Duke basketball’s three-game Canada exhibition tour confirmed – to the surprise of no one – that R.J. Barrett and Zion Williamson are special. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski even said so three months before the Kentucky opener.
“Zion and R.J. are a cut above everyone who’s on the court,” Krzyzewski told the media after Sunday’s final Canada stop. “We have two really special players and we have a couple of others that didn’t play who are hurt.”
The youthful Blue Devils, once again led by a freshmen recruiting class with projected one-and-done NBA draft picks, defeated Ryerson University 88-67 and the University of Toronto 96-60 in games played in Toronto. They routed McGill University in Montreal in Sunday’s final tour stop, 103-58.
Duke’s sweep could have been worse for the Canadians, but the other half of 2018 recruiting class sat out with injuries. Shooting guard Cameron Reddish (groin) and point guard Tre Jones (hip) were held out to be healed for the regular season that again has Duke ranked among the national title favorites.
But this season’s unanswered question, which the Canadian tour wouldn’t have fully answered anyway, remains as to whether Duke has a glue man to mix in with its future millionaires. In other words, do the 2018-19 Blue Devils have a Quinn Cook on their roster?
In 2014-15, Cook was a senior that selflessly stepped aside to allow Class of 2014 one-and-dones Jahlil Okafor, Justise Winslow and Tyus Jones lead the run to the NCAA title. Cook turned over the ball-handling duties to Jones, but he maintained the leadership reins and hit shots when needed in the shooting guard role.
Don’t overlook that factor. Of all Duke’s recent highly ranked classes, only the 2015 Blue Devils won a national title. Cook went undrafted from that talented roster with three first-round picks, although it should be noted with his role-playing ability he’s the only one with an NBA title after the Golden State Warriors signed him as a vital backup to Stephen Curry.
And since Duke and Kentucky are usually ranked 1-2 in recruiting classes, let’s consider Kentucky’s NCAA title count.
Of all of coach John Calipari’s NBA combine teams only the 2012 Wildcats captured a national crown. That lineup featured a senior leader, Darius Miller, who was a second-round NBA draft pick, as its glue.
So despite the head start Duke gained on building team chemistry in Canada by utilizing the NCAA rule that allows a foreign tour once every four years, finding glue to mix with the additions of Reddish and Jones, when they’re healthy, is the next phase to watch if the Blue Devils are to finish on top.
That player wasn’t found among the 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 Duke rosters that also featured one-and-done talent but fell short in the NCAA tournament. If we backtrack to Kentucky’s 2012 freshmen-led title and move forward, we see veteran glue players such as Cook in 2015 account for all the titles.
In 2013, Louisville won with two juniors and senior Peyton Siva among its leaders; in 2014, senior guard Shabeez Napier led Connecticut past Kentucky’s freshmen; in 2016, senior point guard Ryan Arcidiacono and junior Kris Jenkins paced Villanova; in 2017, juniors Justin Jackson and Joel Berry and senior Kennedy Meeks drove North Carolina; and in 2018, junior forward Mikal Bridges lifted Villanova.
Duke apologists can say all they want about temperamental guard Grayson Allen maturing from tripping incidents as a sophomore, losing his captain’s role as a junior and avoiding being called for dirty plays as a senior, but in none of those seasons was the glue he applied any stronger than envelope adhesive.
As for this season’s roster, Marques Bolden might have been a candidate as he enters his junior year, but he seems to be regressing. Bolden arrived at Duke ranked the No. 1 center in the nation and as high as the No. 8 overall in the 2016 class. He is an example a projected one-and-done air ball.
Based on the Canada tour, Bolden’s place in the starting lineup isn’t secure; he started only two of the three games in Canada. He was scoreless, missing his only shot attempt in each game, and he played minute totals of only 19, 10 and 10.
Injuries have handicapped Bolden, but when healthy he still has to show he can score and play defense. His game has been limited to the paint, where he’s not able to consistently use his size to beat opponents.
The Blue Devils’ remaining candidates are thin on experience, especially compared to Cook. He started all 39 games as a senior after starting 22 as a junior and 34 as a sophomore.
In contrast, Duke junior forward Javin DeLaurier has only five career starts, sophomore guard Alex O’Connell (who missed the final two Canada games after an eye injury in the opener) one and junior forward Jack White is awaiting his first career start.
The glue-mixing process resumes when the Countdown to Craziness starts practice on Friday, Oct. 19 at Cameron Indoor Stadium. There are exhibition games Oct. 23 against Virginia Union and Oct. 27 against Ferris State, the NCAA Division II champion from Big Rapids, Mich.
The season opener is battled of freshmen. The Blue Devils face Kentucky, which has four 5-star freshmen and one 4-star frosh, on Nov. 6 in the Champions Classic played in Indianapolis.
The Canadian tour helped Barrett and Williamson develop some chemistry on the court with what they’ve established as roommates upon arriving in Durham over the summer. Barrett said it contributed to sharing the ball in Canada despite their high-scoring games.
Fort Barrett, a 6-foot-7, 202-pound forward from Mississauga by way of Montverde Academy in Florida, the games served not as a homecoming but a “home-send-off” to his college career. He scored 34 against Rynerson, 30 on Toronto and finished with a double-double of 23 points and 11 assists versus McGill.
Williamson, a 6-7, 285-pounder from Spartanburg, S.C., went for 29 points and 13 rebounds against Rynerson, 24 on Toronto and finished and another double-double versus McGill with 36 points and 13 rebounds.
Maybe the maturity of Barrett and Williamson mixed with Reddish and Jones will be enough to go it alone, but it history says Duke needs a Quinn Cook.
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