Duke Freshmen Dominate Blue-White Scrimmage
The Duke Blue Devils Blue-White scrimmage occurred last night as part of Duke’s “Countdown to Craziness” and the big star was the biggest guy on the court, freshman center Jahlil Okafor. Perhaps that is unsurprising for people who have been told that Okafor is top recruit in the country or the best thing since sliced bread. The young center dominated for twenty-seven points and eight rebounds during the scrimmage that pits the Blue Devils against each other.
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Okafor was teamed with other young guns like freshmen guard Tyus Jones and Justise Winslow on the White team. The white team for Duke led the game at the half 34-17 and also won the second half 30-26 to seal the victory. Okafor’s teammate Jones had seven points and six assists and his other wingman Winslow scored twelve points and added six rebounds.
Mar 21, 2014; Raleigh, NC, USA; Duke Blue Devils guard Rasheed Sulaimon (14) shoots the ball against Mercer Bears forward Daniel Coursey (52) in the second half of a men
This freshman trio will be expected to keep Duke playing at the high level that they had last year with Jabari Parker and Rodney Hood. Okafor is a true post, compared to Parker, and so he will offer more post defense than Duke was able to get last year.
Jones will be expected to provide more direction at the point guard position than Duke got from its guards last year. He will also be the one who has to find Okafor.
The Duke wild-card may well be Rasheed Sulaimon, whose temper got in the way of Duke’s play last year at times. Sulaimon had twenty-two points in the scrimmage. Marshall Plumlee won the post game dunk contest.
Duke is next in action against Livingstone on November 4th, and have their first regular season game on November 14 against Presbyterian.