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Corey: Maui Proves "They're Better Than We Thought They Would Be"
11/28/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
DURHAM, N.C. ? The pictures of Duke's triumphant basketball team celebrating around the Maui Invitational championship trophy conjured up the image of another unexpected victory: freshly re-elected Harry Truman's gleeful mockery of a Chicago Daily Tribune headline proclaiming, “Dewey Defeats Truman!”
The stakes were certainly higher in 1948, but the media's affliction ? premature excoriation ? has occurred with just as much regularity in the past year during the sports punditry's oafish eagerness to draft the obituary for Duke basketball.
“This ?It' program is slipping,” an unidentified writer for Sports Illustrated opined, blaming this assertion on supposedly anonymous critics named only as “those who believe,” the invisible author of which failing veil his own unfounded opinion.
Sadly, the miracles of modern science are yet to remedy this ailment. But Mike Krzyzewski and his players know that despite the fact that they have no control over the opinions people hold, they can control the facts at their disposal.
And so it was at the Maui Invitational, where Duke earned its stripes with its evolving adaptation of the Phoenix Suns offense and its nascent embrace of the 2-3 zone, the formidability of which gave its foes?Princeton, Illinois and Marquette alike?very little to write home about. Indeed, they're perhaps best-positioned to attest to the absurdity of the omens the media purportedly foresaw: Duke is quite good. So much so that one ESPN commentator admitted toward the end of the Blue Devils' dismantling of the Fighting Illini, “They're better than we thought they would be.”
Though the season remains young, the enormity of Duke's improvement is indeed very clear. Significant flaws remain, of course?defensive rebounding against Illinois was suspect; turnovers were far too abundant against Eastern Kentucky on Sunday afternoon?but significant strengths have arisen, as well.
DeMarcus Nelson is having a Carrawell-esque senior season. His ability to penetrate and muscle through opposing defenses?and to finish?has been on wonderful display, opening up lanes for his teammates and creating opportunities for Duke's other slashers: Gerald Henderson, Nolan Smith and Greg Paulus.
Henderson is widely praised for his superior athleticism (his authoritative one-handed slam against Marquette was SportsCenter's top play the following morning, but was less impressive than his two-handed block of a jump shot against Illinois). He is rarely praised for his versatility, however. His ball-handling is dramatically improved from a year ago, as is his effectiveness on both ends of the floor. He's moving well without the ball, finding and scoring from open spots on the perimeter and in the lane, a skill aided by his ability to jump and release high and fast enough to evade the reach of defenders. Indeed, he is now a match-up as troublesome as the one Kyle Singler presents.
And Singler was dangerous in Maui, earning Tournament MVP honors. Like Henderson, he can score from anywhere. In the year of outstanding freshmen, Singler may be the most polished, and the best-positioned to help his team to previously unexpected heights.
Of course, the biggest question prior to this year?and the biggest question that remains?is how Duke would be able to handle its lack of an All-American in the paint. Since 1998, Duke has had at least one future NBA draft pick at that spot, a status that is less certain for Lance Thomas and Brian Zoubek than it ever was for Shelden Williams or Josh McRoberts when they inherited the reigns from Elton Brand and Carlos Boozer. Thus far, Thomas has demonstrated a new array of post-moves that will only improve and diversify over the course of the season, and Zoubek's contributions?particularly on defense?have been noteworthy, particularly because his rehabilitation from off-season surgery remains ongoing.
Yes, Duke must work fervently at shoring up its rebounding. And no, the Maui Invitational title does not nullify the doubts about the Blue Devils in 2007. But in its victory over Marquette, in particular?a bona fide top-ten team led by one of the nation's best backcourts?was indicative of the kind of intestinal fortitude that has always accompanied the physical attributes of Coach K's best teams.
Marquette's phenomenal Dominic James scored but a single point in the second half against Duke, and yet the Golden Eagles kept coming. Wave after wave was deflected successfully, however, with the Blue Devils making clutch free throws in the final minute to hold on to the victory.
As such, the win was a statement of sorts, and not just to those doubting the mortality of the program. It was a win for the players and the staff, who can take comfort in and build upon the confidence they earned in Hawaii, and translate it into an even greater determination to climb back to the top of the ACC and the NCAA.
To get there, many are praising Duke's new offensive system. But the truth is that Coach K's Blue Devils have always liked to run, and that Mike D'Antoni's NBA-ready offense has simply been infused in part with that which Coach K's teams have always been so good at doing: Outscoring opponents.
What Duke had gotten away from in recent years was a multidimensionality that had provided a framework of success in previous decades. On any given night, any Blue Devil could step up and be a leading scorer in the 1980s and 1990s. There were those who scored the most with the most consistency, of course, and their names will forever be enshrined in NCAA lore as a result. But it wasn't until the J.J. Redick-Shelden Williams era that the Blue Devils top two scorers could be reasonably predicted with such accuracy. It was a formula that took Duke to a Final Four and brought it much success, but it's a formula that has been tweaked in favor of the 2007-08 vehicle being driven by the Blue Devils. In seven games, five different players have led Duke in scoring.
And that kind of diversity has led Duke to an unblemished record thus far. Losses will surely come and go as the season oscillates towards March, of course. But when that time comes, the headlines will surely be different than they were a year ago, the obituaries of Duke basketball having been shredded and resting in pieces on the editing room floor.
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