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Krzyzewski Looking At Lean Blue Devil Roster

Jul 1, 2004

DURHAM, N.C. — When Duke closed last season with a Final Four loss, it appeared the Blue Devils would be back with a deep, talented roster that could contend for coach Mike Krzyzewski's fourth national championship in 2005.

Then freshman Luol Deng entered the NBA draft.

Star recruit Shaun Livingston followed, never even setting foot on campus as a student.

The defections have left Krzyzewski with one of his leanest rosters in recent memory.

"I don't think I'll have too many problems talking about playing time," the Hall of Fame coach joked Tuesday. "If you're not getting playing time this year, you're bad."

Still, he sounded eager to find the strategies and playing rotations that will help the Blue Devils live up to their past success.

"I don't focus on what we had. I focus on what we have," Krzyzewski said at an offseason news conference. "My focus is on the next play and that focus has got to be positive and exciting, because that's what those kids deserve.

"I think we'll still be good. I don't know how good."

Duke (31-6) reached the Final Four for the 10th time in 19 seasons this year, losing to eventual champion Connecticut. But the Blue Devils lost senior point guard Chris Duhon and Deng - the team's second-leading scorer at 15.1 points per game - from that squad.

Then, Livingston, a 6-foot-7 point guard, entered the draft and was selected fourth by the Los Angeles Clippers.

Now, Duke heads into next season with just eight recruited players.

"I don't begrudge those kids because of the fact they're allowed to make decisions," the coach said of Deng and Livingston. "We're behind them, we tried to help them as much as we could."

The Blue Devils return key contributors in senior Daniel Ewing, and juniors J.J. Redick, Shelden Williams, Shavlik Randolph and Sean Dockery. But they have several question marks after that.

Seldom-used Lee Melchionni, a 6-6 junior forward who averaged about 5 minutes per game, joins incoming freshmen DeMarcus Nelson and David McClure in rounding out the Blue Devils' top eight.

Krzyzewski said walk-on Patrick Johnson, a 6-9 forward/center, will also be given a scholarship for the 2004-05 school year.

Duke will have to fill the void at point guard left by Duhon's departure. Dockery plays aggressive defense but is limited offensively. He averaged just 3 points a game while shooting just 41 percent, including 3-of-25 from behind the arc.

Krzyzewski said he doesn't want to define roles for the team yet, saying that Ewing and Nelson could also shoulder some ball-handling duties. He also said the Blue Devils might play more zone defense to protect the 6-9 Williams and 6-10 Randolph, who provide Duke with physical inside presences.

"Those are questions we have to answer," Krzyzewski said. "They have to have an answer before we actually start practice, like what will be the methods we use to teach the system we're going to have for this group?

"We're excited about our prospects. We just have to make sure we stay healthy and don't get into foul trouble."