Not many teams would play a pre-conference schedule like Duke. Coach K plays anybody any where before the ACC conference games begin. Unlike Coach’s Like Boeheim who pad their teams wins by playing nobody at all during the pre-conference schedule. Coach K pushes his team to the limit every year.
Right now Duke is No. 2 in The AP poll behind no other than Indiana. After seeing what they did to North Carolina I would have to say they are the favorites to win this year. But Duke is hot on their heels! Nobody in the country has played the schedule Duke has. The Blue Devils — who beat then-No. 3 Kentucky in Atlanta and then-No. 2 Louisville in the Bahamas — won their 97th straight against non-ACC visitors to Cameron Indoor Stadium. They have already faced and beat 3 top 4 teams in 7 games. Two other games was to NCAA tournament teams in VCU and Minnesota. When you look at the coaches coach K has beat early in the season, he deserves even more credit. Shaka smart, Tubby Smith, Rick Pitino and John Calipari. Thats 3 national championships and a host of Final Fours.
The Dukies are lead by 3 seniors. Mason Plumlee who finished with 21 points and 17 rebounds in a win vs No. 4 Ohio State Wednesday. Ryan Kelly who had 15 points and Seth Curry who is battling an injury and had only 4 points. Seth is the leading scorer on the Blue Devils this year. But the two biggest reasons Duke is 7-0 has been Quinn Cook and Rasheed Sulaimon.
Lets start with Cook: He has come a long way from last year, when it seemed like he was in the dog house. In actuality he just got healthy this summer. Going thru your freshman season with a bum knee is hard on any player. Add the fact that your a Point Guard for Duke and it makes it even tougher. Cook didn’t even start for the first couple of game during the season, But once he got the chance to fully show what he can do when healthy it’s been a huge sigh for duke fans. Coming in he was a Mcdonald’s All American but last year he did not look like that. This year he was named MVP of the Battle for Atlantis in the Bahama’s. During the Tourney he finished with 28 assists to less than 10 turnovers. Duke now has it Point Guard for now and the future. If you look at all the national champion Duke teams, they all had a great PG. From Hurley to J-Will to Scheyer they all played an important part to winning those chips. Now theres Cook!
And Lastly theres Sulaimon, the super athletic freshmen is exactly what duke needed after Austin Rivers. Rasheed defends three different positions and does it very well. He is a team player who plays without the ball. He is an above average 3 point shooter who takes good shots. Coach K has to be pleased with the way these two have been playing so far. Duke has the talent to win a national Championship this year but the one problem I do see is a Lack of depth. There really is no center after MP2. Tyler Thorton and Josh Hariston are the only reliable bench players and they are inconsistent on the offensive end.
Regardless of that problem MP2 is looking like the best big man in the country and is a definite National Player of the Year Candidate. This team has been tested and so far has passed with flying colors. Lets see if Coach K can take this team like many before to the promise land!
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