Filed under: Duke, Oregon, ACC, Pac-10
E.J. Singler gave his parents his blessing to go to Portland for Thanksgiving to spend the holiday with his brother Kyle and the Duke basketball team. His brother may be the All-American with all the college accolades and recognition, but E.J. has had more Thanksgiving dinners at home lately than his big brother.
Kyle and the top-ranked Blue Devils are in the Singlers' home state today for a long-planned and highly anticipated matchup against Oregon at the Rose Garden.
On paper this is a big mismatch, Duke the No. 1 team in the country facing a rebuilding Oregon team (4-1) that needed overtime to beat North Dakota State and lost to San Jose State at home. This is a huge test for a Ducks program that is currently playing in the shadow of its top-ranked football team and transitioning under the leadership of new head coach Dana Altman.
But that's not what this is about. The game is mostly tribute to Kyle Singler, one of the best players in the recent history of Oregon basketball, and one last chance for him to play near home before the end of his college career.
The occasion has been marked most publicly by a pair of billboards looming over downtown Portland featuring the tagline "Singler Minded" and showing the back of the brothers' jersey melded into a 50-50 split. The brothers did the photo shoot for the billboard back in the spring. And the anticipation has been building ever since.
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