The Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team was expected to be a near-lock for the NCAA Tournament going into the 2020-21 season.
A slow start that featured losses to the two best teams — Virginia Tech and Illinois — that Duke has played, by seven and 15 points, respectively, spurred doubts. But few were pressing the panic button, believing Duke would eventually figure its problems out with such a talented, albeit young, roster.
With March Madness inching closer, though, the potential upside that head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s squad possesses hasn’t quite translated to tangible wins. The Blue Devils haven’t found their identity, and the team's inexperience continues to show.
Yet sophomore forward Matthew Hurt has taken his offensive game to another level. After an unproductive first season, his scoring has jumped almost 10 points per game this year. His sweet jump shot and nifty repertoire of moves makes him a solid candidate for ACC Player of the Year.
But his defense needs work. Hurt can get outmuscled by in the post, while guards can blow by him. After picking up four or more fouls in five of 13 games this year, he's shown he also has a tendency to get into foul trouble. He’s too lethal offensively to be kept off the floor, but he's still finding his footing on the other end of the floor, with few signs of that changing any time soon.
Duke’s other star, first-year forward Jalen Johnson, has also flashed elite offensive abilities. He can get to the rim as well as anyone in college basketball, and his strong frame makes him a scoring threat whenever he’s on the floor. He’s also shown promise as a defender, using his 6-foot-9 frame to his advantage.
He’s held back by his below-average perimeter game and his tendency to pick up early fouls, though. For a player who is adept at getting to the line, he doesn’t have a great free throw percentage, shooting only 63.6 percent for the season.
What's more, Hurt and Johnson have lacked chemistry, preventing them from bringing out each other's best qualities. The one-two combo of Hurt’s sharpshooting plus Johnson’s driving ability should work on paper, but they rarely put up big numbers in the same game. They were finally able to somewhat get there in the team’s 75-68 win over Georgia Tech, where Johnson had 18 points on 7-11 shooting and Hurt had 17 points on 6-11 shooting. The recipe is there, but it hasn’t shown up enough to increase Duke’s NCAA Tournament hopes.
Consistency is another issue, illustrated best by sophomore Wendell Moore Jr. The 6-foot-5 forward followed up a dominant 25-point performance against Boston College with three four-point outings in his next five games before scoring 11 and 18 against Clemson and Miami, respectively.
