Duke's Missing Piece?

One of the downsides to the modern 24 hour sports obsession—incited by ESPN, the internet, and lots of money—is the propensity for sports networks and websites to "make" news (see: Favre, Brett). Even sports columnists, normally one of the last remnants of "journalism" in today's media environment, aren't immune to this issue. And, with apologies to the former Chronicle columnist, Seth Davis' latest article on SI.com seems to be an example of just this phenomena.

It isn't that the article is bad; its just that it makes no logical sense.  Davis uses his podium to don the hat of "The Jigsaw Man," whose job is, as Davis puts it, "to figure out what is the biggest hole on your favorite team, then scour the nation in search of the perfect piece with which to plug it." While the concept is interesting, the article struck me as utterly superfluous for one glaring reason: as good of a fit as any of these players might be, there is no mechanism for these players to be swapped to fill said holes.  So, while an interesting column, it seems to merely amount to impossible speculation (whereas, such a column would be more than merited in the professional sporting world, where, you know, there are trades).

Still, Davis' diagnosis of Duke's largest issue is still interesting:

Duke

Biggest weakness: The Blue Devils were extremely lucky that they were able to get freshman guard Andre Dawkins, who was supposed to be getting ready for his senior year of high school, eligible after Elliott Williams unexpectedly transferred to Memphis last spring. But they are still one injury away from not having a single guard available off the bench, and while they are a stout defensive team they are not pressuring the ball the way they have in the past. (Duke is 11th in the ACC in steals.) Moreover, although Jon Scheyer has been arguably the best player in the ACC so far as a de facto point guard (he is second in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio), this team could still use a more traditional and, yes, athletic playmaker who can create his own shot for those late-in-the-shot-clock situations when nothing else is working.

Missing piece: Dominique Jones, 6-4 junior guard, South Florida. Folks in the Big East will tell you that Jones is one of the country's best-kept secrets. Time to give him Duke-esque national TV exposure. Jones is a big scoring guard (18.6 ppg on 39.0% three-point shooting) who is averaging 4.8 assists and 5.8 rebounds. Jones is also ranked fifth in the Big East in steals (2.17), so he will give Mike Krzyzewski the ability to extend his defense. And Jones is doing all of this at a program that went 7-29 in its conference during his first two years. I'm sure he'd be willing to sacrifice a little scoring for a lot of winning.

While it must be a relief for Duke fans that the Blue Devils biggest weakness has not been diagnosed as their frontcourt for the first time in an apparent eternity, I also find it encouraging that the only major issue Davis could find with this Blue Devil squad is the possibility of injury.  Indeed, with Dawkins quick maturation this year, Nolan Smith's increased confidence and Jon Scheyer's unreal assist-to-turnover ratio, the three-man rotation at guard has clearly been successful thus far, even with the threat of Duke's lack of depth looming.

But what say you, loyal readers?  Is Duke's backcourt still too thin for the Blue Devils to make a legitimate run in the NCAA Tournament?  How much would a player like Dominique Jones help Duke (even though it is impossible for him, or any player on any other college team, to play for the Blue Devils this season)?  And am I completely overreacting to Davis' speculative article?