Kaleb Tarczewski played well against Quincy Miller today. Read about it on BDN Premium. Photo BDN Phot, Rick Crank
Day one of our Adidas Nations coverage is underway where BDN's Andrew Slater is on the scene bringing constant updates as they happen to our premium members. Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski and Chris Collins are in the house where they are watching several prospects. One of those is Shabazz Muhammad who just dropped 32 points. Alex Murphy? He just dunked a ball to tie his team's game up at 74 all with three seconds left on the game clock.
Find out who the Duke staff is watching and how Duke's hot prospects are doing by becoming a subscriber to the most active Duke site on the AAU circuit, Blue Devil Nation Premium. Andrew has already listed some of the measurements for key recruits at the LeBron Skills Academy in Akron as well. And he will continue to cover both events as the week progresses.
He has already talked with Marshall Plumlee, Shabazz Muhammad, Kaleb Tarczewski and Troy Murphy, so interviews are coming. So if you want to hear about the throng of the nation's finest coaches are watching or the circus atmosphere surrounding LeBron James, check out our trial offer which lasts just a few more days or join for the year which is the best bargain. It's a great time to be a member of BDN Premium.
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Drew, Crean, Dixon, Huggins, Capel, Miller, Self, and plenty of assistants. NE Playaz won convincingly, 68-50. The only one who was consistently able to score for D-One was Deuce. Bello finished with 26. Quincy couldn't defend Tarczewski and Clifton kept telling their replacement coach to pull him off of him- Adding that it was Quincy and four midgets. Miller finished with 5points, which is, by far, the least I've ever seen with him. Murphy, displaying his high bb IQ and improved athleticism and strength, and Tarczewski really closed out well in the second half. Alex Murphy finished with 18 and Kaleb Tarczewski finished with a team-high 19. K and Collins are watching DC Assault take on Franchize All-Stars.
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Shabazz Muhammad rattles the rim during the TOC. The Duke coaches will be out in force to see their major prospects in July and BDN Premium will be there to report firsthand the information you most covet. Our latest recruitng update is finished and you can enjoy it and much more by becoming a members of Blue Devil Nation Premium - Photo credit - BDN Photo and Rick Crank
The Duke Men's Basketball staff is in route to several locations today where they'll evaluate the countries top prospects. Coach Nate James will board a flight to Germany this afternoon where he will follow Team USA. His main focus will be on Quinn Cook, a PG prospect which you have surely heard a lot of lately. Sources say that Krzyzewski likes what he has seen of Cook who has yet to be tendered an official offer but that could change in the coming weeks.
Coach Krzyzewski and Chris Collins are headed to Indianapolis for the Adidas Nations event which starts tomorrow. There, they will focus in on several different prospects in an effort to fine tune their targets list. That list will begin to take shape quickly and probably solidify by the time the AAU National finish up. The pair will then travel to [private] Akron for the LeBron James Skills Academy and be a part of media mania surrounding James and his pending decision. Andre is already reporting a slew of media outlets hanging out which in short, means a circus atmosphere of fun. Well, hopefully, fun.
The reason for the surge in interest with Quinn Cook is that Duke expects a mass exodus in that they feel this is a pretty good team coming this fall. Singler and Smith will obviously go and they are expecting freshman Kyrie Irving to as well. Duke feels Irving could be a lottery pick. Also on the watch list to go pro will be Mason Plumlee.
We hinted to you that our feelings on Marshall Plumlee in past updates . The Duke brothers Plumlee of Mason and Miles were honored in me state for being a part of a national championship team. We will elaborate more once we make the appropriate contacts with concern to Marshall. The Plumlees are scheduled to return to Durham and participate in the NC Pro Am likely making it by Thursday at the latest. We have confirmed that you will see many Duke players at the event starting this week. Back to Marshall, Duke envisions him as a post player or center and with the aforementioned expected exodus of players to the pro's, scholarships should still be available for another player if necessary.
As I have said, Andrew Slater will be on the scene and he will check out Marshall in Indy. For the record,Plumlee was invited to the LeBron James Skills Academy but Adidas needed their best players. Coaches will turn out for the event tomorrow and we have already received reports that Eric Gordon is making the rounds. The coaches can check out the James camp on July the 7th which as we have already mentioned will.
Marshall Plumlee set to go in Indy
One of the first names that come forward as being a possibility is none other than Quincy Miller, the outstanding in state prospect who will play alongside Deuce Bello this season. They more than realize Miller will take it down to the last possible day, but they'll stick around for the ride. Miller would simply be the icing on the cake, a luxury, but Duke is in no way tossing all their eggs in Millers basket. Speaking of DeuceBello, he still lists Duke and we will have a short interview up with him shortly. James is the lead assistant for the ultra athletic Bello who rose in most of the prospect rankings.
Duke will have 10 on scholarship this year and they expect to lose at least 4, so up to 7 scholarships are available. Duke would love to fill a couple of those with Shabazz Muhammad, Alex Murphy and Kaleb Tarczewski from the class of 2012. Duke will continue to recruit and evaluate these kids monitoring them closely.
Okay, everybody is always asking about Austin Rivers and all I can say is little has changed. Rivers is expected to give his pledge soon and ideally before the Duke staff leaves the country in August for Team USA duties. All the signs are pointing to this being done by the time the AAU National roll around where the event would feature Michael Gbinije, Tyler Adams and of course Rivers. Adams recent visit to Duke went very well and he has done everything they've asked of him to date. The staff is also pleased with the progress of Gbinije.
Looking ahead, the AAU Nationals in Orlando will have Michael Gbinije, Rivers, Adams... All likely commits at that time, another hint there minions. Vegas will be loaded with Shabazz Muhammad, Marshall Plumlee, Alex Murphy, Kaleb Tarczewski and many more.
I've pretty much mentioned Duke's recruiting priorities but again, this list could change and you know the names we've mentioned here before which could rise to the top. The Duke staff will be at all of the major events and there schedule for the latter part of July will become clear as duties with Team USA are worked out. All in all it's an exciting time for basketball recruiting and we think you will see why you joined BDN Premium when comparing our coverage in the coming months. Discuss this article on the premium message board where more tidbits await you including some updates from Andrew on the recruiting trail. If you are a member having trouble accessing the board, e-mail me at watzonebdp@gmail.com. Please only e-mail me if you have a problem with the message board at this address. Remember, copy and pasting or sharing this via emails and other premiums boards PM system is a violation of membership agreement and those not honoring that will be banned. I know moist of you are not a part of that but please recognize that pilfering information is in effect stealing.[/private]
Shabazz Muhammad played near the rim during his afternoon game at Duke on Saturday - Photo property of Rick Crank Productions in conjunction with Blue Devil Nation. Stsy tuned for updates and interviews from the Nike event in Los Angeles and the Tournament of Champions in Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill
Durham, N.C. - BDN is on the scene this weekend to bring you coverage not only of the TOC, but the Nike EYBL session 3 in Los Angeles. Look for some great offerings as the week goes on as we begin to churn out information from a busy holiday weekend. One of the highlights of this weekend's Tournament of Champions event is the play of Shabazz Muhammad, a Las Vegas native with all the tools for success. During yesterday's event Muhammad dazzled the crowd at the Wilson Rec Center on the Duke campus with his play. After starting slowly, Muhammad warmed up for 30 points on a jump shots and slashing drives. More impressive is the fact that he plays both ends of the floor well where I counted four blocked shots from his wing position. Muhammad glowed when Duke was mentioned after this game as you will hear in this [private] audio -
More to come including scouting reports - [/private]
Everybody wants to know whats up with Austin Rivers - BDN Photo
BDN takes a look at how things are going on the recruiting front in our latest detailed update. If you want to know who the Blue Devils are seriously interested in and their likely strategy, read on. Join BDN Premium for full site access and be there every step of the way as we cover every major AAU event as warm weather rolls in. At BDN, we focus in on the players you want to hear about by concentrating only
A lot of talk surrounds Austin Rivers these days, [private] but nothing has really changed. Duke expects to sign Rivers by the end of summer but as I have stated numerous times, the decision could come sooner and maybe, just maybe, even later. The bottom line is that Duke has a significant lead and that has been the case throughout the threads which total 50,000 views collectively where people hang on every little blip on the radar. My suggestion is to sit back and relax and allow this to happen for it is on pace. The Rivers camp will not make any kind of move until the NBA playoffs are over and that could be in July if they keep winning.
Duke recently reached out to Anthony Davis, a top notch prospect from Chicago, Krzyzewski's old stomping grounds. They will be taking a good long look at him once they are allowed to take in events. Andrew and myself will be sure to keep a eye out for him as we get to know him better together. With a busy AAU tournament schedule coming up, we see no reason in calling him before we see him play.
The Duke staff will also continue to evaluate players they've developed early relationships with. Among those will be QuincyMiller, Marshall Plumlee and Amir Williams. The Blue Devils will be looking at other players as well to see who emerge as the humid days of summer give way to September.
Duke will continue to recruit Miller while look at others as well. BDN Photo
One of the questions I often get is how may players does Duke look to sign in 2011. The answer is that number could vary from three to five. Duke is happy having steady swingman Michael Gbinije and ever improving Tyler Adams in the fold and they of course want Austin Rivers as well. The fourth and fifth guys would come into play of Duke experiences a mass exodus to the NBA. That is a pretty good possibility for Mason Plumlee and Kyrie Irving could join Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith in the first round. If Duke somehow defends the title this is almost certain to happen but we all know how hard that is. Regardless, Duke will have a target on on their backs again in that they are the likely pre season number one team in the country. Duke will only sign a guard in 2011 if Irving or Curry leave.
The great thing about winning the national championship is that Duke can once again be selective and with another banner season seemingly coming, the Blue Devils will remain hot and in the spotlight. That means they'll take their time with a bevy of names that will grow in the coming months. We told you last summer that Duke assistants loved Alex Murphy's game and he is a hot name at the moment, but Coach K needs to check out his game. Shabazz Muhammad has impressed them immensely. It helps that the Team USA training facility is where Duke can keep a close eye on the talented Vegas native. While some would have you think J.P. Tokoto is already a Tar Heel, Duke is not buying that just yet and they are still involved withthe athletic prospect. Amile Jefferson, who Andrew interviewed just last week is also an early name on the radar. Again, there are other names that will come to light some of which you already know of and others who will be new when Duke can get their views in July an open period for events. Duke is not rushing the process with any of the above mentioned names at this time.
I was waiting for some new info but it has been delayed so I'll add an addendum later. [/private]
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