This is a Fan's Joint!
Duke fans knew that Philadelphia made a mistake letting Jared McCain go, but Oklahoma City was glad to snatch him up, and on Friday, that decision paid off big time for the Thunder. McCain scored 24 off the bench, outscoring San Antonio’s bench by himself, 24-18, pacing OKC to a 123-108 win. It was much […]
As you probably have heard, Duke will be visiting Kansas this fall for an exhibition game. This program has been playing basketball for 120 years, and has been to Lawrence exactly once, in 1988. To give that some perspective, in 1988, Mike Krzyzewski had taken Duke to one Final Four. There was no obvious indication […]
At a certain point during Duke’s rise to iconic status during the Mike Krzyzewski era, the university began to consider a new arena. They even had a location picked out: up the hill on what is now Coach K Highway, near the 15/501-147 ramp, if memory serves. They had to consider it, but in the […]
If you haven’t been following Quinn Cook on X, he’s been teasing something for the last several days, and now we know what it is. Check this out: My big brother @NdotSmitty and I are doing “THE BROTHERS CHAT” in Durham, NC with all the Duke fans that are able to attend on Thursday May […]
It became increasingly clear over the last several days that staying in the NBA Draft would be a mistake for John Blackwell, and on Friday, he made the smart move and will follow through on his transfer to Duke. Although he isn’t ready for the NBA, Blackwell is a terrific college basketball player and will […]
When Isaac Ambrose from the Champaign Room, a SB Nation sister site dedicated to Illinois, asked us to help preview next season’s visit from Illinois, we knew just who to ask to help them out. Scott Rich is well-versed in the Big Ten and we knew that he would be the guy to talk to […]
This Substack article from Craig Meyer lists his 13 worst coaching hires from the last 26 years, or if you prefer, this century. Five of them were ACC hires: It’s a useful chart, and when you think about it, even with one major absence, if you take a small bit of license, about a third […]
In 1987, Detroit was building what would soon become a championship team. With a backcourt of Isaiah Thomas and Joe Dumars, Rick Mahorn, second-year player Dennis Rodman, Bill Laimbeer, Vinnie Johnson, and John Salley, the core was set. And they had Boston in a nice spot in the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals. The Pistons had […]
Although Tyrese Proctor finally got off the bench for Cleveland, it’s not looking good for the Cavaliers, who lost 109-93 to New York Thursday night. Proctor played for just a minute but did not register in the box score. Still, he got to play in an Conference Finals, and not many people, including former Duke […]
More good news for former Duke stars Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel, as both were unanimously named to the All-Rookie Team. As far as we can find, the only time former college teammates were unanimously named to the All-Rookie team was in 2004-05 when former UConn Huskies Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon pulled it off. […]
The Oklahoma City Thunder evened the Western Conference Finals Wednesday evening with a 122-113 win. The series is now tied 1-1 Jared McCain came off the bench to score 12 points, hitting 4-14 overall and 3-9 from behind the three-point line. Mason Plumlee did not get off the bench for San Antonio. Victor Wembanya continues […]
Duke’s deal with Amazon includes a game with Michigan, set to be played in Madison Square Garden on December 21st. As you probably know, the Big Ten and Fox have an issue with that game, arguing that Fox should have the broadcast/streaming rights since it is in a shared territory (Rutgers would theoretically qualify). Enter […]
Former Bulls GM Jerry Krause has never fully gotten the credit he deserved for building the Chicago Bulls into the second-greatest dynasty in basketball, behind only the Boston Celtics of the Bill Russell era, and it’s partly his own fault. He was indeed a brilliant GM, but he was also an insecure man who wanted […]
After the Dallas Mavericks fired coach Jason Kidd, a rumor sparked that new GM Masai Ujiri would make a run at Duke’s Jon Scheyer. From his point of view, it makes sense. Scheyer has shown a striking command of the game, an ability to rapidly adapt to changes in the game, and of course, he […]
With the NBA Draft combine complete, Duke fans are anxiously awaiting official confirmation that John Blackwell will indeed arrive in Durham this summer. Despite their being no indications to the contrary, last year’s experience with Cedric Coward has seemingly left a scar for many Blue Devil fans. But where Coward wowed scouts with his measurables […]
The chances of this actually happening are probably minimal, but it’s still fun to think about: the Smoking Cuban asks if the Dallas Mavericks could end up with both Isaiah Evans and Maliq Brown alongside former Duke teammate Cooper Flagg. From a Duke point of view, with Kyrie Irving and Dereck Lively also under contract, […]
Since his NC State team was knocked out of the tournament by Sean Miller’s Texas, Will Wade’s life has been pretty active. After telling State fans, and apparently A.D. Boo Corrigan, that he wasn’t talking to LSU, he took the job anyway. However, he has had some trouble filling out his roster. For a time, […]
When he was a young prospect, future Hall of Famer Mike Piazza was a nobody. He was drafted in 1988,and only as a personal favor to his father from his godfather, L.A. Dodgers legend Tommy Lasorda. He was the 1,390th pick out of 1,395 prospects. That’s close to Mr. Irrelevant status. Clearly, not much was […]
There is no official word yet, so you can’t take this as gospel, but Duke Wire says it looks like John Blackwell will not be staying in the NBA draft, and the other articles linked at the bottom tend to agree. That said, it’s his choice, and like DJ Steward, he might not make the […]
The Western Conference Finals started with a bang Monday night as the San Antonio Spurs took out the Oklahoma City Thunder, 122-115 in double overtime. Mason Plumlee did not get off the bench again, but he’s 36 now and his role is limited: he’s a reliable big man for spot duty as needed. His career […]
We’ve been thinking about jersey numbers for a while, partly because when you think back to, say Alex O’Connell, or Martyna Pocius…do you remember the jersey number? Some yes, some no. But we also thought it would be interesting to write it down and see who wore what, and to see what numbers are most […]
Every college arena has its traditions. Kansas has “Rock Chalk…Jayhawk…KU…” which is spooky and effective. Indiana plays the William Tell Overture during a timeout, which really is pretty cool. At Taylor University, the students stay quiet until their team scores its 10th point, then the place erupts. We think NC State still has Everett Case’s […]
With Cleveland’s 125-94 beat-down of Detroit Sunday night, the NBA Eastern and Western Conference Finals are set, and three of the four teams are represented by Duke’s Brotherhood: Cleveland has Tyrese Proctor, San Antonio has Mason Plumlee, and Oklahoma City has Jared McCain. In other words, if New York falls to Cleveland, a Duke guy […]
We’ll admit a bias up front: we’ve never much liked Fran McCaffrey. A Philly product, McCaffrey started at Wake Forest, where he brought the nickname “White Magic.” He lasted one year at Wake; McCaffrey transferred back home and finished at Penn. He went into coaching after his playing days ended, and somehow kept his job […]
When Duke got a commitment from Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje in April, it seemed to come together very fast. And while, as we understand, he’s a Floridian, he’s been playing in Spain, so he’s really been off the U.S. recruiting radar to an extent. But the game is global now, and when you add YouTube and […]