I know we have some posters on here who freak out anytime Duke loses and are calling it a season. I admit I was displeased with Duke’s loss on Saturday and lack of effort in the 2nd Half @ St. John’s. I am still confident in this team, because if you think about it, Duke has been in every game this season they have eventually lost (I know the Boston College and St. John’s losses are bad). They have only lost once this season by double digits @ NC State. FWIW, the 2009-2010 team got blown out @ Georgetown and @ NC State by double digits. The 2014-2015 got blown out by double digits in 3 games, back to back @ NC State, in Cameron against a bad Miami team, and in the semi-finals against Notre Dame in the ACC Tournament. I know some of you are going to say yeah but those teams had upperclassmen and a true PG. Yes those teams had upperclassmen, but in 2010 Nolan and Jon split time at the Point Guard and neither one of them were natural PGs. It’s surprising that a team full of 4 freshman starters and 1 senior going through a shooting slump has managed to not get blown out like Duke’s last 2 National Champions. I think that’s a good sign for our Blue Devils, it shows they are in it until the very end of all their games (all of the comebacks and close wins/losses are a benefit to Duke). Yes, the defense still needs to get better, but I have seen improvements since the NC State loss. Barring any significant injury to any of our starters, I see this Duke team following the path the 2009-2010 and 2014-2015 rosters had. Have faith in Coach K and his staff putting the team in the best possible position to be playing its best team ball once March rolls around.
