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
2011-12 Duke Blue Devils Player Spotlight: Marshall Plumlee
Image Courtesy of DukeBluePlanet.com
The third son of Perky and Leslie Plumlee, Marshall Plumlee has lived in his brothers’ giant footsteps for all of his life. When Perky made the decision to send his two oldest sons, Mason and Miles to Christ School in Arden, NC, Marshall stayed behind with his parents in Warsaw, Indiana as a grade schooler. At the time, Miles was a 6’7″ high school junior while Mason was the same height, only one grade younger. While they were both making waves on the AAU circuit with Indiana Elite One, the two brothers had trouble getting playing time on Doug Ogle’s Warsaw High School team. So in order for his sons to get more playing time and to give them the ability to grow more quickly off the court, Perky made the decision to ship his sons to the mountains of North Carolina.
When this happened, both sons were required to sit out a year, which allowed them to grow even more off the court and on. Marshall was not afforded this luxury. That extra year let Mason grow into his 6’10″ frame and Miles to blossom into one of the best athletes the school had ever seen. His senior year, Miles posted a school high jump record of 6’9″ besting his brother’s personal high by one inch. Read more
Miles Plumlee and Ryan Kelly Named Captains
Duke Basketball announced today that Ryan Kelly and Miles Plumlee were voted by both their teammates and coaches as captains of the 2011-12 team. Miles, the lone senior on the team, and Ryan, one of four juniors, will be anchors of a deep front line featuring four players over 6’10″ tall.
Captains lead in different ways, as we saw with Kyle Singler (by example) and Nolan Smith (vocally) last season. Ryan has spent the last three summers on campus working to transform his body and has shown a strong work ethic since stepping foot on campus.
“It’s a huge honor to be voted to this position by my teammates and the coaching staff,” Kelly said. “It’s something I aspired to be when I came to Duke. I’m going to use it to help my team and do whatever I can to lead. We’re obviously going to ask for leadership from all the players on the team, but I look to be somebody who all of my teammates can look to and say ‘He’s always playing his hardest, and we can always count on him.’”
Miles took some time this summer to work as an intern on Wall Street but has clearly dedicated himself in his final season on the Gothic Campus. Read more
2011-12 Duke Blue Devils Player Spotlight: Andre Dawkins
Duke Blue Devils Player Spotlight returns with a look at junior sharpshooter, Andre Dawkins. As I continue Player Spotlight with it’s 3rd installment, I preview on what I feel could be a very special season for Dawkins. Read more
2011-12 Duke Blue Devils Player Spotlight: Miles Plumlee
For the 2nd installment of Player Spotlight, I spotlight senior forward Miles Plumlee. In this preview, I explain how an improvement in Plumlee’s rebounding is pivotal for a Championship run. Read more
2011-12 Duke Blue Devils Player Spotlight: Ryan Kelly
For the coming weeks at DukeHoopBlog.com, I’m going to preview each player on the 2011-12 Duke roster. These previews will be very basic, as I list my expectations for each player in the coming season. These previews will be put out weekly, possibly 2-3 players a week to get YOU, the fan, prepared for the 2011-12 season. For my first installment I’m going to preview junior forward Ryan Kelly
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What’s Next For #1?
As the final seconds ticked down in the 2011 Sweet Sixteen game between Duke and Arizona, so they did in the season of this year’s Duke Blue Devils. Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith’s illustrious 4 year college careers came to an abrupt end. But what many will wonder for the coming weeks, is the college career for freshman phenom Kyrie Irving over as well? Read more
