Next up – Seattle Redhawks

Next up for Duke is Seattle, and while many Duke fans may think this is a gimme, allow us to point out a few things.

First, Chris Victor has been a decent coach since taking over in 2021. He finished 23-9, 20-12 and last season 23-14.

And second, while Seattle is just 2-4, all of their losses have been close.

The Redhawks are smaller than Duke with only two players taller than 6-8. They also have nine upperclassmen, two sophomores and four freshmen.

Two are from China, one from Japan and one from Australia. Six guys are getting the majority of the minutes, but two others are in double figures and two more are getting at least eight per game. match.

Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe, a 6-8 senior transfer from Georgia, is probably their best player. He is putting up a double-double with 14.5 ppg and 10.5 rpg.

Maleek Arrington, a 6-3 junior transfer from Idaho State, runs the show with 5.0 apg.

The other rotation players are John Christofilis (6-3 junior), Braydon Maldonado (6-0 junior), Paris Dawson (6-2 senior), Malek Gomma (6-8/245 sophomore), Vasja Pandza, (6-8 senior ), which seems to have an inevitable nickname), Viktor Rajkovic (6-6 senior) and DaSean Stevens (6-3 junior).

Coach Victor – how cool is that, by the way? – covered the close losses in The Seattle Timesand said this: “It’s been our story this year where in areas we’ve played well enough to win games, but we don’t make enough game-winning plays to actually take care of it, whether we close out one game or another aspect that we lack. We have to be able to put it all together.”

Cameron isn’t a good place to do it, but other teams have come in and had big nights, most notably Vermont, who nearly pulled off a huge upset in 2013, and Stephen F. Austin, who did it in 2019.

It’s a little tougher after a Duke loss.

The Blue Devils tend to be focused after a loss and not to rule out Cooper Flagg in this regard, but the freshman is extremely competitive. You get the feeling that losing really stings him.

One thing that could really work in Seattle’s favor: There’s a chance Duke could look forward to Auburn next week. Bruce Pearl has put together a great team and it would only be human to think about the next big game.

Let’s hope not.

Anyway, Seattle has competed well and Victor has proven to be a good coach. So don’t think Duke can just send it in.