Jon Scheyer and Mike Elko met with the media Monday, about an hour apart, in different buildings, to discuss their respective teams and the big week coming up.
With the horrific news coming from the University of Virginia, a somber mood was evident, especially for Elko, for obvious reasons.
Since Scheyer’s next game is coming up tomorrow, I’ll start with him.
First, some injury news. The message on Dariq Whitehead is consistent. He’s doing the things he needs to do, he’s getting better, but he’s not there yet. He has started playing five on five in practice, which suggests his return is not far off.
But probably not tomorrow in Indy.
However, we did see Dereck Lively, II play 15 minutes Friday night against USC Upstate.
Scheyer said everything was full speed ahead on the Lively front.
“He felt great. He’s ready. He’s ready to take that next step.”
Duke is going to need Lively. Kansas has a committee approach inside, funneling fresh bigs into the lineup and wearing down lesser gifted teams.
But Duke has the interior depth to match that, with Lively, Ryan Young and Kyle Filipowski.
The latter also met with the media, fresh off opening his Duke career with a pair of double-doubles.
Filipowski discussed the importance of winning the battle of the boards.
“Historically, Kansas has already had a couple of big guys who are dominant in the paint and on the glass. It needs to be a priority [for us] to rebound that way, to give them one chance to score. That way we can create that break and get some momentum going.”
But Duke may be forced to make some defensive adjustments.
“Kansas has four perimeter players almost always on the floor, so they can spread you out more,” Scheyer said. “They really push faster than either of the teams we’ve played. They really get it out it fast in transition.”
Jalen Wilson is the key to making this work. At 6-8, 225 he’s the kind of power forward who can spread the court and attack from multiple angles. Wilson has scored 40 total points in two games this season, with 20 rebounds.
Now that was against Omaha and North Dakota State. But Wilson also averaged 11 points and 7 rebounds for Kansas’ NCAA title team last season. He’s a legit star and he might be a match-up problem for Filipowski. If that happens then expect Duke to go smaller, with Mark Mitchell guarding Wilson, which should lead to more PT for Jake Grandison.
Kansas has one of the nation’s top freshmen in 6-8 wing Gradey Dick, who has 35 points in Kansas’ first two games. He’s a sharpshooter and Duke has to keep him under wraps.
Mitchell and Dick were roommates last season at Sunrise Christian Academy in Wichita.
“I know him very well,” Mitchell told me last week. “I talk to him from time to time. He was my roommate for a year so it would be kind of weird if I didn’t.”
Kansas head coach Bill Self is still out with a school-imposed suspension and freshman guard Kyle Cuffe, Jr. suffered a serious knee injury last week and is expected to miss 10-12 weeks.
Guard Jaylen Blakes says the team is pumped.
“This is a program game for us. This is why you come to Duke to play games like this. It's always a big game when we have ‘Duke’ on your chest. So going into this game, I think that we have to do what we do. At the end of the day, we'll live with what happens.”
Scheyer says Duke will learn from the game, win or lose.
“We’re excited for everything that comes with this game and just want to go out there and give our best effort. And then we’ll see how to improve and go from there.”
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Mike Elko’s next game is Saturday at Pittsburgh, on a day in which the temperature may not hit freezing.
Which should play right into Pitt’s strengths.
The Panthers aren’t going to repeat as ACC champions and they’ve had some wobbles this season. But they seem to have hit their stride, beating Syracuse and Virginia in their last two games to reach bowl eligibility at 6-4. They jumped to a 14-0 lead over Virginia last Saturday when they intercepted Brennan Armstrong’s first two passes and returned both for touchdowns.
Pitt has long been the ACC’s poster team for physicality. They’ve certainly had top-tier skill people, folks like Kenny Pickett, Tyler Boyd and Jordan Addison.
But their default is to line up and beat the dickens out of the man lined up next to them. Aaron Donald played for these guys, for crying out loud.
Israel Abanikanda has rushed for over 1,200 yards this season and that’s with missing a game. He’s 5-11, 215 pounds. He can run away from you if he gets separation but only after running through some tackles to get that separation.
Now, if you’ve been with Elko and his program from the beginning you know that he has pegged the program’s revival around being the most physical team around.
So, you see the conflict. New kid on the block challenges the established bully.
“When you play championship football in November, controlling the line of scrimmage is where it starts,” Elko said. “The team that can really impose their will on the line of scrimmage always has the upper hand. Obviously, they’re the team that has the physical label in this league. They’ve been the most physical team in this league for years. They’ve certainly had our number [six straight wins over Duke] from a physicality standpoint. They run the ball really well and they stop the run. This is by far the most complete team we’ve played all year, on both sides of the ball.”
Elko did share some good news on the injury front. Senior co-captain Jacob Monk’s procedure “last week went a little bit better than we anticipated and he’s probably more game-to-game, week-to-week right now. It does mean that there’s a chance we’ll see him again this year.”
Tight end Nicky Dalmolin and running back Jaquez Moore are day-to-day, while running back Jaylen Coleman showed no ill effects from his return from injury against Virginia Tech.
Will the weather impact Duke’s game plan?
“I don’t know how much you can prepare for it. It’s nice that we go out in the mornings. This morning was brisk. We do get some cold mornings being a morning practice team. We’ll probably emphasize putting the offense outside more just so Riley can throw the ball around and the receivers can catch it out there a little bit more than in the past. I talked to them this morning and we talked to them very matter of fact; it’s going to be cold, deal with it. If you’re going to play championship football in November, this is what it’s going to look like.”
I like the idea of Mark Mitchell on Jalen Wilson. Mitchell was outstanding in the first two games so drawing an important assignment in this early season high profile game seems like a natural progression.
Football game against Pittsburgh is going to be interesting. The battle in the trenches will make the difference. Duke needs to lean on the running game early. Strong special teams play resulting in an advantage with field position would be helpful. I’m excited.