How much can change in a year? To find out, examine just one simple sentence and its difference in meaning from last season to this one.
Duke lost an ACC game.
Now, let's put this in perspective. You know what it's like to stub your toe? Well, that's what it was like whenever the Blue Devils lost an ACC contest last year. Sure, it bothers you a bit, but, hey, it happens from time to time. For Gminski's sake, Duke dropped half its conference contests in 2007.
Fast-forward a year and just one ACC loss has every Cameron Crazies' face paint streaked with tears. We should all be thankful that Duke is as good as it is this season. Or in the words of one talented and wise musician, "Don't worry, be happy."
Look, I'm the guy who sees the silver lining, the glass half-full, and the blessing in disguise. So I assert there are far worse things than a double-digit loss to a young Wake Forest team on the road. Just like I believe that falling to an inconsistent Pittsburgh team in overtime on a buzzer-beater isn't all that bad either.
That's because I don't throw the baby out with the bath water. (Sorry, I have a cliché quota to meet.) Point is, Duke has lost the same way both times.
By beating itself.
It wasn't Wisconsin's toughness, Clemson's big men, or even North Carolina's Player of the Year candidate that did it. All season, the Blue Devils have won when they weren't supposed to, responded to problems they weren't expected to solve and fought back strongly every time they've been backed into a corner.
Except those two times, of course.
But Duke is still one of only three teams ranked in the top 12 for both offensive and defensive adjusted efficiency. That's something the Blue Devils have in common with the last four national champions.
Sure, it might be hard to talk titles after Sunday's performance, but maybe Duke needed to get that kind of game out of its system-even if it was uglier than Brian Zoubek's stat-line. (He's averaging a foul about every five minutes and has just 10 more points than fouls and turnovers combined. But I digress.)
More than a third of the Blue Devils' 64 shots Sunday were from beyond the arc, yet they only converted eight treys. Nolan Smith was the only Blue Devil to score off the bench. And, oh yeah, there was that whole thing where EVERY SINGLE STARTER fouled out of the game, which led to Wake converting more free throws than Duke even attempted.
Sounds bad, I know. Even though head coach Mike Krzyzewski cordially commended the Demon Deacons after their inspired upset, you know he must have taken a slightly different tone with his players in the locker room.
But even if Wake Forest plays its heart out like it did, a Blue Devil team running at 70 percent should be able to walk away victorious. Duke just wasn't in sync at all Sunday, and sometimes that happens.
The teams that win championships, though, are the ones that figure out how to click on all cylinders for those last six games of the year. Everything else is just secondary.
"We have to always play like we have to win," Krzyzewski said after Sunday's loss. "That's part of learning. We have some young guys who haven't been champions before, and they're trying to learn how to be that. Sometimes the best lessons are the ones that are taught in defeat."
Told you so. Even the head honcho agrees with me: it's better to lose in the middle of February than in the middle of March.
With the way this team had performed for the majority of the season, Duke had people whispering about an April vacation to San Antonio for the Final Four. An ACC loss, which should provide an invaluable lesson for the Blue Devils, shouldn't change that.
What a difference a year makes.
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