Two titans of college basketball will clash on Friday night in Washington D.C. when the top-seeded Duke Blue Devils play No. 5 seed St. John’s for the right to play in the Elite 8 on Sunday afternoon and the teams are somewhat similar to each other.
Both the Dukies and Johnnies want to assert their will in the paint and score at the rim.
Each team is led by its standout forward, yet the Blue Devils aren’t buying into the idea of the Red Storm’s physicality on the defensive side of the floor entering the matchup. Instead, they are fairly confident they will be ready for anything Rick Pitino throws at them.
“We’ve been pressured by teams before,” freshman point guard Cayden Boozer said in the Duke locker room on Thursday afternoon. “It’s not like the first time we are seeing this. Obviously, it’s going to be shown a lot more because we’re in the tournament…but we’ve faced all year, so we’re prepared for it.”
The Blue Devils have gone on a magical run over the last two seasons, falling short in the Final Four a season ago with two of the best rookies in NBA history, Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel, on its roster. This year, it replaced Flagg’s production with another National Player of the Year in Cameron Boozer which has led to only two losses this season by a combined four points.
“We played a lot of physical teams. We played teams that want to push the tempo, that want to pressure us, so it’s not a new scout for us,” Cayden Boozer added.
Cayden Boozer has seen an increase in playing time over the last three weeks as Duke guard Caleb Foster has been out with a broken foot. Boozer has thrived with the extra minutes leading the Blue Devils to the ACC Championship and two wins during the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
There is hope among people inside Duke’s program that Foster could return on Friday night but Boozer is expected to handle a lot of the minutes at point guard regardless of his status.
“They are very physical, they make it tough on you on both ends in the paint,” head coach Jon Scheyer said about St. John’s.
“At the same time that's been our strength. We don't want to get away from who we've been. You think about the schedule we've played, I think it's prepared us to be in moments like this, to understand what it takes.”
Duke played a total of 14 games against ranked competition with 11 unique opponents. In those games, the Blue Devils comprised a record of 12-2 and went 17-2 in Quad 1 games this season.
“I think that's part of our identity, too, is being a physical team,” freshman forward Nikolas Khamenia said. “Rebounds and defends…I think we've played a lot of teams that have been physical, which is obviously going to help prepare us for tomorrow.”
Every season in which Duke has won a National Championship the Blue Devils defeated St. John’s at some point in the season, a trend that they are hoping continues Friday while the Red Storm try and keep its historic season going with a chance to make its first Final Four since 1985.