Season’s Greetings! I hope everyone’s holiday season is off to a great start!
Our players are wrapping up their exam week and working very hard to finish up strong academically. This week is always a very challenging one for our players because of the demands on them academically. As a result, we have to be flexible as a staff to build a schedule that allows them to do everything they need to do to be successful. Even still, most of our guys will want to get in the gym at some point every day even if it is just to clear their head and get a good sweat. Overall, our players have handled this week really well.
The completion of exam week marks the beginning of a month-long period where we can really just focus on basketball and building our team. There are no classes, no study halls, and almost all Duke students head home for the holidays. If we use this time correctly, we can really grow as a team.
Before our players go home for Christmas, they will have two more tests on the basketball floor against teams that have a great shot at winning their respective conference titles. We play Albany, who is predicted to win the America East Conference, and Pittsburgh, a top-ten team who will have a great shot at winning the Big East Conference. Albany is a veteran team that can really shoot the basketball at every position. Those strengths, coupled with exam week and all that goes along with it, make it a dangerous game.
We then make our annual trek up to New York City and Madison Square Garden to play 8th-ranked Pittsburgh. The trip to New York has been a great one for our program. We have been able to set up top-flight games year after year against the likes of Texas, Oklahoma, and Gonzaga which has given us a chance to see how we match up against other top programs. We get to play in Madison Square Garden which is a venue that all basketball players grow up dreaming of playing in. It has been amazing to see the support that we have received up there from Duke alums and Duke fans. The Garden has become a home away from home for us. We will need all the support we can get this year because we are taking on an outstanding and unbeaten Pittsburgh team. Pittsburgh returns a number of key guys from last year’s 29-win team. They are well-coached, physical, and athletic. Their guard play is seasoned and confident. The 1-2 punch of Sam Young and DeJuan Blair in the post has been outstanding. We will need to be at our best to have a chance to win. If history is our guide, it will be an outstanding and highly-competitive game in an electric atmosphere.
From all of us here at Duke Basketball, have a happy and safe holiday season. Thank you for your support of our players and program!
Sincerely,
Steve Wojciechowski
