Where Nolan and Kyle Might Rank After 2011

Last year saw many milestones reached such as Cameron Indoor Stadium's 70th year, 754th victory, and 15th undefeated season. Duke fans also saw Coach K's 395th victory in Cameron, his 868th career victory, and his 1,000th game.

Jon Scheyer played his part and moved past 2,000 points on a Free Throw in the second half of the 2nd round Cal game, something only 9 other Duke players have done in their careers. Jon's 2,077 points put him at the #9 spot on the career scoring Ranks. Jon's 297 made 3-point FGs moved him into 3rd place on that list, just passing Bobby Hurley. He didn't stop there, also passing Hurley into 3rd place for Career AST-TO Ratio with 2.08:1.

While Jon has graduated, and can't move up the ranks any longer, Seniors Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith have an opportunity to make their own history this coming season. Based on their career totals to this point, let's have a look at where they might end up after their senior seasons.

Kyle has a chance to pass the 2,000 point threshold quite easily next season. He currently sits at 1,767 after 3 seasons, and if he tops the 702 points he notched last year, he would join JJ Redick and Johnny Dawkins as the only two Duke players with over 2,500 career points. At 15.5 PPG, Kyle ranks 18th on the all-time scoring average list at Duke. We can only assume he'll improve on that percentage next season. By only repeating his 32 blocks from last year, Kyle will move into 9th place, but only 4 blocks would separate he and Grant Hill at 6th place.

Somewhat surprisingly, Kyle needs to play 38 games to move past Christian Laettner as the player to play the most Duke games in his career. If the expectations for this season are met, Kyle should be able to achieve this feat late in the NCAA Tournament. Kyle also has a chance to move into 1st place in minutes played, as he currently sits at 3,601 minutes and is 1,212 minutes behind Chris Duhon. By starting 30 more games, Kyle will also move into 1st place on that list.

By returning for his Senior Year, Kyle has the opportunity to move into some rare company among many Duke greats who have their jerseys in the rafters of 70 year old Cameron, and names burned in the minds of Duke fans for eternity. He wouldn't be back if not for Nolan's decision to return. Let's see where Nolan could end up next.

While Nolan doesn't have quite the numbers as Kyle, he can put himself into the upper echelon of a few statistical categories. Nolan more than doubled his scoring output from his Sophomore Season, and he shows now signs of slowing down this year. While he will have more company at the guard spots, with Seth Curry, Kyrie Irving, and Tyler Thornton joining the back court, and only Scheyer leaving, Duke's more uptempo pace will create many more scoring opportunities and shouldn't lead to a big drop off, if at all.

Nolan ended last season with 1,147 points after dropping 660 points in 40 games. If he matches that point total this year, Nolan will end up in 17th place, just between Jeff Mullins and Bob Verga.

These two Seniors turned down millions of dollars to return to Duke for their final year under Coach K. At the end of their fourth year, their names will be at or near the top of many statistical categories of past Duke greats. Let's enjoy these two special talents and their climbs up the Duke statistical ladders for (hopefully) 40 more games. This will be the last assault on the leaderboards for quite some time.

Even More Great USA Basketball Photos

I bet you thought she was gone, but Lara Lee is still making her mark at Duke Hoop.

On the heels of the roster cut to 15 players, here is the final installment of USA Basketball Photos, this time from the Blue/White Scrimmage.

Have a look by clicking here.

Duke Coaching Staff Heading to Vegas

Photo credit about.com

Fresh off winning his fourth National Championship, Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski heads off to begin the defense of his other recent title, the Olympic Gold he won in Beijing in 2008.

Starting July 19th, Coach K, Coach Chris Collins, and Coach Steve Wojciechowski (Nate James will stay behind in Durham) will all head off to begin their second jobs, as coaches of the USA Olympic team. The following players are confirmed to be on the court from the 19th to the 24th:

Confirmed to be on the court in Las Vegas are Chauncey Billups (Denver Nuggets); Chandler; Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors); Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder); Tyreke Evans (Sacramento Kings); Rudy Gay (Memphis Grizzlies); Eric Gordon (Los Angeles Clippers); Danny Granger (Indiana Pacers); Jeff Green (Oklahoma City Thunder); Andre Iguodala (Philadelphia 76ers); David Lee (Golden State Warriors); Brook Lopez (New Jersey Nets); Robin Lopez; Kevin Love (Minnesota Timberwolves); O.J. Mayo (Memphis Grizzlies); Lamar Odom (Los Angeles Lakers); Rondo; Derrick Rose (Chicago Bulls); Amar’e Stoudemire (New York Knicks); Gerald Wallace (Charlotte Bobcats); and Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City Thunder).

During the USA Training Camp, there will be daily practice sessions from noon to 3 PM (PDT) at UNLV's Cox Pavilion. The five-day event will end with a "Blue-White" Intrasquad Scrimmage at 7 PM (PDT) on July 24th at the Thomas and Mack Center, also on the UNLV campus. If you're in the area, you can get tickets either by calling 866-388-FANS or visiting www.UNLVtickets.com.

August 12th, selected members of the USA Team reconvene in New York City for the very exciting World Basketball Festival. If you're in New York, you absolutely have to check this out: http://www.slamonline.com/online/news-rumors/other-news/2010/06/nike-usa-basketball-debut-world-basketball-festival/

WBF tips off with a showcase featuring members of the 2010 USA Basketball National Team on an open-air court in Times Square (Broadway between 47th & 48th), along with an unprecedented performance by a surprise musical act. (Yes, they’re laying down the hardwood in the center of Times Square.) From there, the next two days will feature games at the legendary Rucker Park in Harlem, where open-air practices and scrimmages by the National Teams from Brazil and Puerto Rico, and training by France, will be mixed with a grassroots youth tournament serving as the championships for some of New York’s top summer basketball leagues.

The Festival will conclude with an exciting exhibition double-header featuring the United States taking on France (1 p.m.) and China meeting Puerto Rico (3:30 p.m.) at famed Madison Square Garden. The exhibition games are being utilized as part of the teams’ preparation for the 2010 FIBA World Basketball Championship in Turkey, which runs August 28 to September 12.

WOW! Can Coach K defend the Olympic Gold while defending the 2010 National Championship? If there's a coach out there that can, it's him...

9 Golden Years Of Duke Basketball To Come?

Duke under Mike Krzyzewski has been one of the most stable programs over a 30 year run NCAA Basketball has ever seen. Though there have been some lows, they were always followed by highs immediately after. My friend Kedsy crunched the numbers and found an extremely exciting pattern for Duke fans to look forward to over the next 9 years or so. While last year's team exceeded nearly everyone's expectations except the most optimistic of Duke fans and those within the locker room, what's to come may just keep Duke on top of the college basketball world where it belongs:

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The summer of 2009 was tough on Duke fans. The powderpuff blue team from down the road had won the national championship, and Duke had failed to advance past the Sweet 16 for the fifth straight year. A whole lot of journalists and more than a few of the Blue Devil faithful were yammering on about Duke's five year downward spiral pattern after twenty years of high-flying success.

Of course, you could only see a downward spiral if you believe a team's last game defines its season. Because Duke had outstanding seasons in every season from 2005 (really 2004-05, but for this post I'll use the shorthand) to 2009, with the exception of one down year in 2007. Yet, the ignominious endings, especially in 2008 and 2009, left an impression with even the most optimistic fan that those fine regular seasons had been a bit of a mirage.

But was this a new, negative pattern after a twenty year party? I was sitting at my computer in the summer of 2009 and something was off. It didn't seem new; I remember feeling much the same way in the mid-1990s, and also in the mid-1980s, before the 1986 team propelled Duke's historic run. I decided to look more closely at the entirety of K's career at Duke instead of just the previous five years.

A huge part of the perception issue was 2006, but as I thought about it I realized that was mostly due to a single piece of bad luck. LSU won their game before Duke by one point against a #12 seed on a last second desperation three-point heave. If that shot clanked off the rim, Duke would have played #12 seed Texas A&M in a game Duke almost certainly wins, and then Duke's next game would have been against Texas, who Duke matched up well with and had blown out by 31 earlier in the year. So if not for a halfcourt prayer, Duke probably makes the Final Four in 2006.

Looking at it that way, with 2006 as an "up" year, the alleged downward spiral was only three years, and seemed hauntingly familiar, centered around the one down year of 2007.

Coach K's first real recruiting class came to campus for the 1983 season. Including that season (but not his first two years with Bill Foster's recruits), under Coach K Duke has only three times experienced what an objective observer would classify as "down years." Those were 1983, 1995, and 2007. Focusing the analysis on those three years, a larger pattern emerges over the course of K's entire Duke career, and the recent years fit right in:

1983 -- DOWN year (11-17)
1984 -- Rebuilding year; #14 in final AP poll but probably overrated; lost first NCAA game.
1985 -- Frustrating year; solid #10 in final AP poll. Lost 2nd game in NCAAT.

and then nine golden years:
1986 -- #1 in final AP poll, NCAA final game
1987 -- #17, lost in Sweet 16 to eventual national champion
1988 -- #5, Final Four
1989 -- #9, Final Four
1990 -- #15, final game
1991 -- #6, national champs
1992 -- #1, national champs
1993 -- #10, upset in 2nd round of NCAAT
1994 -- #6, final game

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1995 -- DOWN year (13-18)
1996 -- Rebuilding year; unranked; lost first NCAA game
1997 -- Frustrating year; #8 in Final AP poll; barely beat Murray State before losing to Providence in 2nd round of NCAAT

and then nine golden years:
1998 -- #3 in Final AP poll; Elite Eight, with only a late game collapse against eventual national champion keeping team from the Final Four
1999 -- #1, final game
2000 -- #1, upset in Sweet 16
2001 -- #1, national champion
2002 -- #1, upset in Sweet 16
2003 -- #7, lost in Sweet 16
2004 -- #6, Final Four
2005 -- #3, upset in Sweet 16
2006 -- #1, see above

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2007 -- Down year; not nearly as awful as the previous down years, but still...
2008 -- Rebuilding year; #9 in Final AP poll; barely beat Belmont before losing to West Virginia in 2nd round
2009 -- Frustrating year; #6 in Final AP poll; lost in Sweet 16

...and then nine golden years? Well obviously the national championship in 2010 was a pretty good start.

In part because of this pattern I was convinced all year that Duke was going to the Final Four this season. Sure it could have been just a clever bit of data-fitting mixed with a healthy dose of wishful thinking, but it also might be that a Coach K team needs a certain amount of time to "recover" from a down year and be able to play with enough confidence to advance in the NCAA Tournament. It could be the frustration of 2008 and 2009 was exactly what history predicted.

With this year's experience and the new players we have coming in next year, here's hoping we truly have started another nine year run.

2010-11 Schedule Update

Via Philly.com, the Temple Owls have scheduled a date with death to come into Cameron Indoor Stadium on February 23rd, 2011. Best known for John Chaney (my hero for his press conference tirade at Calimari) and Bill Cosby's Jello Pudding Pops, the Owls should have their hands full coming into Cameron. Duke carries a 77 game non conference home winning streak into the 2011 season, and as long as they can survive an early, tough test from the Michigan State Spartans, should have an even longer streak going.

See the rest of the schedule that we know so far here: http://dukehoop.blogspot.com/2010/06/2010-11-schedule-what-we-know.html

By that time, Coach K will have surpassed Deano for career wins and then some. February 23rd, 2009, Duke was at 23 wins. Hit that mark next year, and K will have twelve more wins than The Nose. Let's hope it happens on Coach K Court...

K Academy

One thing that's definitely on my bucket list is a trip to the K Academy. Here's more on the fantasy camp:

Now in its eighth year, K Academy will once again bring team-building techniques into an once-in-a-lifetime experience for the ultimate Duke or college basketball fan. Every camper will spend five days in America’s #1 college sports venue – Cameron Indoor Stadium – where they’ll go from opening day tryouts to Sunday’s championship tournament. Along the way campers will play numerous games on Coach K Court in Cameron and learn the inside scoop on Duke’s three-time national championship program.

A lively social program, including a charity auction benefiting Durham’s Emily Krzyzewski Center, completes the experience. All campers reside in the four-star and recently renovated Washington Duke Inn & Golf Course located on the Duke University campus. And by popular demand we have built in optional golf and an executive physical testing time into the program.

Tuition for the K Academy is $10,000. Enrollment is limited and participants must be 35 years or older.

For a more in-depth look at the camp, read Gene Wojciechowski's column on ESPN.com here.