Dartmouth won 10 NCAA Basketball Tournament games before Duke won its first. That includes victories over such notables as North Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio State, NYU and West Virginia. They even made it to the national title game twice, losing 53-38 to Stanford in 1942 and 42-40 in overtime to Utah in 1944.
They even have one of those Helms Championships, from 1906, around the time Trinity College was first dipping its toes into the hoops waters.
I have no idea if they pretend it’s a real thing.
But things haven’t been trending well for Dartmouth for some time now. They last made the Big Dance in 1959, long before anyone thought of calling it the Big Dance. They lost their opener to Jerry West and West Virginia. That Dartmouth team was led by Rudy Larusso, who went on to be a five-time NBA all-star and was nicknamed “Roughhouse Rudy.” Walter Palmer played briefly in the NBA. His younger brother Crawford started his career at Duke before transferring to Dartmouth for his final season.
Dartmouth hasn’t had a winning record since going 14-12 in 1998-’99. Current head coach David McLaughlin came into the season 56-110, 10-18 last season. They haven’t even had a winning season in the Ivy League since that 1999 season.
So, it’s no surprise that Duke opened its 2023-’24 campaign with a 92-54 win over the Big Green.
Doesn’t mean the visitors didn’t make it interesting for awhile, doesn’t mean they didn’t expose some areas that need to be addressed by Duke, in case you were expecting a masterpiece on November 6.
Dartmouth is a tough task for a young team, especially one missing ace defender Mark Mitchell, out with a sprained ankle, duration TBD. Jon Scheyer said he didn’t think Mitchell’s injury was a long-term one but Friday is still up in the air.
Back to Dartmouth. They milk the shot clock on offense, play zone at the other end and early on tempted Duke into some quick 3s, some reach-in fouls. It was 18-14 Duke with 8:16 left in the half, 25-19 with 5:27 left.
Ryan Young got the start for Duke in Mitchell’s absence and gave the Blue Devils 2 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 block in just under 20 minutes of playing time.
“That’s always a great thing early in the season to get under our belts,” Young said. “We have to be ready to a multitude of different types of team that play different styles.”
Jon Scheyer noted that since Duke doesn’t play much zone they really can’t practice against one, not effectively anyway.
“I thought the zone stood us up a little bit. Put the ball over our heads and settle for jump shots instead of attacking the paint. Once we settled in I thought they had a hard time guarding us.”
Tyrese Proctor noted that Duke “needed a couple of minutes to adjust” to the visitors.
Proctor and Kyle Filipowski jump-started the Duke offense with back-to-back 3s to make it 31-19 and the rout was on.
Here’s how Proctor described that 3.
“Something the defense gave me. I try not to force it, to let the game come to me. Every shot is a big shot, every play is a winning play.”
Proctor ended the game with eight points, eight assists and only one turnover.
Scheyer said he thinks Proctor can lead the country in assists.
And Jaylen Blakes, a guy nobody talked about much in the preseason. But with Proctor, then Jared McCain, then Jeremy Roach picking up two fouls before halftime the opportunity was there for Blakes and he seized it. Eight points without missing a shot, a couple of steals, even two blocks by intermission.
“We kind of stalled out there a little bit in the middle of the first half,” Scheyer noted “and Jaylen had the steal and the and-one. I just love the energy that he brought.”
“Just the spark he shows off the bench,” Young added. “Today it showed up on the stat sheet. Sometimes it doesn’t. But us, as teammates we understand the value because we see it every day in practice.”
Blakes might have been Duke’s best player in the first half.
Duke closed the opening half with a 17-2 run, holding the visitors scoreless for the final 3:10.
Kyle Filipowski got off to a slow start, two points in the first 12 minutes. But he kept working, kept moving without the ball and ended up with 25 points and seven rebounds, hitting 10 of 12 from the field.
Filipowski said that movement is the key to shooting 83 percent.
“I think we’ve already found more rhythm for our offense this year compared to last year, with always keeping the ball moving, no matter who has it or if they play gets broken up or something, just keep the ball moving, keep the defense on its heels and we’re going to find something eventually.”
Filipowski scored 10 points in the first 4:25 of the second half.
“I think he did a great job of not forcing things,” Scheyer said of Filipowski. “When we share and move, I think we’re tough to guard.”
Filipowski was joined in double figures by Caleb Foster with 15 points, Jeremy Roach with 14 and Blakes with 10. Duke had 18 assists against nine turnovers and forced 13 turnovers.
Dartmouth’s 6-8 Dusan Neskovic scored 23 points, most near the rim but Scheyer said that was a price Duke was willing to pay to limit Dartmouth to four made 3-pointers on 18 attempts.
Duke got its first 30-point lead at 74-43 and its biggest lead at the final score.
Duke got some nice performances off the bench, including Blakes and Sean Stewart’s six points and five rebounds in 9:41. Spencer Hubbard got a layup, an assist and drew a charge to the delight of the crowd.
But sophomore guard Jaden Schutt didn’t play. Scheyer somewhat cryptically said of Schutt “Jaden’s okay. He has a long journey ahead of him. I love Jaden and I’m going to keep that private for now. But he’s in great standing. Me and him have had some conversations and we’re going to continue to do the best thing for him.”
So one game down, a whole lot more to go.
“It’s about growing and maxing out who we can be as a team,” Scheyer said. “So, for tonight, I don’t think we played a 40-minute game. I thought we were close to it. I think there were some lulls, some things we need to clean up and do better. But the goal is to keep making strides throughout the season.”
A bit odd, mention of TJ Power, in addition to the cryptic Schutt comment...
Jim, you looked kind of lonely tonight without Barry Jacobs beside you. Was it something you said?