Duke Basketball: When Will It Change?

I got home from church and choir practice Wednesday night, and saw that my beloved Blue Devils were down double-digits in the first half to the Clemson Tigers. A couple of things crossed my mind, and that’s what I want to share with you.

1. Clemson has size, speed, and strength. Duke only has speed. Clemson throws Lorenzo Booker and Raymond Sykes at Kyle Singler and Brian Zoubek. Something doesn’t add up here. You have big and strong against slow and white. LOL. Until Mike Krzyzewski decides to recruit a different type of basketball player, Duke will continue to lose to teams that are big, strong, and physical. Unfortunately, I do not think Coach K wants to change. In the early 90’s, Christian Laettner was a formidable big man, but things have changed 17 years later. The best two Duke teams since 1992 had Elton Brand (’99) and Carlos Boozer (’01) in the post, both of which are strong, physical, and offensive-minded. From ‘92 to ‘98, we had no inside presence. From ‘01 until this team, we have not had an offensive inside presence. Shelden Williams was far from offensive-minded. While he was an EXCELLENT defensive player, he just did not look to assert himself offensively. JJ Redick was going to take every possible meaningful shot on those teams. What I am saying is the we MUST begin recruiting bigs that are strong, physical, and offensive-minded. While I love Kyle Singler, he’s a natural 3.

2. In the past few years, we have put together excellent regular seasons. Our obvious infatuation with the outside shot would finally catch up with us in the post season. Everyone saw it coming every year. This is what is bad…this year, we have been exposed before the half-way mark of the ACC season. If we don’t change our offensive philosophy, we will begin a downward spiral in the entire program.

I trust that Coach K will be willing to evolve in his coaching philosophy. I hope he is not too set in his ways. James Johnson, Lorenzo Booker, Blake Griffin, DeJuan Blair, Tyler Hansbrough, Luke Harangody, Deion Thompson, and Ed Davis are proving what a good big man can do for a team. Unfortunately, Brian Zoubek’s name will never be on this list.

ESPN ran a stat a couple of weeks ago that said of the last 20 national champions, 60% of their offense was from their front court, with only 40% from their back court. Duke is a long way from that stat.

So, I am a die-hard Duke fan that is calling for a change. Sure, I’ve been spoiled by the best coach in college basketball. Sure, I want a national title every year. Sure, I want perfection. That’s what made Duke basketball so great.