After completing his Army ROTC contracting ceremony Jan. 23, Marshall Plumlee said one of his next goals was to become a better leader at Army officer training during the summer.
The 7-footer’s experience at Fort Knox in Fort Knox, Ky., could pay off in more ways than one moving forward.
In his fifth year in the Duke program, Plumlee provides a much-needed veteran presence in the Duke frontcourt, alongside senior Amile Jefferson. With lone senior Quinn Cook and the Blue Devils’ other top three scorers from last year’s championship team absent, finding consistent low-post production is one of the many questions head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s squad faces entering the season.
But after a month of officer training, Plumlee returned to the hardwood ready to lead. He has since carved out a new role as the co-commander of the Blue Devil defensive unit.
“One of the biggest things that the Army has helped Marshall [with] that has translated to basketball is his talk,” Jefferson said. “In the Army, you have to be direct.... He’s not asking you to do something—he’s commanding you to do it. That’s what you have to do on the basketball court. You can’t say, ‘Excuse me, guard, can you please go to the baseline, where we can trap this guy?’ It’s one word, it’s direct—it’s ‘Ice!’ It’s ‘Blitz!’”
During approximately 40 days of training designed as a culmination of the first three years of cadet training and ROTC training at Duke, Plumlee distinguished himself at Fort Knox because of his work ethic, said Capt. Justin Montgomery, a military science instructor at the University of South Carolina who worked with Plumlee’s platoon on the base.
Plumlee’s 7-foot frame helped Montgomery pick his platoon out from a crowd during early-morning exercises. The biggest change in the graduate student’s approach after 30 days of field work was learning how to slow down his decision-making process, Montgomery said.
Despite not having the tactical knowledge of some of his peers when he began training, Plumlee caught up quickly.
“Out of my 40 cadets I had, he was maybe in my top four, maybe my top three, as far as how he approached things. As far as being a team player, he was the number one guy,” Montgomery said. “If he wasn’t so damn tall, a very close [comparison] would be Rudy. He’s just pure heart.”
Although Plumlee is still relatively inexperienced on the court—his 9.6 minutes per game last season were a career high—his familiarity with the Blue Devil program and motor have made him the clear choice to be Duke’s starting center ahead of five-star freshman Chase Jeter. The Warsaw, Ind., native might not be as likely to record highlight reel plays on the offensive end, but noted in the preseason that his summer training made him more assertive, often a key characteristic for successful players down low.
“It helped me a lot with my command presence and becoming a more decisive leader and I think the coaches have seen a noticeable change in me after my return from the training,” Plumlee said.
In addition to balancing his on-court schedule with his ROTC time commitment, Plumlee will be tasked with mitigating the loss of All-American center Jahlil Okafor and following in the footsteps of older brothers Miles and Mason, who both started at center as seniors and made dramatic leaps before landing in the NBA.
Heading into his final season, the youngest Plumlee sports career averages of 1.4 points and 1.9 rebounds per contest. But there were signs at the end of last year that he could assume a larger role in the offense, including a 12-point outburst—all on dunks—in the ACC tournament against N.C. State.
In Duke’s two exhibition games, Plumlee—who said in January that he hopes to pursue a professional basketball career while serving as a Reserve officer following this season—averaged 12.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in 21.0 minutes per game.
“We’re not going to have any [other] guys who are 22, 23 years old. Marshall is 23,” Krzyzewski, a West Point graduate, said during the preseason. “The situations that he was placed in and the growth that he has had as a leader is showing up here—he’s done a really good job.”
One of the ways Plumlee could impact games might not even show up in the box score.
As dominant as Okafor was for the Blue Devils last season before being selected third overall in the NBA draft, the 6-foot-11 center struggled at times on the defensive end of the court, particularly in pick-and-roll situations.
Plumlee and Jefferson are two big reasons why this season’s Duke team could be even more active defensively with its length on the perimeter and activity down low. The unique combination based on communication on the back end could let Krzyzewski and his staff experiment with more exotic defensive looks than they have in the past, when the Blue Devils traditionally utilized a pressure man-to-man style.
“When big guys have a good voice in a game, especially defensively, it helps you,” Krzyzewski said. “The perimeter, if they are doing a good job, cannot look behind them. If they have a voice behind them telling them what is going on, they can do their job better. They trust that voice. Whenever we have had teams that have had good vocal big men, we have usually been a much better defensive team.”
After years of balancing a strenuous schedule and waiting in line to be a steady option for the Blue Devils, Plumlee could step into the spotlight when Duke opens the regular season Friday against Siena.
But even if he does not right away, the 7-footer will likely find a way to make an impact before the end of the year—Plumlee has plenty of experience adjusting to high-pressure situations.
“Out in Fort Knox, you can get fragmentation orders and things get flipped upside down in a second and you have to adjust,” he said. “The same thing can happen in the world of basketball and I feel more confident than ever to be able to make the right decision to help my team win, no matter what the circumstances might be.”
Ryan Hoerger contributed reporting.
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