Duke and Oregon are about 20 points better than opening day opponents Siena and Jackson State according to www.kenpom.com, but they are the two teams that could be hurt by up to 10 points a game by injuries. The table below shows the 50 best players on the bench for opening day, and how many points they are typically worth to their team based on www.valueaddbasketball.com.

The good news for Duke is that Amile Jefferson and Matt Jones (worth up to 10.64 addition points per game to the final score between them) nurse just minor injuries, so a check of Don’s Best daily injury report to see if they are playing could help determine if Duke is at full strength, or if not if there margin might be closer to single digits.

The problem for Oregon is more severe. Jordan Bell and Dylan Ennis (worth 10.55 points per game) sit indefinitely, and their back-ups are not as good as Duke’s, giving Jackson State a chance to keep the game much closer than the nearly 20-point margin you would normally expect.

The table below shows the 50 most valuable players who will or could be on the bench opening day and how long they should be out (“short” = short-term back anytime, “Indefin” = out indefinitely, “Dec” = back in December,

Team/How Long Out Player Ht Rnk Points
Arizona St./short Goodman, Savon 11 6’6 412 3.84
Arizona/Season Smith, Ray 6’7 125 6.09
Auburn/Indef Shamsid-Deen, Tahj 13 5’10 1034 2.02
Baylor/Indef Acuil, Joseph 6’10 167 5.5
Baylor/Indef McClure, King 6’3 917 2.23
Butler/Dec Gathers, Jordan 6’3 1054 2
Central Michigan/short Fowler, Chris 15 6’1 232 4.91
Chicago St./Dec Owens, Clemmye 21 6’1 895 2.3
Drexel/Dec Overton, Miles 20 6’4 941 2.2
Duke/short Jefferson, Amile 21 6’9 88 6.61
Duke/short Jones, Matt 13 6’5 369 4.03
Elon/short Samson, Tanner 3 6’4 575 3.12
Florida/Dec Murphy, Alex 5 6’8 1062 2
Georgia/short Frazier, J.J. 30 5’10 73 7.01
Gonzaga/short Sabonis, Domantas 11 6’10 17 8.7
Houston U/Indef Rose, L.J. 5 6’4 1066 2
Illinois/Dec Nunn, Kendrick 25 6’3 285 4.59
Illinois/Dec Black, Leron 12 6’7 637 2.91
Iowa St./Dec Burton, Deonte 30 6’4 341 4.2
Kansas/Indef Diallo, Cheick 6’9 78 6.8
Louisiana St./Dec Victor, Craig 3 6’7 806 2.5
Maryland/Season Wiley, Dion 5 6’4 1191 1.8
Michigan St./Indef Clark, Marvin 0 6’6 529 3.27
Mississippi St./short Newman, Malik 6’3 31 8.1
Montana/Indef Dunn, Mario 1 6’0 571 3.14
Nevada/Dec Marshall, Marcus 11 6’3 418 3.81
North Carolina/Dec Paige, Marcus 5 6’1 16 8.81
Northern Colorado/Dec Anglin, Dallas 4 6’2 640 2.9
Northwestern/Season Law, Vic 4 6’7 458 3.56
Oakland/Dec Dorsey-Walker, Sherron 4 6’4 852 2.4
Oklahoma St./short Evans, Jawun 6’0 421 3.79
Oregon/Indef Bell, Jordan 1 6’7 134 5.91
Oregon/Indef Ennis, Dylan 31 6’2 276 4.64
Pittsburgh/short Wilson, Damon 6’4 1018 2.06
Rhode Island/Dec Iverson, Kuran 23 6’10 854 2.4
Rider/short Sadler, Zedric 2 6’3 483 3.47
Rutgers/short Sanders, Corey 6’1 897 2.29
Southern Methodist/Dec Ojeleye, Semi 30 6’8 523 3.3
Southern Methodist/Season Emelogu, Ben 21 6’5 1098 1.95
St. Johns/Season LoVett, Marcus 6’0 1003 2.09
Stanford/Indef Allen, Marcus 15 6’3 410 3.84
Stanford/Season Cartwright, Robert 2 6’2 922 2.22
Tennessee Martin/Dec Woodson, Dominic 55 6’10 1070 2
Texas Christian/Season Williams, Kenrich 34 6’7 128 6.01
Utah St./Quit Collette, David 13 6’8 71 7.04
Wake Forest/Dec Miller-McIntyre, Codi 0 6’3 540 3.22
Wake Forest/Indef Hudson, Cornelius 25 6’6 1232 1.74
Western Michigan/Indef Tava, Connar 2 6’6 587 3.07
WICHITA St./Dec Frankamp, Conner 6’0 1053 2
Wisconsin Green Bay/short Love, Carrington 12 6’1 556 3.19