After Duke fell Friday to North Carolina in the ACC semifinals, the Blue Devils will look to get the ball rolling in the NCAA tournament Thursday against Iona. The Blue Zone gives one player who could be the difference in the game for Duke:
Bolden a key bench piece
If you watched Duke's ACC tournament quarterfinal against Notre Dame, you were probably in awe of Grayson Allen and Marvin Bagley III's dominant performances.
But in the midst of two great efforts by the Blue Devil stars, you might've forgotten about Marques Bolden's 19 minutes off the bench.
The sophomore has grown in confidence since returning from an MCL injury earlier this season and was very effective in limited time. Bolden scored eight points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field, grabbed seven rebounds and blocked a shot despite three fouls.
Granted, that came on a night when Wendell Carter Jr. was mired in foul trouble and a sore foot, and it's hard to imagine both Bolden and Carter being able to see the floor at the same time in Duke's 2-3 zone.
The point is, though, that Bolden will be a necessary bench piece on Thursday and going forward. If the Blue Devils wants to have a force in the center of their defense, Coach K could easily play Carter for 28 minutes and Bolden for 12. Let Bagley, Javin DeLaurier and others stay on the outside of the zone, but having Bolden man the middle of the 2-3 because the DeSoto, Texas native can be effective in short spurts.
Now, Bolden isn't going to get you very many points. But against an Iona side that doesn't use any rotation players taller than 6-foot-8, he may actually be able to score some simply by having at least three inches on every Gael that sees the floor.
If he can provide just a couple of easy dunks down low and be useful on defense, that's more than enough for Bolden to be an X-Factor in Duke's opening round contest.
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Twitter: @mpgladstone13
A junior from just outside Philadelphia, Mitchell is probably reminding you how the Eagles won the Super Bowl this year and that the Phillies are definitely on the rebound. Outside of The Chronicle, he majors in Economics, minors in Statistics and is working toward the PJMS certificate, in addition to playing trombone in the Duke University Marching Band. And if you're getting him a sandwich with beef and cheese outside the state of Pennsylvania, you best not call it a "Philly cheesesteak."