Duke Blue Planet BLOG

Coach Collins reflects on the national title and the development of our backcourt

Associate Head Coach Chris Collins graduated from Duke in 1996 after four standout seasons in the Duke backcourt that included a trip to the national title game in 1994.  Collins, a member of the coaching staff since 2001, works primarily with our perimeter players in practice.  On the following pages, the Illinois native shares his thoughts on our perimeter this past year and the season in general.

It’s amazing to think back about a year ago.  It seemed like everything was going against us.  We were losing key guys.  Obviously Gerald’s decision to go pro and Elliot’s family situation were unforeseen.  You’re looking at a team with very few bodies in the backcourt, and a lot of inexperience in the frontcourt.  At the end of the day though, we knew we had guys who had a lot of heart, toughness, and experience.  The lesson here is to always take what you have and to make the most of it.  Now did we think we were going to be a national championship team?  I’m not going to say that.  But I always trust Coach and the way we put things together that we’re going to get it done with who we have.  Some of those losses we had during the season forced us to go to a style and system that became the reason we won.  It’s a great credit to Coach K, but also to the guys and their ability to come together and get it done.

The big guys were the heart and soul of our team.  All year long, obviously Jon, Kyle and Nolan received a lot of praise.  “The Big Three” took the most shots and scored the most points.  It takes special guys to embrace the kind of roles that Brian and Lance took on and also Mason and Miles.  Those four guys did all the dirty work for our team.  They set the tone in the paint, they were our best communicators on defense, they were the reason we were one of the best rebounding teams ever at Duke, and they were the anchors of our defense.  I think the thing that made it great was that the perimeter guys knew that.  So even though they were getting the shots and they were getting the points, those guys knew that what the big guys did was the key to us winning.

The journey that Brian Zoubek went on is one of the greatest stories you can have.  In today’s world, when you have a guy who’s hurt and hasn’t played often, a lot of kids would give up and they would transfer.  He stuck with it, he believed in where he was, he got healthy, and he worked hard.  Coach always talks about each kid running his own race.  Brian ran his own race and he’s going to have a great chance to be a pro now and was a big reason we became a national championship team.  Our four perimeter players -– the guys I worked with every day in practice -– ran their own races and all four have great stories as well.

Jon Scheyer… I remember the first time Coach K and I made a recruiting trip to see Jon at an open gym at his high school.  It was my high school alma mater so we were very familiar with the surroundings and the people.  The very first thing you saw about Jon was his spirit and his leadership.  It was an open gym and he was clearly the best player there but he was always talking, he was picking teams, he was directing the whole gym, he was in control of everything.  And the more you got to see him, the more you appreciated what he does.  For him to win a state championship with the team he had in the state of Illinois in high school, and then to come to college and year after year continue to get better, to take on different roles, to start as a freshman, to come off the bench his sophomore year then to primarily be a point guard his last two years and to finish with a national championship… Above all else that shows that his best traits as a player are his will to win and his spirit.  He has as strong a winning spirit as anybody I’ve ever coached.

Coach K always creates a system with his personnel to put everybody in a position where they will be most successful, so what we tried to do with Jon was to position him to be the person who took care of the ball and to be a face of strength for our whole team.  He ended up having one of the best assist-to-turnover ratios in school history.  He was poised out there and in command when he had the ball.  Then what we tried to do was put him in a position where he could be a scorer after he gave up the ball.  So, he still scored as many points, if not more, while still leading and running our team.

I’ve known Jon since he was five years old and I’ve known his parents for a long time.  We’ve shared a special bond because we come from the same place, we both love basketball so much, and we just have a lot in common.  It is almost like a brother relationship, so to be able to win a national championship together will be an amazing lifetime memory.  When I see our embrace after winning it all on tape, I start to tear up every time because it doesn’t get any better than that.

Nolan Smith… Nolan had as dramatic an improvement as anybody in college basketball this year, and he and Jon worked really well together in our backcourt.  I think the main reason for his big improvement was his mindset.  He was a guy who showed gumption in his first two years.  He had some good games and some not-so-good games, and we were searching for a level of consistency with him.  I think the thing that unlocked him the most was putting him in a position to be an attacker.  It was probably our fault at the time to try to have him be a guy who runs a team, sets other guys up, and tries to be an organizer out there.  That took away his ability to attack and be aggressive and that’s what he does best.  He’s a scorer.  He knows how to score, he can get to the basket, he can shoot.  When we made the switch to put Jon in charge of the offense, it put Nolan in a situation where all he was thinking about was attacking.  I think confidence-wise that gave him a big boost.  Then he came out early in the season and had some big games and he continued to build on that all year.  You saw in the tournament that Nolan had become one of the elite guards in the country as a junior.

Kyle Singler… Like Nolan, Kyle was great all season, but was at his best in the season’s last few months.  There’s no question it was an adjustment for him moving from the inside to the wing.  You go your whole life playing as an inside player and now all of a sudden you’re on the wing full time.  You’re being guarded by different players, you’re guarding different players, and you’re on different areas of the court.  Most of the time in our system he was a trailer on top of the court, and now he was a guy who’s coming off screens and learning to use the lanes.  I think it took us some time and him some time to figure out how we could best utilize him.  A key point in the season was our game against Georgetown.  We did not play well, and they dominated us in every facet of the game.  We took a good long look at ourselves after that game, which Coach always does, and decided to make a lot of changes offensively.  The main reason we wanted to do that was because we didn’t feel like we were utilizing Kyle to maximize the strengths that he has.  From that point on, we were 18-1 with our only loss coming at Maryland.  Kyle became that All-American guy, and he was as good as anybody out there down the stretch earning ACC Tournament MVP and Final Four MOP honors.

Andre Dawkins… To me, you always see a big improvement from freshman to sophomore years in players.  Andre helped us this year and got a taste of what this level is all about and what it takes to be successful.  He was primarily a three-point shooting specialist for us and filled that role well.  This summer, he has to improve his ball-handling, playmaking skills, and defense to add to his sweet shooting stroke.  Andre has shown that he has all the tools to be an outstanding player for us.  He was a big reason we won the ACC championship game vs Georgia Tech, and his two first-half three-pointers vs. Baylor in the Elite Eight were huge.

At the end of the day, you can talk about the guys individually, but we had success because of our great strength as a group.  We were a tough and together team, and that comes from the leadership.  The culture on your team is created by the players.  The coaches can do their best to create a mindset with the details and the execution, but I’ve always said that the best teams are the ones where the coaches don’t have to worry about effort or enthusiasm.  And everyday, our veterans — Lance, Brian, Jon, Nolan, Kyle — brought energy and enthusiasm in their own ways.  If you’re a younger player and you see that, you stick out like a sore thumb if you don’t follow their lead.  Because of their attitudes and the way those guys approached the game, the rest of the team just fell in line and that’s what created such an amazing chemistry.  That’s why we were the toughest team and most together team.  We had talent too, and you saw that when you put those things together something amazing can happen.

It’s as special a group as I’ve ever coached.  I’ve been fortunate now to coach two years at Seton Hall and 10 years at Duke, and I’ve never had a team that has had fewer agendas where all everybody wanted to do was win.  I’ve never seen a team that’s had such good senior leadership.  I’ve never been a part of a team that’s been so together, so tough-minded, and so close off the court.  The connection between the staff and the players was as good as we’ve ever had.  When the last game was over, we were excited as heck that we won the whole thing but it was bittersweet because it was over.  It was the last time that group was going to be together.  I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to replicate a team like this with the intangibles that they had.  They’ll always have a special place in my heart, that’s for sure.

Coach Wojo on Duke’s 2009-10 big guys Zoubs, LT and the Plumlee Bros

Coach Wojo starred in the backcourt at Duke as a point guard, earning All-ACC honors and the 1998 National Defensive Player of the Year award in his senior season.  A member of the coaching staff since 2000, Wojo works primarily with our big men in practice.  Below, the Maryland native shares his thoughts on our frontcourt and the season in general.

We’re national champions because we were the toughest and most together team.  We had some really good players individually, but they were all better together.  We arrived at that point because our older players used the reference points that they developed throughout their careers to make them better.

Our post, Brian and Lance especially, tasted heartache over the course of their careers.  Whether that was through injury or a performance that wasn’t up to their standard, they tasted heartache.  They used those tough times to become better as players and to become more determined in their pursuit of a championship.  When people think of Brian and Lance, they’re going to think of those guys walking away from Duke as national champions.  When I think of those guys, I think about how they responded to the tough times that they encountered during their growth as college players.  They used that process to play to their potential, ultimately putting their team in the position to be national champion.

The number one reason was that they used their experiences in the past as underclassmen in the Duke program to develop a mindset that they were going to go out on top.  And as good as they were in games, the biggest key was practice.  I thought our practices and individual work really enforced what we thought were our greatest strengths, which were defense and the ability to rebound the ball.  Our staff recognized those two things; if we could get outstanding play on the defensive end and develop a mindset to dominate the boards with our strong perimeter, we could compete with or beat anyone that we came up against.

Throughout the course of a season, we start the year with a bunch of practices but then really cut down on our practice time as a team.  Instead of having the end of practice as a cutoff point, each day after practice we would do workouts with our bigs to reinforce habits that we would need to be successful in the game.  These post-practice sessions included tough things like defensive and rebounding workouts in competition.  We really honed in on what they could do offensively to help our team.  And each day there were battles.  If you could create an atmosphere in practice that was going to be tougher than the games, you have an advantage against your opponents mentally because you’ve invested a lot.  The more you invest, the harder it is to give up something.  I think this created a great mindset for all of our post guys every time they walked on the floor in competition.  It also developed strong habits so they were well-trained to do the things they were going to be asked to do in a game.

A lot was made about our team lacking depth, but we had great depth in the post.  Because all four of those guys (Brian, Lance, Miles and Mason) are really capable players, we were in a great position to use that to our advantage, positioning those guys where they never had to pace themselves.  We could offer 40 minutes of hard-nosed, tough, aggressive basketball together between those four guys.  We wanted those four guys to be like four starters, and all of them were very important to the success of our team.

Being in that group, I think Miles and Mason made huge strides over the course of the year to figure out how to be the players that they’re capable of being.  I think Miles in particular over the last month of the season really crossed the bridge to being an outstanding player where you trusted him every second he was on the floor.  That bodes well for their futures and they know the level of commitment and dedication that it takes to be good players because of the example that Brian and Lance set.

I’ve never been around better teammates than Lance and Brian.  They were completely selfless throughout their entire time at Duke.  We asked them to do some incredibly tough things in what I think is the toughest position in college basketball.  In the college game, it’s so physical in the post and there’s so much riding on good post play to be successful.  Those guys never once batted an eye, they were never jealous, and they created an atmosphere that was conducive for success.  They also created a day-to-day interaction with the rest of the team that allowed everybody to feel good about what they were doing.  They embraced their roles on the floor and they embraced their roles as teammates about as well as you could possibly do it.

Brian had an outstanding year from start to finish but there is no question when he was in the starting lineup that he added another dimension to our team.  I think we went from a very good team to a team that was capable of winning a national championship.  He provided us with an amazing presence.  First of all, on the defensive end he protected the basket.  He’s an outstanding position defender and he was our best communicator on the defensive end.  Our guys who were on the floor with him drew strength from that.  His rebounding numbers were better than anyone’s in the country on a per minute basis.  You knew what you were going to get from him.  He was dependable and he continued to improve.  As he improved and his confidence improved, our team improved and our team’s confidence improved.  Brian’s taking the opportunity to start and really entering the starting lineup with an exclamation point was huge for our team.

There are a couple of great moments among many from the season working with our post guys that stand out.  One was hugging Brian right after we won the national championship.  It was a great moment and I was so happy for Brian.   He had a ton of adversity early in his career mainly because he had health problems.  He had broken feet and there’s nothing that you can do about it.  Then he had adversity with a lot of unfair negative press.  Throughout those challenges, he remained positive, he worked incredibly hard, and he served as an example for everyone in our program that when you meet adversity you push through it.  For him to have such good things happen and for him to be such an important part of a national championship team, I was really happy for him to go out like that.

With Lance, we had an intense moment in the Elite Eight during a TV timeout where we got eye to eye and were really locked in.  I told him to dunk the ball, which later in the game he did and it was one of the biggest plays in the NCAA Tournament for us.  Those moments are symbolic of the relationship that I had especially with the seniors because we had been through so much together during their time here.  When you have that strong relationship with somebody, a coach can talk to a player and a player can talk to a coach honestly and directly and know that you both have each other’s best interest at heart.  The moment with Lance was just a culmination of four years of going through experiences both good and bad, and being at each other’s side through it all.

I’ve been fortunate now to be a part of multiple national championships teams and a team that won a gold medal, but I’m not sure I have more respect for any group than I have for our upperclassmen at Duke because it was really a process for them.  In that process, you go through highs and lows, and through all those highs and lows our core group of guys stuck together.  They kept working with the team and together we were able to accomplish something that very few people are able to accomplish.  It’s the most rewarding experience that I’ve had as a coach.

Coach Collins on the Clemson game, Chicago, start of ACC

I hope everyone had a great Holiday season!  It was nice for our players and staff to get a little bit of a break at Christmas to spend time with our families.  The season is long, so for our guys to be able to go home, enjoy Christmas and get their bodies refreshed for the conference season is always a good thing.  We’ve had a hectic schedule since we’ve been back.  Having the chance to play 2 games before we had to face Clemson in our ACC opener was a great thing for our team.  Once you get started with the season, players get in a rhythm of playing games every couple of games.  So, we needed the Long Beach State and Penn games to get our game legs back heading into the ACC.  I thought our guys responded really well in those 2 games and it was great preparation for what we were facing with Clemson.

Everyone, from players to coaches to managers, was really excited about starting the ACC.  There is always a different level of intensity and energy when you get into league play.  I know people say it all the time, but it really doesn’t matter what the teams’ records are at the time when you play them.  Every game is a physical and mental battle, and you have to put together a full 40 minutes in order to win.  The Clemson game was a very important one for us because we wanted to get off to a great start in the ACC.  In order to be a team that challenges to win the conference, you have to be able to take care of your home court.  Clemson is one of the most talented teams in the ACC and we knew that we were going to have to play a great game to win.  Plus, the last time we played them we lost by 27 points, so none of the players had to be reminded of their potential.  We played some of the best defense we have played all year that night as Clemson only had 12 points at halftime.  Every guy that we had out there was battling on every possession.  As a staff, that’s all we could ever ask of our guys.  After they made a run at the start of the 2nd half, we were able to get back on track and finish off the game for a terrific win.

Earlier this week, we were able to head to Chicago to play Iowa State at the United Center in a homecoming game for Jon Scheyer and Coach K.  We try to get each of our guys an opportunity to play close to home at least once during their time at Duke.  This was Jon’s chance to show off his team in front of all of his family and friends.  It was also a special trip for me.  I grew up in Chicago as well and spent 3 years as a Chicago Bulls ballboy when my dad was the head coach.  Going back and being in that arena always bring back special memories for me of where I came from and how I got to where I am today.  It was great to see a lot of familiar faces.  We even had two of our former guys, Luol Deng and Sean Dockery there to cheer us on.  To see Jon go out there and play such an incredible game was amazing.  He has been playing great basketball so far this season, but it is not always easy playing in your hometown.  There are so many added distractions with tickets and people wanting to see you, that it is easy to get out of your normal game routine.  However, it showed Jon’s maturity and experience to be able to go out and play one of the best games of his career.  It made for an incredible night!  We were able to get a good win over a quality opponent in Iowa State.

There is no time for us to sit back and relax, as we head out to Atlanta today to face Georgia Tech.  It is our first road ACC game and a very important one.  Georgia Tech has a lot of talent and one of the best frontlines in the country.  They are athletic and physical and we will need to continue to play at a high level if we want to be successful.   Hopefully our guys will continue to get better and improve as a group.  We still believe that we have alot of room to grow as a team. The journey has been fun so far, but we have a long way to go!

Take care,

Coach Collins

We have just started our second full week of practice, so the season is in full swing.   We had an exciting first week!!  From our Countdown to Craziness event, to an Open House with Player Autographing, and, finally, with our 1st Exhibition game vs Pfeiffer, our players and staff had a full schedule.  The support we had from the fans for all of these events was amazing!!  It made our whole team and staff that much more excited to get going with the season.

With all of the preseason workouts, open gyms, and practices, it is always great as a team to get a chance to play against a different opponent like we did with Pfeiffer.  We were happy with our performance in our first game as a group.  There are obviously alot of things for us to continue to work on and improve, but overall, we saw some good things.   The best part was getting valuable game experience for our young guys.  All three freshmen contributed in a big way!  Ryan Kelly had 18 pts on 8-11 FGs, Mason Plumlee had 18 pts, 12 rebs and Andre Dawkins chipped in with 12 pts on 3-5 shooting from 3pt range.   In order for us to be the team we want to be, we are going to need each of these guys to be able to contribute.  It was also a great confidence builder for our two sophomores.  Miles Plumlee and Olek Czyz did some really good things and showed all the hard work that they have put in over the summer.  We feel real good about our veteran production and leadership.  Jon Scheyer, Lance Thomas, Brian Zoubek, Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith will all be counted on heavily, and adding the young talent and enthusiasm will be a big boost to our team.  It will be exciting to see how we can grow and improve as the season goes on.

It was also fun to see the start of the NBA season this week.  We are so proud to, once again, have the most alumni of any school on opening day NBA rosters.  We take great pride in developing our players and seeing them realize their dreams of becoming NBA players is great.  We will have 14 former players on opening day rosters.  Congratulations to Gerald Henderson on being the newest Duke rookie in the NBA, and to Grant Hill for being the oldest veteran (had to recognize my old teammate).   The other stat that I liked seeing was that our collection of NBA guys’ combined salary is also the highest amongst any college program.  Our 14 players will combine to make over $82 million dollars this season!!  That’s incredible!  Good luck to all of our guys with the starts of their seasons.  We will all be watching and cheering you on!

We have another busy week ahead with a hard week of practice that will culminate with our annual Coaches Clinic on Saturday.  Come on out and check us out if you can.  It’s a great day for coaches and also fans who want to learn more about the game and our program.

Happy Halloween to all Blue Devil Fans!   I’m looking forward to trick or treating with my very own G.I. Joe and Snow White!

Sincerely,

Coach Collins

It’s an exciting time for us as we get started with the beginning of the school year.  The first part of August is always a great time for the players and coaches to spend time with their families and get refreshed for the start of the long, exciting journey of the season.  It’s crazy to think that a year ago today, I was over in Beijing helping out Team USA and our hunt for the Olympic Gold Medal.  Man, how time flies!

All of guys are now back on campus and ready to get to work towards our goal of being a championship team this year.  For us coaches, it is always good to see how each of the players have improved over the summer with their skills and strength and conditioning work.  Because of NCAA rules, from the time the spring semester ends until the fall semester begins, none of the coaches are allowed to perform any on the court instruction with our players.  So, basically since the end of April, we haven’t seen any of our guys play or do anything basketball related.  We were able to give each of the guys the things we wanted them to concentrate on during the summer, and then it was up to them to put in the work.  The start of school gives us a chance to see how much that work has paid off, as well as integrating our freshmen class into the mix and getting them up to speed as quickly as possible.

Were really looking forward to seeing what our team will become this year.  We feel that we have the talent and experience to be one of the better teams in the country.  Now, we have to figure out exactly how to get the most out of the group we have.  You always want to place your players in a position to maximize their strengths and limit their weaknesses.  That’s the fun part of coaching!  It was exciting to see Kyle and Jon recognized by being named to the Pre-season Wooden Award List.  It was definitely well deserved.  Both of those guys should have outstanding seasons and be amongst the best players in the country.  Were also looking forward to seeing how the other guys will step up and emerge as players.  Certainly we lost a lot with last year’s seniors, G and Elliot, but we are confident that the guys we have can get it done.  Once again, we will have a challenging schedule and we will need to be ready to bring it every night.

Well, there’s a lot of work to be done, so it’s time to get going!

Talk to you soon,

Coach Collins