Young Duke basketball squad shows its growth in win against FAU

It's easy to forget how young this Duke team is.

Last season Seth Curry, Ryan Kelly and Mason Plumlee—a trio of seniors—led the way for the Blue Devils in scoring. This year, only four scholarship players are in their junior or senior season. The 2013-14 Duke team is one that will grow as the season progresses—and that's exactly what was on display during Friday night's 97-64 victory against Florida Atlantic.

"This is not like having Ryan and [Mason] and Seth, where they already knew who they were," head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "And so there's a lot of growing that needs to take place."

The Blue Devils (2-1) were propelled by three players who did not play a minute of collegiate basketball one season ago. Freshman Jabari Parker, redshirt sophomore Rodney Hood and graduate Andre Dawkins gave the Owls' defense fits all night with their ability to not only knock down shots, but also with the ease with which they penetrated into the lane. Parker has shown little signs of youth offensively, becoming the first freshman to score 20-plus points in each of his first three games under Krzyzewski. But for Hood and Dawkins, things haven't come quite so naturally.

Heading into his first season of action with the Blue Devils, expectations for Hood were sky-high. The 6-foot-8 forward was not only anointed one of Duke's two go-to players by Krzyzewski, but was also named a team captain. It’s easy to forget that Hood is playing his first meaningful basketball in more than 18 months. That rust manifested itself against Kansas Tuesday, when a tentative Hood attempted just eight shots in 38 minutes.It's easy to forget that more than 18 months.

"That’s my motto from here on out—to be aggressive regardless of whether I have a good shooting game or not," Hood said. "I let my teammates down the last game by not being aggressive."

The Blue Devils don't always call plays, but rather players make reads into an action and reacts based on it. Reviewing tape of the Kansas game, Hood revealed to Krzyzewski that he didn't just not see his reads, but wasn't even looking for them.

Against a diminutive Florida Atlantic (1-2) wing rotation, Hood did not miss his reads, taking over the game with 28 points on 8-of-11 shooting and 12-of-13 shooting from the free throw line—all in just 26 minutes of action in the lopsided affair.

"He was hungry. He was hungry to get to the rim," sophomore forward Amile Jefferson said of Hood's performance. "He wasn’t settling for jump shots. When he had somebody smaller on him he took him to the post. That’s the Rodney we’re going to need."

Dawkins' story is a well-documented one. The graduate student guard did not play last season while dealing with personal issues. Though Dawkins isn't young or inexperienced like Hood or Parker—Krzyzewski made a point of reminding everyone he helped raise the 2010 National Championship banner. Before Friday he had played just two minutes of meaningful basketball since March 16, 2012. As if he time off wasn't enough, Dawkins has also been dealing with a back injury that has kept him from shaking off the rust from the year-long layoff.

"When he hurt his back he missed a number of practices, and when he came back—you get out of shape," Krzyzewski said. "For a shooter, you have to be really sharp and so really for about a week he wasn’t hitting anything. Really, in the last day or so you could see his rhythm coming back in shooting drills."

Rhythm is the perfect way to describe Dawkins' shooting performance Friday night. He knocked down five 3-pointers in eight attempts, feeding off the energy of the crowd and the flow of the Duke offense. For Dawkins, it was the most triples he'd hit in a game since Feb. 23, 2012 against Florida State.

A healthy and happy Dawkins just adds to an already deep and productive Blue Devil bench. As Dawkins continues to heal and get back into the flow of playing collegiate basketball, it will be harder and harder for opposing defenses to shut down all of Duke's scoring options.

"Obviously Rodney and Jabari are gonna be the staples of our offense, but any given day you have a Quinn [Cook], Rasheed [Sulaimon], Matt [Jones], myself—anybody can get hot and put up a lot of points," Dawkins said. "It's fun to play with a team that has so many guys who can put the ball in the basket."

None of the Blue Devil's top three performers from Friday appeared in a college box score last season. As the season wears on, Parker, Hood, Dawkins and the rest of the young Duke squad will continue to grow together and develop a rapport that could make them a nightmare for any defense to contain.

“It says that we’re so versatile," Parker said. "One through 12, that we have a great team."