When Duke plays Presbyterian on Saturday, head coach Mike Krzyzweski has a chance to make history.
Playing their second game in two days, the Blue Devils could earn Krzyzewski his 902nd career victory, which would tie him with his mentor Bob Knight as the all-time winningest coach in Division I men’s basketball history. That, of course, can only happen if Duke wins its first game, a tough early-season test against Belmont, an NCAA tournament team last year that returns all of its starters.
For Duke, Krzyzewski will use the contest to continue solidifying his starting lineup and determining his bench rotations. The preseason saw many different lineups but the players are not concerned about the roles of each player on the team.
“Coach [Krzyzewski] keeps telling us not to worry about our roles and try to play as hard as we can for the minutes we are out there,” Dawkins said. “If we do that, the roles will take care of themselves.”
Dawkins combines with fellow guards Seth Curry and Austin Rivers to form an trio that will test the Blue Hose defense.
“Their one, two, three men are absolutely tremendous,” Presbyterian head coach Gregg Nibert said. “They can score in so many different ways. You just cannot stop everything.”
Presbyterian last played Duke in 2008, in an 80-49 loss, and returns three starters from that game—guards Pierre Miller and Josh Johnson and center Al’Lonzo Coleman, all redshirt seniors.
The Blue Hose will look to use the lessons learned in the previous trip to Cameron Indoor Stadium to counter the raucous home court atmosphere.
“[The returners] have been able to talk to the team about how intense the crowd is and how we have to go in there, be poised with a lot of confidence,” Nibert said. “We need to try to keep the crowd out of the game the best we can.”
Coleman will be a key for the Presbyterian, as he is their second-leading returning scorer with an average of 13.3 points per game last year, and is their best post player. Presbyterian will look to feed him early and often.
“We think Al’Lonzo Coleman is one of the best down on the block players,” Nibert said. “Hopefully we can get it down there to Al’Lonzo and he can go one on one.”
Coleman is just one of many returners from last year’s team, which ended the 2010-11 season with a 13-18 record, but did defeat an NCAA tournament team in Princeton and win three of its last five games. They will look to improve on last season to challenge in the Big South, and will count on their experience against the Blue Devils.
Along with the three seniors, the Blue Hose return leading scorer Khalid Mutakabbir. Mutakabbir, a junior guard, averaged 13.5 points per game while playing 38.9 minutes per game, an average which placed him among the nation’s leaders in minutes played.
“We do feel experience and leadership is a big strength of ours,” Nibert said. “We have three redshirt seniors and Khalid, who probably played the most basketball of any other kid the country. We really have four guys with a lot of experience.”
Overall, the veteran Presbyterian squad is looking forward to the early-season challenge.
“We are really excited about coming in there,” Nibert said. “We are going to try to go there and do our absolute best against one of the top teams in the country.“
If the Blue Devils do defeat both Belmont and Presbyterian over the weekend, there could be even more history to be made in the following week, as Krzyzewski looks to become the sole owner of the wins record.
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