With Another Young Team, Senior Leadership Is Critical For Duke

The Blue Devils will need everything that Javin DeLaurier and Jack White can offer this year

With Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett, Cam Reddish and Marques Bolden all off to the pros, a lot of attention and responsibility is going to fall on the shoulders of Duke seniors and captains Javin DeLaurier and Jack White.

Things have changed a lot since they were freshmen as this article from the Chronicle points out and things have changed a lot for Duke basketball since the one-and-done era started. So having two seniors who are good enough to start is a real luxury. Toss in sophomore pit bull point guard Tre Jones and Duke has a really solid base to lead a talented freshman class.

And while White struggled offensively last year, falling into a mysterious long three point shooting slump, like DeLaurier, he never stopped defending. And for his part, by the end of the year, DeLaurier became a highly reliable and versatile forward who could capitalize on his athleticism and experience to show a highly savvy game. That wasn’t something he did a lot as a younger player and it’s going to be nice to see his maturation this season.