Illinois interested in Coach Chris Collins?
As the son of Doug Collins, Duke Associate Head Coach Chris Collins grew up in a basketball family in Northbrook, Illinois, a North Shore suburb of Chicago. He was named Mr. Basketball of the state of Illinois coming out of Glenbrook North High School, the same school as Jon Scheyer. At Duke he has been instrumental in signing not only Scheyer, but a number of other talented guards, many also sons of NBA players.
He has shown a knack for developing these signees as well, with two of his players (JJ Redick and Jay Williams) winning National Player of the Year and a number of his guards earning All-American honors including Nolan Smith, Jon Scheyer, Gerald Henderson, Demarcus Nelson, Redick, Chris Duhon, and Williams.
Because of his outstanding recruiting ability, and excellent track record of developing perimeter players, Coach Collins has often been rumored to be in contention for head coaching positions at a number of schools. But, the Illinois job has been occupied by Bruce Weber (whose brother coached Scheyer but was beaten on the recruiting trail by Collins for his services) since 2003. Weber was unceremoniously let go after an underperforming season with the Illini and the hunt is on for his replacement. Naturally, Collins’ name has come up in various circles as a potential candidate to take the Illinois head coaching position.
Don’t be surprised if #Illinois hires Duke assistant coach Chris Collins as its next Head Basketball Coach#CollegeHoops
— Matthew Hatfield (@hatfieldsports) March 19, 2012
However, as is usually the case in scenarios as uncertain as a coaching search, there is some differing of opinion.
Herb Gould of the Chicago Sun-Times has been told by a source that the Fighting Illini are making a “no-holds-barred run at Virginia Commonwealth coach Shaka Smart. Illinois Athletic Director Mike Thomas has a history with Smart, as both were at Akron University at the same time, Smart as an assistant under both Dan Hipsher and Keith Dambrot (Lebron James’ coach) and Thomas as Athletic Director. It would make sense that Thomas would look to Smart as they have a history and because he is one of the game’s hottest young coaches, at just 35 years old. If Illinois is not able to land Smart, signs point to Collins being in that next group of candidates.
Yet another opinion comes from Paul Klee of IlliniHQ.com in a chat posted this past Wednesday on Illinois’ coaching search. When a reader suggested that Collins would be a better choice for the program than Smart, Klee deflects the question to state that Collins would be the frontrunner for the Northwestern job if Bill Carmody is let go: http://www.illinihq.com/chats/2012-03-12/march-14-illinois-basketball-chat.html.
On that front, ESPNChicago.com is reporting that several prominent Northwestern alumni and boosters are starting to publicly doubt Carmody’s ability to take the program to the next level. Ironically, these boosters are measuring the Wildcats’ performance against former Duke guard Tommy Amaker’s Harvard team, who Northwestern turned down for their coaching spot. One former Duke guard’s ability could lead another to getting his first head coaching job. Read more
Austin Rivers: “It’s our fault. We lost the game.”
At some point I’ll write about this season, but I don’t think this is the right time for me to do so in an unemotional manner. Austin Rivers captured my feelings in his postgame interview last night. I’ll leave it here.
I wanted more for Miles Plumlee out of his final go around as a Duke Basketball player, but he is one of a select group of Duke players who left with a national championship on his resumé.
Everything you need to know about Lehigh
Duke takes on the Lehigh Mountain Hawks tonight in their opening game of the 2012 NCAA Tournament. That much everyone knows. If you’re like me, you didn’t know much else about the school, basketball program or the players on it. That’s about to change.
LEHIGH UNIVERSITY
- Mascot: Mountain Hawks
- What the hell is a mountain hawk you say? Good question. Looks dangerous, but the devil could take him.
- Location: Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley (thus the name)
- Conference Affiliation: Patriot League (Champion)
- 2012 Record: 26-7 (identical to Duke’s) 8-game win streak
- Coach: Brett Reed
- 5th NCAA Tournament Appearance
- #82 Kenpom Rating
- #92 RPI Rating
- #91 Statsheet Ranking
- #58 LRMC Ranking
- Leading scorer: Chris McCollum — 5th Nationally in Scoring and Steals
- Most famous alumni: Don Most (Ralph Malph from Happy Days
- Most interesting fact: Almost named Packer University after founder Asa Packer
- Main Rival: Lafayette College
- Often named one of the top party schools in America. Students like to get “hammered on the hill”.
- They like to rave.
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
Duke opens NCAA Tournament play with Lehigh
By Ray Horn — The Duke Blue Devils start their run in the NCAA Tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina. The Blue Devils’ first opponent is the Lehigh Mountain Hawks. If the Blue Devils are able to defeat Lehigh they would take on the winner of Notre Dame and Xavier. This will not be an easy road for the Blue Devils; even their first game will be a challenge. Lehigh is a well accomplished team that has played some very good opponents very tough. The Blue Devils need to come ready to play if they want to advance to the second weekend.
For information on how to watch the games if you’re not in attendance in Greensboro, click here.
#15 Lehigh Mountain Hawks
PG- Mackey McKnight #11 Sophomore
SG- C.J. McCollum #3 Junior
F- Jordan Hamilton #44 Senior
F- Holdon Grenier #20 Junior
F- Gabe Knuston #42 Junior
Lehigh likes to play at a pretty quick tempo and scores a solid amount of points. Lehigh shoots a decent amount of threes and will get to the line at a solid clip. When it comes to playing Lehigh the key is to stop CJ McCollum. McCollum is the heart and soul of the Lehigh team and averages nearly 22 points per game. McCollum shoots it well from all ranges and stuffs the stat sheet. Tyler Thornton and Austin Rivers will have to be at their best to guard McCollum. The rest of the Hawks are solid, but nothing to be overly concerned about. Lehigh’s frontcourt has decent length, but is more of the finesse style. Lehigh will gamble a bit defensively and extend the defense a bit, guarding the three point line well and getting some steals. Lehigh is lacking something athletically, but are a smart team with a superstar, capable of taking down the Blue Devils.
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.
Duke #2 Seed in South Bracket sets up rematch with Kentucky
Duke had one of the better complete resumes of any team competing for a #2 spot, but their late season struggles (losing 2 of their last 3) clearly made an impact on the NCAA selection committee as they were put in Overall #1 Seed Kentucky’s South Bracket.
After the brackets were released, NCAA Tournament Selection Chair Jeff Hathaway said that Duke was the #6 team in the tournament yet somehow were put as the #2 seed with the overall #1 seed. Doesn’t make any sense other than to hopefully set up a rematch with Kentucky on the 20th anniversary of “The Greatest College Basketball Game Ever Played“. Geographically, it doesn’t make sense for ticket sales as Duke travels anywhere, even though Atlanta is closer than Boston to Durham by a few hundred miles.
The Blue Devils face a tough road to get to Atlanta, but they do start close to home in Greensboro on Friday, March 16th. Because they lost on Saturday afternoon, this 6 day break between games gives Duke its 2nd 6 day break in two weeks.
If Duke makes it past Lehigh, and they obviously should, they will face either a very dangerous Xavier team or Notre Dame, who has the ability to beat Syracuse by 9 points as they did in January. Baylor or UNLV potentially await in the Sweet 16 if Duke is fortunate enough to get that far.
Nothing is ever guaranteed in the NCAA Tournament, that’s why they call it March Madness so definitely expect some upsets. And with the up and down way this Duke team has played, I wouldn’t expect anything moving forward.
The Blue Devils might not have the best draw in the bracket, or the best team, but they do have the best coach on the sideline. They won’t have to travel between time zones until the Final Four and they’re only 384 miles away from the Georgia Dome for the South Regionals so that’s definitely a plus.
Keep following along as the games get closer and get your tickets here or here for the games in Greensboro.
