Bench minutes: Does Duke have enough depth?

Duke basketball's bench plays only 24% of the team's minutes this year, which ranks 311th out of 347 Division I teams.

In today's NCAA Tournament supplement, we take a look at how that compares to previous Blue Devil teams. Check it out:

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Read the full story here, but here's a snippet:

The last time Duke relied so heavily on its starters was the 2010 National Championship season, when Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith were the workhorses on a team that got just 23.4 percent of its minutes from the bench.

Prior to that, in 2006-07, a talent-starved roster relied heavily on Josh McRoberts, Scheyer, Greg Paulus and DeMarcus Nelson en route to just 22.8 percent of minutes played by the bench. That Duke team lost in the NCAA Tournament’s first round.

Among the past five national champions, one has followed Duke’s lead by counting on the starters—John Calipari’s Kentucky team last season, which ranked 323rd out of 347. North Carolina in 2009 and Florida in 2007 took a more moderate road, and the 2010 Connecticut and 2008 Kansas teams were very liberal with playing time, getting close to 30 percent of their minutes from the bench.