No justifications. This week at the ACC Tournament in Charlotte, top-ranked Duke will live by that basketball motto.
During the regular season, the Blue Devils won 29 games, including the final eight. Cameron Boozer is their ACC player of the year. They have the finest defense in the nation, according to many observers, and are ranked first in both the NCAA NET and KenPom rankings. The Devils will play this week without junior guard Caleb Foster due to a fracture in his right foot and sophomore center Patrick Ngongba due to right foot pain, according to a statement made by Duke coach Jon Scheyer on Tuesday.
Due to this, the Duke rotation now consists of seven players instead of nine. Isaiah Evans, Dame Sarr, Maliq Brown, and Cam Boozer will need to put in additional time. Darren Harris, Nikolas Khamenia, and Cayden Boozer need to assume more responsibility. Scheyer stated on Tuesday, “At the same time, you won’t see us making excuses or flinching.” “I think there is still an amazing belief in what we can do, how we can play, and how we can win among our boys.
“But unfortunately, I’ve been in this position before, last year in the ACC Tournament. …”
Duke aims to win shorthanded again
A year ago, the Devils traveled to Charlotte as the top seed in the ACC and the tournament’s overwhelming favorite, behind only rookie Cooper Flagg, the ACC and soon-to-be national player of the year. Things swiftly altered. Brown suffered a dislocated shoulder during the first half of the quarterfinal matchup with Georgia Tech. After turning his ankle during the first half, Flagg was taken off for X-rays, which came out negative.
The Devils reorganized. Duke won three games in three days without Flagg and Brown, shattering the nets as ACC champions, and freshman Kon Knueppel was voted the tournament MVP.
Scheyer stated on Tuesday, “I think stepping up is part of what a team is all about.” “If this raises further questions or anything else, I believe that the belief in our locker room is 100% present if you look at the way our men act, talk, and practice. “We won’t offer any justifications. We must have Caleb’s back. Pat needs to get well as soon as possible. And we’ll be prepared to go.
Cam Boozer: The center of it all for Duke
After 31 games and counting, Cam Boozer will once more be a defensive priority and will endure a lot of abuse in Charlotte’s paint. He thrives on it and is accustomed to it. Ebuka Okorie of Stanford outscored him as the league’s top scorer with 23.1 points per game compared to Boozer’s 22.7, but he was the top rebounder with 10.2.
Nobody will be shocked if Boozer wins MVP and Duke prevails. Is there a secret contender for tournament MVP at Duke, though? Don’t discount Maliq Brown. Last year, he had to primarily watch. Although he lacks Knueppel’s shooting prowess, he won sixth man of the year and is the ACC’s defensive player of the year.
In the 76-61 victory over North Carolina at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday, Boozer was nearly unstoppable with 26 points and 15 rebounds. Hubert Davis, the coach of UNC, stated as much following the game, but he also added, “Maliq dominated the game.””I think Maliq’s presence disrupted us on both ends of the floor, whether it was his post defense, ball screen defense, steals and deflections, his screens, passing ability, rim running, and scoring around the basket,” Davis remarked. “Obviously, Cameron is a gifted player.” “I believed he interfered with us both ways.”
“Maliq Brown is everywhere in this game,” as ESPN analyst Jay Bilas stated during the broadcast. That remark was made during a moment when Brown appeared to be everywhere, causing chaos by crashing the boards for an offensive rebound, forcing a turnover, and getting hand on the ball. Additionally, he had a stellar stat sheet with 15 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 steals.
In the second half, his defensive prowess contributed to a 16-0 Duke run that turned into a 30-6 Duke run that won the game. Additionally, he took his time making a 3-pointer in front of the Duke bench, which resulted in a timeout for UNC. Foster and Ngongba, who both watched him labor from the bench in walking boots as the Blue Devils blew it open, were cited by Brown as his inspiration in the second half of the game. According to Scheyer, Foster underwent surgery on Sunday to treat a foot injury, but he might make a comeback during the postseason.
“Those two were in my ear the entire time I went down last year,” Brown remarked. “I wanted to pay that back, pay back that energy.” And he continues to do so for three days in Charlotte.
