What can Duke basketball do with its bevy of backcourt ball handlers? ‘Play differently’
A year after being the nation’s tallest college basketball team, Duke is equipped to attack opponents from the other end of the spectrum this season.
While 7-1 center Dereck Lively and 6-7 forward Dariq Whitehead are gone to the NBA, the Blue Devils return two starting guards, and have added two highly regarded freshman guards joining the team.
“This year,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said, “we’re going to play differently.”
Senior Jeremy Roach and sophomore Tyrese Proctor started together last season, when Duke won the ACC championship while going 27-9. Jared McCain and Caleb Foster, rated as five-star recruits, arrived on campus this summer.
Yes, Duke has its leading scorer and rebounder, 7-foot sophomore Kyle Filipowski, back from last season. And 6-8 sophomore Mark Mitchell returns to help inside.
‘You win with great guards’
But Scheyer expects the Blue Devils’ ball-handlers to be as good as anyone.
“No matter what,’ Scheyer said during a Sept. 29 news conference, “you win with great guards. For our team, we have a lot of work to do, a lot of work we need to put in, but we have a great backcourt. I think that can compare with anybody in the country.”
To that end, Duke is working with three-guard sets this month in anticipation of its season-opening game Nov. 6 against Dartmouth.
At Wednesday’s practice, which was open to members of the public who made a donation to Duke Children’s Hospital, the 6-3 McCain joined Roach and Proctor working with Mitchell and graduate student center Ryan Young in five-on-five situations.
Another lineup had the 6-5 Foster on the court with McCain and the 6-5 Proctor as the three-man backcourt.
“We’ve just got different lineups we can go to,” Proctor said at the team’s media day on Sept. 29. “Like with me, Jared and Jeremy on the court, we know everyone’s comfortable bringing the ball up the court.”
Even Duke’s reserve group has 6-2 junior guard Jaylen Blakes, who played in 32 games with two starts last season, and 6-5 sophomore guard Jaden Schutt.
“We still need to figure out how to play together,” Scheyer said. “But all of them are unselfish. They know how to play. They’re tough. Our ability to shoot the ball is different than last year’s team. It’s a matter of learning what a great shot is, learning how to play together.”
Blue Devils plan to push the tempo
A year ago, the Blue Devils used their height to fuel their offense. Duke’s average height, 79.3 inches (6-foot-7), made it college basketball’s tallest team.
Duke scored 53.3% of its points on 2-point shots and another 18.3% on free throws. Duke showed prowess on offensive rebounds, too, grabbing 35.9% of its missed shots (ninth best in the nation) which led to more scoring chances.
Having two 7-footers in the lineup (Filipowski and Lively) played a major factor there.
Filipowski, after scoring 15.1 points and 8.9 rebounds per game last season, is certain to be a major part of Duke’s offense again. He had arthroscopic surgery on both hips last April. Though he didn’t participate in 5-on-5 situations during Wednesday’s practice at Cameron Indoor Stadium, he was on the court for other parts of practice and is expected to be ready for the season.
Still, Duke expects to get more production from its guards this season compared to what Roach (13.6 points) and Proctor (9.4 points) delivered last season.
The players fully expect it because they plan to push the tempo when they have possession.
“I think it’s gonna be good for offense, just not knowing who’s gonna push the ball,” Proctor said. “I think it’ll get teams in (defensive) transition all the time just with different matchups.”
Scheyer sees the Blue Devils running smoothly thanks to the bevy of ball-handlers.
“You need to have somebody in control of your team,” Scheyer said. “Tyrese and Jeremy have the experience they’ve had playing together. I think Jared and Caleb are very mature for their age. For their lack of experience at the college level, they make up for it with hard work and the way they’ve been coached up until now.”
