Asheville’s Mason Plumlee coming on for Duke basketball

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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Here’s part of the story about Asheville’s Mason Plumlee from the Bleacher Report:

Although he played basketball near the Duke campus (Attended Christ School, located in Asheville, NC), Mason Plumlee’s recruiting process was overshadowed by his two other classmates. True, he was a high-profile athlete; however, the other two recruits had the local media swarming when they each made their decisions public.

Plumlee, a highly-touted recruit that the Blue Devil staff had long followed in high school, was on Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s wish list once he watched video tape of the 6-foot-10 forward.

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In the next four contests against St. John’s, Gardner-Webb, Gonzaga and Long Beach St., Mason again struggled to find his offensive game. During that span, Plumlee averaged a mere four points, two rebounds and two assists in 12 minutes on the court.

These stats were far below the numbers he put up before his wrist injury in the two preseason exhibition games of the season. Whether the injury was still bothering him or if he was still adjusting to the college game to this day remains a mystery.

Regardless, after Mason’s lack-luster performance against Long Beach St. made the Blue Devil faithful question their freshman forward’s ability, Plumlee has been making a difference on both the offensive and defensive side for Duke.

In the Blue Devils’ last four contests against Penn, Clemson, Iowa State and Georgia Tech, Mason has averaged 10 points, six rebounds, two assists and one block in 20 minutes of play each game.

These numbers aren’t staggering, nor are they phenomenal, but they show how much hardwork Mason is putting in after practice has finished or extra time during the week to try and improve his game.

At this point in the season, Duke has shown that they have a trio of scoring threats in Jon Scheyer, Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler. If Mason can continue to mature and improve as the season progresses, he has the possibility of adding his name to the scoring threats for Duke to give them a legitimate quadruple-attack.

If Mason continues to learn and becomes a force down low, it will be very difficult to shut down Duke in the later stages of the season for any team. Mason Plumlee is the key for the Blue Devils this season: He will determine if Duke can diminish their “March Meltdowns” from the past few seasons and lead the Blue Devils back into the Final Four.