WRAL Sports Fan

Duke

14-1 Duke scoring from all areas

By Tim Hall

Jan 13, 2009

After Duke's home victory against Davidson, Mike Krzyzewski said there was no mention by the local press about the Blue Devils climb to a No. 2 national ranking.

In commenting about rankings, he said that for 50 percent of his games at Duke, his teams have been ranked in the Top Five, and in 72 percent, in the Top 10. That, he said, is "pretty damn good."

Though now the third-ranked Blue Devils, (still second in the coaches' poll), one could argue they are "pretty damn good" as well. And these Blue Devils are scoring with the basketball at will, averaging over 81 points per game. And the scoring is coming from more places than Kyle Singler.

Duke play-by-play voice Bob Harris joined 99.9 FM The Fan in the studio on Tuesday and said that aspect of Duke has made them better.

"The reason they have been so successful is (that) it's been a group where you haven't been able to key on one person to stop them," said Harris. 

Five different Duke players have led the team in scoring this year. Kyle Singler, Jon Scheyer, Nolan Smith, Gerald Henderson and Lance Thomas all have been game high-scorers. Not one Blue Devil player ranks in the Top 10 in the ACC for points per game. 

"Jon Scheyer has been brilliant at times with his shots," Harris said. "I think Nolan Smith has had some great moments, and Singler is just steady as he can be and is having a much better year than he had last year."

While Duke may be one of three ACC teams without a Top 10 conference scorer, Duke is the only team in the ACC to have two wins against teams ranked in the Top 10 nationally (Purdue, Xavier). 

The Blue Devils look to resume the ACC schedule at 3-0 with a road game at Georgia Tech on Wednesday night. The Yellow Jackets Gani Lawal is the only player in the conference averaging a double-double.