Duke men's basketball 2017-18 player review: Marvin Bagley III

<p>Bagley averaged better than 21 points and 11 rebounds per game in his lone season in Durham.&nbsp;</p>

Bagley averaged better than 21 points and 11 rebounds per game in his lone season in Durham. 

Marvin Bagley III

  • Year: Freshman
  • Height: 6-foot-11
  • Position: Forward
  • This year’s stat line: 21.0 PPG, 11.1 RPG, 1.5 APG
  • The Blue Zone's projected stat line: 15.4 PPG, 8.4 RPG, 1.7 BPG

Season breakdown:

When Marvin Bagley III reclassified in order to play for this year's Duke squad, he immediately became the No. 1 overall recruit in his class, making the Blue Devils title favorites.

Bagley lived up to the immense hype from day one, putting up 25 points against Elon to break the Duke freshman scoring record in a debut performance. Bagley didn’t take his foot off the gas, as he put up 9 double doubles in 11 non-conference performances, including back-to-back 30-15 performances to spark come-from-behind victories against Texas and Florida. 

It was more of the same once conference play started. In a victory against Florida State, Bagley dropped an eye-popping 32 points and 21 rebounds, becoming only the third freshman in 20 years to do so. He would finish with three more 30 point games—four including his domination of Notre Dame in the first round of the ACC tournament—just one of the Duke freshman records that Bagley broke. 

On top setting the mark for 30 point games, Bagley set the Duke freshman record for rebounds, rebounding average, double-doubles, 20-10 games, and dunks on his way to being just the second freshman to be named ACC Player of the Year. 

In a season full of dominant performances, his second half against UNC in the final game of the regular season stands out. With Duke down by double digits entering the second half, Bagley scored 18 of his 21 points in the final 20 minutes to defeat the Tar Heels and put an exclamation point on his regular season.  

Results relative to expectations:

Bagley was an offensive juggernaut all season for the Blue Devils, living up to the hype in almost every way. 

But there’s one facet of his game that could have used improvement: his defense. Bagley has all the tools to be an excellent individual defender, and when he’s locked in, he can defend across all five positions. But those moments were few and far between. 

There were points in the season where Bagley looked lost on defense, and that combined with his sub-par rim protection meant that he couldn’t anchor Duke’s defense in the same way Wendell Carter Jr. could. In fact, when Bagley went down with an injury that cost him four games, Duke rattled off four straight impressive wins and questions emerged about whether Duke was a better team on defense without its star freshman. 

However, Duke’s defensive resurgence was in large part due to head coach Mike Krzyzewski's commitment to running a zone defense, and the Blue Devils didn’t have the same kind of offensive firepower with Bagley off the court. Overall, Bagley put together one of the best individual seasons in program history—exceeding even the lofty expectations set for him. 

Check back tomorrow for a review of Marques Bolden's season. The Blue Zone has already reviewed Grayson Allen

Discussion

Share and discuss “Duke men's basketball 2017-18 player review: Marvin Bagley III” on social media.