Duke poised to make another title run
DURHAM, N.C. — Amile Jefferson already has seen one star-studded freshman class come through Duke and win a national championship. The team’s elder statesman is ready for it to happen again.
The parallels between this Duke team and the group from 2014-15 are too obvious to ignore: A roster dominated by one-and-done freshmen led those Blue Devils to their fifth national title, and now a repeat of that year certainly appears possible — maybe even likely.
“These guys definitely have their own identity from that 2015 team — a lot of talent, maybe even more talent,” Jefferson said, though it is still unclear if this group will depart after one year. “But at the end of the day, it’s going to be how our group bonds, how our group comes together, how our group learns to win together, and that’s going to be our biggest goal, to be a complete team.”
Expectations are always high at Duke, which always seems to have McDonald’s All-Americans ready to replace the ones who move on, and this year is no different. When Jahlil Okafor, Tyus Jones and Justise Winslow jumped to the NBA after winning their title, Brandon Ingram came aboard — and now that Ingram is with the Los Angeles Lakers, it’s up to a veritable All-Star team of freshmen to carry on that tradition.
The key to whether Duke hangs banner No. 6 in the Cameron Indoor Stadium rafters in the spring will be making sure those freshmen — Harry Giles, Javin DeLaurier, Jayson Tatum, Frank Jackson — blend with a solid cast of returning players including Grayson Allen, Matt Jones and Jefferson, who received a medical hardship waiver to play another year.
“A championship team has to have talent,” coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “You don’t win without talent. We have talent, and we’re not the only ones with talent. We have a really good mixture of experienced and new talent. So how that meshes is one of the key things.”
Tar Heels find lots of motivation
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — North Carolina won’t have a difficult time finding motivation this season.
The memories of losing in the NCAA championship game on a last-second 3-pointer to Villanova still sting more than six months later. It was the crushing final play in a 33-win season that saw the Tar Heels go from a preseason No. 1-ranked team questioned about its toughness to a group that matured enough to sweep the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season and tournament titles before reaching the Final Four.
There are enough veteran returnees for UNC to have the potential to do it again, driven by the memory of coming oh-so-close to cutting down the nets in April.
“Every time I turn around and look up at the banners, where the national championship banners are,” junior Joel Berry II said, “sometimes it hurts me that we don’t have the 2016 national championship up there. So it’s just motivation to me.”
Some Tar Heels, including Hall of Fame coach Roy Williams, still haven’t watched film from the loss.
“I thought we had a great, great year but it’s just like somebody pulls your heart out and taunts you by shaking it in front of you,” Williams said. “But you’ve got to get over it.”
The Tar Heels (33-7, 14-4 ACC) have some big holes with the losses of four-year starter Marcus Paige — the guy UNC looked for when it needed a big shot — and Associated Press All-American Brice Johnson inside. But they return six of their top eight scorers while adding a top-10 recruiting class.
Berry is the top returning scorer (12.8 points), while fellow junior Justin Jackson (12.2) and senior big man Kennedy Meeks are returning starters. The Tar Heels also return ACC sixth man of the Isaiah Hicks, now likely to earn a promotion into the starting lineup.
On the bench, senior Nate Britt provides backcourt depth along with junior Theo Pinson — out indefinitely with a broken bone in his right foot — and sophomore wing Kenny Williams III.
The Tar Heels also will get help up front from McDonald’s All-American Tony Bradley Jr., who headlines a wing-heavy recruiting class.
Cardinals want back in postseason
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville is eager to play in the postseason again after sitting out last spring, and the Cardinals hope to make it a long stay once they get there.
Though the escort scandal that resulted in a self-imposed postseason ban and other penalties last season is still not resolved, coach Rick Pitino long ago shifted focus toward getting the Cardinals back into this year’s NCAA tournament.
The NCAA last week accused the program of committing four Level 1 violations and the governing body criticized Pitino for failing to monitor former Cardinals staffer Andre McGee, who the NCAA says provided improper benefits to recruits and players by hiring strippers.
The case now proceeds to a spring resolution.
For his part, Pitino is more than happy to talk hoops. And on the court, he believes if the Cardinals execute his trademark man-to-man defense, a deep tournament run is possible.
“It isn’t a new style,” Pitino said of his philosophy, “it’s just that we’ve confused a lot of people with our defense and playing our matchup zone. We have probably scrapped that and are playing 95 percent man-to-man. …. The tempo is much more up-tempo, even though we have always been an up-tempo team.”
Louisville’s initial challenge is finding offense with the departures of leading scorers Damion Lee and Trey Lewis, graduate transfers who combined to average more than 27 points per game last season for a team that finished 23-8.