Duke Runs Away From Central, 121-56
Although the season is quite young, Duke has performed publicly on four occasions now, and it’s become ever clearer that we may be in the presence of greatness.
Kyle Singler is showing every sign of being an extraordinary talent. His basic gifts will leave Duke fans and everyone else searching for comparisons. On a basic level, he falls somewhere between Luol Deng and Danny Ferry in that he’s a big player with tremendous skills. We compared him in a sense to Tim Duncan recently in that he can put up big stats before you realize it. But there is probably a better comparison, and that’s to Shane Battier.
Singler will have to work hard to become as great as Battier was at Duke, but what made Battier great wasn’t just his talent but rather his leadership and his willingness to impose his personality on his team.
Singler has a more imposing game as a freshman than Battier did (Battier though had huge talent on that team and subordinated himself accordingly). But he’s showing signs that, like Battier, he can wrap his hands around the neck of the game and bend it to his will.
It’s not just the fact that Singler has only missed three shots in three games, counting the two exhibition games. It’s not his near double-digit rebounding so far. It’s that he’s good at everything – in many departments he appears to be the best on his team – and that he is communicating brilliantly, particularly on defense.
It’s hard to remember a freshman talking so much on defense and showing such leadership so early. But you can see him telling people where to go. You can see him pointing out problem areas, anticipating trouble. And you can see his teammates accepting this from a freshman. It’s amazing.
But of course he’s not doing it alone. Duke beat Central 121-56, a 65 point drubbing, and a number of people played well.
Lance Thomas is showing that he can be a force in the press as he bagged four steals. His offense wasn’t huge, but he’s developing a role similar to what James Mays does at Clemson, and that’s all to the good.
Greg Paulus didn’t score much in this game and didn’t need to. He did have four assists in 19 minutes to one turnover.
Gerald Henderson shot 5-10 with five boards and his requisite stunning athleticism. DeMarcus Nelson scored 10 points and grabbed eight boards.
Nolan Smith scored 16 points and handed out four assists, while Marty Pocius scored 10 points.
Taylor King finally unleashed his three point shot, hitting 5-7 for 20 points, while Jon Scheyer hit 3-4 from three point range, scoring 13 (and led the team in minutes played, off the bench, for the second game in a row).
Brian Zoubek fouled out in 16 minutes but also grabbed nine boards in 16 minutes, which is impressive.
As a team, Duke shot 16-28 from three point range after some dismal shooting in the exhibition games, and hit almost 77% from behind the line in the second half. Duke also shot an impressive 84% from the line, going 27-32.
Duke also forced Central to cough it up 26 times, continuing the strong defensive performance shown in the two exhbition games.
Duke has a lot of things to work through this season, not least of all being basically a small team. But 121 points means that some big guys have to haul their keisters up and down the court a bunch of times and after 70 or 80 trips like that, being big is counterproductive.
Duke isn’t going to score 121 points every time out, either, but it sure looks like the new offense is high octane, and that it’s going to be fun to watch. Bring on the Aggies!
Notes – after the game, Coach K got both teams to pose for a picture together, which was a nice touch…NCCU takes on Rutgers next….having two Lithuanians in the game didn’t work out as Central’s Marius Vaskys had a minor injury…the Crazies did a great job and really packed it in…