As Duke looks to bounce back from a disappointing loss to Louisville
Date 1/23 || Time 7:00 || Venue KFC Yum! Center || Video ACCN
Duke hits the road to play at Louisville on Tuesday night after being upset by Pitt on Saturday. The big question is the same as it was against Pitt: will Jeremy Roach and Mark Mitchell return from knee injuries?
It’s still up in the air. On Monday, Duke coach Jon Scheyer said they might practice before leaving for Louisville but it’s no sure thing yet.
But even if they don’t, Duke should have plenty of motivation.
Scheyer was really unhappy with Duke’s lack of toughness Saturday and we’re pretty sure that he has communicated that to his players.
Playing without Roach and Mitchell definitely makes like harder, but there’s no reason why Duke can’t come hard at Louisville. In fact, that’s exactly what we expect. We hope that the Blue Devils don’t settle for jumpers in the Yum! Center.
But what about Louisville?
The Cards are having another tough year. However, they’ve had their moments. They beat Miami impressively, although that win has been lessened somewhat since the ‘Canes have struggled. They also gave NC State and UNC relatively good games.
That wasn’t the case at Wake Forest Saturday as the Demon Deacons hammered Louisville 90-65. They also allowed Wake to shoot 18-35 on three pointers, which works out to 51.4 percent.
And Louisville hit just 2-11 themselves.
Of course the same thing we’re talking about with Duke toughening up works in reverse and Louisville could be just as upset after the Wake Forest loss. It won’t surprise us a bit if they come out and play hard as hell.
Kenny Payne runs an eight-man rotation. A 6-3 sophomore Skyy Clark runs the point. Mike James is a 6-5 sophomore and he’s extremely dangerous and also possibly a tough matchup for Duke. Tre White is a 6-7 sophomore who transferred in from USC. He was highly regarded coming out of high school and certainly he’s been at least adequate offensively for the Cards.
Brandon Huntley-Hatfield is a solid big man who started out playing for Rick Barnes at Tennessee. He’s 6-10 and 240. He’s not a freakish athlete but he’s strong and capable.
JJ Traynor is a 6-8 senior who has been through the wringer with the Cards. He’s lived through three coaches and a four-win season. We really respect him for sticking it out because it has definitely not been easy for him.
Ty-Laur Johnson is a 6-0 freshman from Brooklyn who has shown some really nice flashes as a freshman.
Curtis Williams and Kaleb Glenn are both freshmen. Williams is 6-5 and Glenn is 6-6 and both are athletic.
In fact, Louisville in general is reasonably athletic, which makes you wonder why they've struggled as much as they have.
Part of that is losing players.
Trentyn Flowers went to Australia’s NBL after signing with the Cards and it was a major blow. He was a Top 20 prospect and he decided to go pro in August, which was far too late to find an approximate replacement.
No one really knows what happened with Koron Davis but he was booted after the first semester without playing a single minute for Louisville.
Finally, promising young big man Dennis Evans is “no longer medically cleared” to play for the Cardinals.
That’s a lot to overcome and Louisville has not done well overcoming it.
But what if they have a real advantage that no one is thinking about?
Because they do.
Nolan Smith has known Jon Scheyer at least since Smith’s freshman season at Duke, possibly longer.
He’s known Scheyer as a player, as an assistant coach and now a head man. He’s been in the huddles with him. He’s sat with him and talked about what they would do as head coaches. He’s watched him put his ideas into practice.
And we’re sure he has a very good idea of how to counter Scheyer’s ideas. In fact, there may not be a coach anywhere who understands Scheyer’s plans and schemes better than the People’s Champion.
It’s an asset you shouldn’t overlook because Kenny Payne would be crazy not to take advantage of that.
