One of the hallmarks of any successful Duke team is leadership. Like any other variable, that changes from year to year, but the best Duke teams have outstanding leadership.
By that measure, Duke is in great shape going to into this season as the Blue Devils have named Amile Jefferson, Matt Jones and Grayson Allen as team captains.
Jefferson is a fifth-year senior and Jones is a senior as well. Allen will be a junior.
All three have established reputations at Duke as very hard workers and superb defenders. Jones is regarded as Duke’s best communicator.
Early in his career, Coach K said of Jones that he had never had a bad practice and in the 2015 title game, Allen set the tone for a national championship by pulling off what Coach K called the best play he’d ever seen at Duke when he knocked the ball loose and dove on the floor in pursuit. Duke was down at the time and Allen’s play was electrifying.
Games are won on the court to be sure, but as we saw against Wisconsin, leaders set the tone. Duke will have three guys who can really step up in a number of ways.
Grayson Allen, Amile Jefferson, Matt Jones named Duke's captains