Tag Archives: Mason Plumlee

Duke Basketball

Thornton heroics help Duke defeat Kansas 68-61 to win Maui Invitational

There are so many postives for Duke Basketball tafter their latest win that it is hard to figure out where to begin.  Tyler Thornton played the game of his life nailing two three pointers , including one at the buzzer in front of the Duke bench and that helped the Blue Devils defeat a pesky Kansas team by  68-61 score.  As heroic as Thorntons exploits were, he had plenty of help.  Let's break it down -

Ryan Kelly earns MVP honors

Kelly was an iron man in Maui, playing 36 minutes and scoring 17 points in the victory over Kansas.  His overall play earned him the Most Valuable Player honor and he deserved the recognition.  Kelly was cool under pressure, nailing free throws with incredible accuracy and his blocked shots were most timely and let's not forget his 3 assists, one to Andre Dawkins for a key three pointer.

Mason Plumlee manned up big time

When Duke needed a rebound, Mason was there and his play earned him high praise from Coach Krzyzewski who said he was the most valuable player in tonights game.  Plumlee had abother double-double of 17 points and 12 rebounds and after missing his firstt two free throws, he hit  seven straight.  Mason is comiing into his own this season and he is the man in the middle for the Blue Devils.

Austin Rivers made the all tournament team

Rivers was saddled with foul trouble tonight, yet he still made the all tournament team after his career high effort against Michigan.  But the impressive thing to me was the fact Duke won without their start freshman on the court.  Rivers continues to grow into a complete basketball player and he will be fun to watch as the lights continue to go off as the season progresses.

The three ball was deadly for Duke and they defended it well

Duke held Tennessee to zero three pointers int he opener and Kansas went just 2 for 8.  Meanwhile, Duke rocked the rims for 11 treys in their win over Kansas.  The Blue Devils shot the ball well from the stripe in the tournament and that played a key role in them returning to Durham as champions.

Oh Tyler

Earlier in the eveninf I stated that Thornton does so many things that doesn't show up in the box score and then he went and got all hero on us.  Thornton thrilled Duke fans nationwide with two huge three pointers.  The first one he shot with the kind of confidence that he knew it was going in.  And the last one, was a wide legged shot right in front off the bench as time expired.  The social networking world for Duke fans went nuts.  Thornton came to compete and that is why he helped Duke win with the game on the line.

Props to the staff

I think it's clear that the Duke Men's Basketball staff has done one hecj of a job to date with this team.  They are pushing the right buttons early on and that means trouble for teams on their schedule.  You had to love the assistants getting off after Thornton drained that killer three.  You never saw Duke panic tonight, instead they fought through adversity to win and a major part of that is coaching.

By the numbers

Duke is now a most impressive 15-0 all time in the Maui Invitational and there are always good teams in the field, no matter the year.  Duke is also 7-2 all time against Kansas, one of the nations most storied programs.  The win was the 35th straight in November for the Blue Devils.

Link to - Official Box Score  More to come folks!  We should have some exclusive one on one videos from Hawaii.

Duke Basketball, Duke Football

Watzone’s Monday Musings – Coach Krzyzewski, Duke Hoops, Cheerleader of the Week

BDN's Cheerleader of the Week

It's another Monday morning and that means a new edition of Watzone's Monday Musings.  I'm a little upset that I will not make it to New York tomorrow night in that I have been there for most of Coach Mike Krzzyzewski's milestone wins and this is the biggest one of all!  We will have Andrew Slater there, so rest easy knowing BDN is always represented.  I mean, is there anything else more news worthy than Coach becoming the NCAA's All Time Wins Leader?  Still, we'll try to talk a little about other happenings, so here we go -

K - R - Z -Y -Z - E -W - S - K - I

Coach K has become a brand name and for good reason.  The man is an ambassador for all of basketball, Team USA's lead man and so much more.  But his name is Mike Krzyzewski and he deserves the respect of people spelling out his name instead of taking the easy way out with Coach, the 11th letter of the alphabet.  To this day I watch as media members still fumble with his name.  After 902 wins, you would think they would have it down pat, huh?  If you are around mid day or just after 12:30 or so, follow me on out twitter page for I will be tweeting his press conference comments as they happen.

The Michigan State game

The stage is set in New York City in the famed Madison Square Garden for Duke to win one for their coach and the world to acknowledge his incredible accomplishments.  But this game will be a test of a young teams mettle.  The Blue Devils hung on for a win over a tough Belmont team but showed when the game gets tight, to some extent, so do they.  This is something that happens to a young team that has not established a go-to guy yet and they could face a similar situation in New York.  It will be interesting to see if the immense pressure of winning this game for their coach will make them push too hard or be so emotional that they are spent early on.  Oh!  That's right!  Duke has Coach Krzyzewski, so all will likely work out.

Mason Plumlee

Mase is having a good start to the season averaging 15.5 ppg, 11.0 rebounds per game and an even more impressive 4.0 assists per contest.  Duke will need for Plum 2 to remain consistent for success this season and Mason seems ready for the challenge.  The physically gifted junior is coming into his own and he can do things athletically few can down low.  It seems like yesterday when I was hanging with Mason at the North Carolina State High School Basketball Championships.  As they say, time flies!

Brother Miles

Masons older brother, Miles, had a really nice outing against Presbyterian where he pout up a double-double of 13 points and 11 boards.  But he struggled in the opener and Duke needs the senior captain to bring his "A" game every night.  Like Mason, Miles can do some incredible things with his uncanny athleticism and once he realizes few can stop him when he wants to take it home, he can become a beast in the paint.

Curry seeks consistency

Seth Curry was one of the more hyped players coming into the season and made All ACC First Team.  Curry scored 10 points in each of the first two games and while that is consistent, Duke needs him to take it up a notch.  No reason to think this won't happen and there would be no better time for it than in New York tomorrow evening.

Tyler Thornton has been a steadying influence

Thornton brings a calm to the floor when he is out there in that he plays with maturity.  Thornton had a great opener where is production was more than many felt they might see.  While his numbers fell in the last win, he is getting 20 minutes of burn a game.  Thornton will play a key role on this team and will be depended on as the young freshman develop.

Freshman development

This is an on going process but Austin Rivers is the only one of the bunch playing a major role thus far in the 2011-12 season.  Rivers is just scratching the surface and trust me when I say this kid has shown you nothing yet despite playing well and scoring at a 15.5 ppg clip without taking a ton of shots.  Alex Murphy has been saddled in a precautionary manner after suffering a fall, so it is hard to see what he might bring to the table.  Quinn Cook has showed flashes of brilliance but is getting use to the pace of the college game and how sneaky defenders can be.  Michael Gbinije has played a few minutes but has yet to really find his way as well.  The bottom line is the freshman are just that but Duke needs them to adjust their games quickly for at least one of them besides Rivers will need to be counted on in a key reserve role.

Football team banged up

The Duke Football team fell to 3-7 on the season with a 31-21 loss at Virginia and several players were banged up.  Duke is now playing for the future and will attempt to set the tone for next season when almost everybody returns.  An upset win over Georgia Tech in their last home game this week or the following week at North Carolina but injuries might make this a tall task.  Duke never really got a break through victory this season, so fans can hope one will come.

Support the seniors and show up for the last home game

While Duke has struggled to find wins this season, the senior class, as small as it is, has given fans some ACC wins and a few years ago, the Blue Devils had nada.  We'll talk more about them later in the week but I do want to mention Matt Daniels, a vicious hitter who has been a main stay on the defense.  If Duke ca find players with his resolve and spirit all will be fine and coaches are hoping that other players step up late as he passes the torch.  Daniels has been rock solid for Duke and you should single him out and watch him pop in the last two games.

Until next week, Go Duke and congrats to Coach Mike Krzyzewski for he will soon be the King of the Hill and kounting.

 

Duke Basketball

Duke slips past pesky Belmont – Coach K post game video

Tyler Thornton - Lance King Photo

During the post game press conference, Coach Mike Kyzyzewski, states, "Our fans need to realize that Belmont is a good team."  It certainly showed to as the veteran team that others avoid to schedule fought their way back into the game, but Duke made plays down the stretch to come out with a 77-76 win.  This Duke team is young and are a work in progress and Kryzewski stated that they would be better from the tight game and I agree.

While some will point to the fact the game was simply close, Duke, despite their youth was cool down the stretch.  Andre Dawkins drained a huge three which put Duke up by three and Ryan Kelly drained two free throws to seal the first win of the season.

Tyler Thornton had the best game of his career

The Belmont guards wore down the Duke backcourt with their pressing and depth and that meant Tyler Thornton had to step up and he did.  Thornton adds a calming influence to the team and going 2 for 3 from the field and 2 of 2 from the three point stripe helped Duke gain a victory.  Thornton told BDN after the game that his performance is one he could build on.

Mason was a Monster on the blocks

Mason Plumlee put up some very impressive numbers of 13 points, 14 rebounds and a team high 6 assists.  He also had a very key block in the second half.  Check out our interview with Mason which will be up soon.  His brother Miles never really got off in this game, scoring  4 points to go with 6 boards, but played just 17 minutes.

Curry and Rivers

Curry struggled a little in the distribution department but still managed a so-team high of 16 points.  Curry hot four consecutive three pointers in the contest. Rivers was the other player with 16 in his freshman debut.  Krzyzewski said it was a good game for his first one but that he needed to dish the rock better when he penetrates.  Rivers knocked down 8 of 10 free throws.

Kelly huge second half

Ryan stepped to the free throw line with seven seconds on the clock and hit nothing but net to give Duke a 4 point lead.  He totaled 12 points on the game to go with 6 rebounds.  Krzyewski was pleased at how calm he played down the stretch.

Coach K not pleased with his teams offense

Coach did not like the way his team played in the second half on the offensive end and said the turnovers, a whopping 19, led to a lot of open threes on the other end for Belmont.

By the numbers

Coach K is now two games shy of the all time NCAA wins record.  Duke has won every season opener since the 2011 season.  Five Duke players scored in double figures.  Duke has now won 87 straight games against non conference opponents in Cameron.  Duke is 66-2 in Cameron over the last five seasons.

Duke is now 1-0 on the season and takes on Presbyterian at 4:30 on Saturday in Cameron Indoor Stadium.