So I made this post in another forum, but in perusing the EK forum I did not see anything specifically devoted to honoring Miles as his senior day approaches. I figured I would share this here as well:


With apologies to any potential early-entrants on Duke's team currently, we do have a guy who will be playing his final regular season games as a Blue Devil this week. While not every senior class can have as significant of an impact as the Kyle/Nolan class or the Jon/Lance/Zoubs class, I think it is time to recognize and appreciate this year's senior for who he is.

And who is Miles Plumlee? Well, to my eyes he has been a highly entertaining player to watch over the last 4 years. Dripping with athleticism and a great attitude, he has done everything asked of him over that time. He showed some little flashes of brilliance as a Freshman, at a time when we thought he was our only hope for the future of having a solid low post game. Even started a few games, as you could tell that he had a ton of potential but was really struggling to gain confidence and comfort in the college game.

Obviously, he was a vital part of a national championship team- one of the most beloved teams in Duke history. Though Zoubs and LT eventually locked down the starting spots, Miles started over half of the games for a National Champion and Duke doesn't win the championship without him (imo.) I think of Miles' punctuating dunk against UNC in the 82-50 game, him closing the Baylor game out after Zoubs fouled out, his emphatic putback dunk against WVU in the Final Four, and perhaps most importantly, him getting to a loose ball and getting a shot up (while being held by multiple Butler players- no call) to avoid a shot clock violation in the national championship game.

The past two years since the NC game have gone by fast, and Miles has had his ups and downs as a player. Perhaps he hasn't become the "dominant" player in line with the potential that we all see in him. But I want to commend him for his hard work, for representing the Duke program with class, for giving his all, and for being an overall joy to have as a part of the Duke program.

I thought Miles deserved his own thread of appreciation during this, his senior week. Hopefully, he continues his recent upswing and continues to lead the way his role model, Mr. Zoubek did as a Senior. But whatever the outcome, and whether Duke has 4 games left or 11 games left, I am thankful that Miles came to Duke and will miss seeing MP1 in a Duke uniform.