Next Up - Charlotte

As Duke looks to snap a two-game losing streak

Date 12/9 || Time 2:15 || Venue Cameron Indoor Stadium || Video CW Network

Normally we start our previews by looking at the opponent but in this case we’ll start with Duke because despite the fact that it’s early December, people are going a bit off the rails.

Duke is an uncharacteristic 5-3 and the few games have not been impressive. And in fairness, the Blue Devils have been erratic and certainly haven’t played to their potential. Southern Indiana hung around longer than they should have, Duke wasn’t able to pull off a win at Arkansas and the Georgia Tech loss was particularly unfortunate, not least of all because Mark Mitchell personally put Duke up by four late and then gave those four points back pretty quickly, first via a technical for taunting and then with a turnover.

But it’s not like Duke is not competing. The Arizona game came down to a few late possessions, Arkansas was tight until the closing minutes and Duke was in position to win at Tech despite Mitchell’s mistakes at the end.

After the Tech game, coach Jon Scheyer said that there was a lot of work to do this week and presumably he’s been under the hood, tweaking this and tuning that.

What we hope we will see Saturday is a Duke team that is aggressive and forces the action more defensively and also moves the ball efficiently on offense. No one is playing as well as they can on offense.

One of the other problems at Tech was that Tyrese Proctor went down early with an ankle injury. It’s not clear if he’ll be back for Charlotte, but if not, that could be a positive in some ways. Obviously Duke would miss him; he’s managed the ball very well and at times is as good a point guard as there is in the country.

If he can’t go, the question is who would be best suited to step in. You could just move Jeremy Roach over to point and put Caleb Foster in the lineup. You could put Sean Stewart in in the front court and give him some time to iron out his issues with more minutes. Or you could put Jaylen Blakes in and just turn Agent Chaos loose on Charlotte’s ball handlers.

We’ll see what Scheyer does and how much progress Duke made this week behind the scenes.

So far, Charlotte, now in the AAC, is 7-4. The best win is probably over George Mason, a team that notably upset Michigan State early. The 49ers have also lost to Liberty, UCF, and Davidson.

The Davidson and UCF losses were close. Davidson was just a four-point loss and the Wildcats took out Maryland and nearly got Clemson. UCF of course is coached by Duke legend Johnny Dawkins so presumably that video should have some resonance.

The 49ers have an interesting coaching situation. Ron Sanchez resigned over the summer to return to Tony Bennett’s UVA staff and was replaced on an interim basis by his assistant, Aaron Fearne. An Australian, he may bring a different philosophy than Sanchez did. We didn't follow his Charlotte career closely, but presumably he’s on the Bennett tree, so you know where he’s probably coming from. It must have seen strange to an Aussie’s basketball mind. Charlotte is averaging 68.3 ppg, which might have Bennett reaching for the emergency brake.

Fearne’s primary players are 6-6 senior Jackson Threadgill, 6-2 junior Lu’Cye Patterson, 6-10 junior Igor Milicic, 6-3 sophomore Nik Graves and 6-11 Dishon Jackson.

Somewhat unusually, Charlotte is considerably bigger than Duke with five players 6-10 or taller.

Patterson is the leading scorer at 14.9 ppg. Milicic is a rare player in that he has improved in every statistical category every year with the exception of a minor decline in three point shooting in his three point shooting as a sophomore. He’s also bagging 9.4 boards.

Jackson checks in with 10.5 ppg and 4.6 rebounds.

Graves is also a double figure point at 10.0 ppg. He leads the team with three assists an outing.

Threadgill checks in with 6.0 ppg, 2.3 boards and 1.4 assists.

Greensboro native Dean Reiber, a 6-10 junior and a native of Greensboro, Isaiah Folkes, a 64 junior, and Daylen Barry, a 6-4 sophomore, round out the rotation.

Liberty and Davidson both shot well from three point range, with Liberty hitting 10-25 and Davidson 12-23.

Other schools didn’t do as well.

Utah Valley hit just 3-16 and two of those were by Caleb Stone-Carrawell, son of Duke assistant Chris Carrawell. Mason hit 4-14, UCF 5-20, Georgia State 5-20 and Stetson 6-19.

As much as we can gather, Charlotte seems to be moving away from the deliberate Bennett-Sanchez offensive style. When he took the job, Fairnes said that “[w]e are committed to bringing a tough, competitive brand of basketball to the American Athletic Conference. We will play with pace, attack the glass, and apply pressure to our opponents in all phases of the game.”

Fairnes also puts a major emphasis on offensive rebounding and defensive transition, which could ultimately help Duke.

As noted, there is plenty for Scheyer and company to work on this week, but there are things for fans to work on too.

The idea that the Transition was over by last March is foolish. When he retired, Mike Krzyzewski had been coaching, most likely, since Scheyer’s parents were still dating and certainly longer than Scheyer has been alive. He had seen every possible situation and dealt with it all.

Scheyer is in his second year. He’s a different man with a different personality and, obviously, far less experience. He’ll figure things out too, but expecting him to just do whatever Coach K would have done is ridiculous. He has recruited well and shown lots of potential, but like most young coaches, he has to go through the process, take his licks and learn his lessons.

We’re confident he will.

Incidentally, happy Hanukkah to Scheyer and all of our Jewish friends.

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