It makes sense that a basketball team that lost 10 players this offseason won’t look the same on the court, but returning Duke starters [autotag]Tyrese Proctor[/autotag] and [autotag]Caleb Foster[/autotag] have still noticed some key differences during early workouts.
According to a Tuesday episode of The Brotherhood Podcast, the two Blue Devils think this year’s tempo will look completely different from the 2023-24 team.
“We’re going to be playing fast, bro,” Proctor told his teammate.
“In practice, we’ve just been running,” Foster responded. “We learned how to play fast, get up and down the court, and one big thing for me is I feel like we’re just picking up things a lot quicker.”
Duke ran one of the most efficient offenses in the nation last year, finishing eighth in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency metric, but the Blue Devils finished outside of the top 250 in the site’s adjusted tempo rankings. With every player on the roster standing at least 6-foot-5 and the athleticism that freshman [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] and others bring to the table, additional speed will obviously play into Duke’s hands.
The Blue Devils make their on-court debut at the Countdown to Craziness on October 4.