Turtledroppings.com – Maryland Football And Basketball Blog

You can tell the current state of the basketball program isn’t where it once was.   If we would have had this blog several years ago, there would have been 10 post by now about the Duke game.  That being said, will anyone be really surprised if we win.  I know I won’t.  So here is all you need to know about the Dukie’s before tomorrows noon tip off.

Duke got it name from James Buchanan Duke, when he wanted to provide a memorial to his father.  Washington Duke, became very wealthy from tobacco manufacturing.  He was also instrumental in providing electricity to the Carolinas.  In 1924 the Duke endowment was used to create Duke from Trinity College in Durham.  Until 1972 the East Campus was used as the women’s school until they merged and became co-ed.   There are 6,340 undergraduate students.  A year at Duke will cost you $47, 810 for tuition, room and board.  Washington Duke and his two sons are entombed in the Memorial Chapel.  The school adopted the mascot Blue Devils from the French alpine soldiers from World War I.  “Les diables bleu” were adopted in 1922.  Duke’s famous alumni list was actually not as noteworthy as you might expect.  If you remove all the basketball players from the mix, there are few named alumni you may know.  The 37th President of our Country, (Richard Nixon for those of you who don’t know) was a Duke Law grad.  Hans Dehmelt was one of three Duke grads to win a Nobel Prize for is work with the ion trap.  Melinda Gates (Yes that Gates family) is a Duke alumna.  Sean McManus is the President of CBS Sports and CBS News.  Makes sense why they get so many CBS game to me!  Annabeth Gish (X-files and West Wing) is another Duke grad.  Rounding out our list today is David Hudgins (television writer and producer for Friday Night Lights).  There are several CEO’s and Presidents of Fortune 500 companies, but none of them were of great interest to me.  I was really surprised there wasn’t more.   They really hang their hat on the Basketball Alumni.

Speaking of Basketball, this is what you really wanted to know.  Duke is 17-1 and 4-0 ACC.  They are currently ranked #2 in the country.  I saw an article after Wake lost saying the path to #1 is cleared.   I hope the boys in red got to see that headline!  Their lone loss was at Michigan.  That is a head scratcher.  We beat them, and more recently they have lost four in a row in Big 10(11) play.  In ACC play they have beaten VT, GT, FSU, and NCST.  Kyle Singler leads the way with 16.8 points and 8.2 rebounds.  Gerald Henderson has picked up his play lately.  He may be the most athletic player in the conference.  He brings an average of 14.4 points and 4.7 rebounds.  Jon Scheyer is adding 13.2 points per game and is hitting on 36% of his three point attempts.  Sophomore guard Nolan Smith took the starting point guard job from Greg Paulus and is averaging 10.3 points per game.  Like Maryland, Duke’s weak point may be in the middle.  They do have 7 footer Brian Zoubek, but he does not provide a solid offensive game.  As a team Duke is connecting on 34% of their 3 points attempts.  In my opinion, this Duke team looks like another team destined for a number one or two seed in the big dance, but lacks the stallions inside to make a final four run.  You just have to expect to see them flame out early again from the lack of inside play, and if those 3 pointers dry up, you have a recipe for an early tournament exit.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 23rd, 2009 at 5:51 am and is filed under Maryland Terps Basketball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.