Category Archives: Duke Basketball

Duke Basketball

The Duke Offense is Coming Along

One of the concerns for this season's edition of Duke Basketball was where would the offense come from. Last year, it was clear that Duke was led by two of the NBA's top three draft picks in Zion Williamson and R.J. Barrett.

Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski while running an immensely successful program is quick to tell you that he handles each team differently. That means there is no preferred system from yeat to year.

At some point in the pre-season, the hall of fame coach will gather his assistant coaches and come up with a game plan for their rostered players.

It is obvious that this year's team does not have two alpha dogs which will lead the team in scoring. The plan this year is for Duke to get all of their rostered players prepared to score the ball.

So far, the aforementioned plan is working. Duke has only played three games but it has become clear that a different player could lead the team in scoring on a given night.

Matthew Hurt came off the bench for the first time to lead the team in scoring with a current career-high of 19 points in the win over Central Arkansas.

In the win over Colorado State, Cassius Stanley led the way with 19 points. And in the opening night win over Kansas Tre Jones led the way with 15 points. The sample size after three games points to early success in creating a new offense

The Blue Devils have had four, five and then six players in double-figure scoring during the 3-0 start. Surprisingly, to date, Duke has had little trouble finding points on the offensive end.

Krzyzewski said in the pre-season that he would play more players as well. Many scoffed at that comment in that he has in the past gotten down to a core group of players he trusts.

But many who did not believe what they were hearing had not covered some of the early years Krzyzewski coached Duke teams. And while playing time may lead to a shortened bench at crunch times in close games to come, it is clear that there is not enough separation by players to not continue to see Duke using more players than some are accustomed to seeing.

In a sense, this new trend will not allow for opponents to focus on any one player. And that is a positive as the team gets more accustomed to one another.

And if you have not figured it out by now, it is clear that Duke has no set starters past Tre Jones and that we will see a lot more combinations in the coming days before ACC play begins in earnest.

Duke is still very much a work in progress, but Krzyzewski focussed a lot of effort on his team's defense knowing the offense would come as the season progressed.

The defense has been good thus far and some of that comes from playing more players. It means, legs remain fresh and his players can go all out when playing. But more importantly, it allows for the offense to develop its identity.

While there is still plenty of work to do for this team to become all it can be, Krzyzewski has had a good start to his staff's vision. But make no mistake, there will be challenges and more adjustments along the way.

Duke is a very young team with some veterans helping the young guys along. With a win over Georgia State this Friday as the 2K Empire Classic continues, Duke will likely be the new number one rated team in the polls. That will open a whole new can of worms and teaching opportunities for the staff in how to handle the hype which comes with the honor.

Duke Basketball

Duke Rolls Past Central Arkansas

The Duke Blue Devils moved to 3-0 on the season with a 105-54 victory over Central Arkansas in the opening game of the 201 2K Empire Classic.

Duke jumped out to a 21-5 lead at the 12:40 mark of the first half where Duke freshman Matthew Hurt drained two three points to help lead the surge. Hurt ended the game with a career-high 19 points.

That lead grew after the Bears called a timeout to 25-5 as the Duke defense suffocated their opponent to 18% from the field at that point. It would not get much better for Central Arkansas which fell to 1-3 on the season.

By the half, Duke on a near-perfect display of basketball where they took a 57-20 lead.

Duke point guard Tre Jones took a hard fall at the 7:57 mark and went to the Duke bench with just over seven minutes left in the half and did not return. Jones posted 7 points and 2 assists and sat due to the lopsided Duke lead and precaution.

After the game, Krzyzewski said Jones was joking about and should be ready to go for Friday's game.

The Blue Devils came out a tad sluggish in the second half and one could see Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski yell, "Come on," to try and keep his team's intensity up. In fact, a timeout was called where the hall of fame coach showed his team how they were running up and down the court in an attention-getting manner.

Duke was up 67-30 when that happened and it was clear that Krzyzewski was looking for intensity while teaching a young team how to close games out.

Cassius Stanley continued his torrid play early in the season scoring the next 5 points. Stanley would finish the game with 13 points.

Duke was so dominant in the first half it was hard to keep the intensity going. But the Blue Devils responded to Krzyzewski encouraging them to close the game out which led to the 51 point win.

Vernon Carey recorded his first double-double in a Duke uniform with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Duke placed six players in double figures and held their opponent to 36% shooting. The Blue Devils also 14 steals and 26 points off turnovers.

Duke will return to the court for a 7:00 tip off with Georgia State this Friday. A Duke win would likely lead to another #1 ranking with the Kentucky loss earlier in the evening to Evansville.

Duke Basketball

Cassius Stanley Can Ball

Perhaps the number given to Cassius Stanley's was a hint that he could play. The California freshman who led Duke in scoring with 19 points against Colorado State dons number two for the Blue Devils.

A quick look at Blue Devils past shows that some good players have worn #2 over the years. A season ago the number belonged to Cam Reddish and Gary Trent Jr. before that. You can trace the number back to two national champions in Quinn Cook and Nolan Smith as well.

Whether the number assigned to Stanley has anything to do with his ability or not, after just two games he's shown he is more than capable of handling a starting nod on the 2019-20 Blue Devils.

The Los Angeles native has had immediate success on the court this season. Stanley was wonderfully efficient in the Duke win over Colorado State. The self-proclaimed LeBron James and Lakers fan, went 8-11 from the field for his 19 points,

But Stanley is more than just instant offense. A quick look at the box score shows he grabbed a team-high 7 rebounds and added a blocked shot for good measure in 25 minutes of play.

His play was noticed by Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski who lauded his newcomer during his post game press conference. The long-time Duke leader called Stanley's two opening games outstanding -- high praise indeed.

Duke won a defensive slug-fest against Kansas and Stanley scored 13 points in that game on 5 of 6 shooting. He also played 30 minutes, the second-most on the team.

You can already see that Krzyzewski wants Stanley on the court. And the reason for that is his efficiency. One of the most telling stats was the fact Stanley committed 4 turnovers against Kansas only to cut that down to zero in the win over the Rams.

Stanley has the potential to be a solid on-ball defender as well. He gets his hands on the ball and has stayed with his man in the 2-0 Duke start to the season.

It's also clear that Stanley likes to run the court and his two baskets against Kansas on the break were game-changing. Despite the early success, Stanley is still learning the Duke system and getting better as a player.

We have yet to see the finished product with concern to Stanley. But it is clear that he will play a vital roll on this year's team. The one thing which is evident early on is that Cassius Stanley can ball. And that is great news for this year's Duke team.

Duke Basketball

Vernon Carey, Tre Jones on Wooden POY Watch List

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (November 5, 2019) – The John R. Wooden Award® presented by Wendy’s® announced its Preseason Top 50 Watch List today on ESPN’s SportsCenter and on ESPN.com. Chosen by a preseason poll of national college basketball experts, the list is comprised of 50 student-athletes who are the early front-runners for the most prestigious honors in college basketball, the Wooden Award All American Team™ and Most Outstanding Player Award.

Several universities boast multiple players on the list: Florida (Kerry Blackshear Jr., Scottie Lewis, and Andwew Nembhard) leads all schools with three selections, while Davidson (Kellan Grady and Jon Axel Gudmundsson), Duke (Vernon Carey Jr. and Tre Jones), Kansas (Udoka Azubuike and Devon Dotson), Kentucky (Ashton Hagans and Tyrese Maxey), Maryland (Anthony Cowan Jr. and Jalen Smith), Memphis (Precious Achiuwa and James Wiseman), Utah State (Sam Merrill and Neemias Queta), and Washington (Jaden McDaniels and Isaiah Stewart) each have two selections on the Preseason Top 50.

Of the 50 players on the preseason list, 34 are upperclassmen, including 22 seniors. The recent trend of recognizing outstanding freshmen continues with ten named to the list: Memphis’ Achiuwa and Wiseman, North Carolina’s Cole Anthony, Duke’s Carey Jr, Georgia’s Anthony Edwards, Florida’s Lewis, Airzona’s Nico Mannion, Kentucky’s Maxey, and Washington’s McDaniels and Stewart.

The Preseason Top 50 list represents 12 conferences. The Pac-12 leads all conferences with 8 selections, followed by the Big East and SEC with seven apiece, the Big Ten with six, the ACC with five, the Big 12 with four, the American and WCC with three apiece, the A-10 and Mountain West with two each, and the America East, Conference USA, and Horizon League with one selection apiece.

The players on the list are considered strong candidates for the 2020 John R. Wooden Award Men’s Player of the Year presented by Wendy’s. Players not chosen to the preseason list are still eligible for the Wooden Award™ midseason list, late season list, and the National Ballot. The National Ballot consists of 15 top players who have proven to their universities that they meet or exceed the qualifications of the Wooden Award. Nearly 1,000 voters will rank in order 10 of those 15 players when voting opens prior to the NCAA Tournament and will allow voters to take into consideration performance during early round games. The Wooden Award All American Team™ will be announced the week of the “Elite Eight” round of the NCAA Tournament. The winner of the 2020 John R. Wooden Award will be presented by Wendy’s during the ESPN College Basketball Awards on Friday, April 10, 2020

About the John R. Wooden Award

Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award Program hosts the most prestigious honors in college basketball recognizing The Wooden Award Most Outstanding Player for men and women, The Wooden Award All American Teams for men and women and the annual selection of the Wooden Award Legend of Coaching recipient. Honorees have proven to their university that they meet or exceed the qualifications of the John R. Wooden Award as set forth by Coach Wooden and the Wooden Award Steering Committee, including making progress towards graduation and maintaining at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA. Previous winners include Larry Bird (’79), Michael Jordan (’84), Tim Duncan (’97), Kevin Durant (’07), Candace Parker (’07; ’08), Maya Moore (’09; ’11), Chiney Ogwumike (’14), and last year’s recipients, Sabrina Ionescu of Oregon and Zion Williamson of Duke.

Since its inception, the John R. Wooden Award has contributed nearly one million dollars to the universities’ general scholarship fund in the names of the Wooden Award All American recipients and has sent more than 1,000 underprivileged children to week-long college basketball camps. Additionally, the John R. Wooden Award partners with the Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC) each year to host the Wooden Award Special Olympics Southern California Basketball Tournament. The day-long tournament brings together Special Olympics athletes and Wooden Award All Americans and coaches in attendance. It is hosted at the Los Angeles Athletic Club during the John R. Wooden Award Weekend.

For up-to-date information on the Wooden Award, please go to www.woodenaward.com and follow the Wooden Award on Facebook at www.facebook.com/woodenaward and @WoodenAward on Twitter and Instagram.

Duke Basketball

Duke-Kansas Thoughts

The Duke Blue Devils open their 2019-20 season against the Kansas Jayhawks in just a few hours. No matter the result, it would be wise not to read too much into the outcome.

While Duke would certainly like to come away 1-0 after the dust clears, they may well be outmatched this early in the season. The reason being that Kansas has experience while Duke is still figuring out their rotation.

Duke has not had preseason separation from some players on the roster which means, that yes, Duke will play more bodies than fans are accustomed to seeing.

It will not take long to become obvious that there are no alpha dogs like Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett on the team. It's not a stretch to imagine five to six different players leading the team in scoring on a given night this season.

The Blue Devils will be tested in the paint where Kansas is large and loaded. The team will not face a better frontcourt, so all eyes will be on how the team rebounds.

Unlike the exhibition games where Duke could easily get the ball after missed shots, this game will put game pressure on shooters to be accurate and wise with their shot selection for rebounds will be earned.

What we will see is some ball pressure where Duke will hope to disrupt the Jayhawks from getting the ball in the paint to their big men.

In short, the Duke freshman while good, will see top-level college basketball in their first outing. The test will be a good barometer for Mike Krzyzewski and his staff to teach via film study as the season moves forward.

The one way Duke can come away with an early-season resume-building win is to play scrappy. The Kansas guards have a lot of size as does their team, so using quickness to your advantage and pushing the ball if you can rebound will help.

There are so many unknown factors that will come into play. Can Duke knock down free throws? Will they be able to hit some three-pointers with the extended length of the stripe that comes into play this season?

The questions are plentiful and also include how will this team handle adversity and many other aspects of the game. But no matter the result make no mistake that the Duke Basketball finished product come March will look nothing like what we may see this evening.

It was surprising to me to see that Duke is the slight favorite in this game. Kansas has fewer questions than most of the nation's top-ranked teams and they have solid depth.

When you come to Duke, you have to expect the four letters on your chest creating huge expectations. And that is when the pressure begins, for not long from now, the whole nation will be watching two college basketball heavyweights to battle to start the season at the Champions Classic.

The questions of what may happen are plentiful, but some answers will not come right away. That is a reason to put a win or loss in proper perspective for titles are not won in early November.

Duke Basketball, Duke Basketball Recruiting News

Mark Williams Joins Duke Brotherhood

Duke added their sixth commitment to their 2020 recruiting class when Mark Williams of IMG Academy picked Duke over Michigan and UCLA.

Willams started his summer off as a top 50 player but his stellar play helped him ascend in the rankings where he is now seen as a top 30 prospect. The Virginia native transferred to IMG Academy after his Nike EYBL season where he played for Boo Williams.

Duke was n desperate need for frontcourt help before William's commitment. The Blue Devils offer immediate playing time with the expected losses of seniors Javin DeLauraer and Jack White and the likelihood that Matthew Hurt and Vernon Carey will enter the NBA Draft.

Williams is familiar with the Duke campus in that his sister, Elizabeth, had her jersey retired after a stellar career with the Duke women's program.

The Blue Devil to be cut a long list of schools down to three in early September and Duke was on the list. The Blue Devils offered Williams in late April and remained very active from him since that time.

Willams will join one of the nation's top recruiting classes. That class includes DJ Steward, Jaemyn Brakefield, Jalen Johnson, Jeremy Roach, and Henry Coleman.

Many of the aforementioned in-coming players were active in recruiting Williams. He most recently visited Duke for his official visit during Countdown for Craziness with IMG Academy teammate Jalen Johnson.

Blue Devil Nation members long knew Williams was a Duke lean but the process needed to play out. Duke still wants and needs another big man in this class and they currently have an offer out to Hunter Dickinson.