The Duke Blue Devils were college basketball’s concensus number one overall team in the preseason, and at the looks of things this ranking is not changing anytime soon. When a University has a reputation that Duke has and a coach as respected as Coach Krzyzewski recruits usually find you. This years Duke recruiting class was one of a kind. The players couldn’t be anymore different, from different backgrounds, to different styles of play, but when put together on a basketball court everything just seems to click. One player impaticular is Josh McRobers who many believe will enter the NBA Draft after this year. McRoberts was a high school All-American and likley could’ve been a first round draft pick had he elected to go to the NBA last year, but decided to give college a try and play under Coach K. McRoberts’ decesion has played dividends as he is experiencing growing pains at the college level. Originally McRoberts played with a sense of fear on the offensive side of the ball but with urging from senior leader’s J.J Redick and Shelden Williams McRoberts is playing to his true form and is now averaging 7 points a game. McRoberts is from a small town in Indiana called Carmel where he blossomed onto the national stage as a junior. He is 6-10 and has a strong mid range game but is working on becoming more physical down low.
Another highly touted freshmen was Greg Paulus a point guard from Syracuse New York. Paulus is 6-1 and is a very aggressive player on both sides of the ball. He was also highly regarded as a quarterback in High School but chose to play basketball at Duke. J.J Redick himself predicted Paulus to be the next “hated Dukie” following in the paths of Grant Hill, Shane Battier Jay Williams, Chris Duhon, and J.J Redick. Paulus is averaging 6 points a game to go along with four assists. Often times during a game Paulus will wow the fans with a spectacular pass, but then will commit and foolish turnover as he has 18 so far this season, but didn’t have one last night against Virginia Tech.
Martynas Pocius is the third leg of this freshmen class. Pocius is from a town called Vilnius in Lithuania he is a 6-4 guard with size and agility. Due to Duke’s depth at the guard position he is not getting the minutes he expected but should become a big time contributor come next season. Martynas is averaging a little less than 7 minutes a game but when he is in there he contributes on both sides of the ball.
His best game so far came against Drexel in which he scored 7 points in a career high 13 minutes, given the opportunity Martynas has the ability to develop into an exceptional ball player.
Jamal Boykins is a 6-7 forward from Los Angeles California. Boykins as well was a High School all american and was expected to have a much bigger role than given so far. Boykins has played in just three games playing a single minute in two of them but did score 4 points in his only extended action against Seton Hall. Boykin is expected to fill the huge void that will be left by the departure of Shelden Williams and the likely departure of Josh McRoberts.
The final leg of this freshmen class is Eric Boateng a 6-10 center from London England. He is following in Luol Deng’s path coming from London to play at Duke, the two even attended the same high school. Boateng is averaging just a little over 4 minutes a game, but proves to be a presence down low, often forcing wild shots by opposing big men. With both Boateng and Boykins gaining a year of experience next year’s Duke team will be just as fierce.
The freshmen are a big part of Duke’s early success but three of the major player’s on this Duke team are seniors J.J Redick, Shelden Williams and Sean Dockery. Redick is the nations top shooter and one of the few Duke standouts to remain all four years, Redick is dedicated to winning a national championship this year and will most likely accomplish this goal. Redick is averaging 22.7 points per game and over 35 minutes. He is a major part of Duke’s early success as they have enjoyed victories in all of their first seven games the only big scare coming last night against Virginia Tech.
This brings us to Duke’s scary potential. Last night Duke should’ve lost that game, they were outplayed by a decent Virginia Tech team. With Duke clinging to a one point lead Hokies guard Zabian Dowdell drove to the lane and missed a layup that was tipped in by Coleman Collins with 1.6 seconds left. At that point Coach K drew up a play for Shelden Williams, the play didn’t work out as planed but McRoberts threw a pass to senior Sean Dockery who chucked up a desperation heave that went in as time expired. “It felt real good leaving my hand,” Dockery said. “Not to sound cocky or anything, but I knew it had a chance. In practice, I’m never the one hitting those shots. I guess it makes me about 1-for-30 now,” said Dockery. This Duke team is a resilient bunch and has to be the favorite to win the National Title Game. Even if youth and inexperiences proves to be the flaw this year watch out for next year’s bunch which will most likely be headed by four very experienced, very talented Sopohmores.
7 replies on “Will Anyone Beat Duke?”
Do you mean..? Do you mean that Duke will go undefeated or that Duke won’t be beat in the battle for the National Championship? If they were already on the verge of a loss against a ‘decent’ VaTech team, then I’m sure they’ll amount a couple of losses when they play the better ACC, and non-conference teams.
That’s a nice breakdown of the talent you gave us. Apparently, Duke never rebuilds, they just reload.
Duke won’t stay #1 Duke is the most overrated #1 team in the past 10 years. Teams have figured out how to shut them down. They should already have a loss. They will lose atleast 7 games. Count ’em.
7 losses? naive This is a team that has had a target on its back, is starting two freshman, lost their third scorer and leading offensive rebounder, played two top ranked teams and still hasnt lost in the first 20 percent of their schedule. The reason they havent blown teams out is simple- they are a perimeter team that hasn’t shot well in a game yet. BUt make no mistake, this is a good team.
As a duke fan who has snuck into the student section three separate times (no i dont go there-im a new yorker), I fear this comment from yankee is nothing more than anti-evil empire syndrome- lots of people jump on dukes bandwagon so I’ll be different (which is ironic since the term was coined for yankee fans. Duke may not be playing well, but believe me- they won’t lose seven. This is a talented, gritty, and determined team. And if they can fix their defensive woes, they may not lose a game. This is the same duke team that beat UNC in the ACC tournament last year, on a neutral site- the last team to beat them.
This article disappointed me, however, since it was pretty much pulled from the SI feature on the devils. this is an original site and althought you can use other articles as a reference- don’t just recycyle their ideas as your own.
Source of Article This article wasn’t taken from any Sports Illustrated article, it was from ideas expressed by Dicky V. during the final Duke Game in the Maui Invitational. He brought up the depth and differences amongst the players.
Maryland Will beat Duke AGAIN!! — The terps will upset duke again this yer on their way to a mediocre season for them.
Well then, I apologize If im wrong, I sincerely apologize for the accusation. SI just did a spread regarding the exact same thing in their college preview issue two weeks ago. Maybe good old Dickie V is at vault then, if he didn’t credit SI- though I love him.
Good Old Dicky V Yea, maybe then Dicky V. is at fault. But im sure it’s a common thing said amongst basketball about Duke and how year in and year out they find a way to make it work.