The Last Tweets of the 2012 Duke Basketball Team
2010 will forever be remembered fondly in the hearts of Duke Basketball fans. What was supposed to be a ear in waiting for the arrival of once-in-a-decade point guard Kyrie Irving turned into a magical and improbable run at the national championship.
But it was also the year that Duke Basketball came out of its shell so to speak. Riding the effervescent personality of Nolan “The People’s Champ” Smith, the entire program embraced social media like no other school was at the time. Through ustream chats, twitter Q&As, and the innovative videos of DukeBluePlanet.com fans felt like they were part of the team.
Duke Hoop took us inside the daily lives of the players, DBP Cribs showed us their dorm rooms, and Dave Bradley teamed with Kyle Singler to create two viral videos in the BUCKETS series.
That relationship between the players and their fans continued into the 2012 season, as we followed the team on their trips to China and Dubai.
However, after a game with St. John’s on January 28th where the team almost blew a late lead, the players decided to self-impose a ban on the social media network in order to focus their attention inwards for the rest of the season. We’ll never know how the season would have turned out if they hadn’t made this mature decision. Here’s their last tweets.
Morning world hope all is well! Thanking God for this day.
— Austin Rivers (@AustinRivers25) January 29, 2012
#DWB game tonight vs UConn Cameron bout to be too live tonight.
— Tyler Thornton (@tythornton3) January 30, 2012
forget the NBA finals, i’m looking forward to the eastern conference finals
— mason plumlee (@masonplumlee) January 29, 2012
@sydelcurry play me
— Seth Curry (@sdotcurry) January 30, 2012
“@M0RGANfree: Car issues.. Grrrrr ????” *drake voice* lol
— Andre Dawkins (@dre_day20) January 27, 2012
Ryan Kelly unlikely to play Friday vs Lehigh
Duke Basketball had their first open practice session of the NCAA Tournament earlier today and beforehand, Coach Mike Krzyzewski and various players met with the media.
Among the questions asked were those wondering about the health of Ryan Kelly. According to Coach K’s comments, it’s looking unlikely that the junior forward will be able to suit up for many, if any, minutes tomorrow evening.
Krzyzewski says Kelly has made “steady progress” but that “it’s not good enough to where I would have confidence in putting him in a game. Maybe to shoot a free throw, or a possession or two in an end-of-game situation.”
Andrew Jones, veteran ACC reporter for Fox Sports, had an even more grim outlook.
Just watched Duke’s practice and there is no way Ryan Kelly plays this weekend. I wonder how much he’ll go next weekend.— Andrew Jones (@AJonesFoxSports) March 15, 2012
However, Duke has shown the ability to adapt recently, last season with Kyrie Irving’s injury and return and this offseason replacing Irving, Nolan Smith, and Kyle Singler yet still having the country’s 8th most efficient offense. Mason Plumlee told Shawn Krest of @CBSSportsDuke
“We’re a lot further ahead than we were at the ACC tournament, a lot more fluid. We had a good week. We’ll be a lot more fun team to watch than we were last week.”
The Blue Devils should be able to get by Lehigh but the deeper they get into the tournament, the more they will need Kelly.
image courtesy of DukeBluePlanet on WhoSay.com
NCAA Tournament Second Round – Duke vs. Lehigh: By The Numbers
By Chad Lykins — Following a disappointing outing in the ACC Tournament, the Duke Blue Devils (27-6, 13-3 ACC) we’re made a #2-seed in the NCAA South Region for the NCAA Tournament. Their second round oppoent will be the #15-seed Lehigh Mountain Hawks (26-7, 11-3 Patriot), the Patriot League Champions. The Blue Devils enter the second round matchup ranked #8 in both polls (AP Poll, ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll) nationally, while Lehigh is unranked in either poll. The Blue Devils and Mountain Hawks have met four times all-time with Duke winning all four games. Their last meeting was back in the 1996-97 season which saw the Blue Devils victorious. Under Coach Mike Krzyzewski, Duke is 2-0 against Lehigh. Coach Krzyzewski, winner of 927 games, won his very first collegiate game against Lehigh back in 1975 as the head coach of West Point. Duke and Lehigh will meet on Friday night inside the Greensboro Coliseum at approximately 7:15 PM ET. The game will be televised on CBS, with Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg on the call.
Duke in the NCAA Tournament
• Duke is 96-31 (.756) all-time in the NCAA Tournament, the highest NCAA Tournament winning percentage of any program. Duke’s 96 wins are the third most behind Kentucky (105) and North Carolina (105).
• Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski is the NCAA’s all-time winningest coach in the NCAA Tournament with a 79-23 (.775) record.
• For the 14th time in the last 16 years, Duke received a top-eight national NCAA seed. As a No. 1 or No. 2 seed, Duke is a combined 68-16 (.810) with four NCAA Championships.
• As the No. 2 seed in the tournament, Duke owns a 23-7 record. Duke won the 1991 NCAA Championship as the No. 2 seed.
• Duke is 12-0 when playing NCAA Tournament games in Greensboro, N.C., and 32-4 when playing in North Carolina. Duke has won 16 consecutive NCAA Tournament games in North Carolina and won its 1992 and 2001 NCAA Championships after playing its first two games in Greensboro.
Numbers Game
• Lehigh will be the 11th team Duke has faced this season that won its conference championship or its regular season division title. Duke is 8-2 in those games.
• Duke, Michigan State and North Carolina are the only teams in the NCAA to rank in the top 10 in RPI, Strength of Schedule, the AP and ESPN/USA Today Coaches polls.
• Duke is 4-0 all-time against Lehigh with the last meeting coming on Dec. 2, 1996, a 103-51 Duke win. Duke is 2-0 versus Lehigh under Coach K.
• Duke has been ranked in the top 10 of the AP Poll for 93 consecutive weeks. The last time Duke was not ranked in the top 10 was on Nov. 19, 2007.
• Duke has not lost back-to-back games since February of 2009. The Blue Devils are 15-0 following a loss in that span (does not include season-ending loss in 2010-11). Read more
Ryan Kelly still recovering — and Duke needs him back
On April 6th, 2011 Kyrie Irving made one of the most unsurprising declarations for the NBA Draft of any Duke Basketball underclassman this century. He was selected #1 overall and took his 17.5 points per game with him. Nobody blamed him for leaving, but I’m not sure many people realized how many points per game were leaving with he, Nolan Smith, and Kyle Singler last Spring.
Duke averaged 80.9 points per game last season. The three players who left averaged 55. That Kyrie only played 11 of 37 games means that there were a number of points available for other players that they likely wouldn’t have gotten yet the 2012 Blue Devils’ returning leading scorer, Seth Curry, only averaged 9 points a game one year ago.
What the Duke coaching staff has done this year on the offensive end is really remarkable. The scoring average only dropped by 2.2 points per game, even after replacing 68% of their scoring output from last season. Duke has four players averaging in double figures, led by Austin Rivers at 15.3 points per game. Most importantly, SIX different players have been the leading scorer in the team’s 32 games.
While last year was dominated by Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler, 2012 has been a year of balance for the Blue Devils. However, that balance was disrupted one week ago today when forward Ryan Kelly (Duke’s leading scorer in 5 games) sprained his right foot in practice.
Without Kelly in the offense, spreading the floor with his 40% perimeter shooting, Duke’s offense averaged 19 points below its season average. 19 POINTS.
Duke’s offensive efficiency (normally 112.6%) was at 101.7% in Duke’s first game without the junior forward against Virginia Tech and 93.7% against Florida State in their next. Sure, you say, Florida State is a really good defensive team. I agree. But even in the game Duke lost to Florida State earlier in the season Duke’s offensive efficiency was 109. That 101.7% mark was Duke’s 5th lowest of the season, and the 93.7% was the lowest by three percentage points. The next lowest was 96.9% @ Ohio State, a game in which Kelly scored zero points on two shots.
It’s clear that Duke needs Kelly in order for the offense to be in sync. According to this report from the Durham Herald-Sun last night, he still has not been cleared to practice. Like they did in the offseason, thDuke may just have to replace a big piece of their offensive production.
Duke opens NCAA Tournament at 7:15 PM Friday in Greensboro vs Lehigh
Hello friends,
Turner Sports has released the game times, announcers and channel listings of the NCAA Tournament Games. We all know that Duke opens play on Friday, March 16th but we didn’t know the time until now.
Duke opens the night session of games at Greensboro Coliseum at 7:15 PM on CBS. Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg and Tracy Wolfson will be in your ears.
In this area on Time Warner, CBS is on 3 (Broadcast cable), 105 (Basic cable — What’s the point of this by the way?), 1105 (HD). On DirecTv the game will be on 5 and on Dish Network you can find CBS on channel 6466.
| Time Warner | 3, 1105(HD) |
| DirecTV | 5 |
| Dish | 6466 |
As always, you can catch Bob Harris and John Roth on the Blue Devil IMG Sports Network radio broadcasts locally on 620 AM or check the listings for your stations.
You can catch all the tournament games online at NCAA.com/MarchMadness for free as long as you pay for the channel that you’re watching through your local cable provider.
ACC Tournament Semi-Finals – Duke vs. Florida State: By The Numbers
By Chad Lykins — After their quarter-final victory over the Virginia Tech Hokies, the Duke Blue Devils (27-5, 13-3) will meet the Florida State Seminoles (22-9, 12-4) for the third time this season, in the semi-finals of the ACC Tournament. Both teams split during the regular season as Florida State defeated Duke in Cameron, 76-73, thanks to a Michael Snaer buzzer-beating three back on January 21st, while Duke defeated the Seminoles, 74-66, in Tallahassee on February 23rd. The Seminoles advanced to the semi-finals with a victory over the Miami Hurricanes, that never seemed in doubt Friday night. Both teams come into today’s game ranked in the top-25 of both polls (AP Poll and ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll) as Duke is ranked #6 in the country, while Florida State is ranked #17. The Blue Devils will look to get back to the ACC Tournament Championship game for an opportunity to win their 11th tournament championship out of the last 14 seasons with a victory today. Today’s game will be broadcasted live on ESPN and the ACC Network with the tip-off set for 3:00 PM ET.
Duke in the ACC Tournament
• Duke has won three consecutive ACC Tournaments and 10 of the last 13 tournaments. Duke has won more ACC Tournaments (19) than any other ACC program.
• The Blue Devils are 91-39 (.700) all-time in the ACC Tournament, including a 53-17 (.757) record under head coach Mike Krzyzewski. Duke’s 91 victories are the most in ACC history.
• Coach K’s 13 ACC Tournament Championships are tied for the most in ACC history. His 53 wins are the second most in ACC Tournament history.
• Duke has won 10 straight ACC Tournament games and is 36-4 in the tournament since 1998.
• Duke is 10-3 when the tournament is held in Atlanta, Ga. Duke has won the last two tournaments held in Atlanta (2001 & 2009).
• Nine of the last 13 ACC Tournament MVPs have been Blue Devils.
Numbers Game
• Duke is playing in the ACC Tournament as one of the top two seeds for the 31st time in the league’s 54-year history. The Blue Devils are a combined 64-17 (.790) when seeded No. 1 or No. 2 in the tournament and have won 13 of their 19 ACC Championships when seeded No. 1 or No. 2.
• The Blue Devils have won 10 consecutive ACC Tournament games for the second longest streak in league history. Duke also owns the longest streak with 17 straight victories from 1999-2004.
• Duke has advanced to the ACC Semifinals in 13 of the last 14 seasons and is 12-1 in those games.
• Duke has won 16 games by 10 points or less this season, including the 60-56 ACC Quarterfinal win over Virginia Tech on Friday. The 16 wins are the second most in school history. Duke has won seven games by six points or less.
• Duke has been ranked in the top 10 of the AP Poll for 92 straight weeks, tied for the second-longest streak in NCAA history. Duke’s 95 consecutive weeks ranked in the AP Top-25 is the longest active streak in the NCAA.
• Duke has eight wins over teams that went on to win or share the regular season conference title in their respective conferences, including wins over power conference champions North Carolina (ACC), Kansas (Big 12), Michigan State and Michigan (Big Ten) and Washington (Pac-12). Duke has played 11 games against teams that won their conference this season.
• Duke, Michigan State and North Carolina are the only teams in the NCAA to rank in the top 10 in RPI, Strength of Schedule, the AP and ESPN/USA Today Coaches polls.
Duke Player Statistics
• Seth Curry is Duke’s active leading scorer in ACC Tournament play, averaging 10.3 ppg. in four ACC Tournament games. Curry scored in double figures in all three games in 2011 and scored nine in Duke’s 2012 opener versus Virginia Tech.
• Austin Rivers was named ACC Rookie of the Year and All-ACC first team, becoming only the seventh freshman in ACC history to earn All-ACC first team honors.
• Rivers ranks in the top 10 on Duke’s freshman record lists in points (6th – 491), scoring average (T-3rd – 15.3), field goals (T-6th – 164), field goal attempts (5th – 374), three-point field goals (5th – 55), three-point attempts (5th – 147), three-point percentage (8th – .374), free throws (5th – 108), free throw attempts (1st – 167), minutes per game (8th – 33.2), double-figure scoring games (4th – 28) and 20-point games (T-5th – 8).
• Rivers has scored in double figures in 15 consecutive games. Rivers’ 28 double-figure scoring games are tied for the third most by an NCAA freshman this year. Read more
Andre Dawkins, I’m calling you out
By Chad Lykins — Andre Dawkins, I’m calling you out. I’m calling you out because you have successfully managed to prove me wrong. At the beginning of the season, I pegged YOU as leading the Duke Blue Devils in scoring. Being a stone-cold assassin from one game to the next. I predicted that you would be an offensive weapon, that could not be guarded nor contained. And while you have definitely shown glimpses of that, you have also shown more than your share of lapses.
As the Blue Devils prepare to meet the Florida State Seminoles in Saturday’s ACC Tournament semi-final matchup, I only find myself wondering about which Andre Dawkins shows up. To break it down for the readers, there are two different types of expectations:
• 1. Offensive machine
• 2. Invisible
Let’s dig a little deeper into this and take a statistical look from just this season. Whenever Dawkins has scored in double digits for Duke, the Blue Devils are 12-1 on the year, with the lone loss coming to Florida State on a buzzer beating three from Seminole, Michael Snaer. In those 13 games, Dawkins is 69-of-130 (.531) from the field and 50-of-100 (.500) from three. Obviously when Dawkins is on point, Duke is clearly a difficult team to defeat. As I’ve said, he is the most important component to the success for Duke this season. Of his 90 made field goals, 66 of those have came from behind the arc. That’s 73% of his FG makes that have been from three. Now, on the contrary, Dawkins has gone scoreless this season 5 different times. In those 5 games, Duke is 2-3 with BOTH wins coming against Virginia Tech, including the most recent win Friday night. Another key statistic, in the past 4 games Duke has played, Dawkins has only totaled 3 points. Those 3 points came in just ONE game (vs. Wake Forest)! So, in the past 2 weeks of play, Dawkins has made only 1 field goal. Read more
ACC Tournament – Duke vs. Clemson/Virginia Tech: By The Numbers
By Chad Lykins — Postseason play is here as the 59th ACC Tournament begins on Thursday afternoon from Atlanta, Georgia. The Duke Blue Devils (26-5, 13-3) enter the tournament as the 2-seed as they will meet the winner of the Clemson Tigers (16-14, 8-8) and Virginia Tech Hokies (15-16, 4-12) on Friday evening. The Blue Devils are coming into tournament play off of a one-sided loss to rival North Carolina on Saturday for the regular season ACC Championship. With that game behind them, the Blue Devils now turn their focus to tournament play as the 2011-12 season slowly comes to a close. The Blue Devils are coming into this year’s ACC Tournament, winners of 10 out of the last 13 tournaments, including 3 straight tournament championships. Friday’s meeting will be televised on ESPN2 at 7:00 PM ET.
Duke in the ACC Tournament
• Duke has won three consecutive ACC Tournaments and 10 of the last 13 tournaments. Duke has won more ACC Tournaments (19) than any other ACC program.
• The Blue Devils are 90-39 (.698) all-time in the ACC Tournament, including a 52-17 (.754) record under head coach Mike Krzyzewski. Duke’s 90 victories are the most in ACC history.
• Coach K’s 13 ACC Tournament Championships are tied for the most in ACC history. His 52 wins are the second most in ACC Tournament history.
• Duke has won nine straight ACC Tournament games and is 35-4 in the tournament since 1998.
• Duke is 9-3 when the tournament is held in Atlanta, Ga. Duke has won the last two tournaments held in Atlanta (2001 & 2009).
• Nine of the last 13 ACC Tournament MVPs have been Blue Devils.
• Duke enters the ACC Tournament as one of the top two seeds for the 31st time in the league’s 54-year history. The Blue Devils are a combined 63-17 (.788) when seeded No. 1 or No. 2 in the tournament and have won 13 of their 19 ACC Championships when seeded No. 1 or No. 2.
Numbers Game
• Duke is ranked No. 6 in the AP Poll and in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. Neither Clemson nor Virginia Tech are ranked in either poll.
• Duke, Michigan State and North Carolina are the only teams in the NCAA to rank in the top 10 in RPI, Strength of Schedule, the AP and ESPN/USA Today Coaches polls. Read more
2012 ACC Tournament Predictions
By Ray Horn — It’s the granddaddy of them all, the 59th annual ACC Basketball Tournament. This year’s tournament will be held in Atlanta, Georgia, inside of Phillips Arena. The usual home of the ACC Tournament, Greensboro Coliseum will be the home for the tournament for the next four years.
The North Carolina Tar Heels come into the tournament as the number one seed and as the prohibitive favorite. The Tar Heels had three players named first team all conference and the top vote getter on the second team, totaling 4 of the top 6 players in the conference. The main challengers to the Tar Heels are the Duke Blue Devils and Florida State Seminoles, who finished second and third in the conference respectively. Virginia comes into the tournament seeded fourth, but was dealt a couple of crippling blows in both Malcolm Brogdon and Assane Sene both being officially ruled out for the rest of the season. The Cavaliers now have only 6 rotation, scholarship players remaining and Joe Harris is playing with a broken non shooting hand. North Carolina State and Miami sit directly on the bubble and both need to make it to Saturday’s semifinals to give them a legitimate shot of getting in the field, with the need to get to the finals to feel good about their chances. As for any sleepers seeded under 6, like NC State in 2007 who was seeded 10th and got to the finals. I would probably rule out Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and Boston College, because of youth and lack of talent. That leaves Maryland, Virginia Tech and Clemson. Of those three, I’d say Clemson probably has the best shot at a run because of their seniors Andre Young and Tanner Smith and they also have a legitimate frontcourt in Devin Booker and Milton Jennings.
The main storyline going into the tournament for the Blue Devils is the injury to Ryan Kelly. Kelly is being sidelined with a sprained foot and has been ruled out for the entire tournament. Kelly will be reevaluated on Monday and we will know then what his status will be for the NCAA Tournament. This is a big loss for the Blue Devils. Kelly is third on the team in scoring and rebounding, but most importantly is a difficult cover for opposing power forwards and creates a lot of openings for post play and for both Seth Curry and Austin Rivers. Duke will have to play both the Plumlees at the same time against teams like North Carolina who have two good interior bigs, but it will be interesting to see what Coach K does against other teams. Josh Hairston, Michael Gbinije and even Andre Dawkins are all possibilities. Each give the Blue Devils a different look and bring a certain advantage to the floor, but also a disadvantage. Hairston gives good hustle and rebounding, but isn’t all that tall and can be a liability offensively. Gbinije would give the team a ton of versatility defensively and keep the floor spread offensively, but rebounding and post defense are question marks. Andre Dawkins would easily give the Blue Devils their most potent offensive lineup. Imagine guys like Xavier Gibson or John Henson having to guard someone 25 feet from the basket, but in turn Dawkins would have to guard them down low and keep them off the glass. It will be interesting to see how the Blue Devils play the cards they have been dealt with the injury to Ryan Kelly.
PREDICTIONS Read more
Duke prepares for ACC Tournament without Ryan Kelly
By Chad Lykins — The Duke Blue Devils are en route to Atlanta, Georgia as they will ready themselves for the 2012 ACC Tournament. The Blue Devils have been the definition of excellence in the ACC Tournament for the past 13 years, as they have captured 10 tournament titles in that span (19 all-time). However, to capture their 11th tournament championship in 14 seasons, they will have to accomplish that feat without junior forward Ryan Kelly.
News broke late Tuesday after a Blue Devils practice, that Kelly had sprained his right foot forcing him to miss at least a week of basketball, most importantly the ACC Tournament. Kelly is third on the team in both scoring and rebounding, as he is averaging 11.8 points per game and 5.4 rebounds per game.
A jarring piece of news to say the least, will cap off what has been a trying couple of days for Duke. The Blue Devils are coming off of a one-sided defeat to arch-rival North Carolina on Saturday night in their final regular season home game that cost them the regular season ACC Championship as well as a possible 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament. With that game behind them, the Blue Devils now turn their focus to tournament play.
Without Kelly, more minutes will open up specifically for sophomore Josh Hairston as well as freshman Michael Gbinije. Not known for their scoring, both players will be relied on heavily for good, valuable minutes as the opportunity presents itself. Duke will have an uphill battle if they want to capture their 4th straight ACC Tournament Championship as Kelly is their most versatile weapon. It also leaves Duke at a disadvantage on the inside as both Mason and Miles Plumlee will be called upon to shoulder the load.
The Blue Devils will begin postseason play on Friday evening, as they’ll await the winner of the Clemson and Virginia Tech matchup that will take place on Thursday.
Kelly will be monitored over the upcoming weekend and re-evaluated on Monday.
