Second Scrimmage Video: Work To Do, But The Frame Of A Good Duke Team Is Definitely There

• 0:12: Last time, Mark Mitchell took awhile to put his stamp on the game. Not this time. Aggression!
• 0:24: Jeremy Roach schools the young guys! Including Mitchell.
• 0:42: Jahlil Blakes with a solid drive on Dereck Lively. Somewhere, Mark Williams is shaking his head. But in fairness, Jaden Schutt was first up and couldn’t stop him.
• 0:58: Dariq Whitehead drives it home. Christian Reeves challenges. Is it bad that he couldn’t get it or good that he didn’t reach?
• 1:13: Whitehead again and from the right corner again. Max Johns can’t stop him.
• 1:24: Kyle Filipowski hits Ryan Young underneath who then makes a really smart pass out to Blakes for an easy shot. Blakes is looking good here.
• 1:35: Mitchell goes to the basket again on a nice drop off from Lively.
• 1:42: A couple of times so far, Schutt looked like he wasn’t quite there, but he’s the first guy in this video to dive on the floor which kind of makes him a ride or dive guy? Sorry. Anyway, the coaches were bound to have loved that. Plus he got the alert pass out too.
• 1:47: Open court, open lane, Dariq Whitehead is not giving it back. Powerful drive but under control the whole way.
• 1:57: This may be the best play we’ve seen Blakes make at Duke.
• 2:06: We see a good pass as sort of a force multiplier and Young has had two of them so far in this scrimmage. He’s winning us over, vaguely reminding us of the great Cameron Krutwig of Loyola. Dude couldn’t run, couldn’t jump. All he could do was gut you. So he did. Young has great vision and makes quick, smart decisions.
• Speak of the (Blue) Devil: watch him take Lively to the basket. Really this is a pretty brilliant shot because Lively has his hand WAY over the ball at the 2:22 mark, yet Young still scores. In the immortal words of Coach K (no, not those words): c’mon, man.
• 2:31: Mitchell has no idea what to do with Filipowski, which is reasonable given how big the guy is and he’s rolling down like water here. Lively comes over for backup but can’t quite get it. Again, it looks like he should have had it, but he’s second-line here. Still, it’s a bit odd.
• 2:37: Some nice ball movement here from Team Blue as it skips around the perimeter L-R then R-L before Whitehead drives on Young, who realizes he can’t do a thing...so draws a charge. He’s winning the smart play tally so far and it’s not really close. The Blue team reacts like it was a block but his feet looked set.
• 2:53: Whitehead bullies Blakes on a pull-up. He’s proving hard to stop, isn’t he?
• 3:00: Walk-on porn.
• 3:06: Blakes draws a charge on Lively on a break.
• 3:12: Blakes is rushing upcourt against Whitehead and we cannot figure out what he’s dong with his right left arm here.
• 3:25: Blakes gets one off over Lively again. Not that we’re counting, but that’s like three shots that he might have gotten that he didn’t.
• On second look, that was just a smart shot by Blakes. Lively didn’t have a chance at it.
• 3:43: Mitchell gets a nifty pass to Lively for a basket, but he was already at the basket. Why not finish? Still, it was unselfish, which is cool.
• 3:53: Roach takes it in vs. Lively and misses. Lively is getting a lot of pressure in this one. Schutt tips it out but white recovers and Filipowski nails the open J.
• 4:08: Young moves to help Filipowski on Whitehead but leaves Lively alone underneath. Ooops.
• 4:14: Mitchell jukes Filipowski but misses. Watch Filipowski go coast to coast and look totally at ease doing it. God Bless modern basketball. Spencer Hubbard really sells the charge but no one is buying it.
• 4:29: As Johns and Blakes close a trap on Whitehead, Roach realizes he’s likely to spin out of the double team and strips him clean. He saw Trevor Keels make that mistake a LOT last year.
• 4:37: Mark Mitchell for the three! Like Lively, he still looks coltish, but when he fills out, look out. Lively too.
• 4:46: If we haven’t told you this before, on YouTube, the < > keys work in slo-mo (hit pause first). Do it here and watch the move Whitehead puts on Johns. Then watch it again. And again. And again...it’s hypnotic.
• 4:54: Mitchell puts Reeves in spin cycle! But Reeves handles it pretty well.
• 5:03: Watch Schutt shoot. Seriously, it’s a beautifully sound shot. He’ll need a higher launch point eventually though.
• 5:16: Now watch him follow that up with a beautiful pass.
• 5:30: Young reminds us that you don’t need to dunk to score. Nice move inside.
• Mitchell tries to drive between Young and Reeves and Reeves cancels that.
• 5:50: Next play! Mitchell suckers Filipowski into paratrooper 101 and he’s gone.
• 5:59: Several things here, including a nice pass by Young, Roach one-handing the ball against the 5-8 Hubbard, then Blakes shoots on Lively again...only this time he’s right next to him. Lively probably fouled but as Bill Russell used to say...you can have the free throw, but NOT the layup.
• 6:26: Hubbard and Lively try to contain Roach, but too late! He spots Young heading to the basket and he scores against Lively again.
• Lively drains a three!
• Roach really seems to confuse Lively on this drive - watch his face - and dish to Young, who scores on Lively again.
• 7:28: and again!
• 7:36: Really, really sweet contested shot by Schutt.
• 7:43: Roach on an easy drive past Hubbard.
• 7:52: Mitchell takes it to Filipowski. The truth is neither of them can guard the other at this point.
• 7:57: Mitchell takes it in past Johns and Young.
• 8:10: Schutt gets another three to go. His confidence must be soaring.
• 8:19: Schutt drives and dishes to Lively for a shot in the lane.
• 8:34: Best passing of the day. Beautiful! Wow! Check out the touch pass by Whitehead. Mitchell got to start and finish.
• 8:43: Roach restores order with a three.
• 8:52: Blakes picks off Whitehead and takes it in. Nicely done.
• 9:00: Hands down the funniest and coolest play of the day. Somewhere, Keith Gatlind is smiling.
• 9:08: To pull this drive off, Roach had to go by Whitehead, Schutt and the 7-1 Lively. That’s freakin’ impressive.
• 9:15: Whitehead misses the last drive but Lively puts it back in at the jumper.

Some notes...This team is versatile in so many ways...we can see Schutt coming on fast...Whitehead is clearly lottery talent...Young is a great player for this team because he’s going to push Lively and Filipowski and will probably start some too...he’s much better than we thought...Blakes is showing real signs of growth...Tyrese Proctor has not yet arrived, due to his Team Australia commitment...this team is going to be a whole lot of fun.