Heavy minutes for Duke trio doesn't concern Krzyzewski

Duke

Heavy minutes for Duke trio doesn't concern Krzyzewski

Nolan Smith, Kyle Singler, Jon Scheyer and Lance Thomas of Duke on February 4, 2010.

By Dane Huffman

Feb 9, 2010

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Look back over the history of Duke basketball under coach Mike Krzyzewski, and you’ll see plenty of players who played heavy minutes.

Johnny Dawkins for one. J.J. Redick for another.

And this year, you can add Jon Scheyer, Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler.

In the ACC, only four players have averaged more than 34 minutes per game. Duke has three of them. Scheyer is averaging 36.5 minutes, Singler 35.2 and Smith 35.0.

Those three are averaging more minutes per game than Bobby Hurley did in three of his Duke seasons.

Scheyer didn’t come out of Thursday’s win over Georgia Tech until 47.2 seconds remained, even though the Devils led by 20. Scheyer appeared to have fresh legs throughout the contest, and afterward said the long minutes didn’t bother him.

“I’ll play 40 minutes if I can,” he said. “I’m in shape.”

He got his wish in Saturday’s win at Boston College. Scheyer and Smith both played the entire game and Singler played 39 minutes in a tense, 66-63 victory.

“It’s really a 40-minute game. It should be easier for them than a two-hour practice,” Krzyzewski said Monday. “Those guys are in condition to do that.”

Krzyzewski pointed out that other players in the past have rarely come out of the game. (See chart below).

Smith said he doesn’t watch the clock and playing for long stretches doesn’t bother him.

Duke is 19-4 overall and leads the ACC at 7-2 in league play.

But are there possible consequences? For one, the Devils aren’t building up any experience in the backcourt. Freshman Andre Dawkins didn’t play a minute against Georgia Tech, and was in for just five seconds at Boston College.

What if Scheyer or Smith gets in foul trouble in NCAA play – will Dawkins be ready?

Also, Redick played enormous minutes during his junior (37.3) and senior seasons (37.1) and appeared worn down by the NCAA Tournament.

Redick made jiust 10 for 38 shots in NCAA play as a junior in 2005.

As a senior, he hit only 3 of 18 shots in Duke’s 62-54 loss to LSU in the third round of NCAA Tournament. Obviously, LSU’s defense had plenty to do with that, but Redick just didn’t look fresh at the end of that season.

This season, Krzyzewski loves having his trio on the court and doesn’t see any concerns as the season heads into the decisive weeks.

“I have confidence in them,” Krzyzewski said. “They are veterans. They don’t use up emotional energy like a younger player.

“I’m not worried about their conditioning.”

Duke’s highest minutes-played per season under Krzyzewski

Year, Player (Games) Avg.

1984--Johnny Dawkins (34) 38.4
1982--VInce Taylor (27) 38.4
2005--J.J. Redick (33) 37.3
1982--Chip Engelland (27) 37.3
2006--J.J. Redick (36) 37.1

2010--Jon Scheyer (23) 36.5
1984-Tommy Amaker (34) 36.3
1983--Johnny Dawkins (28) 35.8
2000--Chris Carrawell (34) 35.6
1994--Grant Hill (34) 35.6

1993--Bobby Hurley (32) 35.5
2000--Shane Battier (34) 35.5
2004--Chris Duhon (37) 35.4
2002--Chris Duhon (35) 35.1
2010--Kyle Singler (23) 35.0

2001--Shane Battier (39) 34.9
2010--Nolan Smith (21) 34.8
1991--Bobby Hurley (39) 34.6
1981--Gene Banks (27) 34.6
1981--Vince Taylor (30) 34.3

1992--Bobby Hurley (31) 33.6
1990--Bobby Hurley (38) 33.4
1986--Johnny Dawkins (40) 33.1
2009--Jon Scheyer (37) 32.8
1992--Christian Laettner (35) 32.2

Most Recent Comments

RE: Heavy minutes for Duke trio doesn't concern Krzyzewski

Unlike a lot of people who post here; I am a basketball coach. I've coached at the middle and high school level as well as AAU. You go with your best players. Like I always say and others have said " you play like you practice". If Dawkins and Kelly aren't having good practices, then why would you put them in a game? Let the HOF coach and winner of 3 National Championships coach his team and you guys coach yours! Being a coach is not as easy as it looks!!!

RE: Heavy minutes for Duke trio doesn't concern Krzyzewski

Your making two assumptions here.

1) That Kelly and Dawkins actually would develop with more minutes. For some players this just doesn't happen (ex. Brian Zoubek). Good in high school doesnt always mean good in college (ex. Lance Thomas).

2)If they did develop into decent players that we are making the FF. Just because two players on your bench have had more minutes, does it directly correlate to your team going to the FF that year? No, but it might give you a better chance. And when we say "develop" do you mean into scorers? role-players? defensive minded? Or are you just talking about putting them out there just for the sake of resting other players who are more vital to your teams success? There are many ways to look at it.

In my opinion, you put the players out there that give you the best chance of winning, its just a shame come tourny time some of them have spaghetti legs.

RE: Heavy minutes for Duke trio doesn't concern Krzyzewski

The options are that K could be playing Dawkins and Kelly a lot more minutes but chooses not to for whatever reason. Again, in recent years, K seems more interested in piling up regular-season wins and a high seed than perhaps taking a lump or two in the regular-season to have his team more prepared during the NCAA Tournament.

Now, will this come back to bite him in the post-season again as it has the past 5 years (and 7 of the past 8) when dook has an early exit? Tell me, dookies, would you rather win the ACC regular season and flame out in the first 2 rounds or the sweet 16 again or would you rather lose a few more regular-season games by developing your bench but then make the Final Four?

RE: Heavy minutes for Duke trio doesn't concern Krzyzewski

What this boils down to is what other options does Coach K have really? Bring Dawkins and Jordan Davidson in to run the point? No offense to them or anything but neither have the skillset or experience to run a team effeciently. Dawkins is a spot shooter and Davidson is a walk on who has rode the bench his entire time at Duke. Out of the 12 man active roster, 9 of those players see minutes. Coach K's options are very limited, especially at PG. One thing that hasn't changed this season is the starting lineup, every game its Scheyer, Singler, Smith, Thomas, and Miles, and dont expect that to change either. We have seen what Mason is capable of, but he is young and inexperienced and often tries to make plays that aren't there, most the time resulting in turnovers. Ryan Kelly and Dawkins aren't exactly PTP'ers, and neither has shown us anything really spectacular (aside from Dawkins going off in the Wisconsin loss at the end of the game), so its hard to put much faith in them especially in close game situations. Lets put it this way, if everyone on this team was seeing equal minutes we would not be 19-4 and sitting atop the ACC standings.

RE: Heavy minutes for Duke trio doesn't concern Krzyzewski

But, this cant be true that K plays his starters up 20 points like in the GA. Tech game. I mean in the hansbrough broken nose incident he said Roy shouldnt of had his starters in! That was a 11 point lead and Duke was still calling timeouts.
And Coach K wonders why the media starting hating? Geez, hypocrite.

Hmm, wonder what will happen when one of his the big three takes a shot at the end of one of these games? I'd love to have the other coach tell him he shouldnt have had his starters in.
- Posted by jsp1267

He said both of them should not have been in there, Henderson and the mouth breather. That does not make him a hypocrtite.
- Posted by wormwood33

mouth breather, YES!!!

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