Duke basketball should continue balanced offensive attack all season

The Duke basketball team started off the season on the right foot

The narrative for the 2023-2024 Duke basketball team is a full 180-turn from last year’s squad.

The Blue Devils are returning the most points scored since 2008 and returning the most players with 30 or more starts since 2000, which was a pretty good year.

Last year, Duke was 1st in the ACC in offensive rebounds per game, but they will be hard-pressed to be 1st in that category again because this is a much better shooting team which gives them less opportunities to grab those boards.

Now, let’s get to the opening game season.

Death, taxes, and Duke players with lower leg injuries announced minutes before tip-off. Mark Mitchell has now not played in the last two games — spanning back to the NCAA Tournament.

Thankfully, it was reported during the game that it was an ankle sprain and that he nearly played, meaning he should be good to go for Duke’s next game on Friday against No. 12 Arizona (1-0).

With Mitchell out, the focus was on what Jon Scheyer was going to do with the starting lineup and captain Ryan Young got the opportunity to be on the court for the start of the game. This was a somewhat predictable decision as Young picked up where he left off last year as the most experienced player on the roster and a reliable defender and a capable low-post scorer.

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Dartmouth proved to be a good schedule by Duke as they play 5-out and its offense revolves around constant movement, dribble drives, and backcuts. The patented Duke pressure defense will need all the quality tests it can get to get prepared for the likes of Arizona, Michigan State, and Arkansas.

Scheyer opened up the rotation after Jared McCain picked up his second foul when Caleb Foster, Christian Reeves and Jaylen Blakes entered. After starting the game 2-of-5 from 3-point range, Duke started to put it together from outside resulting in a patented run at the end of the 1st half.

Blakes continues to live up to his hype against non-conference opponents. The best way to describe his game is somewhat of a tornado because he is constantly in motion while on the court. Sometimes it results in chaos and turnovers offensively, but sometimes he will harass the opponents and shooting the gaps for steals.

Duke basketball sees balanced attack in opener

The two freshmen guards, Jared McCain and Caleb Foster, were extremely poised and confident in their first college basketball game.

McCain is incredibly comfortable with the ball in his hands and has no problem hunting his shot. Foster is going to be electric in transition all season and attacks the rim with the aggression you see in upperclassmen.

Tyrese Proctor and Jeremy Roach picked up where they left off, their games will only continue to improve this year not only because of the work they put in during the offseason but because they no longer need to do it all themselves with the depth that Duke has this year at the guard position.

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Kyle Filipowski is going to be scary this year after his offseason hip surgery. His jumper looked much smoother than it did last year while his back-to-the-basket game is just as deadly. Teams are going to struggle guarding him in the pick-and-roll now that he can roll to the rim, float to space, or pop to the 3-point line.

Overall, it was great start to the season for the Blue Devils with an extremely balanced scoring attack including four guys in double figures with Filipowski leading the way with 25 points.

No. 2 Duke (1-0) welcomes Arizona to Cameron Indoor this Friday at 7:00p.m. ET (ESPN2).