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NCAA Tournament: Storylines For Every Sweet 16 Team

By Nathan Giese

Mar 20, 2016; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners guard Buddy Hield (24) celebrates defeating the Virginia Commonwealth Rams 85-81 during the second round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 20, 2016; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners guard Buddy Hield (24) celebrates defeating the Virginia Commonwealth Rams 85-81 during the second round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports /
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Mar 19, 2016; Providence, RI, USA; Duke Blue Devils guard Grayson Allen (3) reacts after scoring against the Yale Bulldogs during the first half of a second round game of the 2016 NCAA Tournament at Dunkin Donuts Center. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 19, 2016; Providence, RI, USA; Duke Blue Devils guard Grayson Allen (3) reacts after scoring against the Yale Bulldogs during the first half of a second round game of the 2016 NCAA Tournament at Dunkin Donuts Center. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports /

Duke Blue Devils: Can The Young Guns Hold Up?

Last year’s Duke team was led by four freshmen, three of which were first-round draft picks, on their way to the national championship. What gets lost in that fact, though, is they had senior and junior leaders to play pivotal roles on the team in Quinn Cook, Matt Jones and Amile Jefferson.

This year’s team is similar but vastly different. There’s still senior leaders (Marshall Plumlee and Jones) and still mostly underclassmen leading the way (freshmen Brandon Ingram, Luke Kennard and Derryck Thornton and sophomore Grayson Allen), but there’s not a lot of balance among them.

After Allen’s 22.0 points per game and Ingram’s 17.1 points per game, the rest of the featured players don’t come close to balancing those numbers. Duke is very top heavy in terms of scoring balance. Allen and Ingram average 38 points combined. The other four rotation players (Plumlee, Jones, Kennard and Thornton) average 36 combined.

That’s not balance and that usually spells trouble, even for good teams.

Duke has spent most of the year being hit or miss. They haven’t been bad and most of their losses have been close, but they haven’t been particularly great either. The Blue Devils, by all accounts, are somewhere in the middle.

Will the young guns of Duke be able to spread the wealth around? Or will they rely too heavily on Allen and Ingram, which would ultimately be their downfall?

Next: Basketball Gods' Team?