Off the top of my head, UNC and Villanova's are close... but Duke's backcourt is the best I can think of.
How would you rank Duke's backcourt of Paulus, Smith, Williams, Scheyer, Pocius, and Henderson compared to the rest of the country?
Off the top of my head, UNC and Villanova's are close... but Duke's backcourt is the best I can think of.
Our backcourt looks very good on offense, but not as good on defense. We do have Nolan, Gerald and E-Will that can play better than average on the ball defense, but Greg and Jon are not so good (average at best). However looking at all facets of the game I guess we are in the top 5 backcourts in the country. Lot's of fire power.
I've been trying to think of teams with better backcourts than Duke but it seems many of the teams with excellent backcourts lost keyplayers. Texas lost DJ Augustine, Memphis lost CDR and Derrick Rose, Kansas lost several experienced players also. Unfortunately UNC lost nobody and will have an outstanding backcourt.
I'd put UCONNvicts as a strong competitor for the top spot... Austrie, Price, Dyson, and introducing Kemba Walker... that's a hell of a backcourt...
Scheyer... defense...
why do people keep saying that he can't play defense???
What exactly is the issue with his d? How is his on the ball D any worse than Geralds? (I'm not saying he's equally valuable as a defender, because Gerald is capable of making some big plays on the inside with blocks, but simply out on the perimeter tell me how Gerald is any better)
Well Gerald is quicker and can make up for getting beat with his incredible leaping ability. I did not say Jon was a bad defender, but average. I long for the Hurley, Amaker, King on the ball defense. By playing the other team's point guard, Jon and Greg get exposed more than the other guys and it is just more evident.
A big question for me is who will step up in Demarcus's place and guard the other team's best perimeter player? I personally think it will be Gerald but if he guards someone like ellington then who will guard lawson? Paulus isn't a good enough defender and isn't big enough to guard the 3.
You have asked a great question. Who do we have that can contain lawson? The two that come to my mind are Nolan and E-Will. Does either start? I know Coach K believes playing time is earned. Would he start Nolan over Greg if Nolan earns it? I think he would and then bring Greg off the bench as the 6th man. I am not saying this will happen, but it could. We will be a deep team this year and I hope Coach K uses the bench more than he ever has.
Scheyer is not a defensive liability at all, per se. He is an above-average defender in the ACC, in my opinion. The problem is that Paulus is a defensive liability, especially since he's 6'1" and could only theoretically match up against two players on most teams. Duke essentially concedes Paulus's 1-on-1 match-up on defense and attempts to make up for it with the usual scheme of getting in the passing lanes and denying the wings. This is fine, to an extent, though it makes it much easier to penetrate than it would have been on other Duke teams which had Duhon or Hurley spearheading the defense. Bringing it back to Scheyer, while a good defender, he is certainly not a "#1 defender" like DeMarcus was capable of. I view Scheyer as a very good 2nd-option defender in the backcourt, able to guard many a player but not good enough to carry a backcourt's defense. Part of this is because he's a better off-the-ball defender than on-the-ball.
Gerald showed very promising flashes of becoming a very good defender at the end of last year. He's always been a great shot blocker for his size, but he was getting in the passing lanes a lot more. It would be great if he could expand his game in on-the-ball defense, though it's really not too realistic to expect him to guard the opposing PG since it gives up a big advantage we have with him guarding bigger players.
In terms of overall backcourt, Duke is certainly top-5, but not the best. UNC definitely has the edge over us. Ginyard is nothing frightening (Henderson is clearly better), and Ellington-Scheyer is basically a wash, no matter what deluded UNC fans might think (watch just about any Duke-UNC game). The problem is Lawson, who is really good, obviously, but more of an issue is that his strength (speed) is Paulus' weakness. UConn, as mentioned above, should also be elite.
To me, your proposal, which I have also suggested in the past, makes the most sense. My feeling is that Coach K will not agree, though. By all accounts Nolan played great at the Pro-Am, but the issue with him starting is more of his decision-making than scoring, the former of which was not really showcased apparently, given the style of play. That is, even if Nolan is much improved, its very unlikely that he would have surpassed Scheyer or Henderson - he will probably need to prove he can and deserves to start at the PG spot, since K would rather have Scheyer at the wing.
Although it probably won't happen I would love to have Gerald, Jon and Nolan starting. All three are excellent offensively and defensively. Then if we need instant offense we would bring in Greg off the bench for three point shooting. Now this would all work only if Greg could accept a sixth man roll as well as Jon did, which I know I would have trouble doing if I had been a starter for all previous years.
Maybe we're onto somethng. Like you I want Gerald, Jon and Nolan starting with Greg first off the bench. Jon and Gerald both rebound very well. Jon has shown he can hit the boards and defense is not over until the ball is rebounded. Like I said, let's use our depth this year and let the best players play the meaningful minutes.
Coach K likes to say he plays his five best players and that there are no positions, but I think there most definitely IS a point guard almost all the time. So I don't think Nolan starts unless he has proven that he can run the offense better than Greg.
The problem here is that you lose a huge weapon in exchange for potential, and you lose a true point guard who won't turn the ball over. This proposition could potentially happen by the end of the year if Nolan has proven himself, but we are talking about one of the most consistent three point shooters (if not the best... I think his 3pt% was 42%) in the entire conference and a pg who had the least turnovers of any true point guard in the conference last year... not to mention the leadership/experience factor which cannot be underestimated. You don't just put a senior all-conference pg on the bench because you have another pg with great potential waiting in the wings. It just doesn't make sense.
In other words, if Nolan had just ONE MORE year under his belt and had shown us a bit more ability, then this suggestion might seem logical, but with the current situation as it is... it just doesn't.
I just hate to see Greg get beat like a drum when the opponent's point guard goes by him like he is standing still. I guess if we could platoon Greg and Nolan when the ball changes hands that would be the answer. I believe Nolan has a better chance of cutting down his mistakes running the team than Greg does of guarding a good point guard. Hey maybe we could play ZONE when Greg is in the game. Naw, Coach K will not go that route.