Plumlee brothers both could start for the Devils in '09-10

By BRYAN STRICKLAND

bstrickland@heraldsun.com; 419-6671

DURHAM -- Duke forward Lance Thomas knew he'd have to battle a pair of Plumlees among others if he hoped to secure one of two starting spots up for grabs, but no one could have seen this coming.

No one, except perhaps for Thomas himself.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said Thursday at the Blue Devils' annual media day that if the season started today, brothers Miles and Mason Plumlee would be in the starting lineup, along with veteran guards Jon Scheyer and Nolan Smith and power-forward-turned-perimeter-player Kyle Singler.

Krzyzewski said Thomas, a team captain along with Scheyer, would be like a sixth starter in terms of playing time but would come off the bench to provide a defensive boost given his ability to guard any position on the floor.

A lot could change before the Blue Devils, who open practice tonight with "Countdown to Craziness," open the regular season Nov. 13 against UNC Greensboro.

Still, Krzyzewski's proclamation says a lot about how quickly Mason Plumlee has acclimated as a freshman and says even more about how much Miles Plumlee has improved since his freshman season.

While Mason was playing at The Christ School in Arden and Miles was playing a total of four minutes in Duke's six postseason games, Thomas started every game for the Blue Devils over the final two months of last season, save senior night.

Still, Thomas sees what Krzyzewski sees in the Plumlees.

"Mason is going to be a big part of what we do this year," Thomas said, marveling at what he called the freshman's "freakish athleticism."

"He's ready. He wants to play, and he's put himself in a position to play when the season starts."

Thomas' description of Miles, who mostly watched Thomas from the bench last season, sounded much the same.

"Miles is probably the rawest athlete pound for pound that I've played with since I've been here. It's just a matter of him putting it together," Thomas said. "Miles probably had the best offseason out of everybody out here."

While Krzyzewski's confidence in the younger Plumlee comes from a strong first impression, the elder Plumlee has had to overcome the impression he made over an uneven freshman campaign. Miles Plumlee has reinvented himself with hard work -- going from 222 pounds to 240 -- and he's drawn plenty of motivation from Mason to reach this point.

"It was really impressive to see Mason come in here as a freshman and see how well he did. It was kind of like a reality check, too," Miles said. "I see what he's doing and I know what I can do because I've played with him my whole life. I realized that I should be doing the same thing.

"We both raise each other's games. That's a good thing."

However the playing time works out in the end, the 6-10 Plumlees are but a part of what Krzyzewski said would be the biggest team he's coached in his 30 years at Duke. Seven-footer Brian Zoubek, now a senior, still is in the mix for big minutes; and versatile 6-10 freshman Ryan Kelly could be as well.

With all the added size, Singler is moving to a true perimeter role at 6-8 -- the same height as Thomas -- and Scheyer at the point is no slouch at 6-5. Smith is 6-3, and the first perimeter player off the bench, freshman Andre Dawkins, is 6-4.

"That's a very big team," Krzyzewski said. "But I think we're very athletic, and I would hope that we will be a very good rebounding team.

"It will be a different team than we've had in a while in that we're changing how we do offense and some of the things that we do defensively to kind of match the talents of who we have.

"I'm very excited about doing it."