It’s important to remember that this is just a scrimmage, nothing can truly be meaningfully gleaned from it but I went ahead and made notes anyway:
Matt Jones is going to push for minutes
Freshman or not Matt Jones has worked hard since landing in Durham and is poised to push for minutes. He isn’t afraid to take the reigns and had no real problem knifing his way to the bucket. He Ain’t Scurred
Jabari Parker is deceptively fast, a mental step ahead, has Battier-like mental quickness and can score from anywhere
His teammates are going to have to up their games to keep up with the freshman who feels comfortable anywhere on the court. Handling the ball it’s clear he is going to be a nightmare match-up all year long. He seemed to be able to read the play quicker than anyone on the court. Dynamic
Sloppy and a little stagnant in the half-court
This is clearly and by all accounts a team built on speed and transition to maximize the athleticism of this team. Things seemed to bog down in the half-court and got a little sloppy. Temper that concern mister dukeblogger as its just a scrimmage.
Dawkins is different and the same
Andre hit the first shot of the game in Dawkins fashion, a nice silly 3 pointer, so yes, the young man can still shoot but he contributed in different ways as well. Andre showed a renewed lust for defense in this scrimmage, taking pride and playing excitably on defense, That is new and improved ladies and gentlemen. Dre Day is upon us.
If i could nickname Rodney Hood it would be Swoops, the way he can long-stride to the rim is actually pretty to watch I see lots of his scooping lay-ups against opposing guards in his future. Quiet Killer
Cook will need to find his role, which is a little different than last year.
Cook seemed to struggle a bit at first, getting caught in the trees on drives but he seemed to figure it out pretty quickly and having Jabari and Rodney bring the ball up on occasion is going to work out favorably for Cook on the offensive end, he will get some good looks at threes this year, if his shot is as true and improved as people are saying it could mean big things cookin. Cook also improved immensely his defense, would not be surprised if he leads the team in steals.
Amile Jefferson is going to have some big games in the middle for Duke, he has definitely put in some post work and gained some weight and showed he can hold his own underneath. Jefferson’s Movin on up.
The rust is pretty apparent in some parts of Marshall Plumlees game, he will be a good re-bounder for Duke but offensively he needs to work on footwork on the block. I saw one travel that was called but at least 1 or 2 others that were not He looked good physically and bigger. I expect we’ll see a different MP3 by the time ACC season rolls around, hoping he gets enough reps to correct these small issues. Plum looks healthy
