The top rated Duke Blue Devils will take to Coach K Court in Cameron Indoor Stadium this Friday to take on Augustana. This will be the last of two exhibition games for the Blue Devils before the start of the regular season on November the 11th against Marist.
Duke, under Mike Krzyzewski, has established a tradition of taking on the defending Division II National Champions. Augustana is ranked 18th in the country according to the NCAA Division II Top 25 poll which came out this past week. . Augustana has also been picked 2nd in the NSIC Pre Season Coaches Poll garnering two first place votes.
The Vikings hail from Sioux Falls, South Dakota and they've been playing basketball for 94 years going into this season. Augustana has posted an impressive 65-5 record while winning back-to-back NSIC Regular Season and Tournament Championships.
It's worth noting that the Vikings beat Iowa on the road a season ago in their only exhibition game before tearing through their conference with a 21-1 mark.
Their teams offense will likely start with Mike Busack, a forward who averaged 14 ppg and is a graduate transfer from Minnesota State. Other likely starters in an expected three guard lineup are Jordan Spencer, who averages 6.5 APG over his career, Adam Beyer, John Warren and Jack Huisken.
Beyer is a good shooter and a player Duke will need to find on the defensive end. The Vikings are known as a scrappy bunch as well chasing down rebounds, so it'll be important to put a body on them. The Vikings out-rebounded their opponents in 31 of 36 games a season ago.
Despite the fact that Harry Giles and Jayson Tatum will sit out the game, Duke will have a decided talent advantage. Grayson Allen, voted the ACC Pre Season Player of the Year, leads a veteran Duke cast. That group includes seniors Matt Jones and Amile Jefferson along with sophomore Luke Kennard.
This group is joined by some key newcomers. In the Blue Devils win over Virginia State, the ream was helped by the play of talented freshman Marques Bolden, who tallied a double-double. The presence of Bolden is allowing Duke to do some new things defensively this season.
Another freshman who is showing off a nice skill set is Frank Jackson. His play will be important against a team that is perimeter oriented on offense, yet likes to run back door cuts.
What we can expect is for Krzyzewski and his staff to go deep into their bench while testing out certain combinations. The likely starters in this game will be Allen, Bolden, Kennard, Jefferson and Jones. That would make Jackson the first man off the bench as he was in the last game.
Duke will also play high energy guy Javin DeLaurier and Chase Jeter, not tot mention Jack White. Duke will once again look to get out on the break where they outscored Virgina State 12-0 a week ago. It is worth noting that Duke scored 24 points off turnovers as well in their win.
This game will be carried by ACC Network Extra which is an ESPN application. This season marks the 112th year of Duke Basketball and Mike Krzyzewski is the all time NCAA wins leader sporting a 1043-321 record in his 42nd season.
Kryzewski owns a 970-262 record at Duke where he is coaching in his 37th season. He stands 30 wins shy of 1000 wins while in Durham. Duke starts the season out as the consensus number one pick in both the A.P. and Coaches poll. The Blue Devils have also been tabbed as the pre season favorite in the Atlantic Coast Conference by the sportswriters.
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