Two Good Reads About Duke’s Win Over Jacksonville

The Chronicle has two articles up on Monday’s opener against Jacksonville. The first is a general look at the game with comments from Coach Scheyer and various players.

The team seems generally pleased with their effort. The writer, Andrew Long, praises the upperclassmen - Jeremy Roach and transfers Ryan Young and Jordan Grandison for providing a steady presence.

That’s on-target. Obviously Roach, as the captain and point guard, had a key role and will in any game. Scheyer kept him in with foul trouble because of his immense importance. But Young was really, really good and Grandison, while he didn’t shoot well, was very much a steadying factor.

Long also talks about Duke’s impressive defense. They broke down a few times as Jacksonville got easier penetration than probably Scheyer wanted, but a lot of that is likely communication and choices: you can’t stop everything. We don’t know of a serious game where one team has been shut out. But Duke made it pretty difficult.

Props to Andrew Long - this is nice work.

The second article is about Mark Mitchell, who had a tremendous game. As Young said in the first article, roles are still being sorted out, but if Mitchell is Duke’s third, or possibly fourth best freshman, this class is going to be amazing - and Duke’s going to be a load when Dereck Lively and Dariq Whitehead are back.

Also, here’s an article from the Jacksonville paper about the game. Dolphins coach Jordan Mincy paid Duke a nice compliment: “No matter who wears that jersey, they come to play. They play at a high level and they understand the tradition here at Duke. We thought we could hold our own because we are a veteran team.”

Not this time, but Jacksonville is well-coached. They should have a good year.