Thursday, November 22, 2007

Duke owns Maui


Seems that Duke just doesn't lose in this tournament. 12-0 in their history there.

For those of us who somewhat enjoyed Duke's low-scoring, often bad team of last year, the party is over. I'm not ready to say they are better than the Heels, but they are going to be damn good. After watching them on 3 straight nights, I've got a few observations:

  1. For those of us who wondered whether K's involvement in USA basketball was going to hurt the Duke program in some ways, forget about it. K seems energized and excited. He's brought several new things from his experience with the pro's, including more pro sets, the Phoenix Sun's offense, and even at least trying to play some Syracuse style zone courtesy of USA Basketball assistant Jim Boeheim. They don't play it as well as the 'Cuse yet, but then again, neither does Syracuse these days. Also, the Duke assistants got to help run drills for USA Basketball, so they have no doubt learned a lot that will help them get better jobs and help them in recruiting.
  2. Kyle Singler is everything we've heard and more...
  3. Demarcus Nelson looks great. I still think he's undersized for the game he wants to play, and won't be a great pro, but he's going to make a run at All-ACC and win Duke some games.
  4. Greg Paulus has been taking his Ritalin and looks to be in control most of the time, and can really shot the ball.
  5. Gerald Henderson is on the cusp of becoming a STAR.

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