It’s been a long time coming for Duke fans and the college basketball world in general but we are back baby! Not many Countdown to Craziness events have had as much hype as this one, maybe Zions year. This year was different so many reasons. The obvious thing that makes today special is it’s Coach K’s last, that coupled with Cameron being an empty shell last season and the return of crowd noise, the return of energy. It was sorely missed and desperately needed. The fans did not disappoint. Cameron was packed, it was loud and boy did we need it.
The much-anticipated night began with Duke student group performances before introductions of the men’s squad. After warming up the fans, the Blue Devils took to the court for two 12-minute intrasquad games. The first game ended in a 22-22 tie before White flexed its muscles in the second game and pulled away for a 34-14 victory.
There’s zero need to overly analyze an intrasquad scrimmage but there’s always a nugget or two you can glean from something like this.
“I thought it was just a great day for our Athletics Department, and Duke, to finally have thousands of people come together in Cameron,” said head coach Mike Krzyzewski. “It was just a great atmosphere … I thought our kids played hard, and pretty well. I was really pleased with the entire day.”
The much-anticipated night began with Duke student group performances before introductions of the men’s squad. After warming up the fans, the Blue Devils took to the court for two 12-minute intrasquad games. The first game ended in a 22-22 tie before White flexed its muscles in the second game and pulled away for a 34-14 victory.
Freshman Trevor Keels led the Blue Devils with 19 points over both games, to go along with five rebounds and five assists while sophomore Mark Williams combined for a double-double with 15 points and 11 boards. Sophomore Jeremy Roach led the way with eight assists.
In the first contest, the Blue Team jumped out to a 15-11 lead with 5:53 remaining when Roach found Keels for a triple. But Paolo Banchero found his grove late in the period and sparked a run with a rebound, a dunk in transition, a blocked shot and another layup to tie the game at 15-15 with 3:41 left.
Wendell Moore Jr., canned a three for White with 1:52 left to make it 22-19, but Joey Baker answered with a three of his own off an assist from Roach on the next possession to cap the scoring at 22-22.
After head coach Mike Krzyzewski addressed the crowd at halftime, White came out hot in the second game and opened a 10-6 lead thanks to a Banchero layup in transition. A Moore jumper made it 19-11, and then back-to-back buckets by Williams – a dunk off a pass from Banchero and a three made it 24-11 and brought the sellout crowd to its feet with 3:45 to play.
White was led by Keels and Williams with 12 and 11, respectively, as White shot 13-of-21 from the field in the second game, including a pair of threes from Keels to take the 20-point victory.
Takeaways
Paolo is going to be a special player. He didn’t have a great shooting night which happens to every player, probably pressing a bit but seeing him lead the break, deliver accurate passes off the break is something that is going to be magical for this Duke team. If that becomes a regular thing defenses will not be able to account or get set and Duke will have great offensive advantages. The frontcourt for Duke in general is a problem. They are formidable and can come at you with different looks. The adage of iron sharpening iron is going to be so evident as Mark Williams, Theo John and Paolo Banchero beat each other up in practice. Mark is just going to be difficult to score over and he moves his feet well when guarding on the perimeter. Coach K remarked that when Mark gets tired which happens with how Duke plays defense Theo John brings in another very high level defender to spell him. It’s going to be a very good year for that position. Mark was Mark tonight, basically cleaning the glass and erasing shots like the pink part of a number 2 pencil. Theo brings a hook shot that is smooth and unguardable on offense. He gets the pass and if he’s within range he’s going to throw it down and if not he’s a capable passer and that hook is pretty.
The backcourt situation is build for transition and speed. Seeing Trevor Keels and Jeremy Roach on the court you’d think they’d played together before…oh wait, they have. Roach did more deferring to Keels in the backcourt but had a couple of nice dimes, one pocket pass for a dunk and one alley oop to Keels. Keels may have been the most impressive player on the court He seemed to be all over the place offensively. Keels scored scored with ease, BIG guard energy is real. Jeremy Roach did his damage as a dimer dishing 8 assists over the two games – 2 led to dunks, one on a pretty alley oop to his backcourt mate Trevor Keels. Tales of Wendell Moore’s improved athleticism are not exaggerated he almost threw down what would have been the dunk of the night off of a missed shot. He did a lot of handling in the scrimmage and did have a couple of turnovers but definitely seemed to handle the ball relatively well and his shot looked smooth.
Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
