Devil Data
Senior Guard
Greg Paulus
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Mike Krzyzewski returns four starters and key sixth man Jon Scheyer from last year's team that finished 28-6, placed second in the ACC standings and made the program's 13th straight NCAA Tournament appearance. Krzyzewski enters his 29th season at Duke with 803 career wins, 730 of which have come with the Blue Devils. Duke has appeared in 24 of the last 25 NCAA Tournaments, including national title runs in 1991, 1992 and 2001. A chief loss for the Blue Devils will be graduated senior DeMarcus Nelson, who claimed ACC Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2007-08 and led the team in scoring with 14.5 points per game. Overall, Duke returns eight of its top 10 players from last season.
Kyle Singler was voted ACC Rookie of the Year after scoring at a 13.3 ppg clip as a freshman and tying for the team lead in rebounds with 5.8 per game. He was even better in conference play, averaging 15.1 points and a team high 6.2 rebounds in 16 ACC regular-season games. Singler was the fifth Duke player and first since Chris Duhon (2001) to be voted ACC Rookie of the Year
Junior Guard/Forward
Gerald Henderson
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Greg Paulus enters his senior season as the ACC's active career leader in assists with 422. The steady point guard averaged 13.8 ppg over the final eight games last season. He ranked fourth among ACC players in 3-point field goals per game (2.4).
Gerald Henderson started 33 of Duke's 34 games in 2007-08, averaging 12.7 points and 4.7 rebounds. The 6-foot-4 guard led the Blue Devils in blocked shots with 31.
Jon Scheyer started only one game a year ago but ranked third on the team in minutes played with 28.3 per game. The 6-foot-5 rising junior averaged 11.7 points per game and knocked down .889 percent of his free-throw attempts.
Lance Thomas made 28 starts as a sophomore, averaging 4.3 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. The 6-foot-8 Thomas and 7-foot-1 center Brian Zoubek are the two Duke inside players with notable collegiate experience.
Nolan Smith started just one game as a freshman, but 6-foot-2 guard was key part of Blue Devils' rotation. He averaged 5.9 points while logging nearly 15 minutes per game.
