Duke Basketball: Blue Devils need to give Luke Kennard the reigns

Duke basketball needs to allow Luke Kennard to be their go-to player and leader.

Duke is 18-5 and ranked 21st in the country. This is a major fall from grace for a team that was the resounding preseason number one team in the country and was talked about in the rare air of potentially going undefeated this season. The initial hype was overwhelming.

Related Story: Are the Blue Devils returning to elite status?

The season isn’t turning out as everyone had hoped and there are many things wrong with Duke, but we don’t need to delve into them all.

What we need to delve into is who should be the guy for Duke. With a team loaded with talent like Duke is, the responsibility of that go-to guy is a who’s who of potential NBA lottery talent.

Does that position fall upon one of Duke’s herald recruits? Does it fall upon the face of their program right now in Grayson Allen?

Duke Blue Devils Basketball

The short answer to all of these questions is, “no.” The freshmen are clearly not ready and Allen is just not the answer either. We could go over his mental state on the court and all of the extra curricular activities that he finds himself in. We could go over the fact that he isn’t putting up preseason POY numbers by any stretch of the imagination.

We don’t need to go over any of these things, though. And the reason is Luke Kennard. We don’t need to knock other players to appreciate how good Kennard is playing. It isn’t anyone’s fault. On virtually every other team Allen would, and should be the go-to player. On most other teams, one of Duke’s freshmen would be that go-to guy.

That’s how loaded Duke is, and that is also how good Kennard has played this year. We could focus on the fact that Kennard is averaging the most points on the team with 19.8 a game, while second places falls on both Allen and Tatum with 15.8 per game. We could mention how he is second in assists and third in rebounds. However, none of these stats would truly point out how good he has been.

Kennard is so fluid and his old school style of play makes him incredibly hard to guard. He shoots the three-point ball at an incredible 45.8 percent but his ability to slither into the lane and create shots using a repertoire of shot fakes and adjusting his pivot foot is lethal. See video below.

The guy is cold blooded when it matters, like when he did this against Wake Forest.

His ability to score when it matters goes beyond just Duke’s game versus Wake. In Duke’s six games this year versus ranked opponents, Kennard has come up big, averaging 21.8 points per game. You may be saying to yourself “well that’s not an insane amount of points.” And you would be correct, although it is still impressive. What is most impressive is that he is shooting 45-of-73 (61.6 percent) in those six contests.

The clear makings of someone who is considered “that guy” is someone who plays their best on the biggest stage. Kennard does just that, when the lights are brightest he plays his best basketball.

Next: Three takeaways from Purdue's road victory over Maryland

All of this backs up my point, Kennard needs to be that guy for Duke. It needs to be his team. He plays well when the lights are brightest and that’s what you want from your go-to guy. Kennard has been Duke’s best player all year and it’s time the Blue Devils give him the keys to the car.