Duke Basketball

Injury Bug Biting Duke Men's Basketball Again As Season Winds Down

... at the Watsco Center Saturday. The defeat dropped the Blue Devils into a tie for fifth place in the ACC standings and three games behind North Carolina—just a week after Duke had pulled within one game of the Tar Heels and made an ACC regular-season title seem possible. With two regular season contests remaining, Duke is just fighting to clinch a first-round bye in the ACC tournament, something that was viewed as a given for the preseason No. 1 team. But from the start of the year, injuries have altered the Blue Devils’ trajectory and prevented them from being the team that many expected would be the national title favorite in March. Saturday made it clear that fans may never see this Duke team at full strength because of the games and practices already missed. Allen sat out the contest with a lingering ankle ailment. The Jacksonville, Fla., native—who also missed time with turf toe earlier in the season—sprained his ankle against Wake Forest Feb. 18 and was limited in the Blue ...

Road Trips To The Pits

... Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images. Now that we’re in the homestretch, it’s worth reviewing which teams got the most sympathetic schedules across the season. There are many sophisticated measures of schedule strength, but for the purposes of this exercise we limited our examination to visits to the turf of the ACC toughest teams. Specifically, since every league member must face everyone else at least once, we looked at whether squads played on the home courts of schools picked prior to the season to finish in the top four by the ACC media. Reference to that top four - Duke, North Carolina, Virginia and Louisville – may be considered suspect in some quarters, not because the projection wasn’t close to the mark but rather due to who did the selecting. Here’s how close the picks were, through games of Feb. 25: UNC led the ACC, Louisville was tied with Notre Dame for third at 10-5, and Duke was tied with Miami for fifth at 10-6. Virginia is the laggard, tied with Virginia Tech in seventh at 9-7. Of ...

Another Rebecca Greenwell Gem At North Carolina Leads Duke Women's Basketball To An Eighth Straight Win

... Heels (14-15, 3-13 in the ACC) were missing two of their four best 3-point shooters in Stephanie Watts and Destinee Walker, North Carolina came out hot to start the second half by knocking down two triples to cut the lead to six. By Jack White / The Chronicle. After North Carolina cut the lead to six early in the third quarter, the Blue Devils responded to quickly extend the lead to double figures. But the Blue Devils (25-4, 13-3) showed why they have won eight straight games by at least 10 points to close out the regular season, responding with a 9-2 spurt to regain their double-digit advantage and never looking back. Mc Callie’s team never trailed in the final 37 minutes Sunday, sealing the No. 3 seed in the upcoming ACC tournament with a sixth straight win against the Tar Heels. A year removed from being the No. 8 seed in the conference and missing the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1994, Duke delivered Mc Callie’s eighth 25-win season in Durham and put another exclamation point on her candidacy for ACC Coach of the Year. The Blue Devils were picked to finish sixth in the league to start the year. “This ...

Florida Has Chance To Boost Seeding

... Rhode Island. In other words, they don’t have a win against a team guaranteed to get into the dance via an at-large bid. Even though this game is at home, it would be the Flyers' best win of the season, should they even the series with the Rams. Check the Bubble Watch to learn what’s at stake for VCU on Wednesday. Andy Lyons/Getty Images. Louisville at Wake Forest, 9 p.m. Wake Forest’s season could very well be on the line on Wednesday night, as we detail in the Bubble Watch. The Cardinals, meanwhile, still have the top line in their sights, with North Carolina and Baylor their most likely competitors. If an ACC team is going to get the No. 1 seed in the South Region, it will almost certainly be the Tar Heels or Cardinals, with Florida State running in third. The door is open for Louisville (and Florida State, for that matter) to share the ACC regular season title with North Carolina, after the latter lost at Virginia on Monday. To do that, the Cardinals have to win out, and then get some help from Duke over the weekend. If any team sweeps the ACC regular season and tournament championships, the committee will have a hard ...

Cavs Pull An Upset

... in the Elite Eight and it sure didn’t happen against UNC recently in Chapel Hill. Well it did in Charlottesville Monday night. Virginia held UNC to 35.4% from the floor and the taller, more physical Heels got to the foul line just seven times. Not that UVA shot any better: the Cavs barely cleared 32%, but did hit 10-24 from three point range. UNC’s last basket came with 5:40 left in the game. The last shot before that? 9:46. UNC missed 11 of its last 12 attempts. Justin Jackson, who has spent some time in JJ Land lately was held to just 1-6 from deep. In short, an ugly game, a beautiful win. That’s Virginia basketball for you. In our opinion, no teams in the ACC, with the possible exception of Georgia Tech, have earned more respect this season than Miami and Virginia Tech. Both teams have overcome a great deal and shown tremendous grit. Someone had to yield though and on Monday, it was Miami. The Hokies prevailed 66-61 and Ty Outlaw - averaging 5 ppg - had a freak night, hitting 8-10 three pointers. Seth Allen was the only other player to hit double figures with 12. For Miami, Bruce Brown, who was so devastating against Duke, was held to just 3-8 and eight ...

Duke Rises Six Spots In Latest Ap Poll

... Jackson have amped up their playmaking as of late - Allen has 14 assists in his last three games. He’s a scorer at heart, but when he looks to get others involved, Duke’s offense jumps to another level. The same applies to Kennard and Jackson. The Blue Devils still have their warts. Their ball-screen defense, while improving, leaves much to be desired; Duke prevailed against North Carolina, but the Tar Heels got numerous uncontested looks after simple pick-and-roll actions. Harry Giles has flashed recently, but the Blue Devils would be better off if they weren’t so reliant on Amile Jefferson on the interior. He's asked to carry a load that may be unsustainable. Regardless, Duke is trending in the right direction at the right time of the year. This team isn’t playing at a championship-caliber level, but if a few more things click, it will be. You couldn’t say that a month ago. MORE: All-Week team. As ...

Jackson, Jefferson Lead Duke Past Florida State 75-70

... His foot, he hasn’t been able to practice. It’s limited him and it’s limited us. Tonight he was great.”. While Jefferson provided the production inside, Jackson took advantage of a starting assignment to show his scoring skills. “Frank was sensational,” Krzyzewski said. The 6-5 guard hit five shots in a row early in the second half, including three 3-pointers, to score 13 quick points and help Duke open a 49-30 lead with 15:31 to play. Starting in place of junior guard Grayson Allen, who played in a reserve role while battling a nagging left ankle injury, Jackson opened Duke’s second-half scoring with a 3-pointer after his Florida State defender fell down. Jefferson hit two free throws and, after Jayson Tatum missed, Luke Kennard rebounded and fired the ball out to Jackson who nailed a 3-pointer from the right corner for a 42-25 Duke lead. Jackson added to his scoring binge by tallying Duke’s next three baskets as well: Two drives for shots in the lane and a 3-pointer with 15:31 left giving Duke a 19-point lead. “I just look to stay aggressive every game,” Jackson said. “I try to ...

Duke Girls Basketball Coach Prepares Team For First State Tournament In 19 Years

... including Elgin, Sterling, Apache, before Duke. And he's looking to add another one this weekend at a tournament in Oklahoma City. Coach Rick Wilson and his team spend hours in the gym everyday working towards the goal of a state title. But, his strategy of getting his team ready is not so much about what they can do on the court or how many baskets they make. "He helps us out like no matter what, he's just always there, he's just one of those guys," said Kaylee Keck, a freshman Duke basketball player. Athletic director and principal are just some of Rick Wilson's titles at Duke High School, but the one he's most known for and is coach. Kaylee Keck is just one of the seven girls on his team who has been impacted by his guidance on and off the court. "He's made me understand how important it is to focus on everything you're doing and how much heart you need to put out on the court or field or whatever you're doing," said Keck. After more than 40 years of being around the game and coaching high school boys and girls all over Oklahoma, he's getting ready for yet another state tournament with the Duke girls team after only two years of being at the ...

Red-hot Duke Set To Take On Syracuse In Marquee Acc Matchup

... 11 points were below his 15.4 average, but his two 3-pointers in the second half came at key moments. "He's good, and I just think that the injury distracts him, and it does," Krzyzewski said of his polarizing junior guard. "Look, I believe in Grayson. When he came in (late Saturday), we called two sets for him because we had a matchup there. "Even not that healthy, he came through.". RELATED: Duke's Jayson Tatum highlights Top Freshman Moments of 2017. Through the missteps in losing three of four in one stretch or the month-long absence of Krzyzewski, what the Blue Devils are now is a reflection of how they've grown - mostly in Atlantic Coast Conference play. "It all started when we played Wake there, and even in that game we weren't the team that we are now, but that got us going," Jefferson said. "Since then, each game we've been getting better, we've been ...