Duke basketball: Once again, nation’s two best players are Blue Devils

Entering the season, knowing Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett wouldn’t be flying around as elite finishers and scary defenders for the Blue Devils, some wondered whether Duke basketball sophomore Tre Jones would look as amazingly poised and poetically smooth as he did last season as a freshman. Fast-forward a few weeks and some might now be wondering whether the 6-foot-3, 185-pound point guard is actually even better without them.

Jones, now The Leader, is still rocking roughly a 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. The ball-hawking defender — a co-captain out of Apple Valley, Minn., who is the younger brother to former Duke basketball national champ Tyus Jones and who decided to come back to Durham for a second campaign in order to fulfill all of his own net-cutting dreams — is still a nightmare for opposing backcourts.

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While all of his 1.7 steals per game have been impressive, the one to start the second half against Georgetown on Friday night — with a tie score and as a result of the Hoyas being lazy during their inbounds play — highlighted the main ingredient to what makes Jones so devilishly delightful: he pays the utmost attention to all happenings on the court at all times, thereby taking advantage of those more-human oppositions who don’t.

After capping off the steal with a layup on the other end, Jones then scored on another layup the next time down and, one possession later, lofted a perfectly placed alley-oop to Vernon Carey Jr. (the No. 3 play below), putting the Blue Devils ahead by six. They never looked back.

https://twitter.com/DukeMBB/status/1198310384123465729?s=20

On both ends of the floor, Jones makes Duke click. Offensively, a chunk of the proof lies in the below film study:

Defensively, in particular, Jones is the one who makes Duke tick, as he exhibited against the Hoyas by utilizing a patented Duke floor slap during a key second-half run:

https://twitter.com/DukeMBB/status/1198054734722162688?s=20

Yes, Jones is only averaging 14.8 points and, though improving as of late, is only shooting 29.2 percent from downtown. However, without his leadership, maturity, instincts, pinpoint passes, ball security, gnat-like man-to-man, endurance, pride, and passion, well, let’s just say the Blue Devils definitely wouldn’t be No. 1 and might not even be among the top 25.

Yet surely to the delight of Jones, the 19-year-old currently has to share the distinction as the No. 1 player on the No. 1 team — and the nation’s No. 1 performer at this point against serious competition — with his 18-year-old, grown-man Duke basketball teammate…