WRAL Sports Fan

WRALSportsFan

Confident King Contributing For Duke

By Michael Moore

Nov 29, 2007

So far in his college career, Taylor King has gone from Duke’s leading scorer to benchwarmer—and back again.

Quite a swing in seven games.

King, a freshman from Huntington Beach, Calif., was expected to have the least impact of the three rookies on this year’s team. But the sharpshooter with almost unlimited range has led the 7th-ranked Blue Devils (7-0) in scoring twice this season.

And after barely seeing the floor against the best two teams Duke has faced, King showed Tuesday against Wisconsin that he could get his shot off against a major conference opponent, hitting five threes and sparking Duke’s 20-7 run to close out the first half.

Taking on Davidson (3-2) Saturday, a team that hoists up more than 30 three-pointers per game, Duke may need the kind of firepower King provides.

“I need to contribute as much as possible to the team, in as many minutes as I get,” King said after scoring 27 points against Eastern Kentucky Sunday, a high for the Blue Devils this season.

King has certainly taken advantage of his opportunities, scoring at a greater pace than anyone else on the team. His offensive game is almost completely based in outside shooting—75 percent of his points come from beyond the arc—but so far he has been effective, connecting on more than half of his attempts.

That’s good enough to place him second in the ACC in three-point percentage.

Fueled by his accuracy, King has no fear when it comes to his shot. One of his threes in Tuesday’s first half featured him falling out of bounds with a defender’s hand in his face. A second came on a turnaround, during which he wasn’t even facing the basket until the last moment of his release.

King can occasionally overstep his limits when he believes he is on a roll—as when he pulled up in the second half against Wisconsin for a deep three with no rebounders underneath, a miss which cued rolling eyes from head coach Mike Krzyzewski.

That kind of blind self-assurance, however, just might be a good thing for a team that lacked any sort of swagger last season.

“Confidence is a big thing for us. Taylor, for example, he has all the confidence in the world,” sophomore Jon Scheyer said with a chuckle. “And it [spreads] to other guys, too. That was the thing with our team last year—we didn’t have a lot of confidence, and it showed.”

King didn’t lose any confidence even when he had to swallow some freshman lumps early on. In Duke’s two most competitive games, against Illinois and Marquette at the Maui Invitational last week, King saw just a combined three minutes of playing time, likely because of his deficiencies on the defensive end.

While his shooting ability will guarantee him some playing time throughout the year, the question remains whether King can contribute in other areas. Defensively, the 6-foot-6 freshman is somewhat of a ’tweener—too small to guard most big men and not quick enough to handle guards on the perimeter.

So far this season, King has most often played the second forward position, meaning he is often at a size disadvantage on defense—against Wisconsin, King was often matched up with 6-foot-10 Jon Leuer.

Krzyzewski has clearly prioritized improving on defense for King, but so far, he hasn’t had to question the freshman’s work ethic.

“If you watched the celebration in Maui after we won, it was really a neat thing,” Krzyzewski said Sunday. “It was a happy, happy team and there was no kid who was happier than Taylor. And then the last couple of days in practice, he said ‘I’m going to work.’ What a great attitude.”