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We’ve just put up the latest on commitment Andre Dawkins of Atlantic Shores who talked about Coach K and the Olympics and the desire to play with prospects Josh Hairston and Tyler Thornton.  Speaking of Josh Hairston a player Duke covets, we have an in depth interview with the prep star where he discusses his upcoming visit to …  You’ll get that and much more as a member where BDNP brings you the latest skinny.  Also up is and extremely in depth interview with another prep sensation Harrison Barnes.  We are in the process of moving the site, but if you want to join BDN Premium and read the lates offerings simply e-mail me at watzonebdp@gmail.com.

Attention Blue Devil Nation Premium Members

I realize that some members do not frequent our message board.  You may or may not know that we will be moving the site.  That means the old premium section will no longer be in existence.  You will need to e-mail me your real name, first and last, your user name and password to the old site, so that I may log you into the system.  We will temporarily place premium info on the message board.  I encourage you to register for the message board, for you are missing out on a lot not doing so.  If you forgot your user name and password to the board, drop me a line.  Send the information to watzonebdp@gmail.com along with any questions.  Our new home is coming soon and we don’t want you to miss out on any information.

For those of you recently requesting subscription information, I will get to you shortly.

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Meet the Blue Devils Day features scrimmage

DURHAM, N.C. – The Duke football team wants to invite you to show your support at the annual “Meet The Team Day” on Saturday, August 16, beginning after Duke’s 10 a.m. scrimmage at Wallace Wade Stadium.

The scrimmage is open to the public and meet the team day will begin after the practice on the track surrounding the field.  Fans will have an opportunity to get autographs and pictures taken with their favorite Blue Devil players and coaches. Posters will be given away to those attending and all fans will be able to enter drawing to win prizes.

The event and prizes are sponsored by Alltel Wireless, Blue Devil Weekly, Crocs, Delta Air Lines, Durham Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Gatorade, Herald-Sun, Lineberry and Company, Northgate Mall, Duke Stores and Time Warner Cable.

 

Amanda Blumenherst takes U.S. Women’s Amatuer

Congrats to Dukie Amanda Blumenherst, who grabbed her first lead on the 31st hole and held off Azahara Munoz for a 2 & 1 win at the 108th U.S. Women’s Amateur at Eugene Country Club.

Blumenherst, last year’s runner-up, got up and down for par on the 35th hole to seal the match after Munoz missed an eight-foot birdie putt.

The 21-year-old Blumenherst is the first collegian to win this trophy since Virada Nirapathpongporn in 2003.

“I never got frustrated. I just kept with it,” Blumenherst said. “Azahara didn’t really make any mistakes and I was playing well. My putting kind of started off a little shaky, but I stayed strong and stayed patient with it. My coach told me to stay patient all day and it’ll win it for you and it did.”

Pro Am Report in the A.M.

We will have pictures and coverage of last evenings NC Pro Am up in the morning.

 

 

 

 

Rick Crank Photogpraphy

Desmond Scott will play his football for Duke University

                                          

Duke landed a big time local running back, when Desmond Scott de-committed from Rutgers and casted his lot with the Blue Devils.  Scott plays for Durham Hillside, a team that also features another Duke commitment in Cory Gattis.  It’s no secret that the Hillside Hornet’s will get the support of Duke fans this coming season.  Scott is an all purpose back and will be a duel threat in college if he remains at his current position.  He is the ninth player to commit in the class of 2009 for Coach Cutcliffe.  Duke continues to show improved recruiting under the new staff.

Team USA, Kenny Boynton and Duke Football

When Kobe Bryant mentions the “joy of the game,” you get an idea of what Coach K has done to make sure the players are enjoying themselves in preparation for the Olympics.  Most of the players remember little of the last time the USA won Gold.

In this blurb, the author says Team USA has that special something that is missing from most NBA teams.   There is some worry about the overall team health.  And here is CNNSI’s Chris Ballard on long range planning for the USA Basketball program.

Kenny Boynton has no shortage of confidence judging from his comments in this link.

With kickoff to football season just over a month away, Coach Cutcliffe caught the attention of coaches on Wednesday’s Operation Football.  Here is ESPN’s Heather Dinich on Duke’s “Catch 22.”  Richmond edged out James Madison in the pre season polls which is a departure from the pre season magazines which all have JMU on top.  TSN picks them #2 in the nation, Lindy’s #3 and Phil Steele has them number one.

Kenny Boynton wows Vegas with 33 points in comeback win

Kenny Boynton scored 26 second half points leading Team Breakdown to an 85-73 win during the opening day of the Reebok tournament in Las Vegas.

Boynton erupted after struggling with his shot in the first half where his team once trailed by 13 points.  Several of the nation’s top coaches were on hand to see his performance.

Teammate Brandon Knight added 22 points and the two outdueled Abdul Gaddy (26 points) and Avery Bradley (18 points).  Team Breakdown faces D-One Sports today in a much anticipated match up with John Wall. 

Wall led his team to a 87-80 win over Worldwide Orange, scoring 30 points in the victory. Here is TSN on the Breakdown game.

Singler, Williams, Czyz and Johnson shine at SJG NC Pro Am

The SJG Greater North Carolina Pro Am is in its first year of existence and is holding the event at McDougald Gym on the campus of North Carolina Central University.  The event features players past and present from the likes of Duke, UNC and pretty much every area school you can name.

Former UNC player Jerry Stackhouse came up with the event with the help of two childhood friends.  In fact the “SJC” initials stands for the names of their Fathers.  The friends have know each other since elementary school in Kinston, N.C., thus the local flavor.  “We have four hours each Tuesday and Thursday where we are keeping some kids off the streets … adults too for that matter,” said Donyell Bryant.

Bryant acts as the commissioner, overseeing the event and making sure all runs smoothly.  “We don’t charge people a thing to come in and watch the games, thanks to our sponsors.”  He continued, “It’s a great opportunity to get kids involved.  Parents can come here at a time when their is a tough economy and spend some quality time with their children for free.”

The plans are for the event to grow and it surely will.  There was a fan friendly atmosphere during Tuesday evenings games.  If you are anywhere near the Triangle area, be sure to stop in on Thursday.  The games begin at 6:00 and last through early August every Tuesday and Thursday evening.  Groups, churches and even entire neighborhoods are invited by the promoters, so get some folks together and come see some good ballin.

Now, I am sure you want to hear about future and current Blue Devils, so here we go.  The first game of the evening pitted against.  Freshman to be, Elliot Williams and Steve Johnson played for E-Net.

Elliot was late to arrive, but it didn’t take long for his coach to get him into the game.  Williams wasted little time making his presence felt, scoring on dunks, three point shots and getting to the line.  Williams has put on a bit more size since I last saw him.  The strength of his game is the ability to beat his man off the dribble and create plays.

Williams drained a couple of threes, showed knack to make some tantalizing passes and when left free for even a second, he easily dunked the ball on slashing drives.  In fact, he was doubled as the game got into the final minutes.  Williams showed a lot of confidence and no player on the other team had an answer for him.  Williams ended the game with 22 points.

Williams teammate, Duke walk on Steve Johnson added 4 points.  Their team lost the game 65-59 to Black Magic.

The next game featured last season’s ACC Rookie of the Year, Kyle Singler and incoming freshman Olek Czyz.  Neither of these players disappointed the fans. In fact, Olek Czyz was referred to as O.C. in that there was a lot of trouble pronouncing his name.  As you may have read, his ability to get off the floor and dunk anything near the rim is a crowd pleaser.  In fact, the opposing players often cleared out in fear that they would be posterized by a photographer who might catch them on the receiving end of a dunk.

Czyz (pronounced “Chiz”) threw down five crowd pleasing dunks, many from unusual angles.  On this night, he showed a consistent outside shot from around the free throw line and drained a three.  While he certainly needs work in some areas of the game, Czyz proved that he can electrify the crowd in that he has plenty of athleticism.  More importantly, he plays hard all the time and seems to be in excellent shape.  Czyz ended the game with 22 points.

Teammate Kyle Singler like many have said has put on some size.  Some of that size is from his off season workouts, but most may be from natural maturity of his body.  In the first half, there was no doubt Kyle was the best player on the court.  He does so many things that goes unnoticed, be it playing the passing lanes, getting out on a man his teammates missed or making the pass or big play during critical moments.

Singler put the ball on the floor with ease, shot well from the outside, grabbed 11 rebounds and had 4 blocks to go with 16 points.  Not being a homer here, but the refs took him out of the game late in the second half, making three calls which drew disapproval from the 1000 plus fans in attendance.  But that was after his teams amazing comeback.

I looked up and the Barnstormers were trailing Team Noel by 11 points, just minutes later the tide turned and both Singler and Czyz played big roles in making plays, be it altering shots, grabbing boards, dunking, making a steal … you name it, they helped spark a comeback.

Kyle Singler drained a key three point dagger at the end of a 12-0 run to put his team ahead for good 58-57 at the 4:03 mark.  How good was his team’s defense?  Well, they held the opponent to just two points the rest of the way, winning 66-59 on an amazing 18-2 run to close the game.

Jon Scheyer, Nolan Smith and Gerald Henderson were in the crowd to watch their teammates as was Chris Carrawell.  There is more coverage and details of the event on the BDN Premium Message Board.  Here is the link official link for scores, schedules and results.

Plumlee shines, Coach K readying for China, Peach Jam and more

Duke commitment Mason Plumlee struggled a bit in his most recent game, but had 14 points and 14 rebounds in the previous game versus the Bahama’s as Team USA U-18 team continues to win.  The semi-finals start today with Team USA taking on Canada.

The time has been set for 9:00 est for the Duke at Purdue game which is part of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.  This link lists the time for all games.  An aside, Mason and Miles Plumlee’s Mom played for the Purdue Women’s Basketball team and his Dad grew up rooting for the school.  His parents will have the opportunity to see their eldest son Miles in action just up the road.

Speaking of scheduling, Montana is looking forward to their jaunt to Cameron which highlights the Grizzlies schedule.

Team USA wants to re-establish itself to the world.  This link tells of how they plan to do it. 

Dwight Howard is looking forward to July 21st which will be the start of practice in the quest for the Gold Medal.  Coach K is currently busy ironing out the final plans.  This is surely a busy time of year for Duke fans.

Boo Williams won the boy’s 17-U championship at the Peach Jam.  Blue Devil Nation Premium members have access to several interviews with the likes of Andre Dawkins, Jamil Wilson, John Wall and many more.  BDNP is a subscription service which takes you behind the scenes and allows access to discuss those issues on a premium members only message board.  Go to one of the paypal logos in the right side of the menu in this link which is our old site.