Well Duke's win over Maryland pushed the Blue Devils record to 21-4 overall and 9-2 in conference but they are still just ahead of Wake Forest in the race to be atop the ACC standings.  Next up is Miami and on the surface this game looks much easier than it will likely be.  The Hurricanes are just 3-8 in conference, but there three wins are over Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest, all of which are good teams should be recognized.  Look a bit closer and all three wins came in Coral Gables which is not an easy place to play due to travel for most ACC teams.  Then one sees that of Miami's last five regular season games, all but one are at home.  In short, a win over would give them 18 wins and could propel them to take care of business at home.  When teams backs are against the wall, they are dangerous and Miami will be trying to play their way into the post season.

This weekend Duke celebrated Coach Mike Krzyzewski's 1000th game at Duke and several players returned for the event including ex coaches.  The highlight for me was to see the guys from the sixties who labored under Vic Bubas, Duke's other great coach.  Bubas set a new standard in recruiting, going after players afar and his system changed the way the rest of the ACC recruited over time.  I had a chance to talk with Bubas and Bucky Waters for a bit and finally got his autograph on a classic picture with his then players Jeff Mullins and Art Heyman, two players whose numbers hang in Cameron.

We were supposed to talk with ex Dukie Kenny Dennard, but were unable to get back with him.  FWIW, Dennard kidnapped "rubber Hurley," from me during the Coach K Academy.  What is rubber Hurley you ask?  Well, back in the day I was a memorabilia dealer on the side and I came across a gumby like figure of Bobby Hurley with a striking resemblance to the former number eleven.  Dennard being the jester that he is borrowed, er, kidnapped the rare rubber Hurley ... okay it's plastic but the rubber Hurley name just stuck ... for a few laughs.  The first thing he said when he saw me is I have your little Hurley thingie.  And I was thinking, yeah, but do you have it with you.  I had made a recording with Dennard a bit back but technical difficulties kept me from running it.  You see, Kenny thought I was holding out for my dear, rare rubber Hurley;)  Well, KD, I know you're out there so call me and we'll talk of some of your torrid tales from back in the day.  And you can keep rubber Hurley provided you take care of it for I must confess I have another one.

We went over one million visitors since we've moved to this site and we thank you for your support in making this one of the better Duke sites around.  If you go back to the days of "myblogdevils," or the first of three versions of BDN, we have had awesome support fro Blue Devil fans world wide.  In fact, we have reached no less than 33 countries.  In that time we have avoided advertising bling that hits you in the face when visiting in that we depend on memberships for support.  Keep in mind that memberships do keep us alive and if you like BDN and want to support our efforts, please give Blue Devil Nation Premium a try.  You will enjoy the inside tips, recruiting information and a message board that has rational discussion.  BDN has never taken one single dime from it's supporters without giving you something back nor have we sold out despite offers.  Help us stay ferociously independent.

Okay, getting serious again, we'll start a feature called Monday Morning Quarterback next week where we'll focus on Spring Football.  With just one practice in the fold we felt a little more information would be better.  I will be bringing you some interviews and thoughts along the way and Patrick Cacchio will be involved as well.  He has a feature coming up shortly where he breaks down the 2010 schedule.

On the recruiting front Duke offered Michael Gbinije, pronounced "ben na jay<" over the weekend.  Read more about that on BDN Premium which requires a membership.  Andrew Slater chatted with the elusive Kyrie Irving over the weekend and took in the action at the Primetime Shootout so that is on the way as well.  We've been busy around here thus a recruiting update was pushed back, but I assure you, Gbinije did not sneak up on us.  It's interesting to see the chest thumping out there saying they broke this when some knew before they even realized he was in Cameron on Saturday.  Anyhow, we'll address this and more as the week progresses.

Our former cheerleader galleries were the most popular and we will be bringing back photo galleries in the future.  But you can expect a different cheerleader each week on Monday Morning Musings.  It's our way of showing support for support and recognizing their hard work.

We have been contemplating making some changes around here and we have polled our members in the past, but we are working on a questionnaire for general readers of the site and we hope you will participate when that comes out.