Duke’s ‘Lack Of Depth’ Is Overplayed

The Duke Blue Devils have been dominant so far in the NCAA tournament, beating both Robert Morris and San Diego State by a combined 48 points. Even with the dominance though there are still some question marks for this Duke team namely on the defensive side of the ball.

One perceived weakness that people continue to talk about is their lack of depth. Duke only has eight scholarship players at this point which leaves them a bit short-handed, but this story line is being overplayed.

All eight of the scholarship players for Duke get minutes and all of them serve a huge purpose. Depth is nice to have, but it is certainly not a necessity in the NCAA tournament. In the NCAA tournament you don’t have to play on consecutive days, and you get almost a full week off between sites, therefore the players are typically going to be well rested for each game.

Having only eight scholarship players does sound like it could be detrimental, but in Duke’s case it’s not because all eight scholarship players are good players. An eight man rotation is actually pretty typical for any basketball team. Consider this, Kentucky, who is considered a very deep team, played only nine players in the round of 32, and one of those players played only two minutes.

Yes Kentucky has more players available to them, but unless Duke suffers an injury that doesn’t matter because both teams have the same number of players in their rotation.

Marshall Plumlee is the key guy coming off the bench if only for the fact that he comes in and gives Jahlil Okafor a rest. When Plumlee is in the game he provides energy, rebounding and defense, all essential things for a team.

The Blue Devils also bring Grayson Allen, and Amile Jefferson off the bench, and they can help provide rest for guys like Justise Winslow and Quinn Cook. Having a guy like Allen coming off the bench is a major luxury, because although he is the least heralded of the Duke freshman, he is crazy talented and can put up numbers in a hurry.

The only area that the lack of scholarship players has hurt Duke is in the fact that they can’t do as much in practice. Due to the lack of numbers, Duke has had lighter practices all year to avoid injuries and to keep the players bodies fresh, and it has worked.

Since Mike Krzyzewski dismissed Rasheed Sulaimon, the perception of Duke has been that they are a talented team with not enough depth to make a deep tournament run. The reality of the situation is actually very different. Coach K may not have as many players available to him as other coaches, but his rotation of players is just as deep as a team that is perceived to be deep like Kentucky.

Duke is heading to Houston to take on Utah in the Sweet 16 on Friday night, and they are going into that game as one of the hottest teams in the country. They may not win the National Championship, heck they may not even get past Utah, but it won’t be because of their lack of depth. In this case perception and reality are very different, and Duke’s depth won’t be a factor in how they fare in the rest of the tournament.