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Q&A with ESPN’s Pat Forde

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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 Thursday.

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.

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

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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.

ESPN’s Forde Pessimistic about Blue Devils’ Chances

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ESPN.com columnist Pat Forde’s weekly “Forde Minutes” came out today, and the college sports expert was rather down on Duke, even after the Blue Devils’ impressive road victory over Clemson last Saturday.  Forde listed the 10 teams he thinks have a legitimate shot at the national title, and as expected, the list included Kentucky, Kansas and Texas, but also surprisingly included BYU.  However, more shocking was Forde’s exclusion of Duke from that list, a choice he took pains to justify:

Duke (12). Why the Blue Devils can’t win it: We’ve seen this movie before. Duke blazes impressively out of the gates, is confronted by its limitations (size, depth or athleticism) in the latter third of the regular season, then hits the wall in March. The Devils haven’t won more than two games in an NCAA tournament since 2004, despite having No. 1 seeds twice and No. 2 seeds twice as well.

This is yet another good Duke team, with yet another set of apparent flaws. The big men (the young Plumlee brothers, Lance Thomas, Brian Zoubek) are still nothing special. The leading men,Jon Scheyer and Kyle Singler, are still overworked. (Scheyer hasn’t played fewer than 36 minutes in a game since December, and Singler has gone the full 40 in each of Duke’s last two games.)

The Minutes will believe Duke might have a chance to win it all when it sees the Blue Devils actually advance past the Sweet 16 for the first time since Chris Duhon was in uniform.

The rather harsh critique might not sit well with many Blue Devil fans, many of whom see this year’s team as different as those in the past thanks to the emergence of the Plumlees as both a defensive force in the paint and also as somewhat-legitimate scoring threats. Plus, Forde rather conspicuously ignores Nolan Smith, who is having a breakout season thus far.

What say you, readers?  Is Duke still a Final Four contender, or does Forde’s analysis dissuade your confidence?

ESPN Chats with Coach K and Coach Knight

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An inquisitive Duke fan scrolling through ESPN.com today might have just found a hidden gem. This afternoon ESPN posted a 20 minute interview with Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and former Indiana and Texas Tech head coach and current ESPN analyst Bobby Knight.  The pair’s conversation covers numerous topics, including the difficulty of helping young players adjust to the college game and Jon Scheyer’s brilliance so far this season.

Duke Earns More and More Praise

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CBS Broadcaster Dan Bonner may not have believed that the Blue Devils were the top team in the ACC at the beginning of the season, but after last night’s 74-53 Duke victory over the Clemson Tigers, he is a believer now.

“I didn’t think Duke was this good,” said Bonner. “To my mind I think Duke has demonstrated that they are a cut above everybody else in the ACC.”

Meanwhile, the Blue Devils have risen from seventh to fifth in both the AP and ESPN/USA Today Polls, currently sitting behind the four remaining unbeatens (Kansas, Texas, Kentucky and Purdue). Continue reading →