My initial thoughts after the 3 Day Canada tour...
**Considering Duke was without its starting PG and SF...as well its 6th man first guard off the bench AOC. Those 3 should and will be in Late in games to close it out. They might be the 3 best FTs shooters so going with the "death lineup" late with Tre/Alex/RJ/Cam/Zion. This team is going to shoot A LOT of FTs this season. Hopefully its not too frustrating, especially late in games you want the ball in the right shooters hands late. Love having vets where you knew they were cash from the line late to close it out (Recent years: Jon/Nolan/Cook/Jones. I'm confident this team will be fine when winning time matters. RJ is not a great FT shooter right now, maybe not even a good one but he will make them when it matters-similar to Winslow 2015. Hopefully all 3 of the big time FR can shoot close to 70% from the line.
Bolden has to show more and fast...UK is coming and if he doesnt show more intensity/want hes going to get yanked quick for Jav who might of already jumped Ques for the starting C spot. Some of said Jav is too small to play C but hes still 6'10 235 with his energy and athleticism. Him paired with the big 3 Freshmen and Tre running things would bring a lot of versatility.
Jav has proven over his time at Duke however to be very foul prone so we will need Bolden to bring what he can to the table at the 5 with his size to help in anchoring the defense/rebounding on both sides of the ball/finishing strong. If Jav has one of those 2-3 fouls in 3-4 mins games and Bolden in the same night, looks like he did in Canada big Vrank will be waiting in the wing ready to bring energy and do his damn job rebounding/playing D the best he can in small spurts.
RJ/Zion they both seem like the real deal..both are vreally good athletes (obviously Zion is on another level) good passers/ball handlers and great finishers at the rim. They will both be really fun to watch this season, cant wait for the matchup against UK and see which Stars show out the most (not even mentioning Cam). Zion will be especially exciting, the competition was what it was but I was very impressed with Zions shiftiness and basketball awareness-these kids RJ/Zion arent just great athletes, they actually understand the game extremely well already at such a young age; most players dont ever even develop that part of the game overtime. I'll be curious to see how this team develops its defense. ALL 4 of the freshmen have a chance to be pretty good defenders when hey start playing more together and talking like Zion mentioned post game. Will be interesting to watch K mix and match the defense with Man to man and Zone with RJ at the top. When this team gets a stop LOOK OUT in transition!!
Loved what I saw from Jack White....dude lit up every single shooting drill and got 1st place shooting like damn near 87% on 3s and FTs combined earlier this year. Hes tough/strong/good rebounder/ everything you want in a teammate and can knock down the open 3 and as a JR now is ready to take those 3s. Alex will and should be the first guard off the bench but Jack will be right there behind him ready to sub in for one of the wings.
JGold: Thought he played pretty well and is definitely improving. He could earn some spot mins backing Tre up if the hip lingers for 10 mins a night here and there. Plays hard always/tough smart defender/ can hit the open 3. But Duke is deep and Coach K might just roll with RJ or Cam handling the ball while Jones rests.
Baker: Kid has a smooth J and a really smart player...very rarely forces anything. He had 11 pts one game and was the 3rd leading scorer. Dude can play. He would get a ton of open 3s playing with this team when all the focus would be elsewhere. Just have no idea how he could ever see the floor this year unless there are multiple continuous injuries. But I think if he got the time he could definitely hit some shots for Duke, the trouble would come on the other side of the ball. I dont think he redshirts
Bottom line: Duke will be super young but they have a nice blend of returning guys and coach K will have some very versatile talented dudes to run out there together. CANT WAIT!!!! BRING ON UK!!!!!
**Considering Duke was without its starting PG and SF...as well its 6th man first guard off the bench AOC. Those 3 should and will be in Late in games to close it out. They might be the 3 best FTs shooters so going with the "death lineup" late with Tre/Alex/RJ/Cam/Zion. This team is going to shoot A LOT of FTs this season. Hopefully its not too frustrating, especially late in games you want the ball in the right shooters hands late. Love having vets where you knew they were cash from the line late to close it out (Recent years: Jon/Nolan/Cook/Jones. I'm confident this team will be fine when winning time matters. RJ is not a great FT shooter right now, maybe not even a good one but he will make them when it matters-similar to Winslow 2015. Hopefully all 3 of the big time FR can shoot close to 70% from the line.
Bolden has to show more and fast...UK is coming and if he doesnt show more intensity/want hes going to get yanked quick for Jav who might of already jumped Ques for the starting C spot. Some of said Jav is too small to play C but hes still 6'10 235 with his energy and athleticism. Him paired with the big 3 Freshmen and Tre running things would bring a lot of versatility.
Jav has proven over his time at Duke however to be very foul prone so we will need Bolden to bring what he can to the table at the 5 with his size to help in anchoring the defense/rebounding on both sides of the ball/finishing strong. If Jav has one of those 2-3 fouls in 3-4 mins games and Bolden in the same night, looks like he did in Canada big Vrank will be waiting in the wing ready to bring energy and do his damn job rebounding/playing D the best he can in small spurts.
RJ/Zion they both seem like the real deal..both are vreally good athletes (obviously Zion is on another level) good passers/ball handlers and great finishers at the rim. They will both be really fun to watch this season, cant wait for the matchup against UK and see which Stars show out the most (not even mentioning Cam). Zion will be especially exciting, the competition was what it was but I was very impressed with Zions shiftiness and basketball awareness-these kids RJ/Zion arent just great athletes, they actually understand the game extremely well already at such a young age; most players dont ever even develop that part of the game overtime. I'll be curious to see how this team develops its defense. ALL 4 of the freshmen have a chance to be pretty good defenders when hey start playing more together and talking like Zion mentioned post game. Will be interesting to watch K mix and match the defense with Man to man and Zone with RJ at the top. When this team gets a stop LOOK OUT in transition!!
Loved what I saw from Jack White....dude lit up every single shooting drill and got 1st place shooting like damn near 87% on 3s and FTs combined earlier this year. Hes tough/strong/good rebounder/ everything you want in a teammate and can knock down the open 3 and as a JR now is ready to take those 3s. Alex will and should be the first guard off the bench but Jack will be right there behind him ready to sub in for one of the wings.
JGold: Thought he played pretty well and is definitely improving. He could earn some spot mins backing Tre up if the hip lingers for 10 mins a night here and there. Plays hard always/tough smart defender/ can hit the open 3. But Duke is deep and Coach K might just roll with RJ or Cam handling the ball while Jones rests.
Baker: Kid has a smooth J and a really smart player...very rarely forces anything. He had 11 pts one game and was the 3rd leading scorer. Dude can play. He would get a ton of open 3s playing with this team when all the focus would be elsewhere. Just have no idea how he could ever see the floor this year unless there are multiple continuous injuries. But I think if he got the time he could definitely hit some shots for Duke, the trouble would come on the other side of the ball. I dont think he redshirts
Bottom line: Duke will be super young but they have a nice blend of returning guys and coach K will have some very versatile talented dudes to run out there together. CANT WAIT!!!! BRING ON UK!!!!!
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