Not again...please not again. With a little under 7 minutes left in the quarterfinal match up with Maryland, Nolan Smith drove across the lane and kicked it out to Kyle Singler for an open three. Singler would miss that three, but the much more important part of this play was Nolan Smith jamming a toe on his left foot right into a foot of a Maryland player. The limping and grabbing at the foot that Nolan was doing after the injury was all too familiar for Duke fans that have already had their fill of toe injuries to star guards for one year.
After Nolan left the game though Duke shut down Maryland and stretched a 5 pt lead into double digits and won the game 87-71. They then cruised to a victory that leaves Duke fans with just as many questions as answers following the game. Not only are they now questioning if Nolan Smith will return this weekend but prior to the game tonight Kyrie Irving was wearing his game shorts and going through relatively intense warm up.
Kyrie seems to be stepping up his rehab by the day and with a little under a week until the start of the NCAA Tournament, it sure feels like he maybe will give it a go. Tonight in his game shorts he looked good enough in his rehab work out that Maryland's coaches had to ask ESPN's crew "He isn't playing tonight right?"
Duke played well tonight. Both Plumlees had good games, Ryan Kelly was hitting open shots, Kyle Singler was controlling the game and scoring with ease and Seth Curry stepped up with Smith being injured to finish off the Terps. Duke maybe without its two best players the rest of the way this weekend though. Nolan Smith it was reported needed help getting up the stairs to the locker room. Then Coach K stated "He's (Kyrie Irving) not going to magically appear tomorrow or anything like that because he hasn't done anything with the team, but it's coming along great." Its possible Nolan plays Saturday, Kyrie it seems will again be in street clothes.
Who are the Dukies playing?
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Wow wow wow.....want to talk about an amazing finish to the FSU/Virginia Tech game. A huge shot by Virginia Tech with 4 seconds left to put them up 1. After a time out FSU got Derwin Kitchen the ball, he ran the full length of the court and hit a fading jumper from the corner for the win. In real time it looked too close to call whether Kitchen got the shot off...in super slow motion...well...it was too close to call. In the end with the freeze frame it seemed that the ball was still on Kitchen's finger when the clock it 00.0.
So...revenge opportunity for Duke Saturday against Virginia Tech, 2pm central...LETS PLAY!
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