Blue Devil 360

After an action packed weekend that included prime-time football, a charity exhibition basketball game and induction ceremonies for the Duke Athletics Hall of Fame, we feature an array of interesting guests including long-time Hall of Famer Bobby Hurley and new Hall of Famer Becca Ward. New director of player development John Battle details his role within the Duke football program, field hockey co-captain Paige Bitting shares her sisterhood story as her top-10 Blue Devils wrap up the regular season and look ahead to postseason play, and we have some exciting calls of the month.

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Vice president and director of athletics Nina King makes her first quarterly appearance of 2024-25 to kick off the opening edition of Blue Devil 360 for this academic year. Guests include defensive tackle Kendy Charles, a grad transfer from Liberty who shares his interesting origin story; director of football nutrition Tori Brown, whose team handled a challenging situation in re-fueling the Blue Devils during a lengthy weather delay at Middle Tennessee; and former two-sport standout Quinton McCracken, a long-time major league baseball player who is among the nine new inductees in the Duke Athletics Hall of Fame this fall.

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Our vacation edition begins with a compilation of Duke highlights from 2023-24 and features VP/AD Nina King’s in-depth review of the past year (note: heavy emphasis on spring sports as every Duke team competed in NCAA postseason play), along with her look ahead to next season and an overview of the rapidly changing college sports landscape. Then buckle up for a journey into the world of America’s fastest-growing sport, pickleball, with expert/ambassador and co-owner of the Las Vegas pro franchise Kaitlyn Kerr, a former Duke soccer All-American now known as the Pickleball Chick.

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On Saturday May 11, the Duke softball team and the Duke women’s track & field team claimed impressive Atlantic Coast Conference championships to culminate three days of intense tournament competition. Take an inside look at the two titles through the eyes of standout senior catcher Kelly Torres and sophomore double gold medalist Lauren Tolbert as their programs move on to NCAA postseason play. Plus we have a baseball bonus segment with one of the Blue Devils’ top hitters, AJ Gracia, who broke the Duke freshman home run record with a ninth inning blast at Georgia Tech on the same day, May. 11.

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This month we focus on two accomplished student-athletes — men’s lacrosse All-America faceoff specialist Jake Naso and women’s track standout heptathlete Brianna Smith. They have been selected as Duke’s male and female senior scholar-athletes of the year for 2023-24, and they are recipients of Weaver-James-Corrigan-Swofford ACC Postgraduate Scholarships. With the end of the spring semester at hand, graduation on tap and postseason competition on the immediate horizon, it’s the perfect time to get to know this special duo. Also, VP/AD Nina King stops in for another of her informative quarterly visits to 360.

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As the sports world focuses on this week’s basketball Final Fours in Arizona and Cleveland, we connect with a Blue Devil for whom this time of year is sacred. Hall of Famer Grant Hill began attending the Final Four with his dad when he was a youngster, played in three Final Fours for Duke and has been on the national television broadcast team for the event since 2015. Blue Devil 360 joins Hill and others in reflecting on the 30th anniversary of his senior season at Duke and a special Final Four trip to Charlotte that closed out his college career in April of 1994.

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In recognition of Black History Month, our leadoff guest is former Duke volleyball star and current associate head coach Kellie Catanach Johnson, who launched a Share The Mic campaign from the program’s Instagram account to help shine a light on HBCU volleyball. Also, we have one former and one current Duke baseball pitcher – 2020 alum Bryce Jarvis of the Arizona Diamondbacks and 2024 preseason All-America pick Fran Oschell. Women’s tennis coach Jamie Ashworth shares memories of his 28 seasons at Duke upon the occasion of having picked up his 600th career victory, plus our calls of the month and a special remembrance of Hall of Famer Lefty Driesell, a 1954 Duke grad.

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Duke vice president and director of athletics Nina King makes her quarterly appearance on 360 with an overview of the university’s Centennial Celebration that begins this week, along with several other topics in looking back at 2023 and ahead to 2024. Also featured is Duke’s director of student-athlete development

Dawn Kane to discuss a special trip to New York she arranged for Blue Devils looking to make career connections. Plus, heavyweight wrestler Connor Barket and our calls of the month from the December holiday season.

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During the overlap of so many seasons, we feature outgoing fifth-year senior DeWayne Carter from the football team, sophomore captain Tyrese Proctor of the basketball team, and two all-star goalkeepers. Senior Piper Hampsch was the ACC goalkeeper of the year in helping Duke field hockey reach the NCAA semifinals, while freshman Julian Eyestone of Duke men’s soccer was an All-ACC second team selection in goal for a Blue Devil team that spent much of the season ranked in the national top 10. Plus, our calls of the month.

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University vice president and director of athletics Nina King dives into football, field hockey, ACC expansion, contract extensions and more in her fall appearance on 360. Also senior captain Nick Pariano of the Duke men’s soccer team sets the stage for his team’s start to postseason play and former Blue Devil Kayla (McCoy) McKenna of Duke women’s soccer details her experiences with Jamaica at the FIFA Women’s World Cup last summer. Plus, calls of the month!

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