Elliot Williams scored 10 points to help the East to a 107 - 102 victory over the West in the 2008 McDonald's All American game. Tyreke Evans, who scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, was named the MVP. Greg Monroe, the nation's #1 ranked player, had a tough night, for the West squad, scoring 1 point and grabbing six rebounds to go along with five turnovers.

Go Duke  USA Today  LA Times  Chicago Tribune  Philadelphia Daily News

The 2008 McDonald's All-America game is tonight at 8:30 in Milwaukee. The game will be televised on ESPN. Elliot Williams, a 6'4" guard and future Blue Devil, will play for the East.  Be sure and check out the game and witness Williams display his skills.

Chante Black scored 26 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as Duke defeated Arizona State 67 - 59 to advance to the Sweet 16. Jasmine Thomas added 11 points. Next up for the Blue Devils is Texas in Oklahoma City.

Greg Echenique has announced his intention to attend Rutgers University.  Echenique had scholarship offers from Duke, Florida, Memphis, Notre Dame, Villanova, and Syracuse, but he decided to stay in New Jersey and play for the Scarlet Knights.

Chavez hints at what to expect from the Blue Devils in the off season.

It will be a little slower than normal for another 24 hours.  Sometime life or business calls and this is one of those times for me.  Thanks for your patience.

If you have recently joined premium, I will get to you asap.  Again, thanks for your patience.

In the meantime, check out the Duke Spring Pic Gallery at the bottom of the menu.

Durham Herald Sun     News and Observer   WRAL_AP      Painful: Nelson leaves on a losing note     Nelson's career ends on sour note  

West Virginia 73  Duke 67     Box Score

The wheels came off of the Duke wagon today when West Virginia sent the Devils packing and wondering how they couldn't find a way to put the ball in the basket in the beginning of the second half.  On this afternoon, the Dukies truly died by the three pointer and their inability to hit the boards during the games key moments.  The Mountaineers out-rebounded Duke 47-27 scoring 17 points on offensive rebounding.

DeMarcus Nelson closed out his senior year with a dreadful game from the field scoring just 6 points.  Unlike the rest of the Blue Devils, he will not be around to avenge the bitter ending to this season.  It is certainly a game that both fans and players want to forget about, but that will be hard in that most of the media will use this loss to take multiple shots and the sad truth is that Duke has not shown the ability to go deep in the NCAA's in the last couple of seasons.

Duke looked shaken and tired as the game went on.  The effort was there but it wasn't enough to offset Duke not playing it's usual style of scoring easy baskets and padding the lead with the three ball.  After leading by five at the half, Duke imploded on the offensive end in the second half.  No matter how you cut it Duke was outplayed and the team seemed to have very tired legs, many shots going off the front of the rim.

It's no wonder that the fatigue helped produce the worst offensive performances this season.   Give credit to West Virginia for their toughness and not allowing Duke one single point on the break.

Only time will tell if this team which returns all but one player can use this defeat as motivation.  Unfortunately, it will be a long time before the ball is thrown into play for Duke again and you can bet that the anti Duke media will be there to remind all of the loss in the months to come.

Still, this team won some big games this season, defeating the top ranked Tar Heels and many of teams still in the tournament.  Duke will regroup over the summer and tweak the areas of the game which contributed to the loss and late season swoon.  While this is an especially bitter defeat, I can still say I am proud to be a Duke fan and can't wait to hit the AAU trail to see who the future Blue Devils might be.  Nobody likes the losses, but this was a fun team to watch and they'll work hard to make sure this doesn't happen next season.  Duke finishes the 2007-08 season 28-6.

Duke 71  Belmont 70              Box Score

Gerald Henderson went coast to coast to score the final two points of the game.  His basket helped Duke to a one point victory in the opening round  of the NCAA Tournament.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Mighty, mighty Duke let teeny, tiny Belmont play with the big boys. And, for stretches, get the better of them.

No. 2-seeded Duke actually trailed in the final 15 seconds before barely avoiding the monumental upset, using every last one of Gerald Henderson's 21 points to edge No. 15 Belmont 71-70 in the first round of the West Regional on Thursday night.

While Belmont couldn't quite pull off the stunner, it was surprising enough how close this game was. In a matchup between a school with three NCAA titles — that would be Duke, of course — and another that has three NCAA tournament games in its history.  It was Henderson's driving basket with 11.9 seconds left that erased Belmont's final lead.

After ACC defensive player of the year DeMarcus Nelson stole the ensuing inbounds pass, he was fouled, but he missed at the line. Belmont got the rebound, and one final chance to make history, with 2.2 seconds left. The Bruins' leading scorer, Justin Hare, got a good look at the basket from about 40 feet away, but his shot clanged off the iron. He winced, and Duke celebrated as though it had won far more than an opening-round game — something it actually failed to do a year ago.

Duke (28-5) advanced this time to face Arizona or West Virginia on Saturday.

And Belmont (25-9) can go home with heads held high.

Throughout the game, the teams' body language was telling at timeouts.

More than once, Belmont's players would be trailing, yet they skipped to the sideline and were met with high-fives, pats on the back and yells of encouragement. Duke's players, in the lead but hardly thrilled, trudged over slowly, some looking at the floor.

Only four No. 15s have beaten No. 2s, and there were moments it seemed as though it could happen again.

Duke led 69-65 with 2:40 left, but Andy Wicke (team-high 15 points) made a 3-pointer to cut it to one. And after a Duke miss, Hare grabbed the rebound, was fouled, and made both free throws to give Belmont the lead — yes, the lead! — with 2:02 left in the game.

There it was, plain as could be on the overhead scoreboard, orange numbering on a black background: Belmont 70, Duke 69.

The Bruins couldn't possibly pull this off, could they?

After all, in the Bruins' previous two trips to March Madness, they had led briefly in the first half before getting beaten by more than 20 points — against UCLA in 2006, against Georgetown last year.

Alas, on this night, on the verge of beating one of the sport's most storied programs, Belmont would not score again.

Duke led 42-35 at halftime, an edge built at the foul line, where the Blue Devils were 11-for-15, and the Bruins were 2-for-4.

Otherwise, in nearly every regard, Belmont played Duke even for those first 20 minutes. The field-goal stats were the exact same: 14-for-29.

Duke opens their NCAA tournament run against Belmont of Nashville, Tennessee, and the Atlantic Sun Conference. The Belmont Bruins are a guard oriented team that favors the three point shot and does not have a dominant inside presence. The Bruins made 349 of 956 (36.5%) attempts from behind the arc. Duke made 297 of 773 (38.4%) of their 3-point attempts. Belmont's biggest player is 6'8" 220 pound Mathew Dotson who averages 11.3 points and 3.6 rebounds in 21.9 minutes per game. Their leading scorer is 6'2" guard Justin Hare who contributes 14.9 points in 28.4 minutes per game. Shane Dansby, a 6'4" guard-forward, is the team's leading rebounder at 6.2 per game. He also scores 13.8 points per game.

The Blue Devils gained an extra days rest by losing in the ACC tournament semi-finals and Brett Friedlander says, "...the Blue Devils are going to need all of Singler's assets if they hope to advance deep into the NCAA tournament." Luciana Chavez discusses Duke's loss to VCU in last year's tournament and how Duke has focused on game scenarios in practice sessions this year. Seven of Duke's ten scholarship players, the three freshmen and four sophomores, have never won an NCAA tournament game. This lack of recent success is unusual for the elite Duke program. Bryan Strickland has an article posted at the Durham Herald-Sun, which talks about the high confidence level of the team.

Duke's potential second round opponents are West Virginia and Arizona. For West Virginia coach Bob Huggins, the NCAA tournament has brought frustration and unfilled promise in recent years. Coach Huggins and leading scorer Joe Alexander will attempt to cure that frustration by knocking off the Wildcats. The Tucson Citizen says the Wildcats are rested and healthy for the NCAA tournament. This article talks about freshman sensation Jerryd Bayless and how teams are guarding him with big wings. This article in the Times West Virginia identifies Arizona's leading scorer as freshman Jerry Baylor. I expect by the time the game is over all Mountaineer fans will know the name Jerryd Bayless.

Projecting out to potential Sweet Sixteen opponents, Xavier or Purdue is the likely opponent, but Georgia and Baylor are possibilities. Xavier won the Atlantic 10 regular season title, but stumbled in the conference tournament so like Duke they enter the NCAA tournament with an extra days rest. Purdue is another guard oriented team that approaches games with a strategy similar to the Blue Devils. Georgia earned a bid by winning the SEC tournament after going 4-12 in the regular season. And Baylor is a team that has rebounded from serious trouble several years ago. Here is a Purdue - Baylor preview from the Waco Tribune.

Finally, here is the L.A. Times on the #1 seeded UCLA Bruins.  The Blue Devil faithful are hoping our West Regional experience begins and ends with a victory over the Bruins.

I voted for Keno Davis as Coach of the Year on my ballot and he won the award today.

ST. LOUIS (USBWA) - First-year Drake University Coach Keno Davis, who guided the Bulldogs to the school's first NCAA tournament berth and first Missouri Valley Conference championship in 37 years, has been selected winner of the Henry Iba Coach of the ...   more »