Duke Basketball: Who will the Blue Devils play in the PK80 Tournament?
By Stuart Gill
Duke Basketball will play Portland State in the opening round of the PK80 Tournament.
The Phil Knight Invitational, dubbed this year as the ‘PK80’ due to the former Nike CEO’s 80th birthday, will be held in Portland, Oregon. The tournament will begin on November 23rd and run through the 25th and features two separate brackets of eight teams. The Victory Bracket consists of Oregon, Uconn, Michigan State, Georgetown, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Portland, and UNC, while the Motion Bracket is made up of Duke, Butler, Portland State, Texas, Florida, Stanford, Gonzaga, and Ohio State.
Duke is scheduled for a first round matchup against Portland State on Thursday, November 23rd. As of right now, it is just the second game the Blue Devils will play in the 2017-2018 season, though that will likely change. The earliest scheduled game Duke has at this point is a November 14th matchup with Michigan State in the Champions Classic tournament in Chicago. The only other confirmed non-conference matchup for Duke at this time is a December 2nd hosting of South Dakota.
Portland State finished 15-16 overall last season and just 7-11 in conference play to finish 8th in the Big Sky. They were led in scoring by then-sophomore De’Sean Parsons, who averaged over 14 points and 6 boards in nearly 30 minutes per game, but he was far from being the team’s main offensive option. The Vikings had six players, including Parsons, averaging over 20 minutes per game, each of them shooting above 40% from the field.
Portland State has added five new players to their squad, the most notable being 2-star point guard Holland Woods of Glendale, Arizona. Woods is ranked by ESPN as the 87th best point guard in the 2017 class.
Duke will have a very different team than they did a year ago. They are led by the 2017 class’ top point guard Trevon Duval, who will team up with fellow five-star recruits Wendell Carter and Gary Trent Jr. Grayson Allen is also returning and was recently ranked by ESPN as the No. 1 player in the NCAA.
The winner of the Duke-Portland State game will face off with the winner of the matchup between Texas and Butler on Friday afternoon.