Duke First Impressions

As I'm sure all of you watched on ESPNU last night, Duke won their first game of the season against Princeton, 97-60.  This is a Princeton team (who I would normally root for) that was picked by many to win the Ivy League this season, a league which had a team in the Sweet 16 last year, so the 37-point win is not to be taken lightly.  There was a whole lot last night to feel good about for the rest of the season.

- Kyrie Irving is the best point guard at Duke since Jay Williams.  Although he's replacing an All-American in Jon Scheyer, he's already an upgrade over him.  He played incredibly tenacious defense all night, went 3-6 from three, and had a 9-1 assist to turnover ratio, which is unheard of for many young point guards these days.  The only area I'd like to see him improve on is his midrange jumper, but besides that, he's the total package (not Lex Luger). 

- This is perhaps the best bench Duke has ever had, scoring wise at least.  The subs combined for 35 points, led by Seth Curry's 14 and Andre Dawkins' 13.  Both are basically the same player, 3-point specialists who can drive when needed, but they will be deadly when combined with Irving and Kyle Singler.  This might be the best collection of shooters Duke has ever had, and that's really saying something.

- The Plumlee brothers really need to step up.  They combined for 7 points and 6 rebounds last night.  Although the point really won't be neccessary, they need to increase their rebounding totals.  I said Duke would be missing Brian Zoubek this year, and it already looks like they are.  Luckily, Ryan Kelly looks a lot bigger than last year and will be able to play center, and freshman Josh Hairston was impressive in limited time. 

- Overall, it was the kind of performance you would expect from the #1 team in the country.  I hope they cut down on the turnovers a bit (14), but just based on last night, this team has the potential to be much better than last year's national champions.