Nolan Smith: "They enjoyed last year, but it might be better to just go out and play basketball"

Duke assistant thinks less attention, less separation may benefit Duke

In the past, Coach Mike Krzyzewski has talked about the need to have separation on a team, where one or two players step forward and seize the role of alpha dog.

Duke definitely had that last year, with Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett. This year, however, Krzyzewski said there’s not as much separation on the team.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though, as assistant coach Nolan Smith explained.

There’s more room for competition this year, whereas last year, Zion and RJ were clearly the top two options from day one.

“We obviously have a very talented team,” Smith said. “We don’t know who’s who yet. All our guys are working to show and prove themselves.”

“I think it’s going to be very good for our team not having that much separation,” he said. “Every single game, every single night, it could be somebody different.”

While last year’s traveling circus of national media and celebrities hoping to see the Zion Williamson show was fun, the team seems relieved to have things back to a more normal level this season.

“They enjoyed it last year,” Smith said. “But it’s definitely going to be a different feel. It’s obvious. Everybody’s like, ‘Oh, there’s not as much attention on us.’ It might be a little bit better to just go out and play basketball instead of walking into every single arena and home game and when Zion does a layup, everybody’s like, “Oooh!”

Smith also talked about the impact of moving the three-point line out and recalled his days at Countdown to Craziness as a player.