DBP Newsletter #2
Defense, Schedule, and Points-per-Possession
Duke’s Defense
Through two games, Duke has a 92.0 defensive rating,1 while Maine (39.5% eFG) and Army (39.1% eFG) both posted an effective field goal percentage below 40%. Coach Scheyer has continually stressed defense during his tenure, often noting the importance of guarding the ball to prevent getting into defensive rotations. Of course, at this point in the season there are still plenty of improvements the Blue Devils can make on that end of the floor, but Duke defended both opponents well for extended periods of the game. Maine went 9:45 without a field goal in the second half, and Army only managed five points over a 12:50 stretch in the first half.
Here is the first defensive possession of the season. Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach defend the initial pin down action well - Kon gets into the body of his man and stays connected over top of the screen, while Khaman opens up wide to deter any cuts to the basket. Duke then gets into excellent positioning on the ghost ball screen, with Cooper Flagg and Tyrese Proctor on the help side. After ball reversal, Cooper and Tyrese each get a deflection, before Proctor challenges a desperation three leading to a shot clock violation.
A short time later, four consecutive stops helped spark a 14-0 run for the Blue Devils. Duke uses full-court pressure - straight man with Sion James harassing the ball handler, and a 1-2-2 (or 1-2-1-1) trap after made free throws from Cooper Flagg - forcing Maine to use valuable seconds off the shot clock before initiating their offense, and creating back-to-back steals in the passing lane from Cooper and Maliq Brown. Finally, Tyrese Proctor and Khaman Maluach communicate well to defend the ball screen - first, Khaman is in drop coverage with excellent positioning again from all five guys. Tyrese and Khaman then switch the second ball screen, forcing another near shot clock violation. It is beautiful when defense turns into offense. Bonus: watch Mason Gillis slip out of the ball screen with Kon for a corner three to finish the run.
Stats
After a few more games, I’ll start to include various statistics from the season, but I’d like to let the sample size increase a little first. In the meantime, let’s take a look at Duke’s lineups from the first two games. Coach Scheyer used 28 different five-man combinations, with six different lineups appearing in both games. Again, it’s a small sample size, but here are the most used lineups so far this season.
Early Season Schedule
I love Duke’s non-conference schedule this season. Kentucky is up next tomorrow night in the Champions Classic. The Blue Devils will travel to Arizona on November 22, before taking on Kansas in Las Vegas on November 26. Then Auburn will come to Cameron for the ACC/SEC Challenge (December 4). In fact, there are great match-ups throughout the early stages of college basketball. Already this season we’ve had Gonzaga/Baylor, Kansas/UNC in Allen Fieldhouse, and Auburn/Houston. Other games to look forward to include Kansas/Michigan State (11/12), UNC/Alabama (12/4) and UConn/Gonzaga (12/14), not to mention all the holiday tournaments (the Maui field is loaded). Duke will also play Illinois in February in Madison Square Garden, and everyone involved with college basketball should want more of these types of games in the years to come.
Mic’d Up
In the season opener, the broadcast noted Jon Scheyer’s 54 wins trail only Bill Guthridge (58) for most of any ACC coach in history in their first two seasons.2 I’ve enjoyed hearing Coach Scheyer mic’d up on social media some during the preseason, including the latest version below, and I’m pumped for year three.
Thanks for reading, Go Duke!
Adjusted Defensive Efficiency (points allowed per 100 possessions adjusted for pace)
Most wins in their first two seasons in ACC history: Bill Guthridge (58), Jon Scheyer (54), Everett Case (54), Roy Williams (52), Rick Pitino (50)
Sources