I am getting emails on this and folks keep bringing it up in the comments so here it is. Apparently Duke feels the need to try and re-brand themselves or at the very least try and argue their style is just like…well…UNC I suppose. The video talks about how Duke loves to play fast and man-to-man defense which creates turnovers which turns into fast breaks. We are also treated with a highlight reel of fastbreaking, floor slapping Blue Devils to prove to point.
If anything this is a clear attempt to say: “Hey we play fast too! Just like UNC!” At this point UNC has been completely dominant winning two NCAA titles in five seasons and save the 2006 season have played at almost 90 ppg during that span. The Tar Heel program at present is not only playing an uptempo style but winning titles while doing it whereas Duke is seen as a jump shooting team that wears out by March. And that is why the claim of an uptempo style is problematic. Duke is perceived as a jump shooting team because they lack offensive balance with interior play and have not put a fastbreaking PG or true PG on any kind on the court since Chris Duhon left. Clearly this is a play to try and get one, perhaps John Wall with the real endgame of that being not so much that Duke wins with Wall but that Duke wins recruiting battles for Wall-type PGs in the future, a battle they have been routinely losing to UNC and pretty much everyone else.
You may proceed with any mocking comments at this time.
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