Duke Basketball Roundup

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

The DBR Podcast crew is just as pumped as all of you about the Duke win over the Kentucky Wildcats, so they’re here to recap the big dub on Episode 356! We revive our recap format that includes a headline to describe the game. We then get into the good and the bad that we saw last night at the Garden, from Keel Mode and Paolo Banchero to Theo John and Wendell Moore’s efforts. We also discuss some of the things that need to be improved, like shooting from the perimeter. After the break, Duke has 2 more games coming up against the Army Black Knights and Campbell Fighting Camels in the friendly confines of Cameron Indoor Stadium. We preview the two opponents and discuss what Duke has to do to win both games in the span of 27 hours. If you’re not subscribing to the DBR Podcast, you can! Follow wherever you get your podcasts, and don’t forget to rate and review! Also, we love hearing from listeners on what they thought of certain parts of the show. 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

The season is almost here and the DBR Podcast gang has an extensive preview of what to expect from our first opponent, the Kentucky Wildcats. This is not your typical John Calipari team, rather than being loaded with freshman phenoms, it is full of experienced transfers from other programs. We break down who the key players are for Kentucky and how they match up with the 2021-22 Duke Blue Devils. Then, after the commercial break, it is JJ Redick time. JJ recently joined ESPN as a NBA analyst and the DBR's Jason Evans got to listen in on a media availability that JJ had. When it came Jason's turn to ask a question -- you guessed it -- he wanted JJ's best Coach K story... and JJ came through with not one but two good ones. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The DBR Podcast gang previews the 2021-22 Duke season with their annual tradition, The Stats Game. Listen in as Sam takes Jason and Donald through more than 20 statistical categories to hear who the guys think will put up impressive numbers for the Blue Devils. They cover the ordinary -- like points, rebounds, blocked shots, and assists -- and they also get into some very specialized categories like how many games Joey Baker will start, how many minutes Theo John will play, and how many double-doubles Paolo Banchero will record on the season. And, of course, it all ends with the biggest prediction of all... how many games will Duke win this year? And, once you are done listening the guys invite you to visit the DBR Forums to post your own predictions. When the year is done, we can look back and see how everyone did. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices