The bell has rung and the Blue Zone stock exchange is back in business. Each week The Blue Zone will look at whose stock is on the rise and whose stock has taken a hit from the week in the Duke basketball world.
Bull Market—Trending Up
- Matt Jones: Matt Jones was finally unleashed on Wednesday night against Alabama. The freshman had by far his best game of the season, playing 16 minutes off the bench and scoring 13 points, grabbing three rebounds and knocking down his firs two 3-point buckets of the season. Jones' 16 minutes was just two fewer than Rasheed Sulaimon played and was six more than Andre Dawkins played. Given that Sulaimon is 4-for-20 with 20 points in his past five games, Andre Dawkins is just three for his last 12 from beyond the arc and the fact that Jones is Duke's best perimeter defender, it is borderline inexcusable for him not to be in the lineup moving forward. If the kid who drew Ray Allen comparisons for his sweet shooting stroke has his jumper working, he could be a very special piece for the Blue Devils this season.
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Jabari Parker: I know, I know, how much could Parker's stock really be rising given his already lofty status? Well, what if I told you that in the last 60 minutes of game time Parker is 17-for-21. That's right, Parker is shooting 81.0 percent since halftime against Vermont. With Rodney Hood struggling and out of the lineup for much of that time, Parker has more than filled his shoes. The Diaper Dandy has another big test on his hands Friday, when he faces fellow hyped phenom Aaron Gordon.
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Luol Deng: Deng has been on a tear in the past week. Derrick Rose injured himself last Friday. In Rose's absence—including the game in which Rose got hurt—Deng has averaged 24.3 points on 52.2 percent shooting with 6.0 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game. Despite the trade rumors already circulating, Deng has emerged as Chicago's best player sans-Rose.
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Those supposedly easy teams to beat: Duke's narrow victory against Vermont isn't the only close game that wasn't supposed to happen early this season. The other NIT Season Tip-Off semifinal had No. 4 Arizona trailing Drexel by 19 points. Columbia had a chance to tie No. 1 Michigan State with 1:47 remaining. No. 3 Kentucky was tied with Cleveland State with 2:19 remaining. No. 9 Syracuse was tied with St. Francis (NY) with 1:03 left to play. Green Bay had a chance to tie the game at the buzzer against current No. 10 Wisconsin. So essentially there is no such thing as an easy win in college basketball anymore.
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Rasheed Sulaimon: I touched on Sulaimon's struggles earlier when talking about Matt Jones. After scoring 20 in the season opener, Sulaimon has just 16 total points over his past five games. The only similar stretch Sulaimon had a freshman was his final four regular-season games, when he scored 17 total points. The sophomore guard had been dealing with an illness, but that cropped up roughly two weeks ago. His scoring is down and his defense is slumping. The silver lining is that Sulaimon has eight assists in his last two games, but that doesn't change how disappointing he has been of late.
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Enforcement of the new charge rule: Charges have been Duke's calling card for years... until this season. Offensive fouls have been hard to come by in the Blue Devils' first six games, but Wednesday night was different. Duke drew four offensive fouls, including a couple of crucial calls against the Crimson Tide's leading scorer, Trevor Releford. If the enforcement of charge rule is to be relaxed, a new opportunity for the Blue Devils' defense to improve may have just opened up.
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Michigan Wolverines: Maybe the Wolverines aren't as good as we thought they were. Michigan fell to unranked Iowa State 77-70 two weeks ago, but rebounded with a win over Long Beach State. In the semifinals of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off, Michigan needed overtime and an improbable comeback to edge past Florida State. All of that hard work went for naught when the Wolverines lost to Charlotte in the finals 63-61. Mitch McGary hasn't really been 100 percent yet this season, but that doesn't fully explain Michigan's struggles. With a trip to Cameron on tap for next week, the Wolverines need to find themselves if they have a hope of beating the Blue Devils.
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