NCAAM teams
Myron Medcalf, ESPN Staff Writer 5y

Duke player power rankings: Zion head and shoulders above

Men's College Basketball, Duke Blue Devils

As they prepare for their most difficult test of the year, a road game at Virginia on Saturday, we've produced another round of Duke Blue Devils power rankings.

Here's last week's leaderboard:

1. Zion Williamson (84 points)

2. RJ Barrett (70 points)

3. Tre Jones (67 points)

4. Cam Reddish (56 points)

5. Marques Bolden (45 points)

6. Jack White (44 points)

7. Javin DeLaurier (16 points)

This week's rankings

1. Zion Williamson (38 ranking points)

  • Raw stats (+10): Averaged 22.5 PPG, 11.5 RPG, 4.5 SPG in wins over St. John's and Boston College.

  • Advanced stats (+10): His five blocks and nine steals this week back Synergy Sports' "excellent" rating for his isolation defense.

  • Best assist (+10): To whoever is feeding him at Duke. What is he eating? He looked like a protein powder commercial against normal players on Boston College's roster.

  • The casual, two-step, broad-jump dunk bonus (+11): When he got the steal on Shamorie Ponds in the first half of the St. John's game, took a few steps and just sailed to the rim, it looked like a trailer for another Marvel film. That why's all of these kids will be wearing the Air Zions next year.

  • Unintentionally endangering an opponent's future deduction (3): Check the tape. Early in the Boston College win, Ky Bowman (6-foot-1, 188 pounds) tried to put a body on Williamson on the block. It was a commendable, albeit, dangerous effort. Bowman caught a shoulder to the chest and moved back about four feet before Williamson grabbed a rebound and scored on a putback. Bowman had that "What are the chances I'm bleeding on the inside?" look after that play. Go play with the big kids, Zion!

  • Missed dunk deduction (-6): I'm just mad he missed it. Had Williamson pulled off that fast-break reverse on Boston College, the ACC would have been forced to temporarily boot the Eagles out of the league. But we were robbed on that fast break. A guy in the front row hugged his friend after realizing he was so close to an "I was there" moment.

2. Tre Jones (33 points)

  • Raw stats (+9): Ask Shamorie Ponds, the potential All-American who went 3-for-11 in a loss to Duke with Jones stuck to him like student loan debt 10 years after graduation.

  • Advanced stats (+9): Ask Ponds.

  • You gotta see it to believe it bonus (+10): It's remarkable.

  • Another bonus (+5): Ask Ponds.

T3. R.J. Barrett (27 points)

  • Raw stats (+8): He averaged 17.0 PPG in wins over St. John's and Boston College.

  • Advanced stats (+7): With Tre Jones, Cam Reddish, Williamson and Barrett, Duke was plus-22 in the win over St. John's, per ESPN Stats & Info.

  • The R.J. Play (+7): On the first play of the win over Boston College, Barrett drove through three Eagles to get the bucket.

  • A shooters shoot deduction (-4): Barrett went 2-for-9 from the 3-point line in that two-game stretch.

  • The R.J. just gets buckets bonus (+3): Early in the second half against St. John's, Barrett casually dribbled up the court and scored through a trio of players on an easy drive.

  • "Joining the list of imposing Canadians" bonus (+6): He's not that far behind Ryan Reynolds, Keanu Reaves and Jim Carrey at this point.

T3. Cam Reddish (27 points)

  • Raw stats (+7): Averaged 20.0 PPG (12-for-26, 38 percent from beyond the arc) in Duke's past two wins. OK, we see you!

  • Advanced stats (+9): Reddish was 4-for-6 on his jumpers in the second half of Duke's win over Boston College, per ESPN Stats & Info.

  • The Klay Thompson role bonus (+6): It's not easy to play with all of this talent, but over the last three games, he's really stepped into his role.

  • A math matters bonus (+5): If you pause the action at 16:21 of Duke's win over St. John's, you'll see three players collapse on a driving Jones, another player stay next to Williamson and another standing near Barrett. Reddish had enough time to post on Snapchat from his spot wide open on the arc, where he sank a 3-pointer.

5. Marques Bolden (15 points)

  • Raw stats (+5): Averaged 8.0 PPG, 1.0 BPG in two wins.

  • Advanced stats (+6): He finished 7-for-11 in Duke's most recent wins.

  • A "That's exactly what Duke needs from you, Marques" bonus (+7): Two minutes into the win over St. John's, he contested Marvin Clark Jr.'s 3-point attempt before he spun off the left block and scored over Clark on the other end of the floor. That's who you gotta be, Bolden!

  • A "Who told you to do that, Marques!" (-3): He took and missed a pair of 3-pointers against St. John's. OK, and the lie detector test determined those shots were lies. Nothing wrong with a big man shooting 3-pointers. But Bolden is 0-for-5 for his career. Now is not the time to start trying things that don't work in practice.

6. Javin DeLaurier (12 points)

  • Raw stats (+4): He had five points in limited action against St. John's.

  • Advanced stats (+4): He extended a streak of six consecutive games without a turnover.

  • Big play bonus (+4): Nice layup midway through the second half against St. John's.

7. Jack White (8 points)

  • Raw stats (+3): Two blocks and two steals in Duke's most recent wins.

  • Advanced stats (+3): Didn't log big minutes, but he played hard.

  • Good effort bonus (+2): With Duke up 30 over St. John's, White put up a 3-pointer over two players as the shot clock expired. Didn't make it, but he bet on himself. That's the Jack White that Duke needs.

8. Alex O'Connell (7 points)

  • Raw stats (+2): Four points in two games.

  • Advanced stats (+2): Played 21 minutes combined.

  • Stay ready bonus (+3): Hit a jump shot off the bench late in the second half against Boston College. O'Connell is always ready to go.

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