Countdown to Craziness: Duke Basketball Open Thread
We'll be courtside at Cameron Indoor Stadium tonight as the 2019-20 Duke Blue Devils play in front of a live audience for the first time this season.
It will be fans' first chance to see the freshman class: Center Vernon Carey Jr., forwards Wendell Moore and Matthew Hurt and guard Cassius Stanley.
Walk-ons Michael Savarino (Coach K's grandson) and Keenan Worthington are also new.
Scrimmage
The rosters for the Blue-White scrimmage that will cap off Countdown to Craziness at approximately 8:25 have not been released, but an Instagram post by Duke basketball earlier this week hinted that the rosters would be:
Blue Team:
Joey Baker, Vernon Carey, Jordan Goldwire, Justin Robinson, Cassius Stanley, Jack White and Mike Buckmire.
White Team:
Javin DeLaurier, Matthew Hurt, Tre Jones, Wendell Moore, Alex O’Connell, Michael Savarino and Keenan Worthington.
Recruiting
Countdown is always a big recruiting event, and Duke is expected to have several high-profile high-school targets in town for the big show.
Hunter Dickinson, a 7-foot-2, 4-star center in the class of 2020, will be in attendance on his official visit to Duke. He's expected to announce his final college choice within the month.
According to 247Sports.com, 2020 commits Jeremy Roach, Henry Coleman and Jaemyn Brakefield will be on hand.
From the class of 2021, five-star power forward Paolo Banchero and five-star small forward A.J. Griffin are also expected.
7:54 PM: The recruits have arrived and are sitting behind the Duke home bench
8:05 PM: Let's do this
8:20 The freshmen were introduced first
Wendell Moore dancing during his intro
Cassius Stanley
Matthew Hurt
Vernon Carey
Highlight of intros was Tre Jones bringing out his mother (who was battling cancer at the end of last season)
8:35 PM Moore, Jones, DeLaurier, Hurt, O'Connell starting for White.
Baker, White, Goldwire, Carey, Stanley start for Blue
and the season has started
With 15:02 to go in the one 20 minute half we're playing, the freshmen have dominated the early scoring, scoring 15 of the 23 points.
Carey has four and has shown some nice post moves, scoring on a turnaround and a layup after some nice footwork in traffic.
Stanley also has four. Hurt has five, including a three-pointer. Moore has two on a dunk and has also missed a three.
Goldwire and O'Connell have hit threes.
Other shooting lines of note. Tre Jones has missed his two three-point attempts. Jack White 0-1 from outside.
Under 12: Freshmen have scored 19 of the game's 35 points. Stanley has six on some nice drives. He even (unsuccessfully) tried a dream shake.
Hurt is up to 7 points and looks like a keeper.
Moore is now 0-3 from three.
DeLaurier drew a charge from fellow captain Jack White.
Justin Robinson has blocked Tre Jones twice. Jones called him the best shot blocker on the team last month.
Under 8: Coach K is watching this scrimmage much more intently than usual. He often turns away to talk to the recruits in attendance, but his conversations with them have been limited, and he's even taking notes on the game.
Stanley leads all scorers with 10. Carey has 9, including a three-pointer.
Crazies chanting for Hunter Dickinson to "sit with us." So far no movement from the seven-footer.
The committed Blue Devils have headed over to sit with the Crazies. Dickinson appears to be a hard pass. First recruit in recent memory to shun the invitation.
Junior AJ Griffin heads over to sit with them.
Dickinson's reluctance may have something to do with why Coach K is less talkative than usual with the visitors.
After Paolo Banchero (in white) makes the trip over, Dickinson (in black, reluctantly) heads over.
Meanwhile, at the under 4, Stanley continues to lead all scorers with 12. Carey has 11. O'Connell with 9.
Perimeter defense could be an issue. Lots of uncontested drives to the basket.
Final minute: With White Team down three, they strip a ball from Blue. Then Wendell Moore gets a less. Bends over to try to retrieve the ball, only to have Blue's Jack White dive in front of him to take it.
