Monday Musings, 2/16

It's been a while, and there's been some a-happenings in the Duke sports world since we last checked in under this segment. So, let's dive right in.

Free Fallin'?

Yeah, so it sounded bad to say that the Duke men's basketball team had gone 2-3 in its last five games, but not awful when you looked at the competition. Then the Blue Devils lose to Boston College Sunday, and suddenly, it's like, 'Oh no! Where did that come from?' But, of course, the signs were there all along.

Since gaining the No. 1 spot several weeks ago, Duke lost a nailbiter to Wake Forest, was thoroughly lambasted by Clemson, allowed 101 points to the Tar Heels in the team's fourth straight home loss to its most bitter rival, and now, have fallen to the on-again, off-again Boston College Eagles. Oh, and don't forget the heroic-though-it-shouldn't-have-needed-to-be comeback over Miami last weekend, too.

So, now what? The Blue Devils will certainly drop from the top ten, maybe coming to rest—if only for this week—somewhere in the mid to high teens. The funny thing is, through the last six games, we've actually seen Duke play at its best (the second half and overtime against Miami, and the last 10 minutes of the first half against North Carolina) and we've seen them play at its worst (the second half against North Carolina, the first half against Miami, and the entire Clemson game). Really, I don't think we know who this team is anymore. They keep jumping around from terrible to awesome performances, often times even within the same game. It's almost as confusing as all the issues the Losties are experiencing, right?

It wasn't even a month ago when whispers began about the ACC nabbing three No. 1 seeds in North Carolina, Wake Forest and Duke. Uh, well, that's not even funny at this point.

Right after the Blue Devils beat Georgetown back in the beginning of January, back when K-ville residents were still going to sleep with smiles of anticipation on their faces, I was talking with one of my colleagues from work last summer who is a Duke alum. He agreed the Blue Devils played well, but he cautioned that it would be "very Duke" of this team to perform the hell out of December and January and then crumble in February, and well, the rest of the way, too.

The economy!? No, no. Still missing. But the sixth-ranked men's lacrosse team did return and kicked its season off strong with an 11-7 win over No. 20 Bucknell. Does it mean anything that last year's team dismantled the Bison 16-4 in last year's season opener? Maybe, maybe not.

Either way, the storyline this year will consistently be how Duke responds to the loss of two of the school's (maybe, sport's) best players in history in Matt Danowski and Zack Greer. When some of the team's remaining stars met with The Chronicle in the fall, they discussed the shift from "The Matt and Zack Show" to this year's emphasis on good ol' team ball.

"If a game's close, we can't be like, 'OK, we've got this play for Matt, and he's going to shoot it from the top, and it's going to go in,'" Quinzani said. "We can't expect free goals. We're going to have to cater around a lot more team ball. Every play, we can't expect one of our stars to make a play."

The change seems like a welcome one. Not because Duke is happy to see Danowski and Greer go by any means, but because of a welcome sense of lowered expectations. Especially last year, when some people tabbed Duke as one of the game's best teams ever, an undefeated season was considered a given and anything short of a national championship a disappointment. Well, they didn't go undefeated. And they didn't win the title.

But it's a new year and very new team. Watch how head coach John Danowski handles captain Ned Crotty. He's endlessly gifted and can play both the middie and attack positions well, but which is best for the team has yet to be determined. If he settles into a comfortable role in the offense, this team could surprise some people. Well, fans, anyway. Danowski has garnered enough respect nationally as a coach that no team will be foolish enough to ever underestimate these Blue Devils.

Schedule the road trip now: Feb. 28 @ No. 3 Maryland.

Get back from Spring Break early: Mar. 14 @ No. 9 North Carolina

Save the date: April 11 vs. No. 2 Virginia in Koskinen Stadium

The Pink Devils

Playing away at Tennessee for the school's "Pink Zone" breast cancer awareness game Monday, the Blue Devils will don blue and pink uniforms for the first time ever tonight on ESPN2 at 7:30 p.m. The No. 15 Volunteers are not playing up to their usual complete-domination level, but anytime you step onto a court against a Pat Summit team, you know you're gonna have your work cut out for you. Duke did well to rebound from its slip-away loss to North Carolina last week by disposing of Clemson easily Friday, 51-30. The Tigers were hampered all night by the Blue Devils' full-court defense, but Clemson also had trouble even handling the home-crowd band. From The Chronicle's game analysis:

Although Duke hardly seemed to need the help, the pep band and the Cameron Crazies provided some assistance of their own on the defensive end of the court.

With just less than nine minutes to play in the first half, the band counted down from 10 as the shot clock winded down. Clemson forced up a shot as the crowed yelled zero-only there were still eight seconds left on the shot clock, to the Lady Tigers' dismay.

The Blue Devils are currently in the middle of a stretch in which six of ten games are against ranked opponents. After Tennessee Monday, Duke still has rematches against No. 11 Maryland and No. 9 North Carolina.

The Betting Lines

Over/Unders:

Number of men's basketball losses throughout the remainder of the regular season—1.5

I was about to write, 'Basically, this comes down to Duke's games against Wake Forest and North Carolina.' But then I checked myself. That's what happens when a team gives up 181 points in two games. There's still plenty of room to fall, if Duke is so inclined. Virginia Tech, Florida State, and, yes, even Maryland, who always gives its best against Duke but will have even more to play for after a completely devastating loss to the Blue Devils earlier this season. So, it's a toss-up. Which is why (fake) betting is so much fun.

Props:

Duke men's lacrosse wins vs. Bryant men's lacrosse wins—

This is huge, huge, huge! Bryant has Duke's old head coach Mike Pressler, who was cast away in the aftermath of the Duke Lacrosse case, and aforementioned Greer, who used his final year of eligibilty to rejoin Pressler up at Bryant. The circumstances surrounding this decision are confusing to a bystander but near-obvious when you know the facts and emotions involved. Pressler was Greer's coach, the one who recruited him to Duke. After Greer's father passed away in the summer after his freshman year, Pressler took the hurting Greer under his arm. The Canadian had to watch another father taken from him the next spring, and after two years of intense scrutiny, near-national title runs and many, many miles between him and his home, Greer decided to use his final year to just play lacrosse. After all, since it's the Bulldogs first year in Division I play, they aren't even eligible for the playoffs. But Greer's lacrosse legacy still has at least one chapter left. As Pressler attempts to single-handedly lift this small school into national relevance, Greer will certainly play a major part in how the team does this year and how Pressler is able to recruit in subsequent years. And Pressler's not messing around. In the school's first-ever Division I game, the Bulldogs will travel to play No. 2 Virginia later today at 4 p.m. A win, and you can bet Greer will immediately return to the forefront of the sport's daily discussions. A win, and this betting line seems not-so-uneven. A loss, and people won't be too surprised.

No doubt, Duke is better than Bryant as a team, but Bryant still has the best player overall. And in a race for the most wins this season, Bryant also has a much more forgiving schedule. It will be interesting to see how this one plays out, especially for those who think Greer should have never left Duke in the first place.