DURHAM, N.C. — Marques Bolden’s choice to play college basketball next season at Duke means the Blue Devils have flipped the script from one season to the next.
Last season, Amile Jefferson’s broken foot in December exposed a glaring lack of depth in the post. That’s a major reason why the Blue Devils, even with two All-American talents on the perimeter in Brandon Ingram and Grayson Allen, suffered their most losses (11) since 2007 and were only able to reach the Sweet 16.
With the 6-11 Bolden in the fold for the coming season, Duke’s frontcourt rotation projects to include the 6-9 Jefferson and 6-10 freshman power forward Harry Giles. Behind those three, Duke will still have 6-10 sophomore Chase Jeter, who struggled as a freshman but gained valuable experience, and 6-8 freshman Javin DeLaurier, who arrives at Duke as a 4-star recruit.
From having All-American Jahlil Okafor on the 2015 NCAA Championship team to asking Marshall Plumlee to play 35 minutes a game last season to next season’s loaded frontcourt, Duke has gone from feast to famine and back to feast again.
Now, of course, coach Mike Krzyzewski and his staff will get to work planning how to use all of this talent in the way that best positions Duke to win the 2017 NCAA title.
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