Duke Basketball: 3 takeaways from the Blue Devils’ 88-81 win over Michigan State

Duke looks to run a seven-man rotation

First off, win or lose it was the right decision to not put the star freshman back into the game. With so much of the season left to go through, there was no point in putting anyone at risk, especially a player as good as Bagley.

Bagley was still very impressive in the ten minutes he played, though. While he showed some of his raw offensive skills against legit post players at first, his overall athleticism still jumped out on the screen as he grabbed five offensive rebounds.

He also was a menace defensively, making life hard for Ward and Jackson down low. While the Spartan freshman Jackson may have been the big winner in terms of NBA hype, Bagley is still the top overall player in this class.

Games like this are always a true indicator of who coaches trust and who they don’t. For Duke, it’s not surprising that the early season primetime game featured the senior going for all 40 minutes, but only seven players played double-digit minutes, including Bagley before leaving.

Jordan Goldwire provided some good minutes on the guard line and is probably the best shooter outside of Trent/Allen. DeLaurier rebounded well and caused a number of turnovers and will likely be the first big off the bench this season. Marques Bolden and Antonio Vrankovic also played some, but if Bagley played the full game, those minutes would have been severely limited.

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Duke probably has a seven-man rotation this season but we’ve seen tonight what happens if an injury or cold shooting occurs. What if Allen gets in foul trouble or is off? Tonight’s game featured two of the top teams in the country and two favorites to cut down the nets in April. Both teams still have plenty of work to do in the next few months to be ready for that, though.