Umberger scored twice to lead The match was also used to promote peace and

#1 von MJL456 , 14.02.2019 15:17

You freshman grow up! Sophomores too! Weve got to quit being little kids! Mike Krzyzewski has seen enough. His team, the favorite to take the national championship, with a freshman class that includes four of the nations top 16 recruits, is setting weak screens and missing block-outs. Worse, the players are failing to talk to one another, as deadly a sin as youll find in the Gospel of K. So at a practice one month before the season, Krzyzewski calls his players the only thing that seems appropriate: little kids.It is also the one label that doesnt apply. Because while the Blue Devils have an abundance of young talent, there is nothing little about them.As his players watch, Krzyzewski orders 6-foot-10 sophomore Chase Jeter to flip his jersey from white to blue and motions for 6-10 freshman Javin DeLaurier to take Jeters place with the starters. When 6-11 freshman Marques Bolden fails to prevent an offensive rebound, he joins Jeter in blue while 6-7 Jack White slides to the first unit. Amile Jefferson, Dukes 6-9 senior captain, barks at his teammates to show some fire. And looking on from a folding chair, his left knee elevated and wrapped, healing from an arthroscopic procedure, is the nations top recruit, 6-10 freshman Harry Giles.In fact, according to ESPN Stats & Information, the Blue Devils have never fielded such a giant squad: Nine of Dukes players are 6-8 or taller. Few teams in the last 10 years have had that blend of size, depth, experience and NBA first-round talent, an ACC assistant says. Adds an NBA executive who attended Dukes pro day in late October: Its kind of crazy. Ive rarely seen this much size and talent on one college team.Question is, what will Coach K do with all of it?DUKE BASKETBALL IS known for many things. Size and depth are not two of them.Two years ago, Duke won the national championship with only eight scholarship players. The 2015-16 squad often rotated just six men. Meanwhile, last decade, the Blue Devils went through a stretch in which they missed on the majority of the big men they recruited. Brandan Wright, Blake Griffin, Patrick Patterson, Greg Monroe-they all spurned Duke for other programs. For a time, Duke played and even excelled with four-guard lineups and NBA wings masquerading as centers-think Kyle Singler and Lance Thomas.So when associate head coach Jeff Capel returned to his alma mater in 2011, he discovered a recruiting landscape rife with negative stereotypes about how Duke handled bigs. Rival coaches would tell prospects that Duke catered to guards, that big men would spend four years setting screens. Scare tactics, Capel says.Krzyzewski needed an example he could reference in real time, and in 2012-13, 6-11 Mason Plumlee became that guy, averaging 17.1 points and 9.9 rebounds and earning the Pete Newell Award as the nations best big man.Then came 6-11 Jahlil Okafor, who fundamentally changed the conversation. When Duke landed him before the 2014-15 season, Krzyzewski built an attack centered on Okafors array of low-post moves and preternatural ability to pass out of double-teams. The result was the nations third-most efficient offense, according to kenpom.com, a national championship and a new message for hyped prospects: Duke was back in business for bigs.Jah being here really set the tone for all the bigs that, like me, are coming through, says Bolden, a McDonalds All-American. We saw how much they played through him.Among the current freshmen, Giles was the big prize. Duke landed him last November, and the North Carolina native and his close friend Jayson Tatum (himself 6-8) gave Coach K the top two players in the class of 2016. But Duke wasnt satisfied and kept chasing Bolden; the Blue Devils saw him as a true back-to-the-basket center with soft hands and advanced footwork.The massive Texan-Bolden weighs 250 pounds and has a 7-6 wingspan-took his time deciding. He was fully aware of the size of Dukes roster and could have stepped into a 30-minute, 15-shot role virtually anywhere else. But as the rest of the top recruits came off the board and the calendar turned to May, he opted to join Krzyzewskis army of giants.He saw a need, that theres no one like him in our program, Capel says. And the recruiting class that we already had signed, the guys we had coming back, I think he wanted to be a part of something like that.Adds Bolden: I didnt want to shy away from any competition. Anything worth having isnt easy.WHICH BRINGS US to Coach Ks dilemma: When the injured Giles, Bolden and Tatum return to the lineup, he will have more bigs than he can possibly use-and a penchant for small ball.Duke is just as stacked on the perimeter. Grayson Allen is the preseason ACC player of the year. Tatum should be a top-five pick in next Junes NBA draft. Shooting guard Luke Kennard could be a 2,000-point scorer if he plays four years at Duke. Freshman Frank Jackson, yet another McDonalds All-American, is the closest thing Duke has to a point guard. And senior Matt Jones started on the 2014-15 national championship team. Krzyzewski says Allen has got to play 30-something minutes a game. Even before Bolden got hurt, Coach K had already planned to use Tatum at the 4 spot in spurts. That would leave fewer than 80 total available minutes for Dukes bigs, a hefty portion of which will belong to Jefferson-the teams vocal leader-and a healthy Giles. Do the math and its clear several players will be left out of the rotation entirely.But Krzyzewski isnt worried about keeping people happy. He proves that at the lackluster Friday practice. Ill play five guys! he shouts as his players look on, hands on hips. Im not gonna do the thing where everybody gets playing time. His message evokes memories of Kentuckys team from two years ago. It too was loaded with size and talent, and coach John Calipari famously implemented a platoon system in the first part of the season, winning the first 38 games before losing to Wisconsin in the Final Four. That group is the best proxy for this Duke squad, but Krzyzewski isnt Calipari and wont spread minutes evenly.Now more than ever that type of crunch for playing time can lead to attrition in college basketball. And if history is any guide, Duke wont begrudge anyone who departs: Since 2012 alone, the Blue Devils have lost six players. Some guys stick it out. Some guys, if its not happening for them right away, they leave, Capel says. A kid has to make a choice of what he thinks he should do.But if a big man chooses to stay, his resilience might be rewarded. Look at Jeter. He was the nations No. 11 recruit coming out of high school but played less than eight minutes per game as a freshman last season. As Krzyzewski added more and more stars to this freshman class, no one could have blamed the 6-10 Jeter for bolting. Instead, he went to work. And with Giles recovering from his scoped knee and Bolden suffering a lower leg injury in November, Jeter opened the season as Dukes top center. These guys are my teammates, he says, but we have to be willing to go between the lines every day and fight for a spot.Duke has already seen how capricious a basketball season can be. It lost Tatum for two weeks during the preseason after he sprained his foot. Just as he was coming back, Bolden went down. Giles hasnt played in a year, though hes getting closer. Other issues will doubtlessly emerge, and yet Dukes depth puts it in a unique position to absorb them.Krzyzewski will tinker with that depth, especially early, studying it to see which combinations work and might be effective come conference play, which prospects he can mold into cornerstones. Whether the lineup is big or small, Duke will press full-court more than it has in recent years since fatigue shouldnt be an issue, and it has the length to play a stifling zone. Coach K, in other words, might prefer a style of play, but hes not inflexible. We could put some interesting lineups out on the court, and one of the cool things about Coach is hes open to it, Capel says. Hell try things.And hell push. The day before that lackluster practice in Cameron, the Blue Devils went at each other in high-intensity drills and furious games of five-on-five for nearly three hours. Krzyzewski says there was more contact that one afternoon than in a months worth of practices last year, when he simply tried to nurse his depleted squad through the season. Now he can challenge his players.Luke is busting your ass! Krzyzewski shouts after Allen recklessly throws himself into a defender, looking for a foul. He watches Jeter dunk off a pick-and-roll and Bolden respond with a nifty drop step. Theres no need to hold back this year, not with so many players ready to take the job of a teammate who falters. Not with such big expectations. Mark Duper Jersey . The catch: It needs a lot of money, and it needs it fast. Dan Marino Jersey .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. http://www.officialauthenticdolphinsshop.com/authentic-neville-hewitt-jersey.html . They hope to persuade the other team owners and commissioner Roger Goodell to put pressure on Redskins owner Daniel Snyder to drop the nickname they find offensive. "Given the way the meeting transpired," Ray Halbritter, an Oneida representative and leader of the "Change the Mascot Campaign," said Wednesday, "it became somewhat evident they were defending the continued use of the name. Cameron Wake Jersey . Jon Montgomerys gold medal in skeleton at the Whistler Sliding Centre and his subsequent auctioning off of a pitcher of beer in the village square elevated him to folk-hero status. Alterraun Verner Jersey . Its sharpness matched my mind. This was no night to go to sleep.ROME -- An Argentina side without Lionel Messi beat Italy 2-1 Wednesday in a friendly match honouring Pope Francis. Gonzalo Higuain put Argentina in front in the 20th minute and substitute Ever Banega doubled its lead four minutes into the second half before Lorenzo Insigne pulled one back with his first goal for Italy in the 76th minute. Higuain, Napolis new signing, was one of several Argentina players currently in Serie A. Pope Francis is an avid football fan, who comes from Argentina. He met the teams in the Apostolic Palace on Tuesday. AC Milan and Italy striker Mario Balotelli missed the match with an injury. Both he and Messi returned to their respective clubs Tuesday night. The last time the teams met was in 2001 -- also a friendly in Rome that Argentina won 2-1. Before that, Diego Maradonas Argentina eliminated host Italy from the 1990 World Cup on penalties in a semifinal in Naples. "We met a team of great quality, one of the best in the world," Italy coach Cesare Prandelli said. "We made mistakes coming out of defence and started badly, but then we did well. "We lacked that grit and finish around the penalty area, but the team did well. Honor to Argentina, it is a very strong side." The match was also used to promote peace and camaraderie in sport and to that end both teams had been staying at the same hotel and had travelled to the Stadio Olimpico together. Italy captain Gianluigi Buffon and his Argentina counterpart Javier Mascherano also planted an olive tree in a temporary pot after the national anthems, as a sign of unity. The tree will be kept in the Vatican gardens. All that had little impact on the teams competitiveness on the pitch, as the match was fast-paced right from kickoff. Italy had a good chance early on as Daniele De Rossi collected the ball in his own penalty area and dribbled downfield before lifting an accurate long ball to release Pablo Osvaldo. However, Argentina goalkeeper Mariano Andujar rushed out to clear the danger. It was Osvaldos first match back since being kicked out of the Confederations Cup squad for insulting his club coach at Roma -- a breach of Prandellis strict code of ethics. The Roma striker was born in Buenos Aires. Argentina went even closer twoo minutes later as Higuain raced into the area but Giorgio Chiellini got in a perfectly timed tackle to clear the ball for a corner before the former Real Madrid player could unleash a shot.dddddddddddd Chiellini, who was celebrating his 29th birthday, also headed the resulting corner out to safety. Argentina took the lead after Italy lost the ball in midfield and Erik Lamela picked out Higuain, who was given too much space in the box by De Rossi and Verratti and he curled a shot into the right hand side of goal. Italy started looking more dangerous, especially down the right flank, and almost took the lead in the 39th minute. Antonio Candreva put in yet another cross from the right, but Claudio Marchisio -- seemingly surprised to find himself completely unmarked -- failed to connect from a meter out. Argentina should have doubled its lead on the stroke of halftime when Rodrigo Palacio slid in, in front of an empty net, but didnt connect properly with Angel Di Marias cross and blazed the ball over the crossbar from close range. Argentina did so shortly after the restart. Higuain rolled the ball across to an unmarked Banega following a swift counter attack, and the halftime substitute drilled a low shot into the bottom left corner. Argentina could have extended its lead in the 56th minute when Palacios ball was parried by Federico Marchetti -- who had come on for Buffon moments earlier -- but only as far as Higuain. However, Marchetti got back up swiftly to palm away his effort and De Rossi cleared the danger. Italy almost grabbed one back but Andujar did well to tip Alessandro Diamantis free kick onto the crossbar. The rebound was eventually bundled into the net by Candreva, but he was clearly offside. The hosts did reduce the deficit in stunning fashion. Osvaldo touched the ball onto Insigne and, with his first touch, the 22-year-old lifted the ball perfectly into the top right corner from 25 yards. It was Inisgnes second game for Italy. "It was a wonderful sensation to score," Insigne said. "I always try those shots and it went well tonight. "It was a wonderful feeling to meet the pope, I got goosebumps because it doesnt happen every day. I still need to fully realize it happened." 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MJL456  
MJL456
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nd 1.5 assists. But Baer was just 1
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