Rush The Court

It’s always premature to form ironclad opinions based on a team’s first two games of the regular season, especially when the team in question is as young as Duke‘s 2015-16 squad. Throw in the fact that the competition the Blue Devils faced over the weekend was far from stellar, and we still have most of the same questions about Mike Krzyzewski’s current edition that we had before the season began. Nevertheless, here are some observations from Duke’s two home wins over the weekend, a 92-74 victory over Siena on Friday and a 113-75 demolition of Bryant on Saturday night.

There were two major questions for Duke coming into this season. First, could this year’s highly-touted freshmen class approach the spectacular success achieved by last year’s rookies? And secondly, were Duke’s four returnees capable of elevating their games after mostly exclusive use in the past as role players? To the first question, the newcomers played much better collectively against Bryant than they did in Friday’s opener. Krzyzewski spoke about the differences in their performances between the two games:

“I didn’t think they talked well last night. Part of that, I think it’s your first game at Duke, your first real game. For Brandon [Ingram], it’s his first start. I reminded them that it’s Grayson [Allen]’s first start last night too. It was Marshall [Plumlee]’s first start in two years. We have a lot of young guys. Grayson and Marshall [Plumlee] weren’t into themselves last night, they were trying to help everybody. When you’re young, sometimes your thoughts are just with you instead of talking. Tonight, they talked well. They were consumed with Duke. We saw that they played better. That’s just a learning process that they have to go through.”

Individually, Brandon Ingram scored 15 and 21 points, respectively, in the two games, and exhibited much better shot selection in his second college start on the way to making 4-of-6 threes (he was just 1-of-9 from deep in the opener). He also used his length well to act as a disruptive defensive force, with a combined four steals and three blocks over the two outings. Ingram was also often employed by Krzyzewski as a ball-handler from the top of the arc, a set that will make him even more of a match-up problem for most collegiate forwards.

Fellow newcomer Luke Kennard has looked relatively at ease so far, coming off the bench to average 10 points per game while making nine of his 17 field goals. Chase Jeter has played 27 minutes over the two contests and has been an active player inside, grabbing a total of nine rebounds (four on the offensive end). Though listed at 240 pounds, the young player does not have a very defined upper body and is likely to eventually struggle with more physically mature opponents as the competition improves. The last relevant Duke freshman is point guard Derryck Thornton, who is not currently a starter. Perhaps due to his late arrival — the other Duke freshmen were on campus in Durham for most of the summer — Thornton does not yet look totally comfortable on the floor. He has, however, shown spurts of impressive quickness, a trait that is otherwise largely missing from the Blue Devils’ perimeter attack.

One Duke player who looks very comfortable in his role is sophomore returnee Grayson Allen. Apparently he’s set on proving that his breakout performance at the Final Four was a sign of things to come, as he has scored 26 and 28 points in consecutive games out of the gate. There may be no player in the ACC better able to take advantage of officials’ emphasis on limiting contact on dribblers and drivers than Allen. He slashes aggressively, is a threat to finish at the rim (and then some) and is an excellent free throw shooter (17-of-18 makes in the two games). He appears well on his way to an All-ACC, if not All-America, campaign. The other veteran Blue Devils have shown expected if not marginal improvement as a group. Amile Jefferson has increased his productivity as a senior, averaging 15.0 points and 11.5 boards per game over the weekend, including a whopping 13 offensive rebounds. Senior center Marshall Plumlee is going to be strong on the boards but has limitations offensively. Finally, junior Matt Jones may be a bigger part of the Duke offense than previously thought — he scored in double figures in each of the two games, while hitting six of his 10 three-point efforts.

Given the makeup of Duke’s roster this season, the key to long-term success may be getting Thornton ready for conference play beginning in January. Without him on the floor, Krzyzewski’s perimeter lacks the necessary quickness required to compete with the elite guards in the ACC — guys like Marcus Paige, Demetrius Jackson, Cat Barber and Xavier Rathan-Mayes. Allen might also struggle to drive the lane so easily once he’s guarded by a higher caliber athlete. We will know more about the young Blue Devils this week as the quality of competition they will face takes a big leap. A meeting with Kentucky in the Champions Classic in Chicago occurs tonight before Duke travels to New York for two games in the 2k Classic later this week: games against VCU on Friday night followed by either Wisconsin or Georgetown on Sunday afternoon.