Duke Basketball: Stock up, stock down after Blue Devils Canadian Tour
STOCK DOWN:
Marques Bolden – Expectations were very high entering the Canadian Tour for Marques Bolden as he enters his third season with the Duke Blue Devils.
It’s safe to say he fell very short of those expectations in the first three exhibition games of his junior season.
In the three games in Canada, Bolden only attempted three shots and did not score. However, Bolden did start against Ryerson University and the University of Toronto before coming off the bench against McGill University.
Duke needs Bolden to be productive this season as earlier in the summer Coach K was on CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein’s Podcast and he said that ‘we think he [Bolden] could have a huge year”.
As stated before, it’s only August and it’s not time to be slamming on the panic button just yet, but Bolden did not help his cause on this trip and needs to show something in practices and the two remaining exhibition games in late October to regain the trust the coaching staff had in him prior to the trip.
Marques Bolden is being counted on to provide some production down low and the Blue Devils need that production to come sooner rather than later.
Next. Alex O'Connell Out for Remainder of Canada Tour. dark
Alex O’Connell – Alex O’Connell makes the stock down list by no fault of his own.
The sophomore cracked the starting lineup in the first game of the Canada Tour and within the first three minutes he left due to an injury where he was inadvertently hit in the face by a Ryerson player dunking the ball.
O’Connell suffered a orbital floor fracture and was ruled out for the remaining two games, however he did rejoin the team and was on the bench for the next two games.
The main reason that O’Connell makes the stock down list is because of the outstanding play of Jack White throughout the three games.
Alex O’Connell will still play a major role on this team in the 2018-19 season and Duke fans need to realize that, but for the time being until he is cleared to return to practices, Jack White will fill in for O’Connell and the more White thrives in that role, O’Connell’s role may have to be adjusted, but again, it’s only late-August.