Duke basketball Player of the Week: Week 16

Rasheed Sulaimon

Statline: Saturday vs. Syracuse: Eight points, four rebounds, seven assists, two turnovers, 36 minutes

Tuesday vs. Virginia Tech: 15 points, 4-of-9 on 3-pointers, four rebounds, five assists, zero turnovers, 36 minutes

The good: Okay, so 'Sheed's numbers may not pop like Jabari Parker's 19-and-10 against Syracuse and 11-and-12 game against the Hokies. Sulaimon didn't draw the game-deciding charge on C.J. Fair like Rodney Hood. But the Houston native stuffed the stat sheet this week, playing high-volume minutes in favor of Quinn Cook. Two of Sulaimon's 3-pointers were critical in squashing Virginia Tech's hopes of an epic comeback bid, and his seven assists against the Orange helped carve up the Boeheim 2-3 zone to find open looks for Parker, Hood and others. And that's not even mentioning the thing that doesn't show up in the box score: DEFENSE. Sulailmon was terrific this week, helping hold Tyler Ennis and Trevor Cooney to a combined 3-of-18 shooting Saturday night before forcing Hokie point guard Devin Wilson into six turnovers on Tuesday.

The bad: The only bad thing about 'Sheed's performance this week is that it'll elevate expectations for what he's capable of. As one of the more mercurial players on the Duke team, Sulaimon is certainly playing near the height of his ability, which will make his next stretch of cold shooting or poor decision-making that much more frustrating to watch.

The bottom line: Sulaimon was critical to Duke's ability to find open looks against the Syracuse zone in Saturday's primetime matchup. His defense against the team with the ACC's best record was every bit as intense as his defense against cellar-dweller Virginia Tech. For a player who saw no playing time against Michigan earlier this season, Sulaimon is back to playing at a high level. Duke fans have to hope he can keep it there.

Honorable mention: As mentioned earlier, Jabari Parker notched two more double-doubles to give him 12 for the year and four in a row, despite shooting just 3-of-11 against Virginia Tech. Rodney Hood averaged 17 points per game this week and shot well from the floor, but the play he and Jim Boeheim will most remember is the charge he drew in the final seconds of Duke's 66-60 win against Syracuse. Finally, Marshall Plumlee saw more minutes this week and made the most of them, tallying eight points, 11 rebounds, and four blocks in the two games.