I love reading about the history of Duke Athletics.  For that reason, I had a hard time putting down Wallace Wade, Championship Years at Alabama and Duke.

Many of you know that I'm somewhat of a super fan.  In fact, I remember Wade attending Duke football practices for years.

Even then, he had an aura of confidence about him and he should have.  Wade led Duke to two Rose Bowls and made the Blue Devils a powerhouse.  Yep!  Back in the day, Duke could be found in the top ten year in and year out.

What I didn't know was the depth of the man.  This is where author, Lewis Bowling filled in the gaps for a wonderful trip into the past.  Bowling was quite meticulous with the details about old Durham, Duke as it was then, and well, everything was well researched.

The book has about 350 pages and is well illustrated. I admit I skipped to when Wallace Wade took over the Blue Devils.  Still, it makes one want to go back and get the rest of the story. 

Wade was an amazing man and it's good that Bowling brought his exploits to life.  As a Duke fan, I found myself proud of Duke's illustrious football past. 

Be it tales on Ace Parker or George McAffee, no legend is left out.  Each season is well documented, from the Rose Bowl in Durham to when Duke was unbeaten, unscored upon with no ties in 1938.  So, if you want a read that makes you feel like you have been transported back in time to witness the glory days of Duke (and Alabama) football, this book is for you.  I highly recommend adding it to your summer reading list, so that you may learn of an amazing man and a time we should never forget. There are far too many interesting details in Wallace Wade, Championship Years at Alabama and Duke for you not to check it out.

For more reviews or to purchase the book, please go to the Amazon link on the menu to your left.  You help support the Blue Devil Nation when you purchase books through the links.  I have no problem if you go directly to Carolina Academic Press which offers a 10% discount.

Andy Katz has a new Pre-Season Top 25 Poll up and he lists Duke at #11.  Meanwhile, Kemba Walker, a 6'2" point guard and the overall #36 player in the Class of 2008, has given an oral commitment to UCONN.  And NMSU, who will play at Cameron in November, lost their Coach, Reggie Theus, to the Sacramento Kings of the NBA.

Watzone loves old school!  Before Coach K and Foster, there was a heck of a coach named Vic Bubas leading the Blue Devils.  I want somebody to win a six month membership to the Blue Devil Nation Premium Newsletter!  To do so, you must do a little research or have lived as a Blue Devil fan in the sixties.  I realize that many of you were yet to be born in the sixties, so I have made the question one that you can figure out if you dig out the record books.

You are looking at a 1964 Final Four program, signed by the Duke basketball team.  For a closer view, go here!

You will notice that athletes in the day signed their names in a clear manner.  For a three month membership, name the players who signed this program who went on to have a career in professional basketball?  Who were the final four teams and what was the teams record versus arch rival UNC during he 1963-64 season?

The first person to answer the three questions correctly, gets the subscription.  But wait!  You can extend the membership to six months by naming all the players that played professional basketball in this oh-so cool link to a letter from Vic Bubas which is signed by the team?  Can you tell me the year by looking at the names?

Also, can you tell me the assistant coaches name who signed the letter and his claim to fame?

If you get all the questions right, I will gladly grant you a six month membership, so you can keep up with recruiting and happenings in Duke athletics.  You will earn the crown and be the King of the sixties.

Send the answers to watzonebdp@gmail.com

A very young Watzone is reaching out to a player for an autograph in 1964.  Can you name this player and his current occupation?  Do so, and I will give you a month of premium access.  Hint, he was Italian.

Check out the kid waving a Duke pennant Yep!  That's me!  But as I have told an assistant coach, don't call me old if you can't beat me in "horse."

Duke landed a good one in  Krystal Thomas

Incoming freshman Krystal Thomas - "A lot of people are saying we aren't going to be the same Duke, but I think we'll go out and prove people wrong," said Thomas, the girls player of the year on the Orlando Sentinel's annual All-Southern team. "I think Duke can have a great run this year. We're all thinking, 'Tampa '08'; that's our goal: to get back to the Final Four."

In this link, Krystal has been named a Team USA U-19 Finalist!

If you would like a three month pass to the premium newsletter, send your Duke-Maryland pick in!  The closest one to the exact score will take the prize, but you have to be closer than my pick in the preview which will be up shortly:)

The scoring system is simple ... 1)  you must pick the winning team.  2) it will be the total number of points off the score.  EXAMPLE - Duke 69 Maryland 68 is your pick.  The actual score is Duke 76 Maryland 73.  You would be 7 off on Duke and 5 on Maryland for a total of 12 points off.  The person with the lowest total points off wins.

The picks must be in by 6:45 EST.  They may be sent to watzonebdp@gmail.com.  The previous contest winners and answers will be announced tomorrow afternoon, as will the winner of this contest.  Good Luck!

It's contest time again!  The last one featured Kenny "Dogg" Dennard and before that, we visited the early seventies when Randy Denton roamed the middle for Duke.

The contest is designed to spark interest in Duke Basketball history and I assure you, some of the questions are obscure, but fun just the same.

The prize is a 3 month membership ...   more »

 

The late Red Auerbach, voted the greatest coach in NBA history, was on the Duke basketball coaching staff during the fall semester of 1949 and was considered a potential successor to then-head coach Gerry Gerard, who had been diagnosed with cancer.  But Auerbach left Duke for a pro job before ever coaching in a game for the Blue Devils.

Chuck Daly (1964-69) and Hubie Brown (1969-72) were both Duke assistant coaches who did coach in games at Duke.

This trivia was provided from the new Encyclopedia of Duke Basketball by John Roth.  Purchase your copy today!

Congrats to the winners of the trivia contest, which earned them two free months of premium.

1- What was the nickname of Gene Banks High School team?

A- The Speedboys

2- What NBA team drafted Gene Banks?

A- San Antonio Spurs and ended his career with the Chicago Bulls.

3- What happened after the UNC game on February 28th, 1981?

A- Gene (nicknamed Tinkerbell) threw roses to the crowd.  Earlier, he hit a shot from beyond the top of the key over the outstretched arms of Sam Perkins to send the crowd into a frenzy and the game into overtime.  Duke rode the emotion and went on to upset UNC 66-65.

4- Name the team that ended two of his seasons while at Duke?

A- Purdue beat the Devils in the NIT in Coach K's first season at Duke.  The Boilermakers ended the Devils season the year before, 68-60 in the NCAA Tournament.

Kenny Dennard was drafted by the Kansas City Kings (Sac) and finished his career with the Denver Nuggets.

He still holds the ACC record for steals in one game with 11 against Maryland on 2-3-79.  The closest a Dukie has come to the record is a tie between Grant Hill and Steve Wojciechowski.  Both had 8.

Mannella's was the name of the pizza place they both frequented.

Contest time!

Kenny Dennard was a colorful fellow.  He was a forward on the 1977-78 Duke team which lost in the National Championship game to Kentucky.  Bill Foster was the coach in that game.  Dennard played on a team which was a mix of grizzled veterans, like Mike Gminski and Jim Spanarkel and two brash freshman, one from South Philly and the other from a small town in Western North Carolina

The freshman were Gene "Tinkerbell" Banks (a story for another day) and a young man from King, N.C.

Anyhow, he is the subject of this trivia contest.  The first person to answer correctly wins two months of premium access and your name in lights;)

Here is your first chance.  You must answer both questions correctly.

What sensational record does Kenny Dennard own?  

... and what two NBA teams did he play for?

_____________________________________

Also, the first reader that can tell me the name of the pizza joint he frequented with Gene Banks, which was located on Hillsborough Road ( in Durham, N.C.) at that time, I will give you two months too.

_____________________________________

Heck let's give two more months away! If you are the  first person to correctly name this series of questions about his Dennards teammate Gene Banks, you win too ...

1- What was the nickname of Gene Banks High School team?

2- What NBA team drafted Gene Banks?

3- What happened after the UNC game on February 28th, 1981?

4- Name the team that ended two of his seasons while at Duke?

Good Luck!  You can send your answers in by e-mail or in the comment section below.  You have to answer the questions correctly and be over 18 years old to win.  watzonebdp@gmail.com

If you enjoy the subject matter of the contest, here is an old Flashback from days gone by.

 

 

Rusty Marshall was the first reader to ID the three former Dukies in the seventies picture contest and wins a free month on the Blue Devil Nation Premium Newsletter.

Eighty six answers were sent and three readers guessed correctly, but Rusty was the first to answer and happened to know th players personally.

Steve Litz, Rick Katherman and Randy Denton were the answer to the contest question.  Thanks to all who participated.

The players from front to back were Steve Litz, Rick Katherman and Randy Denton.

Litz gave fans fits, many thought he was Dick DeVenzio.  He was a seldom used forward that averaged just under 3.0 per game.

Katherman had a nice shot from outside and was mentioned in one magazine of the day as being one of the better recruits.

The main man in the picture was Raleigh, North Carolina's Randy Denton, one of the best centers in Duke Basketball history.  He was a rebounding sensation that had great games against the like of Dan Issel of Kentucky.

We hope to interview Randy, so stay tuned.  Anyhow, thanks to all of you for taking the time to answer and I will be doing it again soon.

As for Rusty, shoot me an e-mail and I will set you up.  In the end, so many people missed Steve Litz that I doubted my own memory, but confirmed his ID with my pal Al Featherston.

Lastly, I am sorry that there is a glitch in the comment section.  I will contact eponym to straighten it out.

 

There are several books out on the market, but a Duke Basketball fan is sure to want one of these books in their Christmas stocking.  We have included order information on each, and recommend them all, not because I know the authors, but because they know their subject matter.

Encyclopedia of Duke Basketball by John Roth

You get a lot of bang for the buck in this concise reference guide on Duke Basketball.  It is information overload in the best sense.  John Roth has a winner here.  Click here for an excellent review on this book.  I am enamored with this book and think it should be in every Duke fanatics library.

Tales From The Blue Devil Hardwood by Jim Sumner

In this college basketball series, Jim Sumner recounts the history of Duke Basketball in a variety of informative snippets.  I am currently reading his book on Carolina League (Minor League) History.

100 Seasons of Duke Basketball by Bill Brill

Bill is the Grandfather of Duke Basketball, having written the first book on the Blue Devils history.

Tobacco Road by Al Featherston

Al visits the Big Four past, bringing back the glorious memories of the original ACC, as well as more recent memories.

While there is a great deal of controversy surrounding Florida being picked over Michigan, it made my pre season picks look awfully good.

I suppose a Florida loss and a Michigan win might throw the picks off, but I had Ohio State and Florida ranked one and two in my pre-season poll and picked seven of ten according to the USA Today poll.  Here is the top ten going into the bowls and where I picked them.

1. Ohio State - 1

2. Florida- 2

3. Michigan- 8

4. LSU- 7

5. Wisconsin - 23

6. Louisville - 11

7. USC- 3

8. Oklahoma- 6

9. Boise State- UR

10. Auburn-  9 The two teams that missed the top ten for me were Virginia Tech and West Virginia.  Uh, no, I didn't have Rutgers ranked. My regular season game picks didn't go as well, but I finished in the top ten on a Scout board and still can lay claim to winning it two out of five years. I am in the highly competitive DBR Fantasy Football League and was the last team in for the playoffs.  So far, there has been a different champ each year and I was lucky enough to have won it the first year.  So, check back later this week, because I am going to ask my readers help on who to start.  I have left too many points on the bench.

John Roth has a reference book out called the Encyclopedia of Duke Basketball.  My friends at DBR have a most excellent review here.  I plan on talking to John about his many responsibilities with Duke Basketball ASAP, but this review is better than anything I could have done, so I will attempt to give you some insight into the author himself in the coming weeks.  There is a link to purchase the book in the review, so I will not list one here.

I will be reviewing Jim Sumners book next week and will give my suggestions as to what books a Duke fan must have in their collection just in time for the Christmas season.

This article was written prior to the finale agaisnt UNC by Jim Sumner , author of  Tales From The Hardwood -Duke Blue Devils  which is now out in paperback, just in time for Christmas.  We will reviews the book and talk to the author in the coming weeks.

    What to do about Duke football?  The question has vexed the university and its supporters for more than four decades.  The currently dismal state of the program demonstrates that not all of the answers have been on target.

    There is no denying that Duke has some structural problems.  The recent college-football-landscape hasn’t exactly been good for small, academically-elite, private universities.  Duke’s fan base is small and scattered, the recruiting options are limited, and Duke is not going to get into a facilities arm race.  This may explain why Duke can’t regularly defeat the state-school, football factories that dominate college football.  But it doesn’t explain why Duke can’t compete with Wake Forest, Navy, or Vanderbilt, all of whom have long winning streaks against Duke.

    Is Ted Roof the answer?  I think the best that can be said at this point is that the jury is still out.  Carl Franks left a pretty bare cupboard.  Roof has elevated recruiting, at least according to the internet websites that specialize in rating high school football players.   Roof is a class act and his players continue to graduate and represent well a great university.  Roof deserves at least another year and he apparently will get it.  But, in my opinion, Duke needs to show demonstrable on-field improvement next season. That means wins.  Not moral victories, not vaguely-defined improvements but actually going out and beating people. Multiple times.    

    The ACC can be a pretty unforgiving place for novices.  There are no entry-level positions here.  It’s hard to escape the conclusion that Roof is learning lessons—program management, hiring assistant coaches, game strategy, in-game adjustments--that other coaches learn at entry-level jobs.  Maybe he’s learned them well enough to make Duke a winner on the field.  It would be a shame to give up on him before knowing the answer to the question.  Duke has lost games under Roof because of a lack of experience or talent but it also has lost winnable games when it looked like his team simply wasn’t prepared.   I refuse to believe that Duke shouldn’t be able to beat Navy or Vanderbilt.

     It’s easy to lay the blame on the head coach.  He’s the public name on the franchise.  But Duke is careening towards its fourth winless season in 11 years under three different coaches.  Sixteen losing seasons in seventeen years, under four coaches.  That suggests that some blame should go higher.  Duke’s share of the ACC’s bowl and television revenues insures that the program will make money. Is there incentive to do better?  Does anyone in the Allen Building or on the Board of Trustees actually care about Duke football?  If so, it’s time to start showing it.  If not, it’s hard to see how Duke finds its way out of this swamp.

    Duke football fans tend to look at UNC, Wake Forest, etc. as the school’s rivals.  Duke isn’t doing well on the field against these rivals and that’s an understatement.  But it goes further than that. Like it or not, when Duke sends a football team out on an ACC field, it is in the entertainment business.  We would all love to see a rockin’ Wade full of enthusiastic Duke fans. But Duke isn’t going to be able to fill Wade Stadium on a regular basis with hard-core Duke fans.  There aren’t that many, at least not within easy driving distance of Durham.  Casual fans will fill Wade. It happened under Spurrier, it happened in 1994.

      But Duke has to give them a reason.  People have a finite amount of disposable income and a finite amount of discretionary leisure time. In this sense, Duke’s rivals are a weekend at the beach, a Saturday at the multiplex, Judy’s new soccer shoes, Billy’s college fund.  Duke isn’t putting out a product of sufficient quality to induce these people to invest their time and money.  Wade badly needs refurbishing.  Parking is inadequate, there aren’t enough ticket takers to efficiently process 15,000 fans let alone 30,000, and food choices are limited.  The public restrooms?  Think small tactical nukes and go from there. 

  Wallace Wade needs some off season improvements to make it a pleasant experience on gameday.

    Okay, it’s easier to diagnose this problem than to prescribe a sure-fire cure.  But Wake’s success over the last few years pretty much shreds the excuses Duke has used for years to rationalize its continued lack of success on the gridiron.  Hire the right coach, give him the resources he needs, and stick by him.  Maybe it’s that simple.  Does Duke have the right coach?  What are the right resources?  Can and should academic standards be tweaked?  How long is long enough?  Okay, maybe it’s not that simple. The devil (no pun intended) is in the details.

   Duke has done some good things, the Yoh Building for one. But the Yoh Building has to be the beginning not the end of facilities upgrades.  Assistant salaries are still at the lower end of the ACC scale but they are competitive.  The promotions staff tries but they’re promoting a flawed product.  There’s only so much they can do.

     More can be done and has to be done and it has to start at the highest levels.  Duke claims to desire excellence in all that it undertakes.  It’s time to see if that’s just window dressing or not.  I just don’t see Duke football winning on a regular basis without the commitment of the entire university.  Is that forthcoming?  We’ll see.

 The mens team lost to UCLA in overtime to end their season.

DURHAM, N.C. — Eighth-seeded UCLA (13-5-4) upset top-seeded Duke (18-4-1), 3-2 in overtime on Sunday afternoon in Koskinen Stadium. Sophomore midfielder Sal Zizzo had two goals for the Bruins, including the game winner 30 seconds into the first overtime period. Junior forward/midfielder Spencer Wadsworth and senior forward/midfielder and captain Chris Loftus scored for the Blue Devils.

Duke would strike quickly in the game, as Wadsworth netted a goal 25 seconds into the match from 20 yards out into the top left corner of the net. Sophomore forward Mike Grella and junior midfielder Michael Videira were credited with their sixth and seventh assists of the season, respectively. Wadsworth’s eighth goal of the year was the quickest strike of the year to start a game for the Blue Devils, and of the entire 2006 NCAA Tournament.

Here is our pal John Roth with an in depth article on the success of the Duke Volleyball.  John will be doing an interview for BDN about his new book on Duke Basketball.  We hope to have it up early next week.

I will also be talking to Jim Sumner about a third printing of his book in the near future.

I had hoped to have these out earlier, but a glitch or two delayed the process.  Look for our Christmas for a Blue Devil list coming by late November.

 

The Duke Men's Soccer team won their second straight ACC Championship downing Wake Forest in overtime.

 Congrats to the ACC Champs!  A selection committee will seed the Devils on Monday for the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

John Rennie led the Duke Men's Soccer team to a quarterfinal win over NCSU.  Here is the game recap from GoDuke.com Sports Information.  Duke will take on Maryland next.

 

2006 ACC Men’s Soccer Championship

First Round - Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Match 1: #9 N.C. State 4 - #8 Virginia Tech 3

Quarterfinal Round - Wednesday, November 1, 2006
Match 2: #2 Wake Forest 0 - #7 North Carolina 0 (Wake Forest won on penalty kicks 5-4)
Match 3: #1 Duke 2 - #9 N.C. State 1 
Match 4: #3 Virginia vs. #6 Clemson- 5:30 p.m.
Match 5: #4 Maryland vs. #5 Boston College- 8:00 p.m.

Semifinal Round - Friday, November 3, 2006
Match 6: #2 Wake Forest vs. Match 4 winner- 5:30 p.m.
Match 7: Match 3 winner vs. Match 5 winner- 8:00 p.m.

Championship Final - Sunday, November 5, 2006 Match 8: Championship Match- 1:10 pm (Fox Sports Net)

 

The young and talented Duke Men's Soccer team takes on arch rival North Carolina tonight in Durham.  A win in Durham, would solidify the Devils perch atop the balanced ACC standings. So, if you are in Durham, go take in the action and cheer the Blue Devils on.

John Rennie has marched on the sidelines for the Duke Men's soccer team for a long time.  Here is the Duke student newspaper with his latest accomplishment.

Do not get me started on Michael Nofong.  Here is an article on the Duke LAX teams return from the New York Times.   Here is another take on the teams first game since the supposed incident Newsday on team healing.  Duke returned to to field of play under first year coach John Danowski.  In this link Durham District Attorney  Nifong faces questions.

The Duke Men's Soccer team defeats Virginia on late goals .  Germanese scored the game winning goal in the games 57th minute.

 Young Duke Soccer team grabs key win.

The Duke Men opened the season with a 5-2 victory over visiting Hartford.  Joe Germanese got the Devils on the board after a slow start and Michael Videria added two more goals in the win.  The twelth ranked Devils play St. Francis on Sunday at 7:30 at Koskinen Stadium.

 Goal!

A few PICTURES are located here.

Thanks for making us the third rated College Basketball Blog on this list.  Considering ESPN is first, we consider ourselves in good company.

We will have to work on our football and other sports now;)  We sorta hate to be pegged.

We were ranked first here after our second month, but we have fallen a spot, so we will try harder. 

Seriously, Corey and I would like to say thanks for making us a part of your day.  It's been a fast paced three months since we started and we never thought the site would grow as it has.  

Thanks again!

The Duke men's soccer team tied Uconn in regulation 1-1, but the coaches had agreed on a shootout if the game finished in a tie.  Kyle Helton put the Devils even with the pre season #2 ranked Huskies in its final exhibition game.

The Devils ended up 1-1-1 and open the season for real next week versus Hartford.

 

UConn goalie Matt Singletary proved too much in the extra session and his save provided a 7-6 win.  Duke doubled their opponents shots on goal in regulation.

Images of the game here.

Getting away from basketball for a moment, I wanted to mention that I'm hearing lots of good buzz on the men's and women's soccer teams, and the field hockey team heading into the fall.

The men's soccer team is two years removed from a Final Four appearance, and has arguably the best junior in the country in Michael Videira, the NCAA Freshman of the Year in 2004 and a semifinalist for the NCAA Player of the Year in 2005. The Blue Devils are ranked 14th in the Adidas preseason poll.

Coach Robbie Church's women's soccer team is tabbed 12th in the preseason rankings, and has accumulated enough talent in the past five seasons to be competitive in every game it plays. It's been a while since Duke advanced deep into the postseason, but with a deep and talented senior class leading the way, I would imagine the Blue Devils will have as good a chance as any to make a run at the ACC and NCAA titles.

Yet no team at Duke University will bring more expectations--and pressure--into the season than the field hockey team, which has advanced to three consecutive Final Fours and returned to Durham without a title each time.

It will not be easy removing the onus, however, as the two leading scorers from last year's squad have graduated. If Duke can find people to get the ball into the cage, the Blue Devils will be well on their way to a fourth straight national semifinal.

Here is the effort of Michael Corey for GoDuke.Com  LINK  It's a good read on how Duke is still Duke.

I told the readers of Blue Devil Nation that Michael Corey was an up and coming writer!  It is official now, Michael has been named as a columnist for GoDuke.com.

Michael will serve as the first ever columnist, which is an effort to generate a broader interest in Duke's official site.

We wish him the best, but imagine that he will still be around since we gave him the keys to the store. We hope ;)

Seriously, Michael will continue to explore opportunities and should be a main stay in Duke Athletics circles for years to come.

Here is the link to the announcement.

Monroe update added.  If you are having problems email me.  If you have yet to register and have paid, email me wilkinspearl@charter.net  You log in to bottom left of my page.  This is where you register http://my.eponym.com/users/index.cgi/cmd=signup/cmd=signup/id=399199  When this is done, email me your user name.

 

Update- The article will appear on the main page with a small lock to the left when you are in.  We will have it to where you can go to newsletter section within the week.  However, you are getting the premium articles on the main page once you have logged in.

John Roth is coming out with a new book called the Encyclopedia of Duke Basketball.  John does color for the Duke Radio Network and is a former Sports Information head at Duke.  Some of you may be familiar with his work with Blue Devil Weekly which in my opinion is great struff. In fact, he is a mainstay on the radio network and is well informed about Duke Hoops.  I have always thought a lot of John's articles and he brings a lot to the table when he talks of Duke Basketball.

Anyhow, perhaps we'll catch up with John for a few words on his book, but until then here are some links ...  http://www.dukeupress.edu/books.php3?isbn=3904-8 and here is local Durham writer Frank Dascenzo with a nice preview -http://www.heraldsun.com/sports/18-753480.html

 Check back and I will have a link where you can pre-buy at the best price!