Duke basketball: 20 serious concerns about 2020-21 Blue Devils
By Matt Giles
Question No. 18 for the 2020-21 Duke basketball team…
Which player will the rest of the Blue Devils look to as the leader in pivotal moments?
All is well until you get punched in the mouth. Thus far, the 2020-21 Duke team isn’t battle-tested whatsoever, having played against no one but itself. There will be no exhibition games. And the schedule starts out with a couple of cupcakes at home.
Eventually, though, the Blue Devils will face some serious adversity in a real game, likely against both Michigan State and Illinois in non-conference play and then pretty much every time out in ACC play. With Tre Jones, Vernon Carey Jr., and Cassius Stanley no longer around to calm such moments of chaos, who will be the guy(s) to regularly step up with momentum-changing plays?
Matthew Hurt? Wendell Moore? Jordan Goldwire? Jalen Johnson? DJ Steward? Jeremy Roach? Perhaps a wildcard like Jaemyn Brakefield? Again, until such a situation arises, we as spectators just have to accept the fact that we won’t truly know what all these new dudes and secondary options from last season are made of this season, both individually and collectively.