So Duke's run through basketball fantasy land finally ended last night. Hey, we all knew it couldn't last. Thanks to the terps, its wave goodbye to that unbelievable No. 2 ranking.
So Duke’s run through basketball fantasy land finally ended last night. Hey, we all knew it couldn’t last.
Thanks to the Terps, it’s time to wave goodbye to that unbelievable No. 2 ranking and that surprising perfect 15-0 record. Anyone with slightly realistic expectations knew the team wasn’t going to end the season like it started, but dropping the first one in Cameron, especially to Maryland, doesn’t make it any less painful.
Of course, with the unrealistic ranking and record behind the Blue Devils, the silver lining is that they can now stop pretending to be one of the best teams in the ACC and start playing as the motley group of scrappers they need to be in order to be successful the rest of the season. Don’t forget that after Virginia Tech, games against the ACC’s big guns—North Carolina, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest—are next.
What led Coach K to admit after the game that his team lacked the “attitude” it has played with all year and even that it did not deserve to win?
“That’s not easy for me to say,” Coach K said. “But they deserved it.”
Was the Blue Devils’ effort there? No question. Did the team play carelessly? Not really. But did the team’s key members—J.J. Redick, Daniel Ewing and even Coach K—do what was necessary to win last night?
No.
As Maryland’s Nik Caner-Medley and John Gilchrist willed their team down the stretch, Ewing, who didn’t make a basket in the game’s last eight minutes, and Redick, who had eight turnovers, failed to do the same.
Duke had a 58-57 lead at the under-eight TV timeout and ended up losing 75-66. In the final three-and-a-half minutes, the Blue Devils were outscored 11-4.
Sure, Ewing had enough attitude to stare down Gilchrist after a pivotal defensive play with 10 minutes remaining, but where was Ewing the magician after that?
Redick, for his part, did make most of Duke’s biggest shots down the stretch, but it took him 21 shots to get his 20 points.
The real victim in last night’s game was Shelden Williams, who didn’t get the ball in the right spots. Williams failed to emerge at the end of the game, as the team struggled to finish from in-close. Big men, however, are a little harder to blame. Unlike guards, they rely on others to get them the ball.
“It’s crazy how many opportunities we had inside,” Krzyzewski said. “We missed five or six shots inside. You do that.... You lose balance.... I’m not blaming the kids, but that’s the story of the game.”
Williams was getting enough touches. He finished with 15 shots. He just wasn’t receiving the ball in the right spots.
Williams was being guarded by a player named Will Bowers, who is listed as 7-foot-1, 248 lbs. Bowers, who went to a high school near mine, was making his first career start last night.
Imagine if Duke started Patrick Johnson in a upcoming game. Would do you think North Carolina’s reaction would be when it walked onto the court and saw Patrick Johnson guarding its frontcourt star? Sean May would be getting the ball until his arms fell off.
But Duke’s guards didn’t do that, and it appears that Krzyzewski didn’t tell them to at any point. Williams finally received a decent entry pass on the team’s fifth possession. For the rest of the night, the big man got touches away from the basket or in a crowd.
“I'm behind my guys all the way,” Krzyzewski said. “Sport is about human nature and recognizing your group and who you are and how you respond.”
Virginia Tech comes to town on the Jan. 30. Wake Forest follows. It’s time for key Blue Devils to make better decisions.
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