TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- "It was a terrific ending," acting head coach Pete Gaudet said following the men's basketball team's loss to Florida State on Saturday. "From where we were at one point in the first half, I'm glad that we fought to come back."
Despite Gaudet's optimism, the Seminoles probably enjoyed the game's ending much more than the Blue Devils did. FSU held off a flurry of Duke attempts to force an overtime period, and it extended the Blue Devils' unthinkable ACC nightmare with a 78-75 win.
Duke did have a pair of quality three-point attempts in the closing seconds which would have knotted the game at 78, but both were slightly off the mark. Gaudet was undoubtedly pleased with the Blue Devils' ability to come back from a 15-point deficit in the first half -- closing the gap to one point with less than a minute left in the opening stanza. But in the end, they weren't able to come away with a desperately needed win.
And so the Blue Devils dropped an Atlantic Coast Conference contest. Again.
For Duke, merely coming close to winning is no longer enough. Granted, the team played more cohesively against the Seminoles than it had in some of its previous ACC losses. But when a team like Duke has yet to beat anyone in the conference, the mere improvement without a win cannot stem the tide of criticism and doubt about the team's abilities.
After the game, Florida State still regarded Duke as a power and a very good team. The Blue Devils' record, however, certainly doesn't serve as evidence to the FSU players' comments. 9-8? 0-6 in the ACC?
"Today was big," FSU head coach Pat Kennedy said after the game Saturday. "You're still playing Duke. For our kids, this is a great win. It makes them feel good when you beat a Duke, with all they've done, with all the greatness."
While Florida State may regard Saturday's victory as a great win over a great team, the Blue Devils probably don't feel too great, as they now have to face their longest losing streak since the 1938-39 season.
"That [Duke] team is going to be good," Seminole guard Bob Sura said. "They are good right now. They're going to pull together. It's just a matter of time."
However, time is the one thing that the Blue Devils are rapidly running out of. The next two weeks include a road trip to Notre Dame on Tuesday -- the Irish are undefeated on their home court. Then comes a trip to visit Joe Smith and company at Maryland on Saturday. And before you know it, Feb. 2 will be here and the Tar Heels will be banging on the doors of Cameron.
These next three games are anything but cupcakes, and the going doesn't get much easier after that.
Had it not been for the play of Cherokee Parks and Jeff Capel against the Seminoles, the margin of victory would have been much larger than three points. Parks and Capel combined for 46 of Duke's 75 points, with no other Blue Devil even hitting double figures.
"We're still trying to get Cherokee to carry us a little bit on his back," Gaudet said. "We're going to have him involved on every play that we can have him involved. I didn't take him out today. I don't want that. I hope we don't wear him down."
Whether or not Parks is wearing down is definitely a concern. But even if Parks can handle playing 40 minutes of every game, the senior is getting frustrated with the problems the team has had recently.
"I'm sick of losing," Parks said. "I wish it would end. We're playing well a lot of games. We just can't come out with wins. We had a couple of breakdowns in the second half, but overall I think we played well [against FSU]. When it came down to the wire, we just couldn't do it."
To the Blue Devils' credit, some of the problems they have had lately are due to the tremendous strength in the ACC this year. No longer can a team count on having at least four ACC wins, thanks to two victories each over conference weaklings N.C. State and Clemson. This year, those two teams have demonstrated dramatic improvement and have managed to climb their way out of the conference cellar. No win in the ACC is easy, as the Blue Devils have so aptly proved this month.
"When it's close like that down to the wire, the team that wins makes plays," Sura said. "We just made the plays down the stretch to win."
And once again this year, Duke didn't make the plays. Parks and Langdon both had good looks in the last few seconds, but three-point baskets eluded them.
The simple fact is that Duke shouldn't have had to depend on a last-second three-pointer to tie the game. The Blue Devils didn't take the lead until 11:16 left in the second half. And even then it never exceeded one point. In fact, Duke fell behind for good with 8:52 left in the contest.
"I'm very proud of my team and the effort they put forth this afternoon," Gaudet said. "You have to start with the effort, and the effort was there today."
"We gave an effort mentally and physically for 40 minutes," Wojciechowski said. "If you look at some of our previous games, you can't say that we've given the effort mentally and physically that we gave tonight. In that respect, this game is a positive. But we still have to get to the point where we win."
The Blue Devils definitely made progress Saturday. But progress and improvements don't win games. And unless Duke can win games soon, it might as well kiss any chances of postseason play goodbye.
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