Austin Rivers Has Been On A Tear Lately
The most highly coveted guard in the Class of 2011 committed to Duke on September 30th of 2010. Since that day, he has received immense media attention (both good and bad) and has shown himself to be one of college basketball’s most polarizing players. Playing for Duke, this does not surprise.
While both the media and Duke’s own fanbase have been critical of Austin’s play, he has been impressive in his first year out of high school. Rivers started out the year scoring in double figures in 11 of his first 12 games, averaging 16 points and 2.25 assists a game. He sported a 53.3% Effective Field Goal Percentage during this time.
However, starting with the Pennsylvania game on the first day of 2012, Austin hit somewhat of a cold streak, only averaging 8.6 points a game. His eFG% in these 5 games was 40%, 13.3 points below his opening 12-game number. His critics grew louder and felt justified that Rivers’ tendency to look for his shot-first was hurting Duke’s offense. Even Coach Mike Krzyzewski expressed his displeasure when he had Rivers come off the bench for the first time in years in Duke’s game against Wake Forest.
Rivers told the media that he was pissed, threw tantrums, and reached out to his family to try and find some sort of rationalization for Coach K’s unexpected move. I’m guessing here, but Doc Rivers likely imparted Austin with a coach’s mentality that Krzyzewski was simply trying to motivate the youngster into realizing the immense talent that he possesses.
Like most of the button-pushing methods that Coach K utilizes (he benched Elton Brand in 1999 when he won National Player of the Year), the strategy worked.
Rivers used 14 second-half points to total 20 in that Wake Forest game and has averaged over 18 points in the 7 games since, becoming much more efficient as a shooter with a 58% eFG rate.
Rivers’ scoring, offensive rating, and both effective and true shooting percentages have been on an upward trend since his benching and he is clearly rounding into the player that many, including he, believed he would be in college. Read more
The Steadying Hand of Seth Curry
Duke Basketball had a lot to replace coming into this year but most of all they needed an on-court leader. With Miles Plumlee as the lone senior and four juniors right behind him, the 2012 version of the Duke Blue Devils started off the season with a lot of indians but no chiefs.
Last year Duke was a predominantly underclassmen team and all those guys looked up to senior captains Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler. Those two were responsible for 46% of Duke’s points, 33% of the rebounds, and 47% of the team’s assists. Off the court and in the locker room though was where the two made their biggest impact. Often hosting their teammates for team meals and chauffeuring the youngsters around Duke’s spreadout campus.
While Smith was more of a vocal leader, as evidenced by his many stints in @dukeblueplanet videos, Kyle Singler assumed more of a lead by example role.
When Duke announced their two captains for this season on September 20th, I immediately thought “Seth Curry and who else?” I was surprised to learn that he had not been included but realize now that it was likely a motivational tactic by Coach K as a little over a month later, Seth would join them as third captain.
Krzyzewski has had high hopes for Seth for some time now, stating two months ago that
“Seth’s good,” Krzyzewski said Wednesday while meeting with reporters at Cameron Indoor Stadium. “He’s just really good. I think he’ll be one of the better point guards in the country, especially if he learns to be a leader and not just a scorer. I think he can do that.”
As usual, the man with 906 wins on his record was right. Read more
2011-12 Duke Blue Devils Player Spotlight: Quinn Cook
Nolan Derek Smith will go down as one of the greatest players to ever where a Duke jersey. The legacy Smith left during his four year career on and off the court at Duke will be extremely beneficial for young basketball players and students around the country. The impact, though, that Smith has left on the life of incoming Duke freshman, Quinn Cook, is a story that everyone needs to know about.
Smith and Cook share a bond that has made the two acknowledge one another as God brothers. The two men’s lives on the basketball court and off mirror each other.
Cook’s commitment to Duke follows neatly in line with Smith and his career. They both hail from from the DMV(DC, Maryland, Virginia) area, ran with the same traveling team (D.C. Assault), finished out their high school careers at the same school (Oak Hill in Mouth of Wilson, Va.), eventually attended the same college and both lost their fathers too early in their lives. Read more
2011-12 Duke Blue Devils Player Spotlight: Austin Rivers
On September 30th, 2010, Duke received their biggest committment for their 2011 class in the form of Austin Rivers. Ranked either #1 or #2 nationally by the three major recruiting services (Rivals, ESPNU, and Scout), the son of Boston Celtics head coach, Doc Rivers, brings an uncanny scoring ability as well as a misconception of cockiness that has already made him one of the most hated Duke players by opposing fans. Mind you, the regular season hasn’t even started yet for Duke.
Why the hate? The accolades. The swagger. The relentlessness on the offensive end. At 6’4, Rivers has one of the most lethal offensive games, I can remember seeing at the high school level. His jab step is a thing of beauty and perfection. Whether it’s getting to the rim at will, or he’s raining three’s from NBA range on the floor, he’s virtually unstoppable to a defender. When his game is on, he’s a stone cold killer!
Rivers comes into Duke as arguably one of the most well decorated talents that the state of Florida has seen. Playing all four years of his high school career at Winter Park Academy, Rivers amassed achievement after achievement.
2011-12 Duke Blue Devils Player Spotlight: Mason Plumlee
The “P” word. Everyone is full of it. But what truly separates the men from the boys is taking that word and making it a reality. That time is now for Mason Plumlee. From the second the middle brother of Perky and Lisa stepped on to the practice court in Cameron Indoor Stadium, people — knowledgeable basketball people — have had high expectations for him.
His freshman year didn’t start out quite like anyone thought. In practice, Mason suffered a fractured left wrist and would missed valuable practice time as he was trying to adjust to the college game. After averaging 12 points and rebounds in two exhibition games, he would go on to miss the first six games of the season. His next game would be Duke’s first loss of his career, a four point loss to Wisconsin in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
He would play 10 minutes and go 0-1 from the field, committing three more fouls than he did score points. This was understandable as it was his first game against real college competition in a hostile environment but he would put up six more goose eggs throughout the 2010 season. Admittedly, some of this was due to an offense geared around the “big three” of Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith, and Jon Scheyer who would shoot 679 out of 1044 shots. Yet Mason was not able to impact the game the way that people expected him to. Read more
2011-12 Duke Blue Devils Player Spotlight: Seth Curry
Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images North America
After December 4th, 2010 the Duke Basketball team that had looked like a well-oiled machine up until that point suddenly veered off course. For eight months, the Duke coaching staff had carefully crafted an entirely new offense built around the talents of freshman point guard Kyrie Irving. The tempo was faster, the ball was getting into the lane with frequency, guys were getting the ball in position to score and not having to create their own shots. And then the wheels fell off.
All of that scheming and recreation and plans went the way of the student section in Wallace Wade come November.
The team needed a rudder. Someone who could take control of the ball and provide a steadying hand like Jon Scheyer did during the title run of 2010. On December 4th nobody knew when Kyrie was coming back. Nobody knew if he would be out for an extended period of time. All they knew was that Duke had a game in Cameron 4 days later against Bradley and that there was some serious regrouping to be done.
Nolan Smith took over primary ball-handling duties that night, putting Andre Dawkins in position to hit eight three pointers to lead Duke with 28 points. But Nolan struggled on offense in his new role. While the senior guard dished out 10 assists, he went 0-8 from the field and scored only 2 points. Change was needed again. Read more
2011-12 Duke Blue Devils Player Spotlight: Alex Murphy
Image Courtesy of courier-journal.com
The early signing period started for the Class of 2012 college basketball recruits started Wednesday. For Duke freshman Alex Murphy this was to be the culmination of his prep career, likely culminating in him signing his letter of intent during his 5th year of high school with his parents and coaches on hand to celebrate all of his hard work in getting to that point.
However, on April19th of this year Murphy sat down with his parents and decided the four years that he had competed at the high school level were enough and that he was ready to take his game to the college level. Alex just turned 18 on June 3rd, somewhat young these days for a freshman college basketball player, but his game is mature.
The son of Jay Murphy, who played four seasons in the NBA in the mid-to late 1980s, and the brother of Florida senior Erik Murphy, Alex comes from a very athletic family. Even his mother, Paivu, played professionally in Europe and was a member of the Finnish National Team from 1988-1994. At 6’8″, Murphy is the prototypical wing forward in college and his game has drawn comparisons to the last player to have worn his number 12, Kyle Singler. Read more
2011-12 Duke Blue Devils Player Spotlight: Tyler Thornton
Image Courtesy of GoDuke.com
Last season was expected to be a year where Tyler could get adjusted to the speed of the college game, get his body physically ready, and harass the hell out of his backcourt, classmate and fellow trio member Kyrie Irving everyday in practice. Then everything went crazy after The Toe happened.
During the early season, when games were easily in hand by the end of the first half Tyler played sparingly. This is supposed to be the time when those players who will be underutilized get game action, but Duke was trying to install a brand new offense. Switching from the precise 2010 offense led by Jon Scheyer to the less precise but even more dangerous one led by Kyrie Irving was going to take some work and time so Tyler simply didn’t have much opportunity to get on the court. As the games got tougher, Tyler would play even less (0,2,4,0, and 1 through the Butler game.) But once Kyrie went out, Tyler was called upon in a big way. Read more
2011-12 Duke Blue Devils Player Spotlight: Michael Gbinije
Who remembers the 32 point drubbing that Duke handed our arch rivals, North Carolina back in March of 2010? Ok, so EVERYONE does. Incoming Duke freshman Michael Gbinije may remember it more vividly than anybody. Gbinije was one of the 9,314 in attendance that night and came away so impressed that exactly 5 days later on March 11th, 2010, he gave his verbal committment to the Blue Devils, making him the 1st commit for the Duke’s 2011 class.
The talented swing man enters his freshman season at Duke as ESPNU’s 28th rated player in the class of 2010. He is a 6’7 ultra athletic SF out of Chester, VA. After his verbal to Duke, Gbinije focused solely on his game during his senior year at Benedictine High School. Averaging 25 ppg, 10 rpg, with 5 apg, he led Benedictine to a 26-5 record and a Division 1 VISAA State Championship. He went on to be named the Division 1 VISAA State Finals Most Valuable Player.
While his athleticism is the first thing to stand out when you watch him, he is also an exceptional scorer and most importantly a terrific defender with great length. Gbinije is a good position defender and fits in nicely when on the court. He is not a power guy but he is an effective rebounder when he does hit the boards and is comfortable in transition. Read more
2011-12 Duke Blue Devils Player Spotlight: Josh Hairston
How can you not love Josh Hairston? He is the epitome of a great teammate. Entering Duke in his freshman season, Hairston had the job of backing up the likes of Kyle Singler, the brothers Plumlee and Ryan Kelly. When you find yourself in that sort of role, unless something catastrophic happens, you will more than likely be an emotional, vocal leader on the bench while playing sparingly in late stages of a blowout victory. One can take that in one of two ways — 1. Transfer or 2. Accept your role, while continuing to work your ass off both in practice and in mop up minutes. While Hairston didn’t quite log the minutes of a main contributor last season (6.1 mpg), he definitely accepted the role of an ultimate team player.
With his freshman year behind him, Hairston enters year #2 at Duke with higher expectations in the frontcourt. Alongside the Plumlees and Ryan Kelly, Hairston will provide Duke with great depth off the bench. Adding 25 pounds of muscle to weighing in around 235 lbs. Hairston can come in and be able to hold his own in the post. As a high energy player with a tremendous motor, he will play as hard as anyone on this Duke team at any point during a game. His all out hustle and overall game rivals former Duke alum and National Champion, Lance Thomas, only Hairston’s offense is more polished than Thomas’ was during his sophomore year in 2008.
As the 2011-12 season is upon us, Read more
