Favorite Links & Stories

No one pays attention to college basketball until March, but the fact is it starts up very soon. Here are my preseason awards, in no particular order.

First team All-Americans

Cole Aldrich, Kansas, center – This junior averaged a double-double for the Jayhawks last season and decided to return to college and go for a NCAA championship. Hopefully this decision doesn’t turn out like Oklahoma QB Sam Bradford.

The sixteen-team Big East Conference released the official basketball schedule on Thursday. The above link contains all the information needed, from conference schedules to a composite schedule for the entire conference.

From champs to chumps; this is a theme where John Calipari coaches.

Let’s look at the facts. Coach Cal was at UMass from 1988 to 1996. He won the Atlantic-10 tournament five times and took the Minutemen, led by Marcus Camby, to the Final Four in 1996. After the season the NCAA stripped UMass of the tournament victories.

Duke University has one of the most storied basketball programs in the history of NCAA sports. Being the home to Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke University is known for its rich traditions and history in the sport, and thus boasts one of the most successful college basketball programs in the entire country.

The "Cameron Crazies" hold to their name 3 national championships, their most recent in 2001. In what was one of the greatest seasons in the history of the sport, along with some of the most thrilling comeback wins that you will ever witness, the 2001 season may be the greatest for the men in Duke Blue.

The man who guided Duke to those 3 NCAA Championships is Coach Mike Krzyzewski, who today is still one of the best coaches in the entire country. His leadership abilities and tactics helped lead Duke to that 2001 win, a win that marked Duke as a national powerhouse.

The 2001 season was "a dream come true for the men in blue":

Highlighting the class of talented men whose name was on the roster for that National Championship team is Shane Battier. Battier had one of the greatest college basketball careers of anyone during his 4 years at Duke. Studying under Coach K, Battier recognized his role on the young Duke team, and under his leadership, the team excelled in all areas.

Battier was the final player remaining from the great Duke recruiting class of 1997, a class that featured Elton Brand, William Avery and Corey Maggette. All 3 of the above mentioned players left Duke early to play in the NBA. That was not, however, the way Battier wanted to leave his mark on Duke.

He returned for his fourth and final season at Duke with high hopes and a very talented group of young players. Amongst those that were on the team alongside Battier were Chris Duhon, Jason Williams, Dahntay Jones, Mike Dunleavy Jr., Nate James and Carlos Boozer.

A team full of NBA talent, yes, but could this team set aside their differences and work together as a team?

That question, along with many others, were quickly answered by the Duke squad themselves. Meshing together nicely and proving they could be lethal at both the offensive and defensive ends, the team was destined for greatness from the beginning.

There were some bumps in the road along the way, though.

One of the greatest comeback victories in all of sports occurred on January 27, 2001. The game featured #2 Duke vs. #8 Maryland for their first of 4 games during the 2001 season.

The Duke Blue Devils trailed the Maryland Terrapins by 10 points with just 54 seconds remaining on the clock. Jason Williams, however, had one of the greatest 13-second scoring bursts in the history of basketball, scoring 8 points over that time including two 3-pointers.

Nate James then tied the game by hitting two clutch free throws down the stretch, extending the game into overtime and crushing the Terrapins hopes and dreams in the time-span of 1 minute.

Thus, "The Miracle Minute" was born.

During OT, Duke made several clutch baskets on offense and shut down Maryland on the defensive end. One of the most spectacular defensive plays of the night was when Battier blocked Juan Dixon's lay-up with just over a second left in the game, preserving Duke's huge comeback win.

Many believed that this win would give the Blue Devils' new found confidence when they faced their archrival UNC in their next game. Those people, however, were wrong.

UNC got the best of Duke in a 85-83 thriller, a loss that seemed to crush the Blue Devils at the time. They bounced back from their disappointment, however, and went on to win several key ACC games down the stretch.

The most horrifying game of the season for Duke was most likely the game against Maryland on Shane Battier's Senior Night. Carlos Boozer injured his foot and left the game, the Terps finally got a win against Duke that season, and the Devils' luck seemed to have run out.

With Boozer out, Coach K decided to go with a smaller, yet faster, starting lineup. The move saw Chris Duhon switch to Point Guard and Jason Williams to Shooting Guard. This propelled Duke to 6 straight victories, which included winning the ACC Championship and making it to the NCAA Sweet 16.

Carlos Boozer then made his return to the team, giving Duke another key piece of the puzzle it needed for the Championship run.

In the East Regional Finals, Duke defeated the USC Trojans 79-69, placing the Blue Devils in the NCAA Final Four. Their upcoming rivals? The Maryland Terrapins, a team that had already played Duke 3 times that season.

The previous game occurred in the ACC Championship Semifinals, a game which saw Duke win by a score of 84-82 on a last second tip-in by Nate James. The fourth and final game between the 2 schools, however, would be the most interesting of them all.

Maryland came out firing against the Blue Devil defense, taking a commanding 39-17 lead with just under 7 minutes to play in the first half. Duke made a run towards the end of the half, but the Terps still led 49-38 at halftime.

Coach K must have really fired the guys up during halftime, because after the second half was underway, the Devils never turned back. Turning in their second great comeback against Maryland on the season, Duke won by a score of 95-84.

The 22-point deficit at one point in the game and the 11-point halftime deficit are the largest in Final Four history by the winning team.

The final test for Duke: The 5th ranked Arizona Wild Cats, led by Gilbert Arenas, Richard Jefferson and Coach Lute Olson.

Duke took early control of the game, but Arizona continued to make strong runs to make the game interesting. Under the leadership of Arenas, the Wild Cats stormed back to nearly even the game with only a few minutes left. The Blue Devils never relinquished the lead, however, and won by a convincing score of 82-72.

The double-digit win in the final made the the 2001 Blue Devils the first Duke team to win every NCAA tournament game by 10 points or more.

The 2001 National Player of the Year awards' were all swept up by Duke players Shane Battier and Jason Williams:

-Battier won the AP National Player of the Year Award, the Oscar Robertson Trophy, the Wooden Award, the Naismith Award, the Adolph Rupp Award and the NABC Defensive Player of the Year.

-Jason Williams received the NABC Player of the Year award.

There was also a pattern between Duke's 1992 and 2001 NCAA Championship victories: The road to the Championship went form Greensboro to Philadelphia to Minneapolis.

The 2001 Duke basketball season is one for the ages. Although the Blue Devils' lost their way at times throughout the year, they always came back with more intensity and passion for the game.

The championship run in 2001 is one that will be treasured by all Duke fans for years to come, that is of course until we get NCAA Championship number 4.

Samardo Samuels, the nation’s top center and one of the top ten recruits in the Class of 2008, has announced that he will headed to Louisville. "It just seemed like the perfect opportunity," Samuels said. "I talked with Coach (Rick Pitino) about what I needed to do and what he is going to do for me. (Pitino) was excited, and I'll make it work. I really liked it there." The 6-9 forward made a visit to Louisville over the weekend, reportedly vaulting the Cardinals past North Carolina and Connecticut on his list. "To tell you the truth, I thought it was just another trip," Samuels said of his expectations. "But when I went down there and started seeing things and picturing things happening and what can I do at this place, it was perfect." Playing time and head coach Rick Pitino were key factors in his decision. "I am going to get better as a player under Coach," he said. "He knows what it takes to help me get to the next level.” Samuels is ranked as the No. 6 player in the country by both Scout.com and Rivals.com.

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In a game that was over, well, as soon as Team USA scored, Deon Thompson started the next stage of their overseas tour by destroying Finland 87 to 40. From what I have read on the official USA Basketball web site, and from the box score of the game, the final score might be closer than the game was...

The Big East Conference, going into its first season under the direction of new commissioner John Marinatto, released its 2009-10 mens basketball schedule on Thursday. This will be the third season of the eighteen-game slate, which consists of twelve single-game opponents and three home-and-home opponents.

As a Tar Heel watching Tyler Hansbrough going 13th in Thursday’s draft was a great moment (both for an ex Heel like me, the university and Hansbrough himself), even if the fans at Madison Square Garden chanted “overrated” as he made his way to the stage, I know different...

To all you Cavaliers fans that might be wondering who the heck your team took in the second round of Thursday’s NBA Draft, let me present to you Danny Green. He is a 6?6? swingman, who can light it up from beyond the three point line, can play some good defense, and (this is key) can be a fine contributor while not being acclaimed as one of the main pieces of a team...