USA TODAY International Edition
Duke makes great first impression
Freshmen star for Blue Devils in rout
When even five-time NCAA basketball championship coach Mike Krzyzewski is surprised at how ridiculously good his team is on opening night, it puts into perspective just how mindblowing Duke looked in its 34-point win against Kentucky.
“You start four freshmen, no matter how talented they are, you never know what they’re going to do in this environment against an outstanding team and great program. And they responded,” Krzyzewski told reporters Tuesday after the Champions Classic in Indianapolis. Boy did they.
The Blue Devils’ elite freshmen were everything as advertised and then some. The three-headed monster of RJ Barrett (33 points), Zion Williamson (28 points) and Cam Reddish (22 points) combined for 83 of Duke’s 118 points.
But the stat sheet tells only half the story. It was how these teenagers introduced themselves to the college basketball world. Barrett, who has ample international experience playing for Canada, got to the basket at will and used his versatility and smooth lefty stroke to shred Kentucky’s defense. Williamson, a dunking folk hero before Tuesday night, proved he’s more than just an athletic talent and a pretty darn complete player, poignantly evidenced with a monstrous block and then pinpoint bounce pass to Barrett.
There was no shortage of highlight reels in the dominant performance, but it was really the pace of the game that proved to be the difference-maker. This team absolutely thrives in transition, forcing turnovers and getting out in the open court. That starts on defense, but it’s also worth noting how cohesive this freshman-laden group looks already in both halfcourt and full-court scenarios on Day 1. Point guard Tre Jones dished out seven assists, with no turnovers, and looks to be the ideal general to glue this team together.
In the big scheme of things, though, what does one dominant night mean? Sure the Blue Devils impressed and even surpassed the preseason hype. But they drubbed a Kentucky team that’s also young and still figuring it out. That said, the way No. 1 Kansas stumbled late in its Champions Classic opener against Michigan State, it raises the question of how different the outcome would’ve been against a team like KU with more experience and overall weaponry than Kentucky.
In reality, Duke lost virtually every relevant player from last season and played like it brought back several AllAmericans. Granted, the potential top three picks in the 2019 NBA draft on one roster will wash away the Grayson Allen era pretty quickly, but at the end of the day these are still a group of youngsters playing like veterans and showing a team chemistry that usually doesn’t blossom until January or February.
“I don’t think age makes much of a difference with this team,” Reddish told USA TODAY ahead of the 2018-19 season tip-off. “Everybody’s unselfish, and our coaching staff is going to help us (mature) fast.”
Early judgments from one glimpse of a young team usually won’t forecast March net-cutting, but this Duke team is the exception. Seriously. Of all the teams that have wowed us in the past decade of the one-and-done era (John Calipari’s nearly undefeated 2014-15 Kentucky team among them), this Duke squad has a different anatomy.
With Barrett, Williamson and Barrett all around 6-7 and multidimensional, the Blue Devils can play a unique brand of positionless basketball, posing nightmarish matchup problems against any opponent. This group showed some weaknesses against Kentucky, letting its foot off the gas at points and getting into foul trouble. But not even a lack of overall depth or size (UK had plenty more) can take away the fact that Duke has three, and maybe four players, who Coach K can give the ball to at the end of the game in crunchtime situations.
The preseason prospectus pinned this team at No. 3 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll and No. 4 in the Associated Press poll. Suffice it to say Duke was underrated before this.
So let’s pose the question: Can Duke go undefeated in 2018-19?
“They’re a very good team,” Calipari said after the loss. “If they play like that, they’re not losing many, if that’s who they are.”
The Blue Devils have some non-conference tests against Indiana (Nov. 27) and Texas Tech (Dec. 20), but it’d be surprising to see this team unravel before ACC play — where No. 5 Virginia leads five other top 25-ranked ACC foes.
But the short answer is yes, the possibility of an unbeaten season is worth discussing.
The hype train wasn’t in full gear, so it’s fully reasonable to start it now.