McRoberts Moves On

It's official. Josh McRoberts is leaving for the NBA. As a sophomore, McRoberts was the only player in the nation to average at least 10.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.5 blocks and 3.5 assists. He is expected to be an early to middle first round draft pick.

You'd figure that any team that loses a first-round NBA draft pick would need to worry about filling his shoes, and to be sure, Duke will need someone to step up and fill his starting PF/C role. The questions is: will it be that difficult?

Many prognosticators are predicting that Duke is going to suffer again next year, with nobody to play the four or five except for Zoubek the Traveling Wilbury.

Granted, Duke is not sitting pretty when it comes to effective big men, but there are four big reasons why things are not that bad, either

ONE - Taylor King - He's a 6 foot 7 inch, 215 lb, possibly still growing SF/PF whose strength is his mid-range game and could stand to work on his low post scoring, but does have the potential to develop that part of his game, and has the coaching staff to help him do just that.

TWO - Lance Thomas - Contrary to popular speculation, Lance Thomas says he has no intention of transferring to Seton Hall, Kentucky, or any other school so many seem to think he's going to. The 6 foot 9 inch, 200 lb PF needs to work on his defensive presence, but he loves the game and can step it up, here.

THREE - Patrick Patterson - Duke is still in the running for signing Patrick Patterson, a 6 foot 8 inch, 228 lb power forward, who is definitely the current strongest option to play the four or the five for Duke, but is unfortunately no guarantee to come to Duke. He is planning to make his announcement sometime in early April.

FOUR - Kyle Singler - One of the top recruits in the nation, Singler's height misleads one to believe he may be a natural low post player. However, his strengths, like King's, are found closer to the perimeter. He is, nevertheless, called by many "the most complete player in the class," and is not beyond hope of developing into a threat in the paint. If not, he becomes a fourth ridiculously capable long-range shooter to play with Paulus, Scheyer, and King.

Duke doesn't have an iron-clad five. But between these four guys and a hopefully improved Brian Zoubek, Duke should be in better position to make the Sweet 16 next year, especially with a coach who is about the best in the country at designing a system that highlights his team's strengths and hides their weaknesses.

Go Duke

Celebrations with a dose of realism

The All-ACC team announcements were made Monday, and it's nice to see a few Blue Devils got mentioned. Josh McRoberts ended up with second team honors to go with his All-Defensive team award, while Jon Scheyer made it to the All Freshman squad. Damarcus Nelson ended up with honorable mentions in both the All-ACC team voting as well as the All-Defensive team.

Now, the sad, though not wholly unexpected part for Duke fans: In every category a Duke player was honored, they were the last, or nearly so, in votes. Josh McRoberts made second team as the fifth member with a total of 159 points, trailing the leader of second-team vote getters, J.R. Reynolds of Virginia by 73 votes and Zabian Dowdell, the fifth member of the first team by 143 points. Nowhere in the ballpark.

Jon Scheyer earned the last spot on the Freshman team with 54 points, beating Thaddeus Young by 12 points for that spot.

Look, the awards are cause for celebration. This team is a far cry from previous Duke teams, but the boys are our boys. We love them. It's been a tough season, and I'm happy that there were strong enough solo performances to be recognized alongside some really strong players, in the strongest conference top to bottom in the country.

Go Duke!