Duke Blue Devils news and notes:
Duke routs Tennessee in exhibition at Cameron Indoor
Duke hosted Tennessee in an exhibition matchup between two preseason Top 10 teams on Tuesday night at Cameron Indoor. Any hopes of watching a competitive ballgame were quickly dashed by the Blue Devils, which opened the game on a 29-6 run and made sure it was non-competitive from the opening tip as Duke rolled to a 103-64 win.
It was just an exhibition, but it was a mismatch. The Blue Devils dominated. Tennessee struggled to get quality shots against Duke's stifling defense.
Freshman Deron Rippey led Duke in scoring with 21 points. John Blackwell (18), Dame Sarr (15), Patrick Ngongba (13), Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje (11), and Sebastian Wilkins (11) joined Rippey in double figures.
The Blue Devils are now 2-0 in their exhibition slate this preseason. They have one more tune-up before the start of the regular season, and they will travel to face Kansas on the road on Sunday. They might get a significant boost before the trip.
Jon Scheyer says Caleb Foster has a chance to play against Kansas
Senior guard Caleb Foster is tired of missing out on all the fun. Foster missed the first two exhibition games with an injury, but is getting close to making his return. He'll be back for the regular-season opener against Army on November 2nd, but Scheyer revealed there was a chance that Foster could play on Sunday against Kansas.
Scheyer said that Foster is lobbying hard to play against Kansas.
Even without Foster, Rippey, Blackwell, and John Blackwell have formed a formidable backcourt trio. Adding a veteran like Foster into the mix will only further strengthen the case that the Blue Devils have one of the best backcourts in the country.
Duke men's and women's basketball both to start the year ranked in the AP Top 5
The men's and women's basketball programs will open the season among the favorites to cut down the nets and win the national title.
The men's team was ranked No. 2 in the preseason AP Poll, behind only No. 1 Florida.
Kara Lawson and the women's team will begin the year ranked No. 4, behind South Carolina, UConn, and USC. Lawson is looking to lead the Blue Devils to the first national title in program history. That journey begins on Tuesday, November 3rd against Green Bay.
Her team will be battle-tested in non-conference play, facing games against No. 1 South Carolina, No. 2 UConn, No. 3 USC, No. 6 Texas, and No. 11 UCLA.
Duke has 26 former players on NBA rosters to open the season
The NBA season opened on Tuesday with a triple-header on NBC. As usual, Duke will be well represented this year. The Blue Devils have 26 former players on opening-day rosters, which is tied for the most of any program with Kentucky.
Those 26 players are spread out across 18 of the 30 NBA franchises. Three teams - the Charlotte Hornets, Dallas Mavericks, and Phoenix Suns - have three former Duke players on their rosters.
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