After capping off two successful exhibition games, the men's basketball team is ready to switch gears and forge ahead into the Chase NIT Tournament.
Duke won its second of two exhibition games last Saturday, defeating the Melbourne Tigers 80-69, giving the Blue Devils a final opportunity to examine their strengths and weaknesses before their official season begins Nov. 20.
"I think it was a good game to play," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "You can't ease into the season, you have to come in with a sprint. The exhibition game helped us do this."
The game against the Tigers also gave a first glimpse of a possible rotation for the Blue Devils. Instead of five-for-five wholesale substitutions, Duke started to utilize more one and two player rotation schemes.
"I probably hurt my team at times substituting to give guys a chance to play when a group of guys were on a roll," Coach Krzyzewski said. "I would like to maintain this momentum for the NIT and the regular season."
Practices this week have focused on developing a consistent rotation. The Blue Devils worked on coming up with a starting line and giving the team a little more structure.
To date, Krzyzewski has not decided upon a definite starting lineup, but should the game be played tomorrow, the starters would be senior center Greg Newton, junior forward Roshown McLeod, freshman forward Mike Chappell, senior guard Jeff Capel and junior guard Steve Wojciechowski.
Despite the uneven distribution of minutes, Krzyzewski will still look all the way down his bench for contributions.
"Well to me, if you play a minute for Duke, it is significant and if a kid doesn't feel that way, he probably won't play more than that," Krzyzewski said. "So to me, I can use all 11 guys in a ball game. I have confidence in them."
One wild card is the health of junior Ricky Price, who has been out for two weeks with a broken pinky. His playing status for Wednesday's game is still uncertain.
"Well, we're hoping to have Ricky back before the NIT," Krzyzewski said. "I think for us to be an excellent team, Ricky has got to be in there. He is a top quality player and one of the top returnees in the conference."
Another tangible for the starting lineup could be the addition of Trajan Langdon. Although Langdon seemed a bit off in Saturday's exhibition game, he has been playing well in practice and could contribute a great deal to the starting line. Langdon has played significant minutes in the first two games, but he is still adjusting to being on the court after a 14-month absence.
"I feel great empathy for him," Krzyzewski said. "But you have to learn to play with the body you have, not the body you used to have. Nevertheless, [Langdon] is still a good player doing good things."
Going into the NIT, the Blue Devils are optimistic. Duke is looking at the NIT as a learning experience, but it is poised and ready to face the pressure.
"We're not the conventional young, developing team," said Krzyzewski. "The stiff competition and the opponents simulate many potential match-ups for the regular season. It will help mature our team."
Krzyzewski also stated that the game against St. Joseph's on Wednesday could be a challenge. The preparation for St. Joe's has been ongoing this past week, including an intra-squad scrimmage Tuesday. But for the rest of the week, Krzyzewski wants to give the team a break.
"I wanted to stop and give [the team] some rest," Coach Krzyzewski said. "Some of them have a paper due and we want to get them done maybe this weekend. You know, we're trying to plan ahead."
After getting some relaxation and finishing up schoolwork, Duke should be ready to leap out of the exhibition season and meet the challenge of top-caliber competition.
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