Early on, Duke has markedly outscored opponents this season. It has not, however, played stifling defense to augment those point differentials.
Of course, given their general scoring prowess the Blue Devils haven’t needed to focus on defense, or at least not had the need to make it a prime focus of their efforts. One suspects defensive efficiency will develop as better on-court communication, development of fundamentals and more efficient offense evolve.
One interesting thread to follow in 2018-19 is how effectively the Devils stifle opponents’ field goal shooting. That ability was seldom a notable attribute of Mike Krzyzewski teams during the first half of his Duke tenure.