Duke started the 4 games in 7 days marathon with a tough fought victory over Rhode Island last Sunday.  Mixed in between there was a tournament championship.  They end it all with a nice Sunday afternoon victory that leaves them at 6-0.

Afternoon a quick turnaround from New York, Duke started a little bit slow on offense.  But a slow start would be the only bright light that Montana would see.  The Duke starters pounded them in every way possible.  Many of Duke’s points came off of the turnover from their suffocating defense.  Brian Zoubek was the only Duke starter not in double figures, and he scored 8.

Penetration was the name of the game for Duke as they dominated Montana instead the paint.  Nolan Smith was slashing every time he got the ball, and lead Duke’s offensive onslaught.  When Duke realizes that the majority of their players can get into the lane and if not finish, get fouled, they will be an elite team.  Stop shooting that damn three pointer.  It is not working right now.  And with the improved play of Zoubek and Thomas, who combined for 11 points and 15 rebounds, the slashers should be assured that if need be the glass will get cleaned up.

Since the game was decided early the second string got a lot of playing time.  Elliot Williams had some quality minutes and should some nice moves.  Miles Plumlee was oustanding when he settled down and let the game come to him.

After Kyle Singler started out the season being the go to guy, he has been able to delegate superstar responsible to his teammates.  Nolan looked like the man today, but Henderson quietly equaled him in points and had 7 boards.

Nothing like a little icing on the cake.  Beside the Rhode Island game, Duke has frustrated opponents with their defense and let the offense come off their defense.  So far so good for Duke who will have a well deserved break before another non-conference opponent comes to Cameron.  Duquesne will be here for a afternoon game.  Until then, Happy Thanksgiving!!!

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Not bad for a Duke PG.

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We have been waiting three games and one half for Gerald Henderson to show the explosiveness that made him a preseason all-acc selection.  If the second half is any indication on how Henderson’s season will be, we are for a real treat.

After a miserable first half that saw Duke fumble the ball like a pee wee league team, they ratcheted up and played a flawless second half.  If it wasn’t for a few key players for Duke in the first half, it would have been an up hill battle.

Brian Zoubek had one of his best games in his career at Duke.  He was aggressive under the post, and when Duke feed him the ball inside he used nice footwork to either convert, or draw the foul.  He only went 2-2 from the field, but shot 6-8 from the free throw line.  I forgot what a sweet stroke he has.  He really controlled things down in the post.  He added 6 rebounds and 2 blocks.  As in the game against Rhode Island free throws were the answer in the first half.  When the shots weren’t falling, Duke penetrated and caused SIU to foul many many times.  Duke went an outstanding 40-47 from the free throw line.

Duke was able to finally show their muscle in the second, and started forcing SIU to take bad shots and finally converted on the opportunities they had.  Singler and Henderson both went scoreless in the first half, but finished with 13 and 20 respectively.  Singler had a rough night going 3-11 from the field.  His worse night of the season still ended with him getting double digits and 7 rebounds.

There was some great highlights in the game.  Singler with the steal and then a dunk and crash.  My heart stopped when he laid on the ground for that second.  Smith with a powerful jam against two bigger players.  And then of course Gerald Henderson launching in the lane and then throwing it down was just icing on the cake.

This was a fun game to watch.  Of course it was a little ugly in the first but Duke played like a final four team in the second.  It was a solid team effort, and I am sure we are all glad to see Henderson finally come out of his shell.  After of couple of his shots fell at the beginning of the second, he was just dripping with confidence.

Duke will likely face UCLA tomorrow and what a great early season test.  UCLA is a loaded team that will match up really well with Duke.  It should be a good one.

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This team belongs to Kyle Singler.  There is no other way to put it.  And for the first time this season, he had to put the team on his back.  His main sidekick was Jon Scheyer who was equally clutch at the end of this game.

Rhode Island came in to Cameron and dominated the game all the way up until the last few minutes.  This team with Jimmy Baron and Delroy James were unconscious in this game.  They simply couldn’t miss a shot, and their tenacity was unbelievable.  Hats off to a great team.  They showed poise and were well prepared for Duke.

Obviously, fans would have loved a more decisive victory.  It is hard to say what the problem for Duke was.  They played alright defense, but Rhode Island made everything.  They didn’t turn the ball over a lot, but their shots weren’t falling.  The one thing going right for most of the game was their free throw shooting.  After and horrific free throw shooting game against Georgia Southern, Duke came out and shot 28-32.  Free throw shooting was the one thing that kept Duke close.  This single thing allowed Duke to creep up on Rhode Island, and eventually take the lead for good with just a few seconds left.

I was a little worried when Kyle Singler started at slow.  But of course, the go to guy for Duke came up big scoring 21 points, and made clutch shots at the end of the game.  Singler is becoming one of the most feared players in college basketball, and if they don’t know already, the nation will soon know about Kyle Singler.

Singler couldn’t of done it alone.  Jon Scheyer was instrumental in keeping Duke close in the second half, and had some amazing finishes at the basket.  He led all Duke scorers with 23 points, and shot a unconscious 13-13 from the free throw line.  It was Scheyer and then SIngler in the second half.  They saved Duke from an early and devastating lose.

-Lance Thomas is looking more assertive and really showing that he belongs down in the post in crunch time.
-4-17 from 3pt range is unacceptable, and can’t be a trend for the season.
-I am not too upset with Gerald Henderson not being a big part of the game, because Singler and Scheyer did just fine.

What a great feeling to win this game after Duke was losing for most of it.  I don’t think it really showed a lot of weaknesses in Duke.  Rhode Island just couldn’t miss, and Duke couldn’t figure out how to slow them down.  It was a good win, and keeps our momentum up for the upcoming games which will be against tougher opponents.

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Many people were disappointed with Duke’s first game.  The one’s that felt that way the most were the players themselves.  Everyone on the team knew that they hadn’t played up to their ability.  Something must of happened, because Duke came out and gave a unbelievable performance against Georgia Southern.  Besides a terrible night free throw shooting, everything was working for Duke.  Duke began the explosion at the end of the first half, when strong defense started to lead to breakaway shots.  To know how much fun Duke was having, you just had to see Nolan Smith jumping up and down yelling at the crowd to get on their feet.  Cameron was rocking for the rest of the game.  Duke was on a roll, that no one could have stopped.

Kyle Singler was the star of the game for the second straight game.  His performance tonight was All-American material.  Everywhere you looked Singler was in on the play.  He scored 19 points in just 22 minutes of action.  If not for him sitting for much of the second half, he would of most likely went well of 30.  If he can keep up this consistent play we will be talking about him challenging Hansborough for ACC Player of the year.

For the second straight game, Duke’s expected go to guy was not the star.  Gerald Henderson was a little passive early on, but started to breakout a little as the game wore on.  He did end up scoring 11 in 20 minutes.  I think that Henderson will have a natural progression to being that player we want him to be as the season roles on.  He doesn’t have to be the best player every night.  With so many great players, he will have to just let the game come to him.  I still feel like he will be equal to Singler, as far as MVP of the team goes, by the end of the season.

Nolan Smith started out a little shaky, but quickly turned it around with solid defense.  He shot the ball much better than he did in the first game.  He wasn’t a prototypical point guard, as he finished with 0 assists.  But he lead a great offensive performance.  Paulus and him sharing the point seems to be working quite nice.  Both were in double figures, and both did a great job running the offense.

This game was over long before the final buzzer blew.  For the final ten minutes it was the freshmen and second strings time to shine.  A lot of quality minutes for all the frosh, and for Marty and McClure.  Elliot Williams has 11 rebounds.  An unbelievable mark considering his height.

All in all this was a fun game to watch.  Duke’s defense is just fantastic.  It created a large number of points in this game, and field goal and three point shooting were much improved.  Good progression from one game to the next, and if this keeps happening this will be a very good season.  Duke learned what they did wrong in the first game and quickly fixed it for the second.  The result is a satisfying victory.

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It has been a long time since I was able to set the DVR to record a Duke game.  But finally tomorrow, I will get that chance once again.  Tomorrow Duke will kick off their 2008-2009 campaign against Presbyterian in the first round of the Coaches vs Cancer Classic.

After the late season disappointment last year every Duke fan is looking forward to what could be a very successful year.  Last year Duke came out of the gate strong, and stayed that way up until March, when it all kind of feel apart.  The only true loss for Duke was DeMarcus Nelson, and there are plenty of players who are ready to step up and be the go to guy.

Gerald Henderson will be looked at as the main focus on this offense.  In my opinion, he took over that role after his performance in the Belmont game in the tournament.  Henderson has all the makings of a superstar for Duke.  Anything less than 1st Team All-ACC will be a disappointment.

An important part of this team will be the Greg Paulus, Nolan Smith situation.  It is much anticipated seeing how Smith will handle the point guard role, and how Paulus adjusts to coming off the bench.  This could be a great thing for Paulus as he might have a better chance to utilize his shot as a “2″ guard.

One thing I will be watching this season is the development of Miles Plumlee and Olek Czyz.  Also, improvement from Brian Zoubek and Lance Thomas.  These four players are extremely important.  Their success will be important for Kyle Singler.  Singler needs to be able to play his natural position and stay from under the basket to avoid getting the crap knocked out of him the entire season.

There are some many options for Coach K this season.  The gold medal winning coach, will return to a team that is loaded with talent, and if all the cards fall right we could be playing deep in March.

Duke will be tested early with a possible match up with UCLA waiting for them at Madison Sqare Garden.  First Duke will have to play a few games that are with inferior opponents and should just be warm ups.

Tomorrow starts the marathon season of college basketball.  Last season was very exciting at times, and that success should carry over.  This team has the potential, but they need to keep it together the entire year.  I look for big things from this team and can’t wait to see them play.

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As most of you know, John Wall is now on Duke’s recruiting radar. Here’s a video displaying his athletic ability. From the looks of it, he can probably play three positions for Duke. Even if it’s just for a couple of years, he would make a real impact on our program.

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