Duke Basketball: 3 takeaways from Blue Devils victory over Coppin State

Joey Baker Shouldn’t be Starting

This was something we knew before Saturday’s game, but it became increasingly obvious as the game went on. Although Baker did start, he played only 15 minutes while scoring only two points on 1-4 shooting, with four rebounds, an assist, and two turnovers.

Baker made three starts last season and we thought after those three he would no longer start, but that was clearly not the case. I’m not saying Baker shouldn’t get any playing time, but he certainly shouldn’t be in the starting five.

Personally, I think Baker should get anywhere from five to 10 minutes a game, but nothing more than that. With talented forwards on the team including Jalen Johnson, Wendell Moore, and Matthew Hurt, there simply aren’t enough minutes to go around, and all three of those players should get time before Baker does.

Baker simply hasn’t been impressive enough over the past two seasons, to deserve more than five to 10 minutes a game. He has shown flashes of being the player Duke fans had hoped he would be, but he hasn’t done it nearly consistently.

Unfortunately, the Joey Baker experiment has failed and if Coach K continues to start Baker, Duke will start losing games because of it.

That being said, here is what I believe the starting lineup and immediate bench players should look like:

• G: Jeremy Roach, Freshman
• G: DJ Steward, Freshman
• F: Jalen Johnson, Freshman
• F: Matthew Hurt, Sophomore
• F: Wendell Moore, Sophomore
• Bench: G, Jordan Goldwire, Senior
• Bench: C, Mark Williams, Freshman

Those seven should make up for a majority of the minutes with Patrick Tape, Jaemyn Brakefield, and Joey Baker getting a couple of minutes as well but no more than five to 10 each.

We are used to seeing a seven or eight-man rotation from Coach K’s teams, so this wouldn’t be out of the ordinary at all. I would expect to see a starting five that resembles the five I have above when the Blue Devils take on Michigan State on Tuesday.