Duke may have only won the ACC regular season title twice in the last 10 years, but head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s squad has owned the conference tournament, winning it six times in that span.
And his team this year might be extra prepared for the grueling tournament schedule that potentially involves three games in three days.
“There can’t be more games in fewer days than the schedule we’ve had,” Krzyzewski said. “We had a hell of a month in February.”
In February, the Blue Devils played eight games and never had more rest than their opponents. In four of those games, the other team had enjoyed at least one more day of rest than Duke.
Read more about Duke basketball in this year's ACC Tournament
When the Blue Devils lost to Maryland 83-81 Feb. 16, the Terrapins had three more days to prepare.
It may have been difficult during the season for Duke to deal with fresher opposition, but now the Blue Devils may reap the benefits of being ready to play despite fatigue.
“This is really good going forward,” Krzyzewski said.
Duke showed it can thrive under a tight schedule in November, sweeping Minnesota, Virginia Commonwealth and Louisville on three consecutive days at the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas.
And even against lower-quality opponents, the Blue Devils learned to play without rest. Duke beat Elon 76-54 Dec. 20 after beating Cornell by 41 points Dec. 19 the day before.
The player at the highest risk of being affected by short rest is senior guard Seth Curry, who has battled leg injuries all season. In Duke’s eight games with at least four days of rest, Curry is averaging 19.5 points per game. In games with zero or one day of rest, Curry is averaging 11.0 per game.
Although Curry was able to perform admirably at the Battle 4 Atlantis—averaging 14.5 points in the latter two games of the tournament—the fatigue set in afterwards when he scored four points on 1-of-6 shooting against Ohio State in Duke’s next contest.
Curry subsequently sat out a game, giving him nine days off before the Dec. 8 game against Temple, in which he scored a game-high 23 points on 7-of-11 shooting.
“[The leg] feels a lot better. Having a few days off makes a big difference,” Curry said. “I [played consecutive days] earlier in the season in the Bahamas. You’ve just got to manage pain. The day after games it’s been hurting less and less, so that’s improvement.”
The other Blue Devil who could be challenged by the dense schedule is senior forward Ryan Kelly, who has played just three games since missing the majority of ACC play with a foot injury.
But extra rest isn’t on the agenda for Curry, Kelly or any of the other Blue Devils, unless they’re winning by a lot, Krzyzewski said.
“If you don’t play full out, then you’re going to get a lot of rest—you’re going to lose,” Krzyzewski said.
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