Could Duke basketball’s one-and-done system be sabotaging Blue Devils?
Experience breeds Duke basketball excellence
At the beginning of the 2014-15 season, the Duke basketball team was led by three upperclassmen in Quinn Cook, Marshall Plumlee, and Amile Jefferson. Three players who had been used to each other’s playing styles for years.
If you throw sophomore Matt Jones in the mix, that makes four players familiar with Duke’s program and each other’s style of play. Add that to the recruiting class that consisted of Jahlil Okafor, Tyus Jones, Justise Winslow, and Grayson Allen, and you could call this squad a match made in heaven.
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Of course, there have been Blue Devil teams in the past few years with a couple of upperclassmen. However, most of the time, the seniors and juniors who make up the roster are the ones not playing — meaning, the walk-ons who were good enough to receive a scholarship, but not good enough to trust in the rotation when the game is on the line.
Although these players are a good source of support and energy for the team, they aren’t the type of upperclassmen to look to as an experienced college athlete. This is something that is almost required for a team to win a championship, and that has been reflected in Duke’s 2015 championship win and in recent winning programs.
Much like in Duke’s 2015 victory, what we saw from the national champions in 2016, 2017, and 2018 was due in part to the players’ experience as college athletes. After North Carolina’s loss to Villanova in the 2016 title bout, many of the players decided they weren’t ready to leave the program without winning Roy Williams his third championship.
Key players on their 2016-17 championship team, such as Luke Maye, Justin Jackson, Joel Berry II, and Isaiah Hicks, decided to stay with the program, even though they could have easily made their way to the professional level. This earned them a national title, as part of one of the greatest comeback stories in the history of college basketball.
The next year Villanova, with seven 2016 champions still on the roster, made another run to win a championship.
There’s no coincidence as to why these two programs dominated college basketball for three straight seasons.
Their team leaders’ experience as college athletes carried them to the final destination, with the help of their respective recruiting classes. Creating a dynamic group where each brings his own contributions to the table, whether it be experience or new ideas and athleticism, is key to creating a final product that wins championships.
It takes time for freshmen to become used to college-level basketball, and for some, they don’t fully get used to it their first year. And that’s not even considering the level of intensity March Madness brings.
A recruit can have all the talent in the world, and be coached by anyone, but nothing can match what an athlete could bring to the table after the adversity of a freshman year…