Duke basketball: Coach K is playing mind games with Jalen Johnson
By Matt Giles
Three signs say Duke basketball coaches are showing tough love to a rookie.
Jalen Johnson came to Durham as the highest-ranked piece in the Duke basketball program’s six-deep 2020 class. On the other hand, the Wisconsin native had tumbled from No. 3 to No. 13 on the 247Sports Composite. That, of course, was largely due to his mysterious exit from IMG Academy (Fla.), which wound up costing him the bulk of his final high school campaign.
As a result, given Johnson’s perceived expectation to become a one-and-done lottery pick, the former five-star recruit has plenty to prove as a Blue Devil.
Now, Johnson did prove to be a 19-point, 19-rebound machine in the 81-71 home win over Coppin State in Duke’s season opener. That said, the 6-foot-9, 220-pound forward, who is now only 10 days away from turning 19, has also since proven to be — in both the 75-69 home loss to Michigan State and the 76-54 home win over Bellarmine — a two-foul magnet early on in games.
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Furthermore, it appears, for now, that the opportunity cost for Johnson’s confidence and creativity on the floor is gobs of miscues from the gifted marvel. The star-studded rookie’s proclivity for turnovers has been to the tune of seven against Coppin State and an average of 6.7 per 40 minutes across the now-No. 10 Blue Devils’ 2-1 start.
Without corrective measures in place from Mike Krzyzewski, the fouls and turnovers would surely dampen Johnson’s impact during his presumably brief stay in college. With that in mind, three of the Duke basketball staff’s visible mind games come to mind in fixing the flaws to the 2020-21 centerpiece. So one mind game at a time, let’s look at how the coaches are working on his mind…