The scene was as poignant as any this season, and few better represented the plight of a program.
Filling the TV screen was Josh McRoberts, Duke’s hulking 6-foot-10, 230-pound sophomore center, sobbing into his towel during the second half of the loss nine days ago to North Carolina.
In that one shot, Duke’s shortcomings were on full display for the nation to see – and enjoy. Duke is too young. Duke is lacking leadership. Duke is falling apart. Please, no more speculation about Duke becoming a bubble team or jokes about it hosting Appalachian State in the first round of the NIT.
Duke’s going to the NCAA Tournament. Its unofficial RPI is now 11, and it was 14 before it blew apart 21st-ranked Boston College on the road Wednesday.
But the Blue Devils (19-7, 6-6 Atlantic Coast) must face it. No one outside the Duke bench or Durham, N.C., is crying for them. A nation tired of Duke’s maddening consistency, Mike Krzyzewski shilling for credit cards and its preppy student body thoroughly enjoyed its first four-game losing streak since 1996 and its first week not in the top 25 in 200 weeks.
Duke’s biggest flaw is its youth. It has one upperclassman, junior DeMarcus Nelson, on scholarship. In its eight-man rotation, four are freshmen and three are sophomores.
Consequently, Duke has killed itself with turnovers, especially in its 72-60 embarrassment Sunday at Maryland when 17 turnovers – seven by sophomore Greg Paulus – led to more than 20 Terrapins points.
With the youth, Krzyzewski admitted on Monday’s ACC teleconference call that “we travel a narrow road between winning and losing.” The Duke offense has become more deliberate, which may make this Krzyzew- ski’s first Duke team to finish last in the ACC in scoring. It’s at 69.5, a few furlongs behind the league-leading 88.1 of fourth- ranked North Carolina.
That’s where the biggest chortling over Duke’s dilemma is coming from. The Tar Heels are even younger, starting three freshmen and a sophomore. North Carolina is bigger, quicker and apparently smarter, all of which could lead you to believe Roy Williams has done a better job recruiting than Krzyzewski the past two years.
It’s a little preposterous since Paulus, a two-sport star from Syracuse, was New York’s Mr. Basketball, McRoberts was the McDonald’s national player of the year, freshman Gerald Henderson was Pennsylvania’s two-time player of the year and freshman Jon Scheyer is fourth on Illinois’ all-time prep scoring list.
The young Tar Heels have just matured faster than the young Blue Devils, but Krzyzewski isn’t cracking.
“We’re trying to keep things on an even keel,” he said. “We’re still learning.”
The Blue Devils do learn fast. They have defeated five top-25 teams, two losses in the skid came down to the last shot and if you saw the BC game, Duke’s offense ran like a Mercedes fresh out of the plant. Crisp passes inside. Efficient fast break. McRoberts dominated the paint.
But Duke hasn’t convinced anyone it can be consistent enough to do the same down the stretch of a regular-season schedule that ends with Georgia Tech, at Clemson, at St. John’s, Maryland and at North Carolina.
The four-game skid may not be the only low this season. Duke has been a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament eight of the past nine years and hasn’t been lower than third since a No. 8 in 1996, the last time it didn’t reach the Sweet 16. It has reached the finals of the past nine ACC Tournaments.
If the season ended today, Duke would probably be a No. 3 or 4 seed in the NCAAs. That’s really not worth crying over. Not yet, anyway.
John Henderson can be reached at 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
