When it comes to who the best player on Duke’s squad is, there’s not a question about it—it’s Jasmine Thomas. Thomas leads the Blue Devils in points, assists and steals, and she became the 26th player in Duke history to score 1,000 points, as a junior, earlier this year. Last week, she was named as one of 30 candidates for the Naismith Player of the Year award. The list goes on and on, but there is one question that is much more pertinent to Blue Devil fans—can Duke win without her?
Although Thomas may be the most consistent offensive contributor on the team, she is by no means the only. Duke’s team consists of a plethora of experienced players who have the potential to dominate offensively. Seniors Joy Cheek and Bridgette Mitchell are both capable of having career games on any given night, while junior Karima Christmas and freshman Allison Vernerey are known to put up impressive figures.
And given Thomas’s sometimes inconsistent shooting this season, these are the players that have contributed significantly to the continued success of this year’s team.
For example, take the Feb. 8 game against rival North Carolina. Thomas could not generate any momentum on the court, shooting a measly 20 percent, and going 0-for-5 from 3-point range. Still, Duke pulled away for the victory and put up the most balanced scoresheet of its season, with six players scoring in double-digits, including sophomore Shay Selby, who is coming back into form after knee surgery last summer.
“We have different people in different spots. You saw [Christmas] step up, you’ve seen [Cheek] step up as well,” head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “[Jasmine Thomas] has been steady for us. Other people have stepped up for us as well. [Krystal Thomas] has had big games. [Vernerey] had big games. It’s just a matter of getting us all to fire off all cylinders at the same time.”
But that’s precisely the problem. When these Blue Devils have faced off against the nation’s toughest talent, they haven’t been able to all step up at once. Rather, they seem to rely on their point guard’s assertiveness to either notch a win, or suffer a loss.
A great example was Duke’s early victory against then-No. 3 Ohio State—the Blue Devils’ first quality win of the season. Thomas had a career night, scoring 29 points on a wonderful shooting performance. The rest of the starters? They combined for fewer points than Duke’s lone star.
When Duke traveled to California to take on No. 2 Stanford two weeks laer, the Blue Devils’ box score could not have been more lopsided. Thomas and Christmas combined for 30 points, more than the other eight members of Duke’s team combined. And Thomas scored her 14 points on 4-of-17 shooting, not good enough to beat a potential top seed like the Cardinal.
Where were the rest of the Blue Devils? Mitchell, traditionally a reliable scorer, remained scoreless on an 0-for-4 performance from the field. Fellow seniors Jackson and Cheek were not much more impressive.
The final test came against No. 1 Connecticut in January. And though Thomas scored 17 and looked impressive in doing so, none of her teammates scored in double digits, and her own scoring didn’t come close to closing the gap against the Huskies.
The fact remains that many Blue Devils have not been consistent scoring threats. On the season, only two Blue Devils average double-digit points—barely (Joy Cheek is averaging 10.0 points per game). In contrast, seven of the other nine teams in the top 10 have at least three double-digit scorers, and a few even have four.
For McCallie, the focus of the next few weeks will be on developing different scoring options so that the Blue Devils don’t rely so heavily on one player.
“That’s the power of team. That’s the power of everyone,” McCallie said after the Blue Devils’ victory against North Carolina. “Everybody on this team can offer something.”
These words may be true enough to send the Blue Devils to San Antonio. But based on the evidence, if the Blue Devils continue their sloppy play against other national title contenders, only Jasmine Thomas can determine whether Duke brings home a national championship. If she fails, so does Duke. Blue Devil fans can only hope she doesn’t.
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