I know it’s hard to fathom this departure, but there are times when we must put life in perspective.  That said, I will tell you that Williams left with Coach K and his staffs full blessing.  Make no mistake, the news changed the Blue Devils outlook on next season and expectations have been significantly lowered as a result.

Duke fans were excited when they landed Eliiot Williams and visions of him breaking out this season gave the faithful hope that the 2009-10 season would be one to remember.  But faithful is the keyword here and we’re about the separate the real fans from the bandwagon fans.  When there is an unfortunate controversy, we’re suppose to come together.

Coming together is what the Williams family is doing and as fans we should support them and follow their lead by coming together in a unified way for a team that is terribly thin in the backcourt.  Jordan Davidson will return to the team after back surgery and a student manager will take a spot on the team as well.  There is some speculation that a football player may help out, but that seems unlikely unless there is a redshirt freshman available.

We’ll miss the slashing drives and thunderous dunks Williams brought to the table, but life has a way of testing us.  And this is a situation which we should work through together.  Anyone who has ever dealt with a sick family member would have done the same thing.

Williams will petition the NCAA for a waiver as we first reported and it is believed that he will become a Memphis Tiger.

Official Press Release -

Elliot Williams To Leave Duke For Family Medical Reasons

DURHAM, N.C. – Rising sophomore Elliot Williams has decided to leave Duke University for family medical reasons, school officials announced Wednesday. He is expected to file an appeal for a waiver of the NCAA’s year in residence transfer rule that would require him to sit out the 2009-10 season. Williams is seeking to transfer closer to his hometown of Memphis, Tenn., to be near his family.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to Elliot and his family,” said head coach Mike Krzyzewski. ““We fully support him in his efforts to be closer to them during this trying time. He is a good young man with an opportunity to become an outstanding player. We wish him well as he determines his future. He will always be a part of our program and we will always be in his corner.”

Williams averaged 4.2 points and 2.3 rebounds in 34 contests a year ago. He started 11 of the final 12 games of the season as Duke claimed the 2009 ACC Championship and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament. The Memphis, Tenn., native had five double-figure scoring games as a freshman, including a season-high 15 points at Maryland on Feb. 25. He also posted an 11-rebound game on Nov. 11 against Georgia Southern and sparked a 101-91 Duke win over Wake Forest on Feb. 22 with a season-high four steals.

The Blue Devils may end up with a top rated point guard but it will not be from the Class of 2009. Eric Bledsoe and John Wall have signed with Kentucky, while Darius Smith decided to head East to Connecticut. Those three point guards all had Duke on their list, but the Blue Devils have most likely finished up their recruiting for this year and did not bring in a point guard to complement 6’11 Mason Plumlee and 6’9″ Ryan Kelly two McDonald’s All-Americans who will potentially provide Coach Krzyzewski considerable depth in the front court. The recruiting focus now shifts to 2010.

For this coming season, point guard duties will remain with Senior Jon Scheyer, a 6’5″ wing guard, and Junior Nolan Smith, a 6’3″ combo guard. While neither Scheyer nor Smith is a true point guard, both players bring point guard skills onto the court. When the two play together those skills combine to create a point guard who, while not spectacular, is certainly solid.

Jon Scheyer protects the basketball which results in a minimal number of turnovers. After Scheyer led Duke to the ACC Championship and was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, Kyle Singler commented, “He makes plays for himself and others. That spot for us, when Jon has been there, has been huge for us.” For the season, Scheyer recorded a 1.8:1 assists to turnover ratio, while averaging 14.9 points per game. Defensively, Scheyer is a tremendous off-the-ball defender who led Duke with 1.6 steals per game.

Nolan Smith’s key skills are on-the-ball defense and the ability to finish at the rim. When he is healthy, Smith is a player who makes Duke a stronger team. Staying healthy has been a bit of a challenge for Smith over his first two seasons as a Blue Devil. He missed three games, late this past regular season, after suffering a concussion and bruised ribs in a game at Maryland. As a freshman, Smith was slowed down the stretch after hyper-extending his knee. With Duke being thin in the backcourt this coming season, it is imperative Smith avoid any significant injuries such as the concussion as well as the nagging little problems of his freshman year.

Last season, the three headed monster Coach Krzyzewski alluded to was: Kyle Singler, Gerald Henderson, and Jon Scheyer. The three combined to average 47.9 points per game which represents 72 percent of the team’s points. With Gerald Henderson gone to the NBA, Coach Krzyzewski will be looking for a couple of players to step up their consistency on offense. Nolan Smith, who averaged 8.4 points per game last season, is a likely candidate as is Elliot Williams, who averaged 4.2 points.

As a freshman, Williams came on strong, after being inserted into the starting line-up, averaging 7.3 points over the last 12 games. Williams brings exceptional athleticism onto the court and has the ability to play pressure defense. He needs to develop a consistent jump shot and must improve on his woeful free throw percentage, but Blue Devil fans should look for Williams to be a significant factor in the rotation from day one especially if he makes the type of freshman-to-sophomore improvements prevalent in the college game.

Coach Krzyzewski will only have three guards at his disposal next year so look for Kyle Singler to spend major minutes at small forward. Duke will have to play a larger line-up out of necessity and the competition for playing time should be fierce. Seniors Lance Thomas and Brian Zoubek have started 62 and 21 games respectively during their first three seasons in Durham. They have the advantage of understanding Coach Krzyzewski’s defensive system and will be looking to have breakout senior seasons. Neither player has proven to be a consistent offensive option but both have their niche. Thomas is a versatile defender who is valuable in a fast tempo contest, while Zoubek is an extremely talented passer out of the high post. Zoubek made 82.8 percent of his free throw attempts as a junior.

Sophomore Miles Plumlee and freshmen Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kelly will be intent on taking away playing time from the two experienced seniors. Miles Plumlee looked lost on the court at times during his freshman season but also showed flashes of talent. He is mobile and should benefit from the standard freshman-to-sophomore improvement. His brother, Mason Plumlee is a player many analysts believe has the ability to make an immediate impact. Time will tell. Ryan Kelly is a wiry outside-in player with 3-point range. Kelly won the 3-point shooting contest at this year’s McDonald’s All-American game.

Out of those five frontcourt options, someone needs to step up and establish themselves as a consistent offensive threat. As Coach Krzyzewski stated in March, Duke played a lot of three on five last year and the lack of an interior offensive threat hurt the team. Zoubek and both the Plumlees have the size to be an impact post player what remains to be seen is if they can develop the game to get the job done. Thomas and Kelly are players who need to provide minutes at power forward so Singler can play on the wing.  Sophomore Olek Czyz is a wild card and could compete for playing time at power forward due to his leaping ability and strength, or see duty on the wing due to the lack of backcourt players.

Singler, Scheyer, Smith, and Williams will be the core of next year’s rotation. The question is who will be players five, six, and seven? The answer will be interesting but Duke Fans will have to wait until next year and ACC games in January before knowing the answer. In the meantime, it is only late spring and a whole summer of starting line-up and minutes per game speculation lies in front of us not to mention summer pick-up game reports. I’ll see you all on the message boards!

Team celebrated the 2009 ACC Championship

DURHAM, N.C. – The trio of Gerald Henderson, Jon Scheyer and Kyle Singler shared the Swett-Baylin Award for Most Valuable Player at the annual Duke Men’s Basketball banquet on Friday night in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Henderson, a Wooden Award All-America and first team All-ACC choice, also received the Bill Krzyzewski Captains’ Award, True Blue Award for most charges drawn (20), the Best Field Goal Percentage (.450) and Best Defensive Player.

Scheyer, the ACC Tournament MVP, also received the Bill Krzyzewski Captains’ Award, the Iron Duke Award for most minutes played (1,214), the Best Free Throw Percentage (.836) and the Most Assists (102). He has recorded the best free throw percentage in all three of his seasons at Duke.

Singler, a second team All-ACC selection and 2K Sports Classic MVP, had the Best Rebounding Average with 7.7 rebounds per game. It is the second straight season he has posted the top rebounding average.

Senior Greg Paulus was named an Academic All-America for the second straight year and received the Dr. Deryl Hart Award as the top scholar-athlete. He has been named the top scholar athlete in each of the last two seasons. He also received the Bill Krzyzewski Captains’ Award for the second time in his career.

The Glenn E. “Ted” Mann, Jr., Award, which is given to a reserve who contributes the most to team morale, was delivered to freshman Elliot Williams. The Coach’s Award for a player exemplifying the commitment and values of Duke Basketball was given to Lance Thomas.

Three other awards were handed out Friday night. Joey McMahon and Griffin Tormey received the Gopal Varadhan Senior Manager Award, Elise Rose was given the Harry Rainey Spirit Award and John Roelofs was the recipient of the Charles Hogan Memorial Band Award.

2008-09 Duke Men’s Basketball Award Winners

Swett-Baylin Award (Most Valuable Player): Gerald Henderson, Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler
Dr. Deryl Hart Award (Top Scholar-Athlete): Greg Paulus
Glenn E. “Ted” Mann, Jr., Award (Reserve Contributing Most to Team Morale): Elliot Williams
Coach’s Award (Player Exemplifying the Commitment and Values of Duke Basketball): Lance Thomas
Iron Dukes Award (Most Minutes Played): Jon Scheyer
Bill Krzyzewski Captains’ Awards: Gerald Henderson, Greg Paulus, Jon Scheyer
Best Field Goal Percentage Award: Gerald Henderson
Best Rebounding Average Award: Kyle Singler
Best Free Throw Percentage Award: Jon Scheyer
Most Assists Award: Jon Scheyer
Best Defensive Player Award: Gerald Henderson
Gopal Varadhan Senior Manager Award: Joey McMahon, Griffin Tormey
Harry Rainey Spirit Award: Elise Rose

Krzyzewski praised the play of Lance Thomas

Duke had little trouble whipping up on undersized Binghamton to advance to the Saturday evening game with Texas.  While the Blue Devils had their way over the course of the game, Binghamton played inspired basketball.  The Bearcats kept it close by hitting 6 of 11 three pointers in the first half.

But the Duke defense tightened up in the second half, allowing a single three pointer and starting with a 17-2 run to send the pesky Bearcats reeling.  Duke hit nine three pointers of their own and dominated the game from the charity stripe going 21 of 25.

It didn’t hurt that the Blue Devils held a 38-20 edge on the boards, many of them on the offensive end.  Duke had six double figure scorers on the night, led by Lance Thomas who went 5 of 5 from the field for 14 points.

“It just seemed like Lance had tremendous energy and our whole team fed off of it,” stated Krzyzewski after his team notched him victory number 832.

Kyle Singler fell just short of a double-double with 10 points and 9 rebounds and had a team high 5 turnovers.  Gerald Henderson chipped in with 13 points and 6 rebounds and Nolan Smith was pretty much a sixth starter off the bench with 13 points and 3 assists.

Jon Scheyer had a team high 15 points and Elliot Williams continued his ascent with 11 points.  Scheyer and Williams had four assists each, making them the team leaders in that category.

“Elliot made a few really big time decisions, or good decisions in how we moved the ball, instead of taking a quick shot,” said Krzyzewski of his freshman’s play.

Duke will now head back to Durham and prepare for Texas, who won handily over Minnesota to advance.  The Longhorns will bring a lot more size to the table than the Blue Devils’ first opponent and will be led by A.J. Abrams who scored 26 points today.

The Blue Devils are now 29-6 overall for the season.  Duke is now 87-29 in the NCAA Tournament which equals the highest winning percentage of any team.  Duke now has 30 NCAA Tournament wins since 2000 and 290 wins in the decade which tops the list of all schools in that time period.

Box Score Link

Elliot Williams has been asked to defend some of the best guards in the ACC

I was able to sit down with Duke freshman Elliot Williams and get his thoughts on the UNC game, his season and his future, team health and more.

So, whats this (pointing to an ice bag on his knee)

Aw, it’s nothing

So this is not a Ty Lawson thing (joking)?

Naw, not at all.  I’m alright.  (laughing)

That was a tough loss … (UNC)

Yeah.  Tough loss.  I thought we played pretty well, just couldn’t get the stops at the right moments.  We were down one or two three possessions in the game to go ahead and we just have to hit our open shots, but we’ll be alright.