How the Blue Devils plan to play ‘good old fashioned Duke basketball’ this season
Jon Scheyer was doing a Zoom interview late last week when he dropped in the phrase “good old-fashion Duke basketball.”
If anybody knows about that, it’s Scheyer. He played at Duke. He’s an associate head coach at Duke under Mike Krzyzewski. He won a national championship ring and has been a part of many victories, large and small.
But what is old-fashioned Duke basketball?
“A lot of drive and picks, shoot a lot of 3s and go get the offensive rebound,” Scheyer said, adding, “I think that’s how we’re looking to play this year.”
As Scheyer said, there is no Zion Williamson. There is no Marvin Bagley or Vernon Carey, Jr., where Duke could, as he said, “Just throw it inside and most of the time we’re going to come away with two points, maybe three points.”
The Blue Devils do have post players. There’s 7-foot freshman Mark Williams and 6-9 Patrick Tape, a graduate transfer. But this Duke team, Scheyer said, will have the paint open in many cases in the half court, all the better to let players use their quickness to slash and break down the defense and present a lot of options.
And players who can fit into many positions.
Freshman Jalen Johnson, for example. He’s 6-9 and 220 pounds, can run the floor in transition, create shots, go inside and hit the jumper. He’s listed as a small forward but he’s not locked into that position.
“There’s no question he’s got the ability and the talent,” Scheyer said. “I think Jalen is figuring it out because he can do so many things. It’s not like he’s exactly a four or a three or a five. I think his thing is just figuring it out, ‘What’s my core? What’s my base? What’s are my go-to’s?’
“He’s refining that and he’s working on it every day. He’s going to be a guy who can play everywhere for us, really.”
Scheyer also noted Johnson, a five-star recruit from Milwaukee, is a good passer, saying, “If you’re Joey (Baker) or DJ (Steward) or whoever you like being on his team. He’s going to find you.”
How Duke decides is who plays, who sits
The hardest decision for Krzyzewski, Scheyer and the Duke staff will be deciding who plays and who sits. There are 11 players capable of getting good minutes. Seven are freshmen. All want to play.
“It’s not going to be just a starting five,” sophomore forward Matthew Hurt said. “It’s not going to be one or two guys off the bench. It’s going to be a whole team collective effort for us to win games this year.
“Our strength, I think, (will be) just getting stops and getting out in transition. We have a lot of athletic guys on our team.”
Judging by Scheyer’s comments, Hurt will have a spot in the lineup. He’s the leading returning scorer off last year’s 25-6 team and he returned to Duke 20 pounds heavier.
“Matthew Hurt has been our leading scorer, if not every day, most days,” Scheyer said. “He’s played with an incredibly high level of confidence.”
The practice time has allowed the Blue Devils take a long look at the players and allow the new guys to blend in, and all can only hope the 2020-21 season begins as scheduled next month.
“It’s going to be a completely different team,” Scheyer said. “It’s going to be fun to see how we develop and progress throughout the year.”
