The Blue Devils: Duke is 4-4 so far this season in duals after going 1-4 at the Hoosier Duals on Nov. 24 and sweeping three opponents at the N.C. State Duals on Jan. 5. In their only team-scored tournament of the year, Duke took 21st place out of 29 teams at the prestigious Southern Scuffle on Dec. 29 and 30 in Greensboro, N.C. The Blue Devils will try to snap their 11-match ACC losing streak; their last conference win came on Feb. 18, 2005 against Virginia.
Duke's most dominating wrestler at any weight this year has been 184-pound redshirt sophomore captain John Barone, who won at Pembroke and Davidson and placed second at the East Stroudsburg Open on Nov. 17. He was named the ACC's wrestler of the week on Nov. 27. Barone's 11-second pin of Mike Walsh of Limestone College on Dec. 1 was the fastest fall in Duke history, breaking an 18-year-old school record. He is 24-3 with 10 falls and an 8-0 ledger in duals in 2007-08. Barone's 59-19 overall mark as a Blue Devil is good for ninth place on Duke's all-time winning percentage list with a .756 clip. With four more victories, Barone will crack the top 20 for career wins at Duke and is only 10 wins away from tying the single-season wins mark with 14 regular season matches to go and the ACC Tournament.
Another tough competitor is senior captain Kellan McKeon, who will represent Duke at 125 pounds on Wednesday night. McKeon is 19-8 this season with three falls and two top-four tournament finishes. He is 6-1 in dual meets.
Sophomore Voris Tejada will get the nod at 157 pounds. Tejada has placed in the top five in three of Duke's four tournaments this season and is off to a 22-9 mark overall and a 3-0 record in duals.
Junior captain Addison Nuding gets the call at 165 pounds. Nuding is 19-6 on the year with a second-place showing at Pembroke and a championship at Davidson under his belt. He is 6-2 in dual matches.
At the heavyweight division will be redshirt sophomore Wade Van Sickle, who has three top three finishes this season in tournament action. Van Sickle has posted a 21-7 record with four falls this year and is 7-1 in dual meets and 43-31 overall as a Blue Devil.
The Opponent: N.C. State is 4-5 this season and has yet to wrestle an ACC match. Four of the Wolfpack's five losses have come to teams from the Big Ten and Big 12, which are undeniably the nation's strongest conferences. Two of their losses--- Oklahoma and Iowa--- came against opponents ranked in the top 20.
N.C. State is the defending ACC Champion and returns four of their five ACC champions from last year. Leading the way is sophomore Darrion Caldwell at 149 pounds and junior Joe Caramanica at 141 pounds. Caldwell is 19-3 this season with 11 pins and is ranked ninth nationally. Caramanica holds the seventh spot in the nation and is 19-4 with three falls.
Most Recent Meeting: N.C. State avoided an upset in Raleigh on Jan. 10, 2007, as they defeated upstart Duke 26-15. The Blue Devils trailed only 16-15 going into the final two matches before the Wolfpack pulled away. Barone, redshirt junior Aaron Glover and redshirt junior captain Dan Tulley all picked up victories for Duke.
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