Duke lost to Kansas 94-83 on Tuesday night in Chicago, its first loss in the annual Champions Classic. The game lived up to its hype, as did the individual matchup between Jabari Parker and Andrew Wiggins. We’ve all seen the highlights and stats, so I’m focusing on the big picture takeaways from the game for the Blue Devils. There were some really good silver linings in this loss but also a few issues that need to be addressed quickly. Let’s start with the rough stuff.
WHY I AM CURRENTLY PANICKING ABOUT THE SEASON
Everyone knew rebounding was going to be an issue this year, but this bad? Starting “center” Amile Jefferson upped his average to 1 rebound per game, and Duke lost 39-24 on the glass as a team. Last year there were times when it seemed like the only way Duke could get the ball back was to let the other team score or hope for a long miss, Devils fans may need to prepare for another year of that.
The best way to combat rebounding problems is to force turnovers, and before the season Duke seemed like a great team to do that. Thornton is a pest, Sulaimon is a great defender, and Cook is better at getting steals than one-on-one defense so he always gambles anyway. So far Duke has forced only ten turnovers in each of its first two games, not nearly enough to cancel out the rebounding difference. With the players on the roster, the problems on the boards might be inevitable, and there is something out of the teams control that may prevent it from creating a lot of turnovers: the new rules. Pressuring the ball up top may become nearly impossible with hand-checks being called after any contact. Thornton fouled out while Cook had 4 fouls against Kansas, mostly on hand-checks outside. Those two have to find a way (if possible) to get pressure on the perimeter without getting into foul trouble every game. If the new rules turn out to completely prevent our guards from playing close defense the team will have to find another way to get easy stops or else face giving up a lot of points.
WHY I AM NO LONGER PANICKING
Kansas has a lot of size up front and a tall wing in Wiggins, giving them the perfect formula to take advantage of Dukes tragic flaw. There aren’t many teams that can match up as well with both Parker and Hood. Early season losses mean almost nothing in college basketball, and our team needed to go through a game in which they weren’t making every shot. The offense scored 83 points and shot over 50 percent even though we were cold from outside and didn’t run much. Duke shot poorly, missed free throws, got killed on rebounds and still had the game neck-and-neck before a few costly late-game miscues. This type of game could be the worst-case scenario for this year’s team, and Davidson game was about as good as a team could play. Duke just needs to land somewhere in the middle of those performances to beat most teams in the country handily and compete with top-tier teams, a very comforting thought after last night’s loss.
