Duke Needs to Adapt for the 2008-09 Season

Well the 2008-09 men's college basketball season is quickly approaching and the preseason rankings are out. Right now the Duke Blue Devils are currently ranked 5^th. The past few seasons the Blue Devils have performed poorly in the NCAA tournament despite being ranked highly. As a Duke fan I can see the skill of the players, but I think it is time for a coaching change.

Don't go crazy yet I am not talking about getting rid of Coach K that would be ridiculous. I mean coach K needs to change his style. Again this year Duke has a very talented and skilled team. However, they are not the most athletic team and in the past few seasons their lack of athleticism has been their downfall in the tournament. Very simply Duke's players could not keep up with the athletes of the opposing team defensively. They gave up to many easy baskets and it is hard for a team to win like that in the tournament. I am not the only one who has noticed this and it is always a hot topic when Duke exits the tournament. So if the Duke players can't keep up with the other team in man-to-man defense, why wouldn't they switch to a zone?

This is where Coach K comes in. It seems to me Duke stays with the man-to-man defense out of either a pride factor or because they haven't practiced a zone defense. No matter the reason Duke needs to change and it needs to start with the coach. If your players are getting beat badly in a man-to-man defense you need to change your defense! It's that simple. Syracuse has made a living off a zone as it forces the other team to play from the perimeter. Duke needs to have this weapon in their defensive arsenal to compete with teams that have superior athletes.

I know this may be very disheartening to many Duke fans, but this is coming from a Duke fan. On offense Duke's skilled players shine and many times on defense Duke does a very good job of keeping opposing teams from getting easy baskets. However, there have been times (especially in the last 2 NCAA tournaments) when Duke hasn't been able to keep quicker players from the opposing team from getting easy baskets. I am not saying Duke needs to play a zone all the time, like I said most times their defense is very good, but there are times when it is painfully obvious they can't keep up with the other team. A zone defense would combat this and Duke needs to be ready and practiced in a zone.

Duke seems to have most of the components of a great team. They are ranked number 5 in the preseason polls and deserve the ranking. However, I don't think I would bet on them winning the national championship based simply on the past two seasons. Both years they were beat by teams that simply had better athletes that would beat their defender, drive the lane and get easy baskets. It is time for Coach K to show his ability to change. We all know he is a great coach, but when it is obvious to everyone watching the game that his team can't defend the other team man-to-man it should be even more obvious to the coach. Good luck to Duke this year, but hopefully we don't see another repeat of their last two NCCAA tournament performances.