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Defense Next Year

df64

Cameron Crazy
Feb 2, 2006
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Not sure how the offense is going to work out, but I really think next year's squad could be really special on the defensive end. One of the things that caught my attention last year was what happened the couple of games where Jah, Justise, Quinn and or Tyus were out of the game. Quite often, when Marshal, Matt, and Amile were in at the same time, they extended leads. They really got after it on the defensive end. Grayson's D really picked up at the end too. With Obi's strength and rebounding and Luke's length, I have been thinking for a while that this could be a really tough, Butler like kind of defense. If Obi can move his feet laterally and if Luke can be a physically stronger version of Scheyer, look out. Getting Thornton adds even more toughness and versatility to the D. I hate to say goodbye to this season/team, but I am pumped for next year.
 
Defense won't be a problem from the bigs. Playing defense without fouling, and offensive production will however.

Will be interesting to see how everything comes together offensively as well. How much impact Kennard has. If Jones becomes anything more than a spot up shooter. If Grayson can consistently be the kid from the WF/Title Game. How Thornton runs the show. Jeter is a wild card to me, no clue what to expect from him yet. And of course, we shall see what happens with Ingram, but he would be instant offense.
 
I can do without Butler's shooting... especially in that putrid title game lol
 
So much of next years team right now is unknown, its really hard to project what kind of team Duke will be. We'll be pretty young again, and that will have an impact on our defense.
 
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Right...let's not forget last years defense was bad most of the year. Zone helped but we saw a different defense in the tournament because of how quickly the freshmen adapted.

Winslow was also a very special defender and rebounder.
 
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I think it will depend a lot on the final composition of our roster and what type of role our veterans have on next year's team. I think we will have 3 good to very good defenders in MPIII, Amile, and Matt Jones, and Thornton also has a reputation as a good defender. When those 4 are out there, I suspect we'll be pretty good on that end of the court. The question, however, will be whether that lineup can score enough to stay out there together as a regular lineup, or whether we're going to have to regularly replace one or more of them with Kennard, Chase Jeter, and (possibly) Ingram -- I'm assuming Grayson at the 2. For instance, my guess would be that a Grayson/Kennard + Ingram combo at the 2/3 would have a tough time staying in front of people. IMO, the more we lean on our young guys for scoring punch the worse our defense gets.
 
I saw in a Jason Jordan article on Derryck Thornton that his number one priority is to lock down the opposing PG. He was responsible for over 25 five second calls on the perimeter! I know HS players were probably overwhelmed by his quickness but that is insane. He could be capable of what Quinn did last year with opposing star guards. Add that to Matt, Amile, and Marshall and they could quickly become a traditional extended man-to-man Duke defense.
 
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