Tag: 2024-25 Duke Basketball Season

Former Duke basketball player Jay Bilas gives speech to Blue Devils before 2024-25 season

Check out the speech Jay Bilas gave to Cooper Flagg and the Duke Blue Devils ahead of the 2024-25 season.

[autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] and the Duke Blue Devils will need to manage national championship expectations in Durham this season, and a former Duke basketball star recently spoke to the team about how to handle those goals.

Jay Bilas, the ESPN analyst who played for the Blue Devils from 1982-86, posted a video of his speech to social media on Monday as he compared a title quest to the summer jobs he worked with his father.

Bilas said he would climb ladders all the way to the roof while carrying what his dad needed for work. Let’s just say he needed to alter his approach over time.

“I decided, in my infinite wisdom at age 19 or 20, that the more stuff I carried up the ladder, the fewer trips I had to take,” Bilas said. “So I loaded myself down with materials and I was climbing the ladder, but midway up, I took a spill and fell off the ladder.”

Bilas told the Blue Devils that his father advised him to concentrate more on the task at hand, boiling his point down to the idea of taking things one step at a time, before connecting it to the upcoming basketball season.

“You’re not going to win the national championship today,” Bilas said. “It’s not being played today. But you’re going to put yourself in position to win it by what you do today.”

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Fans can watch Bilas’s full speech on the Duke basketball YouTube channel here.

Duke basketball’s December game against the Auburn Tigers will air on ESPN

ESPN revealed the broadcast details for the 2024-25 ACC/SEC Challenge on Monday, including a national slot for Duke’s game against Auburn.

ESPN revealed the broadcast information for the 2024-25 men’s basketball ACC/SEC Challenge on Monday, and the Blue Devils will host the Auburn Tigers on national television.

Duke and the Tigers will face off at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Wednesday, December 4. The game, which tips off at 9:15 p.m. Eastern time, will air on ESPN.

Under head coach Bruce Pearl, Auburn has won at least 25 games in five of the last seven seasons. The Tigers reached the Final Four back in 2019 and defeated the Florida Gators to win the SEC tournament title as part of a 27-8 campaign last year.

The Tigers are one of a handful of non-conference heavyweights on the Duke basketball schedule this season. Head coach Jon Scheyer leads his team against the Kentucky Wildcats, Arizona Wildcats, and Kansas Jayhawks over a 15-day span in November, all in games away from Cameron Indoor Stadium, before a rare February game against the Illinois Fighting Illini in Madison Square Garden later in the year.

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In last year’s inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge, Duke lost 80-75 to the Arkansas Razorbacks on the road.

Duke basketball shares early look at Cooper Flagg in a Blue Devils uniform

Duke basketball fans started their weekend with some media day content on Friday, including an early look at star freshman Cooper Flagg.

The Duke Blue Devils treated their basketball fans with some media day content this week, including an early look at star freshman [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] in his jersey.

The social media team knows that the Cameron Crazies can’t get enough Flagg content, and they posted a short video of the Maine native to X (the social media platform formerly known as Twitter) on Friday afternoon.

Flagg, who recently signed a NIL deal with New Balance, sported his No. 2 jersey that he’ll wear this coming season. The freshman elaborated on his choice on The Brotherhood Podcast earlier this summer, dedicating the number to one of his brother’s high school teammates who unfortunately passed away.

One of the preseason favorites to win national player of the year honors, Flagg is the presumed first overall pick in the 2025 NBA draft. He led Montverde Academy to an undefeated season as a senior before participating in the Team USA Olympic training camp as a member of the Select Team.

Flagg makes his Cameron Indoor Stadium debut at the Countdown to Craziness on October 4 before his first official game comes against Maine on November 4.

ESPN announces tip-off time for Duke basketball game against Kansas in Las Vegas

Duke basketball will play Kansas under the Las Vegas lights after ESPN confirmed the game’s tip-off time on Thursday.

The Duke Blue Devils and Kansas Jayhawks get to play a night game in the country’s most nocturnal city.

The Las Vegas Showdown revealed its tip-off times on Thursday with Duke and Kansas set for the first game of the night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time on November 26th.

The battle pits two preseason favorites against each other on the hardwood. Duke, thanks to top-ranked freshman [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag], opened as the No. 1 overall seed in ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi’s projected 2025 bracket. However, Kansas coach Bill Self lured big names from the transfer portal to supplant Jon Scheyer’s team atop Lunardi’s rankings.

The Tuesday game also marks the back half of a road trip for Scheyer’s team as the Blue Devils play Arizona in its home arena just four days earlier.

With the game taking place out west, the Blue Devils and Jayhawks will actually be the first game of the night. Seattle and Furman, the other two teams competing at the inaugural event, will tip off at 11:30 p.m. Eastern time

The announcement came within hours of the State Farm Champions Classic revealing that Duke and Kentucky would also play at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time on November 12, albeit as the second of two games.

Duke basketball freshman Isaiah Evans says he chose Duke so he could push himself

Every five-star commit has their reason for choosing the Blue Devils, and Isaiah Evans explained his on The Brotherhood Podcast last week.

There’s no wrong reason for a five-star prospect to choose the Duke Blue Devils. After all, the program’s resources, national prominence, and five championships speak for themselves.

However, when five-star freshman [autotag]Isaiah Evans[/autotag] appeared on The Brotherhood Podcast last week, he came up with an entirely different answer for his choice.

The North Carolina native wanted to be challenged.

“It was just a personal thing,” Evans told sophomore teammate Caleb Foster. “Obviously, people were just telling me how good I was, and everywhere I was going, I was more or less just dominating…I wanted to go somewhere where it was like, ‘I’m really going to have to push myself.'”

Dominant would be an appropriate word for Evans’ senior year at North Mecklenburg High School. He averaged 27.5 points per game en route to a MaxPreps First Team All-American nomination and his second consecutive year as North Carolina Mr. Basketball. The Charlotte Observer even named him the best player from the area in the last four decades.

Duke basketball fans get their first look at Evans during the Countdown to Craziness on October 4.

Incoming Duke basketball freshman Isaiah Evans describes himself as a ‘high energy’ player

In last week’s appearance on The Brotherhood Podcast, incoming Duke basketball freshman Isaiah Evans broke down how he sees himself as a player.

It’s easy to understand why Duke basketball fans might be too enamored with [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] to get excited about the other five-star signees in the 2024 recruiting class, but [autotag]Isaiah Evans[/autotag] shouldn’t be forgotten about.

The two-time North Carolina Mr. Basketball honoree appeared on The Brotherhood Podcast last week, talking with sophomore teammate Caleb Foster about how he sees himself as a player. The first words out of his mouth fit Duke’s entire 2024-25 identity.

“Just someone with high energy and just willing to do anything,” Evans said.

Duke fans who have kept up with Evans for the last few months shouldn’t be surprised by that description. No member of the 2024 recruiting class has bought into Duke and its rivalry with North Carolina more than the in-state product, and he went viral for showing off in front of some UNC fans at a high school game.

Evans even swiped at former Tar Heel Cormac Ryan’s age during media at the McDonald’s All-American Game.

Evans, considered one of the best offensive weapons in Duke’s arsenal for the coming season, did offer some insight into his actual game as well.

“I feel like I’m an elite shooter,” Evans continued. “I feel like I can see the floor well, get my teammates involved.”

His words are backed up on his high-school tape. A MaxPreps First Team All-American as a senior, Evans averaged 27.5 points and three assists per game at North Mecklenburg High School.

Duke officially announces February matchup with Illinois at Madison Square Garden

The Duke basketball team confirmed its February battle against Illinois on Wednesday, set within the most famous arena in the sport.

The Duke Blue Devils are headed back to the Big Apple.

The school announced on Wednesday that it had officially scheduled a February game against Illinois set for Madison Square Garden, the most iconic venue in the sport.

The game, scheduled for February 22, will be part of the SentinelOne Classic.

Blue Devils fans shouldn’t be surprised by the announcement. Reports surfaced as early as May that the two schools were working out an agreement to play in 2024-25, and Illinois coach Brad Underwood said that same month that they had their eyes on February for an official date.

The Fighting Illini matched Duke’s run to the Elite Eight last season, finishing with a 29-9 record and ending up No. 7 in the final USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll.

Duke has played in the famous New York arena 59 previous times, and the late-season duel will be the 11th time the Blue Devils make it to Madison Square Garden in 12 seasons.

The Fighting Illini join a gauntlet of non-conference opponents for the Blue Devils in 2024-25 as Jon Scheyer leads his team against Kentucky, Kansas, Auburn, and Arizona.