Why Duke showed it was a national title contender after first weekend

Duke basketball is a national title contender after the first weekend, so says On3’s James Fletcher. 

The Blue Devils avoided a popular upset pick in Vermont in the first round and then faced No. 12 James Madison. No upset in that first round.

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Jon Scheyer’s crew is on the move and Fletcher broke down why Duke could win it all on Andy Staples On3.

“Duke really showed up this weekend,” Fletcher said. “There were questions about them. Plenty of people picking them to get upset in the first week here. To face Vermont then they face James Madison, they kind of avoided Wisconsin in that draw. But man, if you ever wanted to show you that they are a contender, this was a great week for you because they left no doubt against two very lively mid-major teams.” 

James Madison upset Wisconsin in the first round. The Badgers were a popular pick to advance to the Sweet 16 by getting past Duke in the Round of 32.

“I mean, James Madison pulled the upset against Wisconsin and really led that game in the first round for quite a bit of it,” Fletcher said. “So for Duke to get everyone involved the way that they did, McCain kind of emerging as their go to guard, their best perimeter option has been really big for them because early on I think a lot of people thought that would be Tyrese Proctor. 

“He has not kind of lived up to what people expected this year … But McCain has come in, he can shoot the ball and just an all around really good guard for them, who has been able to put the ball in the basket and really raise their ceiling from what it probably was.”

Scheyer made sure to let everyone knows James Madison came in like a contender.

“Really proud of these guys and proud of our team,” Scheyer said. “James Madison, you’re playing a team that’s had three losses the whole year and they had a really impressive performance against Wisconsin.

“And I don’t know if we expected this, but I just thought our guys came out with such a great competitiveness and they were obviously ready to play. Not just ready to play. You have to be ready to compete in these games, and everybody that was on the floor I felt had that.”

Like Fletcher alluded to, Duke got great play from Jared McCain.

“It helps when you have a guy like Jared McCain,” Scheyer said. He broke the Duke record today for threes in the NCAA Tournament. We’ve had some pretty good shooters here, so to break that record with eight, I’m sure he’s mad at me for taking him out early. He’s going to be mad at me. He wanted to be in there more. But he had a great way about him, obviously.

“And Flip, just the attention that he gets in his passing. I thought it was one of the best passing games we’ve had, 22 assists and six turnovers. They are in the top 20 in the country with turning you over. Obviously we are going to enjoy this one, celebrate it today, and find out quickly who we are playing and can’t wait to go to Dallas.”