Spring Sports Recap

[sagegrouse]

Here’s a summary of results in spring sports. It was an excellent season and should move Duke way up in the Sears Cup rankings, when updates are announced on May 30. There were three ACC championships – Men’s LAX, and Women’s Golf and Tennis – out of seven sports competed. Both LAX and Tennis made the NCAA Final Four.

Men’s LAX won the ACC championships and, seeded third, made the Final Four for the sixth straight season, losing to UMd.

Women’s LAX, seeded sixth, made the NCAAs, losing to eventual champion Northwestern in the quarters.

Women’s Golf won the ACCs and qualified for the NCAA championships, finishing 15th. Star Lindy Duncan swept the NCAA postseason awards.

Men’s Golf was 6th in the ACCs, as well as 6th in the NCAA Eastern Regionals.

Women’s Tennis, lost only two matches, reaching the NCAA Semis (another Final Four) and winning the ACCs over UNC.

Men’s Tennis reached the NCAA quarters, losing to Southern California. It also reached the ACC finals, losing to UVa.

Track and Field has seven qualifiers in eight events for the NCAA championships. Curtis Beach, skipping the decathlon in favor of the Olympic trials, qualified in the long jump and the 800 meters. The Women won the ECAC/IC4A championship at Princeton with the Men finishing fifth. In the ACCs, the Women were fourth and the Men sixth. There is much more to be said about individual accomplishments.


Congratulations to all who participated.

sagegrouse

[jimsumner]

Here’s a summary of results in spring sports. It was an excellent season and should move Duke way up in the Sears Cup rankings, when updates are announced on May 30. There were three ACC championships – Men’s LAX, and Women’s Golf and Tennis – out of seven sports competed. Both LAX and Tennis made the NCAA Final Four.

Men’s LAX won the ACC championships and, seeded third, made the Final Four for the sixth straight season, losing to UMd.

Women’s LAX, seeded sixth, made the NCAAs, losing to eventual champion Northwestern in the quarters.

Women’s Golf won the ACCs and qualified for the NCAA championships, finishing 15th. Star Lindy Duncan swept the NCAA postseason awards.

Men’s Golf was 6th in the ACCs, as well as 6th in the NCAA Eastern Regionals.

Women’s Tennis, lost only two matches, reaching the NCAA Semis (another Final Four) and winning the ACCs over UNC.

Men’s Tennis reached the NCAA quarters, losing to Southern California. It also reached the ACC finals, losing to UVa.

Track and Field has seven qualifiers in eight events for the NCAA championships. Curtis Beach, skipping the decathlon in favor of the Olympic trials, qualified in the long jump and the 800 meters. The Women won the ECAC/IC4A championship at Princeton with the Men finishing fifth. In the ACCs, the Women were fourth and the Men sixth. There is much more to be said about individual accomplishments.


Congratulations to all who participated.

sagegrouse

I look forward to the day when we can add baseball the post-season menu.

[roywhite]

I look forward to the day when we can add baseball the post-season menu.

Interesting to note that going back 50 years and before that, Duke was regularly strong in football and baseball. In recent years, our performance in those sports has trailed nearly every other sport.

I guess it didn't hurt to have coaches like Jack Coombs, Wallace Wade, and Bill Murray.

[-bdbd]

Any way you slice it that is a very successful Spring! Congratulations to the Blue Devil Athletic Department on all of its successes!!!

In a society that seems to emphasize a "win or bust" mentality, it is nice to note across-the-board broad successes/excellence in many sports, even if none of them won "the big prize." It says a lot about how our athletic program is run and, ultimately, will lead to many championships. So many college sports are just so competitive these days, as long as you can achieve relatively consistent excellence, then you will be consistently "in the mix" for those championships. A great Spring Devils!! :cool:

[Reilly]

Is there a list somewhere of how many scholarships the NCAA allows to be given in each sport, and how many Duke actually does give in that sport?

[Rich]

Unfortunately, our neighbors down the road lead the Capital One Cup standings on the men's side. Our women our 4th, but nobody's catching Stanford. http://www.capitalonecup.com/standings.html

[sagegrouse]

I look forward to the day when we can add baseball the post-season menu.

Baseball was a glaring omission. The team finished 21-34/9-21 for total and ACC and was last in the Coastal Division. Stroman was named first-team All-ACC for his pitching performance. I look forward to better days ahead and am still in touch with some of the players from the 1961 team that went to the CWS.

I look forward to better days. -- sage

[chrishoke]

Baseball was a glaring omission. The team finished 21-34/9-21 for total and ACC and was last in the Coastal Division. Stroman was named first-team All-ACC for his pitching performance. I look forward to better days ahead and am still in touch with some of the players from the 1961 team that went to the CWS.

I look forward to better days. -- sage

Duke baseball was astoundingly bad this year, and our only ALL ACC player will go pro this year - hard to be hopeful.

[jimsumner]

Duke baseball was astoundingly bad this year, and our only ALL ACC player will go pro this year - hard to be hopeful.

Maybe Stroman will come back for his senior year. :)

For those of you who don't follow college baseball, that's a joke. Stroman is projected to go top-10 in next month's MLB draft. More than a few scouts think he can hit the bigs as early as 2013.

Stroman is a 5-9, 180-pound power pitcher, with a slider to die for. Probably be a reliever in the pros. Great athlete. Star PG in high school.

Duke's inability to leverage Stroman's dominance into more wins was a big bummer. I saw him go nine innings against Clemson, strike out 13 and allow only a single, unearned run. And he got a no decision, as Clemson won in extra innings.

Duke had a boatload of injuries. First baseman Chris Marconcini was a freshman A-A in 2011 and led Duke in doubles, home runs and RBIs. He tore up an ACL and missed the entire season. Matt Berezo, Duke's best middle infielder, missed most of the season, as did several other promising youngsters and a bunch of pitchers.

So, the injury gods need to give Duke some love next season. There were some talented freshmen and some good arms come back.

But Duke has a thin talent base and very little margin for error. Until Duke spends big bucks--think $6-10 M--on major infrastructure upgrades, we'll be having this conversation, year-after-year-after-year.

Get football straightened out for sure, but Duke needs to find some checkbooks for baseball.

Sage. Don't know if you're an Iron Duke but if you are, you should get Go Duke: the Magazine. I had an article in the most recent issue on that 1961 team.

[Reilly]

... Until Duke spends big bucks--think $6-10 M--on major infrastructure upgrades, we'll be having this conversation, year-after-year....

What's on the wish list? What sort of baseball facilities do other programs have that Duke does not? Was baseball included in any of the master plans (build a track elsewhere, upgrades to Wallace Wade, etc...)?

[hughgs]

What's on the wish list? What sort of baseball facilities do other programs have that Duke does not? Was baseball included in any of the master plans (build a track elsewhere, upgrades to Wallace Wade, etc...)?

Duke just finished installing a new baseball field. The first thing on my wish list for baseball is bathrooms.

[sagegrouse]

Sage. Don't know if you're an Iron Duke but if you are, you should get Go Duke: the Magazine. I had an article in the most recent issue on that 1961 team.


I had seen it but only skimmed it. I went back and read your excellent article in detail. It's an exciting story. BTW, my summertime neighbor in Steamboat is pitcher Larry Harrison, whom you mention in the come-from-behind win over Wake.

sagegrouse

[jimsumner]

I had seen it but only skimmed it. I went back and read your excellent article in detail. It's an exciting story. BTW, my summertime neighbor in Steamboat is pitcher Larry Harrison, whom you mention in the come-from-behind win over Wake.

sagegrouse

Now, you tell me. :)

Back to upgrades. The 2012 NCAA baseball tournament begins this Friday. The top 16 seeds are hosting first-round action.

Let's imagine an alternate universe in which Duke is a top-16 team. Would they be hosting?

Not at Coombs. Doesn't come close to meeting NCAA minimums. Inadequate seating, inadequate concessions, inadequate restrooms, virtually non-existent media facilities.

Duke did make changes to the field and it no longer looks like a swamp after a half-inch rainfall.

But Coombs needs so much more. Longtime readers know that my solution for Coombs is a small, tactical nuke. Just start over.

But Duke also needs better weight rooms, better video rooms, decent coaches' offices.

Their are lots of similarities between Duke football and Duke baseball and they both start with the same core problem. For years Duke has tried to run a program on the cheap.

That's changing with football and it should take priority over baseball, a sport with less revenue-producing potential. But Duke has exceptional facilities for sports like tennis, soccer, lacrosse and field hockey. So, it can be done with baseball.

IMO, playing some home games at the Bulls park is a temporary fix. Duke recruits on academics and a chance to compete in the ACC. Wouldn't it be great if Duke could compete on academics, a chance to compete in the ACC and a strong institutional committment to the sport?

[roywhite]

That's changing with football and it should take priority over baseball, a sport with less revenue-producing potential. But Duke has exceptional facilities for sports like tennis, soccer, lacrosse and field hockey. So, it can be done with baseball.

IMO, playing some home games at the Bulls park is a temporary fix. Duke recruits on academics and a chance to compete in the ACC. Wouldn't it be great if Duke could compete on academics, a chance to compete in the ACC and a strong institutional committment to the sport?


Stanford, Rice, and Vanderbilt are academically select institutions with strong baseball programs. As in many other sports, Duke's academics can be an asset in attracting top talent.

The resource part of it? That's an issue. Perhaps if Bear Stearns were still around, (former Duke pitcher) Al Schwartz would be baseball's funding angel; to be fair, he has already been very generous to the University.

[jimsumner]

Stanford, Rice, and Vanderbilt are academically select institutions with strong baseball programs. As in many other sports, Duke's academics can be an asset in attracting top talent.

The resource part of it? That's an issue. Perhaps if Bear Stearns were still around, (former Duke pitcher) Al Schwartz would be baseball's funding angel; to be fair, he has already been very generous to the University.

Yep. Sean McNally was an Academic All-American at Duke, so he's quite comfortable and quite effective in using that approach. It worked with Stroman.

Let me mention a couple of other things. Rice used jucos to help revive their program. For whatever reason, Duke will not go that route.

McNally also uses player development on the recruiting trail. A number of his guys, e.g. Alex Hassan, Jake Lemmerman, Nate Freiman, et. al., are moving up the chain.

If these guys and Stroman make the bigs and stick there, it gives him another weapon on the recruiting trail. Right now, it's more theoretical.

[sagegrouse]

Stanford, Rice, and Vanderbilt are academically select institutions with strong baseball programs. As in many other sports, Duke's academics can be an asset in attracting top talent.



In comparison to Rice, Duke is a "not exactly." Rice has always had a strong baseball program, even when the team played on a facility with only temporary bleachers. The state of Texas is and has always been far better organized than other southern states on sports. Thus, the populous Gulf Coast region (6.0 million in Greater Houston alone) is full of great and well-coached baseball players. Rice has a location advantage that is hard to beat. What made the team a regular at the CWS was Wayne Graham, who has been quite a coach for the Owls.

Duke needs to try be a national program like Stanford, beginning on a minor scale.

sage