Great teams are defined by their leaders. The Chicago Bulls have Michael Jordan, the San Francisco 49ers had Joe Montana and the 1991-92 Duke basketball team had Christian Laettner.
All of these superstars wanted the ball in crunch time, and would take the responsibility for their team's success or failure on their shoulders. Everyone in the stadium would know who would be in control, yet they still somehow managed to succeed.
The 1996-97 Duke basketball team has been lacking this type of leadership thus far. No one is asking someone on the team to be the next Laettner or Jordan. However, no player has shown a consistent desire to be the team's go-to guy down the stretch. The need for this type of leadership became painfully obvious in Sunday's 62-61 loss to Michigan, when the Blue Devils failed to score a basket for the final 10:32 of the game, blowing a 12-point lead.
As time whittled down and the need for a big bucket became greater and greater, no one on the team was capable taking the ball and hitting the shot. A few Blue Devils attempted to, but no one could get a shot to fall.
"Our offense just stopped clicking at some point," senior forward Carmen Wallace said. "We ended up taking bad shots as the shot clock ran down and that's just not what Duke does. We're supposed to be able to finish people off at the end of the game and we didn't do that today."
For the first six games of the season, there was generally a sense of leadership by committee for the Blue Devils. Junior guard Steve Wojciechowski most often filled the role, either by making a big play defensively, hitting a clutch shot or guiding the Duke offense through troubled times.
Wojciechowski, contributed greatly for the Blue Devils on Sunday, garnering nine assists and three steals. He was only able to put up three points, however, and could not jumpstart the Duke offense late in the game.
The responsibility for guiding the team through troubled times should not lie solely with Wojciechowski. The Blue Devils are a team that used nine talented players on Sunday afternoon, and not one could step up and score a basket when one was need in the final 10:32 of the game.
The Blue Devils appeared to have two leaders for the first thirty minutes, as senior center Greg Newton and junior forward Roshown McLeod put forth strong efforts against Michigan's talented inside unit. After struggling through the early part of the season, including a two-point, 10 minute performance in the last game against Florida State, McLeod seemed to have found his touch early against Michigan. The 6-foot-8 McLeod scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds and showed a great deal of hustle inside.
However, in the last 10 minutes, McLeod disappeared, unable to find his range on a series of long jumpers, and slowing down inside as well. On Duke's second-to-last possession, sophomore Trajan Langdon attempted to get McLeod one last chance, but a miscommunication between the two left Langdon throwing an errant pass directly to Michigan's Maceo Baston.
Newton also disappeared during the last 10 minutes after a strong opening 30. Newton led Duke's inside effort with 10 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots. After his strong start, Duke's guards were unable to find Newton open in the post down the stretch as Michigan made a concerted effort to slow him down.
"It was tough to get the ball into Newton except when they went zone, because they're so big, and then they doubled too," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "In the last few minutes, we went to some things where Newt was an option, but our execution of those things was just not good."
The importance of having a leader to step up can be further emphasized to the Blue Devils by the nature of their two losses. In its first defeat, an 85-69 loss to Indiana, Duke was lit up for 39 points by Hoosier forward Andrae Patterson. When the game was on the line, Patterson took control and won it for Indiana.
This pattern repeated itself against Michigan. Wolverine forward Robert Traylor scored 15 points for Michigan, including seven of its last nine. Traylor stormed down the lane for the final dunk with 6.2 seconds remaining that won the game for Michigan. When the game was on the line, the Michigan big man knew that he wanted the ball.
"Coach pulled us all to the side and he said 'Brandon [Hughes], you play like the guy I knew from Peoria, Robert, you play like the guy from the PSL,'" Traylor said. "With that in mind, I'm thinking that when I was in high school, I wanted the ball. I was the guy who wanted to win basketball games. That's what I wanted to do today."
This attitude drove the Wolverines to the win, as when they needed the big shot, they had someone who wanted to take it. As Duke continues to grow as a team, it will seek out its own Traylor. Whether it is one individual, or a group of players who all want control; someone must take the responsibility in their hands.
"We have to realize that we are a long way away from being a good team," Wojciechowski said. "We need everybody to step up and be consistent.... We need to find out who we are."
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