Although Duke basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski and assistants Chris Collins and Steve Wojciechowski are leading the USA men's basketball team in the 2012 Olympics in London, the only Blue Devils playing basketball were not playing for the red, white and blue.
Former Duke basketball players Luol Deng and Martynas Pocius suited up for England and Lithuania, respectively, and ranked among the top scorers in the tournament, although both of their teams have been eliminated from play as the games have reached the semifinals.
Deng, a South Sudan native who played for the Blue Devils for one season in 2003-2004 before being selected seventh overall in the NBA Draft, averaged 15.8 points per game during his five Olympic games. That rate ranked ninth in the games entering play Friday. He registered two 26-point games against Spain and Russia, two of the top teams, but struggled with single digit performances down the stretch against Australia and China, going just 5-of-15 from the field in those games.
In his lone season at Duke he scored 15.1 points per game, while leading conference freshmen in scoring, rebounds (6.9) and field goal percentage (47.5%).
Pocius, unlike Deng, had the chance to play the United States during the games--although the United States played an exhibition against Great Britain. Pocius, whose Lithuania squad was eliminated by Russia in the quarterfinals, finished ranked 57th overall in points with 7.2 per game. He had his best game of the Olympics against Team USA and his former coach, playing 30 minutes and going 5-of-9 from the field for 14 points, also tallying six assists and seven rebounds. During the year, Pocius plays for the Spanish team Real Madrid.
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