Stock Watch: Plumlee, Hood on the rise

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

• Rodney Hood: Finally, the Silent Assassin is back in business. Hood showed flashes of brilliance in the first half against North Carolina last Thursday, but after succumbing to foul trouble Hood was unable to get into a rhythm in the second half, shooting a meager 2-of-9 from the floor in the second period. Against Syracuse Hood didn't post gaudy numbers—13 points and seven rebounds—but he was a focal point of the offense, helping to stymie the Orange zone in the high post. Of course, Hood also drew the decisive charge with 10.4 seconds to play. Finally, Tuesday against Virginia Tech Hood was the star, pouring in 21 points on 9-of-17 shooting. For Hood, it was his first 20-plus point game since Jan. 11 against Clemson. He had bested 15 points just twice in that span, including the 16 he scored against the Tar Heels. If Hood can re-find what he had going for him in nonconference play, the Blue Devils will be that much more dangerous in the postseason.
• Marshall Plumlee: Plumlee's play is perhaps the biggest take-away from this week of Duke basketball. It's been two and a half years, but the 7-foot redshirt sophomore may have finally figured things out. Plumlee averaged 3.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game over the three-game week, but that hardly tells the whole story. Plumlee's defense has been a difference-maker, even when he's not blocking shots. He would have made even more noise this week had he not missed the majority of the second half of the Syracuse game due to cramps. In case there were any doubts before this week, Plumlee has supplanted Josh Hairston as Duke's backup big man.
  
• Virginia Cavaliers: In case anyone didn't realize it before, Virginia is very good this season. It may not have been expected considering star Joe Harris is averaging a relatively paltry 11.5 points per game after netting 16.3 per game a season ago. In fact, Harris isn't even the team's top scorer this season. With Harris not scoring the way he had been a season ago, the Cavaliers' calling card has been their defense, where they rank first in Division I by allowing just 54.7 points per game. The No. 12 team in the country will have one more major test in the regular season when Virginia welcomes Syracuse into town March 1.
  

• North Carolina fans: I know, it's been a week and everyone has already talked about it, but it bears noting in this space. North Carolina fans should not have stormed the court against Duke last week. Yes, Duke was a top-five team. Yes, it was an emotional win after the crushing Austin Rivers shot in 2012 and the blowout in 2013. But the court storming takes away from the beauty of the rivalry. Duke vs. North Carolina is so special because either team can win at any time, regardless of relative talent. The players in light blue surely expected to win that game on their home court, which makes the storming all the more confusing. Let's also not forget that this was no huge upset. Although they were unranked, the Tar Heels were the first team outside of the top 25.
• Jim Boeheim: I know, it's been almost a week and everyone has already talked about it, but it bears noting in this space. How could Jim Boeheim lose his head like that? The charge call was very much a bang-bang play, and after watching a number of replays I still think it could have gone either way. But in a two-point game with a timeout left and 10.4 seconds to play, Syracuse was right in that game. Duke hadn't been making free throws all game, and the statistical chance that point guard Quinn Cook would make two free throws—as he was most likely to take the inbound pass and be fouled—is just 66.7 percent. Cook, of course, would miss his second free throw attempt of the four he received from Boeheim's two technical fouls. Kudos to C.J. Fair for his comments after the game, when he said, "Maybe if we didn't get the tech we might get the chance to win. What did we lose by, five? He made three of four free throws. You do the math." Besides the fact that Duke won by six, not five, Fair was right on point—Boeheim is to blame for the loss, not the officials.
  
• Andre Dawkins: It was a rough go of things for 'Dre this week. The graduate student averaged just 2.7 points on 25.0 percent shooting in 9.0 minutes per game in the three-game week. Basically, the Andre Dawkins we fell back into love with during nonconference play has been nowhere to be found. It would have been unfair to have expected Dawkins to extend his 50.8 percent 3-point shooting in nonconference play into the ACC schedule, but he is shooting just 39.7 percent in conference play. If you exclude his 6-for-7 performance against Pittsburgh as an outlier, that number drops to 34.8 percent. The latter figure would rank just sixth on the team—not quite what you're looking for from an offensive specialist.