Duke Blue Planet BLOG

At the start of the summer and then again before the season kicks off, Duke players take various fitness, agility and strength tests to monitor their physical development.  This past week marked the pre-season evaluation and included the standing vertical jump test among several others such as the max bench press and 3/4-court sprint.

Miles Plumlee excelled in the vertical, posting a mark that was among the best on the team.  When you are among the best leapers on an athletic Duke squad and you are already 6’11″, you can get up there pretty high — as seen in the image below (where Miles was able to touch all of the lower bars pushed to the left from a standing, two-foot jump).  Notice that the bars that Miles couldn’t quite reach are around or above the top of the backboard.

The Blue Devils Basketball Team headed over to the Nasher Museum of Art on October 3rd for the museum’s annual benefit gala.  The function raised over $100,000 that will fund the museum’s exhibitions and education programs serving more than 8,000 K-12 students annually, along with the Duke and Durham communities.

You may wonder what the Nasher and Duke Basketball have in common?

“We have the same standard,” Coach K said.  “We both bring excellence to our community.”  He added that the Nasher and the basketball program both offer “a window to other great things that occur at Duke.  They’ve allowed people to come in here and say this is a great place, this is a great school.”

Joining our team at the event were honorary co-chairs of the event, former basketball players Mike Gminski and Jay Bilas.

The NBA lockout and labor situation has not kept national champion Nolan Smith away from the basketball court.  The 2011 ACC Player of the Year can be found frequently in the K Center doing conditioning work and honing his basketball skills.  Recently, he took his show on the road and traveled to Utah to participate in Jimmer Fredette’s All-Star Game.

As a member of Jimmer’s squad, Nolan scored a game-high 30 points (14-23 FG) and grabbed seven boards. Other players in the game included Kemba Walker, Kawki Leonard and a number of other young standouts.

Here are some highlights of Nolan’s impressive outing: