The Chronicle's Sports Blog

Q&A with ESPN’s Pat Forde

by Gabe Starosta on February 9, 2010

ESPN.com senior writer Pat Forde, who covers college football and basketball and writes a popular “Forde Minutes” column each week during both seasons, was kind enough to answer a series of questions about Duke’s potential come March and a variety of other topics.

The Q&A took place before the Blue Devils defeated Boston College in Chestnut Hill, but after the win over Georgia Tech the previous Wednesday.

Here’s the full transcript:

The Chronicle: Duke obviously looked bad against Georgetown, but the return to Cameron Indoor Stadium seems to have done the team some good. What do you make of this Duke team after last night [Thursday's] win over Georgia Tech?

Pat Forde: I believe Duke is good. But really good? I have my doubts. Really, what I have are the same questions I’ve had the past few years: Is there enough interior talent, overall depth and athleticism to achieve like the great Duke teams of days gone by? I see three guys playing huge minutes, four guys combining to be OK (but far from overpowering) inside and enough opponents that seem to run faster and jump higher.

I’ve been bitten by the Blue Devils come March the past couple years—I bought in to thinking they could make a Final Four, and they have not come close. So I will need some convincing this time around.

TC: The general consensus here is that this season, the ACC has a handful of teams that could make the NCAA Tournament but few, if any, that can make a deep run. What ACC teams do you think have the potential to make some noise in March?

PF: Well, I think there is a difference between a “deep run” and “some noise.” I understand that this might just be semantics, but I can foresee some noise but I don’t know about any deep runs. Duke might be the best team in the ACC, and Duke doesn’t look like a Final Four team to me. The league looks like it has a lot of pretty good and very little really good. Which is unusual.

TC: The best teams Duke has played out of conference are Georgetown and Wisconsin, both on the road, and the Blue Devils dropped both games. Are those teams legitimate contenders? The Hoyas definitely looked legit last weekend, but followed up their beatdown of Duke with their fourth Big East loss at definite non-powerhouse USF.

PF: Georgetown is very good. Wisconsin is at least good, and maybe very good. Those are quality losses. Losing to them does not hurt Duke’s overall profile much at all.

TC: Aside from John Wall and Kentucky (and Texas to some degree), it seems like the teams at the top of the rankings this year just wouldn’t measure up to last year’s best teams (i.e. this Kentucky team to last year’s North Carolina, Oklahoma, Villanova, UConn ). Even Duke fits the trend–the Blue Devils might go deeper into the NCAA Tournament this year than last, but there’s no way this team is better without Gerald Henderson than with him. Is this just a general down year for college basketball?

PF: I’d say this is a down year across the board, yes. Just one of those things where the number of players lost to the NBA more than offsets the incoming talent and the improving talent. It’s not a vintage year.

TC: I spoke to a scout for the Los Angeles Lakers at the Duke-Georgetown game and he was raving about Kyle Singler’s pro potential, even while Singler had a tough game against the Hoyas. What NBA player would you compare Singler to?

PF: He is an extremely poor man’s Larry Bird. Repeat: EXTREMELY POOR MAN’S. He does not post or rebound as well as Bird or shoot as well as Bird, and he’s nowhere near the passer—but he has some of his versatility and toughness. He can score from a lot of places on the floor and in a lot of ways, and he likes crunch time.

TC: 96 teams in the NCAA Tournament—for or against?

PF: Completely, totally and passionately against.

TC: On a completely unrelated topic, you cover college football for ESPN.com just as you do basketball. Did you think David Cutcliffe was gone to Tennessee? And what does it mean for the program that he stayed, even though this recruiting class wasn’t ranked that highly around the country?

PF: I did not think Cutcliffe was gone. Never got any hint from anyone at UT that he was the leading candidate, or even the fall-back candidate when others started withdrawing. I believe Cutcliffe is very good and might have been a fine choice at Tennessee, but he seems like a great fit at Duke and it’s good that he stayed.

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ACC, Women's Basketball

Photo Slideshows: Duke vs. UNC

by Michael Naclerio on February 9, 2010

Look below for a selection of Chronicle photographers Courtney Douglas and Michael Naclerio’s photos from Duke Women’s basketballs home win over Tobacco Road rival UNC.

To see a photo slideshow from the celebratory bonfire after the game, click here.

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ACC, Live Blog, Women's Basketball

FINAL- No 8. Duke 79, No. 18 UNC 51

by Nick Schwartz on February 8, 2010

Duke 79, UNC 51 — FINAL

The Blue Devils played nearly a perfect ballgame defensively, and Joanne P. McCallie must be exhilarated with the performance her players put on for all 40 minutes. A staunch Duke defense held UNC to just 18 second half points, and the Blue Devils, now 7-1 in the ACC, have a strong grasp on the No. 1 spot in the conference.

Duke 72- UNC 47, 3:53,

With just minutes remaining before Duke closes out one of its best victories of the year, the Blue Devils are still putting on a defensive showcase, jumping into passing lanes and putting immense pressure on Tar Heel shooters. North Carolina has only managed to score 14 points this half.

Duke 65- UNC 47, 6:55,

UNC’s night in a nutshell: Tar Heel reserve forward Cierra Roberston-Warren, under no real duress from the defense, let an entry pass slip through her hands and out of bounds.

Duke 62- UNC 47, 7:59,

Aside from the excellent defense, the Blue Devils have thoroughly beaten the Tar Heels on the boards in the second half, erasing any chance of a comeback at this point, and effectively neutralizing the opposing fans. Even though Duke has struggled to convert offensively, the Blue Devil forwards have been too much for UNC to handle down low.

Duke 59- UNC 43, 10:28,

Even with 10 minutes remaining, UNC doesn’t look at all interested in winning this game. Duke has executed McCallie’s gameplan for almost 30 minutes with no hiccups, and is playing with an intensity that the Tar Heels simply cannot counter. Each team has had trouble hitting shots, but the defense of the Blue Devils has allowed their lead to balloon to 16.

Duke 50- UNC 38, 15:32,

Duke is playing with an unmatchable energy level right now on defense. The Blue Devils have been switching between man-to-man and zone defenses all night, but even when UNC swings the ball around the arc, it seems a Blue Devil always arrives in time to close down and prevent an uncontested shot.

Duke 46- UNC 35, 18:06

Jasmine Thomas started the second half for Duke, erasing concerns of an injury, but her play offensively has been notably off thus far. In the last two minutes, Thomas has missed a breakaway layup, and clanged two successive midrange jumpers, but then managed to convert from the line after drawing a shooting foul.

Halftime: Duke 42, UNC 33

The Tar Heels were in position to take the last shot of the half and draw closer to Duke, but a steal from Bridgette Mitchell just before time expired sent the Blue Devils into the locker room up nine. Duke’s help defense has been spectacular throughout the first half, and UNC has not managed to find easy points in the halfcourt set. When UNC has pushed the pace, Duke has had trouble rotating, and the Tar Heels have knocked down open jumpers. Duke star Jasmine Thomas has only played six minutes of the opening half, which is uncharacteristic for her.

Duke 38- UNC 27, 2:05,

Duke guard Shay Selby knocked down a three from the corner and drew the foul, sending Cameron into its loudest state of the night. Head coach Joanne P. McCallie is imploring her players to remain focused defensively.

Duke 35- UNC 25, 3:33,

Great ball movement and strong post offense has kept the Blue Devils ahead, but the Tar Heels are beginning to play a more up-tempo style, and adjust to the Duke press. If UNC doesn’t take a shot before the 20 second mark on the shot clock, it’s allowing Duke to comfortably settle in defensively, and force Tar Heel mistakes. Whether UNC decides to employ the D’Antoni offense for an extended period remains to be seen.

Duke 25 – UNC 16, 7:34,

The Tar Heels finally managed to knock down shots outside the paint, and a pull up 3-pointer from She’la White has brought the UNC faithful back to life. The atmosphere has been impressive so far, and the Blue Devils are giving their fans a lot to cheer for. Vernerey and Krystal Thomas have done an excellent job defensively in the post both blocking shots and sealing space for defensive rebounds, which has fueled the crowd.

Duke 18 – UNC 9, 11:52,

Duke’s pressure defense has been feast-or-famine thus far, though for the most part, the Blue Devils have been eating well. UNC’s ball handlers have not had an easy time getting the ball up the floor, and have had to fight off multiple double teams from a determined Blue Devil defense. When the Tar Heels have been able to break the press, they’ve gotten a few easy buckets.

Duke 16 – UNC 4, 13:15,

Duke’s impregnable defense has been the story thus far, as each and every Blue Devil on the floor has been outstanding defensively. UNC has not had an easy shot in the last five minutes.

Duke 8 – UNC 0, 17:43 left in the first half:

The Blue Devils started the game with a flurry of offense, with quick buckets from Jasmine Thomas, Joy Cheek, and two easy conversions in the post from Allison Vernerey. On defense, the Devils have been just as effective, pressuring the Tar Heels into early misses.

Starting Lineups:

For Duke: For UNC:

43 Allison Vernerey 20 Chay Shegog

21 Joy Cheek 32 Waltiea Rolle

13 Karima Christmas 22 Cetera DeGraffenreid

31 Keturah Jackson 44 Tierra Ruffin-Pratt

5 Jasmine Thomas 50 Italee Lucas

Tonight in Cameron Indoor Stadium, two teams with high expectations will look to make amends for disappointing losses in what will surely be a closely contested edition of the Duke-UNC rivalry. No. 8 Duke (18-4, 6-1 in the ACC) fell to Boston College last Thursday night on the road, when an uncharacteristically undisciplined defensive showing led to the Blue Devils’ first conference loss of the season. No. 18 UNC (16-5, 4-3) dropped a home game to Florida State a week ago, and then fell to Miami in Coral Gables just three nights later, relegating the Tar Heels to the middle of the log-jammed ACC standings. Both teams will be looking to pick up a vital win tonight to position themselves for a possible regular-season ACC title. Coming into the contest, the Tar Heels have the edge in scoring (80.5 PPG vs. Duke’s 72.8), and are led by junior guard Italee Lucas (16.6 PPG). Duke, however, boasts the best defense in the ACC, and is holding opponents to just 54.6 PPG. Carolina will look to stretch the Duke defense tonight with a very balanced offensive attack—Carolina has seven players averaging at least seven points per game.

We’ll be back at the tip with the starting lineups.

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ACC, Men's Basketball, Through The Lens

Photo Slideshow: Duke at Boston College

by Michael Naclerio on February 7, 2010

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Men's Basketball

Inside K-ville: Amazing Grace

by Chris Cusack on February 6, 2010

It’s been a pretty uneventful week in K-ville. Grace was granted from Friday until Wednesday afternoon, giving everyone (especially me) time to figure out how to deal with the snow. I’m not entirely familiar with the stuff, living in Santa Barbara, but I was surprised to see the greater Durham area shut down for the majority part of the weekend.

Friday morning, though, before the storm hit, I woke up to find squatters had taken over much of K-ville in anticipation of Blue Tenting. The next few hours saw tenters racing against the impending snow, lugging crates, plywood, cinder blocks, tarps, pillows and sleeping bags across campus. If you’ve never watched inexperienced campers try to set up a tent, I highly recommend it. Poles and stakes flew haphazardly around the area, as eventually most groups figured out how 55 tents in K-ville instead of seven tarps meant that all of a sudden we had neighbors, really, really close neighbors. Plus, it was as if the grass had seen us all coming, as it died the instant we arrived, leaving us in a giant mud pit.

My group decided to hold off on tent setup because of the inclement weather (and also because we were lazy), instead throwing all of our gear beneath a tarp before heading for more sturdy shelter. On the flip side of the five days off we found out just how good of an idea procrastination was. Tents had collapsed sporadically across the grass under the weight of the snow, leaving a bunch of groups with soggy gear and broken tent poles.

That’s basically all I’ve got from the last week, but here are a few quick thoughts from the few days of Blue Tenting we’ve actually done:

1. Outsiders don’t think you’re nearly as crazy if you do something stupid in a group.

When we first set up our tarp two weeks ago, I was approached by an older gentleman (an alum from the 60s) who asked what why we were living outside in January. When I explained the black tenting rules, he leaned over his glasses and stared at me like I had a third eye. After a 15-second staredown, he turned and walked away, muttering to his companion about the poor state of his alma mater. Yet over the past few days, visitors can’t seem to get enough of K-ville. They come to admire especially well-set up tents and take pictures, oohing and aahing. Like kids at a zoo, they observe our movements for a few minutes before moving on to the next group.

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Live Blog, Men's Basketball

LIVE BLOG: Duke vs. Boston College

by Joe Drews on February 6, 2010

DUKE 66-63, final: Reggie Jackson hits a huge three to get BC within one, but Scheyer drills his free throws and Trapani’s buzzer beater clangs off the iron. Duke escapes with a 3-point win on the road.

DUKE 62-60, :26.9: It’s becoming a free throw game. BC has edged within 2.

DUKE 60-56, :55.2: BC takes a timeout after Raji nails two free throws. Andre Dawkins is getting ready to come in the game after 79+ minutes of inaction, with Duke clinging to a four-point lead.

DUKE 60-54, 1:22: Nolan Smith (who else?) hits a clutch layup after BC had closed the deficit to four with a pair of Roche free throws.

DUKE 56-48, 3:50: Scheyer hit a huge three from the top of the key out of the timeout, but Raji answered with a layup. Then Duke had an extremely long possession (3 missed shots) before Singler is fouled going for the bank. He’ll go to the line after the timeout.

DUKE 53-46, 5:07: Big sequence for BC. Nolan Smith had a sure fastbreak layup but was rejected by Sanders. He fed it upcourt to Jackson, who made the layup. The four-point swing has BC back within 7 and this crowd the loudest it’s been all day, by far.

DUKE 51-41, 7:30: Lots of missed shots for both teams in the last few minutes, but Duke is still up by 10. BC’s shot selection has been questionable at best, exemplified by Reggie Jackson’s ill-advised three that barely caught the rim. Duke’s experience is showing–they stopped the Eagles’ run before it became a real problem and are now back in control of the game.

Notable shooting numbers: Smith is 8-for-11 for 17 points, while Singler is just 4-for-12.

DUKE 48-39, 11:17: Duke stopped the bleeding in that four-minute stretch. Nolan Smith continues to impress for the Blue Devils, hitting a variety of shots off curls and cuts. Zoubek cleaned up an errant alleyoop pass from Scheyer to give Duke an 11-point lead at the 12:58 mark.

The Duke bench seems to be more actively involved in the game this half. They’ve been standing up for a good portion of the half, shouting directions to their teammates.

DUKE 37-33, 15:49: Duke’s still up by four, but the momentum seems to have shifted in favor of BC. The Blue Devils had two turnovers in that stretch that led to easy transition baskets for the Eagles. The crowd’s intensity is starting to pick up–it was as loud as it’s been all afternoon after Singler missed both of his free throws 30 seconds ago.

DUKE 35-29, 18:36 2nd: So much for putting the game away. BC has been the one to come out of the gates firing on all cylinders, scoring a quick four points to pull back within six. After Singler forced a tough shot for Duke, Rakim Sanders scored an easy bucket in transition, forcing Mike Krzyzewski to call timeout.

HALFTIME: A solid first half for Duke, as it pulled away late in a complete role reversal of last year’s game. The Blue Devils are up by a comfortable 10 points. They’ve been led by Scheyer, Smith and Singler, who have combined for 59 minutes and 29 points. Nolan Smith has been particularly sharp, shooting a cool 6-of-9 from the field. After starting 0-for-6 from beyond the arc, Duke made its last three long balls. BC, meanwhile, is still just 1-for-5 from deep and shot 44 percent for the half. If the Blue Devils can get another quick run early in the second half, they could put this game out of reach. This crowd is already looking deflated that the Eagles are down by double-digits.

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The Disappearance of Andre Dawkins

by Taylor DohertyFebruary 5, 2010 Men's Basketball

It was hard not to notice Andre Dawkins Thursday night who, as the Blue Devils cruised to a 86-67 victory over Georgia Tech, sat on the bench waiting to come into the game. He never got the chance.
Admittedly, I’m no expert in deciphering the facial expressions of athletes. But as I looked across the court [...]

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Kyle Singler: Man on Fire

by Taylor DohertyFebruary 5, 2010 Men's Basketball

In his team’s 86-67 defeat of Georgia Tech Thursday, Kyle Singler converted on 8-of-10 3-point attempts and had a career high 30 points. The 6-foot-8 junior made seven shots from deep in a row on a streak that started with three seconds left in the first half.
As the ESPN telecast aptly put it, Singler was [...]

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LIVE BLOG: Duke vs. Georgia Tech

by Andy MooreFebruary 4, 2010 Live Blog

Duke 84, Georgia Tech 61: 3:13 left in the second half: Our seats are about six feet from the incident that just happened. From what I could see, Scheyer was hounded by three Georgia Tech defenders, calls timeout, the referee motions that timeout has been called, then, as Scheyer is leaning away, Rice makes a [...]

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Duke Photo of the Day

by Taylor DohertyFebruary 4, 2010 Men's Basketball

An interesting tie to Duke today on the front of the Wall Street Journal’s website: a young Haitian boy wearing a Cameron Crazie shirt was featured in a lead photo for a story the aftermath of the country’s recent earthquake.

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