Editor's Note: Shane Battier gave ESPN.com's Andy Katz his scouting report on the 2001-02 Duke Blue Devils.

	Shane Battier says his points will be replaced easier than his leadership or defense

I really see this season's version of Duke as a much more dangerous team than last year. They're older and any one of Carlos Boozer, Chris Duhon, Dahntay Jones, Jason Williams, Mike Dunleavy and/or Casey Sanders is capable of having a breakout game. I'm including Casey Sanders (a junior) because when I was a sophomore I had 27 against Maryland. You just don't know who is going to explode on a given night and score. It's going to be harder to prepare for Duke this season.

The best way to beat a Duke team is to make shots. Duke teams will always score points, so you've got to match them basket for basket and get the game into an offensive race. You're going to have to make tough shots, because you won't get too many open shots so you've to knock them down. Maryland had success doing it and turned our games into an offensive track meet last season. That's when we were at our best. But it's more difficult to do than to just simply talk about it. There is going to be a lot of pressure on the ball, which makes making shots that much more difficult.

Is it fair to say that Duke won't have the same leadership without Nate James and me? It's fair. But that was the same thing that was said about us two years ago when we had Chris Carrawell, Nate James and me. We were three players who hadn't proven ourselves to be big-time players yet. And then look what happened, (Duke lost to Florida in the 2000 East Regional semifinal). There's no doubt that someone will step up and take the responsibility of leadership. That's what makes this program so great. Someone will pick up the flag and carry it through.

Even though he's quiet, Carlos Boozer has the ability to do it. He has the knowledge of the game. He's going to be more vocal and this year they might get (more leadership) from the back line.

My scoring will be easily replaced. There are so many talented scorers that someone will replace the 20 points a game. But someone needs to step up from the help side of the defense and be the defensive leader. You need someone coordinating it. There are a couple of guys that can do it. But Dahntay Jones is athletic enough to do it at 6-foot-5.

Jones will play the four (power forward) like I played it. After having him guard me for a year, I know he can defend. He guarded me tougher than any other opponent. If Duke wants to go small, then they can definitely play with Dahntay at the four. If not, then (6-10) Nick Horvath is someone that knows the game as well as I do. If coach Mike Krzyzewski wanted to use him like he used me, then I think they'll have success.

The trio of Jason Williams, Chris Duhon and Mike Dunleavy can put tremendous amounts of pressure on a team offensively and defensively. Most college teams have one prolific scorer in the backcourt and then another role player. But with that trio you'll have to pick your poison. They can all drive it, shoot it and defend.

I don't think Duke can go undefeated, and you never know with injuries. We never talked about number of wins as a goal at Duke. This Duke team will have a chance to be in every game to the end of the game. It'll just be a matter of them making plays and winning.

Maryland is probably their toughest challenge. They have tough kids, especially Juan Dixon and Lonny Baxter. They're not scared of the challenge. I'm sure we'll have a couple more great Duke-Maryland games this year.

As I get ready for my NBA career, it's nice to look back and see that when I came in you could tell the Duke program was on an upswing and it was so much fun to be a part of the process. We took it to the top and it's good to know I did my job, and when I left, the program is in great shape for the winning ways that I tried to uphold and carry on.

Shane Battier was the consensus 2000-01 national player of the year in leading Duke to the 2001 national title. Battier was drafted by the Memphis Grizzlies with the sixth pick in the first round of the June, 2001 NBA draft.