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In 1986, Mike Krzyzewski took Duke to the Final Four for the first time since the 1978 team got there. Naturally, the immediate question after the championship game, which Duke narrowly lost to Louisville, was whether Duke was a flash in the pan. Was this a one-time thing, like it turned out to be for […]
about 1 month ago | 3 reads
When Duke signed Darian Mensah to a two-year, eight million dollar contract, it was seen as sort of a step into a Brave New World. Now that he’s entered the portal, despite signing a two-year contract with Duke, the university is again going first but in a very different way: Duke has filed suit against […]
about 1 month ago | 3 reads
By this time in the season a few things are becoming clear. “In January, that’s when you start to know which type of team you are,” said Duke freshman Dame Sarr, 19, with wisdom that belies his years. You learn which teams are able to successfully take their show on the road. Which teams have […]
about 1 month ago | 2 reads
Cooper Flagg is back from a minor ankle issue and in his Garden debut, he picked up where he left off, finishing with 18 points, 7 rebounds 3 assists and 1 steal. Basically, he was back to doing Cooper Flagg things. As for the Knicks, things are not going well. This was a team that […]
about 1 month ago | 2 reads
In Tuesday’s ACC Action, NC State treks down to Clemson, Florida State is off to Miami and SMU visits Wake Forest. We started to say that Will Wade was making his first trip to Clemson, but of course he went to school there and started his coaching career there as well. It’s not like he’s […]
about 1 month ago | 1 read
Duke has had some brilliant defenders over the decades. If you go back to the 1960’s, Jeff Mullins and Steve Vacendak were both very, very tough defenders. In the Foster years, Mike Gminski was terrific around the basket. It was very difficult to score inside on Duke in the late 1970’s. In the Krzyzewski era, […]
about 1 month ago | 1 read
Remember when Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski announced his retirement a year ahead of time? There were a lot of fans around the ACC who thought he wanted a farewell tour. That was always ridiculous. This isn’t the guy who called timeouts on the road in the ACC just so his players could see the other team’s […]
about 1 month ago | 4 reads
When Mike Krzyzewski took the Duke job, it took him a little while to figure out how to recruit here. At first he swung for the fences and cast a wide net, most of whom he missed on. One of those was Chris Mullin, who chose St. John’s after a tremendous high school career first […]
about 1 month ago | 6 reads
Duke hammered the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 93-46 Sunday, and extended their winning streak to 10. One of the defining characteristics of Kara Lawson’s Duke program is a rugged defense and that was in play here: Duke forced 15 turnovers and held Georgia Tech to 3-15 on three point attempts (20%) and 16-58 overall (28%). […]
about 1 month ago | 6 reads
We’re back with another DBR Bites as we continue to discuss the ramifications of Darian Mensah entering the transfer portal at the 11th hour, leaving Duke having to answer a ton of questions about who will be their starting quarterback next season. Donald is joined by Scott Rich to have a more in depth discussion, […]
about 1 month ago | 10 reads
The Duke Blue Devils demolished the Stanford Cardinal 80-50 on Saturday evening. Donald and Scott Rich return to recap everything on Episode 788. Duke got it done by dominating the paint and with suffocating defense. We go through all the things that the Blue Devils did well to smother Stanford. They took Ebuka Okorie out […]
about 1 month ago | 1 read
In Saturday’s ACC Action, Virginia slipped by SMU 72-68, Louisville hammered Pitt 100-59, Clemson dispatched Miami 69-59, Virginia Tech took down Notre Dame 89-76, Georgia Tech surprised NC State 78-74, BC knocked off Syracuse in overtime 81-73 and Wake Forest survived Florida State 69-68. Oh, and Cal slapped UNC around for most of the game […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads
A while back, probably in 2009 if memory serves, we got a tour of Duke’s practice facility. It was really nice in so many ways, highly impressive. When we got to the court, there was a guy putting up shots we didn’t recognize at first, but it was Kyle Singler. He was radically thinner than […]
about 2 months ago | 3 reads
Red Auerbach put together a phenomenal dynasty in Boston, starting in 1956 when he schemed and maneuvered to land Bill Russell. But Russell, as great as he was, couldn’t win titles on his own, and so Auerbach put pieces around him to keep his team winning. Bill Sharman and Bob Cousy were already there, but […]
about 2 months ago | 1 read
You know those slow starts we’ve seen from Duke this season? Didn’t happen at Stanford as Duke started hot and won, 80-50. Duke’s size and talent presented huge problems for the Cardinal, especially in the first half. Dame Sarr threw a blanket over precocious freshman Ebuka Okorie, limiting him to 7 points before the break. […]
about 2 months ago | 3 reads
In Saturday’s ACC Action, Virginia visits SMU, Notre Dame and Virginia Tech tangle, Georgia Tech drops in on the Wolfpack, Syracuse and BC play in Beantown, Miami jets up to Clemson, Wake Forest plays Florida State, Louisville stops off at the Zoo and Duke and UNC wrap up the Bay trip with Stanford and Cal […]
about 2 months ago | 3 reads
In retrospect, a lot of ‘6o’s music was just a waste of time. Not the great ones – the Beatles, Dylan, the Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Motown, the Band – those have stood the test of time. But some of it was just dreadful. Mostly it was the cheesier pop music or the psychedelic stuff […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads
What a gut punch! With just hours before the window closed, Duke quarterback Darian Mensah has decided to enter the transfer portal, and in all likelihood will be headed to play for Miami. It’s a short emergency DBR Bites #135 as Donald flies solo to discuss it for a few minutes. Of course, Donald has […]
about 2 months ago | 2 reads
After saying he planned to return, Duke quarterback Darian Mensah changed his mind at the last moment and has entered the transfer portal. This is despite signing a two-year contract with the Blue Devils. Not that it would necessarily be a good idea, but now that we’re in the business era of football, a contract […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads
Date 1/17 || Time 6:00 || Venue Maples Pavilion || Video ACCN If you haven’t been paying attention, Stanford’s win over UNC came as a big surprise. If you have been paying attention, you probably know that Ebuka Okorie, at a minimum, is the second-best freshman in the ACC this season. Okorie continues a recent […]
about 2 months ago | 2 reads
The Duke Blue Devils remain in the Bay Area on their West Coast road trip, and a date looms tomorrow against the Stanford Cardinal. Donald and Scott Rich preview the upcoming game on DBR Bites #134. Stanford is doing well this season, and they are coming off an upset win on Wednesday night against UNC. […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads
Someone posted an article over the summer – no idea who or where at this point, sorry – and made an interesting argument: once you’re on the hot seat, it’s really hard to get off of it. Take Tom Crean. He was highly successful at Marquette before moving to Indiana. At IU, he had some […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads
Duke fans learned a lot of the Kon Knueppel story well before the rest of the country did. Grew up in Milwaukee in a basketball family, initially preferred gaming to hoops and learned to play in his father’s men’s league. Coming from a basketball family is part of the Duke profile. You don’t have to […]
about 2 months ago | 3 reads
Kara Lawson’s Duke team is on an almighty heater right now. In the beginning of the season, her Blue Devils struggled and at one point lost four straight, culminating with a 93-77 loss to LSU on December 4th. They haven’t lost since. The win streak stretched to nine Thursday with a 65-58 win over Virginia. […]
about 2 months ago | 3 reads
The Duke Blue Devils got another win on the road, taking out the Cal Golden Bears in ACC After Dark action. Donald and Scott Rich recap everything on Episode 787. The Blue Devils had another slow start, but they were able to work hard defensively to stifle the Bears. And, they were able to control […]
about 2 months ago | 1 read