Over at The News & Observer, Steve Wiseman has a column up on Duke’s eight-game win streak and the ramifications that has. This team has clearly grown quite a bit.
Jon Scheyer was impressed, saying this: “To see the growth, to see the mental makeup of the guys on this team, they’re tough. I’m talking mental toughness, not just the physical toughness on the court. I’m really proud of the growth we’ve made and really since that game. I do think we’ve been a different team.”
We don’t have a huge amount of data yet, but we do see a parallel with last season when Duke started somewhat erratically before rounding into shape later in the season.
It may be that this is a characteristic of Scheyer’s teams. He wouldn’t be the first coach to be in that kind of a situation.
Tom Izzo goes through it almost every year. Michigan State traditionally starts slow but by the end of the year, and generally becomes a very tough out by March.
It’s probably not an exact analog but it could be that taking a few weeks to figure things out becomes a characteristic of his time at Duke.
In some other bad news/good news type news, both Mark Mitchell and Jeremy Roach have knee injuries but Scheyer says neither is considered to be particularly serious. With Pitt at home and Louisville on the road, it may not be the worst time to have a bit of adversity. We’re not saying those are necessarily easy wins, but we’d rather play those teams without Mitchell and Roach right now, if it comes to that, then, say, UNC, Miami or Clemson.
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