Duke to Face Ohio State in Big Ten/ACC Challenge

Duke will travel to Columbus, Ohio on Tuesday, Nov. 29 to face Ohio State in the premier matchup of the 13th annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge presented by Dick's Sporting Goods. The Big Ten/ACC Challenge will be played Nov. 29 & 30 with all 12 games being shown on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3.com.

This year's event - featuring top college basketball programs playing for conference supremacy and the Commissioner's Cup - will include 11 teams that played in the 2011 NCAA Tournament: Clemson, Duke, Florida State and North Carolina from the ACC and Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin from the Big Ten.

Duke (No. 5) and Ohio State (No. 3) both rank in the top 5 of ESPN.com's 2011-12 Preseason Top 25, while North Carolina (No. 1), Wisconsin (No. 11), Florida State (No. 21) and Michigan (No. 23) are also ranked in the poll. Miami, Virginia and Michigan State are listed among a group of teams fighting for a spot in the preseason poll.

The ACC won the first 10 Challenges before falling by 6-to-5 margins in each of the last two seasons. Overall, the ACC has won 72 of the 119 games played in Challenge history with Duke leading the way with an 11-1 record. Boston College (6-0) is the only team with a higher winning percentage than the Blue Devils.

Duke, playing its third true road game in the last four years in the Challenge, is 3-1 all-time in Big Ten/ACC Challenge road games. The Blue Devils are 1-0 against Ohio State with a 91-76 win over the Buckeyes on Dec. 3, 2002 at the Greensboro Coliseum.

Since 2000, the ACC (10) and the Big Ten (nine) have combined for 19 Final Four appearances and six national titles: Duke (2001 & 2010), North Carolina (2009 & 2005), Maryland (2002) and Michigan State (2000). The ACC leads in NCAA Tournament victories (355), NCAA Tournament winning percentage (.665), and Final Four appearances (44) while the Big Ten is first in Tournament appearances (203).

2011 Big Ten/ACC Challenge Schedule - Times and Networks are to be determined
(Rankings refer to preseason top 25 by ESPN.com senior college basketball writer Andy Katz)

Tuesday, November 29
Miami at Purdue
Northwestern at Georgia Tech
Illinois at Maryland
No. 23 Michigan at Virginia
Clemson at Iowa
No. 5 Duke at No. 3 Ohio State

Wednesday, November 30
Indiana at N.C. State
Penn State at Boston College
No. 21 Florida State at Michigan State
Virginia Tech at Minnesota
Wake Forest at Nebraska
No. 11 Wisconsin at No. 1 North Carolina

Duke advances to field of 16 with win over Michigan

-Duke hangs on, resorts to Coach K's old school play of holding the damn ball for the last 5+ minutes and we all get to watch as a 12 pt lead diminishes to 2... A shot clock violation, really??
-Irving plays in his second game scoring 11 with 9 coming from the line.
-Smith straps the team on his back and carries them to the field of 16 with a 24 point game.
-Singler finishes with 13 points and 8 boards.
-Kelly had a strong game with 11 pts on 5/6 shooting.
-Coach K earns win number 900, 2 more to go to catch Knight!

Congratulations Duke on making it past the first weekend, looking forward to watching you guys take on 'Zona in Anaheim!

Duke Earns NCAA #1 Seed with Dominate ACC Championship WIN Over the UNC Turnover-Heels

-Duke puts together their third solid game in as many days and lead from start to finish, dominating UNC by 17 points to win their third straight ACC Tournament Title.

-Duke wins their ACC leading 19th Championship Tournament, taking the trophy home 10 of the last 13 years.

-Nolan Smith earns ACC Player of the Year as well as the MVP of the ACC Tournament.

A great finish to an equally great regular season. now its time to put together 6 in a row and take the NCAA crown back to Durham!

Congratulations team, enjoy the ACC Title for another year and good fortune to you all as you head to the big dance!

Go Duke Baby!!

Duke's 2 Players get Beat Down by UNC's 4 Players

-Duke again shoots a whopping 22% from 3-ball land and dies miserably.
-Curry hits 6 of his 3's, and no one else from Duke has a 3-ball, going a combined 0-16. Wait, I think they're still shooting!
-Smith drops 30 pts and Curry has 20, the rest of Duke is anemic.
-Duke collectively has 9 assists, while Marshall of Tarhole land has 11.

-Duke drops 2 of the last 3, losing to Virginia Tech on the road behind another miserable 20% 3pt shooting game.
-Again, only 2, maybe 3 players manned up, Smith and Singler, with Mason Plumlee putting up a decent game while Singler finally broke out of slump-ville dropping a double-double.
-Curry choked and spent the night in the fetal position, fouling out with zero points.

I hope Duke goes far in the upcoming tourneys, but I have my doubts..

You guys need to crawl in the toolbox and find an inside presence and get another wheel on the bus that can SHOOT!

Overall its been great watching the Smith/Singler show this senior season, can't wait to see you guys at the next level!

Duke Regains Top Spot in Nation with Smitty Leading the Attack...

-Duke puts together 6 wins after faltering against St Johns to regain ESPN/AP #1 ranking.

-The Devils totaled 451 points over the last six, averaging 75 per contest.

-Duke held their opponents to 356 points across that same stretch, with the opposition averaging 59 points per game.

-Nolan Smith has been the main offensive threat for Duke, scoring 175 points over the last six, averaging 29.1 per game.

-Seth Curry has emerged as Duke's 3rd scoring option averaging 12.5 ppg over the last 6, totaling 75.

Great run peeps, keep the pressure on!!

Only two home games remain.. Tickets? Hello, is this thing on?!?!?!

Duke's Huge 2nd Half Roll Over UNC, 79-73

-Nolan lit up and Curry stepped up as Duke poured on the offense and smothered some D at the other end to come from 14 down at the half to beat UNC .

-Smith ended the night with a career high 34 pts, with 22 of those coming in the 2nd half to lead all scorers.

-Seth Curry stepped up with a season high 22 points on 8 for 12 shooting.

-Duke hasn't won from such a large deficit (14 at the half) in over 50 years when they erased a 14 pt hole against Navy in 1959.

-Duke extended its NCAA-best winning streak at home to 33, and Smith called this one—and not last April’s victory over Butler for the program’s fourth national championship—the biggest of his career.

“This comeback win, how tough we were, how together we were and how great it feels now, I don’t think anything can be better than this,” Smith said.

Duke Punched in the Face Again as St Johns Dominates the Devils, 93-78

Another wonderful outing of the 'shoot a three' and run the other way gang.. 1 of their first 21 actually fell through the net, less than 5%. And what does Duke do? They continue to shoot 3's of course! Ending with a whopping 19% (5-26) from 3pt range.

STJ was allowed to put up 50 points in the paint while Duke could only muster 30.

How many 6'10" and 6'11" guys do you need for someone to step up and take some bruises??

Hello, can you BUY, or at least RENT an effing inside presence!??!

Great game St Johns, and Duke, stay home so you can win games, your program completely sucks on the road...

ACC heating up, Duke off to 18-1 start

#4 of why I love the ACC:

-UNC loses to GT by 20 and is held to an all time low (under Williams) of 58 points, with 24 of those points coming from the freebie line..

-Duke rebounds after trailing Virginia by 6 at the half. Basically the Devils had three bad halfs(going back to the FSU game), they recovered nicely and were able to put away UVA by 16.

-Miles Plumlee and Ryan Kelly contributed 11 points and 8 rebounds each and Mason Plumlee smacks down 6 blocks and pulls 10 reebs and puts up 7 pts in a 92-78 win over NCState.

-Ryan Kelly goes perfect from the field and the freebie line and has a career night of 20 points 6 boards 2 steals and a block as Duke downs Wake Forest by 24.

Man, are these the same guys that played so anemically against FSU?

Glad we got our bigs back!! Go Duke!!

Still needing those tickets, yo.. Hit me up @ gbradley63@yahoo.com

Florida St. Punches Duke in the Mouth, 66-61

#3 of why I love the ACC:

Coach K couldn't beat Leonard Hamilton if he were allowed 7 guys on the court...

For the third time in 9 seasons, FSU smacks down #1 Duke, yes, all three times Duke was ranked in the top spot...

Duke dies by the 3 ball, taking more than half of their shots from beyond the arc and only connecting on 31%.

They sank only 31% of total field goals as well as leaving their post presence at home. Great effort putting up 6 points in the post, make sure everyone is on the bus before leaving Durham for your next road trip.

At least the undefeated monkey is off your back...

Now pick your asses off the floor, hold your head up and learn from this!!

Kick ass on Saturday..

Duke Survives Maryland, Begins year 15-0

Why I love the ACC, 1: Gary Williams can take three blind guys and two crippled Nuns and keep the game within 2 possessions for the entire 40 minutes. Not to say his team is representative of the blind/crippled comment, it's simply a testament of his coaching ability versus Duke. Good effort GW (the REAL Mr Williams in the ACC), hope to see you at the dance this year.

Why I love the ACC, 2: The #3 Duke Chick's also played the Maryland Girls this past Thursday and won by the same score, 71-64. Ironic and yet poetic, I'm sure i could get tix to the girls game, but need a hookup to get into Cameron to watch the Singler/Smith show.. Hit me up peeps, I need tix! gbradley63@yahoo.com

Anywho, its been fun watching the team build around the loss of Kyrie, and remain undefeated. Great to see the explosiveness of Nolan and watching both Kyle and Nolan throw the team on their backs when needed. You guys have your work cut out for you, Ill be doing my part cheering your Blue Devil asses on!!

Go Duke baby!!