The 2012-13 college basketball season has officially begun.
Friday afternoon, Duke conducted its first press conference of the year at the Emily K Center in Durham, which was followed by the team's first official practice.
Here are some highlights from Blue Devil head coach Mike Krzyzewski's press conference on Friday:
On the Lance Thomas allegations:
"Early in September when I was made aware that there was a lawsuit against Lance, I contacted our authorities at Duke and they contacted the NCAA. And before anything was made public, they started working together to go through a process of seeing what happened. As a result of that, we want to honor the integrity of that process and that's why I haven't made any statements about it and will continue to do that. I would hope that you would understand there is integrity to the process and we are cooperating fully. And I am going to adhere to that. I have complete trust and confidence in all the parties involved."
On injuries:
"Seth [Curry] will have limited duty today. We're monitoring a little leg injury he has. We're going to do that throughout the next few weeks. Marshall [Plumlee] hurt his foot in our individual workouts two days ago and will not participate in practice today."
On senior leadership:
"I'm really pleased with the leadership our three seniors have shown thus far. They have been terrific. I think naming the two captains last spring really helped because it gave them the spring and summer to assert their leadership."
On Mason Plumlee:
"I'm especially impressed with Mason [Plumlee]. I think he is one of the best players in the United States. He having that type of year will be key for us. I'm very anxious to see how that will turn out. I'm excited for him."
On Ryan Kelly:
"Ryan, I think, is really shooting the ball well and playing well. He is completely recovered from his foot injury and operation last spring."
On defensive outlook for this season:
"One of our goals is to be better defensively. The history of our program has been based on really sound, good defense and I didn't think we had that [last year]. I think we beat teams offensively last year... We have much more length on our team this year. I don't think we are a particularly fast team, but we are pretty long... We added size to the perimeter with Rasheed, Amile and Alex."
On the point-guard situation:
"Seth and Rasheed do not play into the point guard position except they may guard a point guard... Both Quinn and Tyler are better [than they were last year]. Tyler's quickness is much better. Quinn has been really good. Both [Cook and Thornton] have really good personalities. The guys like them. It's important for them to know all the positions and set us up.""Quinn will start out being our point guard and Tyler backing him up. I like that duo. Strong point-guard play will be critical for conference play."
On Alex Murphy's development and role this year:
"I think Alex has a chance to be really an outstanding player. He looks like Kyle [Singler]. He can do some of those things for us... I think his confidence is sky high."
On Rodney Hood:
"He is a terrific player. He is a 6-foot-8 guard... We would love to have him this year. He is going to be a terrific player. Great kid."
On North Carolina head coach Roy Williams' successful recovery from surgery:
"I am so happy for Roy. I have been leaving messages for him and calling him. I was on a plane yesterday and he go back to me. He is doing great. Thank goodness that he is fine."
Duke will practice at Fort Bragg on Monday afternoon, which will be televised by ESPN. Countdown to Craziness will take place on Friday, Oct. 17 at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
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