It was an exciting time for our team last week as we were finally able to start practice, have our Blue-White Scrimmage and then play our first exhibition game of the season. As a staff, we were all looking forward to getting started with the beginning of practice. We are only allowed 2 hours per player of individual work per week in the preseason, so the opening of practice really allows us to begin to build our team. Over the past week, we have been able to start to put in our offensive and defensive systems, as well as begin to define roles and mix and match lineups. All of our players came into the start of practice in great shape. Our strength and conditioning team, headed by William Stephens, did a fantastic job of building our guys’ bodies up for the rigors of a long season. We are excited and believe that this year’s team is one of the most veteran, deepest and talented teams that we have had in quite a few years. Both the players and the coaching staff hold high expectations for the potential of this group.
The other great thing about the past week was giving the players two different opportunities to play in front of a packed house in Cameron Indoor. It’s one thing to be able to practice hard and well, but totally different to be able to perform when the lights go on. In only our 2nd day of practice, we held our annual Blue-White scrimmage. We decided to play two separate 15 minute games and switch the groups at the end of the first. The Blue-White game is always a fun event for the players and fans, as everyone gets a first glance at this year’s Duke team. It is also very special for the freshman class as it is their very first game in front of the Cameron Crazies. Overall, we were very pleased with the performance of the guys. Obviously, it is still very early in the season and we have a lot to improve upon, but each of the guys showed glimpses of what everyone can hope to expect. Both the White and the Blue teams each came away with a victory on the day. Coach Wojo and Coach James coached the White teams and Coach Spatola and I handled the Blue. Maybe the best part of the day was having the football team walk through Cameron on their way to the stadium to play Miami. The fans gave them an unbelievable reception when they arrived.
After using the rest of the week to continue to work hard and improve, we had a chance over the weekend to have our first exhibition game of the season. The NCAA allows all Division I teams to hold up to 2 exhibition games that can be played against Division 2 or 3 opponents. For us, our first game was against Virginia Union. VA Union is a program that has had a tremendous amount of success throughout the years. They have won alot of championships on the Division II level and have alumni that have included NBA stars Charles Oakley and Ben Wallace. We were excited to have the opportunity to play them. Our whole staff was very happy with the effort of our team. Our motto for the game was “Play every play hard”. We felt like we accomplished our goal. It was a little sloppy early on the offensive end, but a lot of that was attributed to the guys being anxious to play and make things happen. Our defense was very strong as we held VUU to 17 points in the first half. We were able to settle in offensively and finish the game with a 114-50 victory. The best part of the VUU game was being able to get everyone on the team valuable game experience, especially the freshmen. It also gave Coach K a chance to experiment with different lineups as we continue to figure out what is going to be best for our team. Overall, 11 guys played 10+ minutes and 6 guys scored in double figures. We were proud of how the guys approached the game.
Now, we have the next 10 days to continue to practice and build our habits. We have our final exhibition game on Nov 5th against Lenoir-Rhyne before we begin the regular season on Nov. 10th against Presbyterian. Hopefully, all of you can check us out and watch us grow as the season progresses. No doubt, this is an exciting time of year!! We have a lot of work to do, so I gotta run!
