DUKE BLUE DEVILS
Record: 20-5 (8–4 Atlantic Coast Conference)AP ranking: 12NCAA RPI: 16Coach: Mike Krzyzewski, 37th season, 986-264 (.789)Best win: 86-78 over archrival North Carolina at DukeWorst loss: 84-82 to N.C. State at DukeBest stat: For all the conspiracy theorists out there who believe Duke gets all the breaks, despite launching 132 more 3-pointers than their opponents, the Blue Devils have hit almost as many free throws (430) as their opponents have attempted (457), which is rare for a perimeter-oriented team.Best player: For better or worse, Grayson Allen may be the most publicized Blue Devil, but it’s sophomore wing Luke Kennard who most makes Duke tough to beat, the Lethal Lefty putting up averages of 20 points and 5.1 rebounds a game while hitting 53 percent of his shots from the field, 46 percent of his triples and 85 percent from the foul line.Can be dancin’ in the desert if: Freshman post player Harry Giles continues to improve, fellow rookie Jayson Tatum keeps looking like a top-five NBA draft pick and Allen can keep his emotions from getting the best of him. If Kennard, Allen, Tatum, Giles and Amile Jefferson are all healthy and happy come March Madness, Duke is the best offensive team in the country.Prediction: Final FourCoachspeak: “They just have great depth. They have a lot of talented players, and you just try to hang in there and make them take tough shots.” – Clemson coach Brad Brownell after a 64-62 loss at Duke on Saturday
A few minutes after his team’s 86-78 victory over archrival North Carolina last week, Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski said of his confounding Blue Devils’ stellar performance against the Tar Heels:
“We have had a little more time to practice together. There aren’t the interruptions. We have had more interruptions than six teams. No excuses, just the way it is.”
More interruptions than six teams.
Or eight teams.
Or the other 350 Division I teams besides Duke.
It’s not just that the preseason No. 1 Dookies spent almost the entirety of their nonconference schedule without injured post players Harry Giles or Marques Bolden, who were among almost everyone’s top 10 incoming freshmen. Or that superb rookie wing Jayson Tatum – ranked No. 2 by most recruiting services to Giles’ No. 1 – missed the first eight games of the season due to injury. Or that senior forward Amile Jefferson, referred to in all of the school’s postgame quote sheets as “Duke graduate student Amile Jefferson,” missed two games with a sore foot.
However crippling those lost minutes were, they were nothing on the spotlight meter next to the one-game suspension of college hoops’ Public Enemy No. 1 – junior guard Grayson Allen – for his trip/kick of an Elon player, his third tripping incident in less than a year.
Then, of course, there was Krzyzewski’s back surgery, which forced him to miss seven Atlantic Coast Conference games, the Blue Devils going 4-3 under interim coach Jeff Capel in his absence.
But all of that now is behind Duke heading into Wednesday night’s game at Virginia, which will find the No. 12 Blue Devils (20-5, 8-4) shooting for their sixth straight victory overall and fourth in a row since Coach K returned to the sideline.
“They’re a tough matchup,” North Carolina coach Roy Williams said after last week’s loss. “They made seven out of 12 3s in the second half. We were running our offense 35 feet from the basket. Credit their defense for that.”
The trio of Allen, Tatum and sophomore guard Luke Kennard would be a tough matchup for NBA teams. Against the Tar Heels, Allen led the way with 25 points, Kennard added 20 (right on his team-leading average) and Tatum had 19, all of his in the second half.
“We all grew up tonight,” the lethal lefty Kennard said afterward. “We were all together; we were all tough and very unselfish.”
That has been the Duke way since the 70-year-old Krzyzewski (his birthday was Monday) arrived from West Point at the dawn of the 1980-81 season. Over the 36 completed seasons since, he’s won five national championships, which is the second most in NCAA Division I men’s history behind the late John Wooden’s 10 titles.
And this team figured to make as easy a run as is possible for his sixth crown when the season began, what with a stunning recruiting class joining gifted holdovers Allen, Kennard, Jefferson and Matt Jones. But then the injuries came not only to the players but their coach, and expectations were put on hold.
“Too much drama, too much uncertainty,” ESPN analyst Seth Greenberg said a couple of weeks ago regarding the Blue Devils. “No coach wants that.”
But with its full roster now available, Duke again is the team no coach wants to face the rest of the way.
Or as Tatum, who’s projected by DraftExpress to be a top-five pick in the NBA draft, said after the win over UNC: “It really just shows how dynamic our team is. Luke was great tonight; Matt was great; Frank (Jackson) was terrific tonight. That’s why our team is so great: When guys are in foul trouble or out, we have other guys that can step up.”
Certainly few teams step up to the foul line like the Dookies, who are hitting 75 percent of their free throws as a team, with Allen, Kennard and Tatum all easily north of 80 percent.
“They’re a hard team to guard because they have so many weapons,” Boston College coach Jim Christian said after a 93-82 loss at Duke last month. “Giles has definitely gotten better. Getting out in transition is huge, and keeping them off the backboard were keys. You have to score points to beat them, because they are an unbelievable offensive team.”
There still are questions. The Blue Devils followed up last week’s impressive victory against UNC with a 64-62 struggle over visiting Clemson. No one is sure if these Dookies will more closely mirror the team that crushed Georgia Tech 110-57 in early January or the squad that shockingly lost at home to North Carolina State in the same month.
“Continuity and preparation – we have more of that right now,” Krzyzewski said after the win over UNC.
If they have enough of it, the Blue Devils could still end the season where they started it – all alone at the top of college basketball.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.