Chris Johnson is an RTC columnist. He can be reached @ChrisDJohnsonn. 

The growing cause for a dismantling of the NCAA’s ruling structure is reaching a breaking point. The Ed O’Bannon lawsuit, filed in 2009 in the hope of ending the NCAA’s practice of securing lucrative media rights and video game contracts without compensating student-athletes, is gaining steam in advance of the seminal legal showdown expected to go on trial in early 2014. The government is making headway, too, as just last week California signed into law a Student-Athlete Bill of Rights for the Golden State’s four Pac-12 schools. These are legitimate challenges that threaten to destabilize the NCAA’s authoritative grip on collegiate athletics, along with the ideological underpinnings that justify its amateurism model. As the clamors for change grow louder and the NCAA is increasingly shoved under the national spotlight and parsed for its standards of handling academic and impermissible benefits scandals at different institutions, the argument will continue to hit home with strong-willed onlookers – like O’Bannon and his class action lawsuit. For the NCAA, it’s only going to get worse before it gets better. Until a reasonable resolution is reached, and its administrative wherewithal is reconciled with the slew of legal and ideological challenges it currently faces, the NCAA will have to weather a steady dose of overwhelming public disapproval and fear the distinct possibility of new sources arising to debunk its legitimacy. That’s a mouthful of high-brow legal nuance, but there is no easy way to frame the legitimate threats posed by NCAA’s growing opposition.

Even after leaving the program, Lin’s collaborative deal could strike fear into NCAA enforcement (Photo credit: Michael Dwyer/AP Photo).

The legal and value-based screeds against NCAA policy we’ve seen to this point have risen outside the organization’s ruling constructs. The actors that constitute college athletics (institutions, student-athletes) have not presented a challenge to the amateurism-based restrictions from which its authority is derived. Other than scandals and rule breaks which occur under the noses of various programs’ officials, the challenges have come from the outside – from ex-players like O’Bannon or ruling bodies like California’s state government. It would take an exceptionally defiant program to completely do away with NCAA protocol and remove the legislative shackles limiting their student-athletes’ financial potential. But if such a program existed, the one rogue institution with the will to formally challenge the NCAA and embrace whatever punitive consequences came its way, it probably wouldn’t be Harvard. After all, we’re talking about the universal gold standard of academic integrity, the embodiment of the student-athlete paradigm the NCAA so thoroughly promotes and enforces. Known for its halls of scholarly achievement and its unofficial status as the ultimate sovereign of higher education, Harvard is not the type of program you’d expect to strike up and co-opt a lucrative advertising deal with one of its former athletes. Yet that far-fetched muse could become reality.

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Ed. note – check back often as this post will be updated regularly…

How about those brackets?  If you’re like us, you’ve already figured a way that just about every team will both win and lose its first round game.   For example, Arizona has better talent than Utah, but which Wildcat team will show up – the one from mid-season or the one from the last three weeks?  Decisions, decisions…

To help you think more clearly about your bracket as well as to institute some fun into the analysis that you’re no doubt already obsessing over, we have put together a nice breakdown of each region for you.  We’ll give you the teams that are overseeded, underseeded, and are guaranteed to advance.  The best games to watch in the first round and in the later rounds.  The juiciest match-ups for purists and casual fans.  Some sleeper teams for both the Sweets and the Four.  Upsets.  Thanks to the RTC Region correspondents, basically, you name it, we’ve got it.

We will be doing Boom Goes the Dynamite! all weekend starting with Thursday’s games, as appropriate.  Since our manpower will be lower than usual, we’ll be relying on you guys to help us out in the comments as we move through the first 48 games.

We are also privileged to have RTC Live at the Philadelphia pod this weekend.  The games we will be covering are:

• #8 BYU vs. #9 Texas A&M – 12:30pm Thurs. 3/19

Here are the links for each QnD Region Analysis (+ correspondent), which will take you to another page on the site called 2009 Tourney Previews (which can also be accessed through the handy-dandy tab above):

• East (Dave Zeitlin and Steve Moore)
• South (Mike Lemaire)
• Midwest (Zach Hayes)
• West (Ryan ZumMallen)

We also have Game-by-Game Analysis for the entirety of the First Round…

• East (Thu. games and Fri. games)
  
• South
• Midwest
• West (Thu. games and Fri. games)
  

Here are some of our other features celebrating what we like to call, “Christmas in March“:

Mascot Death Match – First Round (vote for which mascot would win a battle to the death!)

• Thursday Games
• Friday Games
• Day 3
  

The Top 3 Sweetest NCAA Moments

• #1 – The ’79 Tourney – More than Just Magic & Larry
• #2 – The Open Road Leads to the Final Four
• #3 – Loved, Hated But Never Ignored
  

Behind the Lines – NCAA Tourney

• NCAA Tournament Day One
  

Some Hooponomics

• Why You Should Be Wary of Pitt
• Pythagorean Consistency
• Offensive Variation and A Short Word about Defense
  

Columnists

• Beware Bracket Advice! (John Stevens)
• It’s Christmas in March (Dave Zeitlin)
• NCAA Basketball 2009 – the BCS Version (nvr1983)

John Stevens from Las Vegas – coming soon…

… and more.

2009 Team Tourney Previews: We enlisted the help of our legion of correspondents and readers to put together previews for all 65 teams in order to give you the most insightful analysis you will find anywhere. We’ll be uploading previews over the next 24 hours so check back frequently.

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The 2020-21 Rush the Court awards and All-American selections are here. While five freshman have been selected to the All-American teams, they do not come from the usual suspects of Duke or Kentucky. In fact, the blueblood quartet of Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and North Carolina are without a single player being represented on any of this year’s three All-America teams. While there might be some surprises, the RTC Player of the Year is anything but, with two-time unanimous RTC First Team All-American Luka Garza winning the award. Gonzaga’s undefeated run to the Final Four lands two on the First Team and gives Mark Few the top spot in the coaching ranks.

Player of the Year: Luka Garza, Iowa

Coach of the Year: Mark Few, Gonzaga

First Team All-America

• Ayo Dosunmu, Junior, Illinois (Unanimous 1st-Team) – (20.1 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 5.3 APG, 38.6% 3PT) Ayo Dosunmu was the only player nationally to average at least 20/5/5 on the season and he did so while leading the Illini to the Big Ten Tournament championship. Dosunmu overcame a late-season injury to his face, but donned a mask and kept on producing. With the junior at the helm of the Illini attack, Illinois grabbed hold of a #1 seed for the first time since the 2004-05 season.
• Jalen Suggs, Freshman, Gonzaga – (14.0 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 4.5 APG, 50.2 FG%) Jalen Suggs thrust on the scene right from the start, beginning his college career with 24 points and eight assists in the season opener against Kansas. Several weeks later, Suggs poured in a season-high 27 points against Iowa. A threat on offense with the ball in his hand and a threat on defense at nearly all times with his excellent anticipation and quick hands, as exhibited in last night’s incredible late-game sequences in the Final Four.
• Cade Cunningham, Freshman, Oklahoma State (Unanimous 1st-Team) – (20.1 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 3.5 APG, 40% 3PT) The top ranked recruit in the country helped guide an Oklahoma State team that was unranked to begin the year into the Big 12 Championship Game and a spot ranked among the top 15 teams entering the NCAA Tournament. In a situation clouded with the unknown of an NCAA investigation, Cunningham stuck with his commitment to Oklahoma State and was able to get the Cowboys into the postseason. Cunningham was the definition of a “prime-time performer” as seen in his 40-point game on the road in Norman in a come from behind win over rival Oklahoma.
• Drew Timme, Sophomore, Gonzaga (19 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 65% FG) Timme finished his 2019-20 season by scoring 17 points off of the bench in Gonzaga’s WCC Championship Game win against Saint Mary’s. The terrific end to last season carried over into this season. Timme more than doubled his scoring output, while finishing with the second-best field-goal percentage among the 173 players who attempted 300 or more shots. The mustached magician took center stage in the Elite Eight with a dazzling and dominating performance against the defense of USC and Evan Mobley, scoring 23 points, grabbing five rebounds and dishing out four assists.
• Luka Garza, Senior, Iowa (Unanimous 1st-Team) (24.1 PPG, 8.7 RPG, 1.7 APG, 55.7% FG) A unanimous RTC 1st-Team All-American last season, Luka Garza again finds himself as a unanimous 1st-Team All-American. Garza began the year scoring 102 points in his first three games and finished the year averaging 23.3 over his final 10 games, including 36 on 14-of-20 shooting in the Hawkeyes NCAA Tournament loss.

Second Team All-America

• Jared Butler, Junior, Baylor (16.5 PPG, 4.8 APG, 40.4% 3PT, 2 STL/G) While COVID ended a tremendous Baylor season last year, Jared Butler returned and helped guide the Bears right back to their spot near the top of the rankings. The junior guard set career-best marks across the board. Butler was the only player in the Big 12 to average 15 points, 5 assists and 3 rebounds per conference game since the 2017-18 season.
• Corey Kispert, Senior, Gonzaga (18.9 PPG, 5 RPG, 45.3% 3PT) After averaging just 6.7 points per game as a freshman and 13.9 PPG as a junior, Kispert raised that to 18.9 per night in his senior year. Kispert’s shooting splits had 50/45/90 being discussed late into the season, a player who made three or more three-pointers in 17 games on the season. Kispert will leave Gonzaga having made the third-most three-pointers of any Bulldog since the start of the 2000-01 season.
• Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Sophomore, Villanova (15.7 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 2.2 APG) After finishing fifth on the team in scoring as a freshman, Robinson-Earl led the Wildcats this season. After the season-ending injury to teammate Collin Gillespie near the end of the season, Robinson-Earl responded by taking on an even bigger role in the Villanova offense. While Villanova was a popular team to pick against heading into the NCAA Tournament, Robinson-Earl averaged 20 points, 8.5 rebounds and six assists per game in Villanova’s first two tournament games.
• Kofi Cockburn, Sophomore, Illinois (17.7 PPG, 9.5 RPG, 65.4% FG) Kofi Cockburn was the only player in the nation to average north of 15 points and 7.5 rebounds per game while shooting at least 60 percent from the field. Cockburn’s size and strength led to 15 games with at least four offensive rebounds, which ranked fourth in the nation.
• Evan Mobley, Freshman, USC (16.4 PPG, 8.7 RPG, 2.9 BLK/G) Evan Mobley finished the season taking home the Pac-12 Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year awards. Mobley finished with multiple blocked shots in 27 games, the highest total in the nation. Mobley was the only player in the country to average 15 points, eight rebounds, and two blocks per game. He was the anchor to the USC defense which according to KenPom finished an adjusted defensive efficiency of 88.1, well below the team’s average of 99.5 in Andy Enfield’s first seven years with the Trojans.

Third Team All-America

• Davion Mitchell, Junior, Baylor (14 PPG, 5.3 APG, 2 STL/G, 45% 3PT) After shooting just 31% from beyond the arc during his first two years in college, Davion Mitchell knocked down 45% of his 131 attempts this season. In addition to being a terrific shooter, Mitchell took home Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year honors. Entering the Final Four, Mitchell has 18 games with at least two steals. In the team’s first 14 games of the season, Mitchell was averaging 11.5 points per game, whereas over the next 14 games, Mitchell was scoring 16.6 points per game.
• Quentin Grimes, Junior, Houston (18 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 41.2% 3PT, 99 3PM) Since returning to action in early February after missing a game against Our Lady of the Lake, Houston’s Quentin Grimes has averaged 20.2 points and 4.5 three-pointers per game. When Houston lost AAC Preseason Player of the Year Caleb Mills to the transfer portal, the Cougars turned even more to Grimes. After making 94 three-pointers in his first two collegiate seasons, Grimes is sitting at 99 heading into the Final Four. With one more make, he will become just the ninth Houston Cougar to eclipse 100 makes from deep since the 1992-93 season.
• Cameron Thomas, Freshman, LSU (23 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 88% FT) LSU’s Cameron Thomas finished the season leading the nation in freshman scoring and finishing fourth overall. In the NCAA Tournament, the he powered through top 20 defenses to score 57 points in two games. No one in the country had more 25 point outings than Thomas did with 16 instances.
• Hunter Dickinson, Freshman, Michigan (14.1 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 59.8% FG) The Big Ten Freshman Year of the Year burst onto the scene quickly averaging 18 points per game and 8.1 rebounds per game in his first 10 collegiate games. He quickly replaced the production left behind from Jon Teske and formed a dynamic front-court partnership with Franz Wagner.
• Cameron Krutwig, Senior, Loyola (Chicago) (15 PPG, 7 RPG, 3 APG, 57.4% FG) A four-year starter at Loyola (Chicago), Krutwig earned Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year award this season. A versatile player who scored in double-figures in all but three games, had 26 games with two or more assists, and 12 games with at least eight rebounds. In the Ramblers upset Second Round win over Illinois, Krutwig gave the Illini defense problems for 40 minutes, finishing the game with 19 points, 12 rebounds, and five asissts.

Honorable Mentions: Max Abmas (Oral Roberts), Charles Bassey (Western Kentucky, James Bouknight (Connecticut), Trayce Jackson Davis (Indiana), Herbert Jones (Alabama), Neemias Queta (Utah State), McKinley Wright (Colorado), Moses Wright (Georgia Tech)

Duke’s lofty preseason #1 ranking was largely based on the outstanding freshman class set to join Mike Krzyzewski’s squad this fall. But two games into the young season, three of those newcomers — Marques Bolden, Harry Giles and Jayson Tatum — are sidelined with various lower body ailments, with no scheduled return in sight. The short-handed Blue Devils managed to dominate two inferior teams over the weekend (94-49 over Marist; 96-61 versus Grand Canyon), but things won’t be nearly as easy in Tuesday night’s Champions Classic meeting with Kansas at Madison Square Garden or the Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off later this week. A Saturday matchup with Penn State will be followed by a Sunday meeting with either Rhode Island or Cincinnati — two Top 25 squads.

Three Potential NBA Lottery Picks are currently unavailable for Duke. (Juan Bermudez / The Chronicle)

In Saturday’s postgame press conference, Mike Krzyzewski said about his roster: “Right now, we have to be this team and we can’t think about who we could be. And our complete focus has to be how to win, right now, with this team. I can’t give you a time. I don’t anticipate [Bolden, Giles and Tatum] to play on Tuesday. They may not play the whole week. So we have to prepare the way we have our team right now with nine guys.” The remaining roster still has plenty of firepower, but it is not nearly as balanced with a clear focus on the perimeter. Preseason All-American Grayson Allen was going to be a major focus of the attack anyway, so logging big minutes and high possession numbers won’t be foreign to him. Likewise, Luke Kennard and Matt Jones are comfortable in their supporting roles — Kennard has a complete offensive game, while Jones gives the Blue Devils great versatility on defense. Coming off the bench is Frank Jackson — Duke’s remaining five-star freshman. Jackson had an impressive outing on Saturday (21 points in 25 minutes) and already looks more mature than his age. That’s a solid four-man rotation in the backcourt, but what about up front? Read the rest of this entry »

We are now fewer than five weeks away from opening night in college basketball, so it’s time to start our preseason coverage here at the ACC microsite. After a record-setting NCAA Tournament performance last March, many pundits have tabbed the ACC as even more competitive this year, with hopes of challenging the record for most NCAA Tournament bids in a single season (Big East, 11 bids, 2011). Over the next several weeks we will preview the fortunes of all 15 ACC schools by projecting how each squad will maximize its strengths and mitigate its weaknesses, and we will also be reporting from ACC Operation Basketball in Charlotte on October 26. But first, let’s catch up on several of the most important storylines in the ACC since Kris Jenkins’ buzzer-beater toppled North Carolina on Championship Monday night back in April.

ACC Commissioner John Swofford had a pair of major announcements during the offseason.
(Jeremy Brevard/USA TODAY Sports)

NCAA/ACC Take Stands

Perhaps the most interesting offseason news had more to do with politics than basketball. Ever since the North Carolina legislature passed the controversial HB2 law last March, the state has suffered backlash in the form of outside businesses and entertainers boycotting the state. It was only a matter of time before the NCAA and ACC followed suit. Both entities were probably holding out hope that state politicians would repeal the law before time necessitated action, but it appears that no changes are imminent. On September 12, as a result, the NCAA announced that it was removing all of its postseason events from North Carolina, including this season’s NCAA Tournament First and Second Round scheduled for Greensboro. The NCAA recently awarded that site to Greenville, South Carolina — the first time an NCAA Tournament will be held in the Palmetto State since 2002. South Carolina had previously been the state on the NCAA’s naughty list over its confederate flag flying on the capitol grounds in Columbia, but that ban was lifted last year after its removal. Just two days after the NCAA’s September announcement, ACC Commissioner John Swofford made his own statement that the ACC would also be moving its championship events out of North Carolina. The ACC Tournament was already set to begin a two-year run in Brooklyn this season, but future scheduled sites for the event include Greensboro and Charlotte. In the near-term, the NCAA’s stance is the most important. North Carolina has been a frequent spot for early round games over the years, providing a nice home court advantage for local ACC schools — most notably, Duke and North Carolina.

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What’s Trending is a column examining the week that was in college basketball social media. Griffin Wong (@griffwong90) is your weekly host.

Indiana Takes the Big Ten

With its win on Tuesday night at Iowa, Indiana secured the outright Big Ten Championship. After a troublesome 5-3 start to the season, head coach Tom Crean‘s future in Bloomington was questionable at best. A steady resurgence in the second half of the year led to a conference title. Crean deserves that water shower!

They were waiting for Tom Crean.

And they erupted when he entered the locker room

Congrats, again, @IndianaMBB! https://t.co/zidAv83j0E

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) March 2, 2016

What a year for @IndianaMBB to win outright title even after losing James Blackmon. Tom Crean coach of the year lock.

— Tom Dienhart (@BTNTomDienhart) March 2, 2016

Things Bleak For BC

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1. Syracuse.com: By now, most people know that Jim Boeheim skipped the postgame press conference after Syracuse wrapped up their 2014-15 season with a loss at North Carolina State on Saturday. Instead, the embattled coach sent out long time assistant Mike Hopkins to face the media rather than have to personally take questions in public for the first time since the NCAA announced their findings and punishments for the Syracuse program after a lengthy investigation. Most basketball media viewed Boeheim’s refusal to appear as cowardice, but this article claims that Syracuse’s administration told him not to attend. Perhaps they recognize that Boeheim has a tendency to be confrontational and defiant when faced with harsh questions about how his program is run, and sometimes says more than he should – like his initial reaction to the Bernie Fine situation.
2. Stateoftheu.com: If Miami can get past the winner of Wake Forest/Virginia Tech they would be a formidable match-up for third-seeded Notre Dame in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals. The Hurricanes and the Irish are similarly constructed as both are perimeter oriented offensively. So that game could come down to who makes the most 3-pointers, and don’t be surprised if that team is Miami, after they drilled 15-of-25 from deep against Virginia Tech in Saturday’s regular season finale. This article wonders if the Hurricanes are actually better off without injured point guard Angel Rodriguez, who has been in an icy shooting slump for quite a while. While it’s true that his replacement, Manu Lecomte is clearly the superior shooter, the Hurricanes probably still need Rodriguez’s defense and creativity to beat elite teams.
3. Fox Sports Carolinas: In this piece, Lauren Brownlow has a pretty good take on the current status of North Carolina State, as the Wolfpack head into Greensboro as a very dangerous 7-seed. As she points out, sophomore center BeeJay Anya is a big key to the Wolfpack’s success. When he is playing well – protecting the rim, grabbing offensive boards, and finishing alley-oops, N.C. State has shown they can compete with elite teams. When Anya is not as aggressive, or in foul trouble, the Wolfpack is more vulnerable in the paint to teams with good interior players. Another interesting factoid presented here is that Mark Gottfried and N.C. State have amassed an impressive 4-and-1 record this season in games against teams with active Hall-of-Fame coaches.
4. Louisville Courier-Journal: Probably the most surprising hero in college basketball this past weekend has to be Louisville‘s Mangok Mathiang, who knocked down the game-winning jumper to take out Virginia. Afterwards, Rick Pitino joked that “Mangok was the 64th option” on the play, but when the Cardinal’s Terry Rozier got trapped and passed him the ball, Mathiang calmly knocked in only his second field goal in the last month. Unlike the first meeting between the two teams – when Virginia only committed two turnovers – this time the Louisville pressure defense forced 13 Cavalier miscues. That defensive effort, and a big game from Montrezl Harrell were enough to send the Cardinals into postseason on a much higher note than seemed possible just two weeks ago, when Chris Jones was dismissed from the squad.
5. USA Today: It certainly has been the season of good will in what is widely acknowledged as the best rivalry in college basketball: Duke and North Carolina. First came the moving tribute to Dean Smith in the first match-up in Durham in mid-February, when the coaches/players locked arms and knelt together in a moment of silence. Then before Saturday’s rematch in Chapel Hill, Roy Williams and his team captains – Jackson Simmons and Marcus Paige – met Mike Krzyzewski at midcourt to honor him for becoming the first coach to reach 1000 career wins. In his postgame press conference, Krzyzewski discussed the uniqueness of the rivalry with the level of respect between the two programs. By comparison, think how laughable it is to imagine Nick Saban being honored by Auburn at Jordan-Hare Stadium, or Urban Meyer receiving a standing ovation at the Big House.

Saturday January 17 figures to be one of the best college basketball days of the season with five top-25 matchups including N0. 4 Duke and No. 6 Louisville at 12:00pm ET, No. 16 West Virginia and No. 20 Texas at 6:15pm ET, and No. 8 Utah and No. 10 Arizona at 7:00pm ET. The cherry on top, though, is the night cap which features N0. 9 Kansas traveling to Ames, Iowa to face off with No. 11 Iowa State. ESPN’s College GameDay will be at Hilton Coliseum for the 9:00pm ET tip. Hilton has been home to a series of intense clashes in the past few seasons including Elijah Johnson’s controversial charge call and game ending dunk as well as Joel Embiid’s breakout performance last year.

Iowa State will look for some Hilton Magic when it faces Kansas on Saturday (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Bill Self said Saturday’s matchup is “a game that deserves national attention” during his Thursday press conference, and GameDay ensures that the contest will receive its fair share despite the impressive slate of games scheduled. Fred Hoiberg agreed, calling it an opportunity to “showcase” the magic of Hilton Coliseum. The Cyclones will try to do just that as they host at least one recruit on Saturday. Travis Hines of the Ames Tribune reported via Twitter that 2016 recruit Amir Coffey will be in the building for an unofficial visit. Coffey, a 6-foot-6 shooting guard, is ranked 44th in the 2016 class, according to Rivals. The high school junior has chosen a good time to visit Ames, with Saturday’s contest having huge implications for the Big 12 title race.

Before the games played this week, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Iowa State shared nearly identical odds to win at least a share of the Big 12 title. Since then, Oklahoma got blown out at West Virginia and Iowa State fell to Baylor on Kenny Chery’s late jumper. Kansas now sits alone atop the Big 12 standings as the only remaining undefeated team in league play. Unfortunately, that doesn’t bring much clarity to the Big 12 title chase. Ken Pomeroy’s projections now predict three teams–Kansas, Iowa State, and West Virginia–to finish with identical 12-6 records in conference play.

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Saturday afternoon in Cameron Indoor Stadium, Boston College showed that while its first unit is capable of competing with the best teams in the ACC, the lack of productivity from its reserves may be too big of an issue to overcome. After a ho-hum first half where the Eagles entered the locker room down 16 points, Jim Christian’s team came storming out to trail Duke by just 10 seven minutes into the second stanza. The Eagles used all five starters to cut the lead to a manageable figure, but then fatigue and foul trouble forced Boston College to go to the bench. The outcome: Within four minutes, the Blue Devils had spurted to an insurmountable 24-point lead and ended up coasting the rest of the way to an 85-62 victory.

Olivier Hanlan played well against Duke but needs more help.
(Lance King/Getty Images)

In his postgame press conference, Christian commented that his team “needed to get energy from our bench in this game. I don’t think we did that.” He made a point to say that he wasn’t worried as much about bench points (a 17-point deficit), but more about getting effort and energy from the bench in areas such as rebounding and defense. Perhaps the player most affected by the Eagles’ lack of quality depth is star guard Olivier Hanlan, who led the way against Duke with 22 points and four assists in 37 minutes of action. As Christian said of his best player, “I wish we could get him a rest but unfortunately we don’t have another point guard.” Hanlan, described by Mike Krzyzewski as “a load to defend,” was effective in getting to the basket despite facing multiple fresh Blue Devil defenders throughout the game. But according to his coach, fatigue is hurting the junior All-ACC player’s contributions at the defensive end, and his challenge is to learn to “play through it.” Tired legs is also a major reason that Hanlan’s shooting percentages are down across the board this year.

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Sunday afternoon in Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski won the 990th game of his career, 93-73 over Army. This game was a matchup of the only two schools that Krzyzewski has coached, and he was proud of both of them afterwards. In the postgame press conference, the veteran coach heaped praise on the Black Knights, and talked about how impressed he is with the job Army’s coach Zach Spiker is doing at West Point, where Krzyzewski played in the 1960’s and coached for five years before coming to Duke in ’80. Army came in to the game undefeated (5-0) and hung with the Blue Devils well into the second half before freshmen Jahlil Okafor (21 points) and Tyus Jones (16 points, 10 assists, 0 turnovers) helped push the game out of reach. Duke has now won its first seven contests, all by 10 or more points, and along with the highly touted freshmen class, the improved Blue Devil defense has been the story so far.

Matt Jones (#13) and Amile Jefferson (#21) are part of an improved Blue Devil Defense.
(Grant Halverson/Getty Images North America)

Krzyzewski has long been lauded as a great defensive coach, and he has won many conference and national championships with stellar play on the defensive end, but that was not the case at all in 2013-14. Last year the Blue Devils ranked #116 in adjusted defensive efficiency, easily their worst finish since Ken Pomeroy started tracking the metric in 2002. There were many reasons cited for that weak performance: youth; not enough interior size; and a general lack of team toughness. Although they are still relatively young, Duke seems to have solved the size and toughness issue, at least so far. Last season, the problems surfaced early, giving us an indication that something was amiss with Duke on the defensive end. First there was the 94 points scored by Kansas in an 11-point Champions Classic Jayhawk win, and then even more troubling, Vermont hung 90 on the Blue Devils in a narrow one-point loss to Duke in Cameron. Duke went on to a fine 26-9 season but was plagued all year by having such an unreliable defense. Now after seven games in 2014-15 let’s look at how some of Duke’s defensive numbers compare to the first seven games from 2013-14 and with last season’s final stats:

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