Duke Basketball: 5 questions that will make or break the 2018-19 season

How successful with the freshmen be?

After bringing in one of the greatest recruiting classes of the one-and-done era, some might think it would be as simple as putting them out there and watching them ball. However, this is not always the case. There will be growing pains for Zion Williamson, R.J. Barrett, Tre Jones, Cam Reddish, and Joey Baker. It helps that the four five-star recruits all play different positions, so there won’t be issues getting them on the floor at the same time.

That being said, questions will have to be answered. Who will get the shots? How will the chemistry play out? When times get tough, who will the team turn to? These questions should be answered in due time, but there is a lot riding on these freshmen in terms of overall outcome.

These questions became an issue when Marvin Bagley reclassified and enrolled with Duke last season. He played extremely well, but he kept the ball out of the other players’ hands. This inevitably hurt some of their draft stock, as Trent Jr. fell out of the first round and Duval went undrafted. It will be interesting to see if that happens this year. I doubt it will, considering Zion Williamson specifically said he was playing for Duke to “join a brotherhood.”

If Duke plans on playing for a championship, these freshmen will have to play well together and become stars. If not, it’s going to be a long season in Durham.