Phase I, 2019-20 Season: Kansas - Mich St.
OMG, I just noticed we do not have a Phase thread for this year. So here we go, I've started the thread, but we'll need one of our experts to list the essentials for the first portion of the season. We have Kansas under our belts, but there are still plenty of unknowns - what are the key questions?
Calling kaze, Bob Green, CDu, sage, trouble, superdave!
I'm not a professional, but i did just drink a bunch of jungle liquor
Seems to me that the main preoccupations have been (even prior to the 2 games, of which we have gotten some measure of info)
3pt Shooting: who's gonna do it and how bad is it gonna be? We have 4 returning guys who can realistically shoot 3s: AOC, Joey Baker, Tre Jones, and Jack White. Last year, AOC was pretty decent at it, Baker burned his redshirt to hit 1 3, Tre Jones was pretty terrible, and Jack was quite good and then quite possibly the worst. Duke adds 1 guy with a reputation for being a good 3pt shooter (Hurt), and 1 guy with a reputation for being a good outside shooter for a big (Carey) and 2 guys who don't have reputations for being good at the 3ball. So the question is: Is Duke gonna shoot better from 3 than last year's abysmal 30%? Who on the team can be looked to for 3pt buckets? If we can't shoot the 3 will other parts of the offense be able to pick up the slack in ways that last year's dynamic wings couldn't? I'm not gonna cheat with what we've learned from 2 games.
How well will the newbies blend with the oldies? Withe exception of Tre, none of our returning players have been more than role players. It doesn't seem that many are expecting for the veterans to really take some sort of big step forward and command more PT than they have already gotten, withe exception of Tre whose importance may have even grown this season, although it's hard to surpass the PT he got last year. The newbies double our depth in the post, and are more than likely to be exponentially more productive than Javin and Jack. However, in the 1-3 slots there seems to be less clarity as to what might happen. We have 4 oldies (Tre, AOC, J-Bake and J-Gold) and 2 newbies (Stanely & Moore). Tre is the PG, no questions. The need for defense and spacing on offense via 3pt shooting seems to be the unresolved issue here. Lots of experimenting for K to do.
Defense or Offense? Which identity will this team hang its hat on? On the one hand we've got a veteran, tenacious defender (Tre) who can really set the tone and lead with defense. He also happens to be a brilliant PG, but can't shoot 3s. Our interior defense is suspect, as the 2 choices who can score are untested Fr. and the 2 veterans are very good defenders with serious offensive flaws. How will the mix-n-match process work here? I dunno. Our perimeter defense seems to have better prospects defensively, what with bulldog Jones leading the charge, and both Moore and Stanely having physical tools to be good defenders and who also acquitted themselves well in pre-season. AOC was mostly overwhelmed as a perimeter defender last year, but his potential on offense was at least intriguing. J-Bake hardly did nothin' at all. J-Gold on the other hand, was a defensive menace, and also a menace to Duke's own offense. With so many questions about how Duke will get its offense, it seems to me like a pretty good bet that K is gonna look to play those who are willing to commit to defense, at least early in the season.
Inside or Outside? 2 of Duke's prized recruits theoretically fill 2 roles that our returning bigs don't: offensively-polished big and stretch-4 with offensive polish. Javin is a solid defender but offense isn't really his thing. Jack is also a solid, versatile defender, but offensive output is also not expected from him. Will Hurt & Carey be able to provide enough offensive punch in the paint to take pressure off of the perimeter? This was touched on before, but who's gonna make 3s, and if we can't, how else will the guards/wings provide offense? Tre Jones was occasionally a good finisher inside the arc last year, and Duke will need for him to improve there if his outside shot hasn't improved. AOC showed occasional glimpses of the ability to finish with some nice athleticism, like on put back dunks, but his handle was shaky, will he be able to fill out his game some more? J-Bake is a mystery. J-Gold, man, i'm really just hoping he picks up the occasional assist and doesn't actively score in the other team's basket (i keed, i keed, sorta). So will Cassisus and Wendell provide offensive punch from the backcourt? and if so, how? Both seem to be more of the slasher type which is fine, especially if they're good at it, but it'd be nice if the entirety of the backcourt can balance some slashing with some 3s.
This is Tre's train to conduct Even though Tre is now joined by 3 other captains, the on-court demeanor and flow is gonna be coming from Tre. He's a tenacious defender and a great floor general, which are great attributes to start with. Has his outside shot improved? If not, will he display a mid-range game to somewhat compensate? If not, will he improve at finishing in the lane (at which he was pretty mediocre last year)? Has his command of the game improved? and if so, will he be able manipulate the strengths and mask the weaknesses of his team to create an offensively competent unit? I'm optimistic, based on what we saw last year, and the fact that Duke hasn't had a true, honest-to-gosh returning PG since, i dunno, the Clinton administration? Eisenhower?
I'm sure there's more or that i just plain got stuff wrong. Jungle liquor from la selva Amazonica 'n all...
ed.- looks like CDu beat me to it...