NEW YORK – In recent years, Duke teams have been good, but not quite at the level many expect Duke to be. The name is so big in college basketball, casual fans expect that the Blue Devils will be a national championship contender every year. But of late, their neighbors down the road in Chapel Hill have taken some of that instead with two national titles in the Roy Williams era. This time around, however, we can probably start to look at them as a team capable of making a deep run in the NCAA Tournament if what they showed in New York is any indication.
With their 68-59 win over Connecticut on Friday, the Blue Devils took home the NIT Season Tip-Off for the third straight time they have participated in it. They also improved to 22-2 all-time in the event. But more importantly, they showed that they have a lot of parts that can come together to make this team tough to beat in March. That has been essentially their motto all along.
“For us this year, we just said going into the year, let’s win,” said senior guard Jon Scheyer, who had a game-high 19 points. “Whatever people want to say about us, they can say about us, but let’s win. This was our first chance against a high-level opponent to really show that we’re a really good team.”
The Blue Devils appear at first glance to be built around Kyle Singler. The junior forward is the team’s most recognizable player, but on Friday he had an off game with six points on just 2-12 shooting and eight rebounds. It ended a streak of 20 consecutive games where he scored in double figures. But he had plenty of help, especially among his frontcourt mates. The Blue Devils had a 56-43 edge on the glass, which went a long way towards winning despite shooting just 28.4 percent from the field.
“Kyle has drawn so much attention thus far this season,” said Scheyer. “He’s our guy, no question about it. The fact that he didn’t score the ball as much and we won is a big thing for us.”
Lance Thomas and Brian Zoubek each had 11 rebounds before fouling out. Zoubek, who’s battled injuries for much of his career, isn’t going to put up eye-popping numbers, but he’s come off the bench to average 8.5 rebounds per game thus far and has never been more effective. Miles Plumlee, who had seven boards before fouling out, is right behind him in that category. Singler hauls down seven boards per game, and the production the Blue Devils are getting means they can bring young guys like Ryan Kelly along at any pace they want to.
“Everybody has been talking about our perimeter, but our bigs are very good,” said Nolan Smith, the Blue Devils’ leading scorer. “When they show up, they can compete with any bigs. Today they rebounded the ball tremendously, played great defense, and we count on them.”
The talent on the perimeter isn’t in dispute. Smith has finally started to play up to his billing, averaging over 18 points per game. Scheyer has a great basketball I.Q. and is showing it this year with his terrific assist/turnover ratio as he has 32 assists and just four turnovers thus far in addition to scoring almost 17 per game. With freshman Andre Dawkins coming off the bench, the Blue Devils aren’t missing a beat despite the unexpected transfer of Elliot Williams to Memphis after he was a key to last season’s late success.
“Jon is a terrific player,” said head coach Mike Krzyzewski of Scheyer, who added five assists Friday. “He’s a terrific basketball player. He has a great feel for the game.”
Dawkins, who Krzyzewski calls “as good a shooter as we have,” was supposed to be a senior in high school right now. He was already committed to Duke, but graduated early and arrived on campus in the fall. It hasn’t taken him long to make an impact, as he’s their best marksman from long range having hit 50 percent of his shots from behind the arc and averaging just under 11 points per game.
“Andre gives us another scorer. He’s confident and knows how to make plays,” said Smith. “He’s a good defender, and his confidence as a freshman for us is huge. I think when he comes in, he knows that we’re behind him and what he does on the court, and he’s going to get better all year.”
The Blue Devils undoubtedly feel a lot of confidence after winning on Friday. They beat a team with a lot of athleticism, doing so by out-rebounding them and largely shutting down their running game, aided in part by their 25 offensive rebounds. The big men were difference-makers inside, doing what they needed to do. It all means they just might be back to looking like a team that could make a deep run come March once again.
“Our offense is getting better, but to win a championship you play defense like that,” said Smith. “If we continue to do that all year long, we’ll definitely be in the running for a national championship.”
