The Devil's Den: A Duke Athletics Podcast

Josh, Dustin, and Raul are joined by John Watson of thedevilsden.com to discuss Duke's dominant 87-70 win over North Carolina. Topics discussed include Duke's offensive execution and defensive disruptiveness early Cooper Flagg's masterful first eight minutes Duke's backcourt thoroughly outplaying UNC's Maliq Brown's impactful return Whether Khaman Maluach should be switching onto guards on the per...

Josh and Raul are joined by Zion Olojede of the Crazie Cast podcast to preview Duke's big matchup against UNC this Saturday. They start by getting Zion's general thoughts on Duke's season so far as well as Duke's unexpectedly close win over NC State earlier this week. They discuss Cooper Flagg's dominance, Kon Knueppel's solid showing, and the team's recent struggles shooting the ball. They talk a...

Josh and Raul give their off-the-cuff thoughts on Duke's gritty 63-56 win over Wake Forest. What did Duke do well in the first half to take a 35-22 lead? What happened after halftime? Why did Duke only score six points for the next 12 minutes? Lastly, how was the team able to right the ship and go on a 14-2 run of their own to get Scheyer his first win as a head coach at Joel Coliseum?

Josh, Dustin, and Raul chat with Brian Geisinger of 247Sports and the Buzz Beat Podcast about Duke's evolution throughout the season. Topics discussed include: Duke's offensive improvements in recent weeks Strategies Duke has borrowed from the Boston Celtics Sion James in the dunker's spot Duke's 3pt volume and number of open looks generated Tyrese Proctor as a screener Flare screens for Isaiah Ev...

Josh, Dustin, and Raul react to Duke's 88-63 victory over Boston College. Topics include: How Boston College was able to keep this game competitive for so long Defensive question marks in certain center matchups with Maliq Brown out Mason Gillis's importance as both a leader and post defender Cooper Flagg's improved shot diet and unreal offensive efficiency Updated player comparisons for Flagg Bos...

Josh, Dustin, and Raul are joined by Jordan Mann of The Big J & Little J Show to talk Duke's impressive 89-54 win over Miami as well as do a general check-in on the Blue Devils' season so far. Topics discussed include: How Duke generates the most open threes in the country The value of the screens set by Maluach and the other bigs in generating these threes Cooper Flagg's passing The play of F...

Josh and Dustin react to Duke's 86-78 win over Notre Dame. Topics include: Cooper Flagg's record-setting 42-point performance Duke's 14-0 start Notre Dame's barrage of 1st half threes Duke's defensive struggles against Notre Dame's spread offense The 15-1 run by Notre Dame that made this game close late The impact of Maliq Brown's absence Lack of production from the bench over the last few games T...

Josh, Dustin, and Raul give their unfiltered thoughts immediately following Duke's 76-47 domination of the Pittsburgh Panthers in Cameron.

Josh, Dustin, and Raul react to Duke's 89-62 domination of SMU on the road, which moved the Blue Devils to 4-0 in the ACC and got them a valuable Quad 1 victory for their resume. They asses how Duke was able to control the game despite the absence of head coach Jon Scheyer. Topics discussed include: Duke's hot offensive start Cooper Flagg's continued offensive improvements Khaman Maluach's defensi...

Josh, Dustin, and Raul react to Duke's 88-65 victory over Virginia Tech. Topics discussed include: Another slow start shooting the ball The consistent defensive effort and IQ up and down the roster Cooper Flagg's hyper-efficient performance Khaman Maluach's troubles catching the ball Tyrese Proctor's offensive aggression Isaiah Evans commitment to off-ball movement Caleb Foster's continued struggl...

Raul and Dustin are joined by friend of the pod, Rick Heidrick, to dissect the season so far. Topics discussed include: Duke's two early season losses being part of the learning process The maturity and poise Duke showed in later wins vs. Auburn and Louisville The elite defense and evolving offense Duke's strong statistical indicators Then they turn their attention to Duke's dominating 82-56 road...

Josh, Dustin, and Raul react to Duke's 68-47 win over George Mason. They talk about the continued slow offensive starts and poor 3pt shooting. Are these trends cause for concern? They also discuss Isaiah Evans' impact off the bench and how big a role he can realistically have. Next, they run through their holiday wish list for the team and individual players. They pick skills they'd like to give t...

Josh and Dustin react to Duke's 72-46 victory over Incarnate Word. Topics discussed include: Duke's sluggish offense that saw the team score 28 first half points against the #350 ranked defense The unexpectedly poor 3pt shooting from the team so far this season Isaiah Evans as a bright spot as a shooter Whether Evans needs more minutes and where those minutes would come from Khaman Maluach's big p...

Josh and Dustin react to Duke's 76-65 road win over the Louisville Cardinals. Topics discussed include: The repeated slow starts that lead to Duke playing from behind Louisville's early hot shooting Possible ways to clarify Foster's role Isaiah Evans' quiet follow-up to his explosion versus Auburn Maliq Brown's ranking in best Duke defenders ever Whether Brown should start over Khaman Maluach Kon...

Josh, Dustin, and Raul react to Duke's 84-78 win over #2 Auburn. They analyze what it means for Duke's season as a whole before dissecting the game in detail. Topics discussed include: Dustin's experience in Cameron for the game The change to Duke's starting lineup The 13-2 hole Duke found themselves in early Caleb Foster's offensive aggression off the bench Isaiah Evans' huge 1st half Maliq Brown...

Josh, Dustin, and Raul react to Duke's 70-48 win over Seattle. They talk about the team's #1 rated defense and what's made it successful. Then they talk about the team's offensive struggles. Why is this team, with so much shooting and talent, rated only 23rd on offense? Why are they not drawing free throws? How can the team generate more rim pressure? Next, they turn their attention to an importan...

Josh and Dustin react to Duke's 75-72 loss to Kansas in Las Vegas. Topics discussed include: Dustin's perspective from having been in the building live The slow start for Duke that had them down double digits Tyrese Proctor finding his ideal role in his junior season Needing more from Caleb Foster Lack of a point guard who can either set teammates up or create for himself The inability to capitali...

Josh and Raul react to Duke's impressive 69-55 road win over Arizona. Topics discussed include: Duke's suffocating defense, now ranked #1 in the country How Duke was able to take away Arizona's offensive rebounding, rim scoring, and transition game Whether this was Cooper Flagg's best defensive performance Why Cooper Flagg's shooting splits are a poor way of evaluating his impact The differences i...

Josh, Dustin, and Raul react to Duke's 86-35 blowout win over Wofford. Topics discussed include: The debut of Patrick Ngongba What he can bring to the team going forward Improved backcourt play from Caleb Foster and Tyrese Proctor Proctor's 3pt shooting and off-ball movement Sion James's positive impact A return to high 3pt volume Cooper Flagg's struggles shooting from behind the arc Ways for the...

Josh, Dustin, and Raul react to Duke's 77-72 loss to Kentucky in their first big test of the season. Topics discussed include: What Duke did right to have a 46-37 lead at halftime What went wrong in the 2nd half that led to Duke being outscored by 14 and shooting only 29% Defensive miscommunications The impact of the injuries to Sion James and Khaman Maluach Whether Duke should have played Isaiah...

Josh, Dustin, and Raul recap Duke's win over Army. Topics discussed include: The cold 3pt shooting start Army's multiple defensive looks Cooper Flagg's cramping issues The sustainability of Kon Knueppel's scoring The unselfishness of Duke's elite recruits (particularly Flagg and Maluach) Khaman Maluach's touch and rebounding Tyrese Proctor's off-ball impact Duke's stifling 1st half defense The ste...

Josh, Dustin, and Raul are joined by John Watson of thedevilsden.com to react to Duke's first official win of the season, a 96-62 victory over Maine. Topics discussed include: Cooper Flagg's passing Khaman Maluach's offensive improvements The collective understanding of spacing and shooting gravity The high IQ of the transfer portal players The soft spot in the middle of the defense that drop cove...

Josh, Dustin, and Raul prepare you for the Duke Men's Basketball 2024-25 season with the longest The Devil's Den podcast episode ever released. In part one of the pod, they get together with Brian Geisinger, writer for 247Sports and cohost of the Buzz Beat podcast. They talk about what Brian has seen over the first couple exhibitions. Topics include: Screening actions for the teams multitude of sh...

Josh, Dustin, and Raul react to Duke's dominant 103-47 exhibition win over Arizona State in the Brotherhood Run. Topics include: Bobby Hurley's legacy Duke's defense in the 1st half Duke's efforts to involve Khaman Maluach early in the offense Maliq Brown's foul trouble The 2nd half three-point shooting barrage Screening actions being run for Kon Knueppel and Duke's other shooters Duke's improved...

Josh, Dustin, and Raul are joined by friend of the pod Kaleb Hilliard to react to Duke's 107-56 exhibition win over Lincoln. Topics discussed include: Cooper Flagg's debut An unexpected starting lineup Some first half defensive issues that allowed Lincoln to stay close for 12 minutes The high volume of spot-up 3pt attempts The two-man game between Flagg and Kon Knueppel Knueppel's deceptive athlet...