NCAA Basketball: Duke’s problems, Big 12/SEC Challenge among key questions
2. What is the biggest issue with Duke right now?
Zinkula
Duke (5-5) is shooting 33.2% from three on the season (191st). The Blue Devils are 5-0 when they shoot at least 33.3% from downtown and 0-5 when they don’t hit this mark. When shots aren’t falling, the offense – only 337th in free throw rate – hasn’t been able to generate easy points at the line. Big picture, the freshmen have underperformed, and Matthew Hurt has been the team’s only consistent player. This isn’t a formula for success.
Tineo
Among the odd season that has been 2020-2021, there has been one lesson learned in College Basketball. It’s the worst season to be a young team. Kentucky is suffering from this and even North Carolina has been below expectations.
Duke is in that same boat, with no sense of rhythm or cohesion at times. The Blue Devils rank ninth in turnovers, 13th in free throws, and 13th in defensive rebounds within the conference. The lone consistent three-pointer has been Matthew Hurt and during stretches, has carried this team offensively.
The formula of adding elite recruits has not matched well, in a season dominated by experience. Duke is not playing together and not the normal blueblood we see on a yearly basis.
Brown
Well, off the court, Coach K doesn’t know how to handle losing. The first time was “We shouldn’t be playing basketball right now,” after losses to Michigan State and Illinois. Now I will say that his family was affected by COVID-19, later on, so I’ll give him some slack for that. Recently, he was flippant with a Duke student reporter on a Zoom call. It’s a good thing he apologized because that was unnecessary.
In the three losses to Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, and Louisville, defense has been the common denominator in their struggles. Justin Champagnie dominated them for 31 points, 14 assists, and five blocks. Against Virginia Tech and Louisville, they got off to slow starts and found themselves trying to claw back into the game. They need to get better at defending the paint and the midrange jumper.
If they start strong offensively and do better at defending critical areas of the floor moving forward, things should stabilize.
Heiser
A major issue with Duke that stands out to me is their lack of quality guard play. DJ Steward and Jeremy Roach are talented, but they can’t lead a team like Tre Jones, or shoot like Luke Kennard, or provide positional versatility like RJ Barrett. Their shooting is actually a pretty big problem at this point.
The Blue Devils have three guards playing 29-plus minutes per night, and the highest any of them are shooting from three is 32%. With Duke’s recruiting being what it is, they don’t lack for talent, but the guard play thus far has been pretty uninspiring and not at the level we’ve seen from Blue Devils of the recent past.
Zacher
Inconsistency. I feel so sorry for Matthew Hurt, and if you are a Duke fan, you honestly cannot ask for anything more from him. He is playing out of position, has reached double-digits in every single game this season after a lackluster freshman campaign, and is shooting insane clips of 57.0% (2PT) and 47.3% (3PT). He deserves all the credit in the world for being Duke’s consistent anchor.
It’s everything after Hurt that is ailing the Blue Devils. How are you supposed to operate not knowing what you are going to get game-to-game? Jalen Johnson had the game of his life at Pittsburgh with 24 points, 15 rebounds, seven assists, four blocks, and two steals – and then scores just nine points, committing six turnovers, and picks up four fouls as a starter who plays 20 minutes against Louisville.
The list goes on and on of those who have reached double-figures at some point this season but haven’t been able to do it consistently. DJ Steward, Jeremy Roach, Wendell Moore, Jordan Goldwire, Jaemyn Brakefield – that’s, with Johnson, six players. That’s just inexcusable – and nothing points to them fixing those issues anytime soon.