Just a quick one to note that the Duke women (7-1-1) are going for their first ACC title since 1994 and only their second overall tonight in Raleigh against N.C. State (1-6-2 in conference). These are nearly uncharted waters for Duke, who were led by Laura Weinberg’s two goals to a crucial 2-0 win over Wake Forest last week. For her play, Weinberg was named the ACC Player of the Week. They followed that with a 3-1 win on Senior Day against Maryland. Freshman standout Kelly Cobb was healthy again, and you can see highlights here:
Category Archives: Duke
Quick Post – Duke Women’s Soccer and the ACC Title
Posted in Duke
Tagged ACC Regular Season Champions, Erwin Cup, Kelly Cobb, Laura Weinberg, NCSU, Women's Soccer
2 Comments
Coach K or Roy Williams
Two of the best coaches in the NCAA
You’re seventeen years old. You’re the best basketball player in the nation and you can go to any school you want. Both Duke and North Carolina have come calling and Coach K and Roy Williams are throwing their best recruiting techniques at you. You decide to go through a list of pros and cons comparing the two coaches to make your decision.
Posted in Duke, UNC
Tagged Coach K, Elton Brand, Grant Hill, Roy Williams, Sean May, Tyler Hansbrough
17 Comments
Predicting the Plumlees
Reading through various preseason reports and articles I’ve noticed a pattern has begun to emerge regarding the Plumlees and their potential contributions to this years Duke Blue Devils. Instead of relying solely on words to describe the play of the Plumlees I will show you what they will bring to the table.
Miles will be doing a lot of this:
Miles with the jump hook from 10 feet
Posted in Duke
Tagged Marshall Plumlee, Mason Plumlee, Miles Plumlee, Preseason, The Plumblebees
2 Comments
Hey Little Brother, Don’t Mind my Testicles on your Head
This past Friday, October 14, Duke had their official start to season with the Countdown to Craziness event. From what I’ve read about the event Duke fans should be very excited by Seth Curry and surprisingly Quinn Cook. Mason Plumlee has received poor reviews from internet message board basketball coaches while the eldest Plumlee has garnered rave reviews. I ask myself how much I can trust the words of anonymous fans, but I sorely wish for Miles Plumlee to be a spectacular all-american center so I will trust the internet entirely. When it comes to Mason Plumlee I will ignore anything bad anyone says about him and claim that he is a spectacular all-american power forward. I haven’t read anything about Marshall Plumlee because I want to keep my image of him completely unblemished. He will always be a goofy smiling, crayon eating and dunking machine to me.
Posted in Duke
Tagged Marshall Plumlee, Men's Basketball, Miles Plumlee, The Plumblebees
10 Comments
Some Duke Plugs
Hey gang, this afternoon at around 1:30 Adrian’s next installment from the top 100 Carolina players list will go up. For now, I’d like to direct your attention to two things:
1 – My Duke season preview, “Why Duke Will Win A National Title.” You’ll notice there’s no link yet. Going up soon on Grantland. Update: here it is.
2 – A recount of Duke’s Countdown to Craziness featuring the surprising duel between Austin Rivers and Seth Curry.
I couldn’t be more excited for the start of the season. It’s going to be a great year.
Posted in Duke
7 Comments
Tonight: Duke vs. UNC, Women’s Soccer
More Erwin Cup points are on the line tonight as Duke and UNC meet up at Fetzer field. I am incredibly excited for this match for a number of reasons. First, I’ve been working on a feature story about the two teams over the last month or so. I’ve gotten to know the coaches and a few of the players as they moved toward night’s rivalry game. Everyone’s been very nice, but it’s clear how much this means to both sides.
At stake for Duke
The Blue Devils are ranked 4th in the country, and are off to the best start in program history. Robbie Church, the head coach, has been trying to build a team like this since he took over in 2001. He’s been to the Elite 8 twice, but this is a team who could contend for a championship. They’re led by Tara Campbell, a standout junior goalkeeper, and Kelly Cobb, the freshman goal scorer whose status may be questionable tonight after she turned an ankle in practice Monday. All-time, Duke’s record against Carolina is 2-33-1. None of the current players have a victory against their rival. This would plant a flag in the ground and show the country that Duke soccer is a legitimate threat. A loss, on the other hand, would keep Duke in its place, in the shadow of the Tar Heels. It’s impossible to underestimate the importance of this game for the team, the program, and their hopes of an ACC and national championship.
At stake for UNC
Anson Dorrance, the legendary coach, is a master motivator. He has his girls believing that Duke has written them off, that nobody expects them to win, and that the reputation of Carolina soccer is on the line. Far from being a complacent top dog, the Tar Heels are arguably more angry and intense for this match than any other match of the season. Carolina experienced a short struggle earlier this season, but they’ve now won three matches in a row. Strikers Kealia Ohai and Courtney Jones are benefiting from a new system (4-2-3-1) Dorrance learned from the French national team, and their goal production has been revived during the winning streak. Carolina’s defense is vulnerable, but they believe they can score enough goals to keep Duke at bay. And as much as the Blue Devils want this victory for their program, Dorrance and the Tar Heels want to defend the Carolina name.
For both teams, this is the biggest game of the regular season, and possibly the biggest regular season game in years. It happens tonight, at 7pm, at Fetzer Field in Chapel Hill. I couldn’t be more excited.
Posted in Duke, UNC
Tagged Anson Dorrance, Courtney Jones, Kealia Ohai, Kelly Cobb, Robbie Church, Tara Campbell, Women's Soccer
2 Comments
Fall sports rankings and national title odds
Let’s take a look at the respective rankings of every fall sports team at Duke and UNC.
Football
UNC: #35 (by the ‘others receiving votes’ portion of the USA Today poll)
Duke: #42 (hey, we got a vote!)
Men’s Soccer
UNC: #4
Duke: #26
Posted in Duke, UNC
Tagged Cross Country, Field Hockey, football, Men's Cross Country, Men's Soccer, national title hopes, Rankings, soccer, Volleyball, Women's Cross Country, Women's Soccer
9 Comments
The Doldrums
This is the worst time of year to be a college basketball fan. Let me explain. In the springtime after March Madness we all sit around and evaluate the “what ifs?” and “should haves.” As we move into summer we accept that college basketball is still far away. We decide whether we want to watch golf, baseball or stab our own eyeballs with forks. From personal experience I can declare that the fork stabbing is far more entertaining than baseball or golf. We’re frustrated there isn’t college basketball, but we’ve come to accept it.
However, as we venture forth into fall we feel that college basketball is right around the corner. We can almost taste it. We want to see Sportscenter highlights of Duke or UNC crushing a team by forty. We want to see Virginia Tech squeak by cupcakes and laugh as they don’t get picked for the NCAA tournament yet again. We want to see Wake Forest actually lose to the Polytechnical School for the Deaf and Blind. But we can’t always get what we want.
Duke Earns Its First Erwin Cup Point!
The Duke football essay project returns tomorrow, but in the meantime, here’s the wrap from the weekend.
-Check the scoreboard, baby! (Right sidebar.) Duke has its first point of the Erwin Cup, and it was well-earned. Visiting the #5 UNC Tar Heels, the men’s soccer team pulled out an incredible 2-2 draw. Luckily, Will asked me the day before the game what would happen in the case of a tie, and we decided that the difference in possible points earned would go to the road team. So in this case, UNC stood to gain 3 with a home win, and Duke would get 4 with a road win. The difference is 1, so Duke takes the point.
Riley Wolfe scored the game-tying goal for Duke in the 84th minute, and the Blue Devils are now unbeaten in their last five matches.
-UNC women’s soccer did a better for themselves, winning 4-1 at Miami. You can watch the goals here.
-Duke women’s soccer continued its incredible season, and Tara Campbell earned yet another shutout, in a 1-0 win over Virginia Tech. You can see the nifty goal, scored by Kaitlyn Kerr after a great headed pass from Chelsea Canepa, here:
Cobb’s Crossbars, Weekend Look-Ahead
It was heartbreak city last night at Koskinen Stadium, as Kelly Cobb hit two shots into the cross bar and #4 Duke was forced to settle for a draw with #7 Virginia. Post-game comments from goalie Tara Campbell (excellent all night), Cobb (strong but unlucky), and head coach Robbie Church:
Another positive from the match was Natasha Anasi, the defender who was on the end of every header and seemed virtually unbeatable on the ground. All in all, it was a very solid defensive performance for Duke, but aside from Cobb, the offense seemed to lack a little speed. UVA had an answer for every attack, and eventually it became apparent that the only way a goal was going to happen was if Cobb did something dynamic. And she almost did, twice.