Time to tie up some loose ends.
I’ll start with Vanessa de Jesus, a 5-8 combo guard for Kara Lawson’s Duke women’s basketball team. A few weeks back I chronicled her summer-to-die-for. First she teamed up with Duke teammates Kennedy Brown, Reigan Richardson and Ashlon Jackson in a 3x3 tournament in Colorado. The Duke quartet didn’t win it all but they played well and presumably gained some valuable experience for the upcoming college season.
De Jesus was born and raised in California. But he parents are from the Philippines and de Jesus got her Filipino passport in time to represent that country in the Women’s Asia Cup played in Australia. She played well, averaging almost 13 points per game and seemed poised for a big senior season back in Durham.
But that magical summer fell apart when she injured a knee in practice at the beginning of August. She will miss the entire season.
“A short time ago, I suffered a knee injury during practice that will keep me out for the upcoming season,” she posted on Instagram. “It still feels unreal how things can change so suddenly. It has been hard to digest especially with what I thought this year would hold and all the work I’ve put into this point.”
She probably wasn’t going to start for Duke but she would have been a valuable rotation player, bringing energy, versatility and scoring off the bench. And she almost certainly would have been a co-captain, maybe even the sole captain for a young team that would have benefited from her leadership.
Counting the COVID year she actually has two more years of eligibility left. No word yet on whether she’ll use them.
Speaking of decisions Kevin Streelman came into Greensboro’s Wyndham Classic fresh off a second-place finish at the 3M Classic in Minnesota with a puncher’s chance of making up enough room to qualify for the FedEx Classic.
It did not happen. Streelman shot one under par through two rounds, missing the cut by a stroke. His season is over.
He still has his card for next year, should he choose to use it. But he only had two top-10 finishes this season; the other was a ninth place at the Charles Schwab Classic in May.
Streelman will be 45-years old in November. He has a degree from Duke and has made 27 million dollars on the pro tour. Unless he invested it all in Pac-12 futures he should be fine. And he’ll have plenty of time to decide his next move.
Alex Smalley also missed the cut in Greensboro but he’s safely in the post-season, which begins next week in Memphis.
On a brighter note former Blue Devil Celine Boutier captured the Scottish Open this week, a week after winning the Evian Classic, an LPGA major. It’s the third win of the season for the 29-year-old who might be poised for stardom.
I've been rootiong for Celine for a while now and it's great to see her reach the top of the LPGA rankings. Great article. Football news is not that far away.
GoDuke!