Duke basketball 2013-14 player review: Josh Hairston

With Duke's season in the books, The Blue Zone will review the seasons of all the Blue Devils, beginning with the freshman Monday and ending with the seniors and graduate students Friday.

Josh Hairston

• Year: Senior
• Height: 6-foot-8
• Position: Forward
• This year's stat line: 1.4 PPG, 1.3 RPG, 9.5 MPG
• The Blue Zone's projected stat line: 4.0 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 15.0 MPG

Season breakdown: And in the final year, Hairston rested. Or was benched. Or whatever.

He actually started the year relatively strongly, scoring in 10 of the Blue Devils’ first 11 contests, a string that also included four consecutive games of 20-plus minutes. Interestingly, he scored only two or four points in each of these games. However, once 2014 started, Hairston only saw double-digit minutes twice, with one of those coming semi-obligatorily on Senior Night against North Carolina.

On a positive note, he shot better this year than any other in his Duke career, tallying a robust 48.6 percent from the field.

On a negative note, he fouled better than ever before, committing a foul every four minutes and twenty-two seconds on average—65 fouls in 284 minutes played. Even worse, charges aren’t available as a stat yet—Hairston tallied twenty the season prior, but it isn’t clear yet whether he surpassed that number. Regardless, it’ll be strange next year not seeing Hairston crowding the paint, showing more steeled resolve in the face of oncoming traffic than anyone since Tiananmen Square.

Results relative to expectations: If this Duke basketball season were a year in America’s public school system, Hairston was certainly a child left behind. Ultimately, the Blue Devils were often content to run out a small lineup with Jabari Parker at the 5 to maximize its offensive potential, and with the improved play of Marshall Plumlee, Hairston was buried in the depth chart.