Duke Basketball: 3 reasons why Blue Devils will miss 2021 NCAA Tournament
3. Duke’s freshmen class isn’t good enough to keep them top-10 good
The Blue Devils lose quality players each offseason. But they’re able to bring in quality freshmen that are capable of playing at an all-conference level. Yet despite having a six-man class ranked No. 3 overall, this group of freshmen just hasn’t provided the offense needed to win this season. Hurt and Moore (at times) are the lone returning key pieces, as Goldwire and Baker just aren’t offensive threats.
While recruiting rankings are never perfect, it’s important to note that this freshmen class had just one player ranked in the top-20 overall (Johnson), according to 247sportsComposite. The rest are between 23-54. There were three other guys listed as “five-stars” (Roach, Steward, and Williams) but they weren’t considered in the same category as the former one and done Blue Devil stars. In a way, players have mostly played up to their rankings, so I can’t really call any of them “busts” so far this season.
And that in itself exposes the major flaw that both Duke and Kentucky have in this era. Several five-star recruits are either going to the new G-League Elite Team or several other programs, while the underclassmen aren’t staying around long and going pro, even if they’re not fully ready. Without a Cade Cunningham or a Jalen Suggs, the players who joined Duke this offseason aren’t the elite stars that can come in a make a major impact on Day 1. And for most of the players who aren’t freshmen, there’s been a lack of development (such as Joey Baker) that leaves the bench as a weakness.
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Who knows how long this class will stay for the Blue Devils but one thing is certain, they aren’t ready for primetime overall. And for most programs, that’s okay. But for a program such as Duke Basketball that relies on freshmen to have an instant impact, the results are clear that it didn’t work this time around. Top-10 class of 2021 commits Paolo Banchero and AJ Griffin are coming but they will be tasked with starting a new NCAA Tournament streak.