What Did We Actually Learn From Duke's Exhibition Tour In Canada?

We’re finishing up exhibition tour season in college basketball and the second notable team had their tour televised. Of course I’m talking about Duke and similar to the blog about Kentucky, we’ll go through its tour and if there’s anything we can actually learn from those three games.

So with Duke playing in Canada and the fact that we were able to watch all the games, the real question is did we learn anything? The short answer is yes. Don’t get me wrong, taking any sort of overreaction or major change in how you think about a team based on exhibition games is pretty dumb, but there is a smart way to go about it. First, you look for any sort of adjustments that players have made from the last time you saw them – did they add a post move, did they develop a stronger weak hand, did they develop a longer jumper, etc.

The first thing is this isn’t Duke. They were without Tre Jones and Cam Reddish, two starters and two really important pieces. We haven’t seen Duke play with the traditional point guard for quite some time now and that’s exactly what Tre Jones brings to the table. He’s someone who sets the table, knows how to attack and pick his chances. With Duke having all the other pieces, Jones is arguably the most important player to this roster. On top of missing those guys, Alex O’Connell almost missed pretty much the entire tour after catching an elbow to the eye in game 1.

Now, this isn’t necessarily a surprise, as it was talked about before hand, but what is Duke going to do at the post spot? K has always preferred to play a traditional big, even if Duke plays small ball. Look at the title team, you had Okafor as that traditional big. This year’s team doesn’t really have that outside of Marques Bolden, who was lackluster yet again in the games up in Canada. Do you trust Javin DeLaurier or Antonio Vrankovic to play the majority of minutes? Or will we see Duke go true small? Could we see Jones-Reddish-Barrett-Zion-O’Connell or Jack White or Goldwire? Personally, I hope so because that would be all sorts of fun.

Speaking of fun. Zion Williamson is goddamn fun. Hate Duke, hate him, whatever. He’s going to be must-watch TV with everything he’s capable of doing:

I know it wasn’t against the best competition but again, you can see his strengths coming into play again. He has a quick second jump. He can elevate. But, he also showed his ability to beat people off the dribble and use a bit of finesse around the rim.

Now, Duke just needs to get healthy and get ready for the season. They will be one of the most talked about teams all year and one of the 5-6 top teams in the country. Less than 80 days until the season gets started, let’s get there quick please.