Duke Basketball

Duke Women Rout Hampton 94-31 In Ncaa First Round

... Duke's Rebecca Greenwell (23) dribbles while Hampton's Georgianna Gilbeaux defends during the first half of a first-round game in the NCAA women's college basketball tournament in Durham, N. C., Saturday, March 18, 2017. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome). The Associated Press. Duke's Lexie Brown (4) and Hampton's K'lynn Willis (10) chase a loose ball during the first half of a first-round game in the NCAA women's college basketball tournament in Durham, N. C., Saturday, March 18, 2017. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome). The Associated Press. Duke's Rebecca Greenwell, left, guards Hampton's K'lynn Willis (10) during the first half of a first-round game in the NCAA women's college basketball tournament in Durham, N. C., Saturday, March 18, 2017. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome). Duke women rout Hampton 94-31 in NCAA first round. By The Associated Press. The Associated Press. Duke's Rebecca Greenwell (23) dribbles while Hampton's Georgianna Gilbeaux defends during the first half of ...

Time For Central To Shine

... pull hard for Levelle Moton’s NCCU team Tuesday. SAN ANTONIO, TX - MARCH 21: Head coach Le Velle Moton of the North Carolina Central Eagles signals from the bench against the Iowa State Cyclones during the second round of the 2014 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at AT&T Center on March 21, 2014 in San Antonio, Texas. Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images. As Duke fans, all of use have gotten used to our team being one of the elite teams in the country if not THE elite team. Since 1984, Duke’s made the NCAA field every year except for 1995 and has made the Final Four in 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2010 and 2015. That’s on top of the three Vic Bubas earned and the one Bill Foster claimed in 1978. Counting this year’s most recent triumph, Duke has 20 ACC titles too. Point is, you get used to it and it’s fun. But there’s a lot to be said for the ride up as well. When Coach K showed up in Durham, there were no guarantees. The Duke Chronicle ran a headline about his hiring saying “this is not a joke.”. Once things got going there ...

Duke’s Marques Bolden Is Ill, Not Disinterested

... He was a trooper wanting to stay on the bench.”. Duke released a statement Saturday morning saying Bolden was battling flu-like symptoms. He stayed out of Saturday’s practice and second-round media session. The Blue Devils will play South Carolina in the second round Sunday at approximately 8:40 p.m. Nearly every other big on the roster saw playing time against No. 15 Troy on Friday. Center Antonio Vrankovic was the post sub behind freshman Harry Giles, and in the closing moments of the game at Bon Secours Wellness Arena, forwards Javin De Laurier, Jack White and Justin Robinson were on the floor at the same time when the buzzer sounded. De Laurier had a steal and a basket. Chase Jeter, who had a procedure to repair a herniated disk on Jan. 23, hasn’t played since Louisville on Jan. 14, where he had two boards and played for 17 minutes. Bolden, who periodically took sips from a bottle of Dasani water throughout Thursday’s game, averaged 2.2 minutes his last five games. He didn’t see ...

2017 Ncaa Tournament/acc Roundup

... Virginia played without Isaiah Wilkins, but that’s not an explanation for what happened. After the game, ‘Hoos coach Tony Bennett said this: “This team got a lot from itself, and it's a credit to them. It's a credit to the coaching staff. But then to end it this way, to just get overwhelmed like that the last whatever minutes, just feeling a little bit outmatched was frustrating. “But like I said, I challenged the guys that are returning. You've got to grow from this.”. Not a big deal but Bennett’s name is always going to come up during hiring season now. He was rumored (briefly) at Illinois. Those comments sound like a guy who is planning on being back and given what he’s accomplished already, Virginia should be too. Florida State, playing in state and just a few hours away, got blown out by a #11 seed. This team has real talent. It’s inexplicable really. Virginia at least is in a bit of a rebuild but FSU has no excuse. Notre Dame and West Virginia are at least roughly equal seeds and West Virginia just played a little better. But Florida State? A 3 seed being ...

Should Duke Have Gotten A No. 1 Seed

... for the top seeds. Even then, they wouldn’t have been compared to North Carolina without first winning a head-to-head comparison with Gonzaga. Selection Chair Mark Hollis explains the decisions made this week in the committee room. #Selection Sunday __link__/Jqi GRcx HC 5. — NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 12, 2017. Does this really matter? No and yes. A No. 2 seed is conceivably supposed to reach the Elite Eight, where it should conceivably face the No. 1 seed. The No. 1 seed in Duke’s region is Villanova, the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed. Can Duke beat the Wildcats? Sure. Can Villanova beat the Blue Devils? Yep. So winding up a No. 2 instead of a No. 1 certainly doesn’t crush Duke’s chances. But remember, No. 1 seeds have won 17 of the past 25 championships. The No. 1 seed does get an easier path. While the committee’s choice to keep Duke—and Arizona, for that matter—on the No. 2 line should comfort coaches who hope to ...

2017 Acc/ncaa Tournament Roundup

... play in Raleigh last year and FGCU is very, very well coached. Joe Dooley is going to get pursued this spring. Among the job openings now are Washington, Cal, Illinois, LSU and Indiana. We’ve heard Tony Bennett’s name mentioned in connection with Illinois but at this point it’s all just rumors. The Hoosiers fired Tom Crean Thursday and that’s huge. Not many jobs will open that are that big. Indiana has been up and down since Bob Knight was fired to be sure, but it’s still a great, great job and they can take their pick of the candidates. This complicates things for everyone down the food chain including NC State. Guys like Kevin Keatts of Wilmington may get interviews and as much potential as State has, Indiana is on the Duke/UNC/Kentucky/Kansas/UCLA/Louisville tier. There just aren’t many jobs like that. Rumor-wise, Billy Donovan’s name has come up and that’d be a home run if it happens. So has Brad Stevens, which is also rumor and not based on much. He’d be huge there though. And of course Steve Alford’s name has been mentioned and that makes sense. Not only is he an Indiana guy but UCLA is likely to see a major ...

2017 Ncaa Tournament

... is the only Trojan with NCAA experience. As tends to happen a lot in early matchups, the lower seed doesn’t have as much size as the higher. Troy has three guys who are 6-8. Sophomore Alex Hicks get 21.8 mpg. Obviously the team is smallish. Sophomore Varnado is 6-6 and 215, Walker is 6-6 and 230, Kevin Baker is a 6-2 junior, Jeremy Hollimon a 6-3 senior and Daniel Peace a 6-1 senior. Those guys are the primary rotation. Although Troy’s recruiting is mostly regional - Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee and Florida - they do have one Canadian, one guy from Nokia Finland and one from Slovakia. Collectively, Troy shoots 46% from the floor, 36.8% from three and 71.9% from the line. Duke you probably have some idea of by now. The Blue Devils have had a strange season full of injuries and setbacks, yet seem to have come together at the end and ran off a tremendous streak of four games in Brooklyn to claim the ACC title. We didn’t know if they could do it or not but we knew, given how Mike Krzyzewski has valued championships, that the team ...

South Carolina Stuns Duke To Advance To Sweet 16

... NCAA tournament appearances. He played six minutes against Troy and had zero points, two turnovers and three fouls. Giles didn’t fare much better against South Carolina, getting blanked on the offensive end in 10 minutes of work. Mike Krzyzewski called Giles “young” after his first tournament game, a descriptor that was apt in his second one, too, when he got just 4 second-half minutes. Giles suffered two ACL injuries in his high school years that have clearly affected him and, save for a good ACC tournament, never seemed to fit into Duke’s rotation comfortably. Kansas's Josh Jackson turning into complicated March star as tourney run continues. An NBA team should and likely will take Giles in the first round based solely off potential, but that’s why he needs to run to the NBA. He may not ever return to the self he promised three years ago, but he’s still worth taking that risk. 3. Frank Martin deserves your respect. You’ve probably forgotten about Frank Martin ever since he went to Columbia in ...

A Look At The East Regional

... one side in Tulsa and the winner of Southern Cal and Providence on the other. We don’t know enough about the new guy at NMSU but Marvin Menzies did a really solid job there before moving to UNLV. We’ve never been overly impressed with Scott Drew’s Baylor but recently we read something that kind of made us think twice. Drew took over from the bastard Dave Bliss, who did some unbelievably despicable things that helped to destroy the program. Drew may not be a great strategist, but he’s made Baylor a consistent power and hasn’t dragged the school’s name through a sewer like his predecessor did. So consider this a mea culpa. Scott has, on balance, been perfectly fine. SMU is the intriguing team here though. The Ponies have Duke transfer Semi Ojeleye who has become a real star. That’s pretty uncommon really: typically Duke transfers become average players at best. Not Ojeleye: he’s averaging ...

Thornwell Leads South Carolina To Second-round Upset Of Duke

... as he drives against South Carolina's Sindarius Thornwell (0) during the second half in a second-round game of the NCAA men's college basketball tournament in Greenville, S. C., Sunday, March 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton). The Associated Press. South Carolina head coach Frank Martin argues a call during the first half in a second-round game against Duke in the NCAA men's college basketball tournament in Greenville, S. C., Sunday, March 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt). The Associated Press. Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski shouts at his team during the first half in a second-round game against South Carolina in the NCAA men's college basketball tournament in Greenville, S. C., Sunday, March 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton). Thornwell leads South Carolina to second-round upset of Duke. By PETE IACOBELLI The Associated Press. 1 hr ago. The Associated Press. South Carolina's Rakym Felder (4) reacts after making a three-point basket against Duke during the second half in a second-round game of the NCAA men's college basketball tournament in ...