A lot of people have asked me my thoughts on this year’s Duke Basketball and how far I think they can go.
My normal answers is this: They are a good team with a great player and they potentially could make a Final Four run, but…
Its that but that has Duke fans and analysts a bit perplexed.
The Blue Devils are not a great team right now. They have an abundance of flaws, but a lot of that has been covered up by the standout play of freshman Jabari Parker who, if you hadn’t guessed, is that great player I mentioned.
This incarnation of the Blue Devils seems to truly fulfill the description that Mike Krzyzewski used back in 2010 when he said that his team was not all things for all people. That is fitting for this team. Overall they clearly have the talent to be one of the best teams in the country but are struggling in a few areas. They’ve played a challenging schedule and have only dropped two games to a couple of highly ranked teams early in the season. At 9-2 they are hardly a team you can over look, but still they have some issues.
The biggest flaw as far as I’ve seen is that this team hasn’t gelled in any aspect of the game. Defensively they are certainly not the kind of Duke team that most are accustomed to. Opposing teams have found the going far to easy. Part of that has been a lack of true interior presence and some of it has been an inconsistent perimeter defense.
Duke has struggled on the interior both defensively and offensively. The Blue Devils have no one in the regular rotation that is a big body with height. The tallest players in the lineup have been Parker and Rodney Hood and neither is taller than 6-foot-9. Both those guys are Duke’s top rebounders and it has been Parker that has often been playing in the paint on defense. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing or something that has hurt their output but with the way the game is being called this season, it puts both at risk of picking up lots of fouls.
Offensively Duke was expected to rely heavily on two players, Parker and Hood have done just that. Parker leads the team in scoring at 22 points per game while Hood is averaging 18.5 points per game. Behind those two, things begin to trail off. Quinn Cook who was expected to be the captain that steered the ship for the Blue Devils and at times he has been just that and more, has been good but not necessarily great.
Cook at times still makes some questionable decisions but has clearly been Duke’s third best option offensively. Beyond that, Duke has struggled to find a consistent fourth option. The Blue Devils were hoping that Amile Jefferson or Rasheed Sulaimon may be that option but it has been Andre Dawkins who has been Duke’s fourth best scoring option. This from a guy who many felt may not be a major contributor this year after sitting out all of last season.
It has been a pleasant feel-good story but the trouble with Dawkins being that fourth option is that he never has been the defensive stalwart that has traditionally earned playing time under Krzyzewski and that really hasn’t changed. Sulaimon would have been the more desirable option just from his ability to defend on the perimeter, but the sophomore’s season has epitomized the sophomore slump.
Sulaimon had a nice game against UCLA in Duke’s last outing but is that a sign of things to come or a flash in the pan? As for Jefferson he has shown flashes but has also gone stretches where he has been a non factor.
For a team that was supposed to be incredibly deep they have only played about 6 or 7 deep in most occasions. Despite not being projected as starters seniors, Tyler Thornton and Josh Hairston have earned a bulk of the minutes over guys likes freshman Matt Jones, who like Jefferson has shown flashes. Another freshman, Semi Ojeleye and sophomore Marshall Plumlee have scarcely scratched the ledger.
Many had hoped both could provide a body on the inside but as to date neither are playing more than 7 minutes on average per game. There was also hope that Alex Murphy would materialize as a major contributor, however, lack of playing time essentially drove the junior to transfer from Duke which he announced just a couple weeks ago.
The good news for Duke is there is still time for this team to come together and get better. Many feel that the second half against UCLA that saw the Blue Devils pull away could be the turning point, but will any momentum be lost from another long layoff (Duke doesn’t play again until December 28)?
Conference play will be daunting with new challenges with games coming up at Notre Dame, Pitt and Syracuse in addition to the normal fare of North Carolina. This is a team that perhaps hasn’t quite lived up to all the hype that it was given at the beginning of the season, but still has the time to realize just how good it can be.
Will they reach that level where they play as good as they can be? Time will tell.
