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The Chronicle
WOMEN’S SOCCER
FRIDAY November 16, 2012
Visit The Chronicle’s DukeGeorgia Tech event page for video, analysis, injury updates and everything you need before Saturday’s ACC action.
www.dukechroniclesports.com
FOOTBALL
Red-hot Duke prepares for GT’s triple-option RedHawks loom next by Daniel Carp THE CHRONICLE
To recover from its first losing streak of the season with a strong finish, Duke must first make its road woes a thing of the past. The Blue Devils are in control of their own destiny in the ACC’s Coastal Division with two games GT remaining in the regvs. ular season despite a Duke 1-3 record away from Wallace Wade Stadium this year. Coming SUNDAY, 3:30 p.m. off a bye week, Duke Bobby Dodd Stadium faces an unfriendly foe in Georgia Tech’s tricky triple-option attack at Bobby Dodd Stadium Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Even with an additional week to prepare, the Blue Devils (6-4, 3-3 in the ACC) may struggle against the triple option, an offensive scheme that has beaten them four out of the last five times they have faced it. After allowing 104 points in its past two contests, the Duke defense will have its hands full against a Yellow Jacket offense that posted 588 yards of offense and 68 points in a shootout win against North Carolina last weekend. Georgia Tech (5-5, 4-3) will feature both redshirt senior Tevin Washington
by Tim Visutipol THE CHRONICLE
The Blue Devils have competed in the NCAA Tournament for 10 consecutive seasons. Their opponent, Miami of Ohio, is at this stage for the first time since 2002. But the red-hot RedHawks enter this game as the MIAMI only team in Division I (OH) with 20 wins this year. vs. The third-seeded No. 3 Blue Devils will take Duke on a streaking Miami Friday, 4 p.m. (20-2-1) team at 4 p.m. Klockner Stadium Friday at Klockner StaNCAA Tournament dium in Charlottesville, Va. for the second round of the NCAA Tournament. “The [RedHawks have] unbelievable belief in themselves,” Duke head coach Robbie Church said. “That’s a lot of wins. I don’t care who they’ve played and what conference they’re playing in.... They feel like they’re the Cinderella team of the tournament. They MELISSA YEO/CHRONICLE FILE PHOTO
SEE W. SOCCER ON PAGE 11
Georgia Tech and its triple-option offense rank fourth in the nation with 324.4 rushing yards per game.
SEE FOOTBALL ON PAGE 10
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Calipari’s comments place flopping in the spotlight by Andrew Beaton THE CHRONICLE
In the frenzy surrounding the NBA’s adoption of anti-flopping rules, here’s the question nobody asked until Tuesday night: How would it affect Duke? But Kentucky head coach John Calipari finally made the connection between the NBA’s new rule and the school most known for its basketball acting during halftime of Duke’s win over the Wildcats. “They’re flopping all over the place,” he said. “In the NBA, they’d all be suspended.” Calipari tried to distance himself from the comments after the game when he was asked about them by a Chronicle reporter. “It was a joke,” Calipari said. “You guys at Duke can take a joke, right? Jeez.” Joke or not, fairly or unfairly, Duke players have been stuck with the reputation as floppers for as long as Mike Krzyzewski has been on the sidelines at Cameron Indoor Stadium. But Krzyzewski said Tuesday that a flop and a foul are not the same thing. “I think we took some amazing charges and probably could have taken a couple more,” he said. “There’s a difference be-
ELYSIA SU/THE CHRONICLE
Ryan Kelly attempts to draw a charge against Kentucky’s Archie Goodwin. tween a charge and a flop. A flop means you don’t take any contact. I would hope that anybody who watches the game thinks our kids really played outstanding defense and were there to take charges.” Still, as anyone who follows college basketball knows, Duke
players have become the poster boys for flopping. Miami Heat forward Shane Battier, who has openly criticized the NBA’s new rule, is often the first associated with the label. Others, such as J.J. Redick and Greg Paulus, have also been labeled as floppers. Battier, Redick
and Paulus declined comment for the story. “Taking a charge, in general, is one of the most unselfish, good plays that a player can make,” Duke associate head coach Steve Wojciechowski said. “It’s been a staple for our program since well before I ever got here.” It was pivotal in Duke’s defensive game plan Tuesday, when the Blue Devils drew four charges in the first half prior to Calipari’s comments. After watching the Wildcats on film, the coaching staff felt taking charges would be critical to their strategy, Wojciechowski said. Josh Hairston, Seth Curry, Tyler Thornton and Rasheed Sulaimon clearly got the message, all planting in the face of contact and hitting the deck for charge calls in the first half against Kentucky. Maybe the Wildcats, or the referees, got Calipari’s message at halftime—they were not called for an offensive foul in the final 20 minutes. But the Blue Devils do not take kindly to the suggestions that their charges are not legitimate. “Anytime somebody says that, whether it’s a coach or fan, it shows an obvious lack of respect for what a good play it is,”
Wojciechowski said. “We don’t make any apologies for it.” None of the current Blue Devils compare to Battier, however, who Wojciechowski said is the best he has ever seen at taking charges. He identified two talents that made Battier the best: the intelligence to be in the right place at the right time and the willingness to put his body on the line. In an interview before the season, Duke senior forward Ryan Kelly said he tries to model his game after Battier’s more than anybody else’s. Kelly, who showed his commitment to charges, taking one in a fastbreak drill during the team’s open practice at the beginning of the year, also brushed off the bum flop rap. “You get hit in the chest and tell me how it feels. It doesn’t feel good when you get bowled over,” Kelly said in October. “The block-charge is one of the toughest calls to make in basketball, but I’m going to keep taking them if it helps our team win.” The difficulty of the call is at the core of the issue in both the NBA and NCAA. The NBA defines flopping as a “physical SEE FLOPPING ON PAGE 11