Duke basketball: UNC freshman to school Tre Jones?

If the youngest Duke basketball co-captain is unable to hit open shots, then his highly anticipated battles against a fresh face from UNC should turn out exactly as most voters expect.

By using Twitter polls to decide head-to-head individual matchups, the official NCAA March Madness account is in the process of finding out the player fans see as college’s top dog entering the season. The lone Duke basketball representative in the 16-deep bracket — with selections and seedings from analyst Andy Katz — likely won’t see the second round.

Of course, with the widespread anti-Duke venom and preponderance of Walmart UNC fans in the world, an early exit for sophomore Tre Jones, the No. 9 seed, was all but inevitable when considering his first-round draw was against the stud most responsible for the wishes and dreams of the Tar Heels this season: freshman floor general Cole Anthony, the No. 8 seed.

The poll remains open another 24 hours from the time of this article’s publishing (assuming Anthony holds on, he’ll undoubtedly next face top-seed Cassius Winston out of Michigan State, and fans ultimately decide their Preseason Player of the Year by Oct. 29). But with currently only 30 percent of the roughly 9,000 votes, a comeback by Jones is a long shot.

Speaking of shots, low percentages like those from Jones’ freshman campaign — 26.2 percent from downtown and 41.2 from the field — would all but crush the defensive specialist’s chance to outduel elite guards like Anthony (the Duke basketball season tips off on Nov. 5 against Kansas and point guard Devon Dotson, the No. 12 seed in this bracket).

And when Duke and UNC first meet on Feb. 8 in Chapel Hill, Jones’ lockdown defense — good for 1.9 steals per game last season — may prove insufficient for the task at hand. After all, if Anthony doesn’t have to contest his man’s prayers from beyond the arc, then the explosive athlete will have the luxury of saving his legs for his specialty: creating loads of buckets of all varieties.

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At No. 4 on the 247Sports 2019 Composite, Anthony — the reigning McDonald’s All-American Game MVP — represents Roy Williams’ first recruit since Harrison Barnes in 2010 to rank higher than Mike Krzyzewski’s top haul from the same class (freshman center Vernon Carey Jr., whom many believe is actually Duke’s top weapon, ranked No. 6).

But has Jones, a Duke basketball co-captain alongside seniors Javin DeLaurier and Jack White, fixed his mechanics to the degree that Anthony and others will have to expend significant energy guarding his shots? The sample size is small, but the shots on display at Friday night’s Countdown to Craziness say no.

Jones went 1-for-10 overall and 0-for-3 from deep during the Blue-White Game — with a stroke that, quite frankly, looked even more herky-jerky than last season’s version.

Now, all this isn’t to say Jones won’t soon figure out a solution to his shooting woes. He could, in fact, make the results of this Twitter poll look foolish by twice outplaying Anthony, potentially finalizing what would be Duke’s regular-season sweep over UNC on March 7 in Durham.

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Besides, Anthony has yet to score in a college game — though he surely will in bunches. Plus, nobody should underestimate what Jones is capable of as already one of the program’s all-time ball-hawking pests.

At this point, there’s only one near certainty: Jones vs. Anthony will serve as one of the top must-see duels between point guards in the rivalry’s history.

Stay tuned to Ball Durham for more updates, analyses, opinions, and predictions regarding the 2019-20 Duke basketball team.