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Duke student-athletes have been hard at work with the annual Iron Dukes Thank-aThon! Student-athletes have been calling Iron Dukes members to thank them for their support. Because of the generosity of our members, student-athletes have the opportunity to become champions in the classroom and on the playing field. The Thank-a-Thon allows our athletes the opportunity to express their gratitude and interact with the patrons who make their dreams possible.

Information on Cost of Attendance As we move into the 2015-16 season, we enter a new era – one of unprecedented opportunities for Duke student-athletes. Earlier this year, NCAA legislation passed to allow member institutions to award full cost of attendance to scholarship student-athletes.

Clearly, as demands on student-athletes’ time continue to increase, additional financial support is necessary to ensure the success of these students in their academic and athletic pursuits. As I like to say, Duke student-athletes are “double majoring” in the classroom and on the playing fields, leaving very little time for anything else, let alone a job to help pay for travel and other incidental expenses.

Additionally, an unintended consequence of this legislation is how the full cost of attendance calculations will be utilized in recruiting. While it will be imperative to remain on a level playing field with our competitors, most importantly, supporting this new paradigm is the right thing to do for our student-athletes.

We hope that we can count on your continued support for these great men and women. They are provided with amazing opportunities because of you. For this, we, and especially our student-athletes, are forever grateful. Thank you!

Sincerely, Kevin M. White Vice President and Director of Athletics

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Old school draft days The NFL Draft first took root in the mid 1930s, during a period of sweeping advancement for football in America. The years of 1935 and 1936 saw the launch of the Associated Press weekly college rankings, the inaugural crowning of a national champion, the creation of the Heisman Trophy and the formation of two major New Year’s Day bowls, the Orange and Cotton. The NFL’s initial draft of college talent fell right in the middle of this growth spurt, on Feb. 8, 1936, at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Philadelphia.

The rise of Duke football under legendary coach Wallace Wade corresponded precisely with the national upsurge. (History tells us that is exactly what prescient Duke administrators had in mind to elevate the profile of their young university when they lured Wade to Durham from Alabama.)

And so the Blue Devils were well represented in these early drafts, with seven selections in the first four years of the process. (History again: Four of those first seven picks from the Wade glory years later wound up in the Duke Athletics Hall of Fame.)

It was in year five of the draft that a Blue Devil was first chosen in the first round of the proceedings, when halfback George McAfee was Steve Lach picked No. 2 by the Philadelphia Eagles. McAfee went on to stardom with the Chicago Bears and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1966, but his selection in the 1940 first round was not the major news then that it would be today. The top local sports story in the Durham newspaper the morning after the draft was Duke’s announcement that its new Indoor Stadium would be opening in a few weeks, with Princeton providing the opposition. In fact, the news about McAfee being drafted was only the second most prominent McAfee item on the sports front. Positioned above it was a piece about how the Blue Devil All-America was leading in the balloting for the team MVP award, which at the time was chosen by a vote of Durham civic club members and presented by the Center Theatre.

The football draft in those early years was held in conjunction with the NFL championship contest, with club owners gathering just before or after the big game to select college players for their

“preferred negotiation lists.” McAfee’s 1940 draft was actually held on Dec. 9, 1939, at the Schroeder Hotel in Milwaukee, the day before the Green Bay Packers met the Giants in the NFL final. Two years later, the draft for the 1942 season was held at the Palmer House in Chicago on Dec. 22, 1941 — the day after McAfee ran for 81 yards and a touchdown to lead the Bears to a 37-9 victory over the Giants for the championship. Duke had its second first-round pick in this draft, when fullback Steve Lach was picked at No. 4 by the Chicago Cardinals.

Lach was one of Wade’s all-time favorite players and served as the catalyst for a true offensive juggernaut, the 1941 Duke team that ranked second in the nation in scoring and second in the AP poll. But other news of the day overshadowed his drafting. It came two weeks after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and 11 days before Duke hosted the famous transplanted Rose Bowl.

Words of war dominated the headlines and uncertainty ruled in the sports section, even as Durham prepared for the arrival of Oregon State for the New Year’s Day classic. “There’s a bigger game than football going on now,” noted MinGeorge McAfee nesota halfback Bruce Smith, who received the Heisman two days after Pearl Harbor and wasn’t drafted until the 13th round, before enlisting as a U.S. Navy fighter pilot.

The Navy was also in Lach’s future, as he was sworn in just before the start of the 1942 NFL season. He still played that year for the Cardinals, then on a service team in 1943 — the Great Lakes Blue Jackets, which faced a slate of college teams.

Lach enjoyed a prominent role in one of the most famous games of the war era, throwing a last-minute touchdown pass for Great Lakes to upset topranked and undefeated Notre Dame 19-14 in the final game of the season. The Fighting Irish nevertheless were voted national champs by the AP. Lach was back in the NFL after the war, playing two seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He passed away much too early, at age 40 in 1961, and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1980. Of the nine former Duke players enshrined there, Lach and McAfee share the distinction of being the only first-round draft picks.

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LAUNCH PARTY

BRAD PENNER/USA TODAY SPORTS

Jahlil Okafor, #3 pick June 25, 2015 Brooklyn, NY with NBA commissioner Adam Silver (Duke ‘84)

Following months of working on their games and their brands, Duke’s latest NBA hopefuls reach the starting line of their promising pro careers

By Leslie Gaber With Okafor and Winslow both drafted among the top 10 picks, Duke has had five lottery selections in the last five years The explosion of the social media sphere has dramatically influenced how job seekers market themselves to potential employers.

Many turn to platforms like Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Tumblr to demonstrate their work and give others a peek into their personality and interests.

College students and young professionals are increasingly coached on the importance of carefully constructing their personal brands.

For Duke’s four NBA hopefuls from the 2015 NCAA title team, the process of launching their careers was no different.

After departing Duke’s campus as national champions, Jahlil Okafor, Justise Winslow, Tyus Jones and Quinn Cook traveled all over the country to work out for a number of NBA teams. Winslow, Jones and Cook also attended the NBA Draft combine in late May — where Cook impressed in five-on-five scrimmages — while Okafor, Winslow and Jones spent time together at the NBA Draft lottery in New York.

All four made headlines while members of the media and draft analysts tried to figure out where each might land come June 25.

When draft night finally arrived at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, the answer came quickest for Okafor when he was picked No. 3 by the Philadelphia 76ers. Winslow joined him as a lottery selection, going to the Miami Heat at No. 10. Jones was snagged at No. 24 by the Cleveland Cavaliers, then promptly traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves, his hometown

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team. The three one-year Blue Devils were part of a record 13 college freshmen chosen in Round 1 and ran Duke’s number of first-rounders in the last five years to 10. Their senior captain, Cook, went undrafted and will have to pursue his NBA dream as a rookie free agent.

For Winslow the night capped two months of positive buzz over his multi-dimensional pro possibilities. Training and working out for prospective employers obviously were important parts of his job preparation procedure, but his

social media accounts revealed another interesting side of his story.

Soon after announcing his intentions to enter the draft, Winslow signed with Roc Nation Sports, joining household names such as Kevin Durant, Victor Cruz and Skylar Diggins in the sports division of music mogul Jay-Z’s management company. He then set up shop in New York City as his base of operations leading up to the draft, working on the finer points of his game with famed trainer Idan Ravin while ex-

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ploring his marketing potential.

Winslow shared many of his adventures via the snapping of Instagram photos from sites such as Radio City Music Hall, Sotheby’s S l 2 Gallery where he took in rapper Drake’s art exhibition, and Yankee Stadium where he supported fellow Roc Nation client C.C. Sabathia.

Winslow and Geno Smith of the New York Jets also attended the Miguel Cotto (another Roc Nation client) versus Daniel Geale fight at the Barclays Center in early June.

Followers of his Twitter account (in the 45,000 range before shooting up to 61,000+ a few hours after the draft) no doubt took note of his affinity for JBL Audio gear, his association with Axe men’s grooming products, and other promotional content such as his PlayStation 4 video session with NBA rookie of the year Andrew Wiggins (“Path to Greatness Backstories”) and his link with GQ magazine, which promised it would outfit him to “look sharper than any other draftee in history.”

On the day before the draft, he made ample use of his “JustiseTakesNYC” hashtag to give away swag from his sponsors to his followers at various spots in the city.

In making all these appearances, endorsements and connections during the whirlwind pre-draft months, Winslow displayed a clear desire to develop his personal brand. He rolled out his own website, complete with professional photography, press clippings and a custom-designed logo. He altered his Instagram and Twitter handles to reflect his “IAmJustise” mantra. Taken in the whole, his social media presence provided a coordinated view of the steps in his journey toward realizing his dream.

“As a person, as a player, you have to be mentally ready for that next stage,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” in a late May interview on the show’s set in New York. “Whenever you feel you’re ready, regardless of what year you are, take on that role on the court and off the court. It’s a big stage, a big change from college to the pros … This is about living my dream, working hard and trying to be successful and the best player I can be.”

Like Winslow, Okafor also sought to show the world a different side of himself in the run-up to the draft. Although he has remained solidly in the spotlight since he and Jones first signed with Duke, the Chicago native’s recent media endeavors went beyond the numbers to reveal more about who he is as a person.

Speed Stick released a May commercial entitled “The Journey of Jahlil Okafor,” mapping out his path from childhood to Duke and beyond. In the emotional two-minute segment that had attracted 1.3 million views on YouTube by draft week, he and father Chukwudi Okafor speak about the loss of Jahlil’s mother during his childhood and how her support and love has stayed with him throughout his basketball career.

“After the national championship game, I went to my dad and gave him a hug. He let me

#JustiseTakesNYC Winslow making the most of his pre-draft time in New York, promoting Axe grooming products and JBL Audio gear while also spending time with some teens at an NBA Cares event @IAmJustise

know my mom was watching me and that she was still my wings,” he says. “It’s no question the passing of my mother has had the biggest impact on my life. I realize that not every day is guaranteed. It’s just a great feeling, making so many people proud and my family, so many people back home. I’m playing the game I love and it’s what I’ve always wanted to do.”

Okafor’s Twitter and Instagram accounts echo the importance that family and friends play in his day-to-day life. Many of

@JahlilOkafor’s tweets consist of conversations or photos with his teammates, and his Twitter cover photo features his niece dressed in a Duke cheerleading outfit. He interacts with fans across a variety of social media platforms and even introduced his puppy Natty (short for national champions) to the world on Instagram.

Such themes were similar across Jones’ and Cook’s social media accounts as the backcourt tandem counted down the final days to the draft. While Jones had the opportunity to meet

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sports stars like Kevin Garnett and Mike Trout through appearances at MLB games, the majority of his Instagram posts reflect his year at Duke and special times with family and teammates. Similarly, Cook honors his late father at the end of every tweet and Instagram with the words “RiP DAD!� and frequently takes the time to respond to or retweet fans.

Some analysts surmise that the draftees could profit from their large number of followers on social media. According to financial news website TheStreet, Okafor could command as much as $25,000 for an appearance, $10,000 for an Instagram plug and $5,000 for an endorsement tweet. Similar numbers have been projected for Winslow via Thuzio, a software program that seeks to connect athletes with “best influencers of their brand.�

As each prospect waited to find out where he would land, all four former Blue Devils continued to work on their brands as well as their games, demonstrating what they could contribute to an organization both on and off the court. “Being a senior, contributing to a winning program and learning under Coach K, I think I’m ready to play right away and I’m ready to win,� Cook told Basketball Insiders. “I want to go somewhere I can win right away and I’m going to bring that winning mentality to my next organization. I think Coach K taught all four of us in the draft this year to be prepared for the next level.�

JOE FARAONI/ESPN IMAGES

Okafor’s pre-draft blitz included a day at ESPN, where he appeared with anchor Hannah Storm (left) and on the “His & Hers� and “First Take� programs

Duke Days Special Issue This is our fourth annual “Duke Days� issue of GoDuke The Magazine, zeroing in on a specific topic. The series began in 2012 with “A Day At The Ballpark� (Duke baseball essays) followed by 2013’s “A Day At The Track� (the historic Wallace Wade Stadium oval), 2014’s “A Day For Memorials� (former Blue Devil athletes who died serving their country) and now 2015’s “Draft Day Confidential.�

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TIME TO BE A PRO

DENNIS WIERZBICKI/USA TODAY SPORTS

Business is booming for first-round pick Laken Tomlinson in his transition to the NFL

By John Roth Duke’s flight home from the Hyundai Sun Bowl last December marked the end of one of the more extraordinary careers in the school’s football history.

Laken Tomlinson, the Jamaican-born, Chicago-bred, 330-pound block of Duke stone, had just played in his 52nd consecutive game — that’s every game for four years — all as the starting right guard. Averaging almost 1,000 plays per season, he had been on the field for over 90 percent of the Blue Devils’ offensive snaps and personally had not yielded a sack since his sophomore year. And he had been honored for his steady-state stream of standout performances in every conceivable way from team captain to all-conference to consensus All-America.

Perhaps most importantly, he had been one of the bedrock pillars of a stunning metamorphosis, helping to three consecutive bowl games a Duke program that had gone bowling only twice in the previous 50 years.

But the erudite Tomlinson, with his double-major Duke degree already in hand, had precious little time to reflect on his laurels after removing his No. 77 jersey for the last time out in the west Texas town of El Paso. For as the team charter touched down at RDU, the page turned to an entirely new chapter for Tomlinson. From this point forward, football would no longer be a scholarship sport but his livelihood. He knew he would be in demand by the NFL and that his services would command handsome compensation if presented and handled properly. After four and a half years in the collegiate cocoon, it was time to be a pro.

Like the lightning round at the end of a TV game show, new challenges and opportunities would come at Tomlinson in rapid-fire succession, each requiring an appropriate response. The Senior Bowl. The combine.

His pro day. His draft day. Contracts and endorsements. OTAs and minicamp. Only later, in the relative calm before the storm of his first official NFL training camp, could Tomlinson focus on something as mundane as finding a place to live in his new city of employment. An early summer phone interview found him pleased with the way he managed the dizzying six-month sequence of events that took him from Duke star to first-round draft pick to projected long-term fixture for the Detroit Lions.

“It’s been kind of a whirlwind going from the draft to my first weeks with the Lions and making that transition,” Tomlinson said. “But right now I feel like I’m in a very comfortable position getting used to the system, practicing with the veterans and working with a bunch of great people and great teammates.

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“The major learning curve for me would be the playbook — downloading the playbook and being able to execute the plays on the field. I thought I did a good job of learning everything they gave to me (during offseason training and minicamp) and going out there and executing at a high level on the field.”

Winning a starting position did not figure into Tomlinson’s initial work equation, though it will soon. While many Lions observers expect to see him in the opening day lineup, he took the majority of his offseason reps with the No. 2 unit. He was also making the shift from the right side of the line to the left.

But overall? So far, so good.

“A lot of people don’t understand how complicated offensive line play is as far as mentally. And he’s come in, he hasn’t made many mental mistakes at all,” veteran Lions right guard Larry Warford told the Detroit Free Press. “He’s taking everything in stride and he’s doing great mentally, physically. He’s the complete package.”

• • • • • From the perspective of football as a profession, you could say business is booming right now for Laken Tomlinson enterprises. His intelligence, conduct and preliminary efforts on the job have been lauded, his continued success expected. Mid June he signed his rookie contract, worth about $8.5 million over four years, with a $4.47 million signing bonus and three years of base salary guaranteed, setting himself up for financial prosperity at the age of 23.

While it would be tempting to cite his humble character, unswerving determination and exemplary work ethic as the primary attributes that have led him to the doorstep of a promising future, it should also be acknowledged that Tomlinson positioned himself to thrive professionally with the series of business decisions he made in the six months since his Duke eligibility ended in that narrow loss to Arizona State at the Sun Bowl.

Hiring an agent was priority No. 1 upon his return from El Paso, with a hectic month already building on his calendar. He needed to be in Miami on New Year’s Eve to accept the FWAA Courage Award at the Orange Bowl, then head to New Orleans on New Year’s Day to be recognized with the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team at the Sugar Bowl.

After that, the 66th annual Reese’s Senior Bowl for top NFL prospects loomed Jan. 24 in Mobile, Ala.

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STUART ZAAS/DETROIT LIONS

After starting 52 straight Duke games in #77, Tomlinson switches numbers for his rookie pro campaign in Detroit

Tomlinson had a savvy ally in sifting through the agents interested in representing him. Bob Sperling, partner in the national law firm Winston & Strawn and Tomlinson’s personal mentor since the eighth grade, began collecting correspondence and fielding all calls from potential agents back in the spring of 2014. Sperling — like coach David Cutcliffe — didn’t want Tomlinson distracted by agents during his final Duke season so he handled the vetting process. It would be a relatively straightforward endeavor for the Chicago-based attorney so experienced in complex litigation. If any technical questions came up, Sperling knew he could look in-house for additional resources: one of his Winston & Strawn partners in New York is Jeffrey Kessler, who has served as outside counsel for both the NFL and NBA players associations in numerous high-profile proceedings. (In fact, Kessler was on quarterback Tom Brady’s legal team during his recent “Deflategate” appeal case.)

Sperling helped Tomlinson narrow the list of suitors to three, “and any one of them would have been great,” he noted. Tomlinson interviewed each one extensively before deciding to hire Athletes First, a premier football agency whose client list includes several NFL stars such as Aaron Rogers and Clay Matthews.

Tomlinson’s co-reps at Athletes First (A1) are Carmen Wallace, the former Duke basketball player (1994-97) who has been at the firm since it opened in 2001, and Andrew Kessler, who cut his teeth as a Texas law student working for another power agent, Tom Condon (the rep for Peyton and Eli Manning) before establishing himself at A1 as an expert on the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement.

“Carmen played basketball at Duke and I can’t tell you that wasn’t a factor,” Sperling says. “Ross Cockrell (a former teammate at Duke) had also used them and that was a factor. And by total coincidence, Andrew Kessler’s father is my law partner in New York, and his father never said a word to me. But the Duke connection was very strong in the end, for comfort.

“I will say this much: Having made the decision, do it all over again?

Same decision. They’ve done a fabulous job for him.”

Wallace says that Cockrell’s glowing recommendation of Tomlinson — as well as Tomlinson’s perception as a high-character guy in NFL circles — led to Athletes First’s interest. “Obviously you want to get somebody who is a really good person and understands how to give back to the surrounding community, who has a good head on their shoulders and will reflect well on our organization and will reflect well on him,” Wallace noted. “Those are some of the characteristics we look for — and it doesn’t hurt to be a four-year starter and first team All-American. And

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then for long-term goals, we could see and teams were telling us that he could be a player who would play for a long time because of his makeup and football acumen.”

• • • • • The hiring of Athletes First triggered a calculated chain of events designed to maximize Tomlinson’s value in the eyes of NFL teams during each stage of the exhaustive pre-draft process. As soon as Tomlinson wrapped up his awards circuit to the Orange and Sugar bowls, Wallace had him on a flight to agency headquarters in Laguna Hills, Calif., to begin intensive training for the Senior Bowl as well as the NFL combine slated the following month in Indianapolis. For Athletes First, it’s standard procedure to send their rookies to Proactive Sports Performance, a specialized training center located near their offices and operated by former NFL strength and conditioning coach Ryan Capretta.

“They can get individualized attention to allow them to focus on the perceived negatives and accentuate their positives during that time period,” said Wallace. “Then we travel around with them to the Senior Bowl and to the combine to help them with interacting and with any questions and concerns, and to make sure they are covered with any teams they are going to meet with. It’s pretty extensive.

“As we understand it, this is really a relationship-driven business and there’s no time to forge those relationships better than during this predraft process. It’s one of the most stressful times a player will endure, so it helps getting guys out here to go through the process with them and to have them ask questions while they are here.

“You have to get acclimated to understanding that this is a business,” added Wallace, discussing the importance of guidance during the transitional phase to a career in pro sports. “It’s grown men, not some guys who are hoping to just play and hang out at school. People have families and people they are providing for, so it’s a whole different atmosphere in the locker room. You have to be professional when you get there and understand what you need to do going forward in the future.”

That element of personal attention had been a key selling point for Tomlinson.

“I really liked their organization of the pre-draft process and how they looked at both the immediate and the future when they came for their interview with me,” Tomlinson said of Wallace and Kessler. “They put me in an environment where I was able to work and be ready for the Senior Bowl and the combine. They helped out a lot in just putting me in the right place where I could constantly train to be the best I could be.”

Tomlinson took advantage of the one-on-one training — and his

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Draft night promotions at the #TideNFL studio in Chicago, and for the NFL’s official headphones Bose

chance to appear before NFL eyes — with strong showings at both Mobile and Indianapolis. Analyst Mike Mayock said he “shot up the draft boards” with his work in Senior Bowl practices. When the two events concluded, the consensus seemed to be that Tomlinson was probably the top guard available in the draft, and that he was likely to go in the second round.

Tomlinson returned to Durham after the combine to prepare for Duke’s pro day on Mar. 24. He worked diligently with his Blue Devil strength coach Noel Durfey, offensive line coach John Latina and other members of the staff honing precise skills and techniques that would be tested when 30 of the 32 NFL teams descended on Duke to measure the abilities of 10 former players aspiring for pro careers. It was another opportunity for Tomlinson to affirm his status as a valuable commodity in a crowded marketplace.

As the weeks leading up to the April 30 draft progressed, Tomlinson was invited to visit several NFL clubs for more in-depth evaluations. The Lions weren’t one of them. Their offensive line coach had met Tomlinson at the Senior Bowl, and another team official hinted later that they had discovered no red flags in their research, so there was no need to bring Tomlinson to Detroit in advance.

Tomlinson got another invitation in April that he didn’t foresee. The NFL asked him to attend the draft proceedings, which were being held in his adopted hometown of Chicago. The significance was twofold: his mother, his siblings, the Sperlings, Cutcliffe and others close to him could all share in a special occasion, and there was a reasonable expectation that he might be drafted on opening night.

All the while Tomlinson was training to improve his stock, Wallace and the Athletes First team were working the marketing side of the business. By the time draft day arrived, they had established numerous endorsement relationships for their new client — first with several trading card companies, then with corporations such as Tide and Bose, for social media exposure that kicked in once NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced that Tomlinson was the Detroit Lions’ choice with the 28th pick of the first round.

The selection marked Duke’s first first-round pick since Mike Junkin in 1987. Cutcliffe sent Lions coach Jim Caldwell a congratulatory text, noting: “He’s the kind of player you build a program around.” The De-

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troit Free Press headlined their coverage “Devil of a pick” and generally applauded the Lions’ moves to upgrade the offensive line, another of which was the trade for Denver starting guard Manny Ramirez, Tomlinson’s primary competition for playing time. The Lions ranked 28th in the league in rushing in 2014 and QB Matthew Stafford was sacked a career-high 45 times.

“Can’t express how excited I am to be a part of the Blue & Silver,” tweeted Thompson, holding up a Lions jersey, in a promotion for Tide’s #OurColors campaign. Next on his Twitter feed came a photo of Tomlinson smiling from ear to ear, outfitted with a set of Bose headphones, captioned: “Hard work pays off!!! #HatHugHeadphones @Bose.”

Tomlinson’s smile also lit up TV screens nationwide during his postdraft interview, which he nailed with a closing comment identifying his career goal of eventually improving the health care system in his native Jamaica, where his grandfather died unexpectedly of a stomach ulcer while back home for a visit during Tomlinson’s sophomore year of high school.

Tomlinson was swept off to Detroit for the customary introductory media availability. Soon thereafter it was time to report for OTA workouts, minicamp, rookie orientation sessions, the signing of his contract and a host of functions that signaled he was indeed now immersed in the business of professional football. He had been preparing for it for months, but it may have been at the draft itself where the transition to a new life resonated most.

“It was great for him. He was more relaxed because it was in his hometown,” Wallace recalled. “He was comfortable, he was home, he was walking around showing me the sites, telling me where the good pizza places were — he and his girlfriend, just giving me the lay of the land, which was fun. His family was there. He was much more laid back and easy going than most on draft day.”

“It was amazing,” Tomlinson concluded. “I was extremely happy to be in an environment where I could have all the important people around me be at the same place and come together for the draft and be there to support me in whatever way they could. And to get drafted that first day — my family and my mom were so happy. It was such a wonderful moment that honestly there are no words to describe the experience and the feelings I was going through at the time.”

17

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PREFERRED

DUKE

AT H L E T I C S

C AT E R E R

FASTBALL HARDBALL MONEYBALL

Fireballing pitcher Michael Matuella was a first-round draft prospect until Tommy John elbow surgery derailed his critical junior season, but the Texas Rangers are banking on a complete recovery

By Jim Sumner

Duke baseball coach Chris Pollard calls the MLB Draft “a double-edged sword.” The better you are, the more you lose. But paradoxically, the more you lose, the better you become. If you play it right.

The baseball draft differs from its more popular NFL and NBA cousins in several key respects. It goes 40 rounds, and even the most-seasoned college players are expected to spend time in the vast universe of minor league baseball before making the majors. Most draftees never come close.

From the perspective of a college coach, there’s another huge difference. A Duke player can be drafted at any one of three different points in his career; a fourth possibility only affects junior college players. A player can be drafted after the end of his high school career, after his junior year in college and after his senior year in college. Players don’t have to declare for the draft, which means top college programs sweat it out every June.

Duke was represented in all three classes in the 2015 draft.

JON GARDINER

The most publicized pick was Michael Matuella, a junior pitcher. The 6-6 righthander had been considered a top-five pick, maybe even the top pick going into the season.

But Matuella had a huge question mark on his resume, specifically a back condition known as spondyloysis. First diagnosed in 2009, the problem flared up last spring, limiting Matuella to 58.1 innings for Duke and keeping him out of the elite summer leagues.

Major League scouts wanted to see if Matuella could finish a complete college season. Matuella rigorously worked on his core in the offseason and says the back “is not an issue.”

So, then he goes out and tears up his elbow, only 25 innings into the season. Tommy John surgery followed on April 14, again ending his season prematurely.

The injury and surgery are common enough that a timeline for recovery is pretty standard. Matuella says he’s received positive feedback and support from Duke teammates Trent Swart and James Marvel, both of

19

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whom preceded him on the operating table. fewer seniors. If Duke is going to compete with the Virginias and Florida Matuella also has referenced former East Carolina pitcher Jeff Hoff- States of the ACC, it will have to roll the dice on top high school talent, man, who underwent TJ surgery last spring and is pitching effectively in players like Kone. Pollard says that Duke will likely stay away from the minors this season. prospective first-round high schoolers but needs to go after top-10 round But Hoffman was picked ninth in the 2014 draft, while Matuella last- talent and convince them to come to Duke. ed until early in the third round, when the “It scares me to death,” he says. “It’s Texas Rangers made him the 78th pick.

“For us to grow as a program, we something we’re going to have to worry What was the difference? about every single year. Eventually we’re have to develop guys John Manuel is editor of Baseball going to get bitten. But we have to get America and a keen student of the MLB those kinds of guys.” who are drafted as juniors, Draft. He says a cluster of concerns The sales pitch? “Come to Duke, get a not as seniors.” caused Matuella to drop to the third great education, improve your draft posiround. “The price tag was pretty high tion. But also improve your readiness for – Chris Pollard (for a first-round pick) for a player who professional baseball. Are you ready for had elbow problems and back issues. He had never pitched more than the rigors of professional sports? For us to grow as a program, we have to 60 innings in a season, did not pitch at Cape Cod or for Team USA. He develop guys who are drafted as juniors, not as seniors. That’s what it’s just didn’t have much of a track record, not enough to justify using a first going to take to compete with the top teams in the ACC.” round pick,” Manuel explains.

The more that happens, the more talent Duke will attract. Losing ju“The back is a huge factor. There is a lot of skepticism about it, a lot nior talent like Matuella and Koplove to the draft promises to be good for of questions. And I think it’s justified. But he’s really shown it in flashes. the Duke program, enabling it to attract better and better talent.

When he’s on, his stuff is electric. But we don’t know exactly how a pitcher hurts an arm. We don’t know the relationship between his back and his elbow. I’d love to see him stay healthy and show what he can do over the course of a season.”

Texas Rangers senior director of amateur scouting Kip Fagg says that his team thought Matuella was worth the risk.

“To get this guy where we got him, I’m ecstatic. It’s probably one of the better scouting moments of my 24 years with the Texas Rangers. If this guy gets healthy and it all clicks, he has a chance to be a front-of-therotation guy. There’s always a risk. It’s a concern. But you have to weigh the concern with what you know. Chances are this guy comes back and comes back to be a really good guy for us.”

The Duke Compliance Office is responsible for education Matuella admitted after the draft that it was “definitely tough not beand enforcement of NCAA rules. NCAA rules are vast and ing picked last night (first round) but I was confident that the right team complex, and we hope you read the information below as would still draft me. I know that the draft is just a starting point to a long an introduction to a few of the issues that could arise as you process.” root for the Blue Devils. If you have any questions about Matuella signed for an estimated $2 million bonus.

NCAA rules, please contact the Compliance Office at 919Matuella wasn’t the only Duke junior drafted. The Philadelphia Phil613-6214. We truly appreciate your continued support of lies selected Kenny Koplove in the 17th round (504th overall). Koplove Duke University and Duke Athletics. Always remember to was both Duke’s shortstop and closer last season. A native of Philadelask before you act. phia, Koplove tweeted that he was “beyond thrilled for the opportunity

Compliance

Quiz

to play for my hometown team. A dream come true.”

Marvel, a redshirt sophomore (a junior for draft purposes) was picked

by Pittsburgh in the 36th round but is expected to return to Duke.

Pollard says Duke expected to lose Koplove and prepared by signing one of the nation’s top shortstops, Zach Kone, from Boca Raton, Florida. “Kone could have been picked in the first five rounds,” Pollard notes. “But he was upfront with teams about wanting to go to college. We planned on Kenny being gone. We recruited for that and were prepared for it. The problem would have been if we had lost Kenny and lost the replacement in the same year. It’s a delicate balance.”

Kone went undrafted. Fellow Duke signee Griffin Conine was selected by Miami in the 31st round. His father Jeff had a long and distinguished career with the Marlins. Conine is not expected to sign with the Marlins.

Two Duke seniors, both pitchers, also were selected. The Cincinnati Reds picked Sarkis Ohanian in the ninth round (265th overall), while the Los Angeles Dodgers picked Andrew Istler in the 23rd round (702nd overall).

Many pundits picked Istler to go much higher. Pollard says he was surprised to see him last that long but notes that seniors have no leverage and calls Ohanian and Istler “value seniors,” cheaper options than juniors or high school players.

Fifth-year senior catcher Mike Rosenfeld went undrafted and Pollard says he expects Rosenfeld to give up baseball.

If Pollard has his way, Duke will lose more juniors to the draft and

Question: Joe, an Iron Dukes member and avid Duke women’s soccer fan, received a job application for a summer internship with his company from Ashley, a soccer student-athlete. Which of the following statements is true?

A. Joe may not hire Ashley, because student-athletes are prohibited from having jobs over the summer.

B. Joe may hire Ashley but may not pay her more than the going rate.

C. Since Ashley doesn’t have a car, Joe may provide her with transportation to and from work, even though he doesn’t provide the same benefit to other interns.

D. Joe may post a picture of Ashley using his product as part of his social media marketing strategy.

Answer: B. Joe may hire Ashley as a summer intern, but he may not pay her more than the going rate. Further, he may not provide her with any benefits that he does not provide the rest of his employees (e.g., meals, transportation, lodging, etc.). Lastly, a student-athlete’s name, picture, or likeness may not be used to promote a commercial product or service.

Duke Compliance 919-613-6214 21

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Soccer games and spin classes don’t keep a 9-5 schedule.

That’s why if injury strikes, we’re here for you—evenings and weekends—with a quicker and less expensive option than a trip to the ER. Duke offers walk-in access to care for all orthopaedic related conditions, from breaks to sprains to concussions.

BRIAN BABINEAU/NBAE VIA GETTY IMAGES

Elizabeth Williams, #4 pick April 16, 2015 with WNBA president Laurel Richie

DUKE SHINES ON THE SUN

Connecticut’s WNBA franchise features three Blue Devils, including first-round picks from 2014 & 2015

By Brad Amersbach According to research conducted by the NCAA in 2013, approximately one percent of student-athletes who participate in women’s basketball at the collegiate level will be drafted by a Women’s National Basketball Association team. The 36 individuals who hear their name announced by WNBA president Laurel Richie during the league’s annual draft are the rare few who beat the odds and secure a spot on one of the 12 teams’ 12-player active rosters. Former Blue Devil standout center Elizabeth Williams recently found herself walking to the stage in Uncasville, Conn., as she heard her name read off by Richie at this year’s WNBA Draft ceremony.

On April 16, Williams joined a short and impressive list of former Blue Devils after she was selected fourth overall by the Connecticut Sun. Williams became just the fourth player out of Duke to be featured as a top-five draft pick, joining the trio of Alana Beard, Monique Currie and Lindsey Harding. The credentials of the three prove Williams is among

good company, as each earned All-America accolades while at Duke.

Beard and Harding also garnered national player of the year honors in 2004 and 2007, respectively, and had their Blue Devil jerseys retired.

“The whole draft experience was great,” Williams said. “To have my name called was amazing and such a blessing. To end up in Connecticut was great to stay on the east coast. I think the coaching staff and the organization was a really good fit.”

Williams boasts remarkable accomplishments herself, becoming the only four-time Associated Press All-America in conference history. Williams also remains the only individual in ACC history to record 1,900 points, 1,000 rebounds and 400 blocks over her career. With these achievements in mind, it is easy to see why Connecticut Sun head coach Anne Donovan was so excited to welcome Williams to the team.

“Elizabeth is someone we have been coveting for a long time,” Donovan stated on draft night. “Her skill set in the post, along with her size,

23

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Alumni meeting: Williams ‘15, Gray ‘14, Thomas ‘11 STEVEN FREEMAN/ NBAE VIA GETTY IMAGES

presence and intelligence, will make a significant impact on our post game. Given our needs, the draft could not have worked better for us.”

Although Williams used the three weeks leading up to the draft as a necessary period of physical recuperation after an arduous 31-game college season, she also attended numerous orientations geared toward preparing the incoming rookie class for the professional world. Williams sat alongside other WNBA hopefuls as they learned about the league, money management, fashion, etiquette, security and more. Williams appreciated and absorbed as much information as possible from the predraft meetings, but found the budgeting portion one of the most interesting topics discussed.

“We received a lot of cool resources that help with budgeting,” Williams recollected. “I try to be smart with my money, but I never really looked at my expenses, so it was cool to see that there are apps that can help you save.”

The support system around Williams goes beyond league officials and orientation meetings however, as she joined a pair of former Blue Devils on the Sun roster. Chelsea Gray, a 2014 graduate and a two-time All-America honoree, donned the Connecticut Sun jersey for the first time after hearing her name announced as the 11th overall pick in last year’s draft. Jasmine Thomas and Williams brought the former Blue Devil count to three, as both joined Gray on the same night one year later, albeit by different avenues. The evening that Williams took the stage and held a Connecticut Sun jersey for the first time, Thomas, a four-year veteran of the WNBA and a 2010 national player of the year finalist, was on her way to Connecticut as well, via a trade from the Atlanta Dream.

“With Jasmine, she has experience and she has been able to talk and guide me through some things,” Williams said. “With Chelsea, it was just nice to have someone else I played with. Not going in completely by yourself is pretty cool. Both Chelsea and I are still adjusting, but it’s nice to be able to play with her again, especially with her not being able to play during her full senior year.”

Due to a fractured kneecap, Gray missed the final 18 games of the 2013-14 NCAA season. The Gray-Williams connection on the offensive end of the floor seemed to be a thing of the past following the injury, but just over a year later, fans have once again been treated to the duo’s chemistry on the court. Gray did not participate in any WNBA contests in 2014 as she recovered from her injury, but her familiarity with the league and how to approach the game is a useful resource that Williams has at her disposal. The time Thomas and Williams spent in Durham never overlapped, but the connection of having attended the same school and played alongside some of the same players has also helped develop a bond. With 142 WNBA games under her belt, Thomas infuses knowledge of the game and serves as an additional reservoir of information for

Williams on how to develop as a player in the league.

After concluding the 2014 season with a 13-21 record, the Sun seemingly righted the ship at the outset of the 2015 campaign. With an early 5-1 record to lead the Eastern Conference, the team’s positive results could be attributed to stout defense that held opposing teams’ offenses to a paltry 66 points per game, the second best mark in the league. As a four-time ACC defensive player of the year, Williams appreciates the Sun’s focus on the defensive end of the floor and believes this component of the game serves as a contributing factor to the team’s early accomplishments.

“I think our defensive pressure has been really good,” said Williams, who was also named the WBCA national defensive player of the year as a senior. “We’ve held teams to just about 10 or 11 points a quarter. Our defense has been what’s fueled our offense. We’re all getting used to playing together, so our offense isn’t spectacular, but we’re scrappy and we get stuff done on the other end, so that’s helped us get some wins.”

In addition to working on team chemistry, Williams is also conscious of her own personal on-court development as she continues to transition to the professional game. In just a short amount of time with her new team, Williams already recognized a significant increase in the size, speed and strength of both her teammates and the players she goes up against. Not only has she worked on developing herself physically to match up with such competition, she has also become an even greater student of the game, making a concerted effort to prepare for each upcoming opponent through the film and scouting processes.

“This level is so high,” Williams asserted. “Even in practice, you’re going against players that are all big, strong and fast. Adjusting to that has been big. You really have to understand offenses and defenses, and be able to read them. You can get away with letting your coach do that in college. Obviously you scout, but there is a different approach in the professional game.”

As Williams continues to acclimate herself into the fold of the WNBA, she knows that being a member of the special, one percent that plays among the 144 individuals in the league is not something to be taken for granted.

“It’s a fascinating statistic, to be honest,” stated Williams, who has signed to play professionally in Turkey after the WNBA season and also plans to apply to medical school in the future.

“Even if you’re drafted, you’re not necessarily guaranteed to make a team, so it makes that percentage even smaller. Sometimes if practice isn’t going your way, you have to remind yourself that you’re supposed to be here. I try to come in with that mindset every day.”

As her teammates and coaches can attest, Williams has shown without a shadow of a doubt that she certainly belongs in the WNBA.

25

ONE FOR THE HISTORY BOOKS Duke’s first experience with players leaving early for the NBA produced a Blue Devil bonanza on a memorable draft night in D.C.

By Al Featherston

Elton Brand, #1 pick June 30, 1999 with NBA commissioner David Stern

By John Calipari’s standards, 1999 would have to be rated the single most successful season in Duke basketball history.

That was the year when Duke lost the national title game, but had four players taken in the first 14 picks of the NBA Draft.

Of course, few in the Blue Devil community would share the oft-expressed opinion of the Kentucky coach that NBA Draft success is the ultimate goal of his program. Mike Krzyzewski has made it clear that his primary goal at Duke is to win championships.

The two competing world-views came into stark contrast in 2010, when Duke won the national championship, yet failed to put a single player in the 2010 NBA Draft (three members of that team would be first-round draft picks in subsequent drafts). Calipari’s Wildcats came up short in the NCAA Tournament that year, losing in the regional finals, but three months later, when five of his players were taken in the first round of the draft, he declared it as the greatest night in Kentucky basketball history.

The 2015 season presented the same contrast in philosophies. Calipari possessed a team that was rated the best in the country all season. But that team fell short in the NCAA Tournament, losing in the NCAA semifinals, while Krzyzewski’s Blue Devils swept to their fifth national title.

Afterwards, Calipari was asked if he was disappointed by the outcome of the season. The Kentucky coach insisted that winning the national title was never his goal.

“Last year we started the season with a goal,” Calipari said. “You may think that goal was to win the national title! Win all the games! No, it was to get eight players drafted.”

To his credit, Mike Krzyzewski never tried to make that kind of argument in 1999 when a Duke team that came heartbreakingly close to

26

NATHANIEL S. BUTLER/NBAE VIA GETTY IMAGES

winning the national title nevertheless enjoyed the greatest NBA Draft success of any team in Duke history.

Duke’s 2015 draft contingent didn’t quite equal the success the Blue Devils enjoyed 16 years ago. But there are similarities between 1999 and 2015, such as the fact that three top prospects in each class were underclassmen, including a young big man who was a potential No. 1 choice.

Both are watershed drafts for the Blue Devil program.

Before 1999, Duke had never lost an underclassman to the draft, so losing three in one draft was a game-changing moment.

And before 2015, Duke had never lost more than one one-and-done player at a time. To see three freshmen — Jahlil Okafor, Justise Winslow and Tyus Jones — turn pro this spring was another pivotal moment for the program.

THE PATH TO THE ’99 DRAFT If there is a difference between 1999 and 2015 for Duke, it was the manner of departure for the three underclassmen who left the Blue Devils in the months leading up the draft.

This spring, all three freshman stars off the 2015 national champs announced their departure in April and all were given a strong, positive sendoff by Coach K. That wasn’t the case in 1999.

Only sophomore center Elton Brand, who had earned national player of the year honors in his second season, left with Krzyzewski’s blessing.

Duke held a press conference in Cameron to announce Brand’s decision and Coach K stood there beside him and praised the first Duke underclassman in history to opt for the NBA. But there were no press conferences, and only perfunctory words of

support from Krzyzewski, when freshman Corey Maggette and sophomore point guard Will Avery made the jump.

Maggette’s case was an interesting one. The 6-6 freshman from Chicago had averaged 10.6 points a game in 1999, playing mostly as Duke’s sixth man. His talent — especially his physical talent — was unmistakable, but since he had started just a handful of games, nobody expected Maggette to look at the NBA Draft.

That changed on the morning of March 21 (the same day Duke beat Temple in the East Regional title game). NBA beat writer Sam Smith ran a column in the Chicago Tribune looking ahead to the NBA Draft. Smith argued that if every college player were available in the draft, Maggette would be the first player taken — by the Chicago Bulls.

Since Smith, the author of the best-selling book The Jordan Rules about the 1992 Chicago Bulls, was known to be plugged in to Chicago GM Jerry Krause, that column carried a lot of weight.

A chance to be taken No. 1 in the draft … by his hometown team?

How could Maggette NOT turn pro?

Avery’s case was less public. The 6-2 playmaker had enjoyed a superb sophomore season and was generally projected in the middle of the first round. Krzyzewski reportedly met with Avery and his mother, telling the young guard that while he would be drafted fairly high, he was not ready to play point guard in the NBA and would have a hard time sticking in the league.

Avery, who later pled financial need, disregarded Coach K’s advice and declared for the draft.

Those three — along with fifth-year senior guard Trajan Langdon — were all projected as potential first-round draft picks heading into the June 30 draft at Washington’s MCI Center (now the Verizon Center).

No school had ever before put four players in the first round.

THE PARTY IN WASHINGTON As draft day approached, it became obvious that Smith was wrong about Maggette — he was not in consideration for the No. 1 pick — even though the stubborn Smith still listed Maggette at No. 3 in his final mock draft.

Instead, the Bulls were looking at four players for the first pick — Maryland guard Steve Francis, UCLA guard Baron Davis, Rhode Island forward Lamar Odom and Brand.

It didn’t take long for NBA commissioner David Stern to end the suspense. He walked to the podium and announced that the Bulls had used the first pick in the draft to select Elton Brand of Duke.

Krause told reporters: “He’s a young man of character. He’s a bright young man. He’s a tough young man.

He’s a building block here. He’s a player I think you can win with down the line.”

Vancouver followed by picking Maryland’s Francis — a choice that would not go down well with the former Maryland guard. He would hold out until he forced a trade to the Houston Rockets.

Maggette did not go third as Smith predicted. Instead, the Charlotte Hornets took UCLA’s Davis. The Duke freshman continued to fall as Odom and prep forward Jonathan Bender completed the top five.

He was still waiting at No. 11, when Duke’s Langdon was taken by Cleveland.

Maggette finally went 13th to the Seattle Supersonics, but before he could meet with the press in the bowls of the MCI Center, the oneand-done Duke forward was traded to Orlando.

“Some people thought he might go earlier,” NBA draft guru Marty Blake said. “But you have to remember he only played one year and got

limited playing time. Seattle needed a power forward, so they packaged him with some veterans to bring in Horace Grant.”

Immediately after Maggette was taken/traded, the Minnesota Timberwolves used the No. 14 pick to draft Avery. Blake explained that the pick was insurance, in case the Wolves were unable to re-sign free agent point guard Terrell Brandon.

That motive didn’t bother Avery at the time.

“I’m glad to be with the Timberwolves,” he said. “If Terrell Brandon stays, I can learn a lot from him because he is a great veteran point guard.

But if he decides to move on, I think I can step in and play right away.”

The rapid selection of three Duke players between No. 11 and No. 14 made the Blue Devils the first program to have four players drafted in the first round, a record that was bettered when Kentucky had five first-round picks in 2010. North Carolina matched Duke’s mark in 2005 — the Tar Heels also had four players taken in the first 14.

Brand would average 20 points and 10 rebounds in his first two seasons for the Bulls. In all, he would play 16 seasons, earning two All-Star nods. Maggette, who was traded by the Magic to the Clippers after his rookie year, played 14 seasons for six teams, averaging double figures in 12, but he never played in an all-star game and appeared in the playoffs just once.

Unfortunately for Avery, the Timberwolves did re-sign Brandon. He led Minnesota to 50 wins and a playoff spot, while Avery languished on the bench. As Krzyzewski predicted, Avery was picked high, but his NBA career was short — just 142 games over three seasons.

Langdon also had a brief NBA career — just 119 games in three seasons. Both Langdon and Avery went on to play professionally overseas for several years.

GOING FORWARD It remains to be seen if Duke’s trio of one-and-done freshmen can better their 1999 predecessors when it comes to their NBA success.

But however that plays out, this year’s NBA Draft was an interesting and significant moment for the Duke program — just not the be-all and end-all for the 2015 Blue Devils.

That moment came April 6, when Okafor, Winslow, Jones and company cut down the nets after winning the national title in Indianapolis.

NOAH GRAHAM/NBAE VIA GETTY IMAGES

Five years after the 1999 draft, Maggette, Langdon and Brand reunited at LA Clippers training camp (October 2004). Langdon didn’t make the roster, but Brand and Maggette played seven years together in Los Angeles.

27

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE WORK

How Amanda Green went from a Duke manager to one of the highest ranking women in an NBA front office

By Jenni Carlson

Reprinted from The Oklahoman/NewsOK.com

To understand how Amanda Green became one of the voices that helped determine who the Oklahoma City Thunder drafted this year, you only need to hear her shot clock story.

It happened about a decade ago when she was an undergrad at Duke and a manager for the basketball team. One night during a game at the fabled Cameron Indoor Stadium, the shot clock malfunctioned. Everyone seemed to be standing around hoping that someone could fix whatever was wrong.

28

Suddenly, Green dove over the scorer’s table.

She’d used that shot clock at practice. Surely she could hit the right button or jiggle the right wire or do something to help.

“To me ... I’m just a manager,” Green said.

“Something’s wrong; I need to fix it.”

Still, she wasn’t afraid to trust her gut and do something a bit unexpected.

So it has been throughout her career. Delaying the start of law school at Georgetown

to be a basketball operations intern with the San Antonio Spurs. Not leaving her office for a week because her division at the big-time, bigcity law firm of Proskauer Rose was working to close a deal. Saying goodbye to family and familiarity on the East Coast to take a position created for her in Oklahoma City.

She is now one of the highest-ranking women in an NBA front office.

This story can be read in its entirety at NewsOK.com

The Documentary Of A Season

Coach K at his Candid Best every week on

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Whether he’s preparing for preseason practice or preparing for the Final Four, Mike Krzyzewski shares his unfiltered viewpoints on Duke, ACC and college basketball all season long on his weekly TV show. Now you can watch all 18 episodes from the 35th season of Inside Basketball on GoDuke.com.

Enjoy a unique journey on the road to the national title by checking out the complete 2014-15 archive of Inside Basketball with Duke’s Coach K. 29

30

DRAFT BOARD REDUX

For 5 straight years in the 1960s, Duke sent prominent first-round talent to the pros

By Lewis Bowling

TRADING CARDS BY TOPPS

1963 #1 NBA All-Rookie

1964 #5

NBA All-Star 5x

1965 #14 4 Pro Bowls

The decade of the 1960s was a good time to be a Duke sports fan.

Vic Bubas coached Duke basketball to three Final Fours in 1963, 1964 and 1966. Duke football won the 1961 Cotton Bowl as well as ACC championships in 1960, 1961 and 1962 under head coach Bill Murray. In 1961 Duke baseball under coach Ace Parker played in the College World Series. Duke men’s golf teams won ACC titles in 1961, 1962 and 1966 and hosted the NCAA nationals in ‘62. Individually, Duke’s Dave Sime won a silver medal in the 1960 Rome Olympic Games in the 100-yard dash. And these are just a few outstanding accomplishments of Duke athletics during the 1960s.

What may stand out as much as those examples of Blue Devil excellence in the decade was Duke’s run of five straight years with first-round pro draft picks: • 1963 — Basketball player Art Heyman was the first player chosen in the NBA Draft by the New York Knicks.

• 1964 — Basketball player Jeff Mullins was chosen with the fifth pick by the St. Louis Hawks.

• 1965 — Football player Mike Curtis was chosen with the 14th pick in the first round of the NFL Draft by the Baltimore Colts.

• 1966 — Basketball player Jack Marin was selected by the Baltimore Bullets in the NBA Draft with the fifth pick in the first round.

• 1967 — Football player Bob Matheson was chosen in the NFL Draft with the 18th pick by the Cleveland Browns.

Sadly, two of these five Duke Hall of Famers have now passed away, Art Heyman and Bob Matheson. Here’s a look at each member of the group — what they did to earn their first-round selections and how they fared.

Bob Matheson was born in 1944 in Boone, N.C., and had a great career playing football at Duke. He was All-ACC twice and was a first team All-America in 1966. Matheson, who was a huge linebacker for his

1966 #5 NBA All-Star 2x

1967 #18

3 Super Bowls

day at 6-foot-4 and 235 pounds, played 13 seasons in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns and Miami Dolphins. He was a member of the 1972 Miami Dolphins team that won the Super Bowl and went undefeated.

He was often utilized as a fourth linebacker in passing situations, a defensive alignment that came to be known as the “53” defense — named for Matheson’s jersey number. After his playing career ended, Matheson was an assistant coach at Duke and an assistant with the Dolphins. He passed away in 1994 at Duke Hospital from complications of Hodgkin’s disease.

Art Heyman was one of the best basketball players in school history.

“As much as any other human being, Art was responsible for Duke University becoming a national power in college basketball,” Bubas once said. In the three years Heyman played on the varsity team at Duke (an era when freshmen were not eligible), the Blue Devils were 69-14 and played in a Final Four. During those three years, Heyman averaged 25.1 points and 10.9 rebounds per game, made the All-ACC team three times, and in his senior year was named the national player of the year. After being the first pick in the 1963 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks, Heyman averaged 15.4 points per game and made the All-Rookie team. He later moved on to the rival ABA and helped the Pittsburgh Pipers claim the ABA crown in 1968. Heyman passed away in 2012 at the age of 71.

Mike Curtis came to Duke from Rockville, Md., and was a two-time All-ACC player as a linebacker. He went on NFL greatness, getting selected to four Pro Bowls, and along the way gaining a reputation as one of the meanest, hardest-hitting linebackers ever to play the game. His tackle on former Rams quarterback Roman Gabriel is still remembered, and the video of Curtis tackling a fan who ran on the field during a game is still watched on highlight films. Bill Curry, a former teammate of Curtis with the Baltimore Colts, once said, “As the center on those Colts teams, I had to practice against Mike every day. By the time he got through with you,

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the games were a relief. Mike looked at football as war, and you were either on his team or you were the enemy.” Another former teammate on the Colts, Tom Matte, said, “Mike would just as soon knock your socks off as look at you.” In a recent book on the history of pro football, Curtis was selected as the 19th best linebacker to ever play the game.

Jack Marin was a sharpshooter for Duke who played on two Final Four teams, in 1964 and 1966. He averaged 19 points a game in 1965 and was first team All-ACC, then averaged 18.9 for the 1966 team and again was first team All-ACC while also making second team All-America. Of his transition to the pros, Marin said in a recent interview, “I had been admitted to medical school at Duke, so that is what I wanted to do. The St. Louis Hawks wanted to draft me but I told them I was going to medical school, so they didn’t. Then the Baltimore Bullets went ahead and drafted me anyway, and we started negotiating. I think when we (Duke) played in College Park, Maryland in the 1966 Final Four, the Bullets must have been watching me.”

Marin was selected fifth overall by the Bullets and got a salary of $18,500, which was the third highest rookie salary in the NBA that year.

Showing he deserved the money, Marin made the NBA All-Rookie team.

He played 11 seasons in the league with Baltimore, Houston Rockets, Buffalo Braves and Chicago Bulls. He was a two-time All-Star and scored 12,541 points in his career. After his playing days ended, Marin entered Duke Law School, graduated in 1980 and became a practicing attorney.

One comment from a fan, Cecil Hargett, helps to sum up the sort of person Jack Marin is. “I admired Jack Marin when he starred at Duke on one of the best teams in Duke’s history, 1965-66. He is an even better person than he was a player. I look forward to seeing him every year when he returns to Camp Lejeune to give of his time participating in the golf tournament benefiting the wounded warriors.” Marin serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for Hope For the Warriors, an organization devoted to caring for those who have served in the military and their families.

Marin has been an attorney in Durham since 1986 and is a season ticket holder for Duke basketball. Recalling his college days, he says, “Duke prepared me for the NBA by putting our teams on the national stage. I knew what pressure was, and I had good teammates and coaches who helped me tremendously. The coaching staff was nothing short of magnificent. Being coached by all of the coaches, but especially by Coach Vic Bubas, was probably the best part of my time at Duke. Coach Bubas was a real avant garde thinker, and would introduce new ideas.”

Jeff Mullins played high school basketball in Lexington, Ky., where

he was named Mr. Basketball for the state. Now, when you are Mr. Basketball in 1960 that would normally mean that Kentucky’s famed coach Adolph Rupp would wrap his hands around you and bring you to the Wildcats campus to win another national title for him. But Mullins went instead to play for another famous coach at Duke, and helped the Blue Devils to two Final Fours while averaging 22 points and nine rebounds for his three varsity years. A statistic that is hard to believe is that in all 86 games of Mullins’ career, he scored in double figures.

Mullins was one busy young man in 1964, serving as senior class president, playing for the U.S. in the Olympics and being chosen with the fifth pick of the NBA Draft. Mullins was at the beach during the draft and didn’t even know the St. Louis Hawks had chosen him until getting home a couple of days later. “I had a goal of playing for the Olympic team, so I was mainly concentrating on that,” Mullins recalled in a recent interview. “The draft was almost an afterthought. I was so thrilled to be on the Olympic team.”

Looking for guidance from a former teammate at Duke, Mullins asked Heyman how much money he should seek from the Hawks. As the No. 1 pick, Heyman had gotten $16,000 for his first year, so he told Mullins he deserved about $14,000 as the fifth pick. So that is what Mullins received for his rookie year. With the ABA forming in 1967, Mullins was being talked to by the Kentucky Colonels and because of this new league, Mullins got a contract for over $50,000 in his third year playing in the NBA. Mullins went on to be a five-time All-Star, and he was a member of the 1975 Golden State Warriors, who won the NBA championship. That was the last championship for Golden State until 40 years later, when Stephen Curry led the Warriors to the title this year. “I was very happy to see Golden State win the championship this year. I watched them play, and they kept me up late at night past my bedtime, but it was worth it.

They were a fun team to watch. I was a lucky man this year, as my old college team, Duke, won the national title, along with my former NBA team winning the NBA championship,” Mullins said.

About his playing days, Mullins very modestly recalled, “If I had any strengths as a player, I think it was that I always thought I could join up with four strangers and help make everyone better as a team. I didn’t demand the basketball, and I think I was a good communicator.”

Duke sent five good men and athletes to professional sports as firstround draft picks in those five straight years of 1963 to 1967. It was an era of outstanding sports on the campus of Duke, and those athletes did their alma mater proud when they moved on to the professional ranks.

DUKE UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES

Heyman, Mullins and Marin starred in the 1960s and entered the Duke Athletics Hall of Fame together in 1978

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SO COOL FOR SCHOOL

By John Roth

Dollars & Sense decisions for a dreamer who returned for his degree Gerald Henderson didn’t need a Duke degree to solidify his financial future. By the time he donned cap and gown for the university’s 2015 commencement exercises, he had already earned almost $21 million in his first job out of college. As an entry-level NBA shooting guard, he was a millionaire well before the rest of his original Duke cohorts graduated — sharply skewing the average starting salary for the Class of 2010.

But finishing what he started academically was as important to Henderson as finishing at the rim. So after getting his professional basketball career off on solid footing by completing his initial four-year contract, Henderson was back in school during the summers of 2013 and 2014 to fulfill the last few degree requirements that remained when he left after his junior season to enter the 2009 NBA Draft.

“Coming back and getting my degree was definitely special to me,” he said. “When you start school, when you’re very young, the plan is to graduate college. Regardless of what my other plans were with basketball, it’s important for me to finish out the plan. I knew when I left my junior year, I promised my mom that I would go back and get my degree. She knew it was very important to me. That’s something that was important to me, because I don’t like to lie to my mom.”

“I’m so proud of that guy,” said Duke assistant coach Jon Scheyer, one of Henderson’s former classmates and teammates. “It says a lot about who he is and his family, that he wanted to do that. It wasn’t easy. Even though you

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STRING of EVENTS 34

are ahead (academically) after your junior year, you need to make a big commitment to come back, and he came back a few summers and did it. It was really awesome to see.”

When Henderson put his name in the draft he was five courses shy of completing his degree, needing three in his psychology major plus two electives. He took two classes in 2013 and the final three last summer, all on campus.

“It’s not like some other schools where you could do them on-line or do independent studies. I actually had to be in class. Every class, every paper, every project I had to complete and do it like I did in ’06 through ’09,” he noted.

One of his professors, George Grody, appreciated the level of engagement he brought to the classroom environment.

“When I saw him in class on the first day, I said to him, ‘As an alum, I just want to let you know how much we all appreciate you coming back to get your degree. Duke alums are very proud of our student-athletes.’ His response was, ‘Well, I want to be like you.’

“I kind of looked at him strangely, be-

2006 • Enrolled at Duke in a recruiting class with Jon Scheyer, Brian Zoubek and Lance Thomas, joining a team with no scholarship seniors

cause he’s an NBA player and probably making good money. I asked him, ‘What do you mean?’ and he said, ‘I want to be an alum too, and I can’t really be an alum until I graduate and get my degree.’ That was really impressive to me. It shows how much it really means to him.”

Henderson moved in with Scheyer, his roommate from 2008-09, for last summer’s final push. There were ancillary benefits for both.

Scheyer was about to enter his first season as a fulltime assistant coach with on-the-court responsibilities. Along with watching games and talking basketball together, Scheyer put Henderson through several individual workouts during their free time — a practice that “made

2008 • Scored the last eight points, capped by a steal and layup in the final 15 seconds, to lift Duke over Belmont 7170 in the NCAA Tournament

2009 • Had his career high of 35 points to pace the Blue Devils over No. 8 Wake Forest • Named All-ACC first team and All-America third team • Named All-ACC Tournament after helping Duke to the conference title

me better” as a new coach, Scheyer said.

Henderson also had plenty of opportunities to interact with the members of the 2014-15 Blue Devils during the formative stages of their national championship season. “I could see at that time that they had a special group, a great group of guys. So that was a lot of fun for me,” Henderson said during a recent visit to Duke for the annual K Academy fantasy camp. “Obviously doing school work and home work isn’t the most fun, but being able to split my day up and spend some time with them, work out and play with them, was pretty cool.”

“I think that did a lot for those guys,” Scheyer said. “For Justise (Winslow), for Tyus (Jones), for Matt Jones to be around G every day — he’s a pro in every way, and he’s the type of guy who would do things and give guidance to those guys.”

Had he been asked to provide additional guidance this spring for the three underclassmen who opted to enter the NBA Draft after their one season in college, Henderson would have considered each case individually, not collectively.

“Everybody’s situation is different,” he explained. “It’s hard for a kid who may get drafted, or drafted high into the NBA, to persuade them not to go. Obviously I know for me it was a dream since I was little and that’s how it is for most kids. But I’ll tell you what — it’s also a dream to come to Duke. You have to decide what dream you want to play out when. The kids this year, coming to Duke and winning

the national championship, that’s usually the dream. You get that out of the way, you know what the next step probably is.”

Henderson didn’t quite reach that pinnacle — his classmates Scheyer, Brian Zoubek and Lance Thomas helped carry the Blue Devils to the top the year after he left — but as a junior in 2009 he was the leading scorer and a firstteam All-ACC selection for a squad that won the conference championship and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAAs. Charlotte made him the 12th pick of the draft, an occasion he will never forget, surrounded by his parents, siblings, grandmother, Blue Devil staff members Nate James and Chris Carrawell and agent Arn Tellem.

“The draft is a really cool day,” he recalled.

“I remember being very nervous. I woke up late, I missed a meeting, I missed something else. I was very nervous and it didn’t start well for me. And then even when I got drafted it was

nerve-racking.

“But one of the things you realize quickly is that it’s a cool thing and a cool day, but it’s over so quickly and you are right into the mix.

What’s important is everything that comes after that — playing in the games and what you do on the court. Being drafted in the lottery is a dream for a lot of guys, but you’ll see guys who don’t get drafted that are still putting in the work out there so it’s only a small part of the NBA. Right after you get drafted you go into the summer league and you’re right into it.”

Henderson has been in it six years now, all in Charlotte until his June 24 trade to Portland.

He’s 27 years old and has averaged an even 12 points per game over his 391 NBA contests.

His current contract has one year remaining, worth $6 million.

It’s been a year now since he officially joined Jason Williams and Mike Dunleavy on the list of former Blue Devils who left eligibility on the table to enter the draft but still made a point of finishing their degrees. Duke sent Henderson his diploma last year, but he also wanted to walk. So when the Hornets missed out on a playoff berth this spring, Henderson was free to return to Durham to participate in graduation almost nine years after his original enrollment.

“I look at getting my degree as part of my career,” he said. “That’s something, when I look back, to say that I did it is pretty cool.”

HENDERSON AT DUKE (JON GARDINER), AT THE NBA DRAFT (JIM MCISAAC/GETTY IMAGES), IN ACTION AT CHARLOTTE (JEREMY BREVARD/USA TODAY SPORTS) AND AT GRADUATION WITH HIS DAD (DUKE BLUE PLANET)

June 25, 2009 • S elected by Charlotte with the No. 12 pick of the NBA Draft, held at Madison Square Garden

2013 • Scored his career high of 35 points twice in one month, vs. Boston and New York • Posted his career high scoring average of 15.5 ppg • Signed 3-year, $18 million contract after 4th season • Returned to school at Duke

2014 • Started 77 games and averaged 14.0 points to help Charlotte reach playoffs • Completed requirements for Duke degree

2015 • Played in a career high 80 games and averaged 12.1 ppg • Walked in 2015 Duke commencement exercises • Exercised player option for final year of his contract • Traded to Portland

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> The Numbers Game

All-time first-round draft picks from Duke* National Basketball Association Year Pick Player Team 1952 3 Dick Groat FTW 1963 1 Art Heyman NY 1964 5 Jeff Mullins STL 1966 5 Jack Marin BAL 1977 13 Tate Armstrong CHI 1979 16 Jim Spanarkel PHIL 1980 7 Mike Gminski NJ 1986 10 Johnny Dawkins SA 1986 18 Mark Alarie DEN 1989 2 Danny Ferry LAC 1990 25 Alaa Abdelnaby POR 1992 3 Christian Laettner MIN 1993 7 Bobby Hurley SAC 1994 3 Grant Hill DET 1995 12 Cherokee Parks DAL 1998 20 Roshown McLeod ATL 1999 1 Elton Brand CHI 1999 11 Trajan Langdon CLE 1999 13 Corey Maggette SEA 1999 14 William Avery MIN 2001 6 Shane Battier MEM 2002 2 Jason Williams CHI 2002 3 Mike Dunleavy GS 2003 20 Dahntay Jones BOS 2004 7 Luol Deng PHX 2006 5 Shelden Williams ATL 2006 11 J.J. Redick ORL 2009 12 Gerald Henderson CHAR 2011 1 Kyrie Irving CLE 2011 21 Nolan Smith POR 2012 10 Austin Rivers NO 2012 26 Miles Plumlee IND 2013 22 Mason Plumlee BKN 2014 2 Jabari Parker MIL 2014 23 Rodney Hood UT 2015 3 Jahlil Okafor PHIL 2015 10 Justise Winslow MIA 2015 24 Tyus Jones CLE Major League Soccer Year Pick Player Team 1997 5 Brian Kelly NY/NJ 1999 2 Jay Heaps MIA 1999 11 Evan Whitfield CHI 2001 2 Ali Curtis TB 2012 1 Andrew Wenger MON Red = Duke Hall of Famers 36

THE ONES

Major League Baseball Year Pick Player 2012 22 Marcus Stroman

Team TOR

National Football League Year Pick Player Team 1940 2 George McAfee PHIL 1942 4 Steve Lach CHI 1965 14 Mike Curtis BAL 1967 18 Bob Matheson CLE 1987 5 Mike Junkin CLE 2015 28 Laken Tomlinson DET (Note: In 1992 Duke QB Dave Brown was the first pick in the NFL supplemental draft, by the New York Giants) Canadian Football League Year Pick Player 2005 4 Chris Best Major League Lacrosse Year Pick Player 2003 2 Kevin Cassesse 2006 6 Matt Zash 2008 2 Matt Danowski 2009 3 Zack Greer 2010 1 Ned Crotty 2010 3 Max Quinzani 2010 4 Parker McKee 2012 3 Michael Manley 2012 5 C.J. Costabile 2012 8 Robert Rotanz 2014 2 Jordan Wolf 2014 4 Luke Duprey 2015 3 Will Haus

FILE PHOTOS: DUKE, NBAE, GETTY IMAGES, MLL, MLS

Team SAS Team ROCH PHIL NJ LI CHI BOS LI ROCH CHES OH ROCH NY CHAR

WNBA Year Pick Player Team 2004 2 Alana Beard WASH 2004 11 Iciss Tillis DET 2006 3 Monique Currie CHAR 2007 1 Lindsey Harding PHX 2007 9 Alison Bales IND 2009 9 Chante Black CON 2011 12 Jasmine Thomas SEA 2014 11 Chelsea Gray CON 2014 12 Tricia Liston MIN 2015 4 Elizabeth Williams CON * List covers current pro sports leagues

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> The Final Round

Tales from the green room and beyond, 90s edition

Grant Hill, #3 pick June 29,1994 Indianapolis

By Barry Jacobs The tide of fashion was shifting. Once it was a given that basketball players stayed in school until graduation, or at least until their eligibility expired. Well into the 1990s, those who heard the siren call of sanctioned, paid performance were few and far between in the ACC. During the 1970s six ACC players jumped to the pros early, starting in 1971 with eighth-round pick Barry Yates of Maryland. During the 80s the pace picked up slightly, with about one player leaving per year for the NBA. Yet the 1990s were all but exhausted before the first Duke standouts left without first earning their degrees.

Trajan Langdon, who graduated in 1999, not only stayed for five years, including a season lost to injury, but never entertained notions of leaving early. In fact, when Mike Krzyzewski raised the subject following Langdon’s sophomore year, the guard didn’t immediately catch his coach’s meaning.

Krzyzewski explained in a one-on-one meeting he was recruiting Corey Maggette in part to cover the possibility Langdon, eventually a three-time All-ACC player, might leave.

“I think I looked at him like he was out of his mind,” says Langdon, currently a scout for the San Antonio Spurs. “Leave and go where?”

After Krzyzewski explained, the player added: “‘Coach, I’m not going anywhere. I could be the player of the year, I’m not going anywhere.’

That was the first time it even entered my mind.”

Like Langdon, both Alaa Abdelnaby and Grant Hill were content to stay put, ending their Duke careers with an appearance in a national championship game. Only then did they focus on the next step, which in each case was selection in the first round of the NBA Draft.

While the results of draft day were similarly gratifying for each, the players’ experiences were rather different.

For Abdelnaby, a late-blooming prospect despite his sturdy, 6-10 frame, the close scrutiny that June night in 1990 grew awkward as he sat and waited and waited to be picked. For Hill, a transcendent talent, the ritual unfolded as expected, even if his preferred landing spot proved less desirable than it appeared. The sharpshooting Langdon, expecting to be chosen toward the second half of the opening round, wasn’t on hand in New York or even watching the TV when his name was called.

Abdelnaby grew up in New Jersey across the Hudson River from Manhattan, where the ’90 draft was held. Among his entourage in the green room were his parents, brother and sister, and a group of childhood buddies. “It was cool to be able to share that with those guys, to be there,” he recalls.

The big man had raised his stock considerably during a series of pre-draft workouts after a college career longer on promise than performance. “The really huge thing that I had going for me was, my team had played until the last week (of the season), so I was in game shape,” says Abdelnaby, now a college TV commentator. Duke had lost to UNLV in the NCAA title game at Denver.

But when the time came to be selected, events didn’t go according to plan. Based on pre-draft conversation, Abdelnaby anticipated going 11th to the Atlanta Hawks. But Atlanta traded up. Then Abdelnaby got

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a phone call informing him he was likely to go 17th to the New York Knicks, his favorite team.

Didn’t happen. Instead he sat just off stage, increasingly alone, the cameras occasionally recording his awkward wait as the draft went on.

“It was not good,” he says. “It’s tough. It’s tough. You feel like you’re the most uncomfortable you’ve ever been on stage.”

Finally selected 25th in a 27-pick first round, Abdelnaby went to Portland, one of the NBA’s best teams at the time. Even the TV cameramen were happy and relieved when the amiable Abdelnaby got picked.

“No one asks what pick I was,” he says, at peace with his fate a quarter-century ago, “they ask what round.”

Hill, an All-American, knew he would go in the first round. He also took it for granted that wouldn’t happen before his senior season concluded, in his case with a loss to Arkansas in the 1994 NCAA championship game. “I never really thought about it,” Hill says of leaving early. “I think I was right before the mass exodus of college guys.”

When his Duke career ended, Hill went barnstorming. Exams and a week at Myrtle Beach were behind him, graduation approaching before he got around to vetting agents.

The draft, then a traveling road show, was held in Indianapolis in the Hoosier Dome. At Hill’s side were his parents, childhood friends, and Mark Williams, a manager from the Blue Devils’ 1992 national championship squad. “There was a great deal of excitement for me to be a part of that,” Hill says of draft day and its live TV coverage. “Obviously 21 years later it’s going to become a pretty big production, but it was a pretty big production then.”

Hill, these days a TV commentator and a partner in Penta Mezzanine, an equity fund, hoped to be chosen third by Detroit. He knew he wouldn’t go first — Purdue’s Glenn Robinson did. He didn’t want to go second to Dallas, where he feared he would play at point, as Duke had done his senior year. So he was pleased to be a Piston, only to find himself pressed into a playmaker’s role, anyway.

Langdon, too, had scoped out his draft position and, after interviewing with several teams, expected to be picked between 14th and 20th. He thought he might fit well at Denver or Utah.

His relatively modest expectations made Langdon a bit wary of the proceedings. Invited to wait in the wings at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., he instead opted to watch from a remove. “I didn’t think I would go that high, and I didn’t want to be one of the last people in the green room,” he explains.

Langdon’s family rented a room at the Washington Duke Inn. Accompanied by his parents, girlfriend and an Alaska high school teammate, he was busy chatting when Cleveland selected him with the 11th pick. “My mom starts screaming, my dad starts getting excited,” he recalls. “That was pretty great.”

By evening’s end Langdon was part of history: for the first time ever, four players from the same college team went in the first round, with Elton Brand preceding him and Maggette and William Avery two of the next three players selected.

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