Tag Archives: Coundown to Craziness

SONY DSC — Duke QB's Renfree, Boone and Connette BDN Photo

Mark your calendars for October 19th and 20th, for that will be a heck of a weekend for Duke Athletics. On Friday, October 19th the always popular Countdown to Craziness event kicks off the basketball season, and the following day Duke hosts arch rival North Carolina in football. While schools can kick off the basketball season a week earlier with Midnight Madness-type events, Duke is not doing that this year, so CTC was moved back a week in Durham. Regardless, there will be little sleep for the BDN staff as we cover all the events, as we have in seasons past.

The Meet the Blue Devils football event went down this past weekend, as 1500 Duke fans turned out to meet this season's team. Fans got a chance to mingle with players and coaches while seeing the positive changes in the football facilities. Duke unveiled its team posters (ripe for autographs for the youngsters) along with the new helmets and new season ticket plans.

Duke Women's Soccer is hot and ranked #2 in the nation. The team crushed Elon this past weekend, and they next take to the field in the UNC Nike Classic on August 24th at Fetzer Field in Chapel Hill.

Be sure to check out our BDN Open Group Facebook Page where we load a lot of photos in an environment that more or less acts as our free message board. Of course, BDN's only true message board is reserved for premium members, who have full site access where they get all the latest inside tidbits and nuggets on the program, as well as a place to discuss recruiting with other members. Here is a link to the Facebook site, where you can see photos from the latest scrimmage and Meet the Devils Day. BDN Facebook Group

Speaking of photos, BDN has long used our own photographers, and we do not mind others using our pictures -- provided proper credit is given. All of our photos are copyrighted, and we enjoy bringing you up close and personal with Duke Athletics through the medium. But far too many other sites are now using photos without permission and without crediting the original source. If you want to use our photos, please contact us beforehand. Most recently, we had to remove two photos from a gambling site whose operators felt it was their right to swipe them and tag them as their own. It's not.

On a related subject, it's becoming more apparent to me that on today's web, it can be hard to tell the difference between opinions offered without benefit of real on-scene access and reporting, and opinions offered by those who do have the benefit of firsthand views of a program. The BDN staff regularly attends all Duke athletic functions and media events. Our team is in the trenches doing the work, enabling us to present an "eyes on" view of the subject matter. Why am I mentioning this? There is a growing trend out there of "reporters" and self-styled "insiders" offering what I'll generously term "borrowed information." A recent blog post came to our attention that consisted of BDN reports being simply copied verbatim, with a few minor word changes, and being passed off as the blogger's own work. The bottom line is that you can trust what you read here as being original in every way. We like what we do, and we make the effort to get out there to cover Duke athletics in a comprehensive, professional, and honest way.

Back to the on-the-field stuff: The September 1 home opener against Florida International looms, and it should be a good one. For those unfamiliar with the Panthers, they return 18 starters from a season ago, when they were a bowl team. The problem with playing an upstart program is that many fans underestimate teams they haven't heard that much about, setting themselves up for surprise and disappointment when they realize these guys can play. I can tell you firsthand that Duke will have to bring their "A" game to beat this team. Adding to the pressure is that, given the difficult schedule the Blue Devils face this year, many are already coining this a "must win." I think Duke will be ready but they'll need the 12th man, meaning a fired-up home crowd, to come out of the gates strong this year and get a win against a quality opponent.

Have a good Monday folks.

Duke Basketball, Duke Football

BDN’s Monday Musings – Hoops starting, recruiting, KI and more

September 27, 2010 Mark Watson

cheerleader of the week 1 — A Monday Musings tradition is our Cheerleader of the Week selection and it has been a hit amongst fans of BDN. Image by my pal Lance King

Good Morning Blue Devil Nation! It's a rainy day here in the Triangle but that will not stop another edition of Monday Musings.

Basketball is here

When Duke has struggled in football there has been an on going blurb that hoops starts quicker in Durham than anywhere in the country. Well, when you are the reigning national champion and have a long tradition of kicking butt on the hardwood, return Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler and add Kyrie Irving to the mix, the football team could be 4-0 and the excitement would still be there.

Countdown to Craziness

You can get tickets to this cherished event by hitting up the Duke Box Office on October 6th and I expect tickets will go quickly. The event itself is on October 15th and if it is anything like last years and we here it is, it'll knock your royal blue socks off. I've been around the program for a very long time but I can honestly say that this is as relaxed you'll ever see the coaches and players. It's a night to celebrate all things Duke but this year, you'll see the new national championship banner making it even better than last seasons event. Extreme intimacy permeates Cameron Indoor Stadium and you'll be flush with royal blue leaving the event stoked for what should be another great season.

Recruiting continues

Duke will be in home with point guard Quinn Cook tonight and they've made their rounds of late. We've listed attendees for CTC and talk of recruiting non stop on BDN Premium, so why not join our dedicated members and chat about the latest happenings.

Excitement surrounds the Women's team as well

We'll preview the Duke Women shortly and their is a ton of excitement surrounding the best recruiting class since Alana Beard and company. This years team will be a mix of young and old and that should make for some exciting moments. BDN supports the women and will even cover their recruiting in the future, a first among sites.

Football needs some breaks

Duke Football simply needs a few things to go their way on the field against Maryland this weekend where they open as 7.5 underdogs. The Terps match up very well with this years team, so to win, Duke will have to cut down on those five turnovers against Army. The Duke defense is rebuilding and the offense needs to take care of the ball and if the team can just get a couple of breaks their way, they can ride those and good things will start to happen.

Kyrie Irving

Well there has been little hype surrounding the New Jersey native these days. Yeah, right. It's the fact that Irving is a smoking point guard that has fans excited for he is the best they've had at the position since another Jersey native. Still though, I think one should temper their expectations for there is a learning curve no matter how talented you are and Krzyzewski alluded to that in a recent press conference.

Pre Season Magazines

Duke is everybody's number one with the exception of TSN who tabs Michigan State, a team that visits Cameron in December. Don't be so harsh on Mike DeCourcey thought for he is just trying to be different and this has been their practice in the past when their is a consensus favorite. There was a time when preview magazines were a big deal and fans would wait their arrival but times have changed thanks to the Internet. I like a traditional hard copy on occasion but they increasingly come out so late that there is no news we do not know about in them. Blue Ribbon is a great preview but I am not going to plunk down the bucks to read it when the season starts a week after it hits the stands. The same goes for those glossy overpriced yearbooks where there is little information fanatical fans do not already know. I see them more as collectibles these days and if I want to read a preview, I want to do it before Countdown for Craziness and not after. I highly recommend the championship commemorative put out by Duke Planet though. It's well worth the money and serves as a reminder to a magical season. The rest is on line and articles of Duke Basketball are a dime a thousand these day, up a lot since they were a dime a dozen.

Duke Basketball

BDN Interview – Nolan Smith will roll with Jay Z when he hits the hardwood for Countdown to Craziness

October 16, 2009 Mark Watson

BDN asked many of the questions when Nolan Smith addressed the media yesterday. He opened up about the coming season, his off season work and picking a Jay Z song to hit the court with during tonight's Countdown to Craziness. You can bet that BDN will be on the scene working hard to bring you unmatched coverage of all things Duke. In fact, some of the camera crews joked with me encouraging me to ask questions, but seeing how another site benefited from our questions without doing any of the work [nothing new], we'll make sure that we work other angles to bring you different content than the norm and let them do their own thing. Don't get me wrong, we understand that all is fair game at media events, but it's the principle which disturbs not only myself but other sites. Please keep in mind that the Blue Devil Nation has extended interviews. While some interviews [like this one] are similar to those found on video, a lot of ours we're extended or one on one's in an effort to get something different. I apologize for the mini rant, but I respect the Duke web sites that get out there and do the work and not ride the coattails of others. Fortunately for print media, this is not as big of a problem for being there is a part of the job.

Riding coattails is a metaphor that refers to the way in which lower level or uninspiring celebrities can often reach stardom through their ties to another, more popular and successful celebrity or entity. This can often be used as a generic phrase for anyone that hangs onto another person or entity as they forge ahead, without effort from the hanger-on.

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