Stock watch: Kyle Rowe surges for Duke men's lacrosse, Blue Devils near top of next year's men's basketball championship odds

The bell of the Blue Zone stock exchange has rung again, meaning it's time to take a look at who is rising and falling with their performances for Blue Devil sports teams. The Blue Zone takes a look at whose stock is on the rise and whose stock has taken a hit from the week in the world of Duke athletics.

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Kyle Rowe: Against its arch rival North Carolina Sunday, Duke quickly found itself in a 6-1 hole, tied for its largest deficit this season—until Rowe came to the rescue.

After losing six of his first nine draws, Rowe surged, earning 14 of his final 15 draws to propel the Blue Devils to an improbable comeback victory in Chapel Hill. On the back of Rowe and lockdown defense, Duke used an 11-2 run to stun the then-No. 18 Tar Heels 12-8. The Blue Devils dominated in crunch time, scoring five unanswered goals in the fourth quarter while holding the ball for roughly 13 straight minutes.

“Kyle Rowe was a huge part of that, not giving them the ball," junior attackman Justin Guterding said. "They had the ball for 75 seconds in the 4th quarter—that’s how you win games.”

There’s always next year: After being bounced in the Round of 32 and watching North Carolina complete its championship run Monday night, it could appear to be rock bottom for Blue Devils fans—until next year’s championship odds were released shortly after the final buzzer.

Duke opens the way-too-early Vegas odds with tied for the second-best chances to win it all in 2018 at 12/1, along with Louisville, Kansas, North Carolina, Villanova, and Gonzaga.

With the No. 4 overall recruiting class heading into 2017-18 according to ESPN, oddsmakers seem to think the Blue Devils can rebound from the losses of Harry Giles, Jayson Tatum, Amile Jefferson, Chase Jeter and potentially Luke Kennard and Grayson Allen to make a deep March run.

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Duke fans’ morale: After being eliminated from the NCAA tournament after just two games, Duke fans had one hope in their mind—that North Carolina would fall. But the Tar Heels never did, running all the way to a national championship with a 71-65 victory against No. 1 seed Gonzaga, causing many a groan in Durham.

North Carolina fans took to Twitter to poke fun at Blue Devil supporters: 

Don't let North Carolina winning the National Championship distract you from the fact that Duke lost in the Round of 32

— UNC Gameday (@TarHeelsGD) April 4, 2017

*UNC wins nat'l championship

Duke fans: We still got two wins over y'all pic.twitter.com/ZsExgIPAMA

— Bankroll Kwaz (@Kwazbechillin) April 4, 2017

Some Duke fans responded: 

6**** National Championships for UNC.

**** = The amount of Championships with academic fraud.

— #DukeNation (@TheDukeNation) April 4, 2017

Last time UNC won the National Championship Duke won it the next year. #SightsOnSix

— #DukeNation (@TheDukeNation) April 4, 2017

Duke women’s lacrosse: Despite starting the season ranked No. 10 in the nation, Duke women’s lacrosse has taken a nosedive, dropping six of its last eight games.

Before dropping its matchup against Syracuse Sunday, the Blue Devils did rebound Wednesday against No. 18 Elon, but has fallen all the way to No. 20 after a brutal stretch. With just two ACC matchups remaining, Duke has still yet to record its first conference win, losing its first five games.

But there was some silver lining in the 10-9 loss Sunday. Duke's defense, which was burned earlier in the season, tightened up, forcing 19 Orange turnovers while goalkeeper Gabbe Cadoux picked up a career-high 10 saves.

In order to have a shot at making the NCAA tournament, Duke will have to get back up off the mat and continue to improve on defense. 

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