Duke game will be measuring stick: coach
McGill coach Dave De Aveiro had the natural reaction when he received a call from Canada Basketball asking if he was interested in a game against the NCAA powerhouse Duke Blue Devils.
“I thought it was joke,” De Aveiro said prior to putting his team through a practice Thursday.
The Redmen will face Duke Sunday afternoon at Place Bell (3 p.m., TSN, RDS) in the wrap-up of Duke’s three-game Canadian trip. The Blue Devils beat the Ryerson Rams 86-67 Wednesday and play the University of Toronto Blues on Friday.
De Aveiro has no illusions about the outcome of the game, but he said McGill is already a winner.
“This couldn’t be better for us in terms of exposure,” De Aveiro said. “After this game was announced, I started getting phone calls from recruits. McGill’s name is out there.”
This is the fifth and final game for the Redmen in a five-game pre-season schedule against NCAA schools. McGill previously lost to Mississippi, Cincinnati, South Dakota State and Vermont.
‘These games are good for us because they provide us with a measuring stick,” De Aveiro said. “We can see where we rank against majors, mid-majors. It’s also important to have these games because we play each team in our league four times and we don’t have much room for a pre-season schedule.”
There’s also the question of exposure. More than 8,000 tickets have been sold for Sunday’s game and the promoters are expecting a sellout of more than 10,000.
“We’ll have our fans and we hope people recognize that we play good basketball,” De Aveiro said. “I look at Ottawa, where they have an annual game between Ottawa and Carleton. I hope someday we can have McGill and Concordia playing at Place Bell.”
While Duke will be leaving Canada with a pile of cash from the three games, legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski will be leaving some of his knowledge behind. He will conduct a clinic for players and coaches Saturday afternoon at McGill.
McGill and Duke have each lost their entire starting fives from last season, but there’s a difference. McGill is rebuilding, Duke is reloading.
Duke had the best recruiting class in its history, landing top prospect R.J. Barrett, a Mississauga native who is a member of Canada’s national team. Zion Williamson was No. 2 in ESPN’s list of top prospects, while Cameron Reddish was No. 3 and Tre Jones No. 10.
Canadian fans are getting only a glimpse of how good Duke can be in the regular season because Reddish and Jones are injured. The Blue Devils also lost guard Alex O’Connell early in Wednesday’s game when he caught an elbow in the eye. He’ll miss the rest of the tour.
“It’s too bad they’re missing some guys because you want to play against the best,” De Aveiro said. “I watched Duke on TV last night and they’re very good, but I’m concerned about my team and what we can do.”
NCAA basketball teams are allowed to make an international tour every four years, but this is Duke’s first foray to Canada. Krzyzewski said he was unable to arrange for summer trips for his team in the past because of his involvement with USA Basketball.