This Year’s Duke Team Is A Good Mix Of Potential And Experience

And they seem like a happy group too.

One of the most intriguing things about this year’s team is how Jon Scheyer and staff have paired youthful talent with grizzled vets.

It’s a pretty different team than we’ve seen at Duke in recent years. In the final decade or so of Mike Krzyzewski’s illustrious career when he focused on one-and-dones. From Kyrie Irving to Paolo Banchero, Duke had spectacular talent.

It just wasn’t very experienced.

In 2015, Duke had a brilliant young point guard in Tyus Jones and three other freshmen who like Jones later played in the NBA, but also had Quinn Cook, a senior, and juniors Amile Jefferson, Marshall Plumlee and sophomore Matt Jones.

It was a good balance but it wasn’t always like that.

With this year’s team, there is a chance of a similar situation.

Rodd Baxley of the Fayetteville Observer, looks at the freshmen who didn’t have anything to do with the Olympics (that would be Darren Harris, Patrick Ngongba, Kon Knueppel and Isaiah Evans) and the transfers who will offer Duke some much-needed experience and hopefully leadership.

The young guys are getting some lessons that will be useful later. What the older guys say here in many ways is more interesting.

All three quoted here - Cameron Sheffield is not mentioned - were Duke fans as kids, and all three are clearly relishing the opportunity.

They seem like guys who take it all seriously and that should translate into good things.