Duke held its media day Tuesday afternoon at Cameron Indoor Stadium as the Blue Devils prepare to defend their 2015 national title with a a mixture of returning veterans and the nation's top-ranked recruiting class. Here are some of the highlights from head coach Mike Krzyzewski's press conference, including an injury update and progress adapting to the NCAA's new rules for 2015-16.
"[Sean] Obi had been out for awhile [but] he's now practicing. The only kid that's been out the whole time for us is [freshman center Antonio] Vrankovic, he had a stress reaction earlier in the month in September. He's close to being able to practice—the other guys are in pretty good shape. Grayson [Allen] had not played for about three weeks because he had an annoying hamstring there in September, so we shut him down. He's only been practicing since the start of practice, but today he had a really, really good day."
Krzyzewski now has a full roster at his disposal after winning a national title with just eight active scholarship players in April. Allen's balky hamstring would appear to be the most serious concern, but based on his physicality and explosiveness at Friday's open practice and Krzyzewski's assessment of Tuesday's practice, the Jacksonville, Fla., native should be good to go moving forward. Vrankovic was in a walking boot at Friday's open practice but was dressed to participate. A stress reaction denotes the earliest stages of what could lead to a stress fracture.
"Ingram will be all over. He's that good of a player. Brandon's gained 23 pounds since July 1. A lot of it is muscle mass and so he's in the 190s now, he came in about 172 [pounds]. He's worked very, very hard."
The 6-foot-9 swingman can shoot the ball from anywhere on the floor, and spent much of Friday's open practice rotating in with the rest of the Blue Devil guards. With his height and jumping ability, Duke may also look to utilize Ingram down low, where he faces a disadvantage because of his slight frame. Justise Winslow provided effective inside-out scoring for Krzyzewski as a freshman last year at 6-foot-6, but had already packed on plenty of muscle prior to arriving in Durham. Ingram's ability to deliver down low could be critical for a Duke team now without the services of dominant post threat Jahlil Okafor.
"We did an officials clinic today because there are a lot of new rules changes. They're going to have a big impact on the game."
The college game underwent a significant overhaul during the summer as the NCAA sought to increase scoring. Among the big changes are a reduction in the shot clock to 30 seconds from 35 and the elimination of the five-second closely guarded rule as long as a player maintains his dribble. Krzyzewski—who said he supports a further reduction of the shot clock to the NBA-regulation 24 seconds—particularly stressed the importance of a shift in officiating pertaining to defensive positioning. Post defenders will now be allowed to keep an arm-bar on their assignment in the post when the offensive player has the ball. Prior to this switch, defenders could keep an arm-bar on their man when the ball was elsewhere but had to remove it when the ball arrived, allowing the offensive player a better opportunity to back down in the post. That's a big thing," Krzyzewski said.
Keep up with the Blue Zone for the latest news and analysis as the regular season approaches. Duke will hold its annual Countdown to Craziness exhibition Oct. 17.
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