Load Sharing – Does Duke Need To Do More?

Duke adherents and at-large observers are starting to look askance at a singular strength of this year’s squad. The problem, as they see it, is that the Blue Devils rely heavily on the impressive scoring of one player, Cameron Boozer.

Too heavily, by some estimations, although opposing defenses seem largely unable to exploit that lopsided point production.

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Through the first dozen games Boozer averaged 23.25 points, most in the ACC. Only three other players in the league managed as many as 20 points. The best a Duke teammate mustered through the Devils’ 11-1 start was a 12.50-point contribution by Isaiah Evans, a difference of 10.75 points compared to Boozer.

That gap between the scoring leader and the No.2 scorer is, to this juncture, the greatest this century between a Duke pacesetter and his nearest scoring collaborator. The most prominent preceding gap emerged in 2006, when JJ Redick, currently the LA Lakers head coach, averaged 8.0 more points than the Duke scoring runnerup, center Shelden Williams (26.8 versus 18.8).

Duke players rarely lead the conference in scoring; Cooper Flagg came close last season, finishing third with a 19.16-average behind Notre Dame’s Markus Burton (21.27) and 20.20 by Stanford Maxine Raynaud.

(Mention of a 20-point average sparks a digression to rebut a persistent falsehood. Dean Smith did not hold Michael Jordan under 20 points per game when the wunderkind played at North Carolina from 1982-84. Jordan scored 721 points in 36 games as a sophomore, a 20.028 average. Knowledgeable fans should know this.)

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Back to Duke.

Someone from Duke led the ACC 14 different times in scoring over the league’s first 72 seasons, basically one year in five. Three players did it twice in the era before outstanding success meant leaving college early: Danny Ferry (1988, 1989), Jason Williams (2001, 2002), and Redick (2005, 2006). Ferry and Redick each were twice voted ACC Player Of The Year when they paced the league in scoring….

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Publish date : 2026-01-01 14:34:00

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