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The Final Courtship of Bazz

Duke's #1 Target, Shabazz Muhammad, Photo by David Becker/Getty for Adidas

Players dream of going out on top. In his final high school game, 6'6" Shabazz "Bazz" Muhammad finished in dominating fashion, making thirteen of his fifteen shots to finish with thirty-six points in the Nevada state title game for the Gaels of Bishop Gorman last Friday night. The chiseled Las Vegas native won three state titles in his four years, averaged thirty points, ten rebounds, and three assists this season, and will go down as the greatest high school basketball player in Nevada history.

6'6" Shabazz Muhammad, Photo by Andrew Slater/BDN

Muhammad, a born scorer who plays with the relentless effort that coaches dream about and opponents fear, has been the number one target for Duke in the 2012 class for the past three years and first visited Duke for the Carolina game in Duke's 2010 Championship season. He came back to visit unofficially again for the Virginia game last season with Chicago's Jabari Parker. On Saturday night, Shabazz will use his final official visit to fly to Duke University to catch them play their arch-rival UNC Tar Heels. He'll be joined by his dad, Ron, a former high-flyer from USC in the mid-80s, and fellow McDonald's All-Americans, Rasheed Sulaimon and Amile Jefferson, his Adidas Nations teammate.

Last month, Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski brought coaches Jeff Capel and Steve "Wojo" Wojciechowski to join him at the HoopHall Classic in front of a packed house in Springfield, Massachusetts, where the left-handed Shabazz Muhammad displayed his full arsenal of offensive weapons, unleashing everything from a windmill dunk to a step-back three pointer. Muhammad finished with thirty-seven points that night in a win against a very solid DeMatha team featuring multiple high-major caliber players.  In December, Coach K headed down to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to watch Bazz play eighteen minutes and score twenty-two points in a blowout win against Lakota East at the Beach Ball Classic.

Shabazz Muhammad, Ron Holmes, & Rashad Muhammad, Photo by BDN

Throughout the AAU season, Duke coaches were a consistent presence at Shabazz' DreamVision games, including not missing a single game of his Super 64 run to close out the summer on his Vegas home turf. The prior summer, Duke coaches watched Shabazz as a rising junior and Muhammad, a die-hard Kobe Bryant fan, watched Coach K work with his Team USA Basketball hopefuls at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

Duke Coaches Mike Krzyzewski, Steve Wojciechowski, and Jeff Capel, Stanford Coach Johnny Dawkins, and Harvard Coach Tommy Amaker, Photo by Andrew Slater/BDN

After an AAU season where Shabazz led DreamVision to three tournament titles and a HS season where he led Bishop Gorman to a 28-4 record, competing from Florida to California in big national showcases, and a third state title, Bazz Muhammad will spend forty-eight hours starting Friday in the Gothic Wonderland in Durham, NC on Duke's campus. For the Duke coaches, this will be the culmination of their three-year courtship of this high-scoring power wing with a team-first mentality. For the Cameron Crazies, it will be their last shot to convince Shabazz Muhammad, the statuesque young man with a movie star smile and a violent dunking streak, to choose to spend his college year in the mecca of college basketball.

 

Duke Basketball

Duke should handle the Hokies

The Duke Blue Devils had little time to celebrate another great road win over Florida State for Virginia Tech is on the horizon at noon tomorrow. The first thing that comes to mind is possible fatigue, but I doubt Krzyzewski will let the Hokies slip up on his Blue Devils nor will the team. You don't earn your way to a tie for first with North Carolina and then blow a winnable game at home.

But the Hokies are not without talent and should Duke be sluggish, they'll hang in the game. I'm expecting a big outing from the brothers Plumlee in this one. Mason who was saddled with early foul trouble should be fresh and Miles is playing like he has something to prove of late.

The danger with the Hokies is that they have nothing to lose and they're fighting to stay out of the bottom three teams as the season winds down. They have a solid guard in Erick Green and Dorenzo Hudson, Victor Davila and Jarell Eddie are all ACC caliber players. The Hokies have a fair amount of depth as well albeit young.

The Hokies want a game in the 60's at best and if Duke allows them to control the early tempo, then this will be one of those ugly games, In ugly, I mean a grinder of a game which is somewhat sloppy and slow. The Blue Devils will try to run at every opportunity in an attempt to break the Hokies spirit early on but considering the fatigue factor for Duke, I feel this will be a somewhat close game. The pick here is Duke 75 Virginia Tech 62

Duke Basketball

Duke at Florida State Game Notes

• Game 28 •

[5 AP / 4 Coaches] Duke (23-4, 10-2) vs. [15 AP / 16 Coaches] Florida State (19-7, 10-2)

Thursday, February 23, 2012 • 7:00 p.m. • ESPN

The Opening Tip

• Duke (23-4, 10-2) faces Florida State (19-7, 10-2) in an ACC road contest on Thursday, Feb. 23 at the Donald L. Tucker Center. Tipoff is set for 6:00 p.m.

• Dan Shulman (play-by-play), Dick Vitale (analyst) and Jeannine Edwards (sideline) will call the game for ESPN.

• Duke is ranked No. 5 in the AP Poll and No. 4 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. The Blue Devils are 67-24 when ranked No. 5 in the AP Poll. Florida State is ranked No. 15 in the AP Poll and No. 16 in the Coaches Poll.

• Duke is the only team in the NCAA to rank in the top 5 in RPI, Strength of Schedule as well as the AP and ESPN/USA Today Coaches polls. Duke has three wins against top 10 teams in the RPI.

• The Blue Devils are currently 6-0 on the road in league play. Duke has not won seven straight ACC road contests since the 2005-06 season.

Duke-Florida State Series

• Duke and Florida State have met 38 times heading into Thursday’s game with the first meeting between the two schools coming on Jan. 3, 1955.

• The Blue Devils lead the all-time series 30-8, including a 29-8 ledger since Florida State joined the ACC.

• Duke has lost two straight in the series after winning the previous five meetings. The Blue Devils have won 10 of the last 14 games between the two schools.

• Mike Krzyzewski is 28-7 at Duke against the Seminoles, including a 12-6 record at the Donald L. Tucker Center. Duke has won four of the last six road meetings in the series.

• Duke’s eight losses to Florida State have been by a combined 24 points (3.0 points per game). The Blue Devils have not lost by more than five points to the Seminoles.

• 11 of the last 15 games in the series have been decided by 10 points or less.

Numbers Game

l The Blue Devils are 4-1 on the season against ranked opponents. The last time Duke played a ranked Florida State team was an 84-81 win at Cameron Indoor Stadium on March 3, 1990.

l Duke has been ranked in the top 10 of the AP Poll for 90 straight weeks, the third-longest streak in NCAA history.

l The Blue Devils are 12-3 on the year in games decided by 10 points or less. The Blue Devils have five wins in ACC play by less than 10 points. Duke’s 12 wins by 10 points or less are the ninth-most in school history.

l Duke averages 25.2 points per game off the bench with 10 games with 30 or more bench points. The Blue Devils have had a double-digit scorer off the bench in 20 of 27 games this season.

l The Blue Devils have had at least one 20-point scorer in each of the last six trips to Tallahassee.

l Only five Duke teams have won their first six ACC road games. The Blue Devils are 6-0 in ACC road games to start this season, joining the 2005-06, 1999-2000, 1998-99 and 1962-63 teams as the only ones to win their first six ACC road contests.

l Duke has hit at least eight three-pointers in six straight games. During that streak, the Blue Devils are averaging 29.0 ppg. from three-point range.

l The Blue Devils have scored at least 40 points in the second half in five straight games. The Blue Devils are averaging 41.5 points in the second half of games this season.

l Seth Curry has scored in double-figures in six consecutive games and is averaging 18.5 points per game in that span. He is 18-of-37 (.486) from three-point range and is also averaging 3.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 steals in the last six contests.

l Austin Rivers leads Duke in scoring at 15.0 points per game and has reached double figures in 23 contests. He is attempting to become just the third Blue Devil freshman to lead the team in scoring.

l Miles Plumlee is averaging 8.7 points and 12.7 rebounds over his last three games. He has two double-figure rebounding games during that span, including a Coach K-era record 22 boards against Maryland on Feb. 11.

l Seth Curry has made 12 straight free throws and 33 of his last 36 free throw attempts. He ranks second in the ACC with an .882 free throw percentage, which would rank as the seventh highest single-season mark in school history.

l Brothers Mason and Miles Plumlee combine to average 17.7 points and 16.3 rebounds per game this season. Either Mason or Miles has led Duke in rebounding in 25 of Duke’s 27 games. The duo has also combined for 20 double-figure rebounding games on the year.

l Seth Curry and Austin Rivers have combined to average 36.8 points and 8.1 rebounds per game over the last six contests. The tandem is 36-of-79 (.456) from three-point range in that span.

Monday Musings

BDN Monday Musings ponders past and future happenings around Duke Basketball

The Duke Blue Devils coasted past Boston College last evening setting up a huge rematch against Florida State this week and BDN Monday Musings takes a look back and ahead.

Duke too much for Boston College

After a slow start, the Blue Devils waltzed past the Boston College Eagles 75-50 and that kept them in a three way tie for first place.  A tremendous 45-21 rebounding edge and pounding the offensive glass gave Duke the win but this game is less than memorable after the Blue Devils have won a couple high profile and talked about games.  But Duke took care of business and returned to snow dusted Durham healthy and well.  The 25 point margin was the larger in the series for Duke who holds a 14-2 edge in the series.  Duke held the hapless Eagles without a field goal for a 14 minute plus stretch.  Folks point to the Blue Devils defensive numbers being down this season and this game will help those numbers but has anyone taken into consideration the Blue Devils strength of schedule his season and that they haven't played the sisters of the poor?  Just sayin'

Curry-Rivers chemistry

If you've been paying close attention to the last few games, the Blue Devils are getting improved chemistry from it's guard tandem of Seth Curry and Austin Rivers.  This is a good thing for Duke in that the two have become the top two scoring options on the team.  You will continue to see Rivers with the ball in his hands at crunch time and Curry has a constant green light to shoot on the offensive end.  Both will need to show up big against Florida State in Tallahassee this week.

Coach K on the Dan Patrick Show

Duke Basketball Coach Mike Krzyzewski appeared on the Dan Patrick show today where he addressed "Linsanity," an this seasons team.  When asked which president he'd have a drink with if he could, Krzyzewski responded that he'd like to have a glass of wine with George Washington or Abraham Lincoln, the founding fathers.  Patrick asked, but what if Washington was a UNC fan tongue in cheek.  Krzyzewski responded by saying, "He's not a Carolina fan or he wouldn't be after a few bottles of wine."  Kyrie Irving was also on the show and spoke of keeping up with Josh Hairston and his happiness that Rivers shot beat the aforementioned rival North Carolina.

ESPN GameDay is coming to Durham for UNC-Duke Game

The GameDay crew of Reece Davis, former Duke player Jay Bilas, former coaches Digger Phelps and Bob Knight and former UNC player Hubert Davis will broadcast live from Cameron Indoor Stadium during the North Carolina at Duke game on March 3rd.  Former players and guests will appear.  More details to come from BDN as the event nears.  In the past, some fans just come for the atmosphere and then watch the game locally.  Tickets to a Duke and UNC game are next to impossible to obtain in Cameron without giving away your first born or a large section of your wallet.

Another reminder for Greensboro

The first round of the NCAA Tournament in Greensboro will feature Duke and North Carolina and tickets are still available, so go to ticketmaster and get them now and show off your royal blue colors in an effort to move the team on.

Coach K post game comments

Here are a few comments from Coach K on yesterday's game where Terry Rains represented the Nation in these two BDN Vids