Duke basketball preseason injuries beginning to pile up

The injuries are beginning to pile up for the Duke basketball team ahead of the season. 

The regular season is still two weeks away but the Duke basketball program is dealing with another injury to a star freshman.

Dereck Lively II, the top ranked recruit in college basketball, has been sidelined for the Blue Devils with a calf injury.

Lively did not participate in the scrimmage on Friday night at Duke’s Countdown to Craziness and head coach Jon Scheyer told the media that the 7-foot-1 center is considered as “week-to-week”.

The Blue Devils are already without freshman Dariq Whitehead, who suffered a broken bone in his foot on the first day of official practice which required surgery. Whitehead has returned to the practice court but is still “a few weeks away,” according to Scheyer.

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Scheyer expressed caution with both players that the program is not going to rush them back to get on the court in a game that does not count and that should remain the case in Duke’s only exhibition of the preseason on Wednesday, November 2 against Fayetteville State.

The regular season begins on November 7 against Jacksonville followed by a matchup against USC Upstate before the Blue Devils travel to Indianapolis to play the Kansas Jayhawks on November 15 in the State Farm Champions Classic.

Duke basketball playing time up for grabs

Duke still boasts a roster that is comprised of freshmen five-star forward Mark Mitchell, five-star forward Kyle Filipowski, four-star guard Tyrese Proctor, four-star guard Jaden Schutt, and three-star center Christian Reeves that will benefit from the absence of the two five-star players.

Reeves was arguably the most impressive player in the scrimmage on Friday night with 11 points and five rebounds on a perfect 4-for-4 shooting from the field and making all three of his free throw attempts.

Tyrese Proctor also flashed his skillset with 10 points, three rebounds, and two assists.