Maybe this shouldn’t be a surprise given the anticipation that surrounded this Duke basketball roster, but this is the deepest unit to play at Cameron Indoor Stadium in years.
The Blue Devils beat the Army Black Knights 100-58 on Friday, and through two games of the regular season, Duke is averaging 98.0 points per game. A big part of that success stems from the fact that every member of the team can stack points at any moment.
Six different players scored at least 10 points on Friday, the second time that has ever happened under head coach Jon Scheyer. The first time? Monday’s victory over Maine.
Despite the hype surrounding potential No. 1 overall pick [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] or fellow five-star freshman [autotag]Kon Knueppel[/autotag], no one Blue Devil has complete control of the offense.
Against the Black Bears on Monday, Knueppel scored 13 of the first 23 team’s points but only scored nine the rest of the way. All 13 of Flagg’s points on Friday came in the first 16 minutes. Those two are the only Duke players averaging more than 12.0 points per game, but Tyrese Proctor, Sion James, Caleb Foster, Mason Gillis, and Khaman Maluach are all averaging at least 8.5.
The offensive potency becomes even more dangerous when defenses remember how many perimeter shooters Scheyer collected this offseason. Exactly half of the Blue Devils’ attempts have come from behind the arc, and six different players have attempted at least six triples.
Those six players are shooting a combined 42.9% from distance.
This depth will come in incredibly handy once the postseason rolls around and elimination hangs in the balance every night. Oh, Flagg hasn’t scored in 20 minutes? Knueppel missed multiple 3-pointers in a row? Yeah, that happened against Army, and Duke still won by 42.
The Hydra-style offense gives the Blue Devils an incredibly high floor, and considering the fact that only Proctor and Foster played here last year, it should only improve with more minutes.