The bell of the Blue Zone stock exchange has rung again, meaning it's time to take a look at who is rising and falling with their performances for Blue Devil sports teams. Each week, the Blue Zone will look at whose stock is on the rise and whose stock has taken a hit from the week in the world of Duke athletics.
Bull Market—Trending Up
Countdown to Craziness entertainment: Even before Saturday night's 20-minute scrimmage got underway, the Blue Devils impressed the Cameron Crazies in their annual showcase. The excitement started in pregame introductions, with freshman guard Frank Jackson's dance moves and sophomore Chase Jeter's water bottle flip—which may or may not have gotten some help from a doctored bottle—dazzling the crowd. Once Duke got ready for its intrasquad scrimmage, Grayson Allen had a surprise for fans, debuting a pair of shorter shorts ahead of his junior campaign.
Many of the highlights from the night can be viewed in the video below—the Blue Devils open exhibition play against Virginia State Friday at 7 p.m. at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Duke field hockey: The Blue Devils got off to the best start in program history this season before dropping games to fellow top-five teams Syracuse and North Carolina earlier in the fall. The losses left Duke in the top five still but many wondering whether the Blue Devils could in fact knock off the Orange and Tar Heels, who had dominated Duke in the past few years. But the Blue Devils put those questions to rest with an emphatic 3-0 win against North Carolina for the ACC regular-season title Saturday—Duke's first in program history.
The Blue Devils achieved another program first Tuesday, moving up to No. 1 in the nation, and they will be the top seed in next week's ACC tournament with high hopes of getting back to the Final Four in the NCAA tournament for the second straight year.
Bear Market—Trending Down
Odds the pay-for-play debate goes away anytime soon: Former Duke forward and current ESPN broadcaster Jay Bilas has been one of the most outspoken advocates for paying college athletes because of the revenue they generate for many universities. But another former Blue Devil star has a different take. Former NBA journeyman Shane Battier published a piece in The Players' Tribune Monday titled "Let Athletes Be Students," in which he argued that the time student-athletes spend away from their sport getting the most out of their college experience is also extremely important.
Battier and Bilas likely won't be the only prominent figures to weigh in on the topic, which is becoming more and more polarizing for the NCAA each year.
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