Trying to stay fresh: Without Jefferson, depth front and center heading into grueling postseason

When Duke announced March 5 that Amile Jefferson’s season was finished, the Blue Devils lost any hope they had of injecting the senior’s nightly double-double back into a depth-strapped roster.

With Jefferson confined to the sidelines, Duke may be forced to deal with a disappointing reality. This year will be one of what-ifs.

Flashback to Dec. 2, when Jefferson tattooed Indiana with six offensive rebounds and eight assists in what has turned into one of Duke’s most impressive wins of the season. Less than two weeks later, Jefferson was gone—placed in a hard cast after fracturing his right foot diving for a loose ball in practice.

“Look, it’s a huge period of adjustment for us,” Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said Dec. 15 after the Blue Devils’ first game without Jefferson. “Amile was our best big guy.”

Two games after Jefferson went down, the Blue Devils fell to a tall Utah team in New York, a sign of what was to come. Duke knew it would have to find a way to deal with its lack of height. After all, with Jefferson, the Blue Devils had five solid perimeter players, two veteran post presences and a developing big man.

Now, with all the injuries that have piled up, Duke is lucky to have six healthy go-to guys.

“Who are we going to sub? That’s it,” Krzyzewski said after a short-handed, one-point win at North Carolina Feb. 17.

Duke has course-corrected to an extent. Graduate student center Marshall Plumlee has flourished in his final season, more than tripling his scoring and rebounding numbers from last season and pulling down six double-doubles. The Warsaw, Ind., native has also adjusted to his larger role by learning to play through foul trouble, and played at least 28 minutes in every one of the team’s 18 conference games.

Plumlee picked up his fourth foul early in the second half in a loss at Clemson Jan. 13, costing the Blue Devils dearly. But his newfound discipline was on full display against the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill when, with four fouls and more than 10 minutes remaining, Plumlee came back in the game and contained a havoc-wreaking Brice Johnson without committing a fifth foul.

Duke’s reliance on pushing players to their limits, though, is not necessarily sustainable. Freshman point guard Derryck Thornton injured his shoulder against Louisville, junior guard Matt Jones has tweaked both ankles in the last month and sophomore guard Grayson Allen has been beat up throughout the season thanks to his reckless abandon as he drives through the paint.

Even ACC Freshman of the Year Brandon Ingram is showing signs of wear on his body. The 6-foot-9 swingman, after all, has played at least 37 minutes in seven of Duke’s last eight games and has missed nearly two-thirds of his field goals in that span.

“He’s worn down some,” Krzyzewski said last week. “[And] because he’s not fully developed yet, it probably affects him a little bit more.”

Ingam’s shooting has impacted the team’s shooting. After finishing below 40 percent from the field only twice in the first 28 games, Duke has shot below 40 percent in each of its last three games. Thornton, only 18 years old, is also 14 of his last 51 from the field in the team’s final seven regular-season games.

Krzyzewski has always encouraged his players to keep shooting, and he has little recourse if the slumps continue. Ingram sat for more than 10 minutes in the first half against North Carolina Saturday after picking up two quick fouls, but Duke’s head coach kept him on the floor with four fouls for most of the second half. Ingram finished 3-of-12 from the floor.

“For us to win anything substantial, we have to have [Ingram] and Grayson on the court all the time,” Krzyzewski said after that game.

That task is difficult for the Blue Devils. The two leading scorers cannot get all the rebounds and take all the free throws. Duke has been outrebounded in its last six games, two of them by 19- and 35-board margins.

Krzyzewski has tried using Plumlee and freshman forward Chase Jeter on the floor at the same time. But Jeter’s raw talent still needs time to develop, hindering that strategy as a long-term solution this season.

Duke has attempted to compensate by honing in on training, rest and recovery, limiting contact in practice to keep the depleted Blue Devils as fresh as possible for each game.

“[We’ve spent] a lot more time in the cold tub, a lot more time in the training room, period,” Jones said last week. “It’s helped us all manage our time better. Whether that’s not doing a certain habit or going to a restaurant or movies or not staying up late, getting more rest and things like that have made us more mature to where we get on the court and we’re more refreshed. The odds are against us more than others.”

But still, exhaustion has reared its head at times down the stretch. Four missed free throws by Allen nearly cost the Blue Devils in the closing minutes against Virginia, Duke blew a double-digit second-half lead at Louisville with Jones sidelined and the Blue Devils were outplayed in all phases in an uninspired loss at Pittsburgh.

“They’re giving me everything,” Krzyzewski said after a Feb. 25 win against Florida State. “But the emotion that we have had to have for these last five games, they’re tired.”

Krzyzewski tried bringing emotion of his own last week. Against Wake Forest, he stripped his coat to pump up the team, and the gesture seemed to work, as Duke won by eight despite trailing in the second frame.

But the postseason is going to be a different animal. If the Blue Devils make a run, the ACC tournament will mean four games in four days. And the NCAA tournament will feature up to three weekends of two games in three days, a quick turnaround that did not bode well for Duke in the regular season.

The Blue Devils had success with eight scholarship players last year. But only six regular guys? That might be too great a task for this team, one that dearly misses Jefferson and whose freshmen took some time to develop.

As a result, the short-handed wins—and even the close losses—Duke has had this year have all been special. It is a team that does not quit, and with everyone asked to do more, each and every player has kicked into full gear.

“It’s a different Duke team than last year, or [Christian] Laettner, or [J.J.] Reddick or Grant Hill. But it’s a damn good Duke team,” Krzyzewski said. “And it’s a team that fights like hell together.”