Duke basketball has a rare January bye weekend with no game in between Thursday's 73-57 win against Georgia Tech and Wednesday's game at Miami.
With an exciting day of college basketball today, we took to our Twitter account @dukebasketball to ask if you had any questions about Duke or any of the Blue Devils' ACC foes.
Off we go:
@dukebasketball #AskChron What's the latest on Ryan Kelly?— crystal walker (@senseicw) January 19, 2013
Andrew Beaton: To begin with, this was probably the most popular question. There is still no update on Kelly's foot. He's in a boot and on crutches. Some reports when he was initially injured suggested it would be around four weeks. Others have him being out for the year.
The long and the short of it is this: Get used to life without Ryan Kelly. You can be sure with his passion for Duke and competitiveness he'll do everything to be back on the floor whenever he can, but there's also the possibility that he can't return all season. This is a great Duke team with Kelly and a very good one without him, something Coach K has said. The team needs to continue to adapt on both ends without him and if he comes back, that's just a big bonus.
@dukebasketball Is there any possible way unc and md can lose today?
— DJ (@Dcasto128) January 19, 2013
AB: Unfortunately for Duke fans, two of their least favorite opponents—North Carolina and Maryland—couldn't both lose Saturday because they played each other. The Tar Heels led all the way and won 62-52. But know this: Both teams have been less than impressive in the early going this season and still have work to do in order to ensure they are dancing in March.
UNC is 12-5 and 2-2 in the ACC, beginning conference play with two ugly losses to Virginia and Miami. Since then, the Tar Heels have bounced back well against Florida State and the Terrapins, but they'll have to do more than that. Their only good win this season was against then-No. 20 UNLV.
Maryland is now 14-4 and 2-3 in the ACC, with their best win coming earlier this week against No. 14 N.C. State. Yes, the Terrapin fans stormed the court. By the transitive property, that means they stormed the court against Duke, right? Like UNC, Maryland has work to do in ACC play but they have fewer bad losses on their resume thus far. But they really have to clean up their offense. If you didn't watch, it wasn't pretty. The Terps are one of the best rebounding clubs in the nation but had 21 turnovers and five assists in the loss to UNC. That's bad.
#AskChron is Miami really as good as there ACC record shows?— tyler kruger (@tyler_kruger) January 19, 2013
AB: Miami is one of the most interesting teams in the ACC and one of the teams that would be in the NCAA Tournament if it began today. The Hurricanes are 13-3 and 4-0 in the ACC with wins Georgia Tech, UNC, Maryland and Boston College. Miami continues to play without hefty big man Reggie Johnson (thumb), who tore up Duke to the tune of 27 points and 12 rebounds in the team's win at Cameron Indoor Stadium last year.
The Hurricanes have some really interesting players. 6-foot-11 senior forward Kenny Kadji is one of my favorite players in the ACC to watch with a smooth jump shot and an athletic game. Shane Larkin is an effective point guard, and he's only a sophomore. Durand Scott grinds out 35 minutes per game for head coach Jim Larranaga and leads the team in scoring, but they have some intriguing other talents too. My personal favorite is 6-foot-6 junior Rion Brown who has yet to really come into his own but has all the skills to do so.
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