Duke McDonald's All Americans

Duke has three McDonald's All-American players this year. The game is tonight on ESPN. I'm sure they'll replay it multiple times.

The three:

Taylor King, F, 6'8 218 from California
Kyle Singler, F, 6'9 210 from Oregon (?)
Nolan Smith, G, 6'3 190 from Maryland

Perhaps King and/or Singler will turn into the athletic swingman Duke's been missing since the Battier days.

I'm anxious to see how they perform. Interesting note on the list, there doesn't appear to be anyone going to UNC. How nice.

Duke's McRoberts declares for NBA draft - NCAA Basketball - Yahoo! Sports

Duke's McRoberts declares for NBA draft - NCAA Basketball - Yahoo! Sports: "Duke forward Josh McRoberts declared himself eligible for the NBA draft Thursday."

Kind of surprising, but not completely unexpected. I was actually beginning to think Duke would have everyone back next year. Can he take Paulus with him?

final four

Here are my final four picks for this year. Florida, Kansas, North Carolina, and Texas A & M. I have Kansas over North Carolina in the finals. I really wanted to pick Texas over North Carolina, but I just don't trust Rick Barnes and I think UNC has the players that can match up with Durant. At least enough to slow him to about 28 or 29 points. I have Duke going to the Sweet 16, but that's probably more wishful thinking than anything. This VCU first round matchup has me terrified.

Ugh, this from The Sports Guy from last Tuesday:

If you missed the end of the George Mason-VCU game Monday night, you missed the greatest random clutch performance in college hoops since Henry Steele came off the bench to win the climactic game in "One On One." Here's what happened: GMU is leading by five and bringing the ball across midcourt with two minutes to play. Suddenly, VCU guard Eric Maynor strips the ball DJ-style, drives down for a layup and draws a foul for the potential three-point play. Maynor makes the free throw, hounds GMU's point guard off the inbounds pass, then pulls off another DJ-style pickpocket steal (this one was even better because it happened in the middle of the court) and flies in for the game-tying layup. You might see a pickpocket steal 10 times all season; Maynor did it on back-to-back plays in a do-or-die situation. Incredible. Amazing. Now it's a tie game. GMU comes down and misses. Maynor brings the ball up, keeps it in his hands the entire time, works the clock down, beats his guy off the dribble and makes an impossible jumper in traffic for a two-point lead. Timeout, GMU. The Patriots are reeling. Now they need a 2-pointer to tie ... and they miss a wide-open 3. Who comes flying in for the rebound? Maynor. Who gets intentionally fouled? Maynor. Who makes the clinching free throws with 20 seconds left? Maynor. If you're scoring at home, that's nine straight points, two pickpocket steals and the game-clinching rebound in the final two minutes of a must-win game, as well as an inevitable ESPY nomination. If you missed it, check out the highlights. Robby Benson would have been proud.

That's exactly what Duke needed. A guard they can't stop.

6th seed

Can't lie, I was not expecting a 6 seed this year for Duke. Thought they would fall to more of an 8 or 9. This is working out nicely though. I need to do some more research on VCU, but at this point I like Duke's chances in the game. Now about that Pitt matchup in the next round.... That does not look good. Oh well, full projections soon enough. Duke plays Thursday. Beware the Ides of March?

Games to watch today

Texas/OSU - Durant, Boggan, OT potential
Purdue/Ohio State - Greg Oden domination
Pitt/Georgetown - battle of the Giants (Gray vs Hibbert)

I think there are some ACC teams playing, too, but I really don't care about them at this point.

This Just In

Kevin Durant is good. Got a chance to watch the last 8 or so minutes of the Texas-Baylor game last night. Durant affects the game so much when he is in there. He's a lot taller than I thought. He ended up with 29 points and 12 boards I think. He only had 4 points in the first half. Just keep shooting. No doubt he's the best player in the country right now. Heard the other day he almost went to UNC. That would've sucked! Thanks Texas.

man that hurt

Ugh. This team is so frustrating. I just don't know what to expect from them. What sucks is now I almost have to root for a team that is already in the tourney to win the ACC. No more upsets in these conference tourneys. They might just push Duke out of the picture.

It will be nice to not play any ACC teams for a game or two. I still think Duke can win a tourney game, but I won't be surprised by anything now. What is sad is that most of this team, if not all, should be back next year. Jason Williams isn't walking through that door. J.J. Redick isn't walking through that door. Grant Hill isn't walking through that door.

On the bright side, my weekend plans really opened up now that basketball is off the table.

nice job miami

Well, one team I didn't want to face again the rest of the year goes down. Miami just beat Maryland. Cool.

Acc 1st round preview

Duke vs NC State. Duke should win this game. Duke beat NC State earlier this year (79-56) with Scheyer going for 20. Would be nice to see him do something similar in this game. I know teams have keyed on him recently, but he must find a way to get his shot off. It really irritates me to see him pass on shots that I know he can make. He seems reluctant to shoot unless he is wide open.

Of course Duke won't have Henderson for this game. This will hurt them offensively, but they should have enough fire power to beat a down NC State team. I think NC State's coach will be a good one for them, though. Watch out for them in the next couple of years.

Projection: Duke 72 NC State 63

2nd season

Duke is up on Thursday against NC State on ESPN2. Thinking about doing a some live blogging during the game.


Can't believe that Wright State beat Butler last night. That's going to hurt some bubble teams for sure.

he hate me

Well, ESPN's Page 2 has posted a top 10 most hated Blue Devils
Can't say that I understand why Brian Davis is so highly ranked, but whatever.

some thoughts

Gerald Henderson is my new favorite Duke player on this team. Not because he leveled Hansbrough, but because he showed some fire in the game. He and Paulus seem to be the only players on the team willing to shoot under duress. They need to lock Scheyer in a room somewhere and let him watch Redick tapes on when to shoot.

I'm not sure what to say that hasn't already been said about "The Foul." At first I thought it might be intentional, but I don't think he was trying to hurt Hansbrough, just trying to make sure he didn't score. I also love that Henderson called Hansbrough a kid when he said, "I wasn't trying to hurt the kid." That might hurt more than the foul. As far as what's next, this could actually fire the team up. Would be nice to seem them play with some passion.

Backatcha

The Duke is Duke blog is back.