Will be interesting to see how Duke plays in this one. Despite the 20 point victory over BC the Devils played a suspect first half before going on a 17-0 run to start the second.

Wake has much better skill players than BC, so a repeat performance could hand Duke a rare home L.

Al-Farouq Aminu will be the key, Lance Thomas will likely guard him. Need a big night from Scheyer and Singler to go to 3-1 in the ACC.

Its on Fox Sports Net at 8pm

I'll take Duke in a close one, 83-79.

Sorry, didn't see this one.

I look for a closely contested game throughout. Wake is a much better team than most expected to see heading into the year, especially with the losses of James Johnson and Jeff Teague. But Al-Farouq Aminu and Ishmael Smith, along with role guys LD Williams, CJ Harris and Chase McFarland, have stepped up and played big for the Deacons so far on the season. Aminu's having an ACC First Team type of season and will most definitely give Duke's front line trouble in the interior. If Duke allows Aminu and Ari Stewart to use their athleticism and get going early around the rim (which Aminu is certainly capable of doing), the Blue Devils could be in a for long, drawn out battle. Duke cannot protect (or unprotect) the interior like it did in the first 20 minutes against BC on Wednesday, or Duke's in trouble. Luckily, without Johnson, this Wake club is a much less dominant team around the basket. This will be a guard-oriented game.

I'll take Duke 84-74 and Kyle Singler with a breakout 25-point performance. On the other hand, if the Blue Devils repeat their 1-of-12 outing from three that they had against BC, Wake wins. Duke cannot afford to shoot like that and win against an athletic team like Wake.

Please delete one of these threads. I am sick of reading all this rah rah stuff. lol

Actually, the Duke traffic here (in terms of volume of Duke threads per day) has been down here on the new Huddle. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately for some, we lost some of our fellow Dukies after the switchover. I expect, in time, this will change. I know I miss the days when, here (or there, I guess it would be), on an Ohio board, there were more Duke than Ohio State basketball and football threads combined Never understood this, but always thought it to be hilarious.

As of right now, here is a start back in the right direction.



Cuttin Nets: Jon, just lookin' for the Devils' ninth ACC championship in 12 years.

Three minutes 'til tip. Cameron will be rocking.

Man I hope Wake pulls off the upset. This weekend has sucked and a Duke loss would definitely help to end it on a high note.

Really impressed Aminu and Nolan Smith so far.

Scheyer really complaining about a call on him when he directly in front of a ref pulled the jersey of the Wake player.

Refs are really calling this tight though on both ends. Duke is being really aggressive and getting called for some that have been iffy.

Big 3 for Scheyer to end the half.

That was a bullshit intentional foul call if it stands.

What a load of crap

Terrible.

And college needs to adapt the NBA rule. If you can't shoot your FTs, then you can not come back into the game.

ball game....hope duke sends the refs a stipend.

clear to me the team isn't good enough to go any further than the sweet 16....

The refs haven't done anything for Duke this game. One bad call does not end a game. Aminu made a mistake by trying the big time dunk and should have just drawn contact and gone to the line. Duke has out scrapped Wake in this second half.

wildcats20 wrote:And college needs to adapt the NBA rule. If you can't shoot your FTs, then you can not come back into the game.

Ronald Curry, anyone?

wildcats20 wrote:The refs haven't done anything for Duke this game. One bad call does not end a game. Aminu made a mistake by trying the big time dunk and should have just drawn contact and gone to the line. Duke has out scrapped Wake in this second half.hav

You have no idea how much I appreciate the fact that you say this. People like slingshot just turn the game on and revert to the, "Duke gets all the calls," when it's simply not true. Sure they get some calls, just as UNC does and Kentucky and Kansas, etc., but the Blue Devils get just as many bad calls called against them as the next team. This Duke fan might even argue that they get worse calls come March, year after year. But that's a different subject.

Aminu trying to do everything for Wake right now.

We're talking like this game is over. It's an 11 point game with 5 min left. FAR from over.

Welp make that 13 with 14 coming.

Singler takes a really, really hard foul/fall and then shoots about a 13 footer on his FT attempt.

That fall looked nasty. Basically falling from 8-10 feet up in the air with his face breaking the fall.

The Dukies are takin some serious physical abuse tonight.

Looks like Duke will probably get the win, but Wake looks to be pretty decent. I'm not looking forward to what Aminu and Smith will do to Carolina on Wednesday.

ironman02 wrote:The Dukies are takin some serious physical abuse tonight.

This is what encourages me about this team's chances in post-season play. Last year's Blue Devil squad would have dropped this type of physical affair by 10. And did. At Wake and at Clemson. (Wake was a two-point loss in reality, but Duke trailed much greater figures in that contest.) For the first time in awhile, no one can accuse Duke of being soft. We're going to take your hits, and we're coming back at you. I like that.

But there is still a lot of work to be done. Right now, this is still a Sweet 16, maybe Elite Eight team, so I'm not going to say anything further.

Meanwhile, Kyle is whacked out right now talking to the sideline reporter. That hit was damn hard.

Duke wins this one, 90 to 70, with the Brothers Plumlee going for 19 (Miles) and 11 (Mason), respectively. Miles also brought down 14 rebounds and Mason 7, including a few highlight reel dunks. Kyle Singler led the Blue Devils in scoring with 21 points along with his 15 rebounds and two assists. A nice comeback game for him after a down stretch over the past half month or so. Nolan Smith held Ish Smith to seven points and zero in half number two. Once again, his defensive capabilities on the perimeter prove to be some of the best in the country.

This was a major games of runs. Duke jumped out to a 50-38 run to start the second half after a 10-0 run; then Wake scored a 15-4 run of its own to eventually tie the game at 55 apiece; then Duke scored 10 straight to open the game back up, eventually winning big. Kind of a weird game, really. The game was never really that back and forth despite a relatively close score throughout the first half and parts of the second. Very physical. But this is to be expected when playing Wake, which has turned into a pro wrestling team over the past half decade. I for one am glad Chase McFarlane is never coming back to Cameron Indoor, and that I may never have to play against him again, as this is Duke and Wake's only meeting of the regular season.

Jon Scheyer, after a really rough first half, finished with nine points and six assists (but also had four turnovers, a rarity for No. 30). He's been off the past couple of nights. He will need to pick it up and soon, as Duke travels to NC State on Wednesday and to Death Valley to take on Clemson Saturday night on ESPN. Huge games.