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...29011466096641Beats 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.
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.
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...68787946074113Jalen Johnson will miss second game with foot injury. He's advanced to rehab mode and things are trending toward a return. Date TBD.
Scott Rich on the front page
Trinity BS 2012; University of Michigan PhD 2018
Duke Chronicle, Sports Online Editor: 2010-2012
K-Ville Blue Tenting 2009-2012
Unofficial Brian Zoubek Biographer
If you have questions about Michigan Basketball/Football, I'm your man!
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...75539008180228Mike 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.
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!
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.
Promising report. I would guess he will back against Pittsburgh but the fact it looks as though he will return soon is very encouraging.
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.
Scott Rich on the front page
Trinity BS 2012; University of Michigan PhD 2018
Duke Chronicle, Sports Online Editor: 2010-2012
K-Ville Blue Tenting 2009-2012
Unofficial Brian Zoubek Biographer
If you have questions about Michigan Basketball/Football, I'm your man!
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.)