2K Sports Classic Title Game

First tournament win of the season for the Dukies and they did it against a pretty game Michigan team. It seems as though Duke has found an early niche on the defensive side of the ball. When they get in trouble on offense, they go to Gerald Henderson and Kyle Singler. This team has been able to win playing a few different kinds of games, but their defense will save them this year. I am surprised how good Nolan Smith is playing so far this year. If he continues to play like this, I won't be as concerned about the Duke backcourt.

These early season tournaments are a time for the coaches to experiment and see what they have. I like the starting 5 of Singler, Zoubek, Henderson, Smith, and Scheyer. You have 3 scorers on the floor in Scheyer, Singler, and Henderson, a big post presence (at least on defense) in Zoubek, and Smith who can do it all. Right now the Blue Devils are deep and I hope they can stay healthy. I want to see this team as they mature over the year and I want to see something past the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament.

2K Sports Classic

After the destruction of the Blue Hose (lot's of bad jokes about this, some are here), the Blue Devils moved on to semi finals by beating the Georgia Southern Eagles, 97-54. This ended up being a blow out with Kyle Singler leading the way with 19 points and 8 rebounds. From my last post, the Blue Devils seemed to take an interest in rebounding the ball against the Eagles, and that helped fuel their offense. Elliott Williams led the team with 11 rebounds, which is great for a guard. I liked Lance Thomas' hustle and aggression, even if it was against a smaller team. He's got to do that each game, especially when it comes time to playing the big boys. The rest of the crew played well and I'm sure that Coach K was happy with this game.

The Good: Other than the bigs on this team, the two guys that will have the most impact are Gerald Henderson (did you see the block of that dunk?) and Jon Scheyer. Henderson of course brings the athleticism that most Duke teams lack, and he has a decent enough stroke to score from pretty much anywhere on the court. Scheyer is,....well, I'm going to say this, special. This kid is tough, he has that 3 pointer, and he can get to the rim. He's a better version of, dare I say it, JJ Redick. He may not score as many points and hit as many shots as Redick did in his career at Duke, but he'll definitely be close.

The Bad: Faster, more athletic wings are going to give the Blue Devils problems. If you watched this game, there were times that the Eagles had opportunities to score but just couldn't hit shots. That won't always happen when you get into ACC play. I know this team is growing as we watch them, but rebounding and lack of defensive speed on the wings could be a downfall of this team.

Men's College Basketball

It's just getting started. The college basketball season is opening. I will from time to time cover some of the college basketball games, with a heavy leaning to the ACC. Yes, I grew up in ACC country and watched the teams dominate the country year after year. There is no better basketball, year in year out, than what you get in the ACC. I am a Duke homer, although I try and give a fair account to all of the games. So, with that said, the first game we'll talk about happened at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

First up: Presbyterian @ Duke (2K Sports Classic)

We knew this wasn't a good matchup for those from Presbyterian, but this was a warm up for the Blue Devils. The Blue Devils return a squad loaded with talent (but not as much as their cross town rivals, UNC) and a coach with an Olympic Gold medal. Coach K got to see a lot while working with D'Antoni this summer and hoped to implement some of that offense into his system. Al'Lonzo Coleman (13 points) scored a bucket 17 seconds into the game and that was the only time the Blue Hose led. Duke was led by Kyle Singler with 19 points and it was interesting to see that Greg Paulus didn't start. Coach K wasn't happy with the defensive intensity at times of his team and he will harp on that later. All in all this was a ho hum win for the Blue Devils as they start the season 1 - 0.

My take on this year's Duke team: Until I see a Duke team with a presence in the middle I can't really pick them to win it all. They were much better off when they had a Laettner, Carlos Boozer, Elton Brand, Shelden Williams, and even when they had Roshown McLeod. Duke always has good wing players and good point guards (except Paulus), but they need a good big man, even if he doesn't do anything but rebound well. If they don't rebound well, you'll see a lot of pictures of Coach K like the one above.

Who's your team and where do you think they will end up at the end of the year?