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Duke

Lack of guards will be addressed, says Duke assistant

By Tim Hall

Jul 10, 2009

Gerald Henderson went to the NBA (to no surprise) and Elliot Williams has left the programs.  Four guards turned into two returning guards for the 2009-10 Duke Blue Devils.  Just two "natural" guards are on the roster. 

"Well there's no question that we're a little bit thin in the backcourt and that will be something that we'll have to make work," Duke assistant Chris Collins told 99.9 The Fan ESPN Radio on Friday.  "I think the main change you'll see is Kyle Singler on the perimeter full-time.....now I think he'll play more of his natural position as a small forward."

Duke's 2009 recruiting class doesn't bring in any guards though both are McDonald's All-Americans in Mason Plumlee and Raleigh's Ryan Kelly.  Kelly according to Collins will be an outside threat.

"He's got some perimeter skills and even though they [Kelly and Plumlee] are more inside oriented and a little bit bigger guys we're going to have to teach some of our guys to be able to play out on the floor and handle the ball," Collins said.  "There's no question it was a big loss with Elliot [Williams]."

It's been reported recently that Coach Mike Krzyzewski will stay on as coach of Team USA for another four years.  Collins was an assistant for the past four years through the gold medal run in Beijing.  He insists that the Duke program doesn't suffer at all from the coach's attention to the national team.

"It really didn't impact us at all, we didn't miss any time with our guys," Collins said. "And during our seasons and school year there was 100 percent focus on our Duke team and what they were doing."