Observations from Cameron

Saw my first game of the season in Cameron last night as Duke throttled the absolutely hapless Georgia Southern. It’s hard to take away much from a early November game against a JV team, but here’s what I thought stuck out, on and off the court.


· Gerald Henderson and Kyle Singler are the absolute cream of the Duke crop. This obviously isn’t a newsflash to really anyone who is familiar with Duke. But the point I’m trying to make here is that no-one on Duke’s roster is nearly as talented as Singler or as athletic as Henderson. I am not saying Duke is a two man team, but I am saying that after Singler, Henderson and maybe Scheyer, not a ton of players for Duke really scare me.


· Remember back when J.J. and Sheldon Williams were seniors, and every team that actually was able to contain J.J. made it a game, then someone like Lee Melchionni (sp? Does anyone care?) would supply the inevitable dagger. That’s what Scheyer and Paulus could be this year. The thing is, with Paulus coming off the bench and still no dominant post-presence I’m not sure K knows what his main offensive philosophy or rotation will be like this year. Speaking of…


· Nolan Smith is starting (at least for the first 2 games) over Paulus. I think K realized at the end of last year that if he is gonna compete with teams that have fast, athletic guards (like in the NCAA tournament) Smith, not Paulus, has to be the main guy. Getting Smith experience now will add to Duke’s depth. Smith can’t shoot as well as Paulus can, but he’s just a better athlete who can actually play college level defense. I can imagine that Paulus’ role on Duke in his senior season will be much like Bobby Frasor’s was before the MCL injury last year.


· Duke, through 2 games against JV opponents, is desperately trying to develop Zoubek. Im not saying it’s a lost cause, but it definitely going to be a very, very uphill battle. The kid at times just seems like he has no clue where he is on the court. It remains to be seen whether or not K sticks with this throughout the year. Right now, Brian Zoubek is what he’s always been at Duke, a 7-0 body mass with 5 fouls to give. The fans right now are supportive, but just wait, if he fucks up in a big way at a big time (say when/if they play UCLA), the natives will get really restless really quick.


· 12 players played 9 or more minutes last night. K’s trying to build depth and seems to have heard what everyone was saying about fatigue at he end of last year. But we see this from Duke in November tie and time again only to have it fade in early December. It’ll be interesting to see how long it lasts considering the aforementioned talent gap on the roster.


· It seems that K has learned from his mistakes and is trying to adjust. With the transition from Paulus to Smith, the addition of depth and the attempt to build an inside game, it seems like K has realized what he needs to do to compete with UNC and the rest of the country come March.


· The fan’s at Cameron aren’t scared by K’s threats. They just aren’t, and they wont be. Lots of empty seats last night, and no matter how much K gripes, its not gonna change when Georgia Southern comes to town.


· That said, Cameron Indoor Stadium just isn’t what it used to be. It’s not, and don’t let people like Dick Vitale tell you any different. I’m from Durham and have seen games at Cameron for years, both against crap teams and against the best North Carolina teams. I remember what it used to be, and its just not the same, hasn’t been for years. Unfortunately, really ever sense the 2001 NCAA Championship and sense ESPN ignorantly and falsely labeled Duke, Coach K and Duke students as ‘god’s gift to college basketball’ they simply read their own press and that’s when it left. Cameron is still a great place to watch a game, if you’re a Duke fan or have no feelings one way or the other (and I am neither), but the students aren’t nearly as in it or creative and neither are the alums, when they show up.


· Duke has a new scoreboard and they are into playing pre-game “hype-up” videos and all that stuff. Unfortunately, they just aren’t nearly as exciting or well produced then the one’s at the Smith Center are. The funniest thing about this is that I used to hear for years that “The atmosphere at Cameron is so good, that we don’t need that kind of video board, highlight real junk.” from Duke students and fans. Looks like they have also realized this is no longer the case.


· Duke has changed the look of its mascot, and it is much, much more gay.


· The absolute prettiest girl in the stadium last night was a UNC alumna, glad to see some things at Duke will never change.