Jabari Does Buckets

Much attention has focused, and rightly so, on the immediate and persistent offensive prowess of Duke freshman Jabari Parker. Through a dozen games this season Parker averaged 22.2 points, with no fewer than 15 in a game (a win over Michigan) and no more than 27 (a lost to Kansas and a win against Alabama).

In the last home game of the 2013 calendar year, the forward led the Blue Devils with 23 points. Parker notched Duke's first 10 points, erasing the only lead held by a seasoned but overmatched Eastern Michigan squad.

Such surpassing individual offensive production is unusual at Duke, to say the least.

Only two freshmen led the Devils in scoring during Mike Krzyzewski's 34-year tenure - Johnny Dawkins in 1983 and Austin Rivers in 2012. Dawkins averaged 18.1 with a shortened, experimental 3-pointer. Rivers finished with 15.5 points per outing.

Should Parker maintain his current scoring pace -- a task apt to become increasingly challenging as the Blue Devils undertake their path through the ACC thicket -- he would become just the 10th Krzyzewski player to finish a season averaging at least 20 points.

Seven of the nine preceding 20-point efforts also paced the ACC. Currently Parker trails only N.C. State's T.J. Warren, who averaged 23.9 through a Dec. 28 loss to Missouri.

The two Blue Devils who chipped in more than Parker over the course of an entire season were both honored as ACC Player of the Year: Danny Ferry in 1989 and J.J. Redick in 2006.