College Basketball 2018-19: Duke vs. The World?

Tomorrow (Tuesday) starts the 2018-19 college basketball season, and effectively ends my social life for the next five months, as I nonsensically attempt to follow all 353 NCAA Division I teams (yes, we’re up to 353 now. Welcome aboard, California Baptist and North Alabama!)

The season officially kicks off at 12:30pm eastern, when Green Bay will host Division III Wisconsin Lutheran, and while nearly every school will make their season debuts on Tuesday, lights will be shining brightest on Indianapolis’ Bankers Life Fieldhouse, the site of the State Farm Champions Classic. First up on the docket at 7pm eastern is #1 Kansas and #10 Michigan State. Following them will be #2 Kentucky and #4 Duke. What a way to open the season.

Let’s talk a little more about one of teams, the Duke Blue Devils. Every year, people try to create a label for the season, such as “Year of the Freshman”, “Year of the Senior”, “Year of the Blue Bloods”, or “Year of the Mid-Major”. There’s a good chance ’18-19 could turn into the Year of Duke, and the quest to find someone to stop them.

Duke’s freshman class is one for the ages. No, seriously. This could end up as the best recruiting class ever. The potential is definitely there, as Duke picked up the top three overall recruits in this year’s class, Canadian R.J. Barrett, Zion Williamson, and Cam Reddish. That’s right – Duke has Zion, the guy drawing LeBron comparisons and who might just be the most freakish athlete ever, with an unbelievable combination of size, power, and jumping ability that made him a viral dunking sensation (plus, an awesome Avengers-inspired nickname “Zanos”), and he’s not even the best player in the class. Barrett hasn’t achieved nearly the same amount of internet superstardom, but he’s every bit deserving of his spot on top of the class, as is Reddish.

On top of that, Duke also has five-star point guard Tre Jones, the younger brother of former Duke player and 2015 NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player Tyus Jones, who helped guide Duke to a National Championship that year. Lastly, they have Joey Baker, another five-star forward who originally had committed to Duke for the 2019 class but reclassified to join the superstar 2018 class. Outside of the point guard Jones, the rest of the freshman class are all wing players between 6’6″ and 6’8″. This means Duke will play a highly versatile Warriors-esque offense without a big man for much of the time.

The star-studded Blue Devils have already made highlights with their preseason Canada tour in August, and are the subjects of the ESPN+ all-access series “Earn Everything”. Despite the fact that many of the freshmen are likely to leave for the NBA after one year, Coach Mike Krzyzewski doesn’t pitch Duke as a one-and-done school, instead saying they recruit the players they’ve always recruited, but now they just tend to leave earlier.

At this point, Duke is practically required to reload every season with as much NBA turnover as the school experiences. All five of last season’s starters (including four freshman and senior Grayson Allen) now play in the NBA, leaving Marques Bolden, a junior who averaged 3.9 points per game in 12.9 minutes last season as the team’s most experienced player.

This is a big part of why Duke, with the most talented and highest potential roster in the country, begins the season ranked #4 in the AP poll. Duke’s success will depend on how quickly they are able to come together, and how the team performs in pressure situations against more veteran teams, particularly in ACC play. Everyone will scramble to make judgments about both Duke and Kentucky following their season opening matchup, but with both teams as young as they are, I advise against putting too much stock in either team’s performance.

Come March, I do expect Duke to be the favorite to win the National Championship. There isn’t a standout team in the preseason (seven teams received first-place votes in the AP poll), and by the end of the regular season, Duke should be in peak form.

Nevertheless, there is a crowded field of challengers, such as #1 Kansas. Junior Memphis transfer Dedric Lawson, who averaged 19.2 points and 9.9 rebounds per game, plus over three assists, two blocks, and a steal for the Tigers in 2016-17 is an early favorite for Naismith Player of the Year. Big man Udoka Azubuike returns, and senior guard Lagerald Vick will be joined in the backcourt by #8 overall recruit Quentin Grimes, from my College Park High School.

Kentucky, led by senior Stanford transfer Reid Travis, and North Carolina will also be in the hunt, along with Virginia, who returns much of last year’s roster and will be looking for redemption after last year’s loss to #16 seed UMBC in the first round of the NCAA tournament, and defending champions Villanova. Gonzaga is ranked #3 and poised for another strong season, but will have to survive the nonconference without forward Killian Tillie.

Perhaps the most under the radar title contender this year is #7 Nevada, who made a run into the Sweet 16 last season and return their three stars – twins Caleb and Cody Martin, and Jordan Caroline, plus a bunch of talented transfers (maybe this is Year of the Transfer?) This could be the deepest team in the country, and have an outstanding coach in Eric Musselman.

A final player to look out for will be 7’2″ Oregon freshman Bol Bol, son of the tallest player in NBA history Manute Bol, who plays like an even longer Kevin Durant (is that even possible?)

All the while, the NCAA basketball corruption scandal, with it’s FBI investigations and trials, will keep moving along, although for as much news has been made out of it, there has been very little impact so far.

Buckle up, everyone. College basketball is here, and once it gets going, it’s nonstop action straight through the Final Four. Expect lots more from me down the road.