Duke Basketball Roundup

The Blue Devil family got a little bit bigger on Friday. The DBR Podcast crew starts out by welcoming 6-8 combo forward Mark Mitchell, the latest 5-star stud who wants to be a part of Jon Scheyer's first year as head coach. Mitchell's commitment cements Scheyer's first recruiting effort as the best class in the land. We discuss what Mitchell brings to the program and what kind of role he will play on next year's Blue Devils. And, after the break, we also welcome new football head coach Mike Elko to Durham. Elko joins Duke after a very impressive run as defensive coordinator at Texas A&M, Notre Dame, and Wake Forest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cameron Indoor Stadium is the best venue to watch a sporting event on Earth, and one of the major reasons for that are the Cameron Crazies. The students that occupy the best of the 9,314 seats in Cameron support the Duke Blue Devils enthusiastically every game, and each year they also resurrect the tent city we all know as Krzyzewskiville in anticipation of the annual home game against North Carolina. Keeping K-Ville fun and organized is a huge job, which is where the Line Monitors step in. They’re tasked with the responsibility of not only keeping K-Ville fun and organizing undergraduate admissions to basketball games, but they also make sure Cameron is rocking every single night. Leading the group this year are co-Head Line Monitors Cameron Jarnot and Caroline Bower, and the two of them sit down with the DBR Podcast crew on Episode 365! After briefly discussing what they think of this year’s team, Cameron and Caroline explain what goes into the logistics of running K-Ville successfully as well as providing the energetic atmosphere inside Cameron. They also discuss the unique challenges of operating this year in the Covid climate, where half of the student body had not been able to see a game in Cameron entering this season. We close with their thoughts about people complaining about the Crazies as well as their favorite stories about Coach K as they have a front row seat to his final season as Duke head coach. The DBR Podcast has thoroughly enjoyed all the recent emails, so keep them coming! Drop us a line at DBR Podcast at Gmail dot com to let us know what you think of the interview or any of what we discuss on the show! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Duke Blue Devils suffered their first loss of the season Tuesday night in Columbus to the Ohio State Buckeyes, and we recap what went wrong on Episode 364. The #1 ranking will only sit next to Duke’s name for a few more days after what was a sloppy game full of uncharacteristic mistakes. We start with the headlines and the good, and the good centers around the captain, Wendell Moore. We also talk about free throw shooting and using this loss as a learning opportunity for the rest of the season. After the break, we get into the bad, of which there’s quite a bit that we discuss. Poor perimeter shooting, foul trouble, sloppy play, and fatigue all contributed to the loss. After we discuss the bad, we name our unanimous Player of the Week. Keep the emails coming! DBR Podcast at Gmail dot com is how you can reach us to ask questions or give your feedback of the show or anything we discuss. We love hearing from you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re back from the Thanksgiving weekend and we have an action-packed Episode 363 for you! Fresh off the big win against the Gonzaga Bulldogs, the Duke Blue Devils are now #1 in the country and set to play against the Ohio State Buckeyes tomorrow night in Columbus. Jason Evans sits down with Connor Lemons from the Bucketheads Podcast over at Land-Grant Holy Land, the Ohio State SB Nation blog. Connor gives us a brutally honest review of the Buckeyes and what we can expect from them in a preview of tomorrow’s game. The preview leads to an overall preview of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. Jason, Sam, and Donald discuss the uphill battle the ACC faces this season in the Challenge with some of the matchups. After the break, Duke is #1, and we discuss the AP poll that was released today. The ACC is represented in the AP poll by Duke and Duke only, leading the crew to say that this ACC-B1G Challenge is a huge opportunity for the ACC to change the narrative around the conference. Finally, we take some time to issue our farewell to Coach David Cutcliffe, who is leaving the Duke Football program after 14 years. Coach Cut instilled a football culture at Duke, and he left Durham much better than he found it. We each say our thanks for everything he gave to Duke, and we opine about possible successors. We continue to get some awesome emails from so many of our listeners, aso keep it coming! Drop us a line at DBR Podcast at Gmail dot com! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of the Duke Basketball Report Podcast, we break down Duke's thrilling victory over Gonzaga at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Black Friday. Donald was in attendance, Jason and Sam were at home, and we know that Duke fans around the world were dialed into this one. Beginning with the good, we break down the stellar performances that Paolo Banchero, Mark Williams, and Wendell Moore, Jr. turned in against Gonzaga's imposing frontline. Banchero's cramps gave us some cause for concern in the second half, but Moore and Williams were able to maintain the pressure on the Bulldogs throughout. We also need to talk about the energy in the building and Duke's strong game plan, which made it possible for Duke to keep Gonzaga at arm's length despite Gonzaga grabbing a lot more offensive rebounds and Duke having a relatively light night from behind the three-point line. The bad today is more nitpicky than anything, but we're still waiting for a complete performance from Duke's collective starting five. Jeremy Roach and Trevor Keels had tough games on offense, although the team defense was working well against Gonzaga's sophisticated offensive capabilities. Player of the week awards this week are extremely fun given the Gonzaga outcome. Banchero, Williams, and Moore are all in contention. We'll be back this week to preview Duke's ACC-Big Ten Challenge game at Ohio State, but in the meantime, stay in touch with the podcast team at dbrpodcast at gmail.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of the Duke Basketball Report Podcast, we are previewing Duke's huge game Friday night against the Gonzaga Bulldogs in Las Vegas. Duke last faced Gonzaga in 2018, and for this preview, we wanted a bit of extra expertise, so we are joined by Peter Woodburn, site manager for The Slipper Still Fits, the SBNation blog covering the Zags (check it out!). Peter helps us dive deep on Gonzaga's stars, including preseason national player of the year Drew Timme, returning lead guard Andrew Nembhard, and freshman phenom big man Chet Holmgren. He also breaks down a number of guys on Gonzaga's bench and tells us why Gonzaga is so consistently overwhelming in the non-conference. Peter does admit that Duke may be the toughest test that the Zags will face in the regular season, but still thinks that his team will pull away from Duke on Friday. Outside of the Duke game, we get into Gonzaga's rise as a program and its newfound prominence as a source for NBA talent. After the break, we recap the conversation with Peter and give our thoughts about the game. We agree that the best part of the show will be the frontcourt battle, where Gonzaga's Timme and Holmgren will meet Duke's three-headed monster of Paolo Banchero, Mark Williams, and Theo John. We'll be back soon after the Gonzaga game to recap it, and then we will have another special preview for Duke's ACC-Big Ten Challenge game next week against Ohio State. Stay in touch with us, as always, at dbrpodcast at gmail.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Only minutes after Duke soared past the 100 point mark for the first time all season, the DBR Podcast sat down to break down what happened in the game against The Citadel Bulldogs. Jason and Donald just cannot stop comparing Wendell Moore to Shane Battier. It is completely unfair, but they are struggling to come up with any other comp for Wendell's play early in his junior season. They also loved what they saw from Paolo Banchero and Mark Williams in this contest. And, they spend some time praising the effort from the Bulldogs, who set a record for 3-pointers made by an opponent inside Cameron Indoor. Make sure you check your podcast feed later this week too, because the guys are preparing a special preview episode that will drop on Wednesday. Stay tuned for that! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Mark Williams dunking and blocking everything on the inside and AJ Griffin draining step-back threes from the outside, Duke laid a real beatdown on Lafayette. The DBR Podcast crew breaks it all down including a wild projection for Wendell Moore's career that sounds crazy, but when you think about it really could happen. After a break, we look ahead to The Citadel, including a lengthy conversation about how to pronounce the name of the school, and we begin to look ahead to the huge matchup with Gonzaga. Plus, we still have thoughts about the DWI incident that impacted the team and Sam admits he may have made a mistake in his first comments on how Duke handled things... a mistake that was pointed out to him via a listener email. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Normally, this episode would have been a straightforward review of Duke's 40-point win over Gardner-Webb, after a few hard-fought minutes of back and forth. Alas, the game was not all that happened in Duke Basketball world on Tuesday. According to local reporting by the Raleigh News and Observer and police reports out of Chapel Hill, Michael Savarino was arrested early Sunday morning for DWI while driving Paolo Banchero's car. Banchero, meanwhile, was riding in the car at the time, and was cited for aiding and abetting the DWI. Subsequently, the team has suspended Savarino indefinitely while Banchero played Tuesday night. Donald isn't with us, but we have a bit of a debate between Jason and Sam about the severity of the situation and Duke's response. After the break, we discuss the aforementioned game, in which Mark Williams had his strongest performance of the season, blocking six GWU shots in the paint and delivering at both ends of the floor. The Duke starting five had, collectively, their best overall game yet, and many of the bench players turned in productive nights, from Joey Baker to Theo John to AJ Griffin, and even Bates Jones. We'll be back later this week to recap the game against Lafayette and whenever we get more concrete information about the Savarino and Banchero situation. Until then, stay in touch with us at dbrpodcast at gmail.com! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After a relatively easy win over Army and a too-close-for-comfort one over the Campbell Fighting Camels, the DBR Podcast gang is here to talk about the opening home weekend of the Duke Basketball season. There was plenty to like (Wendell Moore) but also plenty to be concerned about (Mark Williams). DBR Podcast co--host Sam Klein made the trek back to Cameron to see both games and gives us a wrap of what he saw inside the confines of Cameron Indoor Stadium. Then, after the break, the guys break down what to expect and what to watch for as Duke battles Gardner Webb this week. Oh, and before we go we have to pick our player of the week. Who do you think had the best week of all the Blue Devils? Write to us at DBRPodcast at gmail-dot-com and let us know. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices