Hey Crazies,
I have been to four Duke Games in my life and none of them have compared to the one I went to on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden in New York City. I had the best seats I have had in my life to a Duke game which were diagonally behind the Duke bench. I am a die hard Duke fan and have been since birth. Duke is my life and my passion and it is a great honor to be considered a Cameron Crazie at heart even though I don’t attend Duke University.
I am a very observant person when it comes to anything in life especially Duke Basketball. Duke played a good game on Wednesday however it wasn’t played to their full potential. First of all you cannot take ANY credit away from Arizona State and their defensive pressure they put on us throughout the entire game. They shut down our three point shots almost every time we had the ball. We did get a few open looks but overall we shot poorly from beyond the arc. The fact that we did not get open looks from the outside did work in a positive way for us. We got to work on our inside game and that worked Miles and Singler a lot more than normal. Miles has impressed me the most this year as far as improvement from last year. He has stepped up more physically, has bulked up a lot, is strong underneath, and is a pure shot blocker who will continue to grow throughout his college career. And once Mason comes back, we will have a very strong threat underneath. Singler and Scheyer played well as always and helped a lot with their leadership roles. The person who was my favorite to watch and has grown on me the most is Andre Dawkins. This kid has a certain swagger that is amazing. His shot is so smooth, he isn’t afraid to shoot the ball, and can make it 9 out of 10 times. The one thing I would like to see him do is dribble more. In the game tonight against UCONN he dribbled a little bit and produced. He reminds me of JJ Redick in the sense that he was just a shooter at first but once he learned to be more confident with the ball all around, he was almost unstoppable. Like I said, Duke didn’t play to their full potential but did pull out the win. We need to learn to play more down low and not rely on the three ball as much. We need to learn to set the pick and roll a little more as well. In the game tonight against UCONN we out rebounded them and played amazing defense on the inside. We stepped it up a lot but I think we can do even better. It is early in the season and I expect big things from this years Duke Team. My prediction is bold, but I am going to say we end up with 2 or 3 loses overall and make a deep run in the tournament.
A side note about the game; I got to meet a few people after and during the game as well. The first person I met was Marshall Plumlee who is a very nice kid. He is very tall, athletic, and an all around nice kid. He isn’t stuck up and was willing to talk to me about a few things. The only thing I really asked him was about his brother Mason and how he was doing in high school. He said to me that Mason would be back in about four weeks or so and is still working out hard to get back as soon as possible. High school is also going very well for him and he is developing and growing everyday. I also got to meet Kyrie Irving after the game and as soon as I saw him my eyes lit up. I was the first one to ask him for his autograph and he looked very shocked that I asked him for it. He actually hesitated at first then gave a smile because he knows he is wanted by every Duke fan and is truly welcomed into the Duke family. I got to shake the hand of every player and even Coach K. It was definitely an experience I recommend that every Duke fan takes part in.
I am hopefully attending two more games this year and they include Duke vs. Georgetown on January 30th, and HOPEFULLY UNC vs. Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium. I will report back on both games if I happen to attend them both. And always remember, “You can’t spell viKtory without K.â€
