Friendship Games Anything But

Ugliness prevailed yesterday when the Georgetown Hoyas visited China's Bayi Rockets. The exhibition game never finished due to the brawl shown in the above video, which happened with nine and a half minutes remaining.

Not to sound biased, but this is likely the Chinese team's fault. Yes, the Hoyas ignored the diplomacy meetings they attended before the visit, but this probably was not mostly on them. There was an instance in the game during a timeout when a Chinese player yelled from a foot away at Georgetown coach John Thompson III as he was addressing his team. It also must be noted that this same group of Chinese players has been fined tens of thousands of dollars for previous unruly behavior during games.

The intentions of the U.S. State Department for this trip that Georgetown, Duke, and Hawaii universities are making to China is to strengthen the ties between the two countries through sports diplomacy. While this has been an overall positive trip, this was not an instance of diplomacy in any way.

The basketball game had been rough from the start. The refereeing had been unfair and the men in stripes had lost all control of the game early. They awarded 57 free throws to the Rockets and just 15 to Georgetown. Perhaps they were afraid of the wrath of the wild crowd. Nonetheless, the game ended in quite the unexpected fashion.

No Stopping Duke

There is one main question about the Duke Blue Devils basketball team after last night's 82-68 win over No. 4 Kansas State. Are the Blue Devils beatable? Featuring some NBA-level talent, and a legendary Coach in Mike Kryzewski, whose win yesterday was his 800th at Duke, the Devils seem unstoppable. A repeat championship run seems more likely as the days go by. While this team's talent is clearly greater than last season's, it is still not entirely known whether they are a better team than the one that defeated Butler to win it all last year. But like that team, they have the teamwork, experience, and leadership skills to repeat. The undefeated season is also being thrown out there, which might be setting the bar too high, but there's a chance.

The bottom line is this: the Blue Devils are one of the, if not the top team in college basketball this season, and seeing how they dismantled Jacob Pullen and Kansas St. only proves this point. Let's take a look at each of their main players.

G Kyrie Irving: Irving is establishing himself as one of the top guards in college basketball, and compares well to Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose. He has breathtaking speed, blowing by Kansas St.'s All-American Jacob Pullen countless times. He sometimes loses control on the break and can turn the ball over a few too many times, but this will improve with experience. An NBA future is a guarantee for him, and this might be his only season playing for Duke before a bolt to the NBA draft. The Cameron Crazies will love this hyped freshman. Stats thru 11/24 (five games): 14.2 ppg, 6.6 apg, 3.8 rpg, 1.2 spg

G Nolan Smith: Nolan increased his ppg by 9 from sophomore to junior seasons, largely because of the departure of Gerald Henderson. Averaging 17.4 ppg  last year, he was a key reason for Duke championship run last season. Smith has a decent touch from beyond the arc, shooting close to 40% from three. He has good speed for a guard, as well as what is becoming his trademark floater. He's a leader of this year's team, along with fellow senior Kyle Singler. He will be an NBA player next year if he continues to show his skill.
Stats thru 11/24 (five games): 16.6 ppg, 5.8 apg, 5 rpg, 1 spg

F Kyle Singler: Making an immediate impact upon his arrival to Duke, Singler has developed into a star and a candidate for the player of the year this season. Along with Jon Scheyer and Nolan Smith, (the three Ss) he starred for last year's championship team. Singler is a very complete player, not outstanding at any one skill, but above average at all for the college level.  However, he seems to have regressed a bit since last season, and through five games his numbers have shown that. It is questionable whether he will transition to the NBA level smoothly, and some scouts say that he should have left after last year. But the fact that he is still playing for Duke only makes the Blue Devils a much more challenging matchup.
Stats thru 11/24 (five games): 13.4 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 0.8 apg, 1.6 spg


F Mason Plumlee: Never really getting to show off his skills last year, partially because of a wrist injury, the sophomore Plumlee is starting to emerge this year. The more talented of the two brothers on the team (a third Plumlee has been recruited for next year, said to be the best of the three), Plumlee broke out against Marquette, scoring a career high 25 points, showing what he's capable of against a formidable Big East opponent.
Stats thru 11/24 (five games): 11.8 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 1.8 apg



G Seth Curry: Referred to as "Stephen's Little Brother," (because of former Davidson star and now Golden State Warriors starting guard Stephen), Seth led all college freshman in scoring, averaging over 20 ppg playing for Liberty. Now transferred to Duke, he will have a diminished role, no longer being the go-to option. But the sharpshooter will still make some noise with the Blue Devils, but don't expect him to reach his full potential this season.
Stats thru 11/24 (five games): 10.2 ppg, 1.8 apg, 1.6 rpg, 1.8 spg


G Andre Dawkins: Dawkins is beginning to find himself this year, after an up-and-down freshman season in which he went in and out of rotation. He came to Duke this season as a much improved player, being able to do more than just shoot from beyond. He is becoming able to create his own shot, as well as defend on-ball better than before. Could break out next year with departure of Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler, as could Seth Curry.
Stats thru 11/24 (five games): 11.2 ppg, 2.2 rpg, .545 3PT %

Duke's balanced attack also includes Ryan Kelly, who is a starter, but plays limited minutes, and Miles Plumlee, who gets minutes off the bench, both of whom average close to 5 ppg this year. The outright skill of the Blue Devils can be seen by the fact that Andre Dawkins, Miles Plumlee, and Seth Curry come off the bench, all of whom would start on almost any other team, and be a star almost anywhere else. But for the good of the team, every player on this team submits to a role best suited for the team, which makes the Blue Devils the early favorite to go all the way.

Duke Poised for Repeat: College Basketball Preview

Last April's clash between the Duke Blue Devils and the unexpected Butler Bulldogs will go down in history as one of the greatest college hoops finals ever. Butler's chances aren't great to get back there this year, but Duke, who loses three senior starters from last season, is looking for the same outcome in 2010-11. Ranked preseason #1 indisputably, Duke added top recruit PG Kyrie Irving, G Seth Curry, who's NBA star Stephen's younger brother, G Tyler Thornton and F Josh Hairston. The Devils also have both Plumlees, Mason and Miles, starting in place of Lance Thomas and 7'1" Brian Zoubek. They are the favorites.

But this is college basketball. How much does being the favorite actually matter? Because I'm pretty sure Butler wasn't one last year. Duke was atop the list, but no one saw Kansas or John Wall's Kentucky in the final like everyone expected. Mid-majors are always lurking, like Memphis, who, under coach Josh Pastner, seem to be improving since John Calipari left. There's also many top teams in the mix, like star senior PG Kalin Lucas' Michigan St, who reached the final four last year, to be beaten by the Blue Devils. Kansas St. looks to win their first Big 12 title since 1977, and this looks to be a year they can do it.

Now the seemingly always strong Big East, whom beating each other up last year seemed to take its toll. Pitt is the favorite, returning most of last year's top scorers. But Corey Fisher and Villanova will try to prevent the Oakland Zoo from celebrating a conference title.

Is this the year when a 16-seed finally beats a #1? Probably not. But get ready for another upbeat, crazy season of college basketball.