As the Duke Blue Devils head into a stretch of three-straight road games, Coach K and company need to focus on establishing a go-to player off the bench.
In the 2017-18 season the Blue Devils’ offense has been stellar, and their defense has been ineffective. The defense will have to gel into its best form through trial by fire. Poor defense comes as a result of starting four freshmen, and it is the reason Coach K has used zone defense so much this year. Their man-to-man defense can get better over the year, but it is not likely to get much better.
Duke gave up 89 points in their loss to Boston College and 96 points in their loss to NC State. And despite holding Virginia to under 40 percent shooting, the Cavaliers trio of guards were able to make big plays late in the game to hand Duke the loss. Plays where the Blue Devils definitely needed to be applying more ball pressure.
As far as offense goes, Duke is the second best 3-point shooting team in the ACC per CBSSports.com . But they have had ice-cold shooting nights from 3-point range, especially against stingy defenses. There are better ways for Duke to mix up the offense, just like there are ways to improve the terrible defense.
One of those ways is searching for the perfect spark plug in the bench unit. Coach K is known for sticking with his starters-and why shouldn’t he with so many top prospects-but rather than dishing out spot minutes depending on the game, he should establish one clear sixth man to help this team find a true identity.