Duke basketball: 20 serious concerns about 2020-21 Blue Devils
By Matt Giles
Question No. 17 for the 2020-21 Duke basketball team…
Are there sufficient sharpshooters in town to return the title of “Shooter U” to Durham?
The 2019-20 Duke basketball team certainly offered an improvement over the previous team with respect to 3-point percentages. Though that isn’t really saying much when considering the 2018-19 mark was 30.8 percent, abysmal enough to rank No. 329 in that department among the then-353 D-1 teams.
Also, though the 2019-20 Blue Devils combined to hit a respectable 35.2 percent of their 3-point attempts, their average of 19.9 attempts from deep per game ranked only No. 248 in the country.
In summary, Duke isn’t exactly “Shooter U” as of late. Another sign of that is the fact the past three teams in Durham have finished outside the top 100 in D-1 in free throw percentage.
Fast forward to the present outlook. Combining sharpshooting newcomer DJ Steward with returning snipers Matthew Hurt and Joey Baker, Duke basketball fans have a legit chance to witness the type of shooting parties that were once a program staple.
Of course, it would help for a few more trustworthy long-range weapons to emerge between Jalen Johnson, Jeremy Roach, Jordan Goldwire, Wendell Moore, Jaemyn Brakefield, etc.