Duke's Dilemma Grayson Allen

He was used as a spot player for Duke as a freshman.  He could shoot when the Blue Devils needed points but his defense was suspect.  He was never needed to be the go to player in any game his freshman year until the last one.  Without his points down the stretch Duke will not beat Wisconsin in the championship  game.

Now a sophomore Allen was expected to be the leader after all he was the go to guy in the big game the year before.  Was it the pressure of being the so called leader of Duke but by late 2016 basketball season Allen trips a player?  Is it the pressure of leadership overwhelming a player not prepared to be the leader?

We have reached the midpoint in the 2017 season suspended for  one game for conduct on the court much like last season. Much of Allen's distress is avoidable.  Monday night during a time out Allen walked through a  forming Wolfpack huddle which caused pushing when Allen could have walked around.

Can Duke's basketball program endure another year an a half of every Allen foul causing chest to chest shoving. I just don't see Allen turning pro because I don't see him as a first rounder getting a guaranteed contract.

I find it hard to believe that if Grayson Allen was a perfect angel for the rest of his career that every foul he commits will not have some sort of over tones of stare downs, pushing and shoving.  That would not be good for Duke, The ACC or for basketball.

The Battling Bishops men's basketball team went from Lookout Mountain Georgia Friday night to Maryville Tennessee yesterday.  After Friday night's victory over Covenant the Bishops moved  into 7th place which would put them in the season ending conference tournament.

Maryville is near the top and Saturday the Bishops fall 82-71 and are now tied for eighth. A very uncomfortable position to be in.

Saturday the Lady Bishops won on the home floor to move into fifth place in the eastern division of conference USA South.  Only four teams make the tournament from the east.Today the Lady Bishops play Averitt at home at 2pm.  Averitt is one of the four teams  ahead of the Bishops.  Talk about a big game!

Rocky Mount girls Northern Boys Keep Winning

It was a must game for the Lady Bulldogs of Nash Central as well all of the Big East teams still with dreams of taking the regular season title but the Lady Gryphons would have nothing to do with it.  Keyanna  Spivey has a double double 24 points 13 rebounds as Rocky Mount dominants Nash Central on their home court winning 51-36.

Rocky Mount goes to 6-0 in conference and now have a two game lead over Nash Central.  Fike joins Nash Central at 4-2

It  doesn't matter to Northern Nash as they keep rolling and stay undefeated in conference play going  to 6-0 as they handle Hunt 65-49.  Hunt falls to 1-5.  Northern Nash had now won 18 on the season while suffering only two losses.

Nash Central stays within one game of Northern Nash keeping their hopes alive for the next meeting with Northern Nash as they whip Rocky Mount 72-58.  Nash Central rises to 5-1 while Rocky Mount falls to 2-4 which is good for fourth place.

Fike has their hands full with Southern Nash but they pull out a 67-62 victory over the Firebirds. Fike 4-2 holds down third place while Southern Nash boys lose their 10th in a row and sixth straight conference loss.

Hunt girls broke a three game conference losing streak beating Northern Nash 57-38.  Northern led 27-26 at the half but could only score 11 points in the second half.

The Lady Demons of Fike get their share of second 4-2 in the Big East after a 62-30 win over Southern Nash.

The Battling Bishops traveled to Lookout Mountain Georgia and met Covenant in a game much needed by The Bishops.  Adrian Moore pumped in 21 points and grabbed 15 rebounds leading NC Wesleyan to a 59-56 win.  Saturday they will make their way to Maryville Tennessee

The Lady Bishops have a home game Saturday and Sunday both games start at 2pm.

Second Time Around

The backside of the Big East basketball schedule starts tonight and there is no bigger game than the girls game with Rocky Mount traveling to Nash Central.  Rocky Mount is the only team that made it through the first round unscathed.  Nash Central's only loss was at Rocky Mount 61-52.  They also met in the Christmas Tournament with Rocky Mount winning that one too 40-36.

The Lady Bulldogs have a fine season going and all of this is without the Big East player of the year last year Robbi Allen out with injury.  This is a chance for Rocky Mount to pull away from the field if they can find a win on the Bulldogs home court as that would give everyone in the conference two losses except Rocky Mount so this is a big one for every member of the conference to stay in the title race.

Rocky Mount 12-2 5-0 @ Nash Central 9-6 4-1:  Rocky Mount is led by Senior Keyanna Spivey averaging 22 points and 9.6 rebounds.  The Gryphons are averaging 57 per contest while yielding just 35.  Central counters with Michaela Nelms 19.4 and 8.8 rebounds.  The team that stops the star and everyone else pulls their weight will help decide this one.

Fike 3-2 13-5 @ Southern Nash 3-13 0-5:  Fike needs to stay near the top while Southern is still trying to break a conference losing streak.  Fike is led by Jada Lee 13.4 and Aniya Thigpen 12.8.  Mason Blake has been the top rebounder at 7.3.  Southern Nash counters with Jessy Lucas 9.6 while Ja lisa Williams has cleaned the boards at 8.8.  The big difference in this game is Fike scores 57 on average while the Lady Birds only 22.

Northern Nash 6-12 1-4 @ Hunt 14-3  2-3:  There is a truth in high school sports that you will run into lean years because certain years the talent is just not there.  Northern after having dominated the conference in the early part of this century is on the lean side right now.  Hunt started off with a bang and have been beaten by the top two teams rather decisively in the last two.  I wonder if an injury has occurred that I have not heard about.  Northern is  scoring at 33 points per game while Hunt get 51 per outing. Both give up about the same 39 for Northern 41 for the Warriors.  The winner will be in the middle of the pack.

The boys ledger doesn't feature two top teams.  All games are top division against the bottom.  Since Northern is the lone unbeaten the facts are as long as they keep winning no one will catch them

Northern Nash 17-2  5-0 @ Hunt 4-14 1-4:  Northern scores at 72 points a game the top team in the league.  They give up 58.  Hunt scores at 55 but gives up 60.  I  have been covering Hunt since the early 80's when they played Ahoskie.  I can never recall a football season and basketball season to be this lean at Hunt.  This is uncharted territory for them.  Northern is led by Darius Spragley 16.9 per contest while Raymond Bullock rebounds at 7.5.  Hunt is led by Jermiah Ganaway 10.5 and River Jones 10.

Rocky Mount   6-7 2-3 @ Nash Central 12-4 4-1:  This late  in the season Rocky Mount will never be able to complete their schedule of the games missed during football.  Nobody wants to play a non conference game this late in the middle of conference.  The Bulldogs need to keep winning to stay close to Northern.  The Gryphons are led by Joe Blue 18.6 points and 9.1 rebounds.  Nash Central counters with Montre'  Cash 20.7 points and Dominick Dixon 9.3 rebounds.  The Gryphons score 64  while the Bulldogs get 63.  On the other end of the court the Gryphons allow 63 while the Dogs counter with 56.

Fike 13-5 3-2@ Southern Nash 5-14 0-5:  Fike wants to stay upper division while the Firebirds need a win as their losing streak has now reached 9.  Samson Strickland is a one man show for the Golden Demons 19 points 11.6 rebounds.  Southern's leader is Darius Edmonson 10.9 while Matt Hampton grabs 5.9 boards per game.  Fike puts 64 points through the hoop per game while the Firebirds get 54.  On the defensive side Fike holds their foes to 59 while Southern 62.

Best Effort Of Year

The Battling Bishops of North Carolina Wesleyan desperate for a conference win as of now outside looking in on the upcoming tournament got a triple double from junior Adrian Moore 14points, 11 rebounds and 11 assistants was not the whole story tonight.

Freshman center AJ Frye scored almost at will even though guarded by a man three inches taller led the Bishops with 26. Chris Braswell helped open up the middle for Frye rattling home 6 threes ending up with 20 points.

Even with the Bishops humming on offense the Monarchs of Methodist hung tough trailing by  no more than 12 finally falling to the Bishops 79-74.

The Bishops go to 9-8  and 2-4 in conference USS South.  The Monarchs fall to 11-8 and 5-3.

NC State's comeback win at Duke Monday was a major shock to both the Blue Devil and Wolfpack Nations.  Duke's big win Saturday with the return of Jefferson seemed to solidify Duke and N C State has floundered losing to the bottom level teams.

Hillsbough Street had to be closed in Raleigh as students went to the Bell Tower to celebrate the Pack's win.  Is it the turn around point for the Pack?  They have a game in Louisville Saturday.  Beating Duke will not mean a thing if they turn around and lose at Louisville.  I kind of feel like it is an indictment on Duke more than improvement by the Pack.

All of the so called All American high school players in the freshman class for Duke don't seem to know about defense.  The Pack showed when they have the want to on they can beat anybody.  If Duke doesn't improve their defense they will finish in the second division which has not happened since 1995.

Funny isn't it that 1995 was the last time Duke lost to N C State in Durham and coach K was out with a hip replacement back then.  He's out this year too.  One other oddity was Jeff Capel was the guard at Duke in 1995 and now he is acting head coach.

We are halfway through with the high school basketball conference play and Friday night marks two weeks to go in the season.  Northern Nash leads the way in the boys side of the ledger with a 5-0 mark.  Nash Central is second at 4-1 while Fike finishes the top division at 3-2.  Rocky Mount stands 4th at 2-3, Hunt fourth at 1-4 and Southern Nash  sits last 0-5

The halfway point finds Rocky Mount girls 5-0  followed by Nash Central 4-1 and round out the top of the standings is Fike 3-2.  Hunt suffering a three game losing streak is 4th at 2-3 followed by Northern Nash 1-4 and Southern girls conference losing streak has extended to more than two and a half years is 0-5.

Old Friend Named To Another Hall Of Fame

Those of you who have followed this blog know that from 1981 through 1993 I did Chowan College basketball on the radio.  That happened to be part of the years that Bob Burke was the coach at Chowan and at the time became a national power in Junior College Basketball.  Burke is already in the Chowan Hall Of Fame and I told you just a year ago at this time I returned one Saturday afternoon to Chowan when the basketball court at Chowan was named Bob Burke Court.

I am please to hear that Bob will be joining his alma mater Campbell into their Hall of Fame.  Burke spent 22 years at Chowan winning 419 games a few after the school changed to Division three from Junior College.  He coach high school at Wallace Rose Hill,  in College and spent his last coaching days as assistant coach for Nate McMillan a Bob Burke player at Chowan as an assistant on the Portland Trail Blazers.  Few coaches have ever coached high school, junior college, college and pros.

Northern Nash is half way home and 5-0 in conference play but tonight they got all they could handle from Rocky Mount.  The Gryphons trailed by seven after the first.  They were down six at the half,three after three.  When the buzzer sounded Northern survived 72-71.

Rocky Mount Lady Gryphons hit the halfway point in the conference season 5-0 after a trip to Northern Nash and the Gryphons stifle an already struggling offense eight points below their average and win 46-21.

Tonight at Southern Nash Nash Central handled the Firebirds 65-34.  The Bulldogs finish the first cycle 4-1.  Southern Nash lose their ninth straight basketball game and all five conference games. Girls action the Lady Bulldogs beat the Lady Birds 50-20

Wilson County clash of Hunt and Fike is all Fike as the Fike Girls give Hunt their third straight lost after opening the season 14-1.  Lady Demons win 53-49.  The Boys of Fike take down Hunt 63-58 to finish out the first half of conference play.

Have you heard of the start of the Hunt-Rocky Mount girls basketball game Monday night?  Hunt received a technical before the game started because the score keeper was not present before the scheduled time of 6pm.  Apparently the score keeper was doing the score book in the auxiliary gym of a jv game

So Rocky Mount  gets two free throws making one.  When Rocky Mount came out a player wearing a white tee shirt which matched the home jersey but on the collar was the name brand of the tee shirt which is not high school rules. Hunt got two free throws making one so even before the tip off the game started out 1-1.

Lady Gryphons/Northern Boys Own Outright Leads

Friday night the Nash Central girls pulled the rug out from under the high flying Lady Warriors of Hunt.  Having won 14 of 15 Hunt looked to be class of the Big East.  Tonight Hunt comes to Rocky Mount now the only undefeated team in the league but Hunt can jump right back in first with a win.

The first three quarters this game is what first place battles are suppose to be.  Tied 41 all the fourth quarter belongs to the Lady Gryphons.  They out score Hunt 25 -8 to run away and hide winning 66-49.

The Lady Gryphons hold first at 4-0 with a trip to Northern Nash Tuesday.  Hunt losses their second in a row by double digits 2-2 in conference.

The Knights of Northern Nash who right now state wide hold the second best record in the state did not tarnish their record tonight beating Southern Nash 80-69. 

They are 4-0 and are the only unbeaten Boys team left and they finish up the first round of conference games Tuesday hosting Rocky Mount.  Southern falls to 0-4 and 5-13 on the season.

Rocky Mount hosted Hunt boys in a games where the winner gets to the middle of the pack.  Last year at this time Rocky Mount was still looking for their first win of the season.

Tonight Rocky Mount moves to 2-2 with a 67-64 win over Hunt.  They up their record to 6-7 and even though they played football almost to Christmas just like last year their record is much better than last still seeking one win.

Hunt falls to 1-3 4-13 has a meeting with Fike Tuesday.  Rocky Mount travels to Northern.

Nash Central boys played a close one to the wire with Fike as the last few minutes made the difference as the Bulldogs survive to beat Fike 58-53.  The Dogs are second in the Big east at 3-1  11-4 while Fike is 2-2 12-5.

Fike plays Southern Nash Tonight while Fike has rival Hunt.

Where Is The Next Coach Coming From?

Is there an upcoming crisis in the heart of Tobacco Road? February 13th coach K turns 70 years old.  Roy Williams will be 67 on August 1st.  How much longer will either be at the head of their basketball juggernauts?  Back in Raleigh  NC State is now in the sixth year of Mark Gottfried.  Since the departure of Jim Valvano only one coach has survived more than six years.

Over at Duke Coach K has gone under the knife and all Duke fans need to realize the Jeff Capel who has stepped in to be head coach is right now Having and on the job interview to be the next coach.  If they lose more than they win while K is out will not be good for Capel especially if Duke starts winning again when K returns.

Capel has brought Duke into the era of one and done with his recruiting which Kentucky had a monopoly of at it's inception.  The team of Capel's recruits them K coaching them has kept Duke in the top five of major colleges in basketball.

If Roy Williams retired today Carolina fans who is in line in Chapel Hill?  Should it be someone from the Carolina tree?  Jeff Lebo ECU.  I thought back in his playing days at Carolina he would be the next coach at Carolina after Dean Smith. He has been a college coach almost 20 years now and has never made NCAA tournament.

Scott Cherry, Wes Miller, King Rice.  None have had overwhelming success but Wes Miller is the youngest still under 40.  Really it looks who ever replaces Roy when the time comed might be from some other big time school.  Remember after Bill Guthridge left there were not many high profile coaches who wanted to follow the legend or were tied into their contract.

Raleigh has a different problem altogether.  The Pack is 2-5 in conference play and for the most part have only played the teams predicted to finish second division in the ACC. How can any one expect more wins when there are not many easy ones left?  Just look at the high priced seats at mid court as they have already deserted Gottfried.  When that happens you better start Winning now.

There has never been a history of bringing in a Wolfpacker to coach except Sidney Lowe but is there any Wolfpack limbs deserving a look should the end be near for Gottfried?

What about Archie Miller the head coach at Dayton?  The Pack for the most part has been more willing to find the bright New coach
Up and coming coach.  Since they have been in the coach searching business more that Duke and Carolina they already know about these unbreakable or too high to buy out contracts in the world of College coaches.

What I don't want to see is a Joe Paterno or Bobby Bowen situations in Durham or Chapel Hill where both K and Roy hang on too long.  I would like State to find somebody where they could have that problem in 30 years.