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ThreeMan.Weave.com has been cranking out the college basketball previews and they (or at least this particular writer) have Duke in at #10.
He bases that largely n the immense talent of freshman Paolo Banchero. Now 6-11 and 250, Banchero basically has a pro-ready game. We’re not saying he doesn’t need to improve - everyone does - but not many guys have this package of talent and kill at his age. He’s something else.
It’s generally a favorable and positive review, but he underrates a couple of things: three point shooting and defense. Oh, and an improved Jeremy Roach.
We’ll get into it more later but here’s what we see.
Duke has Joey Baker, Roach, Trevor Keels and Banchero for three point shooting. It won’t suprise us if Wendell Moore picks up there too.
The defensive base of Mark Williams, AJ Griffin, Moore and Roach is imposing. Keep in mind that Roach came to Duke off a knee injury and lost the summer work Duke usually puts in to Covid.He’ll be better.
The main cost of embracing one-and-done is not having experienced teams which means defense is harder to teach. We expect Griffin, Moore and Roach will try to push opponents towards Williams and Banchero and also Theo John when he’s in, and good luck. Those guys are long and get off the ground. Scoring on Duke is not going to be easy this year.