This is obviously huge news for the rest of the ACC, and Duke obviously, but we'll get to that later. Via Scout:
Elliot Williams, who started 12 games as a freshman, will transfer from Duke in order to be closer to home sources confirmed to TDD.
An official announcement from Duke is expected Wednesday.
Not a lot is given after that. From what I've heard, he's transferring to Memphis (he's from Memphis, after all, and it says he wants to be closer to home) and will be able to play immediately, claiming hardship. His mother is apparently terminally ill, and he wants to be close to her, understandably. That's gotta be tough for him, and condolences go out to him and his family if this indeed is the case.
Condolences also go out to Duke (not really), because they're in a bad and somewhat hilarious spot right now. They have two scholarship guards on their entire roster. Yes, their entire roster. There's Jon Scheyer and Nolan Smith, and everyone else on the team is above 6-8.
Remember last year when we were making fun of them for having no bigs outside of Brian Zoubek? And even he didn't really count, because he was terrible. How ironic is this?
Of course, when we were making fun of them for having Zoubek and a bunch of freshmen, they won 30 games and came in 2nd in the ACC. This team's starting five is still very good. A Smith-Scheyer-Singler-Plumlee/Thomas-Zoubek lineup is pretty imposing and very white. But there is literally 0 depth at the guard spots. An injury could be killer. As it stands, if a team can push the tempo and tire out the guards, Duke is eminently beatable.
I said this earlier, but this is the year to make a move in the ACC - UNC is, if not in a rebuilding process, then a reloading process - but even reloading takes a second. Duke is more vulnerable than any time in recent history. Wake lost their two best players. Clemson lost their two best 3 point shooters. FSU lost their best player by far. No team stands out. I legitimately think the Terps could challenge, if everything breaks right.