Author Archives: Danny Vinik

Duke Ranked #1 In Preseason Coaches’ Poll

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After earning the top spot in the preseason ACC media day two days ago, Duke garnered 29 of 31 first place votes in the preseason ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll today to take home the #1 ranking. Michigan State grabbed two first place votes and took home second place.

North Carolina came in at number nine after finishing last season outside of the top 25. The only other ACC team ranked is Virginia Tech at number 23.

ESPN interviewed head coach Mike Krzyzewski about the ranking and the pressure that comes with it. Watch it below:

Men’s Lacrosse Team To Be Honored

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The National Champion Blue Devils will be honored Saturday.

The 2010 Duke men’s lacrosse team will be honored at halftime of Saturday’s matchup between the men’s soccer team and the Virginia Cavaliers at 7 p.m. in Koskinen Stadium.

The lacrosse team won 16 games this past season and captured its first national championship when it defeated Notre Dame 6-5 in overtime. The team will be introduced and recognized for its accomplishment.

The No. 8 men’s soccer team (1-0-1) plays host to No. 2 Virginia (2-0-0) in a highly anticipated matchup. The Blue Devils knocked off the Cavaliers in 1-0 in double overtime last season, but Virginia went on to win the national championship.

Austin Rivers’s Recruitment Continues

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Austin Rivers provided an update about his recruitment on HighSchoolHoop.com recently. After originally committing to Florida, the No. 2 overall recruit in the 2011 class decommitted on April 8th of this year. Rivers is still considering Florida along with UNC, Kansas, UCLA and, of course, Duke.

Rivers wrote:

I only get five official visits so I want to definitely go back to Duke. I’ve got to go to UCLA, Kansas, North Carolina and Florida, too.

Is it too much to read into the fact that Rivers listed Duke separately from the other four schools? Probably. But Rivers’s AAU coach also says Duke is the current leader to land the shooting guard.

Duke fans will like Rivers’s next words even more:

I still keep in touch with Coach K at Duke and Coach Donovan at Florida. I haven’t talked to Coach Williams at North Carolina, but he’s talked to my coach a few times.

It makes sense that Rivers would continue to talk to Donovan – he had already committed to Florida – but Krzyzewski is the only other coach that Rivers keeps up a conversation with. More good news for Duke fans.

The best news, though, may come in River’s final thoughts:

I don’t really talk to any of the players at the schools that are recruiting me besides Kyrie Irving at Duke. I don’t really know the players at the other schools. But Kyrie and I talk about everyday things like when he’s going to Duke and what’s going on with him. We’re pretty tight.

Now, Irving has yet to spend a semester in Durham, but I’d be surprised if he isn’t touting Duke to Rivers. The possibility of playing with Irving must sound pretty good to Rivers (and Duke fans) as well. Of course in the long run, none of this means much. Rivers has yet to take his official visits and those will certainly impact his decision. For now though, Blue Devil fans can look ahead to next year with the hope that 2012 will be bright as well.

Duke – New England Revolution Draw 1-1

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Duke earned a 1-1 draw against the MLS club New England Revolution in a scrimmage played Wednesday morning at the WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, NC. As part of its preseason schedule, the Revolution are spending a week in North Carolina, playing three games including this morning’s match versus the Blue Devils.

New England opened the scoring in the 13th minute when forward Zack Schilawski slotted one past Duke goalkeeper James Belshaw. Just a minute later though, the Blue Devils equalized as Nick Sih headed headed home a Blue Devil corner kick. Though just a scrimmage, the game became chippy at points with a couple of hard challenges that got players yelling. Each team had plenty of chances throughout the remainder of the match, but none found the back of the net.

The game marked the return of Revolution players Darrius Barnes (Duke ’08) and Mike Videira (Duke ’06). Barnes did not see any action in the contest while Videira played the final forty five minutes for New England in the center of its midfield. Videira had one of New England’s best chances in the second half as he nearly scored on a header in the 76th minute.

The game marked the third of seven spring matches for the Blue Devils. Duke fell 3-2 to the Carolina Railhawks on February 20 and 2-1 to N.C. State on March 4. The Blue Devils’ spring practices continue for the upcoming weeks with their next match not coming until April4 against CSN Cork. For the full spring schedule, click here.

Examining The ACC Tournament

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Duke’s smashing of North Carolina on Saturday night marked the end of the regular season and the beginning of Championship Week. The ACC Tournament begins on Thursday with four first round matchups and the Blue Devils begin play on Friday when they face the winner of the Boston College-Virginia game.

Here’s how Duke’s first game (12 p.m. Friday) could look:

Scenario 1: Duke vs. Boston College

Previous games: 1/13 BC at Duke, Duke wins 79-59
                                  2/06 Duke at BC, Duke wins 66-63

Duke dominated the first matchup with Nolan Smith going 9-for-14 from the field and scoring 24 points. Kyle Singler scored 15 points and Jon Scheyer and Miles Plumlee each chipped in 12. Duke outrebounded the Eagles 40-25 and forced 13 turnovers. For Boston College, Reggie Jackson kept the game respectable by scoring 20 points and making eight of his twelve shots. In the second meeting, the Eagles kept the game close the entire time and missed a three at the buzzer that would have forced overtime. The Blue Devils held a ten point halftime lead, but fatigued in the second half after defeating Georgia Tech just 40 hours earlier in a hard fought game. Smith and Scheyer each scored 21 while Singler added 12. BC forward Rakim Sanders made up for his 1-for-8 performance in the first game by making six of his 12 shots. Continue reading →

Krzyzewski Unsatisfied With ACC Scheduling

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Duke has already faced Clemson, Georgia Tech, and Boston College twice this season, but plays two new opponents this week as the Blue Devils travel to Chapel Hill to take on the Tar Heels Wednesday and then face Maryland in Cameron on Saturday. While facing UNC for this first time this late in the ACC season is normal for Duke, head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s side has also yet to face Miami (Fl.), Virginia Tech, and Virginia. Yesterday, Krzyzewski offered his thoughts on the scheduling:

“There are a number of teams in our league that we haven’t played yet, but this is our 10th game,” he said. “There should be more balance, because teams change positively from January to February. So everybody in the league – and I’m not saying it benefits us or doesn’t benefit us – but overall you have more equity involved if you play a team in January and you play a team in February. How we’ve done it this year, I just think it’s not very good, for everybody. To play in a condensed manner is not an equitable way of doing the league.”

While Krzyzewski is specifically speaking about this year’s schedule, he has been vocal about other aspects of ACC scheduling in the past. The ACC expanded to include Virginia Tech, Boston College, and Miami (Fl.) in 2003 and Krzyzewski was one of many in the college basketball world who spoke out against the decision:

“The two-division concept in basketball for our league would be really bad,” Krzyzewski told ESPN at the time about a possible expansion. “All of a sudden, you wouldn’t be playing these teams twice.”

The Blue Devils face every team twice this year except Florida State, Wake Forest, Virginia, Virginia Tech, North Carolina State and Miami (Fl.).