DURHAM, N.C. _ Mike Krzyzewski's 40th Duke basketball team takes the court against another opponent for the first time Saturday night, offering a chance to see how this group's playing rotation will start shaking out.
As has been the case for the last five years, the freshmen will factor heavily into who plays and how much for the Blue Devils.
Unlike the last few seasons, Krzyzewski said, the newcomers haven't arrived already clearly better than many of Duke's returning players.
Over the last two NBA drafts, five Duke freshmen became top-10 picks: Marvin Bagley and Wendell Carter in 2018, and Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish last June.
Duke's had at least one freshman selected among the top 10 picks in every draft since 2014. Only the 2015 draft, where Jahlil Okafor and Justise Winslow went in the top 10 after winning the NCAA championship, joins the last two seasons with multiple Duke freshmen top-10 picks.
Duke's current freshman class, featuring Vernon Carey, Matthew Hurt, Cassius Stanley and Wendell Moore, doesn't have player overwhelmingly projected as a top-10 pick, at least according to mock drafts at this point.
Carey and Hurt have the potential to play their way up there, but they aren't considered locks.
That may sound like a bad thing. But not to Krzyzewski.
"We don't have the separation on this team that we've had in the past few years," Krzyzewski said after the team's Countdown to Craziness scrimmage on Oct. 19. "So that's not bad, if there's enough guys who can play, and we have enough guys who can play and they don't have to play tired. And so, we feel that will help us on the defensive end."
