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Next Up For Basketball: Bryant

Time: 8:00 pm || Venue: Cameron || TV: ESPN3

By JD King

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Marshall Plumlee gets geeked after drawing a foul vs. Siena.
Marshall Plumlee gets geeked after drawing a foul vs. Siena.
Mark Dolejs-USA TODAY Sports

Knowing what to expect from Bryant is next to impossible. Bryant has only been D-1 since 2008-09 and the Northeast Conference doesn't get a lot of visibility.

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However, after some truly dismal early seasons, Tim O' Shea has brought in three winning seasons in a row and last season the Bulldogs gave UConn a really tough game before falling by 13. And O' Shea clearly sees coming to Duke as a big positive for his still-young program:

"If we went down to LSU, the probability of trying to win there is probably the same at Duke. Where do you get your bang for your buck? You get it from Duke and it’s not even close," O’Shea told the Pawtucket Times. "For us, this has been tremendous because we’ve gotten attention for this game since last April and it continued throughout the summer and the fall. It’s a great way to energize the students at Bryant about Division I athletics, it really is."

Bryant's best talents are 6-6 junior Dan Garvin, who averaged 10.9 ppg and 7.9 rpg last year and senior point guard Shane McLaughlin, who racked up nearly five apg.

Last year Bryant had Dyami Starks as well, who led the Northeast Conference in scoring, but he's graduated.

For Duke, playing back-to-back games this early with such a young team is probably a godsend. Lots of things will be reinforced.

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