Category Archives: Duke

Duke, Featured stories, The skinny

Renfree stars in Duke football scrimmage

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Quarterback Sean Renfree completed 15-of-19 passes for 135 yards and two touchdowns while wideout Blair Holliday caught eight passes for 84 yards to highlight Duke’s 60-play scrimmage Saturday morning at Wallace Wade Stadium.

“We really got what we wanted out of it,” said Duke head coach David Cutcliffe. “We wanted to extend play. We’ve done a lot of fundamental work. This is practice nine. Probably more fundamental work and less team work than we’ve had in any time since we’ve been here. But we’ve worked on some of the ‘how’ before we were doing the ‘what’. I think it’s paid off. It’s paid off with players like Blair Holliday, who you can just see has jumped leaps and bounds from where he was. It’s paid off in a lot of our offensive and defensive linemen – first team and second team.”

Renfree’s two scoring throws covered eight and 15 yards, respectively, to Jamison Crowder and Holliday. Crowder finished the day with six grabs for 67 yards. Running back Josh Snead spearheaded the ground attack with 61 yards on eight attempts, including a one-yard touchdown plunge, while quarterback Brandon Connette rushed five times for 29 yards with a nine-yard touchdown.

“The coaches have shown great trust in all our receivers,” Holliday said. “We changed our offense around a bit where every receiver needs to know the positions; every receiver needs to come up and make big plays. It really just shows how much trust they have in us to put us out there and make plays.”

The final scoring play of the morning came on a 40-yard strike from Connette to tight end Issac Blakeney.

“Issac Blakeney and David Reeves are two very young tight ends that I can see now all of the work they’ve put in,” Cutcliffe noted. “If I had to probably pick one thing that the naked eye caught was Sean Renfree. He was a senior quarterback today. He was really sharp, and not just in the scrimmaging parts. From the first part of practice on — I watched him through seven-on-seven — everything was at a very high level. A lot of encouragement today.”

Safety Walt Canty registered the lone turnover of the day with an interception. Kicker Will Monday booted a 26-yard field goal along with a pair of PATs.

Duke will host the annual Spring Game presented by PNC Bank on Saturday, March 31 in Wallace Wade Stadium. Kick-off is set for 1 p.m. and admission is free of charge.

– News release

Duke, Featured stories, The skinny

What they’re saying about Duke’s upset loss to Lehigh

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“When Duke entered the NCAA Tournament without a sign of a true lockdown defense, it became perhaps one of the most vulnerable Blue Devil teams in recent memory — certainly as a 2 seed at least. For 40 minutes of its surprising 75-70 victory today, Lehigh proved the more physical, more polished and far more mature team. More than anything though, Duke’s defensive deficiencies — prevalent all season — were evident both on the perimeter and in the paint.”

– Jordan Schultz, Huffington Post sports columnist

“We saw on the selection show we had Duke and we thought we could match up very well against them. We all believed it and we showed it on the floor. Everybody bought into that idea that we could beat them. The rest is history.’’

– Lehigh forward John Adams

“I’ve never seen anything like it. We came to the practice the other day and as soon as you walked in they were going crazy for us and we’re like, ‘What’s going on?’ They were like, ‘Go Lehigh, beat Duke!’ They were screaming. It was nice to have fans here that weren’t Duke. I’ve never seen two schools that hate each other so much.’’

– Lehigh forward Justin Maneri, discussing UNC fans rooting for his team

“First off, the 15th-seeded Mountain Hawks are good, really good, especially their backcourt. C.J. McCollum is a great college player, not just a good one. The throng of ACC media watching courtside pegged him early on as the best player on the floor, and he didn’t disappoint. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski agreed in the postgame news conference.”

– Andrew Jones, Fox Sports Carolinas

“If both Rivers and Plumlee return for another season, Duke would likely be regarded as the favorite in the ACC, returning four starters to a team that won 27 games and went undefeated on the road in conference play. Until both players announce their intentions, however, the future for the downtrodden Blue Devils is hazy.”

– Nicholas Schwartz, managing editor of The Duke Chronicle

Duke, Featured stories, N.C. State, The skinny, UNC

Wolfpack’s in – Pick your favorite bracket or enter a tourney contest

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North Carolina got a No. 1 seed but if they make it past the first couple of games, the Tar Heels will be shipped off to St. Louis rather than their preferred Atlanta location. Kentucky, the top seed overall out of the South Region, gets to play in Atlanta whereas Kansas, a No. 2 seed, would in theory have a home crowd in a Midwest Region finals against North Carolina. N.C. State also made the NCAA Tournament and will also be in the Midwest Region. The Wolfpack opens the tourney in Columbus, Ohio Friday while the Tar Heels and the Blue Devils, the No. 2 seed in the South, open in Greensboro Friday. Florida State and Virginia of the ACC are also in the tournament.

http://www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/basketball-men/d1/2012

http://bracketchallenge.ncaa.com/login

http://triangle.collegehoops.upickem.net/collegebasketball/registration/login.asp

http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/tournament/bracket

http://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/collegebasketball

http://i.usatoday.net/sports/college/mensbasketball/Men_NCAA_2012_printable.pdf Printable bracket

https://apps.facebook.com/bracketinsanity/

USA TODAY Matchup Mania through Facebook

Duke, Featured stories, The skinny

What they’re saying after FSU’s victory over Duke in ACC Tourney

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“About 45 minutes after Florida State’s thrilling 62-59 upset of Duke in the semifinals of the ACC tournament, Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton shared a special moment with one of his most well-respected counterparts.

“While standing outside FSU’s locker room, Hamilton was greeted by a smiling Mike Krzyzewski, who had just watched Hamilton’s Seminoles best his Blue Devils in a tournament he basically owns. Krzyzewski congratulated Hamilton and praised his team.

“As Hamilton delivered his thanks, Krzyzewski briefly paused, giving Hamilton one last look that read, ‘Hell of a team.'”

– Edward Aschoff, ESPN

“We went 11 years without a NCAA tournament. Now we’re going to four consecutive NCAA tournaments. Leonard Hamilton is the real deal. He brings in good kids, coaches them up and turns guys that a lot of schools won’t recruit into quality players in the ACC.

“Look at the track record: (All-ACC products) Al Thornton, Toney Douglas, Chris Singleton…. This is a program that was lower-tier ACC and the recruits that come in are not Parade All-Americans and McDonald’s All-Americans – Chris Singleton being the exception – and yet, somehow, someway Leonard brings them in, gets them their degree and gets them into the NBA.”

– Florida State play-by-play announcer Gene Deckerhoff

“After dropping 16 points and six assists on Duke, Florida State guard Michael Snaer earned praise from Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski, who called him the best competitor in the ACC.

“‘Snaer’s terrific. I love Snaer,’ he said. ‘He’s just such a great competitor. He never seems to get tired. He just has such a great will.’

“Snaer, a second-team All-ACC and All-ACC defensive-team selection, scored 48 points in three games against the Blue Devils this season. Snaer’s teammate Luke Loucks seconded Krzyzewski’s opinion, calling Snaer ‘definitely the most competitive guy I’ve ever met.’”

– Ken Sugiura, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Duke, Featured stories, N.C. State, The skinny, UNC

Early thoughts on the ACC tourney: Hess honored, small crowd

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Despite the first game of the ACC basketball tournament being a good one, the attendance could hardly be called a crowd. As one Twitter said, “I’ve seen bigger crowds for noon Canes-Thrashers games in this building than this ACC game.”

The three referees working the Wake Forest-Maryland opening game have “KH” written with white tape on their shoes, evidently in tribute to Karl Hess, who came under fire for ejecting two former NC State players from the stands of a game earlier this season.

John Clougherty, head of ACC officials, says that Hess is not going to work the ACC tournament because he didn’t want to be a distraction.

Back to the attendance issue: The ACC’s regular-season attendance declined for the fourth consecutive year in 2011-12, with the average home crowd falling to 9,632. Attendance has dropped 13.8 percent from 2005-06, which was the first season the ACC had the current 12 teams.

Only Virginia and North Carolina saw increases in attendance this season.

The reasons are varied – including rising ticket prices, strange times and days to accommodate TV, and convenience of watching all the games in high definition rather than fighting traffic to get to games.

But, in relation to the ACC tournament, the main problem is playing the games in Atlanta. If the tournament were in Greensboro, it would be a happening and a lot more people would be there.

Duke, Featured stories, N.C. State, The skinny, UNC

Three Tar Heels make All-ACC basketball first team; Marshall left off

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North Carolina’s front court made the All-Atlantic Coast Conference first team today but they might not have had it not been for assist man Kendall Marshall who failed to make the first team. Tyler Zeller was the leading vote getter followed by Mike Scott of Virginia. UNC teammate John Henson was next followed by Duke’s freshman Austin Rivers with Tar Heel Harrison Barnes rounding out the first team.

Marshall led the voting for the second team followed by Maryland’s Terrell Stoglin, Florida State’s Michael Snaer, N.C. State’s C.J. Leslie and Virginia Tech’s Erick Green.

Those 10 players as the top 10 are hard to argue but I would have put Kendall Marshall on the first team over Austin Rivers or Harrison Barnes. Yes, I thought Barnes was the fourth best player on the Tar Heels this year.

I imagine voters didn’t like the idea of putting four Tar Heels on the first team but Barnes scored more points than Rivers and had a better field goal percentage than Rivers. Marshall had 100 assists more than anyone else in the league and his assists to turnover ratio was far ahead of anyone else. I also think Rivers shot in Chapel Hill to defeat the Tar Heels – that one shot – was worth enough points to put him on the first team.

My top 10 in order would be Tyler Zeller, Mike Scott, John Henson, Kendall Marshall, Harrison Barnes, Austin Rivers, Michael Snaer, Terrell Stoglin, C.J. Leslie and Erick Green. Zeller should definitely be player of the year in the ACC.

FIRST TEAM
Tyler Zeller, North Carolina (186)
Mike Scott, Virginia (184)
John Henson, North Carolina (170)
Austin Rivers, Duke (164)
Harrison Barnes, North Carolina (153)

SECOND TEAM
Kendall Marshall, North Carolina (151)
Terrell Stoglin, Maryland (131)
Michael Snaer, Florida State (127)
C.J. Leslie, NC State (99)
Erick Green, Virginia Tech (70)

THIRD TEAM
Seth Curry, Duke (65)
C.J. Harris, Wake Forest (57)
Lorenzo Brown, NC State (52)
Kenny Kadji, Miami (45)
Mason Plumlee, Duke (43)

HONORABLE MENTION
Bernard James, Florida State (42); Andre Young, Clemson (35); Travis McKie, Wake Forest (26); Durand Scott, Miami (26).

ACC ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM*
John Henson, North Carolina (61)
Bernard James, Florida State (54)
Jontel Evans, Virginia (39)
Michael Snaer, Florida State (31)
Andre Young, Clemson (29)

ACC ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM*
Austin Rivers, Duke (61)
Ryan Anderson, Boston College (61)
Dorian Finney-Smith, Virginia Tech (53)
Shane Larkin, Miami (43)
Nick Faust, Maryland (41)

Duke, Featured stories, N.C. State, The skinny, UNC

59th annual ACC basketball tournament pairings/times announced

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Wake Forest opens up the ACC tournament as the No. 9 seed against No. 8 seed Maryland Thursday at noon. N.C. State, as the No. 5 seed, takes on Boston College, the No. 12 seed, at 2 p.m. Thursday. North Carolina, the regular season champs, and Duke, the runner-up, don’t start tournament play until Friday. The Tar Heels play at noon against the winner of Wake-Maryland while the Blue Devils play at 7 p.m. against the winner of Clemson-Virginia Tech.
Here’s a rundown:

First Round – Thursday, March 8

#8 Maryland vs. #9 Wake Forest………………………… Noon (ESPNU/ACC Network)

#5 NC State vs. #12 Boston College……………………. *2:00 (ESPNU/ACC Network)

#7 Clemson vs. #10 Virginia Tech…………………………. 7:00 (ESPNU/ACC Network)

#6 Miami vs. #11 Georgia Tech………………………….. *9:00 (ESPNU/ACC Network)

Quarterfinals – Friday, March 9

#1 North Carolina vs. 8/9 winner………………………. Noon (ESPN2/ACC Network/ESPN3)

#4 Virginia vs. 5/12 winner………………………………… *2:00 (ESPN2/ACC Network/ESPN3)

#2 Duke vs. 7/10 winner……………………………………… 7:00 (ESPN2/ACC Network/ESPN3)

#3 Florida State vs. 6/11 winner………………………… *9:00 (ESPN2/ACC Network/ESPN3)

Semifinals – Saturday, March 10

Game 9 (game 5 & 6 winners)……………………………… 1:00 (ESPN/ACC Network/ESPN3

Game 10 (game 7 & 8 winners)………………………….. *3:00 (ESPN/ACC Network/ESPN3)

Finals – Sunday, March 11

Game 11 (championship game)…………………………… 1:00 (ESPN/ACC Network/ESPN3)

*Denotes tentative game time

Team W L Pct. Hm Rd W L Pct. Hm Rd Nu Streak
N Carolina 14 2 .875 7-1 7-1 27 4 .871 17-1 8-2 2-1 Won 7
Duke 13 3 .813 5-3 8-0 26 5 .839 13-3 8-1 5-1 Lost 1
Fla. State 12 4 .750 7-1 5-3 21 9 .700 15-2 5-5 1-2 Won 2
Virginia 9 7 .563 5-3 4-4 22 8 .733 13-3 7-4 2-1 Won 1
NC State 9 7 .563 4-4 5-3 20 11 .645 13-6 5-4 2-1 Won 2
Miami 9 7 .563 6-2 3-5 18 11 .621 13-3 4-8 1-0 Won 1
Clemson 8 8 .500 6-2 2-6 16 14 .533 11-5 4-8 1-1 Lost 1
Maryland 6 10 .375 5-3 1-7 16 14 .533 13-4 1-8 2-2 Lost 3
Wake 4 12 .250 3-5 1-7 13 17 .433 9-7 3-8 1-2 Lost 2
Va Tech 4 12 .250 3-5 1-7 15 16 .484 11-7 3-8 1-1 Lost 4
Ga Tech 4 12 .250 3-5 1-7 11 19 .367 7-8 3-9 1-2 Won 1
Boston C. 4 12 .250 4-4 0-8 9 21 .300 8-9 0-9 1-3 Lost 1

Duke, Featured stories, The skinny, UNC

Carolina goes into an attack, attack, attack mode to whip Duke

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UNC coach Roy Williams wrote three words on the chalkboard before the game – Attack, Attack, Attack.

Carolina came out with an aggressive intensity and set the tone for the game early, making it difficult for Duke – which wasn’t hitting threes – to come back this time.

Duke never led as the Heels held a commanding 18-5 lead by the first TV timeout. Instead of the break slowing the Heels down, James Michael McAdoo threw down a powerful dunk follow and Kendall Marshall threw down court to a streaking Tyler Zeller who scored on the fastbreak to put UNC up 22-5.

The only question that remained was whether or not Duke could throw in the threes like the Devils did in Chapel Hill to get back in it. Last time Duke scored 14 threes but this time the Devils managed only six and that wasn’t nearly enough to come back from Carolina’s Attack, Attack, Attack.

For more on the game, please click here.

Duke, Featured stories, The skinny, UNC

Zeller named Academic All-America of the Year; Duke’s Plumlee on 1st team

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University of North Carolina senior forward Tyler Zeller has been named the 2012 Capital One Academic All-America of the Year for men’s basketball, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America.

Zeller, a business administration major with a 3.62 grade point average, becomes the first Tar Heel to earn first-team Academic All-America honors in two seasons. Averaging 15.6 points, 9.4 rebounds and 1.3 blocked shots, he has led the seventh-ranked Tar Heels to a 24-4 overall record and 11-2 mark in ACC play.

“This is a great honor and something I have worked for my entire four years at Carolina,” says Zeller. “To be the first Tar Heel to win this award at a school with so much tradition and prestige adds to the honor. It truly means a lot to my family. My parents brought me up with the belief that academics are moreimportant than athletics, so as much as it means to me, it may mean even more to my mom and dad. And I thank them for the guidance and support they’ve always given my brothers and me.”

Zeller, a three-time Academic All-ACC selection, was the 2011 recipient of the Skip Prosser Award as the ACC’s top men’s basketball scholar-athlete.

The Washington, Ind., native currently leads the ACC in offensive rebounds, and is second in field goal percentage and double-doubles, third in rebounding, seventh in scoring and eighth in blocked shots. He has won Carolina’s defensive player of the game award a team-high 11 times and scored 20 or more points seven times. He is Carolina’s leading active career scorer with 1,316 points.

“We are ecstatic for Tyler and his family,” says UNC head coach Roy Williams. “He is the ultimate example of a true student-athlete. We’ve been very honored to work with Tyler these past four years and have seen the attention and commitment he’s given to both phases of being a student-athlete. He’s a first-class young man who comes from a great family and is an outstanding basketball player and student.”

Carolina’s first-team Academic All-Americas include Billy Cunningham (1965), Charles Scott (1970), Dennis Wuycik (1972), Steve Previs (1972), Tom LaGarde (1976), Steve Hale (1986), Eric Montross (1993) and Zeller (2011 and 2012).

Zeller is the seventh ACC player to earn multiple first-team Academic All-America honors. The others include three-time honorees Mike Gminski (Duke) and Tom McMillen (Maryland) and two-time recipients Shane Battier (Duke), Todd Fuller (NC State), Terry Gannon (NC State) and Jim Spanarkel (Duke).

An early childhood education major with a 3.60 grade point average, Delle Donne has led Delaware to the best season in school history. The Wilmington, Del. native has led the No. 9 Blue Hens to a 24-1 record and their first-ever national ranking. A two-time All-America who averages 28.1 points per game, she is the leading scorer in NCAA Division I.

Joining Zeller on the 2012 Capital One Academic All-America Division I men’s basketball first team are Ohio State guard Aaron Craft, Saint Mary’s (Calif.) guard Matthew Dellavedova, Wofford guard Brad Loesing and Duke forward Mason Plumlee.

The five members of the Capital One Academic All-America Division I men’s basketball first team have an average G.P.A. of 3.62.

To be eligible for Academic All-America consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director.

Since the program’s inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA, covering all NCAA championship sports.

For more information about the Academic All-America Teams program, visit www.cosida.com.

Duke, Featured stories, The skinny, UNC

Duke’s Stroman makes first team, UNC’s Moran second team

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Duke junior right-hander Marcus Stroman was named to Baseball America’s 2012 Preseason All-America First Team while sophomore third baseman Colin Moran was named to the second team.

Stroman was one of four starting pitchers to land on the preseason first team. This is the second preseason selection for Stroman, who was also named to Perfect Game’s Preseason All-America First Team last month.

Baseball America ranked Stroman as the top 2012 MLB Draft prospect in the ACC and the ninth-best junior prospect in the country. John Manuel, Baseball America’s Editor in Chief, picked Stroman as his preseason pitcher of the year. Stroman was also selected as having the best fastball and breaking ball in the ACC. In the publication’s list of the Top 100 prospects, which includes college and high school draft-eligible players, Stroman checked in at number 22.

Stroman, a native of Medford, N.Y. (Patchogue-Medford), served as a starter and reliever for the Blue Devils in 2011, posting a 3-4 record and a team-best 2.80 ERA over eight starts and nine relief appearances. He ranked second in the nation last year with 12.60 strikeouts per nine innings, striking out a team-high 90 batters in 64.1 innings. Stroman, who also had a team-high four saves, held opponents to two or fewer runs in 15 of 17 appearances last season.

Stroman spent the 2011 summer on the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team, serving as the team’s closer. He went 4-for-4 in save opportunities and did not allow a hit in 8.1 scoreless innings out of the bullpen. Stroman struck out 17 of the 27 batters he faced while issuing just one walk for the U.S. squad.

Duke opens the 2012 season with a three-game series at Texas Feb. 17-19. The Longhorns are ranked No. 13 in Baseball America’s preseason Top 25.

UNC’S Moran was named the Baseball America Freshman of the Year in 2011 after pacing the Tar Heels with a .335 average and tallied a league-high 71 RBI. Moran and the Tar Heels will open the 2012 season Friday when they host Xavier at 3 p.m. at Boshamer Stadium.

The preseason honor is the fourth for Moran in 2012 as he was also named to the Perfect Game, NCBWA and Collegiate Baseball preseason All-America teams.

Moran paced the Tar Heels a year ago en route to the College World Series, hitting .335 on the year with a league-high 71 RBI to go along with 20 doubles and nine home runs.

Baseball America annually polls major league scouting directors to vote on the team and make their selections based on performance, talent and professional potential.
The Tar Heels will open the 2012 season Friday, Feb. 17 when the Xavier Musketeers come to Chapel Hill for a three-game series.