Starting Line Up 2009-10

[DUKIE V(A)]

Count me as one who is drinking the MP2 Kool-aid. I think he is going to be a bigtime player at Duke and contribute right away. I realize there will be some growing pains as a freshman, but he looks athletic and versatile on both ends of the floor.

[CDu]

Count me as one who is drinking the MP2 Kool-aid. I think he is going to be a bigtime player at Duke and contribute right away. I realize there will be some growing pains as a freshman, but he looks athletic and versatile on both ends of the floor.

I certainly hope so. But I'm always hesitant with freshman big men. They're extremely hit or miss.

We're going to need at least one (if not two) of the four big guys to really step up this year though. So hopefully Plumlee does so.

[geraldsneighbor]

Count me as one who is drinking the MP2 Kool-aid. I think he is going to be a bigtime player at Duke and contribute right away. I realize there will be some growing pains as a freshman, but he looks athletic and versatile on both ends of the floor.

Hell, if MP2 can come in and give us 10 and 8 were in great shape.

[CDu]

Hell, if MP2 can come in and give us 10 and 8 were in great shape.

I'm not so sure. I think people are really discounting the importance of having guard depth (especially those who can create easy shots for themselves and others). I think it's much more important to have good guard/wing play than good big men.

I think you can be competitive without great big man play, but it's hard to be elite without great big man play. I think teams that have issues in the backcourt have trouble being competitive.

I hope I'm wrong, but I really think this year will be difficult without another guard on the roster. I mean, now we literally cannot have a 5-on-5 practice with two ACC-caliber guards on each side. I think that's a bigger deal than people are willing to admit.

[Kedsy]

You can't realistically count on major production from either of the freshman. If they contribute, great, but to assume that they'll be able to just step in and play 20-25 minutes at a high level, is naive imho.

If you don't count freshmen our guards (Scheyer/Smith) are significantly better than UNC's guards (Drew/Ginyard). Our forwards (Singler/Zoubek/Thomas/MP1) may not be quite as good as theirs (Davis/Thompson/Zeller), but overall I like our upperclass lineup better. In fact, going around the league off the top of my head, even without EWill I like our upperclassmen better than any upperclass lineup in the ACC.

The reason people think UNC is going to be good is their highly regarded freshman class, but ours is pretty well regarded, too, and IMO shouldn't necessarily be dismissed so quickly.

[chrisheery]

For all of us who always want to see freshman (and sophomores) play earlier and more often: now we will get that this year. MP1, MP2, Kelly will all get a lot of time this year, and hopefully with an excellent class in 2010, we could be right back in position for a run at a national championship with the combination of athleticism, experience and freshly infused stud guards/wings.

I hate being hopeful for something that is extremely uncertain and more than a year away.

[Greg_Newton]

Well, my expectations have officially been tempered from a potentially "exciting" year to a potentially "interesting" year. This new development raises some new "interesting" questions about several players:

-Kyle Singler: Will he develop into a point forward? I had speculated about this earlier, but now I don't know that he has a choice. Hopefully that tennis ball he's dribbling around all summer will pay off...

-Lance Thomas: This is the real X-factor to me. Can he rediscover the wing skills and jumper everyone thought he had coming out of high school? He's been confined to a hustle-and-screen big man his whole career, you never know what could happen after a summer of guard workouts if K turns him loose... a little newfound confidence can go a long way.

Ryan Kelly: From what I saw of him in high school, he had quite good handles and guard skills when he was comfortable with the flow of the game. Granted, this did not show in the All-American games, but it will be interesting to see how he progresses on the wing.

Olek Czyz: He came to Duke so K could teach him how to be a wing player. Granted, I don't think anyone was expecting the teaching process to be complete by next season, but he may end up seeing some minutes now out of necessity. I would be a little more optimistic about his summer development if he hadn't just had surgery on his foot though...

And lastly, the big question: Defense. It seems K will have to go zone. If he does, does he put LT on top of the zone? Mason Plumlee, with his length?

We were all so excited to see Elliot emerge next season and beyond... it's very heartbreaking to see him go.

[The1Bluedevil]

I can already in vision this team playing similar to some Big 11 teams. Bigger, less athletic and will have to grind out nearly every possession to win games. I don’t see this year’s team struggling to score quite like 2006-2007 but I certainly won’t be surprised to see Duke have numerous games in the low 60’s

[arnie]

I can already in vision this team playing similar to some Big 11 teams. Bigger, less athletic and will have to grind out nearly every possession to win games. I don’t see this year’s team struggling to score quite like 2006-2007 but I certainly won’t be surprised to see Duke have numerous games in the low 60’s

But now that we have Casey Peters playing at least 20 minutes at guard, don't you think we'll run, run, run.

[buckshot]

Well, my expectations have officially been tempered from a potentially "exciting" year to a potentially "interesting" year. This new development raises some new "interesting" questions about several players:

-Kyle Singler: Will he develop into a point forward? I had speculated about this earlier, but now I don't know that he has a choice. Hopefully that tennis ball he's dribbling around all summer will pay off...

-Lance Thomas: This is the real X-factor to me. Can he rediscover the wing skills and jumper everyone thought he had coming out of high school? He's been confined to a hustle-and-screen big man his whole career, you never know what could happen after a summer of guard workouts if K turns him loose... a little newfound confidence can go a long way.

Ryan Kelly: From what I saw of him in high school, he had quite good handles and guard skills when he was comfortable with the flow of the game. Granted, this did not show in the All-American games, but it will be interesting to see how he progresses on the wing.

Olek Czyz: He came to Duke so K could teach him how to be a wing player. Granted, I don't think anyone was expecting the teaching process to be complete by next season, but he may end up seeing some minutes now out of necessity. I would be a little more optimistic about his summer development if he hadn't just had surgery on his foot though...

And lastly, the big question: Defense. It seems K will have to go zone. If he does, does he put LT on top of the zone? Mason Plumlee, with his length?

We were all so excited to see Elliot emerge next season and beyond... it's very heartbreaking to see him go.

You forgot Casey Peters: Uber athelete and quiet X-factor..Will he show off all of his talent at once or will he slowly ooze greatness over the season..lets hope he doesn't skip out to the NBA after this season

[rsvman]

Williams's departure makes the Wall miss even more epic.


Maybe that thread wasn't as out of control as we thought it was.

[Oriole Way]

Thinking about all of the turnovers this team will make, and its inability to run, makes me cringe.

[pfrduke]

Thinking about all of the turnovers this team will make...

Yeah, it seems to me this team is extremely vulnerable to the press. Who helps out against a 1-2-1-1 or 2-2-1 when Scheyer or Smith are not in the game?? Heck, who helps out when both are? Thomas, Zoubek, Czyz, and MP1 are not ball-handling forwards, and from what little I know, MP2 isn't either.

[Oriole Way]

Yeah, it seems to me this team is extremely vulnerable to the press. Who helps out against a 1-2-1-1 or 2-2-1 when Scheyer or Smith are not in the game?? Heck, who helps out when both are? Thomas, Zoubek, Czyz, and MP1 are not ball-handling forwards, and from what little I know, MP2 isn't either.

Unfortunately, Singler's most likely going to be bringing the ball up the floor for a few possessions every game. He's the best ball-handler of all our non-guards, or forwards and big men, or guys not named Scheyer, Smith, or Davidson, or whatever.

I say unfortunately, because it's just going to tire him out more, and obviously still lead to turnovers. But, I guess it will be good for Kyle to showcase and work on his ball-handling, since it will make him more attractive to NBA scouts.

I just wish we hadn't put all of our eggs in the Kenny Boynton basket. Even if Elliot hadn't transferred, Duke would still have been an injury away going from thin at guard to dangerously thin at guard. I don't understand why K didn't recruit some guard depth for this season.

[miramar]

Giglio has the following:

Starters
G Smith
G Scheyer
G/F Singler
F Thomas
F Zoubek

Bench
G/F Kelly
F Miles Plumlee
F Mason Plumlee

I’m not sure why Zoubs is listed as a forward, and we have to see what Olek can do next year. Davidson and Peters will also have to fill in at the guards, even if “Jon Scheyer's going to shatter the ACC record for minutes-played this coming season.”

http://blogs.newsobserver.com/accnow/bad-break-for-duke

No matter what, the March 26 game against Villanova began a disastrous two months for MBB. We know what the starting five can do, but that bench will be a huge factor in Duke's success.

[CDu]

Giglio has the following:

Starters
G Smith
G Scheyer
G/F Singler
F Thomas
F Zoubek

Bench
G/F Kelly
F Miles Plumlee
F Mason Plumlee

I’m not sure why Zoubs is listed as a forward, and we have to see what Olek can do next year. Davidson and Peters will also have to fill in at the guards, even if “Jon Scheyer's going to shatter the ACC record for minutes-played this coming season.”

http://blogs.newsobserver.com/accnow/bad-break-for-duke

No matter what, the March 26 game against Villanova began a disastrous two months for MBB. We know what the starting five can do, but that bench will be a huge factor in Duke's success.

There is virtually no margin for error. Smith, and at least three of the Plumlee/Plumlee/Kelly/Zoubek/Thomas group will need to become consistent contributors. And Singler and Thomas are going to have to show a vastly improved ability to defend wing players.

I've literally never seen a team with so few guards. It's amazing. I think this is going to need to be one of Coach K's best coaching jobs.

[ACCBBallFan]

Starting Line-up

Nolan
Scheyer
Singler
MP2
Zoubs

I see LT as being valuable to have coming off the bench as a guy to guard some of the 2 guards we will face (Singler I am sure will also do his fair share of this). We will definitely miss E-mail (especially on the defensive end), but it will be interesting to see what Coach K will do to create some mismatches when we have a larger line-up on the floor.

I pretty much agree with this as I posted on another thread, or a variation with Lance starting and Nolan subbing. I too see it as either/or rather than both:

Scheyer 6’5”

Singler 6’ 9” whether as SG or SF

Smith 6’2” /Thomas 6’8” depending on foe's size vs. ball handling

Mason 6’11”/Kelly 6’ 10” with only one major role to learn, and fill in at center, not SF

Zoubek 7’1” /Miles 6’10”

[CDu]

I pretty much agree with this as I posted on another thread, or a variation with Lance starting and Nolan subbing. I too see it as either/or rather than both:

Scheyer 6’5”

Singler 6’ 9” whether as SG or SF

Smith 6’2” /Thomas 6’8” depending on foe's size vs. ball handling

Mason 6’11”/Kelly 6’ 10” with only one major role to learn, and fill in at center, not SF

Zoubek 7’1” /Miles 6’10”

Assuming no moves are made to add backcourt players, I think that we'll see Scheyer, Smith and Singler handling the guard duties, Singler and Thomas (and maybe Czyz if needed) handling the third wing duties, and Zoubek, the Plumlees, and Kelly handling the post duties.

We're going to have two post players on the floor at all times, and we'll frequently have a third post guy (Thomas, Czyz, Kelly) being forced to play on the perimeter when Singler has to move to the guard spot to fill in for Scheyer or Smith (or when Singler is on the bench.

If we just had one more guard to fill in for 15 minutes or so, Singler could play the third wing position more or less exclusively and we'd have only a few minutes per game with a post guy playing out of position on the perimeter. Maybe Coach K will find someone capable of doing that.

Perhaps Thomas or Czyz will really advance their perimeter games and make themselves useful as the bigger wing player backing up Singler. That would be really helpful, as it would minimize the amount of time that we have guys playing way out of position.

[BlueintheFace]

Poster Idea for Next Year: "Amongst The Trees"

Zoubek, Plumlee, Plumlee, Singler, Thomas, and Kelly are all standing in front with their arms crossed looking huge, while Jon, Nolan, Casey, Jordan, and Olek are peeking out from behind them (at waist level) with basketballs.

NOTE: This is actually a terrible idea for a poster, but it still makes me laugh.

[NSDukeFan]

Yeah, it seems to me this team is extremely vulnerable to the press. Who helps out against a 1-2-1-1 or 2-2-1 when Scheyer or Smith are not in the game?? Heck, who helps out when both are? Thomas, Zoubek, Czyz, and MP1 are not ball-handling forwards, and from what little I know, MP2 isn't either.

I wonder about Kelly and MP2 helping out against a press, not as primarily ball handlers, but I picture them in the middle of the floor as the outlet there. They both present big targets and I believe both handle the ball reasonably well. I am also looking forward to Kyle showing all his perimeter talents next year.