Mason Plumlee doesn’t try to hide the fact that he enjoys dunking. A lot.
You can see the gleam in his eyes when he spots an open lane and the exhilaration on his face while he flies through the air. You can hear the primal scream that erupts after his successful return to earth and the instinctive outpouring of energy and emotion it encompasses.
But he also realizes that the boost a highlight-reel dunk gives his team is not necessarily unique; in fact, there are many other less glamorous, but equally paramount, ways he can energize the Blue Devils off the bench.
“Big plays like that [create energy], but [head coach Mike Krzyzewski] always talks about coming off the bench with energy, even if it’s just talking on defense,” Plumlee said. “I mean, obviously everybody wants to make a play like that, and I think [I] have the ability to do that, so when we do, it’s great and it gives our team a lift. But there’s other ways—if you get a loose ball, that’s huge.”
And if Duke is to be successful in Indianapolis this weekend, that energy off the bench, both from Mason and his older brother Miles, could be critical.
It has admittedly taken some time for the Plumlees to adjust to their new roles as sparkplugs off the bench, especially when they both expected to be in the starting lineup as the season opened. But an early wrist injury derailed the start of Mason’s career, and the emergence of Brian Zoubek late in the season sent Miles to the bench, as well.
“It was a struggle for me at first to find my role,” Mason said. “But now that I know where I am, I just have to make sure that when I come off the bench, I bring energy.”
Indeed, energy has come to epitomize the play of both Mason and Miles just as it does their senior mentors in Zoubek and Lance Thomas.
While neither Plumlee is defined by his scoring ability, thanks to the proficiency of Duke’s “Big Three,” the pair has proven to be consistent both on the glass and on the defensive end. Combined, they averaged more than eight rebounds a game on the season, while each accounts for nearly a block a game.
But as the calendar turned to March, the Plumlees’ production truly began to match their effort and intangibles.
In Duke’s second-round matchup against California, for example, it was Miles’s acrobatic reverse alley-oop that spurred a decisive Blue Devil run. What’s more, in a bruising contest against a tall Baylor front line, the Plumlees combined for six points and 12 rebounds in just 35 minutes of action.
It is the ability to bring two athletic, 6-foot-10 forwards like Miles and Mason off the bench that differentiates Duke from any other team in the Final Four. But beyond their individual production, having the Plumlees as a safety net minimizes the pressure on Zoubek and Thomas.
“What they’ve done has really been great, being able to come in for me and Lance and not have a drop off and provide a little bit of a different look,” Zoubek said. “It allows me and Lance to play all-out and not pace.”
That different look also creates nightmares for opposing coaches, who must prepare not only for a bruising, more traditional center in Zoubek, but also for the hyper-athletic Plumlees.
“You just got to play hard when you come in, just have an edge, bring energy,” Mason said.
In short, both Miles and Mason accentuate what makes this Blue Devil team different than previous incarnations—depth down low and a plethora of rebounders.
But more than anything, it is their ability to reenergize the team off the bench—either with a rim-rocking putback dunk or simply a solid screen—that makes the Plumlees so crucial to Duke’s title hopes.
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