Know Your Opponent: Duke

By Bobby Hundley

Duke (GoDuke.com)
Location: Durham, N.C.
Rankings: No. 1 KenPom, No. 1 AP
NET/SOS: No. 1 NET, No. 3 SOS
Record: 23-2, 10-1 ACC
Carolina Series History (Last Meeting): UNC leads 137-111 (UNC 74, Duke 69, March 9, 2018, Barclays Center)

Duke being an offensive juggernaut shouldn't come as any great surprise to even the most casual college basketball observer. At No. 3 in KenPom's adjusted offensive efficiency rating entering Wednesday night, the Blue Devils are comfortably on pace to finish in the top 10 in that category for the 11th consecutive season.

What's interesting is that Mike Krzyzewski's team is doing it by making fewer 3-pointers than at any time in at least the last two decades. At 31.3 percent from deep, Duke currently ranks 304th nationally in 3-point shooting. That number dips to 30.5 percent in league play, ahead of only Georgia Tech, Notre Dame and Wake Forest.

The reason why the Duke offense is so dominant, however, is no great secret. Led by national player of the year frontrunner Zion Williamson, the Blue Devils are overwhelming teams from inside the arc. Williamson's 75 percent from 2 is fifth-best in the country but at a volume (271 attempts) that drawfs those around him on that chart. The best comparison is probably Gonzaga's Brandon Clarke, who has made 70.2 percent of his 258 attempts. And on the rare occasion that Duke misses from close range, the Blue Devils rank sixth nationally in offensive rebounding percentage.

Williamson is no one-man band, of course, as each of his three talented classmates brings something different to the game. Tre Jones is a calming influence at point guard and a standout defender, R.J. Barrett is a 6-7 matchup nightmare on the wing and a volume scorer and Cam Reddish is the team's top percentage shooter from both 3 and the foul line, though his numbers have dipped in conference play.

A pair of juniors round out the core of a six-man rotation, with 6-11 Marques Bolden giving Duke some extra bulk as well as a traditional rim protector to go with Williamson's highlight reel blocks on the perimeter. Australian Jack White has seen his minutes go way up as a junior, but he has struggled from the outside (17 percent from 3 in ACC games).

The sweep of Virginia put the Blue Devils in the driver's seat for the No. 1 seed in Charlotte, with Carolina the only other viable threat. And at No. 1 the NET rankings and No. 3 in the NCAA's official strength of schedule, a spot on the top line for the NCAA tournament is all but a given. So for Wednesday, at least, it'll just have to be about renewing the greatest rivalry in all of college sports.

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University of North Carolina Athletics

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