I never get tired of saying that the Duke Blue Devils are the reigning national champions. This Friday, Duke will unveil their fourth national champion banner in the rafters of Cameron Indoor Stadium and pass out rings to the team who brought it home. Check out the official press release for a schedule of events.
Our reporter, Matt Simon, has worked up a little game-style preview of the Blue/White Scrimmage with some lofty predictions for the NCAA Tournament’s South Regional MVP, even in limited time. Agree or disagree with Matt’s outlook on the game? Remember that these lineups will only hold for the first half. At halftime the teams will change, but for the first half his lineup projections are likely correct based on comments made by the coaching staff in the offseason.
Look for Matt’s Game Previews throughout the season.
Let’s get ready to rumble! The season is almost here Duke fans. Can you smell it? I can! Whether you’ve spent your summer quenching your thirst for basketball by watching the talented athletes of the NBA, pretending to be interested in Major League Baseball, or following Austin Rivers’ every move, the wait is almost over!
Friday is Duke’s celebration of all things Blue Devil Basketball: Countdown To Craziness! Last year we saw some other awesome videos, a dunk contest, some hilarious skits along, and of course the Blue/White Scrimmage. This year we will be treated with more of the same cool stuff and of course the raising of Duke’s championship banner along with all the players from last year’s team being presented with their championship rings. Its gonna be a great time and hopefully you will all be there! (If not you can keep up with all the happenings by following us at @DukeHoopBlog).
Here at Dukehoopblog we will be bring you previews of all of Duke’s regular season opponents and how Duke stacks up to their competition but for this piece we’re going to break-down how the team match-up against… well, themselves…
GAME: Countdown To Craziness
TEAM: White (Starters)
PROJECTED STARTERS:Position/Name/09-10Stats
PG Kyrie Irving (N/A)
SG Nolan Smith 17.5ppg 2.8rebs 3.0ast
SF Kyle Singler 17.7ppg 7.0rebs 2.4ast
PF Mason Plumlee 3.7ppg 3.1rebs 0.9ast
C Miles Plumlee 5.2ppg 4.9 rebs 0.3ast
TEAM: Blue (Reserves)
PROJECTED STARTERS:
PG Tyler Thornton (N/A)
SG Seth Curry (N/A)
SF Andre Dawkins 4.4ppg 1.1rebs 0.3ast
PF Josh Hairston (N/A)
C Ryan Kelly 1.2pts 1.1rebs 0.4ast
BREAKDOWN:
The match-up between these two squads doesn’t look pretty on paper. For the White team there are two, possibly three, All-American candidates in Singler, Smith and Irving. Compare that to the Blue team who starts two freshman and three sophomores so there is quite a bit of disparity in the experience category but the talent level should remain somewhat competitive. Temper your expectations for them however and consider the fact they are facing the starting line-up for the number one team in the country.
Here’s how I see it all going down:
Lets start at point guard. The Irving-Thornton match-up is interesting. They are both freshman but with the hype surrounding Kyrie, most expect him to dominate and he probably will. Don’t count out Thornton however. He is known as a great defensive player which is a big reason he was recruited to Duke. Lets see if he can keep an elite guard like Irving from taking over the game (good luck).
The battle at shooting guard is another one to keep an eye on. We all heard stories about Seth Curry and Nolan going at each other in practice everyday last season. There were even some rumors that Curry, at times, was the best player on the floor. We got a taste of Curry in last year’s game so it will be nice to see how he has improved in the off-season. Don’t forget about Smith though, it will be intersting to see how the experience he gained going to camps and training with the USA Olympic team over the summer will transfer to the court.
The small forward match-up will be a little one-sided in my opinion. Setting aside the fact that Kyle Singler is the front-runner for NPOY honors, he also has a significant height advantage against the 6’4″ Andre Dawkins. He should be able to shoot over Dawkins with ease and if he’s jumper isn’t falling look for him to take the sophomore guard inside. What’s interesting is that the small forward position could be the spot for Dawkins. With the log-jam at the guard positions he will have to show he can play the three to get consistent playing time this year and next. Lets keep an eye on how he defends a player with more prototypical size for a college forward in Singler.
When watching the battle in the post expect to see a lot of lobs and easy dunks for the Plumlee brothers. For the Blue team, Ryan Kelly will look to show off his new frame and confidence he gained over the summer. Freshman Josh Hairston will be playing the four for the Blue team. How he competes against the Plumlees could shine some light on how much he can contribute this season.
Matt’s Side Predictions:
Best Intro: Tie between Irving and Smith. Expect Nolan Smith to give us all a show like he always does. The guy loves the spotlight and the crazies will give him loads of love when he takes the court. Irving sneaks in for the tie because once the freshman guard finally hits the floor in Cameron expect the roof to be blown off the place!
Dunk Contest: Miles Plumlee is the pick here. Expect a good show with athletes like his brother Mason and Nolan expected to compete. But elder Plumlee is the pick here because of a dunk we wont spoil for you if you haven’t already seen it but it garnered some national attention for both brothers (spoiler alert) over the summer and if he pulls it off expect him to come away as the winner.
Surprise Performance: Ryan Kelly. The sophomore forward gained some bulk over the summer and also showed off some nice game in the summer pro-am. We expect him to surprise some fans on Friday night showing off his range and also some driving ability. At 6’11 his versatility could give the Plumlee brothers some issues guarding him on the perimeter.
MVP: Nolan Smith. Like we said above after a long off-season of working hard Nolan is going to be chomping at the bit to get back on the floor and show if he’s improved over the summer as much as we suspect… Watch-out!!! Expect a 30+ point performance.
Adam’s Side Projections:
Best Intro: Nolan is a showman. Plain and simple, he has the most outgoing personality on the team. Follow him on Twitter for five minutes and you’ll know that. While Kyrie might get a loud reaction from the Crazies as he is highly anticipated, Nolan knows how to work the crowd and this is his second year.
Dunk Contest: Andre Dawkins is known in college as a 3-point shooter and marksman. But, many Duke fans don’t realize how good of a dunker he is. As the only returning reigning dunk contest champion, (Olek Czyz is gone) this is Andre’s award to win. Watch some of his high school dunks in this video.
Surprise Performance: Josh Hairston. I think josh is going to shine in this atmosphere as he’s always got a cool head, even in the face of tough competition. He can hit it from the outside and has a nice turnaround jumper from 8-10 feet out. Watch Josh take Mason out of the paint and work the mismatch to his advantage.
MVP: Kyrie Irving. Watching Kyrie play in the NC Pro-Am this summer, it was clear he excels in transition ball and there should be some run and gun in this game as Duke looks to showcase their new, fast-paced offense. Look for a few sick trick dribbles and more than nasty dunk as Cameron is popping off!
HOPE TO SEE EVERYONE THERE!!! GO DUKE!!!
