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Blue Devils may use 10-player rotation this season

Chris Duhon made 34 percent of his 3-point attempts last season for the Blue Devils. Craig Jones/Getty Images

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) -- Mike Krzyzewski hasn't used many players the last few seasons. He really hasn't had to.

It will be difficult for the Duke coach to ignore his bench this year.

In just the past 10 days, Krzyzewski has used three or four starting lineups in practice as he tries to fill holes left by the early exits of juniors Jay Williams, Mike Dunleavy and Carlos Boozer for the NBA.

Krzyzewski is excited about the intense competition in practice with the season opener against Army less than a month away.

"That has made everybody better," Krzyzewski said Friday. "The guys you're playing against are talented.

"They have to come to practice every day ready -- which is good," Krzyzewski added. "That's how you're going to get better."

With Duke's versatility and youth, it's difficult to say just how many lineups Krzyzewski will be using during the heart of the Atlantic Coast Conference season in January.

"We have a lot of different looks," said Krzyzewski, who has won 564 games in 22 seasons at Duke. "None of them may be the look that we had last year -- as good as that picture -- but there are a lot of looks. None of them maybe have the star potential that we had last year."

But while last year's team had a trio of stars, chemistry and depth were problems at times and the Blue Devils (31-4) lost to Indiana in the third round of the NCAA tournament.

On this squad, other than point guard Chris Duhon, who led the team in minutes in 2001-2002, no positions are guaranteed. Krzyzewski said he'll be using his best players the most -- regardless of class.

"What's fair is who earns it," he said when asked about his six talented freshmen. "At least in our system that's what we consider fair."

Krzyzewski is enthusiastic about his front court, where veteran players like Nick Horvath and Casey Sanders have improved and freshmen Sheldon Williams and Shavlik Randolph have showed much potential.

Sanders played an important role for the Blue Devils down the stretch run of the 2001 national championship season when Boozer was injured, but slumped again last season. Meanwhile, Horvath as been bothered by injuries the past two seasons.

"They give us an opportunity to play fresh people at those spots all the time," Krzyzewski said of his big men. "We believe the kids that we have in our program who are 6-9 and above can all play.

"If you are fresh you should be able to think better, you should be able to run better," he added. "And if there is an injury we won't be as susceptible to one guy going down as we have been in the past."

Randolph, one of the nation's top 10 recruits a season ago, said he signed with Duke anticipating the competition in practice.

"This is fun because it brings out the best in you," Randolph said. "It makes you take your game to levels that you didn't think you could take it to before because you're always being pushed."

Krzyzewski isn't worried about so many new parts having to mesh. "For this group it should be easier to come together because I have to think we feel we need one another to achieve a high level of success," he said. "Not to be a good team, but to be an outstanding team. I don't know if we'll get there, but that's our goal."

 

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