In a Duke preview by one of SB Nation’s best, some comments about Knowles’ 2017 defense made for interesting reading.
Knowles pulled off a startling reversal in personality. In 2015, perhaps sensing the need to create more breaks and big plays for a fading offense, he ratcheted up the aggressiveness. Almost overnight Duke went from a prototypical bend-don’t-break defense to one that stressed efficiency and was willing to risk giving up big plays in the name of forcing turnovers and three-and-outs.
That remained the case in 2017, when Duke presented the third-most efficient defense in the conference, one that gave up the third-biggest big plays.