In Duke's 70-57 victory at Florida State, the Blue Devils had eight players who were on the court for 10 or more minutes. The Seminoles had only six players who hit double-digit minutes.

That disparity may have played a part in the outcome, and it also reflects a dramatic change for Mike Krzyzewski's team from recent seasons.

In a hard-fought game filled with physical contact, bad blood and flying elbows, the Blue Devils appeared to have more energy at the end. FSU took its only lead (55-54) with 3:46 remaining, but the Devils outscored the Seminoles 16-2 the rest of the way.

In Duke's rotation, only senior guard DeMarcus Nelson (36) played more than 32 minutes. Three of FSU's regulars — guards Toney Douglas (39), Isaiah Swann (38) and Ralph Mims (38) — came close to playing the full 40 minutes.

It was only one game, but it also symbolized a more important change for Duke. The Blue Devils, remember, rode All-American guard J.J. Redick (he averaged a stunning 38.1 minutes in ACC games) to near-exhaustion two seasons ago, and they utilized only a seven-man rotation — with heavy minutes (32-plus in ACC games) for four starters — in 2006-07. Last season was the Devils' least impressive performance in more than a decade.

"Our depth is benefiting us in a number of ways (this season)," Duke assistant coach Steve Wojciechowski said recently. "Our guys are fresher at times, in practice and in games, and that obviously helps. More competition for playing time also can be a positive, as a motivating factor. Everybody wants to play.

"(Depth) also can affect your style of play. There were some up-tempo things we considered doing last season that we couldn't really implement because we didn't have a very deep rotation. You need a deeper rotation for some things, and you need to keep people healthy, and that didn't happen for us last year."

The Blue Devils have improved their scoring output this season to 84.5 points per game. That's up from 70.4, the lowest number in the ACC last season and the lowest at Duke since 1981-82, Krzyzewski's second year in Durham.

The huge scoring jump reflects Duke's change in style, which reflects the Devils' improved depth.

Here are the playing-time numbers from last season for regular members (10-plus minutes) of Duke's rotation: Josh McRoberts (35.3), Jon Scheyer (33.7), Greg Paulus (32.4), Nelson (31.9), David McClure (21.7), Gerald Henderson (19.3), Lance Thomas (14.9).

That seven-man rotation has grown to 10 this year, with a reduction in playing time for all four returning starters: Nelson (30.7), Scheyer (28.1), Kyle Singler (26.4), Paulus (26.2), Henderson (24.6), Thomas (17.7), Nolan Smith (16.3), Taylor King (13.8), Brian Zoubek (11.7) and McClure (10.6). Scheyer, a starter last season, is the Blue Devils' sixth man this year.

All of those numbers would mean little, of course, if they didn't help make Duke a more dangerous team. There's a big difference  between depth and quality depth.

But Scheyer (21 points) led the Blue Devils in scoring — as a substitute — against FSU, providing the kind of lift from the bench that was almost non-existent in 2006-07. All of last season, there was only one game in which a substitute led the Devils in scoring. It happens regularly this year, when Scheyer alone has had many games in which he's led the team in points, rebounds or assists.

Against Michigan earlier this season, Duke's top two scorers were bench players. In all, reserves scored 54 of the team's 95 points against the Wolverines. That's quality depth.

A year ago, Duke's five most-used members of the rotation played 76.6 percent of the minutes, took 78.1 percent of the shots and scored 78.5 percent of the points.

So far this season, the five players who have started the most games (Nelson, Henderson, Singler, Paulus, Thomas) are averaging 61.6 percent of the minutes, 61.1 percent of the shots and 61.6 percent of the points.

That's a significant mathematical difference, and it adds up to a much deeper — and much more dangerous — Duke basketball team.