Up-and-Down Devils Hope to Make a Run

I was thinking that if this season doesn't give Duke’s 60-year-old coach Mike Krzyzewski’s jet-black hair a touch of gray, nothing will. It’s been that kind of up-and-down season filled with frustration, a season like Duke hasn’t experienced in a long while.

But despite all the stress, Coach K’s hair still shows no sign of any gray, and he says he’s ready for the post-season and expects his sixth-seeded team in the West regional to play well. He says this fresh start is the right medicine for a young team that was just worn down at the end.

“You’re 0-0 again, as a team and as an individual,” the Hall of Fame coach says. “No one has a better record than you, no one has better stats than you. Everybody starts out even.”

Duke has had almost a week to reflect on a regular season that ended sour, three straight losses including being bounced from the opening round of the ACC tournament. That ended Duke’s amazing streak of nine straight visits to the ACC title game.

Still, with the adversity of not meeting expectations, the coach says think about it: this team was very close and played better than people think.

“I thought our kids played very well. We were three touches around the basket from tying for first place in our conference.”

Duke was close but yet so far, and that’s the difference between this team, which is basically void of veteran leadership. Losses linger.

“Habits for a young team aren’t deep-rooted, so they can be pulled up quicker if there’s a negative,” says Krzyzewski.

He says this Duke team, unlike some of his veteran teams of the past, did let close losses fester and erode confidence. The maturity wasn’t there to move on to what the coach likes to say is the next play.

“Over the years, we’ve won a lot of close games, but if we lost, the maturity of our upper classman would not allow us to lose a second game.”

It’s about growing up, and Duke did some of that this season. But realistically not as much as expected. You can say this Duke team, picked in the pre-season to finish second in the league, has underachieved, but Krzyzewski would never say that. On the whole, he’ll tell you he believes this was a team that has improved. It’s just been a season unlike any other Duke has experienced in a while. Youth played a part.

“I think the kids have done a really good job,” Krzyzewki says. “It’s just a different dynamic for us.”

Duke goes into Thursday’s first-round game against Colonial Champion Virginia Commonwealth at 22-10. That is the most losses a Duke team has had since 1996. Their streak of nine straight Sweet 16 appearances is also at stake.

It’s a Duke team, though, that has had a chance for some much needed rest and that would love to prove its critics wrong.

“People want to count us out say what we can’t do,” says junior DeMarcus Nelson. “We need to just go out and play basketball and really go after this thing and show people that they’re still players in this locker room.”

Duke maybe has a chip on its shoulder, and this could be a good sign. I know the coach would love to see them play with one. The players know that a run in the tournament can erase some of the memories of that less than smooth regular season.

“We know if we do well in the NCAA tournament, we do what we think we’re capable of, people aren’t going to remember this season as much,” says freshman Jon Scheyer. “We’re going to be remembered for what we do in the NCAA tournament.”

Certainly if they do well, but winning Thursday is not a given. VCU is quick, Duke is not and quickness has bothered them. VCU’s guards are good.

I think Josh McRoberts needs to play well. Krzyzewski says he didn’t play as well the last couple of weeks of the season as he did for most of it. McRoberts can be the difference. Really, Duke needs him to be the difference. He needs to step up and play big.

Duke has had a much needed week to practice and think about things. Krzyzewski says a big problem during that three-game, season-ending losing streak was a lack of communication on defense. He hopes that problem is solved. He also hopes that the team is ready for a new beginning

“The main thing is to go in ready mentally and physically,” the veteran coach says.

He should know because no coach has won more games in NCAA tournament history than Mike Krzyzewski. He thinks they’re ready.

It’s been an uneven year for Duke, and there are some who expect an early exit for the Blue Devils. For the first time in a while, it’s Duke that’s not getting respect. Many feel Duke deserved lower than a sixth seed.

That’s motivation right there for a proud program. There’s still D-u-k-e on that uniform, and that means something to those who wear it. It certainly means something to the coach who built this proud program into one of the very best in all of college basketball.

At NCAA tournament time, Duke is used to being pursued. This time around, Duke is the pursuer.

I'm not sure if they're capable, but a tournament run would help put an up-and-down season in the rearview mirror.