Duke basketball: Bubble could be blessing in disguise for Blue Devils

The tight-knit Duke basketball bubble should be beneficial to a young team.

Without much outside noise to distract them, the 2020-21 Duke basketball players probably needed their present closed-off environment, which has apparently left them with no other option but to develop bonds.

That’s important, after all, since there are only four returning faces in town who look to contribute on a regular basis: Jordan Goldwire, Joey Baker, Wendell Moore, and Matthew Hurt.

Meanwhile, there are seven newcomers who came to Durham from a handful of various states: grad transfer Patrick Tapé plus freshmen Jeremy Roach, DJ Steward, Jalen Johnson, Henry Coleman, Jaemyn Brakefield, and Mark Williams.

Per comments to the media on Wednesday from Duke basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski, the program’s bubble, which came into formation in early August and is showing absolutely no signs of bursting from inner turmoil, has done the trick in terms of keeping the guys’ eyes collectively on the prize:

“Actually, to be quite frank, I think we’re prepared better than we usually are because our kids have been in a bubble. The extra time, even from going from four hours a week to eight hours for a couple of weeks and now to the regular 20-hour week — and not having any guys injured or sick — they’ve gotten a lot of individual instruction because they’re kind of in their own bubble.”

Might the Duke basketball family members get sick of one another?

Krzyzewski, a five-time national champ and the NCAA’s all-time wins leader who is now entering his 41st season at the helm for the Blue Devils, continued by lauding the squad for its accelerated chemistry-building inside the bubble.

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Yet the 73-year-old Coach K also implied that seeing only the same dozen or so faces every day could become a bore for his Blue Devils while also promoting a false sense of confidence and security:

“Most of their classes are remote. They’ve become really close as a unit, and then it’s just a matter of how long can you maintain that without having any outside competition.”

But such is the case right now for every opponent that Coach K and his gang will face this season, which is scheduled to tipoff for the Blue Devils at home on Nov. 25 against Gardner-Webb.

And considering there are more new hoopsters at Duke than at pretty much any other school thanks to the staff’s propensity for recruiting one-and-dones in recent years, one would think it should take the Blue Devils the longest of any bunch to grow tired of one another.

In other words, the bubbles on display across the nation could ultimately give the most noticeable advantage to Duke.

Stay tuned to Ball Durham for more news and views regarding all things Duke basketball.