Season Preview

Last year, Duke came into the season with such high expectations and righfully so. They had the Rupp Award Winner from the year before, JJ Redick and Shelden Williams, the consensus top defensive player in the nation. However, with all of that pressure and expectations, it made it very hard to enjoy the games last season. If they lost or didn't play well, the media covered it more thoroughly than the War in Iraq.

This season is much different. Although they come into the season as the Preseason #11, no one considers this team a national title contender. How could they? Sure, everyone in the Duke community breathed a huge sign of relief when Josh McRoberts opted to return for another season but look at what they lost: JJ Redick, the best pure shooter in the history of college basketball (I don't even want to hear it Curtis Staples), Shelden Williams, the "Landlord" and they lost role players like Sean Dockery and Lee Melchionni, who even though he absolutely sucked ass last year, still gave them an experienced upperclassman.

So, what they have left over from last year isn't much. They have PG Greg Paulus, who although he led the ACC in assists as a freshman last season, plays matador defense. They have Josh McRoberts, who if he is as good as advertised, will be their best player this year and most prolific option in crunch time. Let's hope he wasn't overhyped by the same guy who overhyped Shavlik Randolph. They have DeMarcus Nelson, who if he stays out of the emergency room this year, will give them leadership and athleticism, something they sorely missed the last two years. They have Martynas Pocius, who according to Rich Majerus has nice calves. Let's hope the commentators have something good to say about his play this year instead of just his legs. They have Jamal Boykin, who in what I saw last year, is a mental case who will throw his body around for you and get loose balls but he won't be a Rolaids guy, instant relief off the bench. On the plus side, they get David McClure back after he redshirted last season with a knee injury. He looks good in preseason and I expect him to give them some solid minutes as well.

However, with that, the season really depends on the development of this highly recruited freshman class. Let me tell you now, Brian Zoubek at 7'1'' is the real deal. I saw him play at the Jordan Classic and he was nasty and then in the Blue/White Scrimmage game he absolutely ate McRoberts for lunch on the boards. Gerald Henderson will need to be exactly what he's been billed to be, an athletic wing man who can shoot, jump to the sky, and defend the other team's best perimeter player. Jon Sheyer will need to be the shooter that they so desperately will need now that JJ is gone. From what I've seen, he looks fairly unathletic but he could be a Chris Collins type down the road. Finally, Lance Thomas, who basically signed with Duke 20 minutes ago leaving Rutgers in the rearview mirror, will be the X factor for this team. People around the Rutgers program were looking at him as the savior to their program but on this Duke team, he will be the 4th option at best and should excel in this role.

My prediction for the season? Well, as Coach K says, don't set artificial numbers as your goals for a season because if you surpass them, you will have the tendency to be complacent. All I want from this team is for them to get better and more cohesive each and every game by using their superior athleticism and inside presence. That's another weird thing about this Duke team. In the past, Duke has been dominated by great guard play and great outside shooting. This team seems to have more an inside presence than good guards and they have amazing athleticism instead of great shooting. Will that be a recipe for success? We'll see starting tomorrow against Columbia.