GREENVILLE, S.C. — Sometimes, talent alone is more than enough.
On this there is no doubt: Duke’s roster doesn’t lack for talent, with as many as five contributors ticketed for the first round of the NBA draft. Instead, what the No. 2 Blue Devils lack is experience, making this perhaps the most unique NCAA Tournament group of coach Mike Krzyzewski’s nearly complete tenure.
With a roster this young, every high-pressure tournament game could bring Duke closer to matching the full potential of Krzyzewski’s final team.
“I think what distinguishes us is we feel we haven’t reached our full potential yet,” said junior forward Wendell Moore. “We haven’t reached nearly as good a team as we can be yet. I mean, we’ve seen glimpses of it.”
The question still looms, however: Can the Blue Devils reach that ceiling, or will they run out of time even before the end of the opening weekend?
Duke center Mark Williams celebrates after dunking against Cal State Fullerton.
Friday night’s 78-61 win against No. 15 Cal State Fullerton represents a step forward for a team gifted enough to make a run at Krzyzewski’s sixth national championship.
As other top seeds struggled or were ejected outright in the first round, Duke opened with the sort of performance that eases some of the fears over the Blue Devils’ youth and inexperience entering tournament play.
“It’s really just a step in the right direction,” Moore said. “I definitely feel like everything we worked on in practice kind of translated to the game today. So we can keep building on what we’ve been learning, what we’ve been working on. I think soon we’ll reach our full potential.”
Five players scored in double figures, led by freshman forward Paolo Banchero’s 17 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore center Mark Williams added 15 points, seven rebounds, five assists and five blocks.
Playing against an opponent with four returning starters and another four graduate transfers — this is one of “the oldest teams that my teams have ever played against,” Krzyzewski said — Duke allowed the Titans to connect on just 37.5% of attempts. The Blue Devils shot 51.7% from the field, with 21 assists on 30 made field goals.
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Coming after a collapse defensively to end ACC play — each of Duke’s last four opponents scored at least 76 points — the defensive turnaround is the clearest sign of progress from the end of the regular season and the start of the postseason.
“I think we’ve locked back in on the defensive end,” Banchero said. “We can still improve, though, just with rebounding and stuff, but I think our mindset is there and our willingness to go out and do it is there. So just got to keep going, keep building.”
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But the Titans were the No. 15 seed for a reason. While a solid starting point, the Blue Devils must continue to improve to survive Sunday’s matchup against No. 7 Michigan State and move into the second weekend and beyond.
Overshadowed amid the 17-point win were the struggles with inconsistency that make Duke perhaps the biggest enigma among the top line of teams in the tournament field.
“For all these guys, it’s their first NCAA games,” Krzyzewski said. “So there’s a little bit of like … I don’t know if it’s nerves. It’s different. It’s just different.”
After surging to a 17-4 lead six minutes into the game, Duke was played to a draw for the rest of the first half. The Blue Devils allowed 12 offensive rebounds and committed 13 turnovers. While they were never truly threatened by the Titans, was that more a reflection of the obvious talent gap than anything else — and if so, what happens when the edge in talent is erased, as it inevitably will be as soon as Sunday?
“It was good enough for tonight,” said Krzyzewski. “In order to win something big, you have to win NCAA games. We looked at this as a championship-level game, and we’ll look at Sunday as a championship-level game. Hopefully do a good job.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Duke has the talent to make NCAA title run; inexperience is wild card
