Duke Defense

[Silkk the Shaka]

Earlier in the year, I noticed that Duke and a couple K discpbles (Wojo & Hurley) were running stellar offenses (all top 10 at the time) with mediocre to bad defenses (Duke 75 range, ASU 125 range, MU 150 range). It seemed to me like this was a system issue.

However, recently Duke's defense has been on an absolute tear:

http://www.barttorvik.com/trends.php?y=2018&team=Duke&type=adjd

and they are proud owners of a top 10 defense to go along with the #2 offense.

Reminds me of the 2015 team that won it all, they tightened the screws on D down the stretch:

http://www.barttorvik.com/trends.php?y=2015&team=Duke&type=adjd

Does anyone know if they made any adjustments to improve so drastically this year and in 2015? Anything Wojo could glean to apply to an upgraded roster in terms of legth/talent/experince next year?

[tower912]

Tall quick players in a zone.   

[Silkk the Shaka]

Really, they switched to zone? Didn't know that. Interesting...

[brewcity77]

Duke went to a zone. K isn't big on zone, but his freshmen are poor man defenders. Bagley looks lost in man, Duval doesn't have the experience, and Carter is completely immobile. K resisted zone because he always resists zone.

As the year went on, they shifted to zone when Bagley got injured and it worked. Carter was able to stay home (like Luke in 2015) and their long wings were more effective not having to chase and stick to their man.

It continued to work with Bagley back because it's easy and with long guards like Duval and Allen, they have the personnel for it. That's the biggest difference between Duke and us. Hard to zone with two sub-six footers.

[Its DJOver]

Just spitballing here, no numbers to back it up, but in the one and done era, Dukes roster turnaround year to year has got to be one of the highest.  They regularly get top tier athletes that have potential up the wazoo, but little understanding of what it takes to be a good defender against higher levels of competition, or how to defend as a team instead as an individual.  By the years end, K has got them where they need to be defensively, and throw in a little chemistry, you get a better defense.   

[tower912]

Really, they switched to zone? Didn't know that. Interesting...

Note the words 'tall' and 'quick'.

[Silkk the Shaka]

Note the words 'tall' and 'quick'.

Yeah, I'm looking ahead to next year, as I said in the OP

[Loose Cannon]

Duke went to a zone. K isn't big on zone, but his freshmen are poor man defenders. Bagley looks lost in man, Duval doesn't have the experience, and Carter is completely immobile. K resisted zone because he always resists zone.

As the year went on, they shifted to zone when Bagley got injured and it worked. Carter was able to stay home (like Luke in 2015) and their long wings were more effective not having to chase and stick to their man.

It continued to work with Bagley back because it's easy and with long guards like Duval and Allen, they have the personnel for it. That's the biggest difference between Duke and us. Hard to zone with two sub-six footers.

Really well stated Brew.