The Best Defense Is A Good Offense. But It Also Helps When You've Got The Best Defender In The Game, JT Giles-Harris
Duke is a program that always retools, they never have to rebuild. There are certain programs that are always going to bring in elite talent, and they're never going to have a fully "down" year. But what Duke did this year is simply preposterous.
First they already had the commitment of the #1 incoming freshman in college lacrosse, Brennan O'Neill. On top of that, they had the best player in college lacrosse, Michael Sowers, decide to transfer to Duke to spend his 5th year after playing the past 4 at Princeton. So the offense in Durham is just silly at this point. And as the old saying goes, the best defense is a good offense.
But here's the thing--what if the best defense is also just having the best defenders available? Because that's what Duke has with JT Giles-Harris. He was the ACC Defensive Player of the Year in 2019. He was a 1st team All-American in 2019. A 1st team All-American in the shortened season last year. And was a preseason 1st team All-American heading into this season. So not only do you have the Duke offense putting up 17, 18, 19 goals per game. But then you've also got the defense giving up under 10. Seems like a solid recipe for some ass kickery to me.
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So with Duke's offense getting all the headlines so far this year, we decided to have JT on The Crease Dive this week to remind everybody that even if you slow down the offense, have fun trying to get by #2 enough times to come away with a W.
Listen to this week's episode of The Crease Dive here on Apple:
Listen to this week's episode of The Crease Dive here on Spotify: