"The League Is Not Going to Be Scared to Come to Cameron This Year"

ACC Network analyst thinks Duke's home court advantage is gone

How will an empty Cameron Indoor Stadium impact Duke this season? The Blue Devils normally have one of the country’s biggest home court advantages, but with the pandemic keeping the Cameron Crazies out for home games this year, it will be a very different environment.

“It was one of the reasons I came to Duke,” said former player and current ACC Network analyst Carlos Boozer. “The fans are extremely supportive and would jump on the opposing team, which was always fun for us. We talked to Coach K about people doing something similar to what the NBA people did in the Bubble, with pumped in sounds and chants. It will be very interesting to see how they’re able to adjust to not having real bodies in the seats.”

ACC Network analyst Dalen Cuff thought Boozer was downplaying the impact, however.

“You know, man, you can pump whatever sound you want,” Cuff told Boozer. “When those kids are waving their hands and almost touching you, you feel that. That’s real. I think that’s going to be a huge difference maker, especially with a Duke team that in recent years, Coach K has been retooling a very young group. That’s a massive advantage to have when you’re playing an opposing team that can’t hear their play calls and have to only work on hand signals. You’re feeling that pressure, and that building starts to close in on you—that’s a big deal. They have a really young group—young, talented players—but there’s not that transcendent dominant player we’ve seen in recent years, like Vernon Carey, Tre (Jones, RJ Barrett, Zion (Williamson) or Marvin Bagley. I’m not sure they have one of those guys on the roster this year. They rely more on team defense, and their defense was always helped by playing at home.”

Then Cuff dropped his bombshell comment:

“Everybody in the league is not going to be scared to come to Cameron this year,” he said. “That’s a new thing. They’re not going to have to talk abut how all the ancillary stuff that goes on with playing at that venue. You’re just going to show up and hoop. That’s really, really different.”