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DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke packed its roster full of star freshmen. The Blue Devils already will be without one of them for a while.The presumptive Atlantic Coast Conference favorites wont have Harry Giles for a few weeks after he had his left knee scoped.Better to take care of cleaning up the scar tissue and loose bodies inside Giles knee now, coach Mike Krzyzewski said Tuesday, rather than allow it to linger through what could be a special season.Will we have all the talent available at the time you have the opportunity to win the championship? Krzyzewski said. Thats why were making sure that Harry is good right now. The championship is not going to be won in October and November. The championship we want to win is the national championship. ... I dont know how many programs have that (as a legitimate) goal. We do, so were going to try to conduct our season appropriately.The Blue Devils enter the season as one of the favorites to win their sixth national championship, and third since 2010, and Giles is a big -- though certainly not the only -- reason why.A centerpiece of whats considered one of the nations top recruiting classes, the 6-foot-10 Giles had an arthroscopy on his left knee earlier this week, his third procedure on one of his knees. He tore several ligaments in that knee three years ago, then tore the anterior cruciate ligament in the other knee last November and wound up missing his senior season in high school.This procedure was nowhere near as severe as the previous two -- team officials say the typical recovery time is six weeks, putting it close to the Nov. 11 season opener against Marist -- but it does create an early test of adversity for a team coming off a season defined by its struggles to replace a key player lost to injury.Duke was never the same team last season after high-energy forward Amile Jefferson broke his foot in December and eventually was lost for the season. Those Blue Devils essentially went with a six-man rotation, and their lack of depth helped lead to losses to Louisville, Notre Dame and, ultimately, Oregon in the West Regional semifinals.Depth doesnt seem like an issue on this team, which is full of five-star freshmen -- Jayson Tatum, Javin DeLaurier, Marques Bolden and Frank Jackson, in addition to Giles -- and talented returnees including third-team AP All-American Grayson Allen and Jefferson, who received a medical hardship waiver that allows him to play an extra season.Really talented -- maybe one of the most talented Duke teams here, Jefferson said.Indeed, these Blue Devils have options, and an abundance of them.They can use the 6-11 Bolden and the 6-10 DeLaurier inside. Or, they could go small with some combination of Jefferson, Allen, Tatum, Jackson, sophomore Luke Kennard or senior co-captain Matt Jones.We have to be careful that we dont try to do too many combinations and options, Krzyzewski said, so that, what are the best things we can do with the group? ... Id rather have it, instead of doing too many things, doing a number of things with people doing them from different positions. ... Itll take on different looks. Wholesale Fake Vans . Traditional contenders Brazil, Greece and Turkey drew the other three spots to complete the 24-team field for this summers tournament in Spain, basketball governing body FIBA announced Saturday at its meeting in Barcelona. Fake Vans Store . Once again Jordan Cieciwa (@FitCityJordan) and I (@LynchOnSports) go head to head in our picks. Last weekend at UFC Fight Night 32 my #TeamLynch got the best of #TeamJC by a score of 9-6. Let us know which side youre on for UFC 167 use the hashtag #TeamLynch or #TeamJC on Twitter. http://www.fakevans.com/ . World champions Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov of Russia won the gold medal with 237.71 points, Moore-Towers and Moscovitch followed at 208.45 and Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov of Russia were third at 187. Fake Vans SK8 . Pierce was ejected in the third quarter of Indianas 103-86 win Monday. George Hill stole a bad pass and was going in for a layup, and Pierce hustled back and appeared to be trying to wrap him up. Fake Vans Toy Story . The Montreal Canadiens announced on Friday that the veteran forward will return to the teams line-up on Saturday night when the Habs visit the Nashville Predators. SAN FRANCISCO -- Mark Melancon sat patiently as his name circulated in rumors leading up to the trade deadline.Ive been through it before, so I realize that until it happens its not a big deal, Melancon said. I just waited until I got the phone call.The call finally came on Saturday, and he was no longer the closer for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Instead, the All-Star was joining the NL East-leading Washington Nationals.By Sunday, Melancon had joined his new team for a game in San Francisco.A lot of different emotions going on just because Ive been with the Pirates for a while, said Melancon, who was in his fourth year with Pittsburgh. Its a little sad to leave those guys, but at the same time Im really excited to be here on a first-place club.Washington sent reliever Felipe Rivero and pitching prospect Taylor Hearn to the Pittsburgh Pirates to acquire Melancon, who supplants the struggling Jonathan Papelbon as Washingtons closer.Melancon exchanged text messages with Papelbon on Saturday while he was between flights.Papelbon is 2-4 with a 4.41 ERA and has allowed eight runs and seven hits in his past three outings.Hes been awesome about it, Melancon said. Its a tough situation, so I understand . Like he said, `were here to win a championship, whatever it takes.The deal reunites Melancon with his Team USA teammate Max Scherzer. He also works out with Anthony Rendon in the offseason.ddddddddddddThe 31-year-old right-hander goes from the fringe of the wild-card race to a team thats building a nice lead in its division.It gives you a nice little boost, I know that, Melancon said. For me it was really exciting. Whirlwind of a day yesterday, but Im here and everythings great.Melancon has converted 30 of 33 saves with a 1.51 ERA this season. He joins his fifth organization in eight years.He is making $9.65 million and is eligible for free agency after the World Series; as part of the swap, the Pirates will pay Washington $500,000 on Sept. 1.Melancon broke into the majors in 2009 with the Yankees, where he was considered a possible successor to Mariano Rivera. He also pitched for Houston, Boston and the Yankees.He credits the famed Yankees closer with helping him develop the cut fastball that he considers his best pitch.I got to watch that a lot from (Rivera), Melancon said. Just sit behind the plate, sit behind him pitching. Not only did I notice how important the cutter and the movement, when to throw it in and back door and all that stuff but just his location and how important that was. With him only having one pitch it meant a lot that he hit his spots, so I picked up a lot on those subtleties. ' ' '