Duke Basketball: 5 Blue Devils with the Most to Prove in 2014-15

As a team, the Duke Blue Devils have something to prove as they enter the 2014-15 season. A group that could have made a deep run in the NCAA tournament instead suffered an embarrassing loss in the round of 64 to Mercer, which sent one of college basketball's elite programs home early for the second time in three years.

Another season, another potential No. 1 draft pick—but the Blue Devils are hoping for new results. It's easy to forget, though, in the broader storyline of the team, that all of the group's striving is the sum of individual players seeking their own goals.

Some of Duke's players have more to gain—or lose—this season than others. These five Blue Devils have the most riding on the 2014-15 season. If they can all reach their individual goals, it'll be hard for any team to stop Duke from reaching its team goal next April in Indianapolis.

5. Grayson Allen

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Opportunity is knocking for freshman Grayson Allen. The Jacksonville, Florida, product joins a Duke team with plenty of talent and experience in its backcourt, but all of the returning guards have struggled with some facet of their games over the past year or two.

Quinn Cook's shot has been on and off, while his defense has been primarily off. Sophomore Matt Jones appeared to leave his silky jumper in high school. Junior Rasheed Sulaimon spent a few weeks on a milk carton in November and December but bounced back in ACC games.

Recurrences of those players' past issues will leave Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski digging for options. The fact that the No. 24 player in the 2014 RSCI rankings can enter college as a forgotten man speaks to the quality of Duke's roster as well as its incoming class, but make no mistake: Allen can ball.

Duke Report profiled Allen in May 2013, with the writer comparing Allen to a hybrid of J.J. Redick and Gerald Henderson. The piece also credited USA Today high school analyst Jason Jordan with comparing Allen to Kentucky legend Rex Chapman.

Coach K will usually give preference to his veterans over his freshmen when there's a choice to be made, but Allen must see his chance at minutes and grab it as hard as he can now, before another hotshot 2-guard—Ohio product Luke Kennard—arrives next fall.

4. Jahlil Okafor

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Every high school basketball player in America dreams of walking into college as the anointed one, the presumptive No. 1 pick in a future NBA draft.

Jahlil Okafor is that chosen player this season, and it seems that the only person who can take that away is himself.

The Chicago big man will appear on countless All-American ballots. He's the prohibitive favorite for ACC Freshman of the Year, and he's expected to average something close to a double-double for Duke this season.

If he slips up, several rivals are breathing down his neck for that coveted spot atop the draft, including class of 2014 challengers like Cliff Alexander of Kansas, Stanley Johnson of Arizona and Karl Towns of Kentucky.

Don't feel bad for Okafor if he's not the No. 1 pick, since only injury could damage his stock severely enough to tumble from the lottery. Still, expectations like these can weigh as heavy on an 18-year-old's shoulders as the heavens weighed on Atlas'.

Okafor is hardly an explosive athlete a la Andrew Wiggins. He has to win over scouts with his skill level against college players. If he can't, the scouts will immediately turn their exclamation points into question marks.

3. Rasheed Sulaimon

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Quick quiz: Leaving aside this year's freshman class, who's the 2014-15 Duke player who carried the highest RSCI ranking coming out of high school?

It may come as a surprise considering how he's occasionally struggled—particularly early last season—but Rasheed Sulaimon was the 12th-ranked player in the class of 2012.

The deep trough that Sulaimon hit in the midst of last season's nonconference schedule has been well-documented. When he came out of the funk, he still didn't quite excel at the level expected of him when he arrived at Duke. He averaged 10.9 points and a team-leading 3.2 assists in ACC play, shooting a cool 44.4 percent from the arc. Solid but still not elite.

Now, can he put it all together and become (a) Duke's primary perimeter scoring threat and (b) a viable NBA prospect?

DraftExpress has Sulaimon projected 42nd in its current 2016 mock draft (updated September 3), trailing players like Terry Rozier of Louisville, Isaiah Hicks of North Carolina and Nigel Williams-Goss of Washington. Fine players all, but they haven't weathered the pressure situations that Sulaimon has seen at Duke.

However, that's not to say that Sulaimon has dealt with all of those high-pressure moments well. If he intends to continue his career in the NBA, he has to keep his emotions in check, put two great half-seasons together and emerge as a star for Duke this year.

2. Matt Jones

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Matt Jones is one of the record-tying nine former McDonald's All-Americans that Duke will suit up in 2014-15, but he could also be the one most endangered by the inexorable march of the Durham recruiting machine.

Jones entered college with a reputation as a knockdown shooter, but his 29.4 percent shooting (14.3 percent from the arc) was anything but reliable in his first year. He earned what little time he received with solid defensive play—a good trait to carry on any team but especially a Duke team that needed all the stoppers it could find last season.

Still, Jones will be little more than the fourth guard in the rotation—behind Tyus Jones, Quinn Cook and Rasheed Sulaimon—unless his shooting improves. And part of the occupational hazard of playing at Duke is the ever-present feeling that the next man up is only one recruiting class away.

Incoming rookie Grayson Allen, much like Jones, is considered a very good shooter with plenty of athleticism to score inside the arc. Unlike Jones, Allen is also considered a good enough ball-handler and passer to serve as an emergency point guard if something happens to Jones or Cook. Allen is not renowned as a great defender, and therein lies Jones' opportunity.

If Jones finds the stroke that led Duke to recruit him in the first place, he'll seize the Andre Dawkins bench-spark role for himself, and the Blue Devils won't suffer on either end. If not, every brick will lead the fans—and perhaps eventually the coaching staff—to call for Allen in such situations.

Oh, and as we alluded to earlier, Luke Kennard arrives next season, just in case Jones needs more competition to really light his fire.

1. Quinn Cook

Gerry Broome/Associated Press

Quinn Cook is a senior this season, and the former McDonald's All-American has some work to do in his final campaign.

Never mind trying to play himself onto the NBA's radar, which is hard enough. Cook first has to beat out hard-charging freshman Tyus Jones to maintain a starting spot. Jones came to Duke for the express purpose of playing with new franchise big man Jahlil Okafor.

Athletically, neither Cook nor Jones is a once-in-a-generation specimen, and both will have their issues on defense in the ACC. Cook likes his shot—he's averaged a very consistent 12 attempts per 40 minutes over his career—and that may be the X-factor that causes his role to change in an offense that promises to revolve around Okafor.

Cook may get the chance to prove he can coexist with Jones in a three-guard lineup, but that will put the 6'1" Cook at a serious physical disadvantage against opposing shooting guards and wings.

Cook could find himself in a designated shooter role similar to the one Andre Dawkins occupied last year, but the obvious size discrepancy between Cook and the 6'5" Dawkins will make the job somewhat more difficult.

Senior leadership will be the key attribute that Cook brings to the team. Will he get the opportunity to take control in hostile venues like Wisconsin's Kohl Center, Louisville's KFC Yum! Center or Syracuse's Carrier Dome?

If he struggles or isn't getting the touches he wants, how will he react? Can he play defense well enough to even see extensive minutes with all the crowding in Duke's backcourt?

Any potential pro career will depend on the answers to these questions.

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