Thoughts on the AP Poll: Week 10
(10/28/13 10:09pm)
A rundown of the latest college football AP Poll.
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A rundown of the latest college football AP Poll.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Blue Devils saw their leader return and were left with plenty to work on following their annual Blue/White Scrimmage.Duke, ranked in the top three nationally in every preseason poll released thus far, played four 10-minute quarters Sunday in Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils switched the teams for each of the first three quarters before playing against the all-male practice squad in the final quarter. The scrimmage included plenty of turnovers and missed free throws, but also plenty for the team to be encouraged about. "We're learning how to play together," head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. "Obviously, we're not there yet. I thought it was good to be out on the floor together, going through things and challenging ourselves. We were out there competing."Two-time All-American senior Chelsea Gray returned to the court after missing the end of last season due to a dislocated knee. She made her first shot, a deep 3-pointer, and had three assists in the first quarter that saw the likely Duke starters compete against the bench players and prevail 16-7. "I felt good," Gray said. "It was good to be back out there. I missed it. It was just good to be back out there with my team and really get fired up and get everybody else involved. [My timing] was good, it was better than I expected. It will improve throughout the season."Redshirt freshman forward Amber Henson also saw playing time throughout the scrimmage, logging nine minutes. Henson has had six surgeries since coming to Duke as the No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2012 two years ago. "I'm kind of holding her[back]," McCallie said. "Just giving her a little taste was all we were going to do today. The next two games she should have a little bit more opportunity."McCallie is referring to the Blue Devils' exhibition games against Glenville State and Coker College before opening the regular season Nov. 10 at California. The Golden Bears were a Final Four team a year ago and have been consistently ranked in the top-15 in preseason polls. In the second and third quarters of the scrimmage, starters and bench players were split between the two teams, resulting in an 18-18 tie in the second quarter and a highly competitive third quarter eventually won 28-21 by the White team. Duke's chemistry was put to the test in those quarters, and the teams combined for 19 turnovers."I think [the team's chemistry is] a work in progress," Gray said. "The different combinations we were able to do each quarter definitely helped with that.... It will just improve these next two games before we really get started."The star of the scrimmage was sophomore guard Alexis Jones. The lefty showed off an improved jump shot and showed how dangerous she is in transition. Jones scored 18 of her 29 points and only missed one field goal in the second and third quarters while adding six steals.In the fourth quarter—during which Duke rotated players x and faced off against the practice squad—the Blue Devils fell behind 12-3 before Jones sparked a comeback with three 3-pointers, the last of which put Duke ahead 18-13. The practice squad eventually won the quarter 21-20 on a last-second jumper by Veerain Gupta. Every Blue Devil played in the final frame except for Gray, who McCallie decided to rest. "Our guys are really nice," Jones said. "They help us out a lot. The point guards are really quick. They really make us play defense which is really good for us.... [In the fourth quarter] we needed to slow down the game and run through our plays so we can hit our options and focus on knocking down our shots."Though there were bright spots, the team will look to drastically improve in many areas in practice this week. One such area is free throw shooting. In the first quarter, the teams only made four out of 14 attempts from the charity stripe. The percentage rose throughout the rest of the scrimmage, but Duke struggled consistently with ball reversals and post entry passes in all four quarters. "They were bad and bad," McCallie said. "The post entry passes were very poor. The posts didn't get the ball enough. We'll work on that and clean that up. Ball reversal wasn't very successful either. We didn't get into our sets quick enough.... You'll see great improvement next time around."
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Four tournaments, four top-five finishes—most would call that a successful fall season.No. 4 Duke was challenged by a daunting golf course and fought hard for three days to come away with a second-place finish at the Landfall Traditional in Wilmington, N.C. In the team's final fall tournament, all five team members individually placed in the top-20."I'm proud of them," head coach Dan Brooks said. "We got contributions from all parts of the lineup. Everybody worked hard and everybody came together as a team. I'm just proud of the fall and I think we went out playing well. Our last two rounds were really good."The Blue Devils finished at eleven-over-par 875, eight strokes behind tournament champions No. 14 Alabama but 22 strokes ahead of No. 15 Clemson, the third-place team. In the first round, Duke shot seven-over-par 295 before carding rounds of even-par 288 and four-over-par 292 to arrive at the 875 total. The tournament featured 18 teams, nine of which were ranked in the top 25 in Golfweek's latest rankings. A deep field came away from the tournament with some high scores—only three teams broke 900 strokes for the week on the difficult course."It's just a really good golf course," Brooks said. "It's not stupidly difficult. That's why you also saw some low numbers. That spread in scores shows how great the golf course is. The broad range of scores really tells a story." Duke was led by standout freshman Yu Liu, who tied the low round of the weekend with a three-under-par 69 in the second round. She opened the tournament with a two-over-par 74 and finished with an even-par 72 to earn a second-place finish individually and her third top-10 in three fall starts. She finished two strokes behind Stephanie Meadow of Alabama, the tournament's individual champion."She played really well," Brooks said. "In this tournament, I think she had a feeling she might win it. It was right down to the wire. She was actually one stroke closer than the scores show—there was a little glitch in her scorecard. She was right there and feeling great about her game. I think she likes being in that position. She handled it well."Senior Laetitia Beck recorded her second straight top-five to conclude a successful fall, shooting rounds of 73, 74 and 72 to finish at three-over-par and tied for fourth.Sophomore Celine Boutier shot even-par in round one to lead the team before playing her last 36 holes of the fall at five-over-par to finish tied for eighth and earn her second consecutive top-ten on the demanding golf course.Making her Duke debut, freshman Esther Lee rebounded after a difficult opening round 79 to card rounds of 71 and 74 to finish tied for 16th at eight-over-par."She struck it really well," Brooks said. "[She had] great ball-striking and [was] just a little rough on the putting.... She's talking like she's ready to get after it and get after that putting."Lee's classmate, Sandy Choi, finished tied for 19th at nine-over-par after rounds of 76, 74 and 75. The Blue Devils enter a long winter break, with their next tournament not commencing until February 2014."This is where I step away," Brooks said. "I hope that they'll continue to work on things and work hard. That can make a huge difference on how far we go. But it's not going to be me forcing them to do that. They're going to have an offseason."
Cameron got crazy on Friday night and Saturday night. It wasn’t for basketball.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Blue Devils will take to the court for their annual scrimmage after a successful offseason and busy first week of practice.Duke, ranked in the top three nationally in every preseason poll released thus far, returns all five starters and 93.7 percent of its scoring from the team that went to the Elite Eight last season. The Blue Devils added the second-ranked recruiting class in the offseason and will start the 2013-14 campaign with the Blue/White Scrimmage Sunday at 2 p.m. at Cameron Indoor Stadium. "It's a great opportunity all the way around," head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. "Sunday is [going to be] a lot of fun. It's great to be out playing against each other with officials. We get a chance to play against each other, execute and compete and then can bring the scout guys in and compete against them. It's like a gameday mentality."The Blue Devils will be seeking redemption in this year's Blue White scrimmage. Last year, Duke fell 70-69 to the team's all-male practice squad, which will once again serve as the Blue Devils' competition for Sunday's contest.Duke started official practice last Wednesday and will play two exhibition games following the Blue/White scrimmage before starting the regular season at California on Nov. 10—the Golden Bears have been ranked in the top-15 in most preseason polls after reaching the Final Four last season. Duke's practices have been very focused so far in preparation for another long, grueling season."It's very exciting to be back together and working hard on the little details," McCallie said. "Our practices have been intense and I think we've been working at a pretty fast pace. The challenge is to get the consistency, particularly in defense and rebounding and get everybody to understand the importance of those elements of the game to get an emphasis on both sides of the ball."The most decorated returning starters for Duke are senior point guard Chelsea Gray and junior center Elizabeth Williams. Gray, a two-time All-American, missed the end of last season with a knee injury but has fully participated in practice. Williams, also a two-time All-American, is looking to become the first Blue Devil to be named an All-American in each of her first three seasons.The other returning starters are senior guard Tricia Liston, senior forward Haley Peters and sophomore guard Alexis Jones. Liston made a team-record 80 3-pointers a season ago and was a second-team All-ACC performer, as was Peters, and Jones was the MVP of the ACC tournament.Other returning contributors include senior guard Chloe Wells, senior forward Richa Jackson and junior forward Ka'lia Johnson. Because of the familiarity of the players and coaches, Duke has been working heavily on another specific aspect of the game in addition to focusing on defense and rebounding—ball movement."We need to do a much better job of passing the ball more quickly, particularly into the post," McCallie said. "Dribbling is overrated. It's very slow and can take the air out of the ball, so passing is critical. The quickness of the post entry pass and ball reversal are keys for us."Adding even more depth to the team are highly touted freshmen post players Kendall McCravey-Cooper and Oderah Chidom, who look to provide valuable frontcourt depth this season. Freshman guards Kianna Holland and Rebecca Greenwell were also top recruits and give Duke a very balanced freshman class. Holland has been battling injuries but is scheduled to return soon and Greenwell will redshirt. With their talent and versatility, the freshmen make Duke one of the deepest teams in the country."I'm really impressed with the transition they've made," McCallie said. "Kendall Cooper and Oderah Chidom have blended in beautifully with the team. They're playing very hard, they're improving every day and they've really been outstanding. I've been very pleased with them."
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Blue Devils will compete in their fourth and final fall tournament this weekend on a demanding golf course after dominating in their last event.No. 4 Duke is one of the nine teams ranked in Golfweek's top 25 that will compete in the 18-team, 54-hole Landfall Tradition at the Pete Dye Course at the Country Club of Landfall in Wilmington, N.C. The Blue Devils won the Tar Heel Invitational by 11 strokes two weeks ago in Chapel Hill and have finished in the top five in each of their three prior fall tournaments. Despite their success, their outlook remains the same."I'm still expecting them to stay involved in the process," head coach Dan Brooks said. "That's the usual thing that I expect. It's not about results—it's about process. If we take the same approach each day, each hole, each shot, then the results will come out."Duke will be led by senior Laetitia Beck, who has already gathered two top-10 finishes this season. Beck will be joined by sophomore Celine Boutier, who finished tied for third with Beck and two others at the Tar Heel Invitational, and freshmen Yu Liu, Sandy Choi and Esther Lee. Choi has started every event for Duke and Liu has posted two top-10 finishes in both of her fall starts, but Lee will be making her first start as a Blue Devil, giving the team a dynamic trio of freshmen."She's a talented player," Brooks said. "She [finally] got herself into the lineup, she qualified. We've had a team of tough competitors this semester. To break into the lineup is a great thing. I'm excited for her."Lee will be taking senior Alejandra Cangrejo's spot in the lineup, though Cangrejo will still compete in the event as an individual. Even though Duke has a majority of freshmen in the lineup, all three are seasoned junior golfers who were highly-touted out of high school, meaning that their strategies do not differ from those of the older players."The thing [for them] to do is still stay in process," Brooks said. "It's one shot at a time, play your golf, and the results will take care of themselves."Pete Dye is one of the most famous golf course designers in the world and is best known for designing TPC Sawgrass, the annual site of The Players Championship on the PGA Tour, and its par-3 17th hole that features an island green. His namesake course is a par-72 course that can present many visually intimidating shots because of its hazards and hills. The course recently switched from bentgrass greens to Bermuda grass greens, which will also present a challenge to the Blue Devils."It's a very good course," Brooks said. "It's one of my favorite courses. It's very challenging. Some people think it's his best course. It's a nice mixture of challenge and reward. [The Bermuda greens are] going to make it even more challenging because it's going to be a little firmer. Some of the greens are interesting shapes and aren't very big. We're going to have a heck of a challenge.... I wouldn't imagine the scores are going to be terribly low."
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____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Blue Devils had their second consecutive successful tournament, holding their own against the best tennis players in North Carolina and South Carolina.After four of Duke's more inexperienced players significantly improved at the Wake Forest Fall Invitational, the whole team fed off the momentum and had several significant results at this weekend's ITA Carolina Regional at the Cary Tennis Park in Cary, N.C, which concluded Monday. Most notably, sophomore Michael Redlicki, seeded third overall in the 128-player singles draw, advanced to the semifinals before falling 6-7 (7), 6-3, 6-2 to seventh seed Joran Vliegen of East Carolina. "This was definitely Michael's best tournament of the fall," head coach Ramsey Smith said. "He won a lot of close matches and did a really good job of stepping up and playing aggressive tennis. I thought he was serving big and forcing the issue with his opponents."Even though three of Duke's four best players from last season, junior Rafael Hemmeler and seniors Fred Saba and Chris Mengel, were sidelined due to injury, the Blue Devils that did compete made the most of their opportunities."Overall, it was definitely a good event for us," Smith said. "The guys that we put out there did a really good job.... We had some big wins, and I thought most of our guys played really well."Redlicki also fared well in doubles, teaming up with junior Jason Tahir to earn the number one seed in the 64-team doubles draw that featured only a little more than 50 teams, meaning several teams got first round byes. Redlicki and Tahir reached the semifinals before falling 8-4 to the 10th-seeded team of Robbie Mudge and Sean Weber of North Carolina State."[Redlicki and Tahir] have a very good feeling of how to play together," Smith said. "They complement each other's games very well. They fell a little bit short in the semifinals, but overall it was a good showing."Sophomore Bruno Semenzato also had a successful singles tournament, advancing to the quarterfinals as the 13th seed by upsetting fourth-seeded Rafael Aita of UNC Wilmington 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5) before falling in straight sets to fifth-seeded Cameron Silverman of Elon.Tahir added a strong showing in singles to his successful doubles tournament, winning three matches to advance to the round of 16. Silverman also took out the 12th-seeded Tahir 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. It was Tahir's first tournament since he injured his elbow in July."I was really happy to see him back on the court," Smith said. "I thought he played incredibly well considering how few matches he's played this year."Silverman made a habit of terrorizing Blue Devils in the tournament, also defeating redshirt junior Cale Hammond in the round of 64 by a score of 6-4, 2-6, 6-1. Hammond, who won his singles draw at the Wake Forest Fall Invitational to capture his first career college singles title, showed how much he has improved even in defeat by pushing the fifth-seeded Silverman to a third set. "Cale's really made a big jump the second half of the fall," Smith said. "I think the Wake Forest event gave him a boost of confidence, and he's started to play a more aggressive style of game that we've been working on him with. He's shown that he can play with the very top players.... It should give him a lot of confidence."Hammond teamed with sophomore Daniel McCall in doubles. The pair won two matches 8-7 in tiebreakers before falling in the round of 16 to the second-seeded team of Aita and Sam Williams of UNC Wilmington 8-7 (2) in a tiebreaker. Aita and Williams went on to win the doubles championship. "I was really impressed with Dan and Cale," Smith said. "They really showed some signs of great doubles and really complemented each other well."Other Blue Devils who won matches were freshman TJ Pura, who won two singles matches, sophomore and 16th-seeded Josh Levine, who won one, and the doubles team consisting of Pura and Semenzato. After gaining so much valuable experience, Duke will wrap up its fall season with the Dick Vitale Intercollegiate Clay Court Classic and USTA/ITA Indoor Nationals the weekend of Nov. 8. Duke will likely send multiple competitors to both events."We've made some nice jumps these last two tournaments," Smith said. "We're looking to get Fred and Rafa [Hemmeler] healthy to where they can get one more match in [the fall] and overall just to continue the trend of improvement these last two tournaments."
Recapping the changes in the polls after a crazy week in college football.
The Seminoles (6-0, 4-0 in the ACC) destroyed the Tigers in Death Valley, vaulting themselves into the national championship race, seizing control of the Atlantic Division and turning one of the biggest games in conference history into a clinic by the road team. In what was hyped as a contest between two Heisman hopefuls at quarterback, redshirt freshman quarterback Jameis Winston outdueled redshirt senior quarterback Tajh Boyd, throwing for 444 yards and three touchdowns and leading four touchdown drives that took less than 100 seconds.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After their first top-five finish of the season, the Blue Devils will face one of their toughest tests of the fall.Duke will start competition at the U.S. Collegiate Championship just five days after completing play at the Rod Myers Invitational and finishing in a tie for third place at its home course. The 54-hole U.S. Collegiate Championship features 15 of the nation's top golf teams, 10 of which are ranked in Golfweek's latest rankings, and will be played at the Golf Club of Georgia's 7,017 yard, par-72 Lakeside Course in Alpharetta, Ga."It's a great opportunity for our guys," head coach Jamie Green said. "We appreciate the invitation and we know it's a great venue. The folks at the Golf Club of Georgia and the committee for the US Collegiate do a wonderful job providing a great experience for the folks coming up to watch and the players."Since the event is annually played at the Lakeside Course, the Blue Devils may not be as familiar with the course as more experienced teams. Senior Yaroslav Merkulov is the only Blue Devil in the lineup who has played the course. He will be looking to continue his strong play after finishing the last 36 holes of the Rod Myers Invitational at five-under-par to finish in a tie for 11th."We'll look to his leadership [this week]," Green said. "He actually played some fantastic golf his freshman year [at the Rod Myers Invitational], so he's had some success at Duke University Golf Club.... I wasn't surprised to see him do well, but it's been awhile since his freshman year and he's battled through some injuries.... To have him finish up his senior year at our home tournament that way was a great thing for him."Merkulov will be joined by sophomore Motin Yeung, freshmen Max Greyserman and Alexander Matlari and junior Michael Ricaurte. Ricaurte is back in the team lineup after competing as an individual in the Rod Myers Invitational and tying for 16th."In our preparation [during the practice round], we'll have to focus a lot to make sure the new guys can feel comfortable on this track," Green said.Of the six competitive rounds he has carded this season, Yeung—a decorated junior golfer from Hong Kong—has carded four rounds at even par or under par. He will look to build on his sixth-place finish from the Rod Myers Invitational."He's very comfortable at this level," Green said. "He probably had the most successful summer of all of our players.... He's probably performed at the highest level of the rest of the guys on our team, so it's not a surprise to see him play pretty well for us. For him to be in the lineup consistently [after playing sporadically as a freshman] bodes well for us."The Lakeside Course is one of the most picturesque courses in the nation and was deemed "Best New Private Course in America" in 1991 by Golf Digest. Its premier hole—the 607-yard par 5 11th—was honored by Golf Digest in 1991 as one of "America's Best 99 Golf Holes." But when the Blue Devils take to the course this weekend, they won't have much time to admire the scenery."The golf course demands everything of you," Green said. "It actually has a lot of similarities to Old North State where we play our ACC Championship. That's a good thing for our players.... If you're going to perform well and be one of the top players in this field, you've got to do everything pretty well."
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After a disappointing performance at the ITA All-Americans, the Blue Devils showed new life at the Wake Forest Invitational.Redshirt junior Cale Hammond captured the first singles title of his career in the B2 singles draw to lead a strong effort by four of Duke's less-experienced players in Winston-Salem, N.C. Hammond was joined by freshman T.J. Pura and sophomores Daniel McCall and Josh Levine. Levine finished second in the A1 singles draw, Pura captured the consolation final in the B1 singles draw and McCall finished seventh in the A2 singles draw. "It was definitely a very good weekend for us," head coach Ramsey Smith said. "I felt like all four guys improved significantly from All-Americans and we had some pretty significant results, especially with Cale."Hammond defeated Santtu Leskinnen of UNC Wilmington in the B2 final in straight sets to post a 4-0 mark in singles for the tournament. Levine went 3-1 in singles, falling to Wake Forest's Max Kan in straight sets in the A1 final.In doubles, Pura and McCall finished fifth in the A bracket while Hammond and Levine fell in the third-place match to Kan and Aws Laaribi to take fourth. With all four Blue Devils playing four singles matches and multiple doubles matches, valuable experience was to be gained for players who had seen less action during their careers."I thought we competed extremely well and had good attitudes the whole way through," Smith said. "We were much better with the things we could control and we performed better. As a result, our results were better."Hammond, Levine, Pura and McCall will be joined by more of their teammates, most likely sophomores Bruno Semenzatio and Michael Redlicki, junior Raphael Hemmeler and senior Fred Saba at the ITA Carolina Regional this week in Cary, N.C. Duke will be co-hosting the event."We had a good talk as a team after All-Americans," Smith said. "We really decided that we needed to work on some simple things and do some things better at these tournaments in individual matches.... The first step was Wake Forest. I think it gives the team a boost going into regionals.... Hopefully we can continue the momentum."After the ITA Carolina Regional, Duke will compete in the National Indoor Championships and the Dick Vitale Intercollegiate Clay Court Classic, meaning that the Wake Forest Fall Invitational was likely the team's last fall tournament with a smaller field."All of these events are opportunities," Smith said. "There were still a lot of really good players at the Wake Forest tournament. Every match is an opportunity to improve and gain confidence.... Our younger guys got some really good matches under their belt and played very well. Those four are going to be very prepared going into regionals and hopefully the rest of the team can feed off of that."
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The last time the Blue Devils took a lead into the final round, they struggled. Not this time.No. 7 Duke dominated the 54-hole Tar Heel Invitational at par-72 Finley Golf Course in Chapel Hill, N.C., seizing a 12 stroke lead after 36 holes and eventually winning by 11 strokes at seven-under-par. Three Blue Devils finished in the top six individually to lead the team to its first win of the season. No. 18 Vanderbilt finished second and No. 9 Oklahoma and No. 3 Arkansas rounded out the top four finishers. The tournament featured 18 teams, 10 of which are ranked in the top 25 in Golfweek's latest rankings."I'm really proud of them," head coach Dan Brooks said. "We played a long golf course. That's the longest that course has ever played as long as they've been hosting that tournament. It was wet and the wind was blowing.... The wind blew in a direction that really challenged you on some key holes.... I was just very impressed by how smart the team played."Duke took a one stroke lead into the final round of the Dale McNamara Fall Preview in the team's first tournament of the season but was unable to hold the lead, finishing eight strokes behind tournament winner Southern California in a tie for fourth place. The Blue Devils played a much more consistent final round in their third tournament, losing only one stroke off the lead and preserving the 11-stroke win."We were in good position [after two rounds]," Brooks said. "I thought they did pretty well at previous tournaments too at staying patient for the final day.... This time it just worked out. This time we wound up with the win."Senior Laetitia Beck led Duke in the first round with a three-under-par 69 that left her tied for second. She played her final 36 holes in one-under-par to finish the tournament at four-under-par in a tie for third and collect her second top-10 finish in three events this season. She finished five strokes behind individual champion Ashlan Ramsey of Clemson."Whenever your seniors are doing well, it has a positive effect on everybody else," Brooks said. "She's become such a solid player and somebody we count on.... She's got the tempo of a champion now. She's just becoming a very mature player. She thinks really well and has a lot of poise and great rhythm.... She's starting to look really professional out there."Sophomore Celine Boutier had one of the best rounds of the entire tournament in the second round, firing a four-under-par 68 to lead Duke to a round of six-under-par 282 and bolstering its lead. Boutier finished tied with Beck in a tie for third overall at four-under-par for the tournament."Celine, playing a long golf course, hit some really, really great shots coming in on some long holes," Brooks said. "She doesn't hit it a mile, but she just managed her game really well. I was very impressed."Freshman Yu Liu made it two top-ten finishes in two starts this season by finishing in sixth place at three-under-par after three consecutive rounds of one-under-par 71.Liu's fellow freshman Sandy Choi was the fourth Blue Devil that contributed to Duke's team score and finished tied for 27th at four-over-par after rounds of 73, 72 and 75. On the heels of their double-digit victory, the Blue Devils will return to action in two weeks with a tournament in Wilmington"It always helps to see a golf course," Brooks said. "We've been over there a lot and they'd seen it.... That's definitely one in your corner when you've seen a golf course."
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After struggling in the first round of their own tournament, the Blue Devils could have panicked—instead they rallied back to the team's best finish of the season.Duke rebounded after a nine-over-par 297 in the opening round of the Rod Myers Invitational at the par-72 Duke University Golf Club left the team in ninth place out of 11 teams to finish the tournament at one-over-par overall in third place, 11 strokes behind tournament champion Northwestern. It was the team's first top-five finish of the season.Since the first 36 holes of the 54 hole tournament were completed on day one of the two day event, Duke bettered their disappointing first round by 16 strokes with their seven-under-par second round just a few hours after they finished the first round. The team carded a one-under-par 287 in the final round."I am really proud of the guys for turning things around," head coach Jamie Green said. "Obviously, we didn't get off to the start we were hoping for. Our guys kept their heads about them, made very good decisions as the day wore on and had good attitudes throughout the day yesterday [rounds one and two]. That carried over today [round three] as they continued to make strong decisions and gave themselves opportunities for birdies."Sophomore Motin Yeung led the Blue Devils, carding rounds of 72, 70 and 70 to finish at four-under-par in a tie for sixth. It was his first top-10 placement of the season in just his second start."Motin told me early in the tournament that he was excited about his decision making and approach on the course," Green said. "He said he probably didn't hit it as well as some other tournaments, but because of his continuous good decision making he didn't get himself in much trouble."Yeung finished five strokes behind tournament co-champions Jack Perry and Matthew Fitzpatrick, both from Northwestern. Fitzpatrick was the U.S. Amateur Champion this year, earning invitations to the Masters, U.S. Open, and Open Championship in 2014. A native of England, he made the cut and finished in a tie for 44th at this year's Open Championship."Hats go off to Northwestern for really playing a terrific tournament," Green said. "They were carried by two very good players, and it was great to have a U.S. Amateur champion in the field for the event."Duke senior Yaroslav Merkulov was resurgent during his final 36 holes just as his team was, following an opening round 78 with rounds of 69 and 70 to finish at one-over-par in a tie for 11th.Blue Devil freshman Alexander Matlari shot rounds of 75, 72 and 72 to finish at three-over-par in a tie for 16th. Junior Michael Ricaurte competed as an individual, meaning that his scores did not affect the team score, but still had a strong showing, carding rounds of 70, 77 and 72 to also finish at three-over-par in a tie for 16th.Duke will look to build on their performance next week at the United States Collegiate Championship in Alpharetta, Ga., after hosting the fourth annual Rod Myers Invitational. The tournament is named for golf coach Rod Myers, who coached at Duke for more than 30 years and passed away in 2007. "We are proud to host the Rod Myers Invitational again," Green said. "We received terrific responses and positive feedback from those in attendence. We cannot thank our volunteers and sponsors enough. They do so much to help this tournament be what it is—a really great tribute to Rod Myers."
No. 3 Clemson survived a scare, No. 24 Virginia Tech took care of business and much more from around the ACC this week.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Both tournaments the Blue Devils have competed in so far have been against stiff competition.This one will be no different.No. 10 Duke will look to earn its third top-five finish of the season in as many starts when the the team competes at the 54-hole Tar Heel Invitational Friday through Sunday at Finley Golf Course in Chapel Hill, N.C. The field features 18 teams, 10 of which are ranked in the top 25 in Golfweek's latest rankings. "It should be a great tournament," head coach Dan Brooks said. "We know the course well.... It's a good golf course and it's in good shape. The scores tend to be fairly low in this tournament, so we're going into it with our eyes open."After finishing tied for fourth at this event last year, Duke is hoping to have another strong performance on the 6,285 yard, par-72 golf course."It has fairly large greens, so it's really important to zero in on your target and make sure that you're trying to get to the right part of the green," Brooks said. "Depending on how they've cut the rough, I think it's really important to be very accurate."Freshman Yu Liu, who finished in the top 10 in her first start as a Blue Devil in the team's last tournament, will likely not be intimidated by the size of the tournament after playing in an official LPGA event in her home country of China last weekend. She finished in 73rd place after four rounds of the Reignwood LPGA Classic at the Pine Valley Golf Club in Beijing. Sophomore Celine Boutier also already has valuable LPGA experience after making the cut at the Ricoh Women's British Open at St. Andrews earlier this year."It's fantastic anytime they're able to play against the world's best, the people that make a living playing this game," Brooks said. "You're in a tournament where you're going to see how you perform against the very best, but also you hopefully have the experience of being paired with really good players. You can observe how they think and how they conduct themselves.... It's so valuable. It's such great experience." Liu and Boutier will be joined in the team lineup by seniors Laetitia Beck and Alejandra Cangrejo and freshman Sandy Choi. Despite the expected lower scoring and size of the tournament, the Blue Devils are likely not going to deviate from the strategy that garnered two top-five finishes on tougher golf courses with equally strong fields."It's no different," Brooks said. "It's still all about you, your own golf, one shot at a time and staying in the present. It doesn't really matter who's on the golf course with you.... [this tournament] is valuable to us because you know your scores will be up against some of the best. That's always good to assess where you are and how well you actually played."
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Blue Devils will try to win their own tournament for the third straight year after struggling to start the season.Duke will compete in and host the fourth annual Rod Myers Invitational Saturday and Sunday at Duke University Golf Club. The 54-hole event includes 36 holes on day one and the final 18 holes on day two and features 11 teams, with no. 18 Baylor being the top-ranked squad. The lineup for the Blue Devils has yet to be determined.Though Duke has not met expectations after finishing sixth out of 14 teams at the Tar Heel Intercollegiate and ninth out of 10 teams at the Collegiate Challenge Cup, many of the more inexperienced Blue Devils have had significant practice time to work on what went wrong."We're trying to take care of the little details," head coach Jamie Green said. "When you look at an event or a score and feel like it didn't go well, sometimes you can get overwhelmed with too much. We really had to break it down and look at the small details and things we had control over changing."Duke will try to take advantage of having a tournament at its home course, though the youth of the team likely minimizes this potential advantage."We'd like to play as well as any team, or better," Green said. "We just can't compare to how some of the others play in the sense that some of the other players have literally played the golf course more than a couple of our new guys. We've focused much more on the golf course [in practice] these last few days.... We just need to make sure that they're comfortable with the shots out there so that we can compete at the highest level we can."It will be the first official tournament played at the Duke University Golf Club since the summer renovation that replaced the old bentgrass greens with Champion Bermudagrass. In addition to improving the putting surfaces, the change also made the par-72 golf course that measures well over 7,000 yards from the championship tees much more sustainable. "The golf course is primed," Green said. "The greens are as good, fast and firm as they've ever been. [Rees Jones, the man who led the course renovation] reshaped the backs of some of the greens so that they're tilted up so that a ball will either stay close to the green or roll back on to the green.... That might be a little bit of an equalizer, but it should be a great test for all the teams."The tournament is named after legendary Duke men's golf coach Rod Myers, who was at Duke for more than 30 years, led the team to 30 tournament victories and was the 2005 National and ACC Coach of the Year. Myers lost his battle with leukemia and passed away in 2007."It was an honor a few years ago to have Nancy Myers [Rod Myers' wife] allow us to put Rod's name on the event," Green said. "Ever since, it's been a wonderful thing for our program, college athletics and men's golf because we get to remember Rod and all the great things he did for our university, college golf and the PGA of America. It's just a great honor for us."
A recap of the week that was in ACC football.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The main draw of the biggest tournament in all of college tennis is set to begin, with four Blue Devils looking to show they can compete with the best.The main draw of the ITA All-American Championships features the top 64 singles players and top 32 doubles teams in the nation and began Thursday at the Tulsa's Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla. Sophomore Michael Redlicki, junior Raphael Hemmeler and senior Fred Saba are competing in singles, and the tandem of Hemmeler and sophomore Bruno Semenzato will represent Duke in doubles. The fields have finally been determined after five days of rigorous qualifying rounds."There's been the pre-qualifying and the qualifying, and it's all to get in the main draw," head coach Ramsey Smith said. "Our guys are really excited.... This is the best of the best. It's that one tournament that all the top players play. Every match is a great opportunity."In the opening day of competition, Hemmeler fell 6-1, 6-2 in his first round match against Columbia's Winston Lin. Redlicki battled Virginia's Mac Styslinger, the tournament's No. 16 seed, and lost 6-4, 7-5. After winning his opening-round match in three sets against SMU's Arturs Kazijevs, Saba fell to the tournament's 14th seed, Jared Hiltzik of Illinois, 6-2, 6-3.Hemmeler and Semenzato made the big splash of the day on the doubles court, taking down the tournament's second-seeded tandem of Hernus Pieters and Ben Wagland. Duke's duo defeated the pair from Georgia 8-4 to advance."It's a team that we know pretty well," Smith said. "It's a team that's very, very good. I think it's a great opportunity. It's the first time that Rafa [Hemmeler] and Bruno have played together in a tournament. They complement each other really well, are an extremely good returning team and have very good energy." Having already qualified for the main draw in doubles before the official ITA qualifying rounds, Hemmeler and Semenzato attempted to qualify in singles by winning three matches in the qualifying rounds.Hemmeler came within a set of achieving his goal and lost a match in the third set on the final day of qualifying to Axel Alvarez of Oklahoma, 6-3, 0-6, 6-4. Because of two withdrawals however, Hemmeler—as one of the highest seeded players in the final round of the qualifiers—was still able to find his way into the main draw as a "lucky loser.""[Hemmeler] lost a tough first set, won a great second set and had an extremely competitive third set," Smith said. "He fell just short. The draw came out right before his match started, so he actually knew he was going to be in either way. Unfortunately, he didn't get the win, but the main goal is to qualify for the main draw."Semenzato also lost a tough three-set match in the final round of qualifying, falling 5-7, 6-3, 6-0 to Benjamin Lock of Florida State. It was his first loss of the season in singles or doubles."Bruno has had a phenomenal fall so far," Smith said. "He had two really good wins in the first two rounds [of qualifying] to make it to the last round. He played a great first set, but his opponent really stepped it up and played incredible the last two sets. Bruno was down in the third, fought back, and gave himself a chance, but [Lock] was just a little too tough at the end."Because the tournament's main draw uses a back draw, each singles player is guaranteed two matches on the first day. Smith said that win or lose, the experience that players could gain playing in the back draw of the weekend's tournament could be a significant difference maker for the spring season."The back draw of the tournament is probably the third-hardest tournament in the fall," Smith said. "Everyone is so good. It's nice that they play it out, it's a whole separate tournament. I'm just looking for the guys to go out there and compete and give it their best shot. I'm looking forward to watching them compete against the best players in the country."
A look at how the ACC football teams fared this week.