Thursday, September 5, 2013

Duke's Rodney Hood recovered from Achilles injury

With the start of college basketball practice merely three weeks away (Sept. 27), the Duke Blue Devils are in near-perfect health.

Rodney Hood, who will play this season after sitting out last year following his transfer from Mississippi State, has completely recovered from the right Achilles injury he suffered at a USA Basketball's camp on June 26th.

"He's great," Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said.

Hood, a sophomore, is expected to star on the wing for this year's Duke team. Expectations are high—N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried went as far to say he and teammate Jabari Parker could go No. 2 and 3 in next year's NBA Draft.

Additionally, redshirt sophomore Marshall Plumlee has been doing individual work and will begin full-court work starting Monday, Krzyzewski said. Plumlee had surery on his left foot on April 23rd.

Thanks to NCAA rule changes, Krzyzewski and the rest of the coaches were allowed to spend two hours per week during second summer session working with their players. That extra time has allowed the staff to get to know the incoming players better, Krzyzewski said. The Blue Devils are currently working in small group sessions that will continue until the official start of practice.

"We have a good group," Krzyzewski said. "I'm anxious to get going."

-Laura Keeley

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! Coach K used his allowed time to work with the team this summer. Meanwhile the self appointed "hardest working coach in America" over in Chapel Hill was playing golf and refusing comment on his wayward star player, all the while protesting that there was already enough practice time without the NCAA allowing more. Gonna be an enjoyable season.

Anonymous said...

Love how an article about Duke still triggers someone to talk about UNC. Ha. Just a bit of info for ya, Roy was playing the Pro-Am at Wyndham to support the American Cancer Association - you're right, he's horrible.