Duke Basketball: Why Austin Rivers Needs More Time with Blue Devils

Austin Rivers has proven himself capable of being a future NBA guard in his freshman year with Duke. However, his game is far from fully developed and it would be best for him to return for his sophomore season with the Blue Devils.

At just 19 years old, Rivers has plenty of time to meet his lofty expectations of being a great player who can go toe-to-toe with the best in the world. 

Rivers has yet to show exactly where he belongs in the backcourt. He's certainly shown the ability to penetrate the lane after bringing the ball up the court, reminiscent to a point guard, but hasn't quite shown the ability to facilitate and make his teammates better.

Rivers' stat line in the monumental upset by Lehigh was fair: 19 points, 5-for-14 from the field. But he displayed quite obviously that he's too high on himself and can't put the ball where it needs to be enough (which isn't always in his hands).

For instance, Duke big man Mason Plumlee was torching Lehigh for 19 points and a perfect 9-for-9 shooting, one of the best tournament field goal displays in recent memory. Rivers still felt it necessary to force bad shots late in the game.  

Everybody knows of his critical deep shot, but his ability to catch and shoot hasn't been showcased nearly enough for a NBA team to be comfortable integrating him as a shooting guard.

Rivers returning to Duke allows him to prove that his game is polished enough to turn a franchise around, which is what teams primarily look for with their lottery picks. 

After losing the likes of Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith, the Dukies were excited to put their hope in the hands of Rivers, who was one of the most hyped recruits to come out of high school in a long time.

When it comes down to it, he was only able to take over one game. Granted, it was against fierce rival North Carolina, but it was only one game. 

Ironically enough, I could bet any Duke fan would rather that game had been against No. 15-seeded Lehigh.

Rivers didn't come just to Duke to polish his game off for one year and bolt to the NBA, and if he did, he certainly didn't do a good enough job.

Rivers came to Duke to win and supplant his legacy at a school with one of the richest basketball traditions. At schools like Duke, you aren't remembered for a shot you made in the regular season.