How Did Current Hawks Fare in March Madness?
By Dallin Duffy
Miles Plumlee – Duke
Miles was the first of three Plumlees to play for Duke University, and in each of his four seasons, the Blue Devils made the Tourney. In 2009, Miles’ freshman season ended with Duke claiming a two seed. They won two games, and Miles only appeared in their first round beatdown of 15-seed Binghamton.
In 2010 Duke was the #1 overall seed. Miles came off the bench in a sixth man role, but contributed enough to be considered a important part of the team. That team rattled off wins against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Cal, Purdue, Baylor and West Virginia before beating Gordon Hayward’s Butler team in the Championship game.
Their 2011 quest for a repeat got off to a good start with another 1 seed rank and wins against Hampton and Michigan. Although star point guard Kyrie Irving came back from injury to play in their next game versus Arizona, The Blue Devils lost 93-77. Plumlee scored just 2 points.
In his final season, Plumlee and company were a 2 seed, and were famously upset by an upstart, 15-seed Lehigh University team led by future Portland Trail Blazers star C.J. McCollum. In his final college game, Miles scored only 4 points in 27 minutes.
Plumlee’s Duke teams had great success in the tournament but Miles himself never really made much of an impact.