How Will Duke Replace Dereck Lively?

Pardon the pun, but that’s a very big question

This article from tne News & Observer, or Nuisance Disturber as locals have long called the Raleigh paper, looks at how Duke might man the post this coming season.

Kyle Filipowski established himself as a superb presence as a freshman. As Steve Wiseman notes here, he played what is called the Stretch 4, which basically means a big guy who can shoot and has some guard skills.

Duke also has Ryan Young, who was a revelation in many ways. He maxes out his talent as much as anyone has lately but there’s only so much he can do and on defense, at times he’s a liability.

Sean Stewart might get some minutes out of necessity but he’s not a center. The same is true for Mark Mitchell who might periodically have to defend bigger guys.

But the guy we’re hoping makes a leap is Christian Reeves.

At 7-1, he’s on a development track. But he’s gotten consistently bigger and by November or so, he could be quite a bit stronger than he was as a freshman. The rest of his game can evolve later but for now, if he could be a solid rebounder and challenge shots, he’d have a great role on this team. And once he establishes a presence, he can build his game out.

That’s what we hope to see anyway but of course there’s no guarantee that things work out that way.