Halfway through its season, the youngest Duke team in decades has gone 13-2 against the fifth toughest schedule in the nation, but, fair or not, those two L's have gotten more attention than any of the W's.
With four freshmen playing significant minutes and Greg Paulus recovering from a preseason foot injury, the Duke coaches spent much of the first half of the season trying to determine just what they have to work with. So far, they seem to possess a strong defensive squad that has been inconsistent on the offensive end and lacks a go-to scorer.
Duke's coaches will likely have an even better idea of their team in the coming weeks. The Blue Devils play their first true road game tonight at Georgia Tech and the ACC continues to be one of the most competitive conferences from top to bottom. Six of the 10 conference games so far have been decided by five points or fewer, including Duke's opening overtime loss to Virginia Tech Saturday.
"We've done well up to this point, but obviously after the last game, it shows we have a lot to improve on," sophomore Josh McRoberts said.
The majority of that improvement will likely come on the offensive end, where the Blue Devils are on pace to be the lowest scoring team in Mike Krzyzewski's 27-year tenure. Duke has been able to largely mask this fact by holding its opponents to 38 percent shooting.
The Blue Devils are also still searching for a primary scoring option-a deficiency that has been particularly glaring late in close games against Indiana and Virginia Tech. DeMarcus Nelson has enjoyed an injury-free season for the first time in his collegiate career and leads the Blue Devils in scoring, but at times he has disappeared from the offense for long stretches.
After a slow start to the season, McRoberts has begun to play up to the expectations that have him as a potential lottery pick. McRoberts has averaged 16.4 points and 10.6 rebounds per game over his last five contests.
But the Blue Devils' fortunes have been undeniably linked to the play of Paulus. Paulus has performed particularly well in Duke's biggest victories, including a 20-point, four assist, one turnover showing against Gonzaga. But the sophomore has struggled mightily in the team's two losses-he was held scoreless and committed six turnovers in 18 minutes against Virginia Tech.
Both losses saw Paulus pestered by athletic guards, something he's likely to encounter throughout the ACC slate. But head coach Mike Krzyzewski is not panicking over his point guard situation.
"We believe in Greg, and we believe he's a good player, and he's shown that and he'll do that in future," Krzyzewski said Monday. "The best thing that a good player can have is amnesia-you forget about who you were the last game, whether it be good or bad, and you become who you're supposed to be in the next game. That's part of being tough and that's part of being a good player."
Duke's turnover problems, however, have not been limited to Paulus. As a team, the Blue Devils have 38 more turnovers than assists so far this year and the second-worst assist-to-turnover ratio in the ACC. In Duke's two losses, the team has tallied at least twice as many turnovers as assists.
"We've got to score the ball better and not give teams the chance to score off our turnovers," McRoberts said.
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