The Duke-Michigan State game was a complete disaster for the brothers Plumlee. Their mental errors were egregious and they were physically dominated by a tough Michigan State interior. I lost all of my optimism for the Plumlees at the end of the Michigan State game. It took a long time for me to reach the realization that the Plumlees will never play up to their potential while they wear a Duke uniform. After the MSU game I decided to temper my expectations and appreciate the Plumlees for what they are: players with copious amounts of potential, who show flashes of brilliance, but can’t put it all together. I know what the Plumlees bring the table and decided to enjoy watching them play, rather than focusing on unrealistic expectations. But, like a crazy ex-girlfriend you can’t stay away from, the Plumlees have given me a reignited and unrealistic hope in them.
Tag Archives: Miles Plumlee
Hope!
That was Ugly
(Amigos- my take on Coach K’s 903rd win for Grantland can be found here. Below is Marc’s. Thanks for reading. -Shane)
Thanks Mike, Now I can be crotchety in peace.
With sixteen minutes and twenty-seconds remaining in the second half Andre Dawkins buried a three pointer over a Michigan State Defender. It was the beginning of a 17-1 Duke span where the Blue Devils started to run away with the game. I felt content as I knew that Coach K was about to waltz into the history books against a gritty opponent. I should have known better. Michigan State clawed back into the game with nine minutes remaining as the Duke offense went into “stall-ball,” and the shots stopped falling. In the end Duke’s lead was too large for Michigan State to overcome and the Blue Devils pulled out a toughly fought victory. Congratulations to Coach K for becoming the winningest Coach in college basketball!
On the Brink
"Get your licks in now. In thirty years I'll be the champ."
To begin, Sports Illustrated has a wonderful gallery of Mike Krzyzewski pictures located here. Anyone who has paid attention to the sports world this year has noticed an increased amount of attention placed on Coach K this year. Why? Coach K is about to be the winningest coach in college basketball history. His next victory, #903, will put him above his old coach Bob Knight. This record may never be defeated because 903 is a huge number and Coach K has numerous years of coaching ahead of him. He will continue to win 25-35 games a year and the number will only grow larger as time passes. His career has been nothing short of remarkable. Early struggles almost sent him into coaching obscurity, but Duke stuck with Coach K and has been wonderfully rewarded.
Exhibitions against Little People
As college basketball teams get ready to start the season they take the court in exhibition games against feebler opponents. These opponents are generally small schools who will get paid well for the game. Players on the teams are talented but not nearly as good as the big schools. They specifically lack height. On the basketball court you often see exhibition teams sending out teams of little people when compared to bigger schools. You feel bad for the exhibition teams who trot out their 6’8″ centers against the seven footers of bigger schools. I’d compare it to watching your buddy approach a super hot girl at a bar to try and get her number. You know it’s a mistake, you’ll know he’ll be met with catastrophic failure, but you root for him because he’s the eternal underdog. As he walks across the bar you see he’s nervous, he even knows he’s going to fail, but he’s accompanied by a desperate sort of confidence. He has nothing to lose. If he tries and fails then life continues as normal, but if he tries and succeeds then he has achieved greatness.
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
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.
Miles Plumlee Dunked on Kyle Singler
1:36 seconds into the video (below) Miles Plumlee takes a ball from Kyle Singler and dunks over everything. Miles Plumlee is an unstoppable force. Hell, just watch the entire video and savor that brilliant tournament. The 09-10 NCAA Tournament is probably my favorite sporting event of all time. I expected another early Sweet 16 exit but the Devils used brilliant defense combined with the “Big Three” and beat all comers. Once Lance Thomas half-dunked over the entire Baylor team I felt like we had a fantastic chance to make the final four. My nerves were firing during the Butler game and I still couldn’t believe how close Hayward’s last shot was. If his shot had gone in I would’ve quit sports forever. During March Madness highlights we would no longer see Christian Laettner banging his magical jumper, we would see Gordon Hayward knocking down a clutch half-court shot after Kyle Singler was illegally leveled by Matt “The Creeper” Howard. Enough reminiscing, we’ve got work to do.
The Youngest Plumblebee
(Editor’s note: for the foreseeable future, Marc is on “the Plumlee beat.” Enjoy him every Tuesday)
Ladies and Gentlemen… let me introduce Marshall Plumleeeeeeeeeeee! Standing at a towering 6″11′ with a weight of 225 pounds he is ready to dunk over the entire universe. I’m disappointed that Duke lists him at 6’11” because we all know the fear a seven footer strikes into the heart of opponents. That extra inch changes everything. A seven footer is a majestic rarity. Someone who is 6’11” is just another regular Joe running into door frames and cabinets.
The Plumblebees
(Editor’s note: When I asked Marc if he wanted to write for the site, since I know him to be a funny and interesting dude, he asked me if someone had taken “the Plumlee beat.” I told him it was all his.) 
Hello friends! My name is Marc. My first sports memory is watching Christian Laettner crush the hopes and dreams of every Kentucky fan on that wonderful day back in 1992. I jumped around the living room like a maniac and gushed with glee as my dad replayed the shot over and over again because we taped the game on our high tech Hitachi VCR. Since that day Duke Basketball has been the only sport I’ve truly followed. The Carolina Hurricanes have a fun bandwagon to hop on if they are in the playoffs, but does anyone outside of Raleigh really care about the regular season? The Panthers have been an unmitigated disaster for the past few years and this year looks to promise some new lows! Shane’s article on the Duke-Richmond game brought up wonderful memories of the John Fox Run-Run-Pass-Punt offense. This year I’m expecting a variety based upon Run-Sack-Interception playcalling. I’ve lived in North Carolina for twenty-three years and I haven’t been able to really focus on anything but the Blue Devils. Continue reading
The TRB Comments of the Week!
Every week, more or less, we’ll be choosing one comment from the previous week that made our hearts swell with joy, pride, or love. Then we’ll be choosing another that made the rest of our organs swell with shame, hilarity, or disgust. All comments are printed as written.
Positive
In last week’s rivalry post, which sought to determine whether an argument could be made for Duke-UNC as the greatest American rivalry, Zeke brought up an excellent point: