A Different Duke Team

Pregame - when Tech fans were excited.

On Thursday afternoon, I received a great surprise. I found out my boss had tickets to the Duke/Virginia Tech game and she happened to have an extra ticket that wasn't going to be used. She offered me the ticket - and even better, she offered it for FREE! So I spent Thursday evening headed to Blacksburg with my boss, her son, and her boyfriend and we made it to Cassell Coliseum just before the game. It was a great time and I really enjoyed watching Duke shut up the Virginia Tech crowd in a convincing victory. Here were a few things that stuck out to me from this game:

1. Seth Curry is an enigma. Aside from Austin Rivers, Curry might have more potential than any other player on the team. Yet, he seems to be playing with the confidence of someone who is hoping for a chance to get in the game during a blowout. I really think Curry has struggled to figure out his role this season - switching back and forth between the primary ballhandler who runs the offense or the second guard who plays off the ball and looks to score. The environment at Cassell Coliseum couldn't have been easy either. At one point I told the guy beside me, "It must be weird playing a tough road game and looking up in the rafters and seeing your dad's picture and jersey hanging for the other team." I was happy to see Curry make some nice plays down the stretch and get to the free throw line - I just hope he can consistently produce throughout the entire game.

2. Jeff Capel has taken a very active role as an assistant coach. I wasn't sure how Capel would transition into his new position as an assistant coach under Mike Krzyzewski. Coming from a major college program (Oklahoma) where he had a decent amount of success, I thought Capel might be more of an observer or a quiet presence on the bench so as not to take the attention away from Coach K or the other assistants who have more of a relationship with the players - I was way off. Capel was very assertive with the team and took charge of many of the timeouts, getting in the faces of many of the players. He was especially energetic with the young players and seemed to take advantage of any opportunity to offer some coaching to Quinn Cook and Austin Rivers. I don't know how long Duke will have him on the sidelines, but Capel appears to have fully embraced his role as an assistant. Good for him!

3. Duke needs a physical post presence. Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kelly are match-up problems for many teams - Plumlee's speed in transition and Kelly's perimeter game make them tough to guard. Unfortunately, both of them seem to present defensive liabilities for Duke, particularly Kelly. Both of them have the ability to block shots and Mason has become an excellent rebounder, but there are too many possessions where they get beat by other physical players in the paint. I think Duke is the best team in the country at drawing charges from players driving in out of control from the perimeter - the problem happens when Plumlee or Kelly decides to flop into the front row instead of banging and not giving up position. This point is very supportive of the constant statement, "DUKE NEEDS TO RECRUIT MORE BIG BLACK POST PLAYERS!". I'm looking at you, Tony Parker!