Duke has already been ranked the No. 1 team for 2016-17 in the coaches' poll, and it is exceedingly likely that the Blue Devils will be similarly honored by the nation's basketball writers when the AP poll is released next week. For the consensus top team in Division I, however, Mike Krzyzewski's group is certainly making news for all the wrong reasons in the preseason.
First, freshman Harry Giles underwent an arthroscopic procedure on his left knee at the beginning of October. Then, on Tuesday, freshman Jayson Tatum sprained his foot during a workout.
The good news for Blue Devil fans is that the sprain is reported to be minor, and Krzyzewski says it's likely that Tatum will be ready for Duke's first regular-season game on Nov. 11. Hearing Coach K speak so definitively on Tatum, though, made his comments on Giles sound all the more noncommittal: "He hasn't played in a while. We have to be very careful about his future."
That sounds pretty serious. So why does it feel like everyone's sort of choosing to look the other way on this one? It was news when Giles chose Duke. Isn't it equally significant if he's not there?
