Monthly Archives: November 2010

ACC Looks to Earn Respect in ACC-Big Ten Challenge

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Chris Singleton and the rest of the ACC are the underdogs in this season's ACC-Big 10 Challenge.

With only one team left in this week’s AP Top 25, the ACC’s struggles have been well-documented this season. The defending champions are the lone remaining undefeated team in this young season. For comparison’s sake, as of Monday, eight conferences had multiple undefeated teams.

One of these conferences is the Big Ten, one of the strongest conferences this season. Jay Bilas thinks it’s the best league in the country, and it boasts five ranked teams this week heading into the ACC-Big Ten challenge. The ACC won the first nine series between the conferences. Last season, the ACC was leading 5-4 and needed a win from either the Blue Devils or the Seminoles who were both on the road. The home Badgers and Buckeyes pulled out the victories and earned their conference bragging rights last season with a 6-5 win.

Although the ACC has dominated this clash since its inauguration, the Big Ten certainly is favored this season. The ACC will also see this as an opportunity to earn respect both for the conference and the individual programs since all eleven contests will be televised on the ESPN family of networks between Monday and Wednesday.

One of Tuesday’s biggest games is between No. 2 Ohio State and unranked 5-1 Florida State. The Seminoles have not played a game on national television yet this season, and they will have their hands full when they face one of the Big Ten’s strongest squads. They will need a big game from reigning conference defensive player of the year Chris Singleton. Singleton, the ACC’s representative for ESPN’s Conference Voices Blog series, wrote about the pressure of playing in front of NBA Scouts.

Singleton and the rest of the players in that contest can be sure that there will be scouts in attendance for Tuesday’s meeting which will be on ESPN at 7:30 p.m. Florida State center Xavier Gibson, who has seen his playing time increase as he entered the starting lineup this season, along with the aforementioned Singleton are both viewed as NBA prospects. With Singleton averaging 15.8 points and 9.8 rebounds per game heading into Tuesday’s contest, he can jump onto the radar of NBA teams if he performs like that against the second-ranked team in the country.

Following the Seminoles’ contest, the Tar Heels will battle No. 21 Illinois. The Fighting Illini beat Maryland by four points at Madison Square Garden to take third place in the 2K Sports Classic. North Carolina, who has fallen out of the rankings, has lost its last two meetings televised on ESPN to Minnesota and Vanderbilt respectively. In the Tar Heels’ matchup with the Gophers, freshman phenom Harrison Barnes shot 0-for-12 from the field. He followed that up with an 11 point game against Vanderbilt.

While scouts agree that Barnes has the potential to be the top selection in this year’s NBA draft, he has yet to prove he can score consistently at the collegiate level. Although Barnes is scoring 11.8 points per game, scouts cannot be impressed with his 35.2 field goal percentage. Fortunately for Barnes, this season is young and he will have several more opportunities to shine on national television, beginning Tuesday night at 9:30 p.m. on ESPN.

Lastly, one of the most anticipated games of this young season showcases two of the greatest coaches in college basketball history as well as two of the strongest programs of the last decade. Coach K’s No. 1 Blue Devils host Tom Izzo’s No. 6 Spartans in Cameron Wednesday night at 9:30 p.m. As the last scheduled game in this year’s ACC-Big Ten challenge, it may be the deciding game in the series; however, more than likely, it will be up to Duke to save some respect for its conference.

Cameron Crazies to Observe World AIDS Day

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Today’s a big day for college basketball fans, as it should be. It’s not everyday when two national contenders face off against one another in the season’s most anticipated match.

Ragunathan donning the red-ribbon that he hopes all Cameron Crazies will wear tomorrow during No.1 Duke's matchup against No.6 Michigan State.

However, it’s an even bigger day for the world. Today marks the international recognition of “World AIDS Day,” dedicated to spreading awareness towards a pandemic that has killed 25 million people worldwide, while continuing to threaten the lives of millions more. Fortunately, this worthwhile movement will find its way to Cameron Indoor Stadium tonight, as Duke Partnership for Service, DeltAids and Know Your Status will be handing out red ribbons for all Duke students in attendance to wear in an honorable showing of student support.

“The red ribbon symbolizes awareness for HIV/AIDS. We will be distributing the ribbons to all the Cameron Crazies during the Duke-Michigan State game to enable them to exhibit Duke’s support on the national stage,” said junior Braveen Ragunathan, Vice President of Health & Global Health Outreach for dPS. “This game is big but so is the global AIDS epidemic.”

If Ragunathan, known by friends as a notorious Duke fan, gets his wish tonight, the Cameron Crazies will be celebrating a victory, as well as their generation’s prospects to reduce the global ramifications of this disease.

This will not be the first time that Duke’s famed student section has demonstrated solidarity over a common cause. Earlier this season, all Cameron Crazies wore Viking helmets to honor deceased senior Drew Everson, who was well-known for the Viking helmet he wore to every Duke game.

Duke’s Schedule Losing Luster (According to the AP Poll)

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Jacob Levitt gives three weekly thoughts on the AP Poll

1. Duke’s Weakening Schedule

Two weeks ago, I said that No. 1 Duke had one of the toughest schedule’s in the country—and they still do—but it looks a lot less impressive today than it did back then. The Butler game should no longer be considered a big matchup—the Bulldogs have completely dropped from the poll and did not even receive a single vote to move into the “Others receiving votes” category. The victory over No. 5 Kansas State—the nation’s highest rated one-loss team—is still very impressive, but I think the Wildcats are somewhat overrated. The Wildcats got routed in a semi-home matchup and in my book, top-five teams don’t do that. Granted, it was by a unanimous No. 1, but stat-guru Ken Pomeroy agrees with me in principle, placing Kansas State at No. 19.

The Blue Devils’ next opponent—No. 6 Michigan State—lost in a battle to No. 7 Connecticut in the EA Sports Maui Invitational, destroying a potential No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup in Cameron. That said, it’s still a tremendous showdown between two of last year’s Final Four teams. The loss might even give the Spartans extra motivation—as if playing against the defending NCAA champions in a jam-packed Cameron wasn’t motivating enough.

2. Why DO They Play the Games?

In the last paragraph I mentioned that No. 6 Michigan State LOST to No. 7 Connecticut… on a neutral floor. That wasn’t a typo. The Huskies won on a neutral court, and followed that up with an absolute drubbing of then-No. 9 Kentucky that was pretty much over by halftime.  The way Kemba Walker has been playing (POY level), it’s obvious that Connecticut was underrated the first time around. So why penalize them for it in this round of polling? For what it’s worth, I think of the rankings as a determinant of what would happen if any two teams played each other on a neutral court. Well, it happened. And Connecticut won. If they had previously lost games or shown themselves unworthy of a high ranking, I would understand the pollsters decision. As is, I’m left questioning why games even take place if everyone is just going to look at how teams fare “on paper” anyway.

3. ACC Has a Chance at Redemption

Just when you thought the ACC had hit rock-bottom, it fell a little lower. Now that North Carolina has fallen into “Others receiving votes,” Duke is now the only ranked team from the conference (though as a unanimous No. 1, it’s more than just “ranked”). Virginia Tech also received a couple votes, but that’s it for the once-heralded ACC. But with the ACC/Big Ten Challenge this week, five ACC squads will take on the five ranked teams from the Big Ten. One of those matchups will be the aforementioned Duke-Michigan State showdown, but wins by the ACC team in any of the other four—with the possible exception of No. 15 Minnesota vs. Virginia—would almost guarantee the ACC additional spots in next week’s poll. At the same time, a resounding loss by the ACC in the Challenge would open the door for even more criticism of the conference’s overall strength. And for Duke, that might further tarnish the strength-of-schedule numbers.

Bench Play a Difference Maker

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Andre Dawkins and the bench were key in a convincing win over Kansas State on Tuesday night.

In a tournament that was played on a basketball court resembling a NASCAR stock car with its copious advertisements, the Blue Devils proved to the national voters that their team is deserving of the number one ranking in the polls.

The CBE Classic brought the first real competition for Duke, who played their first games away from Cameron Indoor Stadium of the season. Although both games in the tournament resulted in wins, the competition was different. Marquette gave the Blue Devils all they could handle, while Kansas State never had a legitimate shot at winning the game, as Duke held the lead for the last 32 minutes of game play.

The paramount difference between the two games came from the play of the bench players. Against the Golden Eagles, the bench played for a total of 50 minutes and scored 12 points, compared to 150 minutes and 70 points for the starting five. This equates to about .24 points per minute in contrast to .47 points per minute for the starters, who had to carry the load for most of the game.

The production against the Wildcats, however, was much improved, with the bench scoring 22 points in 57 minutes (.39 ppm) and the starters scoring 60 points in 143 minutes (.42 ppm). With more scoring options, the offensive attack was more balanced, allowing for a more complete team effort. The defensive output from the bench was also much improved in the second game, averaging .11 steals per minute, while the starters only had .03 steals per minute.

Another major improvement was the aggressiveness on the offensive end. One of the most successful plays the Blue Devils ran last season was the drive and kick, when a guard dribbles in to the lane and passes out to an open three-point shooter. This not only allows Duke to utilize their ability to shoot from behind the arc, but if the player driving feels he can finish than he can attack the basket. Against Marquette, the Blue Devils opted for a spread offense, swinging the ball around the arc looking for an open backdoor cut, taking away opportunities at the free throw line (only 12 attempts). In the CBE final, Duke used the drive and kick method, leading not only to a 27% efficiency increase in three-point shooting, but 19 more free throw attempts as well. This also resulted in more “and one” opportunities, including a rare four-point play from Seth Curry.

The overall size advantage has helped the Blue Devils as well. Despite a loss in average height from last year’s line up, a loss of a little over an inch, Duke has had a distinct height advantage in their early contests. The Blue Devils’ starting line-up has an average height of 78.4 inches, a whole inch taller then both of the lineups the team played in Kansas City. Even the quality competition on the upcoming schedule, including contenders like Michigan State and Butler, are .8 and 2.6 inches shorter on average respectively. Only time will tell if the multiple advantages Duke has will hold up, but so far the statistics have suggested they will, and the stats don’t lie.

This Week in Duke Tweets: November 22-28

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Welcome to the inaugural edition of This Week in Duke Tweets for the Chronicle Sports Blog, taking you through the top five Duke-sports related tweets of the week.

1) On Saturday, the men’s basketball team traveled to the west coast to senior forward Kyle Singler’s home-state of Oregon to take on the Ducks. Singler’s brother, E.J., starts for Oregon, but it was Kyle who stole the show scoring a career-high 30 points to lead the Blue Devils to a 98-71 victory. Fellow senior Nolan Smith tweeted about his teammate’s performance after the game:

2) When the Blue Devils beat No. 4 Kansas State, it gave Coach Krzyzewski his 800th win at Duke. Though Coach K doesn’t have a Twitter account, he got a shout-out of praise from one of his players, Seth Curry:

3) Duke’s depth and offensive versatility are often listed as its strong suits this year, and this was highlighted in their victory over Kansas State as college basketball analyst (and Duke graduate) Seth Davis pointed out:

4) Oregon is perhaps most famous as the alma mater of Nike founder Phil Knight. After the game, Nolan Smith got to meet this pioneer of sports gear, but “Chillin” is what was on his mind:

5) Finally, now that the Thanksgiving break is over, the basketball players show us there are two ways to get back into the groove of things. One the one hand, there is Casey Peters who tweeted about his relaxing afternoon with Kyle Singler:

On the other hand, Kyrie Irving tweeted about his studious afternoon with his fellow freshman basketball players Josh Hairston and Tyler Thornton:

Keep up with the Chronicle Sports Blog and make sure to come back next Monday for the next edition of This Week in Duke Tweets.

Questioning Duke’s Scheduling

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Duke fans were denied the chance to watch both the Oregon and UNC games Saturday.

Saturday should have been a great day as a Duke sports fan. The nation’s No. 1 men’s basketball team was in action, away at Oregon, while the football team finished its season at home against arch-rival North Carolina. What’s not to like? The scheduling, for one.

1) Football and basketball overlap

On Saturday, the football game against North Carolina started at 3:30 while the men’s basketball game against Oregon began at 4:00. These are the two sporting teams that indubitably draw the most support from fans in terms of attendance and television viewership, so why would the school have both games at the same time? The teams should not have to be competing with each other – especially when both games are on TV as they were on Saturday. Even connoisseurs of the clicker, such as myself, were frustrated because flipping between the two games was often futile; the two games went to halftime within a minute of each other.

2) Football vs. UNC over Thanksgiving

The student attendance at football games certainly leaves something to be desired. As Larry Moneta said in his e-mail to students regarding the cancellation of Tailgate, “we have critical games ahead and need your full support of our team.” It is a two-way street, however. How are students supposed to react when the most interesting game of the year – against Duke’s loathed rival North Carolina – is scheduled when none of the students are in town? Indeed, the thanksgiving football game against UNC was a sellout and jam packed with fans; unfortunately, most of them were donning their baby blue in support of the Tar Heels, as the majority of Duke fans were out of town. Understandably, packing Wallace Wade with non-Duke fans results in great profits for the team (because students and the like don’t have to buy tickets, while all others do), but does the school care more about profiting than it does having high student attendance? Classic case of having your cake, eating it too, then blaming the students for not having had a bite.