Date 10/19 || Time 1:00 P.M. || Venue Cameron Indoor Stadium || Video ACCNX
We’ll admit we don’t know a whole lot about Lincoln, Duke’s exhibition opponent on Saturday. The Lions are coached by former NC State star Julius Hodge, who actually started his post-high school career in Cameron in the McDonald’s game and of course played there several times for former State coach Herb Sendek.
Hodge has paid his dues: he’s been an assistant for the last eight years, working first for Sendek at Santa Clara, then moving around before his last stop at Arkansas-Little Rock.
He got the job at Lincoln after a casual chat with A.D. Harry Stinson III and Bob’s your uncle, he was hired.
So what’s he working with?
Well, Lincoln is a D-II team so it’s harder to know a whole lot about the basketball team. It’s in the CIAA and won that title last year finishing 17-14.
Unlike a lot of schools at their level, Lincoln has some size: two guys are 6-9, two are 6-8 and two 6-7. And they do have one major advantage over Duke: there are nine seniors listed on the roster, two juniors and four sophomores. There is just one freshman.
There’s no question that Duke has more talent, and Duke certainly is favored. It would be the lead item on every news service and Web site if Lincoln somehow beat Duke.
And exhibition upsets of powerful teams do happen periodically. Generally speaking, it indicates unforeseen weaknesses or perhaps chemistry problems.
Assuming that those things aren’t a concern, exhibitions are generally more about the home team. And for Jon Scheyer and Duke, there are some things they’d like to see. Here are a few things they might be looking at:
- Freshmen. Duke has a glittering class, with Cooper Flagg, Khaman Maluach, Kon Knueppel, Isaiah Evans, Darren Harris and Patrick Ngongba. We’re not sure what Ngongba’s status is – he was in a boot recently and is probably behind – but everyone else should be good to go and all of them are promising.
- A returning backcourt. Caleb Foster appears to have gotten much better since we last saw him and Tyrese Proctor looks ready to take a big step forward, not least of all as a leader. They’re the only major players back from last season, which leads us to…
- Transfers. Sion James, Maliq Brown and Mason Gillis will all be in the rotation and counted on for leadership. Cameron Sheffield may play less but he’s still a valuable resource.
- Chemistry. It may take a few weeks to sort out roles and a pecking order.
As far as fans go, watching Flagg, Maluach and Knueppel – the most talked about freshmen – evolve is going to be a treat.
It’s been a long wait, but the season is finally here. Let’s hooooooop!
