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Duke Basketball: The Devil You Know?
Posted by Kevin Berger on February 8th, 2010 under Basketball, March Madness
The last game of the 2009 season for the Blue Devils was a wake up call.
And by wake up call I mean chasing ephedrine laced diet pills with a Red bull, and then sipping on a tall latte. Being bounced by 23 in the NCAA tournament by Villanova’s band of merry guards will do that to you.
In that game, Coach K was taking careful notes while the Villanova guards took turns blowing by Duke’s traditional pressure game for easy looks at the bucket. The problem wasn’t the defensive scheme that had been so successful for the program for the last 20 years. The problem was the players didn’t fit that scheme.
The personnel group for 2010 would be even less of fit with the departure of quick guard Elliot Williams and athletic wing Gerald Henderson.
Fast forward to today and the Devils are now the odds on favorite to win the ACC in what was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the program. But a lot of that rebuilding was done in the off season with a big scheme change on defense designed to better match the personnel group Coach K has on campus.
After last season, the Dukies had to come to the realization that their classic all out perimeter pressure defense designed to smother the ball and deny the wings probably wasn’t the best fit for their slower, oversized guards and undersized frontcourt.
The Blue Devil Staff understood, with a little help from ‘Nova, that there was no Bobby Hurley tip of the spear type on-ball pressure guy on this club. Instead they had Nolan Smith and John Scheyer. A long, but not overly quick backcourt.
There weren’t any freakishly athletic wings like Grant Hill to get into passing lanes for steals and dunks off the ball pressure. Duke had hybrid 4 Kyle Singler and a physical rebounding guy Lance Thomas.
In the paint, the Devils lacked back-line shot blocking erasers like Antonio Lang or Cherokee Parks to send back dribble penetrators that leaked through. Instead Coach K was going to roll with the Plumlee brothers and Brian Zoubek. Solid bigs but not erasers to whom you should be funneling ballhandlers.
So what changed?
The Hall of Fame coach decided to ratchet down the ball pressure and give more cushion to dribblers. The wing pressure was softened, making dribble penetration help from the wings more feasible, while the similarly sized players allowed the Devils to incorporate more switching.
At the end of the day, the goal was to help maintain a perimeter defensive “shell” which would give slower guards a better opportunity to stay in front of ballhandlers while the undersized frontcourt, with less penetration help responsibilities, had better position inside to execute block out assignments and rebound.
The results have been a stunning success. Duke is currently ranked 23rd in the nation in Ken Pomeroy’s pace adjusted defense, which is huge for an offensive squad like Duke that has three of the conference’s premier scorers.
With a month or so to go in the regular season, Duke is likely to win another conference title. And they’ve done it by essentially changing their defensive philosophy in a matter of months.
Unbelievable.
News flash: that Krzyzewski guy is pretty good.
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Vasherized said:
February 8th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
“Jealous … I’m jealous again.”
Nice work, Trips.
Sailor Ripley said:
February 8th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
I see a lot of folks in other places intimating that if Coach K were in charge of the UNC Tar Heels, they would be in better shape. That K is the best coach and Roy is the best recruiter.
What do you think about that?
February 8th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
I could see that because I don’t know that Roy Williams has ever had the flexibility to drastically change what he’s trying to do which is out athlete you on defense and then get out and run for easy buckets. That stuff is entrenched in his coaching DNA.
As far as the Tarheels go, with such little backcourt depth I find it amazing that RW hasn’t decided to take the air out of the ball a little and run more clock on offense to get their bigs in the game. UNC needs to try to win games in the 60’s.
Vasherized said:
February 8th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
Coach K’s kids always drain their FTs. What is he teaching that Barnes isn’t or is it all mental?
ghostofagroundgame said:
February 8th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
Well, the kids have to be able to get into Duke, albeit on a lessened academic evaluation. Theoretically, they are smart enough to learn the importance of free throws early on and, like, practice them and stuff.
February 8th, 2010 at 2:59 pm
Coach K had the benefit of playing for Bob Knight who is every bit the disciplinarian Coach Barnes is, so he’s been on the other side of the table as a player and knows when to use the carrot and when to use the stick. It’s one of Coack K’s true advantages over most coaches in that he was coached by one of the best so he understands how players react to certain methods.
So to answer your question, yes free throws are mental and Coach K is a master psychologist. Avery Bradley, who shot 77% from the foul line in high school and is now shooting 47% at Texas would probably be shooting closer to his high school average if he played at Duke.
Vasherized said:
February 8th, 2010 at 3:20 pm
Ah, the Barnes Mindfuck. It’s all-encompassing!
admin said:
February 9th, 2010 at 1:08 am
Sweet Jesus that’s ridonkulous.
Vasherized said:
February 9th, 2010 at 1:25 pm
By March he won’t even be able to hit the rim. We need an intervention NOW.
Where is SL Xpress when you need him? Shine the light for the Houston Batman.
On the refs « Heels Geek said:
February 22nd, 2010 at 1:27 pm
[...] doesn’t jibe with what happens on the court, though. Duke has scaled back its traditional pressure-heavy perimeter defense, in part because of a small backcourt rotation and [...]
Barking Carnival — Blog — Texas Bracketology and Gottlieb on Texas said:
March 1st, 2010 at 1:53 pm
[...] On the other end, the Devils are defending about as well as they have in more than a decade. They’ve softened their pressure to better accomodate their personnel. You can read about it here. [...]
March To March — Blog — One Seed Weaknesses IV: Duke Blue Devils said:
March 10th, 2010 at 9:56 am
[...] is where Coach K actually made the biggest adjustment to his system this season after being sliced and diced by the explosive Villanova backcourt in the 2009 [...]
March To March — Blog — Bracket Analysis: The South is a Bear of a Bracket said:
March 16th, 2010 at 9:38 am
[...] Duke was run out of the gym by Villanova in the tournament last year, Coach K decided to make some tweaks on the defensive side of the ball to help his players stay in front of quick [...]
March To March — Blog — Top Ten Reasons Why Cal Can Beat Duke said:
March 21st, 2010 at 9:55 am
[...] by Villanova’s guards and their relentless blow-by’s in last year’s tournament, Coach K decided it was best to soften pressure and play more of a Wazzou circa Tony Bennett style pack-line defense. (I hope our PAC 10 readers [...]
Roll On You Bears — Blog — The Top 10 Reasons our Cal Bears will beat the Duke Blue Devils said:
March 21st, 2010 at 10:50 am
[...] by Villanova’s guards and their relentless blow-by’s in last year’s tournament, Coach K decided it was best to soften pressure and play more of a Wazzou circa Tony Bennett style pack-line defense. (I hope our PAC 10 readers [...]