college preview 55 duke blue devils The talent is still developing, sure, but there’s more than enough to bring another title back to Durham

ver the past two years Duke has reaped the benefits (one national The top NBA prospect in a family full of them, title, one Sweet 16 appearance) of the junior should be a perimeter predictability. Guard double double machine and forward Kyle for Duke this season. ­Singler—who combined for 244 starts over the last four seasons—were as close to con- stant as it gets in the ACC. “You knew what you were going to get from those two guys, night in and night out,” associate head coach Chris Collins says. “You knew that they’d projected Coach (32nd season) Ocombine for 40 points and double-figure rebounds.” But now that 2010–11 record 32–5 ACC 13–3 (2nd) Smith, Singler, No. 1 draft pick and their combined starting five ncaa tournament Sweet 16 55 points per game are gone, uncertainty has returned. As Collins pos. player height class key stats says, “We have a lot of untested commodities that need to develop.” PG 6' 2" Jr. 9.0 ppg 2.0 apg Besides freshman guard —a consensus top-three G Austin Rivers* 6' 4" Fr. 29.2 ppg 6.1 rpg recruit who is expected to start right away—the most valuable of G 6' 4" Jr. 8.1 ppg 48.1 FG% those commodities already has spent two seasons at Duke. But to F Mason Plumlee 6' 10" Jr. 7.2 ppg 8.4 rpg date, 6' 10", 235-pound Mason Plumlee (7.2 ppg, 8.4 rpg) has been F 6' 10" Sr. 4.8 ppg 4.9 rpg more notable for his genes than his stat line. The power forward’s decision as a high school junior to commit to the Blue Devils helped key reserve prompt his older brother, Miles (4.8 ppg, 4.9 rpg), now a 6' 10" senior, F 6' 11" Jr. 6.6 ppg 3.7 rpg to switch from Stanford to Duke and set the stage for an all-Plumlee Returning starter *High school stats frontcourt. (Youngest brother Marshall is a 6' 11" freshman forward.) But while Miles has the best-developed low-post game and highest fast fact vertical leap on the team (36 inches), Mason, who idolizes skilled power forwards like and Amar’e Stoudemire, is percentage for Mason widely regarded as the most talented. A projected first-round pick Plumlee, a 59.3% shooter for the season, last spring, he was the subject of a five-page thread on a popular Blue in Duke’s five losses last year. He also Devils message board entitled The Mason Plumlee NBA Draft Vigil. picked up 18 fouls in those games. Mason decided to stay in Durham, in part to learn how to assert 42.1 himself down low. “When you’re that skilled, you have a tendency to want to do everything,” Collins says of Mason’s habit of roaming out to the perimeter. Coach Mike Krzyzewski will most likely start a the lowdown trio of guards (Rivers and juniors Seth Curry and Andre Dawkins) BEST CASE The Plumlee brothers WORST CASE Inexperience reigns: who are all excellent long-range shooters and capable of attacking provide unparalleled interior size Seth Curry flounders at the point, and Joh n

the rim—meaning Mason will be the primary option in the paint. and muscle, clearing the way for Austin Rivers can’t carry the team McDo W. “I need to tell myself every day to not take plays off and be more Duke’s slick-shooting guards and a by himself, while Duke’s big bodies

Final Four trip. struggle against elite teams inside. n aggressive,” Mason says. “More blocked shots, more buckets inside.” ough If he can do that, another NCAA run is predictable. —Pablo S. Torre

Sports Illust r at eD | november 14, 2011

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