Duke basketball: Blue Devils may have found their X factor

A four-star freshman looks to be a key piece to the Duke basketball puzzle.

Duke basketball desperately needed a win after a disappointing performance against Michigan State in the Champions Classic. The Blue Devils bounced back nicely and had no problems beating Bellarmine on Friday night in its first game as a D-I team.

It was nice to see Duke hold a commanding lead and earn its second victory of the year, but the Blue Devils might have also found their X factor.

Matthew Hurt may have grabbed the headlines with his 24-point performance, but Jaemyn Brakefield established himself as a key player moving forward.

Brakefield played sparingly in the Duke basketball opener against Coppin State. He saw an increase in both minutes and production in the loss to Michigan State, as he scored 11 points in 15 minutes. However, a few of those points came in garbage time when the game was already decided.

Duke’s victory against Bellarmine was also Brakefield’s coming-out party. The freshman from Jackson, Miss., dropped 12 points in just 16 minutes. He was the only other Blue Devil besides Hurt to score in double figures. Also, he did not miss any of his four attempts from beyond the 3-point line.

Coming into the season, it was unclear as to where Brakefield would fit into the rotation. He was a four-star prospect coming out of high school but didn’t have a lot of buzz around his name. It also seemed on paper that Duke was already crowded at the wing position. We also didn’t hear a lot of talk about him in the preseason.

Given those factors, it didn’t seem that Brakefield was going to be a huge factor for Duke this season.

Jaemyn Brakefield now deserves as much buzz as any Duke basketball player

Brakefield adds an element that makes the Blue Devils a deep and versatile team. Other than Hurt, he has been the only Blue Devil to show some consistency with outside shooting. Duke desperately needs more shooters, and Brakefield has done a good job of filling that need early on this season.

I would expect that Brakefield plays more minutes and becomes a bigger part of the offense moving forward. Despite his hot shooting against Bellarmine, he logged only 16 minutes.

Granted, Duke did hold a comfortable lead for the majority of the game, and the coaching staff wanted to go deeper into the bench to give more guys the chance to play. But against stiffer competition, the rotation will be much shorter. Brakefield has already put himself in a position to earn meaningful minutes against high-level competition.

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I also like the defensive versatility that Brakefield provides for Duke. With his size and athleticism, he can really be an asset on the defensive end. He has the ability to defend wing players and also bigger players that like to operate down low. While he is still developing on that end, he has the potential to be able to guard positions one-five.

This could really be helpful for the Blue Devils when they go with their small-ball lineup.

Brakefield has certainly done enough to earn a spot in the rotation moving forward. It is possible that he could even start the next game, given that Duke basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski likes to start players who are coming off a strong performance.

The Blue Devils, now 2-1 and currently No. 6 in the AP Top 25 Poll, will certainly need another strong outing from Brakefield at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday (ESPN) when they take on No. 5 Illinois (3-1).

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