WRAL Sports Fan

Duke

Devils insist they are fresh for ACC, NCAA run

By Jake Lloyd

Mar 11, 2009

Durham, N.C. — Gerald Henderson could only chuckle Tuesday when asked if he agreed with a reporter who said that tired legs had caused him to miss three straight free throws late in Duke’s 79-71 loss at North Carolina on Sunday.

“I don’t know about that, I don’t know about that,” Henderson said.

It wasn’t the most ludicrous claim, considering the minutes Duke’s starters logged at Chapel Hill. All five of them played at least 31 minutes, with Jon Scheyer on the court for 39 and Elliot Williams and Kyle Singler for 38. Henderson played 35 minutes.

But the ninth-ranked Blue Devils (25-6, 11-5 ACC) claim resoundingly that they’re fresh and ready for the ACC Tournament, which won’t begin for them until the late quarterfinal game on Friday night.

The player under the brightest microscope is Singler, who clearly wore down at the end of his freshman season and wasn’t the same player who won ACC rookie of the year honors.

But the sophomore said that he doesn’t even remember how he felt a year ago and that he feels strong this time around.

“I feel good right now,” Singler said. “I guess having a year underneath your belt in college basketball is definitely a good thing to have.”

The Devils better hope that Singler still has plenty of good basketball left in him, because it doesn’t appear that they are going to get much production from their bench in the postseason.

While Singler said that every game is different, it was telling that in Duke’s biggest game of the season to date — at North Carolina on Sunday — the bench logged just 19 minutes and didn’t score.

After the loss, coach Mike Krzyzewski said he didn’t mind relying so heavily on his starters. It wasn’t a surprising thing to say, considering he has a penchant for shortening his bench at this time of year.

But can the Devils become the team they envision being with little or no contributions from outside of the five starters?

“Every game brings different situations, but we’re going to have to have guys come off the bench and help us,” Singler said. “That’s not saying that they haven’t. Dave (McClure’s) been big for us, Brian (Zoubek’s) had big minutes for us.

“But the five guys are going to play the majority of the minutes. That’s just how it is.”

Duke’s starters don’t know exactly how the minutes are going to be allocated from game to game — and no one is sure when Nolan Smith will return from the concussion he suffered Feb. 25 at Maryland — but they feel fine after the 31-game grind of the regular season.

One starter, in particular, has fresh legs. Williams was a bit surprised at how many minutes he played against the Tar Heels, saying, “You felt it chasing (Ty) Lawson around.”

But Williams has only started six games and shouldn’t have any problems playing big minutes on the perimeter in the coming weeks.

“Guys who have that kind of athleticism — rarely do you worry as much about the minutes,” assistant coach Chris Collins said. “He’s a young guy, he’s in good shape, he’s a heck of an athlete.”

Henderson acknowledged that the season is a long haul, but professed no doubt that fatigue won’t be a factor no matter how many minutes certain players log.

“It is a long season, a lot of practices, a lot of games, a lot of traveling, and also you’re going to school with that,” Henderson said. “So you kind of have to manage your sleep, how you’re resting and also you can’t practice for three hours any more.

“You have to just stay fresh because you are playing for three, four months straight.”

At this point, the Devils are more focused on becoming the team they think they can be than worrying about atrophying. After Sunday’s loss, Scheyer said he doesn't think the players realize how good they are as a team.

And when thinking back to the game two days later, players noted that they were just a few plays away from winning at the now-No. 1 team.

“When we get in situations like that, we just need to make plays,” Henderson said. “That’s what it comes down to. It comes down to us either coming together and getting a big defensive rebound or making a connecting play on offense.”

All the Devils echoed each other in saying that they’re playing their best basketball of the season, having won five straight games before the loss to the Tar Heels.

But they also believe that as late in the season as they are, there’s still improving to do if they want to reach their full potential and be able to beat the nation’s top teams such as North Carolina.

“I think as a team we have a lot of growth still (to get to) as a group where we will be eventually,” Singler said. “I know that’s tough to say, but a lot of guys have a lot of potential still.”

As far as how many Devils contribute in the postseason, that’s still to be determined.

Even when Smith is able to do more than the light basketball drills he did Tuesday, he’ll have to work himself back into shape during a short period of time. And if Sunday was any indication, the rest of Duke’s bench might not be much of a factor going forward.

“We have good players (starting), we feel like guys can play well throughout a game,” Henderson said. “But we’re going to need everyone. We can’t rely on just a few guys to score 20 points (each).”