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Here’s some huge news for Duke Basketball: Pat Ngongba is coming back for his junior season. That’s a really big deal for Duke, no pun intended. Big Pat showed a huge amount last season. He really helped shore up the interior defense, and his offense is subtle and effective. He’s also a really good passer. […]
In Sunday’s Brotherhood Playoff Action, Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics crushed the Philadelphia 76ers, 123-91. Jared McCain and the OKC Thunder took care of the Suns, 119-84. Paolo Banchero and the Orlando Magic shocked the Detroit Pistons, 112-101. Finally, Mason Plumlee and the San Antonio Spurs hammered the Portland Trail Blazers, 111-98. Tatum nearly […]
Over at the Duke Chronicle, Ben Curtis makes an interesting argument: should Grayson Allen have his jersey retired? It’s a great question. Allen, as Curtis points out, had an outstanding career at Duke. He was as responsible as anyone for Duke’s 2015 national championship win over Wisconsin. Former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski called his diving […]
Drew Scharnowski announced on Sunday that he’s transferring to Duke from Belmont, which has led a lot of people to ask: who is Drew Scharnowski? As it turns out, he’s pretty promising. When you watch this video, you’ll see a guy who is big, athletic, and smart. He is a capable defender, and a willing […]
Portal season is well underway, and that means lots of player movement. We’ll do our best to keep up with it here. As of April 17th, Pitt seems to have made the most moves, but Louisville may have gotten the best result overall. BOSTON COLLEGE OUT IN CAL OUT IN CLEMSON OUT IN DUKE OUT […]
We finally had some news, and just as we were about to record, we got some more! We discuss it all on DBR Bites #161. As we were set to record, Belmont transfer Drew Scharnowski committed to Duke out of the transfer portal, and we’re happy to have our first transfer of the offseason. Donald, […]
One of the great tells of the modern era is how well coaches work the portal. At Kansas State, Jerome Tang started out great, but then bombed, largely because his portal players were not good fits, and he was fired this spring. At Kentucky, Mark Pope paid a fortune for what turned out to be […]
In Saturday’s Brotherhood Playoff Action, Tyrese Proctor’s Cleveland Cavaliers beat Toronto, featuring RJ Barrett and Brandon Ingram, 126-113. Denver, with Tyus Jones, knocked off the Timberwolves, 116-105. The Hawks, coached by Quin Snyder and featuring Jalen Johnson, lost to New York, 113-102. The Los Angeles Lakers, coached by JJ Redick and starring Luke Kennard, grounded […]
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 […]