Coach K is making adjustments on both sides of the ball for Duke this season due to the change of strengths in his personnel.
- The Blue Devils will break down opponents with screens rather than the dribble. Duke has traditionally heavily emphasized penetration and kick-out passes to open 3-point shooters. But Nolan Smith is the team's only threat to penetrate, so Duke will rely on screening and will look for more post feeds. "We need to have more vision when we pass the ball," Krzyzewski said.
- Because it has size rather than quickness, Duke won't extend its defense or trap as much as in the past. There's been a lot of talk that the Blue Devils might play some zone defense, but the change will be obvious even when Duke is playing man to man. "You'll be able to see the zone principles in our man to man more," Krzyzewski said.
It's interesting to see how Krzyzewski is taking the screen from on the ball to away from the ball due to the lack of the quickness at point. One thing that this will do is require Jon Scheyer to protect the ball while waiting for the play to develop. With Scheyer's height this shouldn't be a problem, but Duke may struggle when Scheyer is not in the game or when he is playing off the ball.
Expect the pressure at moments defensively, but the zone principles are all about help defense and switching/hedging on the screen. With the athletic big men that Duke possesses, the emphasis for the Blue Devils is to attack the perimeter jumpshot and force the offense to choose between a long jumpshot and a potential blocked shot.
