Well, we're officially in the month of May now and that means more basketball and football recruiting for our staff. But later this summer the Duke Basketball will prepare for their trip to China where lots of answers will come to the staff with concerns to the 2011-12 season. Monday Musings is back with several thoughts on Duke Athletics.
Duke Men's team will grow in China
We recently broke down the summer trip for you in our most recent team update for premium members. Duke will play four, possibly five games on the trip, get ten prepatory practices and unlimited ones on the road. We ponder the many questions for position battles and break down the latest happening surrounding the program in the update.
More recruiting updates ...
If you haven't been reading Andrew Slaters updates on BDN Premium, then you are missing out on one of the most connected analyst around. In fact, Slater has become one of the major driving forces on the recruiting front and his analogies laced with knowledge are more than worth the price of admission alone. Slater was at it again this weekend where he attended the Nike EYBL in Dallas, Texas. He took in many true Duke prospects and his work will start to appear as the week goes on including his one of a kind in depth interviews. Parker, Poythress, Pinson, Stokes are but a few off the prospects reported on and the best is yet to come, so join BDN Premium for we are at almost every major event focussing on Duke prospects and we are not talking little blubs from national recruting analysts on other sites. But we also keep you abreast of the national recruiting scene and you can expect more of that in the future.
Here is a little blurb on Austin
Austin Rivers is garnering the attention of the national media and he is the latest super frosh that will help lead the Blue Devils hoops team. We linked some videos on the message board, but here is a USA Today blurb with one of those videos.
Back on the market
A BDN friend, Dave Telep, broke the news that Rodney Pruvis is back on the market and he thinks Duke will enter the race for his services Will Duke recruit Purvis? Well, they did before, so look for them to now as well.
NBA Draft
Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith are featured in this link. Not a perrineal All Star? Some are questioning just how good Kyrie Irving will be at the next level.
Building
If one were to stroll though campus and head over towards Wallace Wade Stadium you would see construction in the endzone where a new practice facility is being erected. By the looks of things, it is not far from completion and we are hoping Coach Citcliffe will give us a tour once it is finished, so stay tuned for that. Duke fans are hoping to see the results of building on the fiedl as well this season where the offense will be seasoned and new defensive coaches take the helm.
Summer means football schedule talk
The football schedule is already out and Duke once again opens with a tough Richmond program, one which has given them fits of late. There is no such thing as a must win in an opener but if there were this would be one. The Blue Devils simply must get off to a good start with a win at home. Three teams will have extra preperation for the Blue Devils this season. Miami, Georgia Tech and North Carolina all play in Thursday night games before facing the Blue Devils and that means extra time for healing injuries and such. When comparing the Duke schedule with the close proximity neighbors, the toughest schedule is clarly in Durham outside the conference. Duke will face a likely top 5 Stanford team on September 10th with the Heisman Trophy favorite, Andrew Luck in tow. The Wolfpack has Liberty, South Alabama and Central Michigan at home and their toughest no conference game is at Cinicinnati. The Tar Heels James Madison, Rutgers and Louisville at home with East Carolina on the road looking like their toughest game. Duke travels to FIU, a bowl team which returns all of their key skilled players and gets Tulane at home to round out their out of conference schedule.