Duke Blue Devils
Monday night's 83-61 drubbing against No. 10 Duke in the opening round of the EA Sports Maui Classic wasn't one for the Tigers to write home about.
Duke went on a 32-2, nine-minute run early in the game to drop Princeton to the consolation bracket of the 24th annual tournament and could have named the final score. The Blue Devils, behind freshman Kyle Singler's game-high totals of 21 points and 13 rebounds, handed Tigers rookie coach Sydney Johnson his first loss while advaning to today's semifinals of the eight-team tournament at the Lahaina Civic Center.
Princeton (2-1) next faces either Arizona State or Illinois at 4 p.m. today (ESPNU).
Duke (3-0), which has won the tournament three times and is 10-0 all-time in it, pressured Princeton in full-court and in half-court defensive sets, and went right at the outclassed Tigers offensively with its taller, superior players to make the game a one-sided affair quite early.
Somewhere down the line, the Tigers might talk about how they were beating Duke. Of course, that occurred when center Zach Finley dropped in a layup for a 2-0 lead with 19:24 left in the first half. Singler then put back an offensive rebound on Duke's next possession to jumpstart the Blue Devils' dominance.
Singler, a 6-foot-8 forward, scored 10 of the Blue Devils' first 12 points in the first 4 minutes, 1 second, to put them ahead 12-2.
Princeton guard Matt Sargeant drove for a layup to stop Duke's 12-0 run, but, incredibly, the Blue Devils came right back with a 19-0 run to make it 31-4. Included in the second big run was a four-point play by Jon Scheyer. Finley's layup at the 9:54 mark then stopped the run.
The Tigers began to play better after they trailed by as much as 30 points, but Duke didn't need as much intensity. The Blue Devils' halftime lead was 52-31, with Singler scoring 17 points on 7-of-8 field-goal shooting.
Lincoln Gunn led Princeton in scoring for the second straight game with 16 points, including 11 in the first half, on 6 of 9 shooting. Sargeant and Noah Savage added nine points each.
Gerald Henderson and Scheyer joined Singler in double figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively. The Blue Devils held a 39-21 edge in rebounds.
Guard Greg Paulus crouched in front of his locker deep inside Cameron Indoor Stadium one afternoon late last month, his hands propped on his knees, a small bruise under one eye, a white butterfly bandage affixed to the bridge of his nose. For an afternoon, at least, Paulus appeared to be more of a boxer than a basketball player. "Just got caught in practice," Paulus said. "Not a big deal." No, not after the collective beating the Duke men's basketball team incurred a season ago, both on the court and in the operating room. The Blue Devils struggled throughout the second half of the regular season and dropped out of The Associated Press top 25 poll for the first time in nearly 11 seasons. They limped to six losses in their last 10 games prior to the postseason. And they lost in the first round of both the ACC and NCAA tournaments for the first time since 1996. Then they hobbled to the hospital. In all, five Blue Devils underwent surgery at some point following what was perhaps the most frustrating season since coach Mike Krzyzewski arrived on campus in 1980. Call it a rebuilding season of a very different sort. "We have had to start over," Paulus said. But now, almost every player is healed and prepared for the season. And Krzyzewski is refreshed, his choice of words, after he relaxed for nearly a month along the coast with his family, then coached the U.S. men's national team for bulk of the summer. "I feel good about our team," Krzyzewski said. "We're deep. Right now, we're looking for some separation, who will separate themselves from the other guys. I guess the best of all worlds is if they don't separate, but instead if they all get really good." Which is a distinct possibility. Krzyzewski and the Blue Devils, 22-11 overall and 8-8 in conference games last season, will return nearly every player. Only center Josh McRoberts, who declared early for the NBA Draft and was selected 37th overall by the Portland Trail Blazers, and reserve guard Joe Pagliuca are gone. Paulus is back. So is guard DeMarcus Nelson, who averaged 14.1 points last season and was voted the lone team captain last month by coaches and players. So is guard Jon Scheyer. And center Brian Zoubek. And forward Lance Thomas. And guard Gerald Henderson. Oh, and don't forget about the freshmen. Forward Kyle Singler, whom Krzyzewski said might already be the best player on the team, shined throughout the exhibition games and will likely start Friday against N.C. Central. Guard Nolan Smith is expected to run the point for long stretches off the bench. And forward Taylor King reminded a handful of veteran players of guard J.J. Redick, at least when he released his shot. "None of those guys is scared," Scheyer said. "They don't play like freshmen." And neither will the Blue Devils. Not this season. Not after rubbing away the wounds of so much figurative and literal pain.
Duke senior guard J.J. Redick will resume NBA draft workouts next week at Orlando, Boston and possibly New Orleans after sitting out this week with a bad back.
Redick's agent Arn Tellem told ESPN.com on Wednesday that Redick canceled his workouts set for Orlando (Wednesday) and Boston (Saturday) on Monday because he needed to rest his aching back.
Early Tuesday morning, Redick was arrested in Durham for driving while intoxicated and making an illegal U-turn.
Tellem said that Redick didn't fail a physical in Orlando at the pre-draft camp.
"He's fine, it's nothing serious," Tellem said.
Boston general manager Danny Ainge told ESPN.com that the bad back was a reason given for Redick's decision to cancel the workout.
Tellem is confident that despite the DWI and this latest back issue that Redick will go high in the draft. The projected number is somewhere between 7-14 in the draft. Redick has already worked out for No. 8 Houston, No. 9 Golden State, No. 10 Seattle and No. 14 Utah. Boston picks No. 7, Orlando No. 11 and New Orleans No. 12. Tellem said there could be one more team that Redick works out for before the June 28th draft.
Still, the DWI could cause concern for some.
"I think it does affect [Redick] in the way that you just have to dig deeper now," said Utah general manager Kevin O'Connor about researching Redick before making the selection. "There was no back issue when he was here. He was fine. He was in great shape."
Tellem reiterated that Redick simply needed to rest his back this week. He was in Orlando over the weekend at the pre-draft camp going through the extensive physical testing before returning to Durham on Monday. Redick had been training out in Los Angeles the past two months.
J.J. Redick, a likely first-round pick in this month's NBA draft, was arrested early Tuesday on charges of drunken driving.
Redick, The Associated Press Player of the Year, also was charged with unlawful use of highways for making an illegal U-turn.
Redick, who has a Virginia driver's license, lost his driving privileges in North Carolina for 30 days, police spokeswoman Kammie Michael said.
The 21-year-old Redick was released on $1,000 bond shortly after being taken before a Durham County magistrate. He is to appear in court July 17. The arresting officer wrote in his report that Redick had "very glassy eyes, strong odor of alcohol coming from breath."
Redick had a blood-alcohol level of 0.11. The legal limit for drivers in North Carolina is 0.08.
"I regret what happened last night, and want to apologize to my family and the Duke community for the incident," Redick said in a statement issued by the university.
Redick finished his career as the leading scorer in Atlantic Coast Conference history.
"J.J. knows he made a mistake and regrets it," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said in a statement. "He represented the very best in college athletics and exhibited outstanding character at Duke the last four years. He is and will continue to be a credit to the Duke basketball family. As his friend and his coach, he has my total support."
Redick's agent, Arn Tellem, added: "J.J. is an outstanding student athlete of the highest character. He is an exemplary role model and a credit to his family and the entire Duke community. This is nothing more than an isolated incident. Everyone who has come into contact with J.J. as a student and an athlete knows the quality person he is and will continue to be."
Redick was arrested soon after 1 a.m. when he turned around as he approached a license check point near the Duke campus, Michael said. He pulled into a parking lot of an apartment complex after police pursued him.
"There wasn't a chase. He didn't run from them," Michael said. "He was pretty cooperative."
Redick, who won the 2006 Wooden Award as the nation's top college player, shot 47 percent from the field, 42 percent from 3-point range and 85 percent from the free throw line in leading Duke to a 32-4 record. He finished his career with 2,769 points and 457 3-pointers. Redick holds the NCAA career record for 3-pointers.
DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski called the past few months the most "trying time" he's seen at the school, and he withheld comment on the lacrosse scandal until now because he felt it was the right thing to do.
The Hall of Fame coach has won three national championships and reached 10 Final Fours. He has been at Duke 26 years and is considered by many the face of the university.
"If you're going to be in here for the long run, you're going to have trying times," Krzyzewski said Tuesday. "That's just what happens, whether it's a business, a family or a university if you're in it for the long haul."
Krzyzewski said during his annual summer meeting with reporters that he has been trying to "lend whatever guidance or insights I might have into the situation" to school officials, including president Richard Brodhead.
The case, in which three men's lacrosse players are charged with sexually assaulting an exotic dancer at an off-campus party in March, placed the school under intense scrutiny.
Earlier this month, Krzyzewski stood in the back of the room during a news conference to introduce former lacrosse assistant Kevin Cassese as the team's interim coach. Krzyzewski said Tuesday he waited to talk about the case because "I think it's important for me to remember my place."
"I am the basketball coach. I'm not the president, I'm not the athletic director and I'm not on the Board of Trustees and don't want to be," he said.
"What I've tried to do behind the scenes is say, 'We're with you. We'll see what happens, and whatever happened if you did it, you should be punished,'" he added. "Giving support does not mean you're choosing sides. Giving support is what a university should do ... because we're in the kid business."
In April, a grand jury indicted team members Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty on charges of rape, kidnapping and sexual offense. David Evans, a co-captain, was indicted on the same charges in May.
Mike Pressler, who spent 16 seasons as Duke's lacrosse coach, resigned in April. Krzyzewski said he and his wife, Mickie, welcomed the Pressler family to their home and took them to dinner as a show of support.
"I don't know what Mike Pressler did wrong in this case," he said. "Whether he's judged on a whole other thing, that's another matter. He's a good man."
Pressler, in his first comments since the investigation began, told Sports Illustrated he felt he could have fixed any problems within the lacrosse program. He went on to mention a university investigation that found he was one of two people at Duke who took misconduct by members of the lacrosse team seriously.
"It's on the record: Anytime I'd been aware of something, I took care of it," Pressler told the magazine in a story appearing on newsstands Wednesday. "But the administration felt that wasn't going to be the case. For me to buck that would not be in the best interest of those 47 kids and all the alumni. Take a bullet? I'd do it again."
Krzyzewski added: "A year ago he was playing for the national championship and almost won it. You have to have empathy for people in those situations."
Pressler said he hoped people would remember more than just the scandal when recalling his time at Duke.
"I'm certainly not proud of what happened on March 13," he said. "But in the end you're not judged by one game or one season. You're judged by the body of your work. And in the end I think our body of work has been very positive for a lot of people."
Name: Tom Koeppel
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