing who, who is beating who, what's the score going on here.

But if you just focus on today, Duke versus Iona, if we were able to focus on that, we come out and play well. We first focus on Duke, not Rhode Island, not focus on anything else. Not get distracted about anything else, we'll be all right.

Q. Grayson and Trevon, I know you probably haven't seen much film on Rhode Island, we have a lot of senior guards, a lot of experienced guards. What's your first take on all of their guards and back Court?
GRAYSON ALLEN: They're very experienced and their guards are very tough. We played against them last year, and I remember that game, their guards were very tough. They go at you both offensively and defensively, and they're a very experienced team. They have a pretty good amount of guys back from that team that I played, so it will be a very tough match-up because of how experienced they are and because they are a team that wins.

Q. In the first half, is it a matter of getting behind the zone when they're getting those baskets?
COACH KRZYZEWSKI: First of all, they average 80 points a game, so you're not talking about a team that doesn't score. They have eight guys that have scored 20 or more points in a game, and some guys have scored 30. One guy scored 40.

So, when they put five guys out there -- and it's not a conventional way of doing it, they actually put five guys out on the perimeter, and you have to talk and move a lot. Overall, I thought we did a good job against it, we had -- brought a 15-point lead and we took a couple bad shots. And that hurt us more than our defense.

And -- but my staff, Jeff, made a really good suggestion at halftime, and we went with it in how to change the zone just a little bit, and that worked for us. But they can shoot the ball. And that's the scariest thing for us going into the game. Because if we're tight a little bit, they start shooting like they did, you know -- it's one game, you get a shooter's chance. That's what Chris Collins used to always say to me.

Q. You know I can't let you get out of here without a Hurley question?
COACH KRZYZEWSKI: Which one?

Q. Obviously you're close with the family. What do you think it means for Danny to have his father be watching him and father be watching his son --
COACH KRZYZEWSKI: Yeah. We played at Seton Hall the game before we were in the Kentucky game and brother against brother. No, I love -- look, I love their family. When Bob was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame, he asked me to present him and I did. It was an honor to do that.

Their family epitomizes the highest level of love for the game. And the father, you're talking -- one of the great coaches. It doesn't matter what level. That's why he's in the Hall of Fame. And his two sons have learned a lot, learned a lot. And Danny's team -- yeah, he's built a -- he hasn't built a team, he's built a program there. You know, that's the difference. That's what you want to do is build a program that develops teams year after year, and he's done that at Rhode Island.

Q. Just to follow up on your thoughts about your guys making their debut in the NCAA --
COACH KRZYZEWSKI: Yeah.

Q. -- what's the biggest part, what's the biggest adjustment you have to make?
COACH KRZYZEWSKI: Do you have children?

Q. No?
COACH KRZYZEWSKI: See, you're missing out on that. What happens when you're 18 and 19, and you go into a new experience. That's what we've had to go through the whole year, you know, the first road game, the first conference game, the -- you know, the first 10:00 game, you know, all of those things. So this is a first for them.

And whereas Iona, their program's been in the last three years, so this is just nerves. We didn't have it today, but because you're a human being, you can have it. You can get jittery, you can get a little bit tight. That's what happens to people. And our guys didn't do that today which I'm really pleased about.

Q. What was the first experience you had personally in any NCAA game in any way, shape, or form?
COACH KRZYZEWSKI: It was '84 --

Q. No.
COACH KRZYZEWSKI: '84, we got messed over, in Washington. They undercut Johnny Dawkins on a last-second lob and didn't call it and Detlef Schrempf and those guys beat us. It's pretty for me to remember that.

But also, it's an honor to coach any NCAA game. You know, they don't -- we've been fortunate we've been in a lot of them, but I don't take any of them for granted. They are beautiful in any way and getting a win in an NCAA game is fantastic.

Q. Mike, how valuable is it if Trevon can consistently hit from the perimeter like he did today?
COACH KRZYZEWSKI: No, it's crazy good. He's worked on it, and I was proud of him after he hit the first one that he was aggressive and taking the others, you know, like -- wasn't like, oh, I'm happy. And -- but overall, the biggest thing, until the second half, when we had a bigger lead, he and Grayson had 17 assists and five turnovers. And then they messed around with a couple balls.

It probably should have been like 17-3, but if they can give us the floor game like that, and then, you know, he -- it would be nice if he hits that many. Just so he's a threat, and he is. So, that was a big boost for us.

Q. Now I'm blanking. What makes you most worried about Rhode Island match-up wise, with such experienced guards?
COACH KRZYZEWSKI: You're going to answer my question. My answer. Now, I don't know if I asked the question or you did. Anyway, let me start over.

Rhode Island, we played them last year early, up at Mohegan Sun, and they were a tough-minded group. And that's what Danny has built there. And they have -- they can put four guards out there, too. They can handle and shoot and they value the ball and play defense. So, we'll have to beat a really good team to advance, but that's -- look. We're not unlike the other teams in the tournament. Everybody in the tournament is good, but they are experienced good. Okay? Thank you.