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The Laettner era was amazing for Duke fans in many ways. Obviously, Christian Laettner’s competitive flame burned incredibly bright. He developed a mystique like no one else in college basketball history: other fan bases truly hated him, but they also feared him, because Laettner was absolutely ruthless. He gutted everyone: UNC, Connecticut, Kentucky. They all […]
Between the resignation of embattled coach Bucky Waters in 1973, and the arrival of Gene Banks and Kenny Dennard in 1977, there wasn’t a whole lot to celebrate for Duke Basketball. Bill Foster took the job after a ludicrous plan to bring Adolph Rupp out of retirement didn’t work out, and Foster was a builder. […]
Not the sort of news we were hoping for, but Nikolas Khamenia has committed to UConn. Given his hard-nosed attitude, he probably will mesh with Dan Hurley pretty well. We’ve seen enough of his game to know that he has the potential to become a really good player, and there are parts of his game […]
Charlotte’s loss to Orlando ended one of the most fun NBA seasons for the franchise since the days of Alonzo Mourning, Larry Johnson, and Muggsy Bogues. Kon Knueppel was responsible for a lot of the cultural change that the Hornets saw this year, and he smashed the rookie record for three-point shots with 273, which […]
The Plumlee era of Duke Basketball was really fun. Think about it: three brothers, all 6-10 or taller, all come to Duke, where they all win national championships. What are the odds of that? Side note: as many of you will recall, the Plumlees all left Indiana for Asheville’s Christ School, where they played their […]
When people think of Duke’s great buzzer beaters, Christian Laettner’s name generally comes up first. His shot against Kentucky is legendary, and his earlier buzzer beater against UConn was also tremendous. However, when it comes to Duke’s buzzer beaters, that’s just the tip of the iceberg, because Duke has plenty of buzzer beaters. Like Laettner, […]
Mike Malone has only had the job for a few days, but so far, he seems to be doing reasonably well. The smartest thing he’s done has been to hire experienced college personnel. Malone was by all accounts a superior NBA coach, but there are real differences between the two levels of the sport. He […]
John Wooden’s incredible run at UCLA, with 10 national championships between 1964 and 1975, is most associated with his two greatest players, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton. However, the dynasty started with two of Wooden’s smallest teams, and with how he turned the lack of size into a strength. In 1964, UCLA’s tallest starter was […]
Remember when old what’s-his-name bolted to Texas A&M after two seasons at Duke? What was his name? Oh, yeah: Midnight Mike. Mike Elko. He was replaced by Manny Diaz, and so far, Diaz has taken Duke to two bowl games and a dramatic, pulse-pounding ACC championship as well. His Duke record is 18-9, and on […]
Well here’s some good news: Cayden Boozer will be back for his sophomore year. Boozer had a terrific overall season, and as it went on and he took on more responsibility, he really began to stand out, and it wasn’t because he was flashy. Boozer has a rare knack: he tends to be in the […]
The Charlotte Hornets beat Miami in a highly entertaining play-in game the other night, and it sparked a ton of conversation. Some of the themes: Kon Knueppel blew the Rookie of the Year race, the Hornets are in big trouble, and one more we’ll get to in a minute. The Rookie of the Year business […]
Duke fans were perhaps a bit surprised to find that Nik Khamenia is considering UConn as his transfer destination. Well, why not? It’s an excellent program, Danny Hurley is a gifted coach, and he’d probably do well there. In this article, we see a few snide shots from Duke fans, and a few back from […]
Before he was known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Lew Alcindor electrified the basketball world with his debut for UCLA. It wasn’t a surprise. He had been a high school sensation that Wilt Chamberlain took under his wing. Everyone was after him, even many southern schools that were just beginning to integrate. Ultimately, he chose to leave […]
We were really sorry to see Nik Khamenia enter the portal. He probably didn’t play as much as he wanted this year, and probably didn’t have the role that he wanted, but he was really valuable to this team. A solid all-round player, and a real winner, Khamenia could have built a much bigger role […]
Jon Scheyer hasn’t had a lot to say after Duke’s excruciating loss to UConn, but he spoke out a bit recently. Scheyer spoke to Josh Graham about Duke’s Elite Eight game against the Huskies and said this: “I’m not shying away from the fact that there’s incredible heartbreak and disappointment when we lose the way […]
The Charlotte Hornets are in the NBA Play-In Tournament and still alive, having beaten Miami in a thriller Tuesday night. Kon Knueppel didn’t play especially well, shooting just 2-12 and 0-6 on his three-point attempts, and finishing with just 6. Sion James didn’t have a big game offensively either, scoring just 2 points. It’s been […]
We haven’t heard a lot of news on the status of the Duke Men’s Basketball roster for next season…and we know everyone trying to figure out what it all means! We update everyone on what we’ve heard and speculate on the portal on DBR Bites #160. After Nik Khamenia and Darren Harris entered the transfer […]
This video is an attempt to put Cooper Flagg’s rookie season in context, and it makes some interesting points, particularly statistically. The narrator compliments Kon Knueppel, but argues that Flagg’s season has been on a completely different level. He compares his rookie season to what LeBron James did in his first year in the league, […]
Over the course of his long ESPN career, Dick Vitale has been best known as an enthusiastic advocate for college basketball. He’s always loved coming to Cameron, where he always just seemed like an overgrown Crazie. Enthusiasm, meet Enthusiasm. Which is which? Take your pick. He has also been a huge backer of, and fundraiser […]
Congratulations to Blue Devil Taina Mair, who was taken by the Seattle Storm with the #14 pick in the WNBA Draft on Monday night. Also with the Storm: former Blue Devil Lexie Brown. Now 31, Brown might become a mentor to Mair as she begins her pro career. Fellow Blue Devil Ashlon Jackson was also […]
Former Blue Devil Darren Harris is in the portal, as you probably know, and has made his decision: he’ll be an Indiana Hoosier. It might be a great choice for him personally. Coach Darian DeVries likes to use three-point shot in his offense, and Harris is a superb shooter. His shot will always there, but […]
The regular season ended for the NBA on Sunday night, and for Duke rookies, it marked the end of a remarkable season. Phoenix Sun Khaman Maluach finished on a high note, with 18 points, 14 rebounds, and two blocks. Cleveland Cavalier Tyrese Proctor was close to a triple-double, with 22 points, 11 rebounds, and 8 […]
The latest Duke Chronicle player profile is of Cayden Boozer. While brother Cameron got most of the attention between the two, Cayden proved, especially late in the season, that he is a gifted player, a guy who knows what to do and when, and, in a nutshell, a winner. The easiest mistake for fans to […]
People tend to look at coaches like Roy Williams and Mike Krzyzewski and just assume that they were always going to be great. They forget about the struggles. It took Coach K a few years to establish his Duke program, and plenty of people wanted him gone before he did. Roy Williams took the Kansas […]
Last night, we linked to a story that suggested Duke had pulled ahead of Louisville for Kansas transfer Flory Bidunga, but not so fast: Bidunga, along with Oregon transfer Jackson Shelstad, committed to Pat Kelsey’s Cardinals program Sunday afternoon. That’s a huge gain for Louisville and will virtually guarantee they’ll be rated in the top […]