Blue/White 2002

October 26, 2002.

Cameron Indoor Stadium.

The 2003 season got off to an intriguing start, as four of the five main returning veterans and two of the six frosh got off to excellent starts. The result was a dominating win by the White team, despite lineups that on paper looked roughly equivalent. The rout was keyed by the White team's excellent defense and dominance in the post, making up for a lack of perimeter scoring. The White team consisted of Shavlik Randolph, Shelden Williams, Dahntay Jones, Lee Melchionni, Chris Duhon and Andre Buckner. The Blue team was comprised of Casey Sanders, Nick Horvath, Dan Ewing, JJ Redick, Sean Dockery, Mike Thompson and Andy Means. Note that there is another walk-on player who has replaced the departed Mark Causey named Patrick Johnson. He's currently recovering from a knee injury and was just doing running and bike work during practice. Andy Borman is still in the middle of his soccer season.

The game began with some intense back-and-forth action. Sean Dockery has clearly formed a connection with Casey Sanders, throwing him two thrilling alley-oop passes for easy dunks. Casey went up high both times and finished strong; his timing was excellent on both attempts. Jones countered with a three on a Randolph feed, and 2 foul shots from Williams, a Melchionni drive and a Duhon three from long range made it 10-4 White early on. Casey continued to go strong to the hoop, posting up Randolph and dropstepping by Williams on a great Horvath entry pass for an easy dunk. At that point, it was Casey 8, White team 10.

Shelden hit a couple of more foul shots, but was matched by Mike Thompson's 2 freebies shortly after he entered the game. A Jones drive was matched by a Ewing 15' jumper. A Jones three point play was matched by a Sanders rebound dunk. After about seven minutes of the fifteen minute half, White led 18-14. Then came an 8-0 run jumpstarted by Shelden. He simply powered his way up and over the bigger Blue team on two simple turnarounds. The Blue team was putting up threes from Redick and Horvath and they just weren't falling. Duhon picked Dockery for a steal and emphatic dunk, while Randolph finished it up with his first score. Ewing finally stopped the bleeding with a three and Dockery backed him up with a driving layup to make it 26-19. Ewing continued to carry the team with a 15' jumper from the baseline, and another nice entry pass from Nick, this time to Thompson for an easy dunk, made it 26-23 White with under four minutes to go in the half. Two more Jones points off foul shots and a Randolph-to-Williams connection made it 30-23. Ewing threw a lob to Sanders for Casey's third alley-oop dunk of the half and Dan himself scored on a drive to make it 32-27. But a Randolph basket and late Duhon three gave White a 10 point lead at the half.

The Blue team was just 1-9 from three, with Redick going 0-4. Sanders was jumping over the shorter Williams and Randolph for 12 points. Dahntay was getting a lot of second chance points while Shelden got 10 points in the paint and from the foul line. The two teams combined were 10-12 from the foul line.

The second half stayed close for a few minutes as Ewing did everything he could to keep his team in it. He threw another lob to Sanders for a slam, but those would be Casey's last points of the game. He also hit back to back threes on Redick feeds. Meanwhile, the White team was using good balance to attack Blue from different angles. Jones scored on a give and go with Duhon, plus the foul. Randolph drove by Thompson for a layup. After Ewing's second three came a 19-0 run by the White team that blew the game wide open. The run featured 8 points from Williams, 5 points from Randolph and 6 points from Jones. The run started with Buckner finding Randolph inside and Duhon spotting Jones open on a simple inbounds play--with Dahntay going up high for the short jumper. Duhon threaded the needle to Shelden, who finished with an emphatic dunk that seemed to demoralize the Blue team a bit. Shav and Dahntay dominated the next few plays, with Shav powering up for a basket, Dahntay getting a steal and rebound, and Shav sending back a Thompson attempt that led to an easy Jones dunk. Williams scored the next four points to make it 61-35 with about four minutes left.

A Dockery drive finally broke Blue's dry spell, but a Jones rebound and three point play gave White a 27 point lead. Blue finally made a little run, rattling off 7 straight points thanks to a Ewing drive, a Horvath three (his only basket of the night) and a Horvath rebound leading to a runout for Redick (his only basket of the night). Four more Jones points put an end to any notion of a comeback. Shav scored four more points, including a nifty reverse layup where he was also fouled and a couple of free throws. Thompson scored a couple of late baskets to make his line look a little better.

This game was all about defense. Jones completely shut down Redick, adding him to a long list of great offensive players that he's stymied. Shav was a step ahead of Sanders and Thompson in the second half, blocking 5 shots and looking very aggressive inside. Shelden was too much to handle inside and was a force on the boards. Jones played with intensity and purpose, grabbing 5 offensive rebounds and getting immediate scoring opportunities. The White team got to the line and converted 16 of 20 shots, while Blue was just 2 of 4. The White played together, while the Blue team panicked and played as individuals. I'll avoid doing team positive and negatives for the scrimmage and go straight to player evaluations.

Blue:

** Sanders: Casey took advantage of his young opponents by dunking on their heads early on. Going 6-7 and looking good doing it was a huge confidence booster for Casey. He also grabbed 4 rebounds and blocked 2 shots. Unfortunately, he also had 3 fouls. Luckily, Duke has a number of players they can bring in to spell him at the center spot. I still think he's the frontrunner to start there at the beginning of the year, though I think it will be a battle all year. Casey tailed off considerably in the second half as Williams & Randolph did a much better job of containing his explosiveness, forcing him to put up weak short shots that were rejected time and again. Still, even with a disappointing second half, winding up with 14 points, 7 boards and shooting 7-11 from the field would do nicely on a game to game basis. On the other hand, winding up with 4 fouls was a concern, as he still is often out of position on defense.

** Horvath: Nick did not shoot well at all, going just 1-6. Half of those were from three, and the other half were short shots that looked ugly. He did do a lot of little things: outlet the ball well (he got 3 assists), play defense (he earned a charge) and set picks. Don't be surprised to see him start from time to time even if he isn't a stat-sheet stuffer. He can do more to help a team than meets the eye.

** Ewing: He and Redick were pretty interchangable at 2 and 3, but neither had the size and strength to deal with Jones. Dan really did carry his team in both halves despite shooting only 3-7 from three. His assists to Sanders helped ignite the crowd. Dan's ballhandling was exposed a bit by eager thieves Duhon and Jones, who both did a fine job of harrassing the Blue team. Dan was very effective going to the basket, hitting short jumpers and completing several drives. There were times that he was a bit too much of a one man team, but it was clear that his teammates had lost confidence in their shots. This is where the White team having an experienced guard like Duhon really paid off for them.

** Redick: JJ looked like he was rushing his shot all night. Dahntay was in his face constantly, and Melchionni also made it his mission to make sure that JJ didn't get any open looks. When he was open, he seemed to push it just a bit too much. He did have a couple of nice assists to Ewing for threes and a steal, but was otherwise shut down. I wouldn't read too much into this performance, however. When Duke is pushing the ball up the court, JJ will have many opportunities to score. One thing I'd like to see him do more of is be more active without the ball, especially in cutting to the basket.

** Dockery: Sean was kind of all over the place. His passes to Sanders for dunks were things of beauty, but he at times got too careless with the ball, being picked several times by the White team. That also included a dumb charge. His best offensive play consisted of strong drives to the basket; his jumper was not effective. As always, he excelled on defense, frustrating Duhon for much of the first half and forcing him to go a bit faster than he wanted. Sean's quickness also meant he got to a lot of loose balls, picking up 5 boards in all. Sean is not ready to be a starter, but he doesn't need to be.

** Thompson: Thompson demonstrated pretty much everything I've seen so far. He's a big body who's hard to push around, but a general lack of court awareness means that savvier players tend to be a step ahead of him. Shav made a living out of blocking his shots. On the other hand, once Mike got near the rim, he finished with authority. When he figures out how to use his considerable strength all the time, he will be a real player. He's much further ahead on his defense, blocking out to the tune of 8 boards. That reaction time problem came into play a bit on that end, however, as he picked up 4 fouls against the aggressive White frontline. Mike is a work in progress who may get some minutes here and there due to foul trouble. As Coach K likes to say, he must run his own race, even if that means he's behind some of his teammates at this point.

** Means: Andy played a couple of minutes and alertly got a steal.

White:

** Randolph: Shav looked a bit jittery early on, especially with the whipsaw pace of the game. He wasn't going up strong and had a couple of his shots sent back. Hitting a turnaround late in the first half seemed to soothe his nerves a bit, because he then found Williams for an assist and hit another late basket. He then tore apart the Blue frontline, blocking 5 shots, getting several rebounds (8 total, 5 offensive) and going hard to the basket for 11 of his 15 points. He did try to get a bit too cute at times, putting the ball on the floor at the wrong times and driving into traffic. You can chalk that up to a bit of overenthusiasm. Otherwise, his game is quite fundamentally sound. He didn't get to demonstrate his range much, missing his only three. Overall, he looked quite comfortable battling inside against bigger and taller opponents. His lack of strength means that he will have his good and bad days, but he's a strong candidate to start. His best play of the night was a spectacular block & rebound of a Sanders shot that led to him throwing the ball down to a streaking Jones for a dunk.

** Williams: Perhaps the best-looking of the frosh so far, it will be difficult to keep him out of the starting lineup. A bit too small to challenge centers on a regular basis, he makes an ideal power forward. He's mobile, hostile & agile, to borrow a military phrase. Shelden was consistent throughout the game, going right at the basket no matter who he was up against. His smooth release was on display as well as his sure hands. Williams also got the tough rebounds in traffic, something that will instantly earn him playing time. He shot well from the foul line and had a nice dunk in traffic. Shelden's one of the few Duke players strong enough to fight through physical play and skilled enough to take advantage of it.

** Jones: Dahntay really did look like a man amongst boys, which isn't that inaccurate a description considering that he's a fifth year senior. With his newly shaved head and sculpted physique, he was an unstoppable force on the boards. His quickness and lift enabled him to finish time and again, drawing a number of fouls. And it's clear that he's been working on his shooting, going 7-7 from the line and hitting a three. He did travel a couple of times and threw a pass out of bounds (immediately shouldering the blame), but he was really making things happen out there. He and Duhon communicated well, with Chris finding him a couple of times on inbounds plays. Like Ewing, he looks like he's very committed and eager to prove himself.

** Melchionni: Duke's handyman had an early score but was otherwise quiet. He did have a spectacular block on a Redick three and came up with 4 quiet rebounds. "Quietly efficient" is a phrase that will likely describe his entire career.

** Duhon: Chris took a bunch of shots in the first half but didn't scratch in the second. That's because he was too busy carving up the defense and creating easy scoring chances for Jones, Williams, and Randolph. Still, he did nail a couple of long-range threes and scored on a drive. Played like a true point and could wind up being one of the best assist men in the country. Excellent defense as well, making life difficult for young Dockery.

** Buckner: Andre had a couple of nice assists but was picked by Dockery once. Played a lot of minutes in relief of just about everybody.

 Cameron Craziness: A few things around Cameron to take note of: the banners have been rearranged. The men's ACC and Final Four banners have all been moved to one side of the stadium, now in two rows, staggered that you still see all of them when you look at them head on. The Final Four and #1 banners are in front, the Southern & ACC title banners in back. The women's banners are on the other side. Visitors to Cameron last year may recall the upper level display in one corner honoring former Coach Vic Bubas and his era at Duke in the 60's. They have now added three more displays. One is about all of the players who have had their jerseys retired at Duke, with reproductions of their jerseys displayed. Another relates to Cameron's history and other uses of the building. The last is devoted to women's basketball and displays chairs from Duke's two Final Fours, the second place trophy and tons of great photos (including Ali Day's game-winner against UNC in 1995). Well worth checking out.

  Luol Deng was in the house, and he got several cheers and a number of signs honoring him. I also saw him at practice on friday; one thing I noticed is that his hands are huge--easily palming a ball. Women's recruits Alison Bales and Brittany Hunter were also in attendance, and Bales got a cheer with signs while Hunter also had signs for her.

  The alumni game was held before the Blue-White game, as always. Some notable names included Mike Gminski, Tate Armstrong, Mike Lewis and Gary Melchionni. Gminski had something like 13 rebounds while Bruce "Juice" Bell hit several threes, but Armstrong & Melchionni led their team to a come-from-behind 32-31 win. (The game was just 20 minutes long, with a running clock.)

Coach K thanked the parents for being there and participating, noting that fans must really get behind the young players this year.

     Reported by Rob Clough, tmc@duke.edu - All photos from previous games

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