Jalen Johnson out indefinitely with a foot injury

[Ultrarunner]

I think you mean Javin's sophomore year when, yes, he was given some time at the 3 due to the frontcourt being stacked with Wendell, Marvin, and Marques.

The great news is this move, if it happens and isn't just some practice curiosity, can much more easily generate coherent lineups since we have two stretch bigs in Hurt and Brakefield. If you play those two together with Henry, you're not necessarily killing your spacing like you did when Javin played the 3 with the 2018 bigs.

I do wonder how much Henry will play offensive SF instead of defensive SF. He's a very athletic guy who might be a physical driver who draws fouls and is a good shooter from the free throw line. Statistically, Duke's biggest offensive weakness is lack of foul drawing (with turnovers being second), and I wonder if Coach is going to run some sets to get Henry driving to the basket. An example might be entering the ball into Jaemyn or Matt at the elbow in horns and have them dribble-handoff to Henry to create space between him and his defender before he goes to the basket.

From what little I have seen of Henry driving, I'm not so sure that is a good idea.
Maybe with his quickness and muscle, working the post while others stretch the D is more viable.

[Troublemaker]

From what little I have seen of Henry driving, I'm not so sure that is a good idea.
Maybe with his quickness and muscle, working the post while others stretch the D is more viable.

Oh, he's barely played. I remember seeing some film from high school that made me hopeful that he could be a good driver. We'll see.

[Ultrarunner]

Oh, he's barely played. I remember seeing some film from high school that made me hopeful that he could be a good driver. We'll see.

I'd be happy if that were the case. He's got some nice physical tools so the potential is certainly there.

[DavidBenAkiva]

Seth Davis was responding to the haters after releasing his ritualistic Sunday night top 25 when asked "where's Duke?" Davis had left out the Blue Devils for the time all season, which makes sense as the world of college basketball has essentially done the same. He did have an interesting reply, though.

Beats me. They've only played five games. I still think they'll be good if they ever get going. Johnson should be back in 2-3 weeks.

https://twitter.com/SethDavisHoops/s...29011466096641

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Seth Davis was responding to the haters after releasing his ritualistic Sunday night top 25 when asked "where's Duke?" Davis had left out the Blue Devils for the time all season, which makes sense as the world of college basketball has essentially done the same. He did have an interesting reply, though.



https://twitter.com/SethDavisHoops/s...29011466096641

Guess? Educated guess? Or inside info?

[UrinalCake]

Sounds to me like he is just repeating what he heard at the original announcement, which was that Johnson would be reevaluated in 2-3 weeks.

[DavidBenAkiva]

Somewhat positive news from Steve Wiseman of the N&O about Jalen Johnson today: He's out against BC tonight but "trending towards a return" soon.

Jalen Johnson will miss second game with foot injury. He's advanced to rehab mode and things are trending toward a return. Date TBD.

https://twitter.com/stevewisemanNC/s...68787946074113

[scottdude8]

Somewhat positive news from Steve Wiseman of the N&O about Jalen Johnson today: He's out against BC tonight but "trending towards a return" soon.



https://twitter.com/stevewisemanNC/s...68787946074113

This is great news. I wonder where Jeff Goodman is with those baseless conspiracy theories he tweeted out a few weeks back...

[Steven43]

This is great news. I wonder where Jeff Goodman is with those baseless conspiracy theories he tweeted out a few weeks back...

Exactly.

I called him out then and I’m calling him out now.

[DavidBenAkiva]

In his pre-game press conference, Coach K today said Jalen Johnson has worked out and will travel with the team to Blacksburg. He'll suit up, but it's not clear that he will play on Tuesday night.

Mike Krzyzewski says Jalen Johnson DID do individual work yesterday at practice, although only a little (as was the case for the entire team). He’ll travel to Virginia Tech and suit up, but TBD on if he’ll play.

Duke’s break after VT would give him time to get back in shape.

https://twitter.com/BrendanRMarks/st...75539008180228

[Nrrrrvous]

In his pre-game press conference, Coach K today said Jalen Johnson has worked out and will travel with the team to Blacksburg. He'll suit up, but it's not clear that he will play on Tuesday night.



https://twitter.com/BrendanRMarks/st...75539008180228

As much as I would love to have him against VT. I love hearing that he "could" play and that it sounds like he will be ready for next week!

[CDu]

Great to hear he is at least close to a return. I'd love to see him able to play against VT, but I'll take a return next week too!

[roywhite]

I wonder how Bobby Hurley would have fared under current medical and team injury protocols?

He couldn't wait to get back into action after a foot injury coming down the stretch of the 91-92 regular season.

[BlueDevilStop]

Promising report. I would guess he will back against Pittsburgh but the fact it looks as though he will return soon is very encouraging.

[budwom]

Promising report. I would guess he will back against Pittsburgh but the fact it looks as though he will return soon is very encouraging.

yes, a good source says Pittsburg at the latest,we'll see. I'd await word from K, but I'm apt to get my three million bucks from the nice Nigerian man before THAT happens...

[CameronDuke]

In his pre-game press conference, Coach K today said Jalen Johnson has worked out and will travel with the team to Blacksburg. He'll suit up, but it's not clear that he will play on Tuesday night.



https://twitter.com/BrendanRMarks/st...75539008180228

Alright! Will be great to see the big man suited up! Certainly a step in the right direction!

[DavidBenAkiva]

I am excited to see what Jalen Johnson looks like when he returns to action. In my mind, he immediately solves two huge problems for Duke right now: interior defense and transition offense. Duke has a number of shot-blockers on the roster but haven't been able to play them much for health or overall effectiveness reasons. Johnson can provide the help defense on the interior that this team desperately needs. In the first three games of the year, Duke's defense was pretty good and bordered on excellent. Since the Illinois game, the offense has taken a dramatic turn for the better while the defense has really suffered. Teams are scoring way too easily around the rim. And then when Duke has generated turnovers on defense, the inability to run an effective break has been painful to watch. Johnson gives the team that big athletic body they need to finish a fast break. If all Johnson does is play sound defense, rebound, and get out in transition when Goldwire and others strip the ball, he'll be a huge help.

[Kedsy]

I am excited to see what Jalen Johnson looks like when he returns to action.

Probably about the same. His hair might be a little longer.

[scottdude8]

I am excited to see what Jalen Johnson looks like when he returns to action. In my mind, he immediately solves two huge problems for Duke right now: interior defense and transition offense. Duke has a number of shot-blockers on the roster but haven't been able to play them much for health or overall effectiveness reasons. Johnson can provide the help defense on the interior that this team desperately needs. In the first three games of the year, Duke's defense was pretty good and bordered on excellent. Since the Illinois game, the offense has taken a dramatic turn for the better while the defense has really suffered. Teams are scoring way too easily around the rim. And then when Duke has generated turnovers on defense, the inability to run an effective break has been painful to watch. Johnson gives the team that big athletic body they need to finish a fast break. If all Johnson does is play sound defense, rebound, and get out in transition when Goldwire and others strip the ball, he'll be a huge help.

Agreed. Mark Williams will be a major contributor in a Duke uniform, if not this year than later in his career. But he just doesn't fit against the type of teams we've faced recently and look to face in the near-term. Slotting Johnson into his starting slot makes us smaller, but gives us a much higher offensive ceiling and a better ability to guard smaller squads.

While it might have seemed insane in the preseason, I think for the foreseeable future Wendell will be relegated to a super-sub role, and Hurt and Johnson will man the frontcourt with a three guard perimeter, at least to start games. With Wendell showing he can play the 4 in the right setting, he'll still see 20-30 minutes a game giving basically everyone a rest (all three of our guards can shift over and handle the point, and both Hurt and Johnson can operate at the 5). I think we're heading for a situation where we essentially have six starters, with Jaemyn, Joey, and the rest filling in as necessary. Personally, I like that set up.

[MarkD83]

I am excited to see what Jalen Johnson looks like when he returns to action. In my mind, he immediately solves two huge problems for Duke right now: interior defense and transition offense. Duke has a number of shot-blockers on the roster but haven't been able to play them much for health or overall effectiveness reasons. Johnson can provide the help defense on the interior that this team desperately needs. In the first three games of the year, Duke's defense was pretty good and bordered on excellent. Since the Illinois game, the offense has taken a dramatic turn for the better while the defense has really suffered. Teams are scoring way too easily around the rim. And then when Duke has generated turnovers on defense, the inability to run an effective break has been painful to watch. Johnson gives the team that big athletic body they need to finish a fast break. If all Johnson does is play sound defense, rebound, and get out in transition when Goldwire and others strip the ball, he'll be a huge help.

Jalen also would create additional match-up problems for the other team while Duke is on offense. Right now, teams can play 3 guards to match the guards and only have to deal with Hurt as a match-up issue (center - take them outside; small forward take them inside). With Jalen being active and being able to rebound, if Hurt is covered by a small Jalen is more active than bigs and can tire them out. If Hurt is covered by a center, Jalen can get lots of rebounds.

(I like talking about this a lot more than off-topic stuff.)